Boxes, boys and blessings

Jon and I had the chance to share our NTM plans with our church last Sunday. It was a bitter sweet service. It was fun to share as a couple about our future plans (Lord-willing!) But it was sad to have to say goodbye to all of our friends at church.We have been blessed with an awesome church family full of friendly, sweet and encouraging people. Here is Jon and I (& a friend's little girl) answering questions.

 After the service and the worship team singing the tear-jerker song, "Friends are Friends Forever" the Pastor and the elders prayed for us. Such a nice send off!

 This whole week has been packed full of well...PACKING! Once our furniture started moving out (thanks to all of you sweeties that took our furniture for "safe keeping." LOL ;) The reality of us moving really set in.

 Then once my mom-in-law who I am lovingly calling the, "Queen of Organization" came to help me pack up most of the downstairs. She did the work of 5 people getting things boxed up and labeled. I am SO appreciative for her help!

How are the kiddos doing with these changes? The kids have been having a great time playing in all of the boxes. It's like having an indoor playground. Jace is crabbier than normal, he possibly has an ear infection.
Levi and Jaeden have both said they are really going to miss this house. I know how they feel. Jon and I both will miss our Home Sweet Home. But I am excited about "starting all over again" as far as the decor goes. It'll be fun to turn a blank canvas into a home.

Also hugs all around and often have seemed to help a lot around here!

With all of these changes and our chaotic state, I just want to say a big, THANK YOU to all of you family and friends who have been praying for us, calling us and encouraging us along the way. We could not do this without out your love and support!!!

One such dear friend wrote a sweet message on her blog right here, http://www.farmergalsmarket.com/ramblings/thirty-one-days-of-thankful-friends.html  Farmer Gal you are a blessing in my life!

Only a week away from our moving date....the countdown starts today!

Short and sweet

 Between packing, packing and packing some more. We have been getting together with so many friends! I got together with my sweet Momtime gal pals last night and had such a fun night of food, fun, crafts and LOTS of laughter!! I love those ladies and will always be grateful that the Lord brought them into my life. Once again: Thank you Lord for Facebook so we can stay in touch! ;)

So as far as getting everything done, it just might be a scramble to the finish! A special  thank you for the Rubbermaid containers my Mom-in-law rustled up for me in her basement. There might be some containers filled with "Misc Items" to be gone through in Missouri if need be.

Thanks to each sweet friend who came over to help me go through my things. Not only did we get stuff done, we got a chance to do some chatting and eating. Always a good combo! And I really did (Still do! HA HA!) have a lot of silk plants, didn't I?!

We gave our first NTM presentation at our church this past Sunday. Photos were taken, but have not been uploaded yet--just wee bit busy these days. But it went well and I loved how the DVD's really gave a good picture of what happens with NTM's missionaries and support missionaries. Such exciting work going on overseas! It gave me a glimpse of reality. We are leaving! We are going to MTC in just a few short weeks. Excited? Yes! Nervous? Yes! But we are so confident the Lord will lead and direct us as He wills. We just want to follow after Him.

It is late, and a lot to do and pack up tomorrow. But wanted to keep you posted on the "latest happenings."
Continue to pray for us as we get everything together!

Current/near-future projects: Completion of our NTM prayer cards, newsletter and Christmas greetings. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please email us at: Jleedahl@gmail.com

Packing it all in!

  Whew!! What a whirlwind past few weeks! We spent a little over a week celebrating Thanksgiving with my family out East. What a great time of fun, food and laughter! My mom makes the best Thanksgiving meal ever!!! Her corn pudding is scrumptious, her turkey so moist, her pies delectable....the list goes on. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. MMMMmmmmm!

 My siblings had a drama class play they were putting on while we were there. I just need to take a minute to brag on them for a moment: It was great fun to watch my normally quiet 17-year-old brother play one of the main characters and be very articulate, with great voice projection and grow a beard for the part (!!! I used to change that boy's diapers, how can he be old enough to have whiskers?!) Not to mention the bazillion lines my 12-year-old sister had to memorize and she remembered every one of them on all 4 nights of the play. My 14-year-old sister did such a great job playing a..."shady lady" and a bird. Long story! Love you Laura Bee! ;) And my 19-year-old sister was awesome at everything she helped out with from make-up to costumes to cookie baking and even played a small part.

We hit the ground running when we got home. We headed up to Jon's parents home and picked up their pickup and their stock trailer. My Mom-in-law gave me boxes and plastic containers for me to use to pack up our stuff. Such a life saver that woman!

From their farm we drove straight to Jon's co-worker's house for his work's going away party for us. Such a beautiful home and such a fun evening! Great food and good laughs. Jon is going to really miss his co-workers who are more like family members to him. We hope to get back to visit everyone at the base when we get the chance. 

 Sunday was full and fun with friends. We are trying to spend as much time with everyone as we can before we leave. Enjoying every moment and every visit!

Today was the first day, officially of packing up our house. Had my best-est friend in the Midwest help me go through my attic and my house and find items that she could use. I kept telling her do you know how good this feels to know that all of this stuff is going to be put to good use? Not to mention, when I visit you I can see all of it again! Bonus: Free hauling away/pick up! ;) Honestly it was a little embarrassing to have someone see all of my dust bunnies and cobwebs. Thanks Q for not judging me...to my face anyway. LOL! :) I spent the rest of the evening packing until I had to take a break for a bit. During my break I thought boy I should update our blog and get to making our prayer cards and newsletter.

The next 3 weeks will be the craziest weeks of ours lives! Lots of packing, sorting, cleaning, paper work, dropping loads of stuff off at Jon's parents house and then preparing for Christmas. My motto these days: take it one day at a time!

I am ever so grateful for my in-laws who are providing us with a place to store anything we want to hang on to for sentimental reasons, for use later in life or for whatever reason. Such a huge relief!  The rest we are bringing to Missouri.

Please continue to pray for us during this chaotic time in our lives. Pray that we can get everything done in a timely manner, that the right buyer comes around in God's perfect timing and that we make sure to keep the Lord the center focus of our lives even in all of this craziness!

PS. If you would like to receive updates via email and get our newsletter but don't want your name or info posted here on our blog. Please send an email to us at: JLeedahl@gmail.com

Acceptance Letter

Hi Jon & Adrienne,
I trust that you are doing well and continuing to look forward to the next step in the process of becoming a missionary.  It is a privilege to communicate with each candidate and learn how the Lord has directed in their lives to bring them to a place of serving Him full time as a missionary.
Personally, I appreciate your willingness to step forward and commit your life to full time Christian service. It is amazing that He has directed you at this time to step out on a new journey that will bring many changes. We were serving here in Sanford 13 years ago and my wife and I took a big step of faith and moved our family of 3 kids (10^th, 6^th and 4^th grade) to Papua New Guinea. They are now all grown and we have returned to work here at the USA home office. The Lord has met our every need along the way.
It is a joy to inform you that your application for our NTM Missionary Training, has been completed and approved. We thank the Lord for your desire to seek training which will enable you to become a part of a team that is seeking to take the Gospel to the unreached peoples of the earth. 
As a Mission, we are committed to working with your home church on your behalf, and trusting God to enable us to help you to have a fruitful ministry. 
Your application has been sent to the "Missionary Training Center" in Camdenton, Mo.  Should you have any questions about the Institute, don't hesitate to contact Sandi Hagen, the Registrar, who will be happy to help you.  I have cc her on our acceptance to MTC. I look forward to helping you in whatever way I can. 
Should, for whatever reason, you have any change in your plans that might affect your being able to enroll in the NTM training as scheduled, please get back in touch with me.  We do want to keep as close and accurate a list of students as possible, in order to provide space for anyone desiring to enroll in the training.  Thank you for your consideration in this.
Please note my contact number below, and may God continue to prepare your heart for serving Him.  I trust that someday our paths will cross, and I will have the joy of knowing you face to face.
Phil Sutton

We are so thrilled that this next step in the process has been completed! We now need to get through school and from there they decide if we are ready for going overseas or if we need more time to get ourselves together. Praising God that He has opened the door for us this far, and we trust He has great plans for us whenever, and wherever He chooses to place us.
So Lord-willing, come January 17th we will be attending school near Camdenton, MO.  Pray for us as we transition into this new phase of life--especially for the kids...ahhh, who am I kidding, pray for me and Jon, too!! God is faithful and knows what we can handle. We just need to call upon Him daily (hourly, every minute, and every second sometimes!) for His guidance, His help and His peace.
Isaiah 25:1
"LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
   you have done wonderful things,
   things planned long ago."
Please continue to pray for us on this exciting journey!

Update on life

Well, we finished painting the house on Saturday evening. One of the best feelings.EVER!! I hope to get some pictures of the finished project soon.

We finished our paint job and headed up to Jon's parent's place so Jon could get in some hunting. Our first stop was spent sharing a meal with our lovely friends Joel and Annie. Annie is expecting their first baby and it was fun to share baby stories with her and look through baby clothes together.Praying for a safe delivery for her!

Jon and his brother were able to hunt and got 3 deer between them, 2 small bucks and a doe. Venison sausage sticks and deer chop here we come! What fun for Jon to get out after all of his hard work on the house and have some good ol' fun! I don't know if Jon will be able to make it back to his parent's place again next year for hunting, so this might be his last year for hunting for a while. (A long while!) Unless he can go hunting overseas? Maybe with a bow and arrow? ;)

We got home late Monday night, had appointments Tuesday and errands to run and a Mom's Night Out Tuesday. And now here I sit, Wednesday afternoon finally catching up on email, blogs and Facebook. I enjoy having this down time at home to recuperate. But then it feels strange to be home any longer than Jon's six day work week, I start to get antsy like I need to go and do some traveling.  I think the Lord had Jon and I get married for a very good reason--we like to be on the road and see the country and visit friends and family!

In New Tribes Mission news, here are a few pictures of the new-construction housing we might be living in come January:

We have just about all of our NTM documents sent into the admissions office. Last thing is our medical exams and then we are set to go--Lord willing! Packing will come next, but who needs to think about that? Ha...I need to stop thinking about that. Sleep seems to evade me when I start to mentally pack up our house.  I know it will all come together. But I also know that I will have the biggest sense of relief when we are finally moved into our student housing.

I guess I'm not meant to blog for very long, Jacer gave me a "little" mess in his crib for me to clean. Bath time!

Painting Project!!

What have we been up to lately? We have been painting, painting and painting some more!! The exterior of our house has been a work in progress for over a year now. With Jon's crazy work schedule and our travels we have not been able to get the whole entire house painted. So this week Jon had 6 days off and we have gone nowhere and have stayed home to work on the house. Woo hoo!!! :)

Jaeden and Levi think it's the coolest thing to scrape and paint the house, so they have been great helpers all throughout this process.

A honey-do project the kids and I worked was our porch. It needed fixing. A plank had broken after a large chunk of ice fell on it last year during the Winter. We finally got it fixed then we painted the porch to look more like a deck. Here it is:

We finished the East side of the house and are almost half-way done with the South side of the house. We worked on the West side of the house last year so that is done. So we are moving right along and pray that the weather holds so we can finish the job!

So far the weather has stayed in the 50's and is supposed to stay that way for another day or two. So we'll be up and at 'em again tomorrow!

Anyway, that is what we are up to this week! More pictures to come....next week!

Meeting with a realtor

A little break between photos of the MTC campus to show you some of the latest happenings going on around here. We met with a realtor today to sell our house. It seemed surreal to be signing the paperwork to sell the house! 

It seems like only yesterday, as young newlyweds we filled out the paperwork for this turn-of-the-century vintage house. Jon told me to try to contain my enthusiasm when we did the first walk through in this house so as to not let the realtor know I really liked the house. Haha, I have such a hard time keeping a straight face!

But Jon and I both fell in the love with this house, it just felt so homey and so...us! Here are a couple photos of our house throughout the years and throughout the seasons.

 Spring is one of the best times of year to enjoy our house. I am so grateful the previous owner had a green thumb and did some nice landscaping that was easy to keep up with...for the most part! ;)

Jaeden and Levi in the lawn when they were little bitty guys!  Lots of play time happened out in this yard.

The front of the house after getting a little "bit" of snow. All my boys love playing in piles of snow. For those of you living in warmer climates, you may be asking how we can stand these long cold Winters? The positive side to long, freezing, c-cold winters? At least their snow forts and snow men don't melt away right away. :)   

I really don't have a Fall picture in front of the house. But you get the idea. This is our house.This house has been good to us! 

Monday the "For Sale" sign goes up in the yard. The realtor will start advertising our house online and around town within a few days of getting all of the paperwork together.

Please pray that the Lord brings the right buyer at the right time for the right price. Thank you!

I have a few more MTC photos to share in the next post. Stay tuned! 

MTC Part 2

 Can't start a blog post without seeing this cute little face! I love his little dimples on his chubby cheeks. :)

Okay here are more photos from our trip to Camdenton, Missouri to the New Tribes Mission Missionary Training Center. We start with the administration building and the lounge room.

 Here is one of the many small classrooms they have set up. I like the idea of a "smaller" classroom size so I can ask a lot of questions and feel like we are more one-on-one with our teacher.

 Here is one of the classrooms we will spend most of our time studying in. Together! Jon and I are so excited about being in school and taking classes together! We can not only help each other out with our homework, but we can also flirt a little on the side! ;)

 The staff said the Winters are relatively mild in comparison to our long winters here in MN. This campus seems like it will be a great place to hang out and explore as a family. Here is another classroom and if I remember right they also eat here.

 These huts look like something for the kiddos to play with, but it's actually part of the tribal training they do for the adults. Learning how the huts are set up and what to expect.

The picture above shows a gathering place for students.A large part of the MTC's training is interacting with each other. Since the mission bases are a small community, learning how to get along with our fellow missionaries is a big part of our "education." So the campus is set up with a lot of spots for students to connect with eachother.

It seems these photos are not meant to be shared all at once. Uploading this many photos today took a while and the kids seem like they know when I want to take time on the computer. It's like sharks and the scent of blood. :) Oh well, you have more photos to look forward to in the next day or two to come.

Mission Training Center

We had the chance to travel to the New Tribes Mission: Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Roach, Missouri last week to take a tour of where we will be living and studying starting in January.

I know, I know, I write that very calmly, but yet it's too bad a blog can't display how we really feel inside. For a small idea of how Jon and I are feeling it goes something like this:  Wowie, it's exciting!! Yet a little nerve wracking at the same time! How in the world did all of this happen SO fast? Are we ready? Will the house sell? The Lord will provide and make a way if it's His will...but still WOWIE WOW!!!!  So there you have it, a small taste of our personal feelings. ;)

We had a nice guy named Adam who gave us the tour. It took about 2 hours to get through everything. The boys did okay. As well as can be expected for 3 rambunctious boys in the middle of the afternoon. And after being cooped up in an airplane for several hours. Lots of energy! We got through it though and let the boys hike up some touristy trails after our tour. Best.idea.EVER!!

In case you want a little more information and background on the New Tribes Mission MTC here are a few links for you to check out. Here is the blog link for MTC:  http://usa.ntm.org/go/training/training-center/
Or you can take a short video tour if you click right here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGmScupQxJc&noredirect=1

 I took photo after photo during our tour and I am trying to figure out how to upload an album as well as on Facebook and post the link on here. I don't think I can post all of the pictures on here, but I will add a few more so you get a sample of what we got to see.

Well that will be it for now. My little guys are getting restless. I guess I can only blog so much before everything falls apart around here.