nothing much...

hi friends! i know there hasn't been a post in the last couple weeks, but there's really not much to tell! i (anna) spent last week at camp with 50 of my youth. we had a really great time! and then we did a family camp over the weekend, which was also a blast. spent a LOT of time driving in the past couple weeks too, which was miserable and long, and i don't want to dignify the ridiculous hours i spent alone in a car by blogging about them and they're just not blog worthy. jared comes home tomorrow, and then i have one last summer trip with my youth group. it should be fun - we're taking 13 high schoolers to the boundary waters canoe area wilderness! so we'll be gone (but together, yay!) again next week. and then sunday august 9th is a recognition and reception for us at church. it will be sad. so thanks for checking in - sorry there's not more to tell! we'll talk soon.

anna (& jared)
<><

we're here! (for a while)

ahhh, to be in the same state as my husby.... it's just good. i realize most people get married and have jobs in an office or as teachers or something regular that keeps them both in the same place, and they rarely, if ever, have to be apart. but husby and i are not regular people. we try our darndest, but when you're coaching and your team goes to florida twice in two weeks, you gotta go. or when you're a youth director and take kids on mission trips and to camp, you gotta go. or when you accept a call to a Bible camp and your school job is over (cause it's summer) and you both have to work to pay the bills, you gotta go. it's not fun, but often has been the necessary case with us. and so we do it. talk nightly on the phone, telling each story of the day; send care packages of vitamins and fun little presents; plan visits that involve more time driving than spending together; really anything to keep connected. and so it is. but oh! it is sooo good to just be together.

i arrived yesterday. this trip should've taken me about 8 1/2 hours. however, because an 87 year old from missouri in a buick made an illegal and unsuccessful u-turn on a major interstate, causing a fuel truck to crash and spill gasoline all over, both lanes of that interstate were closed and turned my trip into one overnight 12 hour trip. UFF DA!!! i left sunday after a really fun weekend of family camp with my church. i drove 1 1/2 hrs to get home from that camp, unpacked and repacked the car, took a nap, and left. it then took me over 7 hours to get to my mother-in-laws in fargo (should've taken under 4hrs). the next afternoon, the drive from fargo to camp took me 6hrs (again, w/out construction, it should've been 4). so i am all driven out! but the miles are worth it just to spend the week with jared.

and now i've been here a whole 24 hours! the house we are provided with is small, but cute! all wood floors, two bedrooms, a laundry, a larger kitchen than we have now, and a view of the lake from our living room. a youth group on a mission trip cleaned it all for us! i was touched by that. and jared has been working really hard on it too. i'm typing from the newly de-catted office (jer's allergies don't allow for much tolerance to cat dander, so he spent the majority of efforts here) - we each have a desk and computer, there's a desk for our personal computer, and a space for all our guitars and amp. i brought an army of cleaning supplies but haven't put them to use yet - i'll go crazy on it all tomorrow. today was spent just living a camp life day. i loooove to cook, but it was sure nice to have all 3 meals ready for me! there are 70 campers here this week, and i've met most of the staff. tomorrow will be cleaning and meeting more staffers, then thursday we'll leave for a wedding at another Bible camp (hopefully with a stop to see the new harry potter movie!). after the wedding i'll continue onto yet another Bible camp to spend the week there with my youth.

i brought a carload of stuff along, but am really excited to have furniture here soon :) there's literally nowhere besides our bed to sit (and it's not even OUR bed, it's a camp bed). soon enough! please keep us in your prayers as we continue this exciting but difficult transition.
love to you all,
anna <><
(and jared)

prayer at the gate

jared just got to camp! we prayed over the phone right before he drove through the gate. he left this morning with a full carload of our junk valuable belongings :) and will be working on the house this week. i'll join him next week, and then the really creative calendaring begins! here's our july:
july 7: jared leaves for and arrives at camp
july 12-17: anna at camp
july 17-18: team rendell at park river bible camp for the hensrud wedding
july 19: anna drives to luther dell bible camp for a week with my youth
july 24-26: team rendell at family camp at ldbc
july 27: anna home, jared back to camp :)

phew! we ask for your prayers as we embark and begin this journey!
anna (& jared)

packing up

today we started packing for the big move. jared goes up tuesday morning, but i don't leave until late august. he'll be back a few times this summer. my job takes me all over the place during the summer, and since we've done this yucky distance thing before, i think it'll be ok. but it's still no fun. and packing/moving is not my favorite thing. sigh... but we're getting excited to be at camp! anybody got any packing tips? ;)

anna (and jared)