We did it!

isn't she so cute?!

This is our new puppy!!! For those of you who voted in the poll on the right column, it was 9 days from our full-time arrival that we got a dog :) We have wanted a dog for the longest time - we both grew up with them and couldn't wait until we were out of our 1-bedroom apartment that didn't allow pets. So late last week, our boss yelled out the office about a classified ad that was in the local paper that day. Someone was selling a 6 month golden retreiver puppy b/c they didn't have enough time to care for her. We called, went and met her Monday, and brought her home Tuesday (yesterday)!!

I took her straight to the vet for her puppy booster shot, and she weighed in at 56 pounds! She's gonna be a big dawg! We'll bring her back to the vet for her rabies and spaying in about 3 weeks, and see what she weighs then :) Tomorrow we are going into Minot (the nearest big city) to buy a bed, a cute leash (and a strong one. She snapped hers right off yesterday!), and some fun toys. And a pumpkin spice latte for me, because it's my favorite and i wait all year for them to come out!

And to answer the big question... her name. It was Teya, and we wanted to keep the "ah" sound at the end. We also wanted to use a Norwegian name. So we came across Nysse - as in the Scandinavian Christmas elf! They cause mischeif, and you're supposed to leave them treats (like rice pudding) to appease them. When your new city throws the annual Dickens' Festival and the town turns into a Christmas fest, Nysse is a perfect name. And then of course she needed a middle name, so...

...welcome Nysse Britt - the newest member of Team Rendell!!

Anna <><
(and Jared & Nysse!)

we're here (for good!)

well, we got all moved to North Dakota! It was a looooong drive, but we made it. last week absolutely FLEW by! finalizing stuff at work, packing the house, having goodbye lunches and dinners with friends and family, "one last trip"s to several special places... it was too fast. we had been packing, and each time jared camp up he took a carload. still, we just had so much stuff! we rented a 14-foot uhaul, and i swear if it hadn't been jared packing the truck, using each nook and cranny, we wouldn't have made it. the morning of the big move, most of the ladies from GLC came over to help!! we definitely wouldn't have made it without them. my baby sister was also a HUGE help that day (and for the days prior too), and my little brother and his girlyfriend came too. it was very humbling and wonderful to have all these people helping us move away from them. we really miss you all. we have amazing friends.

at the last minute, my mom decided to come along for the move! she had a good time. She thought our little house was "darling", liked the look of camp, and loved staying in the retreat center. She went through "downtown" Garrison, and was relieved to see a hospital/clinic/ER right in town. We spent Sunday in Bismarck, shopping and eating and at a movie, so that was really fun. It brought me a lot of peace knowing she approved of the new venture - no matter how old you are, your mom's opinion still matters.

we are slowly getting settled in here at camp. Hardly any boxes are unpacked, but all the furniture is finally in the right places, so now we are able to unpack and put things away. When we arrived, the executive directors' wife had prepared a meal for us that was waiting in our fridge. The staff helped us unload the truck, and Sarah and Ben (site caretaker and his wife) brought over fresh veggies picked from the large camp garden. The next morning, we found a loaf of homemade summer squash bread on our door! So that all made us feel very welcome.

on a yucky note, the second night we were here, we couldn't sleep in our house because there were 15+ HUGE wolf spiders in our bedroom!!! SO GROSS!!! So we bug-bombed the house and slept in the retreat center. There haven't been any around since, which is a gift straight from God because if that was the norm, I would be sleeping in my car!

I had my first day of work yesterday, and it was kind of hard for several reasons: i missed my friends terribly, Jared is coaching volleyball at the high school and had to leave camp for practice, I didn't think we were going to be able to come home until Christmas, my eye mysteriously swelled up and i was hopped up on benadryl for a while, and I just generally got overwhelmed by everything. Today, day 2 of work, has been MUCH better. I got a handle on the calendar for the year - we will be busy! There are groups scheduled to come to camp every weekend through January, phew! Even though I'm still figuring out just what my new job entails, I am glad to have it and excited to really be doing it. We met today with an Air Force chaplain who is bringing a group of young adults (17-30yrs) from the Minot AF base on a retreat over Labor Day, and that was fun.

I miss you all very much. We will be home over my birthday (October 4-8), and hope to see everyone sometime then. I will update the blog as often as I can. Know if days go by w/out an update, I am still thinking of you all.

Lots of love and hugs,
anna <><
(& jared)

t-minus 1 week...

it's now exactly one week until we move, and not a thing is packed in a single box. blah!! tomorrow i'm driving to moorhead, and husby will meet me there. then we'll drive to luther dell (yay!) for a friends' wedding, and will return to apple valley sunday night. next week is full of dinners and time with friends and family, and then friday is the big moving day! last sunday was the beautiful celebration for us at church, and monday was a fabulous girl's night out with my office ladies. the uhaul is rented, i's are dotted and t's crossed with final stuff at work, and camp is ready for us to be there. so look out north dakota, here we come! but first the packing... =)
anna <><
(& jared)

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)