The Beginning of the Holidays!

Unfortunately my camera is having an emotional breakdown so this is a picture-less post, but here's a quick update anyway!

We went on a crazy road trip to our parents' houses for Thanksgiving. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but we had such a great time! We didn't tell anyone except the siblings that we were coming and showed up at the Forrest house Thanksgiving morning. They were soooo surprised! It was perfect! I kept the secret all day Thursday and we surprised the Wetzels on Friday morning when they were having Thanksgiving dinner. They were shocked to say the least! I hated that we didn't have enough time to see anyone outside of our families, but I'm thankful we got to make the trip even if it was short. We headed back early Sunday morning so it was a really quick trip, but worth it!

Alyssa (my car) had a tragic "engine attack" and is now sitting in an auto shop in Fort Worth with a dead engine, so that's been an interesting trial that we weren't expecting. But I've been very impressed with our patience (we're still learning but I know God has definitely been giving both of us more patience since we moved here.) and I am confident that God has a plan. Thankfully Yota (the truck) is running great so we are able to get to where we need to go.

Josh is finished exams on Wednesday so he has been extremely busy studying. I personally enjoy guessing what his Greek vocab words mean (I'm almost always wrong. Haha.). Work is going good for me; since there are not many activities going on towards the end of December, I have a pretty light workload coming up soon. Our calendar is filled up with Christmas activities for the next few weeks and I'm really excited about our trip to SC soon...and the fact that we get to fly instead of taking the long roadtrip. Yay for Christmas vacation!

Keep us in your prayers as Josh is finishing classes and as we try to figure out what to do with our car situation. Also remember the fifth-sixth graders during this holiday season - we are really praying that they will understand the gift that God send in His Son. The church's vision is that they will understand the Gospel by the time they leave sixth grade and Christmas is such a great time to learn.

Thanks for all you do. And hopefully we will get to see some of you soon!

-Tiff (& Josh)

October = Busy

October was definitely a busy month, but hopefully this gives a pretty good recap of what's been going on. We don't have pictures to show for it, but Josh has been writing papers and taking tests a lot. He's been doing really well but I know he'll be thankful for Christmas break!

Because DJ requested context of our house, I took some pictures of the house...not just the inside, but the outside. Hope they help!

The Front of the House - there's actually four apartments in our building
It didn't all fit in the picture but our front door is behind that brick wall :-)

The view from the front door...not too exciting. Haha.

The road in front of our house

The back door - the one we use

The parking lot at the bottom of the stairs

Our Saturdays are usually football-filled...we are from South Carolina after all :-) Josh's flag football team is in the playoffs this weekend. These pictures are from a few weeks ago.

A Little Context - Just for DJ :-)

Yay Flag Football!

And of course there's college football to add to the festivities. Our friend Matt lives down the street and has a very football-friendly house so a lot of us end up there on Saturdays.

Aren't we cute (we were "ref-ing" the Alabama-Carolina game)
There were fans of both teams in the house...made life interesting!

Matt's set-up

Josh and Matt

A normal picture :-)

Some of the crew

Josh's hair is another topic of discussion. Haha. He was growing it out and decided to cut it again, but not before I made him take some pictures of it!

Headbands - Only Josh

Very Interesting

Well now for my favorite part, cooking! We've been having people over for dinner a lot, despite our tiny house :-) It's great to be able to hang out with friends and meet new people too!

Chili and Cornbread

Shayah and Les eating dinner with us

Cumin Chicken with Tomatoes and White Acre Peas

Well that's all I got for now. We're excited about the cooler weather and can't wait to visit everyone at Christmas! 

Texan Shenanigans

As usual it's been a little while since I've written. But hopefully I can make up for lost time pretty painlessly. Lots has been going on but mostly it's just random things that come up so we stay busy. Josh is finishing up midterms (these are the times I am so grateful I'm not in school!) and I'm just working away. My job is sometimes crazy busy and sometimes slow, but I'm there regardless (although it would be amazing if I could run errands during the slow times...is it possible to play receptionist if you aren't physically there? Haha). But I thought I'd take a few pictures to prove that my job is never boring when the pastors are in. The Middle Schoolers at the church I work for have a Wednesday night gathering complete with an in-house video series. Billy and some of the interns come up with different skits and film them around Fort Worth. This semester it's about a boy who is trying to travel back in time and fix his mistakes...only to find out that he can't do it on his own and needs God's help. So the in costume staff that come through the office are very entertaining!

Andy and Makiah getting ready to film for Middle School videos

And to prove that Texas is hot in the summer I got my boss Jeff (Student Pastor) and Jenna (Girls Ministry Coordinator) to model their damaged goods. It's hard to see in the pictures, but Jenna's Sprite can busted and Jeff's cd case melted and curled up around the sides all because they left them in the car for a couple hours. That's life in Texas for you!

Showing off goods damaged by the Texas heat

After work food is always a plus. Here's a sampling of dinners the past few weeks. 

Chicken Stir Fry

Mom's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Italian Baked Tilapia

Sauteed Chicken and Veggies with Mashed Taters

Now of course, football is a major part of our weekends. Josh plays intramural flag football at school and we always watch games on the weekends. We have some very gracious friends here and got to a TCU vs. Baylor game. It was a great time...although a Tiger is a much better mascot than a horned frog :-)

Not quite like Clemson...but it'll have to do for now :-)

Makiah and Valori - We're thankful for football friends!

Fish Stix has been going great! We are really getting into our small groups now and it's been really fun to get to know some of the girls. Josh has been going to schools to eat lunch with some of the guys he's pouring into which is a great opportunity to see them outside of church and get to model a walk with Jesus to them. I can't go see anyone at school since I work all day, but I plan on hanging out with some of the 6th grade girls in my small group soon. It's quite an adjustment to learn to work with middle school. It's very different from the college groups I've led and even from the 2-3 graders. Pray that these kids will be able to leave this transition time knowing the Gospel and what it means in their life. That's the ultimate goal of the Fish Stix ministry.

Some of the games going on in the basement before Fish Stix

Hanging out

A very intense game of Air Hockey

Well that's about all for now. Please continue praying for Josh at school and me at work. We are trying to establish our areas of ministry in both places and are excited about some of the relationships we've built with people here. Pray that we are the salt and light in our interactions with people and that we can continue to grow closer to God and as a couple. Satan seems to be testing us more since we moved here and I can only believe that's because we are right where God wants us. Thanks for all your prayers! 

Allergic to Texas!?!?

Well folks, I'm allergic to Texas! Apparently allergies and a sinus infection are the reason I haven't been able to breathe, which definitely stinks but at least I'm on medicine and should be better soon.

I wasn't feeling so great so I made some Chicken 'n Dumplings. Perfect solution!

Other than being sick we've been great. Josh's classes are going well and work has been good for me. This past week we got a nice break for Labor Day. We invited some new friends over and had a fun cookout in our backyard with our neighbor, Adam. It was a fun time of delicious food, great fellowship, and of course, Cornhole.

The beginnings of Josh's quacamole. It's quite a hit with our friends.

The Spread

Makiah posing with the Tostitoes

Josh and I have really been enjoying our ministry at Christ Chapel with the Fishstix. This week we had the Messy Olympics, which was quite the extravaganza. It consisted of games designed solely to be as dirty as possible. The kids were covered in crisco, wet dog food, mud, mustard, ketchup, jelly, yogurt, whipped cream, flour and much more by the time they left. Add a sprinkler and I promise you have a gross mess and some very happy kids (although very much in need of a shower!). We got pretty messy too but we all had a great time getting messy and building relationships with the kids. Small groups start this week so we're very excited to keep investing in the lives of the 5th and 6th graders at Christ Chapel.

Well that's all for now. Keep praying for our ministry at Christ Chapel and also at work and school. We have been building relationships with some people outside of these as well so continue to lift them up in your prayers. We hope y'all  are doing well!

Updates!

Sorry I'm so behind on this blog. I won't even try to come up with an excuse...it's pure laziness :-)

Class is in full swing for Josh and my job is pretty busy getting prepared for student fall retreats and other events. But all is going well and small groups will be starting up with Fifth Sixth soon. Josh and I are both helping out this fall and I'm really excited to be able to get to know some of the kids at Christ Chapel better. It's a great ministry and I'm thankful that we were able to get involved so quickly. Keep all the kids in your prayers that they will grow to understand more fully what being a Christian means. And pray that God will use me and Josh as effective leaders.

Cooking's been a little slower this week because we've had a lot more going on, but never fear. I still have some good food pictures. Considering that I tend to never follow recipes,The tilapia was a modification of a trout recipe and had a crust of lemon, flour, cornmeal, and some spices. The breading basically melted off in the oven, but I thought it tasted great! I think Josh liked it ok, but next time I'll probably put less cornmeal and more flour so it doesn't quite taste like cornbread fish :-) Josh made his frying pan mix of corn, onion, turkey patties, and okra with creole seasoning. It was really good, but we had a hard time coming up with a name for it.

Baked Tilapia and Green Beans

Pancakes for Breakfast!

Grilled Garlic Lime Pork Chops with brown rice and black-eyed peas

Josh's Mix....so good!

We're gearing up for football weekends, so that should be exciting. We're taking a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings this afternoon to watch Byrnes play on ESPN. I hope Dad makes it on tv! School started last week so high school football might become our new Friday date night. We're pretty excited! We also live right down the street from TCU so game day might be a little less orange but we'll still get to watch some good football! And lucky for us it's been a little cooler the past few days since it rained. It's nice to have a little relief from the heat.

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts! God has blessed us so much and if we get to missing friends and family it's encouraging to know that you are all praying for us. God is teaching us so much about Himself and that He has a plan for our lives that we may not know yet but we know it is perfect. We can have confidence in Him. Pray for Josh as he works hard and studies. He's been very diligent about studying for sure but just pray that he stays motivated and excited about his classes. Also pray that I continue to figure out how to do my job well. I'm learning as I go which can sometimes be difficult. And as a side note I've been having some sinus headaches the past week so pray that I can figure out what's causing those. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers!

The Break Before Classes Start

Orientation is on Tuesday and Josh starts classes on Thursday so our house is starting to overflow with textbooks. Work is going well for me. It's going to take some adjustment to figure out how things run at McKinney, but I really like the people I work for and I'm enjoying bouncyball wars and random events that really could only take place in a student ministry building. For all you Clemson folks....it reminds me of some crazy times at the BCM!

Now for food, my personal favorite. I baked a cake randomly the other day (ironically right after we went running...I guess burning calories just put me in a baking mood). The cake turned out pretty good, after I made a quick Kroger run to get some vanilla (red food coloring and vanilla may come in similar containers, but they are not the same I promise). I didn't have a good picture, but it was a yellow cake with penuche icing (I have no clue how to pronounce that but it's basically a brown sugar icing I had a recipe for). As for real food, Josh grilled some tilapia which was very good. We had a new version of sausage casserole (with ground turkey and a lot of seasoning). Oh and fajitas! Since we're in Texas we wanted to try some mexican. Delicious! We also tried making some fresh guacamole which turned out good and Josh made himself some pimento cheese because he was craving home cooking. Good times!

Tilapia. Yum Fish!

Sausage... er, turkey casserole

Fajitas

Josh told me not to put this picture up, but it's just funny.

We officially got to see the Rangers Sunday afternoon! A friend of ours found us a great deal on tickets and so we got to sit in the heat and watch the Rangers v. Red Sox. It was a really exciting game and the Rangers won! I also decided that Julio Borbon is my new favorite player (I know that's random but someone might be interested).  I was thinking about the Braves the whole time, but it's hotter in Arlington than Atlanta. And it was really fun to see Boston too. Sports seem to be a really big deal here so we fit in just fine. We're looking forward to football season!

We're sweating to death but having fun despite the heat!

Go Rangers!

Well that's all for now. Keep us in your prayers, especially Josh as he starts classes. Maybe one day I'll be better about posting more blogs, but in the meantime we hope to hear from you! Thanks for all the prayers!

-Tiffany (as always, approved by Josh)

Life in Texas

I got a job! Thanks to everyone who was praying for my final interview! I'm going to be the administrative assistant for student ministries at McKinney Memorial Bible Church in Fort Worth. It's a perfect fit - it's close to the house, seems like a really fun environment, and supports a very God-centered ministry. Josh and I are so excited that God provided a job for me so quickly. God has already sent us so many surprising blessings already. It's such a great feeling to know that God is with us here and that we are following His plan for us.

Here's a summary of our latest adventures:

1. Laser tag with Church! The 5th and 6th graders (over 60 of them) went to a laser tag place here in town and Josh and I got to go along. It was really fun and I'm already starting to get to know some of the kids. They are all so energetic and we had a great time enjoying the organized chaos!

2. Cooking in General! Nothing earth-shattering I suppose, but I've been enjoying our cooking experiences. My personal favorite was pork chops with peaches and potatoes. It sounds gross but actually it was really tasty (the recipe came from Real Simple with a little of our own personal twist).

Na-coction. Thanks for the recipe Na!

Chicken 'n Rice

Pork, Potatoes, Peaches and Couscous

3. Garrett and Anna's Wedding! Anna, one of the interns Josh works with, got married and we got to go to the wedding. It was beautiful. Her wedding is going to be featured on a TLC wedding show. It's part of a contest with 4 brides and it should be interesting to see how it turns out. But her evening wedding with a cookie and milk and candy bar and photo booth gets my vote :-) It was really fun yet classy.

4. Visit to the Stockyards! It was my first experience seeing longhorns up close and personal (welcome to Texas!). We got to watch the cattle drive that goes up the main street of the stockyards. It's more like a saunter but it was still really fun. It was a good Texas experience in the hot weather, and I feel somewhat introduced to the cowboy culture here. I'm enjoying Texas!

Well that's about all that's going on right now. Keep praying for our ministry at Christ Chapel Bible Church with the Fish-Stix (Fifth and Sixth Graders). The youth leader, Ben, is on a mission trip in Tajikistan for the next 10 days so keep him and their team in your prayers as well. Remember us as I start work tomorrow and Josh starts classes soon. We love you all!

In Christ,

Tiffany (and Josh)