Biking Grannies Make for a Great Weekend!

Another wonderful weekend has come and gone, and we continually count our blessings for good health, wellness, and time with family and friends over the weekend. Our weekend started with grieving with friends from seminary who are mourning the loss of their baby. I know there will be highs and lows in ministry, but I would find it hard to experience a more somber moment then mourning the death of a baby. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our friends who continue to hurt. We continue to be thankful for the health of Sophia as she continues to grow, cut teeth, and climb and fall.

On the other end of the spectrum, we celebrate new life with Matt and Kelly as they welcomed their third child into the world last week. A healthy baby girl was born, and the family is doing well (although Matt’s cooking skills have taken a turn south).

Our weekend travels began with a stop at the cabin along the Wapsie of our friends Clare and Karen. We enjoyed visiting, some good cake and homemade ice cream, a pontoon ride, and a couple of ice cold beverages. Thanks Karen and Clare for your hospitality and also for letting us crash at your place. Our celebration continued on into Waterloo as we began celebrating the eternal union of Paige and Matt! Melissa’s work at the rehearsal and wedding was outstanding, and there were even some local celebrities in the crowd (a U.S. Congressman and 2 Division 1 basketball coaches)!

Sunday was a nice family day, as Richard and Eileen hosted a deck party for their offspring and parents. The food was good, the conversation great, and the memories for a lifetime. The highlight for many was seeing each Grandma hop on the motorcycle and go for a ride with Lou (thanks for bringing them back safely). In the midst of their youth, both of my grandmothers ‘hopped on’ the bike and enjoyed a ride through the streets of Manchester. Seeing both my grandmas do something so invigorating and thrilling at their age was both inspirational and enlightening. Other highlights include homemade ice cream, beginning discussion for Mom and Dad’s 50^th wedding anniversary (next year), and all the laughter.

Monday, the celebration of the Labor Movement and appreciation of the working person, included some rest, relaxation, visiting friends, and worship! The Smothers family graced our house with the 6 family members and 2 bags of books! It was great to see T Smo and the family, and we had some great conversation (although the time was short, we made the best of it)! The afternoon was spent hanging out with some neighbors and kids, and this evening the 159^th academic year at Wartburg Seminary began with a worship service. The welcome to the community, the celebration and tradition, and the time spent in community worship was the perfect way to get the school year started. It is almost like the people planning worship knew exactly what was needed!

On top of a wonderful weekend, we are excited to announce that Melissa has been offered and accepted a part-time call and again will be providing for the family! School starts with ‘Ministry in Context’ on Tuesday, September 4, and Melissa begins later this month.

What Just Happened?

Well- there it was- 5 weeks! In our attempt to be better at blogging more regularly, we have already slipped. So is life, I guess. The changes in the last 5 weeks have been hard to keep up with. Melissa and Sophia finally joined Paul in Dubuque in the middle of August, after Melissa completed her final tasks in her first call at Zion. Paul endured, survived, and passed the most difficult academic challenge yet, and made it through the 6 week intensive Greek class. There were new and deep friendships made, some laughter along the way, and a new approach to reading the New Testament!

With living in a new place comes new social opportunities. We could not be more happy to live ‘in the fishbowl.’ With other families within feet of our front door, we have ‘adopted’ new kids, spent hours at the sandbox, and enjoyed meals and conversation with many neighbors. The community is tight-knit, caring, supportive, and wonderful. Amidst all the classes, homework, and reading, families still get together at meals and in the evening in fellowship.

We WILL be better  (more a promise for ourselves than a demand to you) at updating our blog. For now, it is lunch time and perhaps an afternoon nap to celebrate our abundance of blessings!

First Week of Greek!!

It is Friday the 27th! WTS M.Div incoming class of 2012 is nearly 20% done with the intense study of Biblical Greek!

In the world of academics, this is by far the most challenging subject encountered yet! Things I have learned through Greek (but not about Greek):

*I have wonderful classmates who will help me grow, learn and develop.
*I have an instructor who is intelligent, witty, funny, patient, and helpful.
*English language structure and grammar
*Classmates can do 'service projects' in the midst of intense language study
*A good spouse enhances the process by taking care of family/house matters

Although Melissa and I have not seen each other a whole lot, we are both doing well, and enjoyed a quiet night in as Sophia stayed with G & G Waterman and Carlos spent his last evening on the house boat. Melissa has been great about doing things around the house, taking care of Sophia, and even having a little fun during her week of vacation! I greatly appreciate her help and could not spend the time and energy studying without her help!

Many blessings abound, and many people need lifted up in prayer! Call, mail, email, or even better, come visit!

New Beginnings for the Waterman Family!!!

This week was the new beginning for all of us in the Waterman household. After months of packing, cleaning, cleansing, and more packing, we have made it to Dubuque! After a 26 foot UHaul trip, 2 trips with the van, truck, and trailer, we have realized we have too much stuff (as if that is a brand new idea)! Despite our effort to live more simply, we have a long ways to go. Thank you to the men and women who have helped pack, load, watch Sophia, brought treats/ice/helping hands, unload, unpack, hang curtains, etc. We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends!

So far this week, we have had plenty of new beginnings.

Carlos- started Sunday afternoon at his first day of EWALU camp. He will be hanging with his cousins/aunt, friends, and a couple of staff members on a house boat on the mighty Mississippi! It will be interesting to hear about his experience!

Sophia- our nearly nine month old girl has cut her first tooth! She is a chomping and drooling, so I am sure there will be others to join the solo tooth soon!

Melissa- she is happy as a clam this week as she gets to rest and relax (between unpacking and other things) in our new dwelling! We have a very nice duplex, and we hope to have lots of visitors!

Paul- Studying his fourth language, Paul is chin deep in Greek!  Literally, the last 2 days have been Greek class, eat, Greek study, eat, Greek study, watch the news, and bed! It has been one of the most challenging, yet enjoyable things I have done in academia!

We hope you are all doing well and will come visit us sometime! If you need directions, email us, or give us a call! Blessings!

Getting closer

Well the count down is this:
2 days until we leave for our much needed vacation to Texas to see family and friends
11 days until the moving truck is here and our stuff better be ready to load
12 days until we move to Dubuque

This month is going to be crazy but its a good crazy.  We have waited a long time for our vacation and we are excited to get back to Texas before our move.  We have a wedding to go to and family and friends to visit with.  YEAH!  I (Melissa) am quite excited to see how Sophia does.  We have food and snacks ready for her along with the DVD for some movies.  At such a young age, she loves anything that has a screen. 

Moving to Dubuque and getting settled will take a couple of days/weeks.

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin our vacation and journey to Dubuque.  Hopefully after our move, things will slow down for us a bit.  We have been quite busy for the last 4 months. 

My final day at Zion is August 12th so I don't have many days left at my job either.  Paul ended his time at UNI and has been daddy day care while I work.  He's doing a fantastic job. 

That's all I know for now.  The next update probably will be from Dubuque after we are settled and have internet!!!  Thanks for reading our blog and staying connected with the Waterman family!!!!

Having fun!!

We have a lot of transitions and changes a head of us, but this last week was a lot of fun.  Paul had a bachelor party in Cedar Rapids on Saturday for one of his high school friends.  I actually watched a few movies while he was gone and that was FUN!  We went to the Waterloo Buck's game on Friday night and we watched the game in style from the suite...also got a lot to eat and drink!!

Then on Father's day we treated Paul to a day of surprises....went to Cedar Rapids (again for Paul) to eat the lunch buffet at Granite City.  It was awesome!  We've been talking about going to Granite City after church for a while and we've never done it so we did.  Then we came home and headed out to The Isle!!!  We stayed over night for $19!!!!  What a deal!  Sophia got to go swimming for the first time.  Here is a picture:

The latest on the house is that the inspection was done on Monday and we got the report yesterday.  We have a couple of things to fix by June 29th and then the appraisal.  We are slowly getting closer and this weekend we hope to accomplish those tasks as we are on a time crunch and have a busy week next week.

Carlos used some of his graduation money and bought a new lap top last night.  I purchased a new washer/dryer for our duplex.  Had the best customer service I've had in a very long time at Lowe's in Dubuque.  Shannon was amazing.  I have an interview in Dubuque tomorrow (Friday) at US Bank so that's a little movement for me on the job front.  I've still been applying for jobs and getting the word out to people so hopefully something comes along my way soon. 

Have a great weekend.  We hope to go to Sturgis Falls in Cedar Falls for a little bit, work on the inspection project list, and have another fun weekend together as a family. 

Slowly but surely

Well, we keep plugging away with life and everything that life brings us.  We finally accepted an offer on our house this week so as long as things fall into place, we will be closing on our house July 27th.  Either way, we plan to move from Waterloo to Dubuque July 15-16.  If anyone wants to help, we could use some extra muscles and hands.  I won't be moving or lifting too much because of my back, but we will get it done.  Sophia also needs someone to play with her while we are busy so babysitting is always a possibility. 

We are still staying busy, but its been a very enjoyable June.  We haven't had committments on the weekends so we are able to get stuff done with we need to get done.  Carlos is preparing for his move to college at Grandview.  He'll be leaving August 2nd.

Sophia is done with day care at the end of June.  We are taking a family vacation to Texas in July, moving to Dubuque, closing on our house, and adjust to our new life in Dubuque.  I'm excited to be around friends that I had while I lived in Dubuque 2000-2004 and to have Paul's sister Robin in town.  I haven't lived in the same town as my family for 12 years and I miss not having family in town.

Paul is done at UNI June 29th.  We have some plans to attend some Buck's baseball games and we enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster last night to celebrate all our hard work and dedication to getting things ready for our move.  It's been tough and we've been exhausted, but it will get better.

We obviously haven't been alone in this process.  God has been helping direct our decisions and given us wonderful family/friends for support, encouragement, and help.  We couldn't have come this far in our journey without you.  THANK YOU!!!

We are excited for this move and what God has planned.  I'm still looking hard for a job or new call.  After our council meeting tonight, I will be done on August 15th from Zion and my last Sunday is August 12th. 

Have a great weekend!  Looking forward to celebrating Father's day with my best friend and life long partner.  The day will be full of surprises and Paul has no idea what our plans will be.  It will be fun...that's all I'm sharing at this time!!!