Just a Christmas Photo

Here's a recent photo at one of our all-time favorite fast-food chicken restaurants.

Open House!

For all of you in MA or nearby we would love to see you!

If you haven't already heard, we are having an OPEN HOUSE Tomorrow- SUNDAY, December 27, ONE to FOUR PM, at Caroline's Parents house- 10 Smith Hill Road, Lincoln, MA, 01773

We have LOTS of yummy food we would love to share with you while you visit for a few minutes or the whole time!

We know it is a busy time of year, but hope to see many of you who are in town!

If you have questions etc, please call myself, Caroline, at 781 962 3577 or Nate at 774 239 1463

We hope you all had a MARVELOUS Christmas!!!!

Christmas Photo Outtakes

Here are a few favorites that didnt make the christmas card- but I think are kinda humurous and show the ever expanding belly!

How you might find us... jk:)

Not enough light...

I like this one, but we went with a more Christmas-y one:)


Christmas Cards to be sent soon for the "real" photo:) Watch the mail!

God Answers Prayer and Provides

A little over a week ago I realized that I haven't actually bought any maternity clothes! Both my mom and mom-in-law have bought me some new ones that are super cute and other friends have given me their super cute hand me downs. I am really amazing and thankful for this.

Last weekend a student from Penn State brought over two bags of BEAUTIFUL girl baby clothes, which not only included a ton of name brand outfits, but also little shoes, some blankets, books, and wooden toys!

Just this last weekend we saw friends who gave us a jogging stroller, baby swing, and more blocks than I could ever imagine playing with!

And those are things that just happened- I don't think we specifically prayed for them. But when we got back from FL, Nate and I have been trying to pray together more and specifically for "things". We have been lifting up our funding especially as we need to see a significant amount come in before the year is over- not only that we would be bold in asking, but for God to lay us on people's hearts to give. God has answered us already in two people we didn't even currently intiate with wanting to give! They called us:)

And last week I tried to sign up for a child birth class in the area only to find out it was full:( I was quite distressed, but kept praying about it and asked to be put on the waiting list. Within 24 hours, a couple changed classes and we were in:)! This was a HUGE relief as it was the only class I knew of in the area that fit our crazy schedule.

Last week we also prayed about finding the title to our car so we could be legal and have it registered here in PA before our insurance ran out for the year. We had looked in all the important paper places we had here, and asked Nate's parents if they had it... We weren't sure if this was going to mean lots of extra money getting a new copy of the title or going through papers all thanksgiving break... Thankfully, Nate's mom emailed him last tuesday saying she had found it!!! And sent it to us so now we can get all registered and legal!!!

And lastly, on Friday night Nate spoke at NavNight- our student gathering of about 200 students. He was kinda stressed about it- but we prayed all week God would point him to what to speak on.... He ended up giving his testimony about how God saves. And did an AMAZING job! He feels like God just really carried him through!

I feel like everything we have prayed about, God is answering in really direct and amazing ways. I know that is not always the case, but I want to praise him for that for right now:)

And here are two pics of Nate speaking this week:

Baby Girl Daman Update

When we got back from all our travels, we also had next baby doctor's appointment. And everything looks good, which we are SO thankful for! We did have another ultrasound because they wanted to check her spine (a routine thing) and had not been able to at our last appointment because of the way she was situated. Her spine looks good and we are definitly having a girl. We werent able to get a great profile shot, but she was looking at us, rubbed her eyes, and we got a great shot of her leg- its amazing! Maybe we have a little soccer star coming our way:) Its not the best quality, but here is the pic:

Family Visits, Fall Retreat and Florida

Or what we have been up to this last month:)

Life seems to continually fly by for us. Earlier this month Nate's parents came to visit which was so great. We showed them around State College and they helped us really put some finishing touches on our house. The next weekend Nate's sister and husband came to visit- we hadnt seen them since the day they got back from thier honeymoon, the same day we left for PA. We were so excited and grateful they would drive so long to see us:) We had a great, snowy, and chill time with them.

The next weekend we had the PSU Fall Retreat. Nate was in charge of the band for the weekend and I helped with some behind the scenes stuff like nametags and a devotional for the students for Sunday Morning. The week before the retreat Nate got sick:( He was in bed for almost two days... so pulling off the worship for the weekend was certainly a God thing. Thankfully I didnt get whatever he had and he was well enough for the retreat. Bob Turner who we know from MA was the speaker for the weekend. He talked about the journey of life and how to live intentionally. Even this week, almost two weeks later, as I met with some women, they shared how great the weekend was for not only bonding with other students, but the talks had helped them live intentionally. One girl said she was trying to be more senstive to the needs of others- especially her roommate in the little things. On monday night after the retreat, I got to go to a bible study hangout and I could see the change in the three freshmen women who are in my bible study. They seemed more like friends after the weekend:)

Tuesday morning after the retreat Nate and I woke up at 4 am to drive to SanDestin, FL with our neighbors/co-workers/friends, Jaime and Eric, for the National Collegiate Navigator Conference. This conference happens every 4 years so this was the first one for both Nate and me. It was awesome because we knew people! My first conference(s) with Navs with Nate were kinda hard for me because we both knew so few people. This one ended up being AMAZING on so many levels. Not only were we in a beautiful location (which reminded us of our honeymoon in Naples, FL), we learned so much! The speakers were insightful and we are both still chewing over what we learned, trying to take steps to implement it. We got to see a lot of staff friends from the NorthEast and around the country. We had fun at the beach:) And we are still great friends with our neighbors, Jaime and Eric:)

Wednesday we started to catch up on life in State College again. We only have two weeks now till we head to MA for Thanksgiving Break. We are excited to have a whole week to visit with people:) We hope to also come home for Christmas break as well.

This week will be full for both of us not only meeting with students and with bible studies, but Nate will be speaking at our NavNight (Large group friday night meeting). Please pray God helps him prepare for the talk and speaks through him!

And last but not least, a few pics from our adventures:

My baby belly walking the beach with our neighbors, Jaime and Eric:


Nate leading the student band at the Fall Retreat:


The women in my bible study (the sun was in our eyes):

SNOW in October!?!

This is what our backyard looks like today... craziness...

We are having a ....

GIRL!!!!

On Tuesday we went for my 20 week appointment and got to see our healthy baby girl:)
Everything looks at it should which we are most thankful for- here are some pics:


Nate and I at 19 weeks:

20 Weeks Belly Photo:

Fishies!!!

For a week we had pets! We started Saturday with almost 21 fish- leftover from the Navigator barn dance. Nate ran a booth "Gold Fish Toss" and at the end of the night we took home the rest of the prizes:) Here is a picture of the Nate with his set-up- as you can see he also did a great job dressing up a like red-neck.

We gave away some fish to our neighbors, some more to students, and tried to keep the rest. Our favorite was Bob:
But we loved the rest too!
We even went out and got them food and drops to make sure they had clean water. By thursday all the fishies had passed away:( It was fun while it lasted!

Baby Pictures

This is Baby Daman at 11 weeks... I have been meaning to post them for awhile- I am now at 16 weeks:)

Some great finds for our apartment

This is our FREE entertainment center we got from our landlords- they didnt need it anymore cause they got a big screen tv- which we enjoyed immensely as we stayed with them. But we still like our little tv too:)


This is our super comfy couch from Craigslist for $85!


This is our old couch with a new cover and pillows to match our curtains- we feel very coordinated!


This is the best deal yet and the first thing we have bought for Baby Daman- a $15 Rocking Chair! Moose and Roger are occupying it for now. And yep, we painted the babys room yellow!

Students are BACK!

Last Saturday we dove head first into student ministry at Penn State. At 8 am we headed about an hour away from State College to a camp for a leadership retreat. Almost 60 juniors and seniors from PSU joined us around 10 am who will be leading bible studies this year. The group is called "Oaks" from Isaiah 61 and will continue to meet for bible study prep and training on Monday nights. Each of us (nate and caroline) will help co-lead an "Oaks" group on Monday nights of about 8-10 men and women (respectively). This is an addition to the student(s) we will disciple and co-lead a freshmen bible study with. Confused yet? Its actually a pretty well organized system but I dont know how well I just explained it.

Saturday morning we spent time looking at Matthew 9- casting vision for why we want to lead new bible studies, especially with freshmen. This is the passage where Jesus talks about the harvest being plentiful but the workers are few. Despite there being SO many campus ministries at Penn State, maybe 4000 students are involved (generously) which leaves 40,000 students unreached. How can we tell them about Jesus??!!

Saturday afternoon we had some fun- and this is the only photo of the time I took:

Saturday afternoon they had a sweet time of prayer and personal reflection. I napped:) And Nate got to lead worship of a few songs for the time. Many people told me how great he was- yea! Way to go Nate!

Saturday night I got to connect with Anna and Tara, the juniors I am leading bible study with. Both are sweet girls who are excited to lead this year. I got to know them even better this week as we followed up with spiritual interest surveys in freshmen dorms. In just a little while I will grab dinner with them and hopefully some freshmen women who will join our bible study this year!

Saturday night we went over the monday meetings and some housekeeping items, but ended with smores and bonfire (again, i went to bed...)

Sunday we finished up the weekend with some funny skits about following up with people in their dorm rooms. Along with a devotional about evangelism and what it means.

All in all it was a great weekend, though a bit exhausting. Nate is leading with super senior Adam who is awesome. They spent time together this week in the dorm Tenor meeting guys. Last night they met up with some of them for ice cream and we will all try to start our bible study meetings on Monday night!

The rest of the week was filled up with manning survey tables where we give out candy and spiritual interest surveys for a raffle prize to find people who may be interested in bible study or learning about Jesus. Each night (mon-wed) we went into the dorms to follow up with those people. When we werent on campus, we trying to finish up things in our apartment- its really starting to feel like home- yea!

Tonight we are headed to our first NavNight- the large group meeting. It should be a great, if not overwhelming time!

Behind the scenes update...

As I have been posting some of the general news about our move, alot has been going on behind the scenes for us as well. Yesterday we sent a postcard to many of you and tonight I sent an email sharing that we are pregnant and that I have Papillary Thyroid Cancer. Below is Nate's account of it from August 3rd. I also added a few more recent updates at the end, to not leave you worried....

August 3, 2009

Caroline and I are sitting in the office of an Endocrinologist at the Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA. This is our first appointment of many here in PA. I thought it would be good to write down some of what we’ve been going through, if for no other reason than to be able to look back at this point in our lives and to see what God has brought us through. In the moment this storm seems quite difficult. We are dealing with one thing after another and it just doesn’t seem real, but I am confident that God will see us through, and that regardless of the outcomes, we can know and rely on God’s love and faithfulness to us. I think we are on the path to shalom, to peace, but this part of the road is very difficult for us.

We moved down to Penn State just two days ago, on August 1st. About a month before we moved, we realized that Caroline was pregnant with our first child! This was unexpected, but our response is thankfulness, joy, and excitement. God’s timing is not our own, but his timing is perfect. Caroline says that it’s almost like God knew that we were out of debt and that he knew we were ready to have a baby.

Just a few days later, Caroline had a routine physical with her doctor in Lexington, MA. Her doctor noticed that her thyroid seemed large, and suggested they do an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed a nodule a centimeter in diameter in her right lobe of her thyroid. The next step was aspiration, which ended up being a biopsy of sorts, and the lab work strongly suggested it was thyroid cancer—papillary carcinoma. I think we got the call that it was cancer on the Tuesday before we were moving.

On Tuesday night, Caroline showed me a bug bite she had. Over this past week, it has grown in size, and I happen to think it is Lyme Disease. It was the classic red and clear bulls-eye that you could see in images on Google. We delayed in getting it treated, because of our move and because we already had today’s appointment with the Endocrinologist scheduled.

On Thursday, we packed up the truck for our move to State College, cleaned up our apartment, and turned the keys over to Rebecca Daniels. The people who helped us move were: Rebecca Daniels, Paul and Katya Moran, Kevin and Martha Kohl, Rhiannon Baker, Hannah Daman, Rudy and Vicky brought food, and Dennis Lindblom.

On Friday, Caroline also began experiencing pain on her left side lower abdomen. This is the same side as her tick bite. We’re still not sure what it is, and I guess we’ll find out whether or not it’s our baby tomorrow at our appointment with the ObGyn. *We found out the next wednesday that it was probably soreness from moving or my growing uterus and nothing to be worried about. In order to check though we saw our first ultrasound of the baby- alive and well! Kicking and moving:) Absolutely amazing!!!!*

On Saturday, we drove down to Penn State, but it took a lot longer than we had previously expected. I decided we should both gas up in Sturbridge, MA, about 45 minutes into our journey. When Caroline went to start the car, the engine wouldn’t turn over. We called AAA, and they sent someone out to check the problem. After poking around and hitting on the starter with a hammer from under the vehicle, he concluded that our starter was dead. We called AAA again to see if they would send a tow truck.

While we were waiting for the tow truck, Caroline, seeing the camera in my hands, decided it would be safer in its case. The camera slipped from her hands and hit the pavement pretty hard. It doesn’t work anymore.

AAA did send a tow truck, and we left the truck at the Mobil station in Sturbridge. On our way (the opposite direction) back to Auburn to Firestone for a new starter, we were stuck in traffic for about a half hour. Turns out we were waiting for people to clear what remained of a fatal car accident. It’s amazing how short life is. I can’t imagine how devastated any remaining survivors from the crash might be. Life is so short.

We ended up at Firestone Tire, and they gave me a quote for $380+ dollars to replace our starter. I refused to sign the work order. Our AAA tow guy wasn’t allowed to leave our car. I went over to AutoZone next door to price starters. Firestone was going to charge me $220 just for the starter, and AutoZone told me it would cost $185 or so. Went I went back to Caroline, who was just eager to get back on the road, she asked if I wanted to check with Sears Auto, which was across from the parking lot. I ran over to check their prices, they quoted me installed for *around* $200. I decided to go with them. It turned out to be a lot more than they thought, but they took off about $40 for us because of their misquote, and they got us back on the road a whole lot faster than I thought they would. All in all, our delay took from around 9AM until around 1PM. We got lunch at Arby’s across the street from Sears (and across from the Auburn Mall), and were there when Sears Auto called to let us know our car was ready.

We went back to the Penske truck in Sturbridge, and soon after that we were on the road again. I think our delay cost about 4 hours and just over $310 for the tow and the repair.

We arrived in Penn State with no other incident on Saturday night, and were greeted by other Nav staff. Our truck was unloaded in minutes! It’s amazing to move into such an amazing community. They all are so friendly and kind and serving and loving. It’s a great place to be in such a crazy time.

Today we had our first appointment with the Endocrinologist. It went OK. They gave Caroline a prescription for antibiotics to treat her possible Lyme disease. They seemed concerned about the pain in her abdomen and told her not to lift anything. We’ll find out how worried we should be tomorrow at the ObGyn appointment.

Our Endocrinologist was also able to get us an appointment this afternoon for an ultrasound for Caroline’s thyroid. He wants to monitor it himself, and thinks that the best thing to do is to postpone surgery until after her pregnancy, and the second best thing is to have the surgery in the second trimester. We have another appointment with him 8 weeks from today. He’ll be monitoring her nodule for any changes.

That’s where Caroline is at the moment—getting her thyroid ultrasound.

Next up: 2 hour drive back to State College, then more painting or prep for painting???

We went to Hershey’s Chocolate World in between. *We still have been able to laugh and have fun through the midst of it all- Praise God!*

Back to Caroline, just to update. The cancer seems to NOT be growing right now- Praise God. Please pray with us for it to continue NOT to grow ever, but at least till after the baby is born. We are due February 21st. My thyroid is functioning normally so although there is cancer on it, it should not be affecting the baby. I'll be going back to the endocronologist in about five weeks to see if it has changed or not and we will go from there.. And our next baby appt is in September.

Thanks for being in this with us!

Our New Apartment

Back in April we visited State College for the first time. During our visit, we met with almost all of the current staff team. We got to walk through two of the couples homes who are owned by Dave and Cathy Bowman, our staff trainers here with the Navigators. As our visit was going so well, and it looked like we would be coming to State College, they brought up the idea of us living in their fourth duplex unit. They had inherited their current tenant when they bought the place and she was not very good (to say the least). They decided to pray about this option, as we decided whether to definitely come to PA. A few days after we arrived back in MA, they called and said they would like to rent to us if we were interested- we said YES! It is an affordable place and much bigger than our place in Worcester- 3 bedrooms, laundry, and a garage! (Nate is VERY thrilled about the garage). And this seemed way easier than trying to find a place from MA, not being able to visit again and not knowing the area. The only catch was that they needed to do ALOT of work on the place and the lease was not up till July 31st.

They worked it out with their tenant that she would leave on July 15th. That would give Dave two weeks before we arrived to start work on the place and before he went on vacation. New work included: new floors, painted walls, and general "work" - like patching over 500 holes in the wall! And installing a new toilet! However, on the 15th we got the call we were hoping NOT to get- she didn't leave:( The following week Dave actually rented a truck and helped her move out, but she stayed up to the very last minute on the 31st. But she did GO which we are so thankful for!

Dave quickly changed the locks, pulled up old carpet, and made sure the garage was clean and then left on his family vacation- which we also knew about- it had been planned for over a year with his daughter and her husband and his family. They had told us that would be the case from the very beginning, but it meant we arrived to a very not finished apartment. Instead of staying at our new place, we actually got to stay at the Bowmans which was a real treat. We got to know them so much better and more quickly than we would have meeting just once a week, for even two years perhaps. And they treated us so well! We ate amazing food every day and got to watch a TV on thier new big screen in HD:) I am not sure how I feel about leaving...

In those two weeks, Nate and friends painted all the walls, hardwood floor was laid in the living room/hallway, new carpet was installed in the upstairs bedrooms and downstairs, Nate and Dave laid a tile floor in the kitchen and bathroom, a new toilet was installed and blinds and so much more!

Today, after being in State College for over two weeks, we have moved in!!!! And some of our staff team even came over and prayed through each room with us, that they would be cleansed in Jesus' name from the past and be a NEW place of rest and welcoming and love and joy for us as we settle here for the next two years.

We aren't fully unpacked of course, but our bedroom and kitchen look pretty good. Unfortunately since our camera broke, we don't have any before pics, but we did get a new one so here are some after ones- more to come as we move even more in:)

Oh and we have gotten some amazing Craigslists deals like a rocking chair and couch! (pics of those to be posted later- forgot I hadnt taken any yet)

Our front door, with Dave's car parked in front of the garage.
All of our stuff in the garage.
Just SOME of the stuff they had to haul out of our place as they worked on it etc.
Our kitchen:)

I promise to post more once we get a bit more settled, but its come a long way and we are so thankful:) It feels like home already!

We made it to State College!

But it took us 13 hours!!! On Thursday morning we picked up our Penkse truck in the POURING rain. Nate headed to his old roomie's place to pick up his long lost grill now that we have a backyard and deck:) And then we headed to our friend Rebecca's who moved into our old place. We helped load her stuff into the truck and then headed to our place around noon to unload all her stuff into our old bedroom. Then we had lunch- thanks to Rudy and Vicky for bringing it over! Oh, and when we got to Rebecca's, the sun came out! So we did not have to move in the rain, just a really really hot and sunny day:)

Then we had more friends come and help us- Martha and Kevin Kohl, Hannah Daman, Rhiannon, Paul and Katya, and more! We got everything done so quickly- it was great. We even had help cleaning up at the end so we got to give our keys to Rebecca and have a great dinner at Bertucci's- after much needed showers:)

Friday ended up being a chill day which was nice- we hung out at the Damans. Nate sold one of our desks- yea! Put our "new" bikes in the truck and other last minute errands with his Dad. Friday night, the Bottchers came over and we celebrated! There are a few pics of this on fb.

Saturday morning the Daman-Papia clan got up early with us to have breakfast which was so nice, we said our goodbyes and headed out- Nate in the big yellow truck and I in our trusty Taurus. We got about 45 minutes into our drive, almost out of MA, and stopped for gas (it's generally cheaper in MA than in CT and NY). We filled up, I went to the bathroom, got back in the car....and it didn't start:(! Couldn't believe it. We had had the car looked over a few days before and got the green light for a long drive to PA, but apparently not:(

We called AAA and they came- the first guy came really quick and checked that it was not the battery and found out it was the starter. He said it was shot. But the regular mechanic he sends people to was out of town on vaca, being a Saturday in August, this was not surprising but very disappointing. He recommended we go to a Firestone Place in Auburn, about 13 miles away. So we called AAA again to get a tow this time. The second guy came pretty quick as well and we all piled in, leaving our unlocked Penske truck at the gas station- praying the whole time for God to keep our stuff safe. After traffic from a fatal car crash we made it to Firestone, where they were gonna charge us over $300 for a new starter! We were also right next to a Sears Autozone so Nate ran over there and asked for their quote- $200! So we had the car brought over there...where they quickly told us the part was more than they thought :( But at this point we didn't have a lot of choice, so we asked them to just do it as fast as possible. We walked across the street for some lunch, thinking we were gonna have to kill 2 hours, but they called us in 45 min and by 1 pm we were back on the road. We got our truck, all stuff still there, and quickly left MA!

We made it the rest of the way to PA without trouble, in the expected 7 hours or so. And when we arrived at our new place, our new neighbors and co-workers helped us unload right away which was SO helpful- and we even dropped our truck off that night.

I wish I had pictures to show of our entire adventure and our new place, but in the process of waiting for the tow truck I dropped and broke our camera:( so here are the last of our photos for a little while, documenting the beginning of our crazy time.

July 2009

July has flown by! I think we didn't really notice cause most of the time was cold and rainy:( This week, the week we are preparing to move, is actually warm though- of course! We are in the midst of boxes and preparing to go- bemoaning how much STUFF we have, but not wanting to part with too much of it, though we did take 5 or 6 bags to good will:)

I thought I would take a break and share a few fun moments from this month thus far. On July 4th we headed up to Canaan, NH for a night with the Peirce family. My great grandfather bought the house the year my dad was born- 1956- and I think both my Dad, me, bro and sis have been there at least once every summer since! July 4Th was one of the few sunny days around Boston this month, but as we drove into NH, it was rainy! I couldn't believe it. We still managed to have a good time eating and watching fire works. My brother, Matthew, left the following Wednesday for a year teaching in the Czech Republic, so it was good to see him one last time. Nate even cut down a few trees that had grown in the garden over the last ten years, and I fell down trying to help him, seriously scrapping my knee, two weeks before Laura Daman (now Papia)'s wedding! (at right is my family in NH, watching fire works)

Not too long after that, Laura Daman married Andy Papia, July 18th. The ceremony was at Trinity Church in Bolton, where Nate grew up, and the reception at his parents house. We spent most of the week celebrating or helping get ready- Nate mowed ALOT! (and Loved it!) Despite a huge thunderstorm, which struck a tree near the house, the night before, the wedding day was beautiful and sunny and went off without a hitch! (The Daman- Papia Clan is pictured- arent they happy?!)

Now our lives look alot more like this:
Thursday we rent a truck, Friday we celebrate Andy and Laura's return, Dad Daman's and Cousin Arlyn's Bday and goodbye to us with the Daman Clan, Saturday we drive to PA! I don't think we will be getting rid of the boxes too soon...

Graduation

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7, The Message.

Caroline and I are reading through The Message in our quiet times this year. So far I would give the translation mixed reviews. This passage in particular stood out to me in our reading this morning. As someone who grew up in the Church, and who can't really even remember a time when I wasn't somehow aware of God, I feel like this passage is speaking to me.

I've received Christ Jesus. I do want to trust him to lead me in my life decisions. Over the last twenty-nine years, I've learned from many different spiritual leaders and mentors, including my parents. I've pursued a relationship with Christ for many of these years through hearing, reading, studying, occasionally memorizing, and meditating on Scripture, spending time in prayer, worshiping God through music and service to others. Some of that was on my own, and some of that was carried out in community with others. I have some roots, and I hope some are deep. I know my way around the faith. And now I must do what I've been taught.

I've learned a lot over the years, and I've experienced a lot. But I am challenged by the seeming urgency of this phrase: “Now do what you've been taught.” I've put in a lot of study time, and I've often made excuses about not living it. I do want to be a life-long learner, but what good is it to only learn and never put into practice?

My feelings of inadequacy ebb and flow, but sometimes I know that I have something to offer—something to contribute. Following Jesus continues to impact my life, and I think people need a chance to know and follow him, too.

Enough sitting around already. Let's start living!

"To Pea or Not to Pea..."

When I was living my bachelor-lifestyle, eating out at Panera's more than eating in, my mother gave me several hand-written recipe cards for those moments where I felt both stingy and ambitious. Unfortunately, I don't know if I tried more than one or two of them. Of course, as Caroline and I were married, we combined our recipes and cook books together to form one big happy family.

For months now, Caroline assumed that these recipes from my mother hold special significance, and she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to surprise me with one of my favorite childhood dishes. I can only imagine Caroline's delight in putting two and two together when she realized that, despite how low we were getting on groceries, we had in our fridge and cupboard just the right ingredients for one of my favorite meals!

She even hinted at it earlier in the day. I was in my favorite orange chair typing away on my computer, and she, in passing, said, “I think I'm going to cook a meal that you'll really like tonight. It's one of your mother's recipes—the one with stuffing and eggs and cheese. It sounds so decadent,” and she smiled.

Honestly, I'm ashamed to say, I was rather unimpressed. First of all, I didn't recall ever hearing of such a recipe, and secondly, I was pretty sure that, even though the recipe was written in my mother's handwriting, there was a distinct possibility that it had never before been made by anyone except, perhaps, the person who gave it to my mother.

As we sat down to dinner a couple hours later, Caroline seemed excited. There were two stuffing and egg muffins topped with sharp Vermont cheddar cheese sitting on each of our plates. And there were peas. Lots and lots of peas. (Apparently, when Caroline was wrestling with the bag of frozen peas earlier, some spilled out, falling to the floor, and she figured it would be best to dump the rest into the bowl and cook them all at once.)

Conversation went from bad to worse, as we began vocalizing our thoughts about the meal, and quickly realized that underlying it all was a big misunderstanding. Caroline couldn't understand why I wasn't thrilled to have this particular dish for dinner, and I couldn't understand why Caroline thought that it was thrilling at all. At one point in our meal, in the midst of tears and laughter, and laughter and tears, Caroline got up for a Kleenex, and exclaimed, “This dinner was just not meant to be.” To which I retorted, “This dinner was just not meant to pea.” And we laughed and cried some more.

For the record, the meal wasn't so bad. And it is rather easy to make. I'll try to put the recipe in here so you can try it if you'd like. I think it would be a bit better with bacon.

Last night we had our second leaders meetings of WPI students... Before we got started with "The Fuel and The Flame" we had a little give away... as in, we have stuff to get rid of and rather than give it to goodwill, lets give it the students:)

So we spent 40 minutes playing BIBLE trivia to award these prizes, in winning order:

Matt- Scripture Memory Bear
Eric- Poster of Cats (that story will be in a later post)
Rudy- The lay on her head
Josh- finger puppets, including a Jesus Finger puppet for the finger puppet
And Jake- with possibly the only really useful thing- a lock for a laptop

We laughed so much and had so much fun and afterwards had a good time discussing CHARACTER....

Happy One Year Anniversary to Us!

So we have officially been married for one year and 5 days today:) We got to celebrate on Sunday night at the Wayside Inn where we were married last year. Some of you have probably already seen the pictures on fb, but I don't think everyone who reads this has fb and vice versa... so yea, I am posting about it in both places. We had a great time leisurely walking around, eating a full meal of delicious food for dinner, sleeping, and having a delicious and slow breakfast- all things we did NOT do last year when there:)

Liz Graduates from Wellesley

This is my grandmother, Beebe, my sister, Liz, and I at my sister's graduation yesterday from Wellesley in Wellesley, MA.

Amazingly, we represent three generations of Wellesley, '54, '04 and '09 which means we will all have the same reunions- along with Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright. haha.

It was a beautiful day, which threatened rain, but stayed dry and I was excited Nate got to see what my graduation day could have been like...

The most memorable moment was when Liz walked across the stage, well, almost didn't. They called the woman before her" "Jeannie Elizabeth Peace" but said "Peirce" and then the next two women as Liz stood there with a priceless expression of " oh my gosh, did I not graduate!!!!" and then they called her name to loud applause!!! Way to go LIZ!!! She is working at a computer camp this summer, and then off to graduate school in London in the fall- getting a masters in Electronic Publishing- so amazing of her!!!

Lord, Here I am, Send me

Thursday nights in June we have invited the leadership team of students over to our place for dinner and discussion of the book, The Fuel and The Flame. Nate and I received this book for free at one of our Edge Corps Summits and love it. Steve Shadrach has put together info from what seems like every Christian organization in one place- everything from the Navigators to Campus Crusade and in between. We gave the book as a thank you/parting gift to the lead team of this past year and next year. We figure since we cant be there next year, this is the next best thing:)

So Thursday was our first meeting- Jake, Josh, and Eric came over for dinner and then we began to discuss the book. We meant to go through a few chapters but only got through one. Oops- we will have to be a little better if we want to get through it all, but perhaps its better to be deeper anyways:)

Question 9 reads: "Are you able to pray the prayer that Luther Wishard (a student missionary) did in 1879: "Lord, I am willing to go anywhere at any time to do anything for Jesus"? Why or why not?"

What followed was an open and honest discussion from these young men about how they wanted to pray this prayer, but weren't sure they really could honestly. They love the Lord, but are they really willing to say- whatever you want God. Whatever that means. Wherever you want me to go. The chapter in the book told the stories of many student missionaries and how students of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had done so much for God- giving up their dreams, hopes, and lives for the gospel to go forth. Are we willing to persevere over the long haul to do the same? The guys weren't sure they could honestly say they would be willing to give up families and jobs for the gospel to go forth, yet.

Now, I have NO doubt these men love the Lord. But its a hard question to ask yourself- a hard decision to make and really mean it. And these guys are serious guys- when they prayer something they want to mean it wholeheartedly which is so awesome. And I think they will be praying about praying this prayer in the future.

Now Nate and I had a different perspective on this question which was pretty special for us. We had both started reading this book in Jan and Feb and written down our answers to this question- I wrote:

"YES!! I have prayed it but I think I've settled- Help Nate and I to truly be open to whatever you have for us Lord!"

Nate wrote:

"yes, but its becoming more difficult as are becoming more "rooted""

Months before our move to PA, God was preparing our hearts to follow him, together. how awesome is that.

God is good and sovereign. And we are so thankful for his purpose in our lives, to not only move us to PA, but to be able to poor into guys from WPI.

Thank you for being in this with us:)

~Caroline

Yep, definitely not very active on this thing yet... though with some of the changes that are coming, I think I will make myself be:) Though facebook certainly takes care of many of these details, i just think blogs are fun!

So yep, just sent out anther monthly update that is not exactly monthly. Only a few more days before the semester/school year is over for students.

Summary of CBF

At the end of each month, we are going to be meeting with the other religious advisors on campus about our groups- how we can work together and talk about what is going on. Nicole, the directory of Diversity at WPI, which religious life falls under, is putting together a bi-annual newsletter and asked us to write up something about CBF (Christian Bible Fellowship). Here is what Nate wrote which sums up what we are part of pretty well:

"Each Friday night, at seven o'clock, thirty to forty members of the greater WPI community--current students, alumni, a staff member or two, and occasionally a faculty member--gather together on campus for Christian fellowship, worship, and biblical teaching. WPI Christian Bible Fellowship is a non-denominational, evangelical group that sponsors many events and holds weekly meetings, but the focus of CBF is to facilitate opportunities for people to learn about and worship Jesus Christ.

For our weekly large-group meetings on Friday nights, CBF selectively invites adults connected to the greater WPI community to come share thoughts on God based on the Bible. One of our speakers this past semester was Chuck Vogt ('76). Along with former WPI students, Craig Parker and Chuck Dickert, Vogt started the WPI Christian Bible Fellowship in 1972, during their freshmen year. During his visit, Chuck seemed rather apologetic about the name. In a document entitled "A Brief History of the Christian Bible Fellowship," Vogt writes, "I have to let you know that the name 'CBF' was my idea. The thought was very simple, we were Christians, we were totally committed to the truth of the Bible and wanted that to be the basis of whatever we did, and we wanted Fellowship because it was pretty tough going and we needed Fellowship to encourage and help each other out in this journey we called Following Christ on a campus that wasn't overly sympathetic to our cause." He went on to say we could change it if we want to, but it seems that the name "CBF" is here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. After all, it is amazingly practical and descriptive, and how could people remember it if it were not an initialism or an acronym?

While the current members of CBF do not hold five A.M. Bible studies as did the founding members, CBF continues to hold several regular small group Bible studies at various times throughout the week. During the past semester there were five such meetings in addition to our Friday night Fellowship (FnF) and weekly prayer meeting. On Tuesday, senior Ben Gilde led a discussion on the book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by controversial pastor and author, Rob Bell. On Wednesday nights alumnus Nathan Smith ('00) and his wife hosted a Bible study at their home called "The Radical Story of Redemption." On Thursday mornings in A term, Adrián Mejía ('11) led a study to help Christians communicate clearly what we believe, and there were two Thursday night studies--one for women only led by Caroline Daman and Amanda Pollack ('09), and another for men only lead by Joshua Davidson ('11) and Nathan Horvath ('11). Each of these studies had between two and ten people in regular attendance.

We have made some adjustments to the Bible study schedule for this spring. The new studies and times are as follows: On Tuesday nights from eight to nine, Matthew Carey ('11) and Erik Carlson ('10) are leading a Bible study on the gospel of Matthew. The Smiths are hosting a study which meets in their home on Wednesday evenings. This semester they are taking an in-depth look at the book of James. Also on Wednesday nights, beginning at eight thirty, are both the women's and men's Bible studies. The women are examining the book of Colossians, and the men are analyzing the lives of biblical leaders such as Joseph. At ten o'clock, several of us gather to pray for each other, for WPI, and for other needs and concerns that are brought to our attention. On Thursday afternoons from three to four, Paul Moran ('08) and Katya Moran ('10) are leading a study on the Ten Commandments. Thursday evenings are kept free, and CBF members are encouraged to attend Ignite, an intercollegiate Christian worship service sponsored by the Worcester Collegiate Christian Network (WCCN). We continue to hold our large group meetings on Friday nights beginning at seven. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Early in B and D terms, CBF members head north to Andrew's Farm for a weekend retreat in Vermont. Nathan and Caroline Daman (on staff with The Navigators) spoke at this year's fall retreat, and the presentations and discussions were inspired by The Insider: Bringing the Kingdom of God into Your Everyday World, a book by Jim Petersen and Mike Shamy. About thirty students attended the fall retreat. Planning is currently underway for the spring retreat which is scheduled to be March 20-22, 2009. The speaker(s) are yet to be determined.

A new initiative is underway in CBF. A small group is getting together before our Friday night meetings to plan community service and outreach events. Our faith is meaningless if it is only confined to meeting rooms. Our belief in Jesus Christ should motivate us to love God and love all people. Jesus himself came "not to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:28), and we are exploring ways we can also serve right here at WPI and in Worcester, Massachusetts. If you care to learn more about the WPI Christian Bible Fellowship, we invite you to visit our website at www.wpi.edu/~cbf ."

Its been 3 Months...

Since I last wrote on the blog. Maybe this is not working out so well. But I think I will keep it for a bit longer still. Part of the problem is that it is through our joint email account, that I never check! So despite being logged into my own email account almost all day, I tend to forget what the password is for this one, well, at least I misspell the one for this one, and hence dont log in and never bother to type out what I am thinking about.

So today I am working on our newsletter, which is good cause we haven't sent one in almost four months. Hopefully you did receive our Christmas card, but we didn't send any news along with it. So unless you have seen us or sent us a personal email, you may not know how we have been- Good!

A lot is going on as we continue to figure out this whole marriage thing:) We had a GREAT Christmas- two full days of celebrating which was wonderful- with all our families. Next year is sure to be different as my brother heads to the Czech Republic and my sister was accepted to grad school in London. And more changes to come in Nate's family as well- but official updates on that later:)

We also got to go to Florida with my family to see my brother run his first marathon ever! It was SO great- he did SO well- qualifying to run in the upcoming Boston Marathon- I cant wait to cheer him on again! Nate also got to star in High School Musical and the Jesus Film- ask me more about that if you can:)

And since all that, we have been busy on campus- this semester has been off to a great start- we just feel like we are doing way more of the "right" stuff with our time- hanging out with students one on one as well as on Friday nights, socially, and in bible studies. Its been great. I am having lots of fun getting to know the women and trying to figure out what they struggle with as women at a majority male school, studying a male dominated field. Very different from my time at Wellesley:)

And our weekly training times with Jeff have been good too- a bible study and a reading through a book called "the Fuel and Flame." I love renewing my vision for college students- giving them an outward looking heart for the rest of thier lives.

Well, that is all for now. I will have to decide whether to let you all know about the blog soon in our newsletter or not... then maybe I will be more compelled to keep it and you updated on our lives!!!