The Dog Days of Summer

I love to cook =] Thought I'd share with you what was on the menu tonight...

 <----That, is one of the many reasons I love the farmers market and lucky for me there are quite a few random family run markets sprinkled throughout Black River Falls. The man who sold me these beauties was Amish and his name was Ben.







                           And this----------------------->
is the finished product. Probably one of my favorite summer meals of sauteed veggies-with lots of color. (Ben was fresh out of red peppers except for that one which I strategically placed on top for the sake of this picture, but you get the idea.

There was also delectable  chicken (it's not braggin' if it's true) marinated in a tomato basil cream sauce, along with a modified  fettuccine sauce on vegetable  noodles. There is no picture because the picture didn't show it justice and I didn't want to show you an icky food picture. Icky food pictures are the worst...

I love food, and icky food pictures just ruin food for me...like the time I saw a picture of a "well-balanced meal" in my health book that was obvoiusly taken in the 70's....I couldn't eat carrots, broccali, or turkey sandwiches for a month. Gross.

But back to nice things and good food...we had a perfect sunday afternoon with two of our friends last weekend. A picnic in  the yard with chicken wings of multiple seasonings, boiled cheesy  garlic potatoes, yummy fruit, green salad (complete with avocado -my current obsession) and s'mores by the fire- after a visit to the swimming hole during which Jackson (my adored dog) created many an awkward yet memorable moment. We found out he loves kids so that's good...he also thinks that anyone running is inviting him on an adventure, thinks it's fun to check babies diapers (cutest thing :P) and loves the water...so, so much.

When we first arrived there, I relished the various compliments  of  how well behaved he was. I may have taken a little pride in that since he's kind of my project right now. In previous visits this swimming hole was kind of a secret, or so we thought. It's a kayak landing nestled into the trees on the river, so I was rather  surprised to see a group of people camped out along the bank of "my swimming hole."  But upon Jackson proving his love for water and his distain of leaving it even for the sake of re-leaving himself, that problem was quickly solved... =/ How embarrassing. There was an audible groan followed by parents grabbing their children and...really it was just a horrible occurrence... Please don't judge me for my dog's behavior...also please believe that was truly horrified, but I couldn't help but laugh...a little..ok a lot. It's just that this kind of thing usually only happens to me and I find the luck (or lack there of) in my life just humorous. After 23 years of living this way- one makes due.

Hoping this is not a sign of my parenting skills. If there is any question please note: my parents are the proud legal owners of Jackson, the dog who *flunked  leader dogs school.

*Jackson actually did not flunk. He's very intelligent and actually passed all of his tests. The only problem was that he didn't bond with the person he was supposed to be paired up with to lead. We certainly didn't mind getting him back =]

Autumn's New Blog

Hello all!

It's been awhile, hasn't it? The A-Team has undergone a lot of transitions within the last few months, the main one being our big faith step of moving! Many of you have been so sweet to ask for updates and to continue in prayer for us,  and I'm sorry but at this time, while there are many things we are praying over, there is not just one main leading as of yet.We feel it's best that instead of telling you each step along the way, we simply ask you to pray for God's leading in our lives, as you've been doing. It's such a blessing to have soo many of our dear friends and family praying for us! We promise to update you when we know!

Right now we are safely tucked away on what feels like a little sabbatical to us. My parents, graciously offered for us to stay here in Black River rent free while we wait on God. I cannot tell you what a blessing it has been to not feel hurried into a making a decision. Ministry jobs are not the kind of jobs you want to take without careful consideration and much prayer!

Friends, we've been just blessed by God in more ways than I can tell you through this summer. Almost as soon as we came here, God provided work for John with Davis furniture ( a company two miles from our house) to build church pews, stadium seating, etc. and install it. He is learning so much about wood working and LOVES it.
Remember the bed he build me for our wedding?

He's hardly been able to do wood working since, and has had such a desire to grow in his knowledge of this hobby.

 I would venture to say that other than the long hours and coming home a bit dirtier than he did from the office, to him,  it hardly feels like work!

The past month I had the opportunity to work with my brother at the water park in our home town (as an 8 yr. vet, i might add ;-). It was fun to be back and to have the opportunity to work with and see my brother, who made a great boss/ head lifeguard.

Me and Garrett

I also had the chance to help a friend at Parkview with the drama section of vacation bible school this month. It was a western themed week and we had SO much fun doing it. It was a great script broken into 5 days, and on Sunday, we put them all together and did the drama for both services.

This is a photo of our set.

and this....

...is an epic photo of my mom being lassoed by my friend, Paul.  

In other news, I wanted to let you know that while I may not be  updating our "family" blog as often right now, I  am working on my creative writing, and started an additional blog in April entitled Undignified. I created this blog in an effort to practice my creative writing style, stretch myself theologically, and to encourage other worship leaders, ministry leaders and brother's and sister's in Christ to be raw and real without letting go of their doctrine and theology. I'm currently writing a series on the Emergent church fad called "I'm Just Being Real." I'd love for you to check it out and totally appreciate constructive feedback.

That's life with the A-Team (sorry, i'm the cheddery-est of cheeses with that title, but i love it.)

Have a wonderful day and thanks for praying with us!