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!

My Eyes are Fixed

It's 5 to midnight and I'm still awake....The students have been talking all week about how excited they are for our intercity missions  trip starting tomorrow, but I think I had so many other things going on, I didn't have time to really think beyond check-lists to parents and paperwork...etc. Now, as I sit here, duffel bag packed, ipod and  camera charging, husband sleeping...I am deep in thought about this trip for the first time.

I feel the way I felt years ago before going on an outing with my youth group in 7th grade. The night before we were to leave, my mom came into my room and asked if I'd been praying about the trip. I told her I really hadn't given it much thought. Other than spending time with friends and traveling, I wasn't sure what else to expect. She reminded me that God could have an amazing agenda for this week and that I needed to open my heart so that I could hear what he was trying to say to me. So, I prayed, then went to bed.

Tonight I realize that again, I have the opportunity, to not only lead these students on a trip, but come along side of them as God works in their hearts. I'm not content with the disinterested, non- committal attitudes I've seen  in some this year. I want to see God do something mighty in the lives of these teens and I disparately desire for those that do not know the Lord as Savior and King to come to a deep and real understanding of what that means, the way I did that week when I was in 7th grade. Thank the Lord the pressure is not on me, but that I have the privilege of walking along side these teens as the Lord makes himself known to them this week.

I also realized tonight that the Lord has something genuine planned for me through this week. I can't put my finger on what that is, but I know that there is a reason I am still up contemplating what we are about to embark upon. As I align my will with that of Christ, by spending time pouring over his word, I am so reminded and comforted by the refuge and strength that he provides for the weary and the weak. My perspective is renewed and my heart is at peace.

Will you as our prayer partners please join us in praying for the 15 students, the four adult leaders, and the many we will come into contact with on this trip?

Thankful for you and praising God for partners in the gospel,

Auti Anderson

"But my eyes are fixed on you O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge..." Psalm 141:8a

When I Am Weak Then I Am Strong

This past Sunday my husband had the opportunity to preach here at KAC. It was a crazy week and he was commited to many things that weekend let alone being the sole pastor at church while General Counsel  was being held in Kansas City. By the time Saturday night rolled around, I looked at him sympathetically and asked how he was doing. He smiled that strong smile that always makes me feel like he has a secret and said, "I am held by God. He is good to me." I just thought to myself, "I hate that I get more nervous for him during crazy times than he actually gets!" 

But I realized, my husband is living like he believes  everything God says is true.  He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5)." He says, "Look, for I am about to do something new. See I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create streams in the desert (Isaiah 43:19)." He says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 2:9b)."

As I sat and listened to my husband preach on Sunday morning not knowing anything ahead of time but his topic, I was in awe of God's power as he spoke through my husband who I knew was only an empty vessel wanting desperately  to be used by our mighty King. That said, I want to share with you how God spoke to me through my husband. Glory to God.

http://www.kielcma.com/site/audiodownloads.asp?sec_id=180003572

By Faith- 2 Cor. 5:7

I've had plans to write on this day, the 28th of May, for two weeks, as this is my first day off in a month. My husband reminded me this morning that today  I don't have any commitments which was so relieving to hear. So here i sit in my favorite spot with my favorite bowl full of cereal and my tea cup full listening to the song birds chirp their morning tune outside my window.



It's the simple things in life that make days like today best. As I enjoyed the opportunity to leisurely make my bed this morning, I realized how truly busy I have been. When John and I first moved here, I remember a talk we had on the river while he fished. I told him I was panicking as I applied to jobs and grad. school as quickly as I could. He asked why I thought I had to hurry to do that, and that's when I realized for the first time in my life, if I didn't want to, I didn't have to always be working towards something. I could get a normal job, and just relax and settle into married life. Eventually God provided a job for me that I loved and I began to work, but work became an escape for me from John's work. Being married and being in ministry as a couple both first times, is not something John and I would be quick to recommend to young newly married ministry couples. It was a crash course for us, and we are grateful, but at times we so wish that we could have spent this first year focusing on getting to know each other. God taught us so much about loving people,about what it means to give, and we are continuously thankful for the way God used all difficult circumstances of a "first year" to draw us closer to each other and to our Father God. 



A couple months ago, as we realized we were coming to the close of our first year together, God laid on both our hearts that something was was going to change. A mentor of ours challenged us to seek God's will consistently for where we serve as a couple-even when we feel we are in the right place- to keep our dependency on the Lord. As we began to pray, and talk together, the Lord revealed to us in many ways, that we were no longer the right fit as a Pastoral couple for Kiel Alliance Church and asked us to step out in faith, and move on. Part of us is glad and excited for what he has in store and the other part is scared, and in deep grief because after almost a year, we have developed some friendships with students and families that we hate to leave.



Even the best writers can't explain God in a few paragraphs, or even an entire book, and my attempt here is really not to try to explain God or his will for us because we don't claim to know. My hope in sharing this is that in knowing at little bit about our journey right now,  you will hold us up in prayer. That you would pray protection over us and protection over the church we are leaving. Pray for the right person to come and to be a blessing to this church and that this church would be a blessing to him and his family. Please pray blessing with us over this town, over our coworkers, and pray that the seeds that have been planted here in Kiel, Wi, would continued to be watered and would grow strong pointing always to God's faithfulness. Finally, please pray that our eyes and our hearts would be open so that when the time is right we will be able to see and to know where God is leading us to serve.


As always, we thank you for your support,

John and Autumn Anderson
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Date Night

One of my very favorite things of late is Friday night- date night. Life has gotten a lot busier since I took a full time job in Sheboygan and though I truly love my job, I really miss those early afternoons and evenings with my husband.
During the girls nap on Friday I interviewed Dana, a local of Sheboygan, hoping she would have some new places for us to add to our GPS for date night. After she provided me with her favorites along with catagories to help me decide, I texted John some websites so he could make the final decision between Italian on the Lake or Sushi on 8th St.

After bidding the girls goodbye for the weekend I slipped on my sunnies and turned up the radio as is  my Friday after- work custom. Pulling into my driveway I was delighted to see a boyish Johnny practicing his fly-fishing in the front yard =] Sidenote: This week he bought his WI fishing license and has been pouring over the manual like it's the Bible. Yes, I would venture to say he's in need of a vacation.

When he saw me he greeted me with a big smile and kiss and a story  about his perfect afternoon disking with a friend followed by ice cream. I was still sitting in the car at this point and he put his left  hand on the roof to lean against the car when our perfect date night was altered by one detail he forgot to mention when giving me the rundown of his afternoon. While disking, it seemed a disk had gone into the river (not an uncommon occurance while we were at Crown) and he deemed it a good excuse to go for a swim, not knowing that THAT disc would go up in value by quite a bit following that swim...when putting his hand on the car he waited unconsciously for the "clink" of his wedding ring. Nothing. So...date night turned into a couple of calls and a shopping trip to the jewelry store to find something while we wait for a duplicate to arrive in the mail. My poor husband. Honestly I think it affected him more than it affected my sentimental self. He acted on getting another immediately after we searched the grass by the river. I mostly feel bad for him having to deal with my lecture following the event, but I share this story because as much as it bothers us both we had to laugh knowing there are far worse things than losing a wedding ring in a river.Also, to brag about how much my husband loves me. (My wise  mother gave me a little insight when I called her crying  and she asked me where John was. I said I was in "my" room and he was out looking for it... "Autumn Rose, I'm going to hang up if you don't go apologize to that poor man right now!" Did I mention he also graciously offered to call a friend with a scuba suit after it registered to me that he could have DIED jumping in the 5 ft. deep river in 45 degree weather?

That disk might get framed for Christmas, I love my husband,  The End.

Cheap-o and the On-Call Nanny

I finally caved and decided to give John and hair cut. It doesn't look great, but it's cut. He politely said he would go get another  tomorrow and I can't help but feel I've won the battle. I didn't cut it poorly on purpose--In fact, it went exactly the way I thought it would go all along. That is why I have been insisting it's better to pay for one upfront than pay for my mistake, but the cheap-o in him prevailed, and I felt the need to prove myself.

This morning I was scheduled for nursery duty at the church...a new role for me as is the children's ministry in general. Thinking I had a day off from nanny duty since I have the toddler class for only about an hour, I plopped a sleepy child on my lap and pulled out the play-doe. Moments later, after the rest of the children had arrived, and everyone had their favorite color in hand, my helper and I discovered what seemed to be the first dirty diaper  toddler her nursery duty career thus far. Flipping a coin flashed across my mind, but the poor dear was only in 6th grade and has her whole life ahead of her...the obligation was clearly mine. The events that followed are really a blur of what I believe to be me trying to reason with a 2 year old that his diaper was in dire need of changing. The child who was cuddling in my lap moments ago was now making a bee line for the door somehow managing to outsmart even the creators of  One Step Ahead baby proofing. He made a dash for the sanctuary and I literally breathed a prayer that I would be able to catch him in time. I did, and from there the conversation went  something like this:
Him: "No Diaper Change! Balls!
Me: "Trust me, this is critical and as soon as we're done, we will play with the balls."
Him: "Pants on! No!
Me: "Did you go poopy?"
Him: [Silent, then points to other little boy] "He did it!"

Amazingly,  as I took the time to check, not wanting to be mistaken, child #1 took the liberty to dodge yet again, and hide under the table. Thankfully, child #2 was clean. Back on the chase for child #1, and yes we eventually prevailed.

Meanwhile, Child # 2 had his own very eventful five minutes. This job was not as lively as the later  but followed with child # 3 confronting me [basically] with the fact that she felt she  wasn't getting enough attention.
She: I need my diaper changed.
Me: You do? [sniff] Are you wet?
She: No
Me: Stinky?
She: No.
Me: Well then you don't need your diaper changed.
She: [Giggles]
Me: Did you just feel left out?
She: Yes, I did.

Needless to say, I was mistaken to believe that I would be off duty this morning as a child care provider, and yet somehow I didn't really mind ;-)