To Do or Not To Do

It’s official. I finally got the to do list out of my brain and onto paper. It didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, because the list is quite long, but I have been sleeping better since it’s somewhere besides my brain.

In an effort to get the list out, here it is:

• Call Comcast to deactivate service on June 25th
• Call Xcel to deactivate service on June 25th
• Get quotes from moving companies – Allied, ABF, United, etc.
• Get quotes from storage companies – Public Storage, PODS, etc.
• Choose moving and storage companies (Going with a local mini-storage, Manny’s Piano Moving, then ABF!)
• Find/buy moving boxes and moving supplies – Picked up a bunch for FREE!
• Sort through the things we have now and donate A BUNCH to Goodwill
• Pack!
• Continue to clean carpets
• House appraisal (scheduled for Thursday, May 26th at 10am)
• Withdraw money from accounts for closing
• Travel to Neenah to see my grandma (June 3-5)
• Travel to Omaha to see my parents and other grandma (June 10-12)
• Find new health insurance
• Find jobs
• Send out support letters (address, stamp, and mail!)
• Travel to Vegas to find a house (July 9-12)
• Figure out where to store the piano in July
• Change address – mail, checking accounts, investment accounts, etc.
• Send out change of address magnets to friends and family
• Sell my car
• Sell other things ?
• Get all papers organized so we don’t lose anything important in the midst of the move!
• Spend LOTS of quality time with friends and family in MN
• Change phone numbers once we’re in Vegas

I will try to cross things off this list as they are updated. Crossing things off is my FAVORITE part of making/having lists. Such a feeling of accomplishment.

In other, totally unrelated news, has everyone discovered Pinterest yet?! Because if you haven’t, you’re totally missing out. It’s awesome!

Have a great Wednesday!

[because all posts are better with Fran pics]

Thankful

The past few days, I feel as though God is showing me all the amazing things I have to be thankful for. Tonight, I’m feeling especially overwhelmed by how blessed I am. I don’t say this to brag or boast in what I have materially, but to boast in what God has provided for me.

• An incredible husband – who makes me feel loved, protected, confident, pretty, important, and valued
• An amazing family – the Hoods and the Lindstedts
• An amazing “extended” family – all of the incredible friends God has given me
• A beautiful home, that has provided many memories for us – all the way from getting ready for our wedding to selling in a short 6 weeks… all by the hand of God
• A loving church family
• A sweet little Fran
• A great job, with a great boss and coworkers
• A beautiful vision for the city of sin – and a way to get there and carry out that vision

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.  (Psalm 57:9-11)

At Last!

I’ve been waiting until I had some peace and quiet and the ability to process everything from the last few days. I can show you that God provides… and that without Him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

We received an offer on our house on Wednesday night, and met with our realtor on Thursday to accept it. Now, this wasn’t just any offer. It was an offer for our full asking price. The buyer did request that we pay closing costs, but we had already planned on that anyway. In this housing market, getting an offer… any offer… on a townhouse in six weeks is practically unheard of. We were expecting to wait at least three months to get an offer, then another two to close. However, the buyer has requested June 30th as our closing date. Which is perfect because…

When our friends, Ryan and Kristen, came to us with the dream of reaching Vegas, Kristen kept saying things about July 1st. For one reason or another, it was on her brain. And now, we will close the day before July 1st, allowing us to be free of our house on July 1st! God is working in the details like I never could have dreamed.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Happy hardly explains how we’re feeling about everything. Blown away would probably be a better description. It’s amazing to watch God come through on prayers that sound crazy. Everyone looks at us as though we’ve lost it when we tell them that we’re going to sell our townhouse and head across the country to spread God’s word. These little huge victories are showing us that God provides… exactly when we need it.

I had gotten pretty discouraged about selling our house when our realtor recommended we drop the price last Monday. However, by doing that, we received a full price offer (only $2,000 less than our original price!). By taking these steps of faith, even though I don’t like them at the time, I’m learning that God will come through – no matter what.

So, what now? We had the inspection today, as the sale was contingent on passing an inspection. We aren’t worried about passing, since we literally just had the house inspected less than two years ago. Next, we have to appraise at the right price, and then we close on June 30th!

If you would like to be added to our prayer/update list, please send me an email here with “Prayer List” in the subject line. You’ll get updates as soon as we know what’s going on!

Feeling It

Excitement.

Joy.

Happiness.

Faith.

Bittersweetness.

Sadness.

Fear.

Faith.

{Peace}

We’re feeling it all. But the feeling that pervades is faith. And with faith, comes peace. Even as we walk through the hard emotions, we constantly feel God upholding us and comforting us with the knowledge that we are doing what He is calling us to.

Praise to the One who came for us and who died to save us.

This week we remember the act that saved the world – the crucifixion of Jesus – the death of our Saviour to save our lives.

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22: 41-42)

The Next Step

As we began our journey to marriage, we constantly prayed that we would grow closer with one another as we grew closer with God. We prayed that God would use our marriage to influence the lives of others and that we would have deep faith as a couple. Little did we know, these prayers would lead to a great adventure in an attempt to advance the kingdom of God to those who don’t know Him.

In September, on an inconspicuous ride home from Dairy Queen, Ryan Lunceford told us that he and his family were going to start a church in Las Vegas. Ryan and Kristen have been our friends and mentors for years. Ryan helped teach Jordan about worship leading, playing guitar, and, most importantly living a life that honors God. Together, Ryan and Kristen mentored us as we pursued marriage, and taught us how to serve each other well in our relationship. The four of us have dreamt of starting a church for years – and we were excited to hear of the possibility of this dream coming to fruition.

Our initial gut reaction was that this was something we were being drawn to – so we decided to pray into it more as time went on. We were able to take a trip in November with Ryan and Kristen to help them find their Vegas home. It was clear to us that this was a place where we could live, we just weren’t sure when the time would come.

In December, we came to the realization that the timing wasn’t quite right for us, but we still felt that we were meant to be a part of this new church at some time. Little did we know, that time would come more quickly than we anticipated. Our lives started to be bombarded with reminders about Las Vegas – whether it was through music, media, or even random people’s blogs. It was crazy. We were still praying into what could be a huge leap of faith, and we were unable to get it out of our brains.

Since then, through lots of scripture reading, prayer, and intentional studying of various books and sermons, it has become abundantly clear that God wants us to be in Vegas with Advance Church as the first services begin. We have developed a burden for the people and the city of Las Vegas and we are excited to spread the gospel to Sin City.

At this point, our timeline is a little unclear – we are waiting for our townhouse to sell and for the right jobs to line up for each of us – but we are anticipating heading west sometime late summer. If you’re the praying type, we’d appreciate your prayers in those areas. Monthly preview services at Advance Church will begin in September and it is our plan to be there by then. For more information on the timeline for Advance church, you can click here. For even more info about Advance Church, check out www.advancevegas.com.

With this new transition, we have expected to deal with a variety of emotions. While we are extremely excited for what’s ahead, it is bittersweet for us to leave – the state where Jordan has lived for the last twenty years, the place where we met, the school that transformed our faith, the church that Jordan was raised in and in which we were married, the friends who have loved us so well, the extended Lindstedt and Heller families – but when God calls so clearly to a new adventure, we just can’t say no. We believe God has big plans for our lives and that this step will stretch us and grow our faith. We believe we will lead many people to Jesus through Advance Church, and that we will help turn a city of sin into a city of grace.

We can’t wait to see how God is going to work through this next step.

Relying on Jesus,

Jordan and Kristen

“If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.” (2^nd Corinthians 5:13, NLT)