NYC

I took Lindsay on a little surprise Valentines Day/Birthday vacation a few weeks ago to downtown New York City. We had a wonderful time visiting museums, parks, local shops, eateries, and sights. Here is a link to the first album of our NYC photos, here is a link to the second album. Enjoy.

Matt's Birthday

Yesterday (November 20th) was my Birthday. Lindsay and I celebrated the day before; she made me my favorite foods like Swedish meatballs, twice-baked potatoes, and apple crisp for dessert. Yea, I know ya'll are jealous.

Also, this photo below is completely unrelated, but I thought it was funny. So I decided that it should be here. She was cutting onions. Enjoy.

More Snow!

Some beautiful views of the early winter here in gorges Ithaca, New York! Click here to see more in an online album. Enjoy! "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

NE Staff Conference 08

This is a photo of all the Navigators Collegiate Staff in the NE region plus New York. We just spent Monday-Wednesday together in Plainfield, NH at our bi-annual staff conference. We always look forward to these events. We are all united in heart, passion, and vision. We share the same desires and struggles in campus ministry. We are greatly blessed by all these friends.

Thank you so much for tilling the soil of New England & New York hearts as you partner with us in prayer and financial support!

Staff Outing

Lindsay and I got some time on Cornell campus on Tuesday afternoon to get our Staff Affiliate ID's. We picked those up, and also acquired our bus & parking passes. Fortunately, Lindsay and I live only a few blocks from a bus that goes up the hill to campus every 10 minutes!

Also, on Wednesday (August 20th), our Cornell staff team drove 30 minutes west of Ithaca to Watkins Glen near Seneca Lake (the largest finger lake). There we hiked the glen of rock up and up past waterfall after waterfall. At the top we enjoyed a picnic lunch together. We had great opportunities to get to know one another better and bond as a team. We are all excited for the immediately approaching fall semester!



The other young married, Staff-In-Training, couple with us at Cornell.



Linday and another staff member.



Lindsay with part of our staff team.



Some shots of Watkins Glen.

We Have Arrived

After 12 hours in the truck, Lindsay and I finally pulled up in front of our very own apartment, in Ithaca, New York. We have not had a place to call our own since our honeymoon, and that ended about 7 weeks earlier. We were so tired, and yet so stoked to be there.

Our faithful friends and teammates came to help us unload at 8:30pm. We had everything out of the truck and into our apartment by 10:00pm. They even setup our new bed and put on sheets for us so we could just crash! What a blessing.

So here are some photos of our apartment in, what I affectionately like to call, the 'dynamited stage'. There is just stuff everywhere, but we are slowly working on reducing it to a minimum for now. We are acquiring pieces of furniture to put some of this 'stuff' into.



This is the 14' Uhaul truck that we drove from Mankato, MN all the way to Ithaca, NY. That 2 wheeler on the back is the dolly that we used to haul Buster, my Dodge Neon the whole way. (Not really as much as a hassle as I thought, thankfully.)



Obviously, at this point we just needed to start trashing some stuff.



This is our 2nd bedroom with attached bathroom. While Lindsay spent almost the entire day in the kitchen unpacking, I primarily spent my time unpacking and braking down boxes. Yummy.



It is becoming livable, more and more each day.



This is our bedroom.



The view from the bedroom into the living room/dining room. (Or will be when we get a dining table.)



This is the living room.

P.S. Please forgive me for the poor photographs. I have a hard time posting noisy, blurry, washed out photographs. But, it is the best I could do.

We Made it to Michigan

The following are a series of photographs from August 12th through the 13th. Loading the truck all the way to driving to Grand Rapids, Michigan. I will share the rest of the story in the next post. Enjoy.



This is Marcia (Lindsay's Mom) and I, posing with our 14' Uhaul truck. We had most of our stuff from Mankato, MN loaded in the truck at this point. We left the next morning (August 12th) for Rochester, MN to load all the stuff at my parents house there.



This is Lindsay and I posing like the 'American Gothic' painting by Grant Wood from 1930. Classic.



Lindsay and I with the truck fully loaded, before we leave.



Matt driving from Mankato, MN to Rochester, MN on August 12th.



Lindsay sleeping as I drive from Mankato, MN to Rochester, MN.



Some of the classic views of southern Minnesota as we drove.



We had just arrived in Rochester, MN at Matt's parents' home.



Matt driving for copious numbers of hours in that same position.



Lindsay, a little more awake this time around. My faithful companion in the journey. The journey that in total ended up being about 23 hours in the truck from Mankato, MN to Ithaca, NY. Glad to be here!



We arrived in Grand Rapids, MI and celebrated a wedding. Lindsay and I put on our best duds. Lindsay wearing a custom made silk dress direct from Wuhan, China that her brother had made for her during his time there. And, I was a groomsmen.



This is a photo of the happy couple, J and Amy. Lindsay and I had the privilege of driving around the happy couple after the ceremony. J and I were on the Navigator EDGE Corps program together at the University of Vermont together for the last 2 years, fall 06-spring 08. We had a great time with them.

Loading the Truck

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meghanandnick/1628541174/

Well, the time has finally come. Sometimes it seemed like it would never come, so far away. But here we are at last. We are leaving for Ithaca, New York this Wednesday!

The Lord has been gracious to us and provided 67% of our budget goal so far! We are so thankful for all the folks who have prayerfully & financially partnered with us thus far. With 3% more, we will be able to minister full-time on campus for the first 6 weeks.

Please continue to pray for 100% of our budget goal by August 21st! (If not 100%, at least our 70% minimum.) Please continue to pray that the Lord would lead us into financial partnership with new churches & individuals who would catch our vision for ministry & the Gospel!

Also, please pray that we would be able to connect with potential churches and individuals by phone. As most of our fund-raising at this point will now be done by phone.

We have almost completely packed up Lindsay's things here in Mankato, MN. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave for Rochester, MN to load a few of my things from home. Then, Wednesday morning we will drive our 14' Uhaul, with Buster (our Dodge Neon) dollied behind it, to Grand Rapids, MI (9 hour drive) for a friend's wedding in Holland, MI. We will stay there for a few days, then Saturday we will drive the rest of the way to Ithaca, NY (9 hour drive).

We are anxious to have our own space to settle into, to unpack, relax, and begin a normal routine. We are also anxious to bond with our staff team & get acquainted with the city.

Please pray for all the details of packing, moving, and our travel to MI & NY.

This may be our last post before we arrive in Ithaca, NY. Thank you all so much for your faithful partnership in prayer for us in this challenging & exciting time of transition!

Because He is able,

[M&L]

Rest & Preparation

Thank you so much for your prayers! Our ministry presentation at Christ Church PCA here in Mankato, Minnesota went very well. I believe that our heart for collegiate ministry and the Gospel was shared effectively, and people are responding. Thank you again, so much.

We arrived safely back to Mankato, MN Thursday night July 31st after a 2 week trip to Willmar, MN to visit friends & have opportunities to share about our ministry & financial needs. Thank you for your prayers during that time for our funding & safe travel.

The very next day, we went camping with Linday's parents to Sakatah State Park (about 30 mins. northeast of Mankato). We had an excellent & necessary time of rest & relaxation after our busy trips.

Now we're back into the regular schedule again & focusing on connecting with friends by phone. Please pray that we will connect with friends & potential financial partners over the phone.

I ask for this because, Linsday and I will officially be leaving for New York on Wednesday, August 13th next week. Thus, a large portion of our fund-raising work will be done via the phone from now on.

We plan to drive 9 hours to a wedding in Holland, Michigan, and then another 9 hours to Ithaca, NY a few days later. Please pray for all the travel preparations that need to happen between now and August 13th!

We are nearing 70% of our budget goal, thank you so much for your faithful petitions on our behalf! We are excited and thankful to see the Lord continue to provide for our needs. Please continue to pray for 100% of our budget goal by August 21st, when the dorms open!

Also, please continue to pray that the Lord would lead us to new friends & churches that would share our vision and partner with us financially! Thank you all for your faithful partnership in prayer & finances. You are truly the Lord's provision in our lives.

Because He is able,

[M&L]

Where are we?

Lindsay and I are currently in Willmar, Minnesota, connecting with friends and sharing about our ministry with the Navigators at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

We were planning on only being here till Sunday, July 27th. But it looks like we will be here into next week as well, seeking to connect with as many friends from this area as possible.

It seems that we will probably need to postpone our original launch date of August 3rd. Our revised launch date to Ithaca, New York seems to be more around the middle of the month, August 13th or so. Our funding base is still insufficient at this point to make the move, and we still have contacts here in Minnesota, so we will stay for a few more weeks.

We are praying for 100% funding by August 21st. Would you please pray with us?

(If not 100%, at least 70%. The Navigators desire for us to be in a firm financial position to minister effectively for a longer term capacity. So, they require us to be at a 70% minimum of our budget goal to be able to minister on campus for the 6 week 'fall launch'. And, if we are not at our 100% budget goal by the end of those 6 weeks, the Navigators require us to postpone ministering on campus and focus completely on our funding until we reach our 100% budget goal.)

Please continue to pray that the Lord would lead us to friends & churches that would share our vision and partner with us financially! Thank you all for your partnership in prayer & finances. You are the Lord's enabling & blessing to us.

Because He is able,

[M&L]