Fall

These pictures do not do it just. It has been stunning! Unfortunately, the leaves are starting to fall. I wish these colors would stay a bit longer.

It's the Little Things

When you don't have kids, its the little things that make for an interesting blog. I have never burned a candle from top to bottom, till now. When you live in a dorm of stinky boys, you seem to always need a candle burning. So here is a picture of my fully used candle. Now aren't you excited to know that:)

A Care Package…

…Sprague Style! Today, I got a care package from my Dad. What was in it? Three different flashlights and replacement batteries for one I already had. All I did was mention the batteries were out in mine and He was all over helping me out with it. You always take care of us Dad…Thanks!

Home

I arrived home safely to my husband at 2am. Happy to be with him again. Realizing that I am not quite myself without him. Thankful for the opportunity to hang out with my nephews. I pray that in some small way I can be a part of 'romancing' their hearts. I hope that one day they know that their Aunt Joanna really loves them. And I am always amazed watching Jody and Andy, and I am challenged by their desire to not live safe, but with reckless abandon. I'm off to go watch Ellie, a little easier to handle than four boys:)

Uncle Taylor's Idea

Shaving Cream Tag---would have been a great idea if I had someone to help me clean up afterwards.

Don't Worry Jody

Your boys are in great hands!

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Pizza, Movies, & Root Beer Floats

Playing Band

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Not Ready Yet

Quincy seems to have a short memory, he continues to call me "mom", usually when he is whining about something. I look forward to one day being a mom, but not yet. Right now, I enjoy being Aunt Joanna.

Good with two

I successfully got the two younger boys fed, bathed and in bed last night. We even had time to play band and drink root beer floats.

Tonight I have all 4 boys, thankfully their dad picked up several movies to keep us occupied.

World's Best

Because I am the best sister in the world, I traveled to Iowa yesterday to help watch my nephews while Jody is in Colorado at an adoption conference. It was not a hard sacrifice to make, I love spending time with my nephews. The boys were a little disappointed that I didn't bring Uncle Taylor with me. I'm just not that exciting. However, Taylor did send me with a list of fun and destructive:) activities to do. I am excited to have more things to blog about.
Jody here is proof that all the boys are alive and well and off to school on time.

SUNDAY

Welcome Mom and Dad Lorenzen to Pennsylvania, breakfast, coffee and conversation, church, lunch, walked it off through the beautiful hills, talked about life, Pier 1 and Lowes, put it back on at Texas Roadhouse for dinner, Michael Clayton (a movie), Starbucks, thoroughly broke down and spiritualized the movie on the drive home, a little TV, solved the worlds problems, sweet dreams.

Louder than Creation

I heard a worship song this past weekend. For the life of me, I can't find the name or the full lyrics, but it struck me. The song spoke of a life shining brighter for God than the stars in the sky; a life singing louder than creation. These things that remind me just how big God is and how amazingly creative He is, can my life glorify Him more than these? How humbling...How inspiring.

CLASS A!

As Joanna has started school again, she has been a little unsure of how she would do in master level courses. She should worry no more! My incredible wife aced her first assignment and scored way better than the rest of the class! I know....She's amazing!

Somewhere in the Middle

"Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me. Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control--Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense--Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle--With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is-But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle." Casting Crowns

Trouble Sleeping

Last night, I went to bed before Taylor. He was getting ready to leave today for Atlanta. My thoughts were consumed with Zeke and Kora (my niece and nephew). My dad just returned from Africa. He got to spend some time with them. I'm jealous. I can only imagine how anxious it must make my sister and Andy. We are all waiting with great expectation for the day that they get to come home. However, I was thinking about their transition from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Muscatine, Iowa. I wonder how they will react the first time they see it snow, what they will think of all these white boys, and what they will think of the music that constantly fills the Landers household. What will they think we they go to church the first time? What will it be like for them to be kissed every night, every morning, and thousand times in between? Who will be their favorite Aunt? Ok, I already know the answer to that question:) All this to say, I can not wait to have Zeke and Kora home. I am so thankful that Jody and Andy allowed their lives to be burdened with love for children without families. We will never be the same! Jody, you are not the only one having trouble sleeping.

Hot-lanta

Taylor is off to Atlanta, GA this week. He along with Ryan Holt, Sarah Dompier, Jeff Kirksey, and Travis York are taking 20 student leaders down to the Catalyst Conference. This is a leadership conference that is quite the deal. Some noted speakers: Erwin McManus, Andy Stanley, Shane Claiborn, and Rick Warren. Some events from last year: Set world record for most people in pillow fight, Jeff Foxworthy showed up, and there was a monkey on stage. Oh Boy!

Toby

We would like to introduce you to our new friend...Toby Jensen. His parents, Brian and Sara, are the new resident directors up in the apartments. We have really enjoyed getting to know them. Toby is about 1 and half years old. He is now the big man on campus. All of the student love him.

New Church...

...kinda
Our church, a big church, has made a decidedly different approach to how they do church. Taking cues from the music world, they are attempting smaller and more intimate venue settings. The first step in that direction was a satellite campus in inner-city Pittsburgh. An old Chinese restaurant was transformed into a small welcoming environment. Most recently, Northway converted their "gymnasium" into a 300 person place of worship - The Worship Cafe. Intended to create community through simple, intimate relationships, this is our new Sunday morning location.

Reasons We Haven't Blogged

1. Worked on my first paper for grad school
2. Taylor had a "little bat" tournament (to be explained later)
3. We spend our time going to concerts to see bands like Lifehouse.
4. Geneva put some kind of firewall up that limited our access to Blogger for an evening.
5. We don't have kids to take pictures of.
6. We started small group on Monday nights, I have class on Tuesday and Taylor has an RA meeting, we have people over for dinner on Wednesday night, I have class on Thursday night, we catch up with each other on Friday, Saturday we get off campus and work on homework, Sunday we are helping to launch a new service and I lead a small group of girls in the evenings.
7. We fight about who is going to blog. (I lost)
8. We live in a building with 102 Freshman boys.
9.We are too busy reading everyone else's blog
10. We are lazy!
(Those of you who have a litter of children and a million things to accomplish in a day, please do not judge us. We just aren't as talented as you!)

A Gift from the kids

Created by Pearce Hallmark

Happy Birthday Taylor

My sister always writes really touching and beautiful things on her blog when someone in her family has a birthday. I am not good at that. But I think we all know how amazing Taylor is. I am so blessed that I get to share everyday with him. Taylor I love you!

A Day in Cleveland

It seems like forever ago, but just last weekend we, along with three of our closest friends, took a day trip to Cleveland. A big city just an hour and a half away that we had never been too...and it was a blast. We did some shopping, ate some good food, and hung out at Lake Erie. It was great;) Sarah and Jeff Kirksey, Ryan Holt, and Us...We are blessed with good friends!
Apparently it was the day of the Cleveland Air Show. Though we weren't attending the event, the Thunderbirds selected our beach as their turn around point. The couldn't have been more than 100 ft. from the ground at one point. Free Show!!!

Cafe Courtyard

This weekend was the first of many student activities. Our good friends Ryan Holt and Jeff Kirksey are in charge of student activities so we always get to go. They started things out right with a sweet outdoor cafe set-up, chocolate fondue, and the most amazing band which consisted of three cellists and a percussionist. Check them out...Break of Reality