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

First Day of Grad School

Someone remind me why I am going to grad school. I'm not even using my undergrad degree yet.
I think I need a better attitude if I am going to make it through this semester.
Posted by Joanna

Mmmmm....Muffins!

As they walked through the door, the sweet aroma of blueberry muffins and hazelnut coffee awakened the senses. The awakening was much needed. It was 8am and the first day of classes for the students here. Joanna, so gifted in service, gladly prepared a pre-class pick-me-up for the eight guys on our building team. All upperclassmen, they didn't have quite the edge freshman have on their first day. The caffeine and company provided the substitute. One day down and a campus to conquer. Here we go!

from left to right: Dave, Ryan, Dan, Christian, and Nolan

RA Training

Our good friends Jeff and Sarah Kirksey-Sarah is Geneva's newest RD

Pool Time

The Pearce Boys

This is Deacon. He is the cutest boy on campus. Taylor's boss and his wife adopted him around Easter.

Jeff Kirksey hanging out with Baby Deacon

My friend Kelly

Move-in Day

Taylor and I are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Ok, it really isn't that bad, but it is keeping us busy. We have pictures of RA training that we will post soon. Sorry for the lack of exciting blogs.

Gotta Love Freshman

Taylor and I were talking to some guys in the lounge. We heard another guy yell from the laundry room to his friend, "Hey, you wash whites on warm, right?"
There is nothing like living with freshman boys. Only the athletes are here now, but the rest of the boys arrive next week. Taylor has an amazing RA staff. We are excited that this year we know more about Geneva than the incoming freshman. We are anticipating God to do great things in Pearce.
And yes, you wash whites on warm.

Back to PA

We arrived back home in Beaver Falls this evening. It is so good to be home. We have been living out of a suit case all summer. We loved spending time with our family, and we don't know what we are going to blog about now that we don't have our nieces and nephews around.

A New Family Tradition!

Our eight year old nephew Dawson (Jody and Andy's oldest) enjoys soccer so much that he organized an entire game for the whole family. He divided us into teams, thought about the equipment we would need and all. We found the closest spot with enough room to kick a ball and the game was on. In the end, team two won. Who was on that team is not important:)