beautiful colors and beautiful people of WNY

So much has happened in the last few months...

Our friends had a baby boy named Carson...

We celebrated Houghton's 125th birthday

Brendon went salmon fishing for the first time ever - we ate something that Brendon physically provided for the table

We celebrated harvest with our awesome Fillmore Wesleyan Youth Group friends

Julianna, traveled from MN to hang out with us for a few days in Western NY

We saw Niagra Falls in the dark light up at night

Oh New York is beautiful these days...

tiki torches and windstorms

It has been a bit crazy around these parts - working with the church and college. Balancing all our responsibilities... Still, taking great joy in the relationships we have established and that are deepening!





Here are photos from our most recent FaT's event. Because it was a rainy day, we had 150 sweaty people in the halls of the building we live for a LUAU - tons of fun!!

Clam bake

So we had this awesome, once in a lifetime meal with my six of my seven RA's!

To the right I have pictured all of the 4 girls on my newest staff - Jillian, Melissa, Emma and Brianna - beautiful ladies with big hearts who love to laugh! I can't wait for this year to get into full swing!

The Center is a pic of Jesse and Melissa two wonderful additions to my staff this year!

To the left, The yummy food and great company to enjoy it with...

We hope to do it again someday for now - we call it "Once in a lifetime meal"

when you give a mouse a cookie...

So, I was making cookies last night in our new kitchen aid and thinking...

I was thinking about how grateful I was for our kitchen aid, my mom waited 25 years of marriage before getting one... The Lord has been good to us.

Then as I began to ponder my gratitude for the green kitchen aid, I how thankful I am for many things this summer... I decided I wanted to write and acknowledge the Lord for the many big and small things this summer that have blessed us!

Yes, a gratitude list, not like Oprah's, instead gratitude toward my Redeemer and friend, Jesus. Below in no particular order.

1. my precious and loving husband, Brendon

2. open blue sky and puffy white clouds

3. the bluest blueberries one can imagine

4. driving with the top down















5. the big purple couch I sit on every day and cuddle with the Lord, in the morning, and my husband, in the evening...

6. the way you moved the fog on 7-13-08


7. the hugs of three 3rd girls at once during our soccer camp


8. freezing cold water splashing you in the face as you fall into the Genessee River while white-water rafting with my brother


9. my grandma's excitement of the simplest meal ever made ;)















10. a husband who thinks of you while you are away, and redecorates the bedroom just the way you like it, as a surprise.



11. a professional conference that reminds you why you do the job you do.




















12. Kelina's Lord ordained and beautiful wedding ceremony - thanks for the sneak preview of heaven
13. meeting the Sanisaiths... a drive in movie under the stars at the Charcoal Corral
14. the gorgeous milkyway at the cottage with the Last's in Canada and the shooting star

15. the day in MN, I got to hug, all three of my previous RD's :)

16. the book "Freedom of Simplicity"

17. and the time to finish it.
18. dog sitting for Keough

19. The book of Colossians. Lord you are great!

20. A night at the Roycroft for our first anniversary

21. The Tantalus Resturant - 2 visits with great friends.
22. 14 mile bike rides.
23. the doctor diagnosing my exhaustion.
24. chatting with friends of the heart and soul.
25. the joy of being a part of a 2nd wedding for my father-in law and the joy he now has!

26. a late night conversation with my sister-in-laws... it was the way life was supposed to be...

27. my mom.


28. our bikes


29. the youth group girls

30. a conversation with an old co-worker that was challenging and inspiring - it was like I was having a face to face conversation with Jesus.

31. my sister's excitement of being in the country and with us as her family


32. Caribou coffee


33. Butter Cafe in downtown MPLS - with all my Midwest sisters!



34. time to chat with my best friend and sister at "Cupcake" in Dinkytown



35. my dad and his sweet trust in the Lord's provision for a job.

36. discovering the blogs of others...

37. music.

38. organic farming in innercity Buffalo, and the women that have a passion for it.

39. taking up the art of painting.

40. HGTV

41. wildflowers in a vase on my table.

42. discovering soul connections with a married couple in this area in which we live.

43. winning Settlers. twice.

44. almond milk ice cream.

45. the Lord restoring my soul.

46. tubing over glass like water

47. my sister's closet

48. and her generous spirit.

49. rolling hills spotted with rows of yellow corn, black and white cows and red barns

50. "He is making all things new and his mercy is new every morning."

Oh Canada

Bren and I just got home from a three day trip to the beautiful country of Canada!





We loved seeing the place of Tim Horton's, rib joints, and hockey.


So, I got sunburned and misquito bites - made me feel like I was home in MN.


We traveled to Ben and Emily's cottage on Silver Lake and then spent one night in Ottawa walking around the city and eating yummy ribs.


We were there for a pastors retreat - Ben and Brendon spent the morning quietly floating on the boat in the middle of the lake, praying and preparing for the year together... basically, getting on the same page.


While they worked - Emily (Last) and I, chilled on the dock, basking in the sun, reading and both prepared for our years ahead (Emily is going to have her 1st year of teaching and I am going to have my first prepared year, or 3rd year of RDing)...

I thank the Lord for that time on the dock. I felt a so at rest, spiritually, talking to the Lord about the year to come and resting in his presence... honestly, it doesn't get better than that.


Some day, I would love to have a cabin on a lake, to join as a family, playing together and eating well together... with the spirit of the little boy in the movie, "Angels in the Outfield"...

"It could happen."





Here are some pics from the trip!

Below: Last pic "before we died" - at the zipline course we took...
From left to right (brendon, emily, emily, ben)

Above is Bren at his best... fluttering along glass-like water.

Above: Maybe this is really Bren at his best... on the kayak, he almost loves as much or more than me... ;)

Not much to say here... just knee boarding ;)

giggling

We celebrated our 1st anniversary yesterday... with a trip to our favorite town this side of New York - stayed at a beautiful inn, enjoyed good food and laughing together about the year. Oh yeah, and we purchased a green kitchen-aid - I am pumped... here comes the bread making!

So, this may sound funny but we made a list of our Top 10's - 10 best moments and 10 worst... the memories brought us many laughs at a coffee shop early this morning. I can't wait to pull out that list many years from now to share with our children as they begin preparing for their 1st year of marriage.

What a year... we are so thankful to the Lord for doing an amazing work on the altar just a year ago. I wouldn't want to relive the day in some ways but in others... I wish I could go back and see it again from a different perspective.

We will update more soon... until then

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun!

The slight sunburn on my shoulders and nose and the crazy loud peepers from the creek outside our window remind us that spring is finally here... I haven't loved spring more than this year... All I can say to the sun is "Its about time!" I spent the entire day yesterday hanging out with different groups of girls in the sunshine... it was so fun to picnic with my what is left from last years Lambein RA staff members and my new favorite, our highschool youth group girls!!

I am chilling tonight and preparing for our student's last full week of classes and taking a break to "blog some" while Brendon and his friend Nate, from the youth group, are playing a quick game of Halo since they rented it for the "Fry Night" on Friday... (At the annual fry night the guys - fry anything and everything from turkey to twinkies- In Brendon's words... he didn't feel it the next day, it cleaned him out the next day) It probably doesn't help that he and I ran a 5K Saturday morning after he had been up all night eating grease with the guys... The 5K was fun because we won for "Fastest Non Houghton college students" haha... fun :) This spring we have taken up running together for fun in the afternoons - it has been a good to get me back in the swing of running again and quite fun to have quality time with the hubby!

Fun news from the Kirkbride household is we got free bikes today!! How awesome is that??? Funny, that all week we had been planning to buy bikes but the Lord just dropped these two rather nice bikes right in our laps. We had dinner at the Tucker's on Saturday night and as we were talking about living simply... I mentioned we wanted to ride bikes more this summer instead of paying for 4.00 a gallon gas but we just needed to buy bikes- they said, "Why don't you just take ours?" This morning after church Steve helped Brendon load up a bike rack and two bikes on the back of our falling apart Hyundi... and we cleaned them up this afternoon... good as new!

Work has been full of lessons learned for me this past semester... one of my RA's said to me the other day... "Em, you and I have learned a lot together this year... haven't we?" - "Why yes, Miss Steph, we have :)" It has been challenging but rewarding all the same. I was trying to describe it the other day but was at a loss for words. So, let me take a stab here. I love my job, mostly because I love the conversations with students, I love praying with them, I love listening and challenging, I love eating and laughing with them, and I absolutely love walking with them as they fall in love with Jesus more but sometimes students aren't quite ready for that - it was an awesome conversation as we cried together and it is hard for me (as it was when I was the RA.) It can be hard when students resist help and end up feeling like the "evil "authority" you can't trust" Still, this job is like running... I am getting addicted to it... I love the lessons learned and the challenge of learning how to love people in a small community.

Oh dear, I am just jabbering now... I should sign off - We promise to be better bloggers from here on out...

Photo Post: Why no blogging?

Christmas Time in MN...



This picture was taken Christmas Eve with the Simon family and of course... Kota!




Adding to the Dazzle... earlier in the week, we headed out to the city for a night out with some dear friends...

Brendon and I played in the snow some...

I took my sisters for some quality sister time to Grand Ave in St. Paul to paint some ceramics. It was such a gift to have us all in one place even if for only a day or so...

The last night in town, Christmas day with the Kirkbride's at the Anderson's - what a fun night!

Now to Orlando, FL with the Youth group...

Loving our time in the sun... this was our first time and pic by the ocean...

While the trip to Orlando was a blast - we learned much about patience and the power of prayer over the trip when the vehicle we rented to get us down to Florida with 12 teenagers and four adults broke down 2x before we got home... I ran/walked/bused and hitchhiked my way through the streets of Orlando the last day of our trip with the other female leader while Brendon worked on keeping the spirits of our youth high. It only caused us to be a couple hours late on our arrival home but with the help of some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and other kind folks we made it home safely... all in the name of the Lord. All around a great first trip as youth leaders together...

Then it was back to life as we had once known it...

A little RA Winter Training weekend...

I hosted a surprise party for our friend and coworker Gabe... it was actually his 1/2 birthday but I am always up for a party... especially with his fun college student friends :)

Now that was in January and we have obviously still had much to do - including a trip to State College to see the Gophers battle it out with Penn State, Brendon became an officially licensed minister by taking a week of intense courses at the college, I hired a new staff of RA's that I am quite looking forward to leading this coming year, we celebrated Valentine's day for our first time as an official couple in the same state... and oh, our adventures continued...