free cone day!!

Ben & Jerry's is serving free ice cream today (April 29, 2008)! I guess this year is the 30th anniversary of free cone day. You should go!!

Weird or Talented? Or Maybe Both.

what's happening at 2520?

Of course some of the same things continue to happen near or at 2520 -- such as frequent and strikingly obvious drug deals and our oven's temperature rising to 500 degrees on it's own (only when I make cupcakes). It's happened many times. I don't know why, but our oven hates the combination of me and cupcakes. Other than that...

The other night we had to call the police. I think we were even more justified than normal. Usually our calls are for the average drug deal, loud music or because the door from the abandoned house next door is being stolen. But not this time. We were coming home from small group and Steph and I couldn't find a parking spot -- partially because of our crowded street and partially because of a lack of parallel parking skill. We decided to park behind our garage. As soon as we pulled up to the garage we heard 3 or 4 really loud gun shots. They sounded close. A few seconds later 3 guys ran right behind our car. They were running fast. Needless to say, it made our hearts race and we immediately called the police and told them in a quivering voice what had just happened. I think it is probably one of my scariest moments in the Phillips thus far. The story kind of loses momentum after that because we never found out what really happened.

And that night was the first night our new roommate, Lacy moving in. So yes, we have a new roommate and she experienced hearing the gun shots on her first night. She is in Ellie's old room. It's no longer purple, but peach. We are happy to have her here! Lacy works with Sarah at the hospital and is just as granola or maybe more so than Sarah is. There are lots of other great things about Lacy. Hopefully you will be able to meet her :)

Along with Lacy's arrival came a couch. Now we are well furnished in our living room area, and actually have to get rid of some things. Part of the reason we have so much furniture is because Kin Mily let us down and did not collect the desk he lied about wanting. Anyway, our next step for our living room is organizing the furniture...not an easy task with our awkward shaped room.

We would also like to welcome Mr. & Mrs. Haas to the Internet. Thanks for reading our blog. And sorry that Katie did not tell you about the gun shots. If you want to leave a comment, please feel free.

On Monday nights we have been having a time of prayer for the Phillips area. It has been an encouragement to pray with other believers. If you live in the area and want to come, let us know!

AND this summer Katie is planning to go on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. We are excited. Ellie is going to Brazil when she gets her remaining support and her VISA. If you think of it, pray that her VISA would come through. It is in somewhat of a delay. Also, Sarah is going to Tunisia, Italy and some other places...

Steph had an exciting day today. She had her teeth cleaned this morning and it was the first time in her life that her teeth were cavity-free. Those of you who have never had many cavities probably do not understand how wonderful this news really is.

****Ding Ding Ding**** it's time for a QUIZ! Which paragraph above was NOT written by Andrea? And who do you think wrote it?

Something's kind of "fishy" around here, part 2

So, the title is somewhat misleading because this post has nothing to do with the water situation in Minneapolis. This post is about something else kind of "fishy"...

I recently posted my desk on Craigslist.com to be sold. I received a few emails from individuals requesting more information and expressing interest in the desk. My policy is to respond to the first person to express interest, then pursue other people if that person doesn't work out.

This time the email was from a "KinMily" who expressed sincere interest in the desk and said that he/she for sure wanted to buy it. I pursued this contact and after a few emails exchanged this "Kin" said that he/she would send a check and have some movers come pick it up from me. At this point my warning flags went up and I said that I wasn't sure if that would be ok. That I would prefer having face-to-face contact with "Kin". They assured me that the check was already in the mail and that everything would be fine.

I was out of town when the check arrived and I had Andrea open it. When she opened it she told me that the amount on the check was $2800.00 from a PickaRestaurant.com. Now I was really sure that this was a scam. I emailed KinMily back and said that I was not comfortable with that amount of money coming through my account and that I was unwilling to cash it. They responded saying that they had purchased other items in the area and so the extra money was for the movers and was because there were multiple items needing to be picked up. They sent the address that I was to wire the money to, the "movers", who happened to be an individual in California. At this point I was certain it was a fraudulent check and began trying to contact the company PickaRestaurant.com. I never got through to this alleged company, but got through to the bank listed on the check. As soon as I mentioned who the check was from, the customer service agent said "Oh, let me guess, the check is for too much and they want you to wire the money back to someone??" She said, "Yep, that's a scam!"

Needless to say, I filled out an internet scam report with the FBI and sent an email to KinMily advising him/her of this action. I'm still not sure where the scam actually is, if it's the company PickaRestaurant.com, or if it's this individual. Maybe we'll never know, but it sure is fun getting to the bottom of something like this. I mean, growing up I always wanted to be an FBI or CIA agent, maybe I missed my calling in life!

Or, maybe this whole "missionary" thing is just a cover!

Something's kind of "fishy" around here!

Here's the scoop...



Certain members of this house believe, or are convinced, that the Minneapolis water has begun smelling and tasting "fishy"! The others in the house agree that something is "different" about it, but wouldn't go as far as to say it is "fishy". The really "fishy" thing about this whole matter is what is causing this taste/odor?


One theory is that there are "a million dead fish" in the Minneapolis wells (p.s. I'm pretty sure that Minneapolis water is not well water!)

This is really the only theory posed thus far. We are seeking other opinions on the matter, but are seeking, above all, the TRUTH!! If any of you other Minneapolis-city-dwellers has information, or opinions, please don't keep us in suspense!

A belated birthday post for Sarah

We were in much turmoil regarding the birthday post for Sarah. Her birthday this year was on Easter and we didn't know if it would be appropriate to post about Sarah on such a significant day as Easter. So, that's why it's a belated birthday post.

Here are some of our favorite memories of Sarah (not in any particular order):

1. Sailing.

2. Blue Nile (x2).

3. Her laughing until she was crying.

4. Cleaning out the fridge.

5. Head dancing.

6. Stuffing grapes in her mouth.

7. Granola.

8. Asking if the ice cream was vanilla based at Culvers.

9. Watching movies.

10. Covering our tracks so that she didn't know we slept in her bed.

p.s. the above reason, appropriateness of posting, also applies to why we didn't post for Andrea (her birthday is on Christmas)

pi day

So apparently 3/14/08 was Pi Day. Here is a little excerpt from Wikipedia:

Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day are two holidays held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in American date format), due to π being equal to roughly 3.14. Sometimes it is celebrated on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. (commonly known as Pi Minute). If π is truncated to seven decimal places, it becomes 3.1415926, making March 14 at 1:59:26 p.m., Pi Second (or sometimes March 14, 1592 at 6:53:58 a.m.). Pi Approximation Day may be observed on any of several dates, most often July 22 (22/7 (European date format) is a popular approximation of π). March 14 also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday.

Our friend, Greta is an enthusiastic pi day celebrater and baked us a pie with fruit and sugar and other wonderful things. She brought it over to our house unexpectedly. What a treat/grand surprise. Thank you Greta!!

ping-pong...

Tonight we (K & A) were talking to a friend (T) about playing ping-pong at BBC. First we studied up on ping-pong by looking up the definition at dictionary.com:

2. "to go back and forth; change rapidly or regularly; shift; bounce"

So we decided we didn't even need a ping-pong table to do it....we could use our words. It seemed fitting to start with the word "ping-pong" and we went back and forth rapidly and regularly shouting out the next word that came to mind. I think we are ready for the real ping-pong season! Here is a re-cap:

Ping-pong
Janitors at Bethlehem
Clean Freaks
Kitchen Fridge
Smelly
Feet
Toes
Steph
Funny
Comedian
Bryan Reagan
Jason Calcote
Small group leader
Small group
Brownies
Table
Antiques
Grandpa
Harmonicas
Trent Burns
Sorry
Sarah Kron
Unashamed
Boat
Gloucester
Meg & Aaron
Friends
Gabe & Julia
ASK class
Pastor David Livingston
House by Piper's
Talitha
Hairspray
Aerosol can
My hair
Greasy
Fast food
French fries
France
Oui
Pronunciation
Frustration
Tupperware

what comes next according to you??

fun with O.

Happy Leap Year Everyone!

In honor of leap year, our boss at DG (that is Katie & Andrea's boss) Mike Tong decided we should celebrate since this day comes along only once every four years. So at 4pm we leaped. After watching the youtube videos of two remote employees who took part in the event, everyone in the office took turns lining up at the starting tape. We were not allowed to make any running starts (much to our dismay because that's the way we practiced). Each person leaped twice in a row and the one who went the furthest won a $15 Chipotle gift card. Here's Jon Bloom (not the winner):



If you want to see videos of any of the other contestants, let us know.

Here are the results and the youtube links (in an email from Mike):

Thank you everyone who came out today – the event was a great success! No one got hurt (except Andrea in pre-event training) and we even had entries from Dan and Jeff.

Here are the final results (from the nicest try to the furthest leap):

11’11” Kate Martin

13’7” Katie Haas

13’11” John Knight

14’1” Sarah

14’11” Seth Magnuson and Jon Bloom

(They jumped together, holding hands for safety)

15’ Andrea Froehlich

16’8” Dan Brendsel

17’11” Tyler Kenney

18’1” Peter Melling

23’3” Jeff McFadden

(You be the judge)

Congratulations, Peter! Thanks for showing us that if we really believe in our dreams, we can LEAP as high as the sky!

Mike Tong

Leap Day Event Coordinator

www.desiringGod.org/LeapForJoy/

random assortment of thoughts...

Yes, the blog still exists.

It has been a while since I have posted, so I will go ahead and give it a go.

So many things have been going on in the 2520 house. Ellie is in Colorado for training before she leaves for Brazil. We miss you, Ellie! The house isn't quite the same without you. Your room looks...well...clean. Katie is leaving for Boston on March 6th and will visit Meg and Aaron. I am a little jealous. I really like Boston. I hope that she has a fun and refreshing time with them! Sarah was at her cabin this past weekend, and we are awaiting her return. She has been knitting a ton in the past couple of months. This hobby has just re-surfaced. Andrea is taking piano lessons this semester and has graced us with her piano playing. Quite good. I can hum along to some of the songs. I finally quit my job at Starbucks and have started working for my dad at the office. It has been good. So far.

I have recently picked up the book, When People Are Big, and God is Small and really love it! This book talks about overcoming the fear of man and people pleasing. It is really good. If you haven't read it--READ IT! This book is probably one of the most helpful books I have ever read.

Ohh! Sarah is HOME!!

That's all. Hope everyone is doing well. Don't forget to comment. :)

(The picture was taken when Courtney came to visit.)

Isaiah 6

Man. We have not posted in a while.

At the fall youth retreat, Kempton (the new youth pastor at BBC) preached some great messages on Isaiah 6. Here is one of them. You should listen to it...

message!!

"HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD OF HOSTS; THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY!"

in honor of katie haas on her birthday.

Katrina!! We love you so much. It has been such a blessing to become closer to you over the past year - as a friend, roommate, coworker, sister in Christ, dance dance revolution and singing partner, fellow model (see pictures below), partner "calling the cops in the middle of the night," purchaser of brown mary-jane crocs, camper, movie star, member of costco, learner of fighter verses, student at theological foundations and U of MN, broomball player, youth group mentor, retreat go-er, pranker (brownies, cars, ridgewood and such)...

You are such an encouragement to us in so many ways. And we are so grateful that you were born :) (cheesy...or corny?) Really. We are though. AND glad that you moved into 2520. We were all pretty sad when Courtney moved out, but the Lord is so gracious and good in allowing you to move in. From the day you moved in, it has been obvious that you belong here.

One more thing. Your diverse interests such as smiling and laughing have brought us to the knowledge that we should also add them to our facebook interests.

February 1st, 1984 a wee lass was born into the Haas family of Hugo, MN. Look how far she has come now...

2007.

so...we realized that we wrote this a long time ago, but never posted it so here it is!

2007 has come and gone. Wow. We have decided to reflect back on this year and all that God has done.

Favorites:
-fall retreat with kempton
-meeting new friends (you know who you are)
-katie moving in!
-senior high weekend at camp shetek
-junior high camp (for andrea)
-sailing on sarah's boat
-dominican republic and cameroon trips
-ellie becoming an official missionary
-andrea starting her new job at dg and quitting her old job at the state
-weddings (aaron and meg, joe and sarah, bryan and alicia, sterling and emily, mike and katie)
-new years eve service
-seeing nieces and nephews (for katie and andrea)
-hedstrom's adopting their children
-pete and jess getting engaged!
-winning bets with steph
-sarah's bed
-dg conference and cdg conference
-meeting cj mahaney and getting our picture taken with him!
-seeing friends who have moved away (you know who you are)
-seeing russ (brother) home for thanksgiving (for steph)

screwtape letters by c.s. lewis

I have been reading this book and sometimes Katie and I read together and discuss it. Each chapter of the book is a letter from a demon (Screwtape) to his nephew tempter (Wormwood). Screwtape gives advice on how to tempt the "patient." Reading it has made me think more about ways in which I am often tempted and made me think about the need to fight harder against sin. Here are a couple quotes from two different letters:

"You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape."

"Remember he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (oh, that abominable advantage of the Enemy's!) you don't realise how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary. I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years' work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defence by argument, I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control, and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line, for when I said, 'Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,' the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added 'Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,' he was already halfway to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man's head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of 'real life' (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all 'that sort of thing' just couldn't be true. He knew he'd had a narrow escape, and in later years was fond of talking about 'that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic.' He is now safe in Our Father's house."

happy. birthday. ellie.

It's a day late but I wanted to wish Ellie a very happy 25th birthday!!! I am so grateful for Ellie and the wonderful friend she has been to me and to countless others. Here are a few of many things I love about Ellie...

- Will not give up easily.

- Sometimes knows what I'm thinking without me even saying a single thing.

- Is able to memorize other people's credit card numbers and passwords (I'm impressed but don't exactly like the fact that she knows my password).

- Very willing to listen and help me through little or big things going on in life.

- Does not hesitate to help out...even driving down to Rochester and staying awake all night last summer at the hospital.

- Is the one who will figure out how to fix something that I think is impossible (like my bed!)

- Speaks hard truth and asks good questions.

- She loves Jesus and has a heart for God to be glorified and for deaf people to know him.

- Willing to eat gross and crazy things just because she was dared to.

- Dominates at Dance Dance Revolution.

- Did not get angry when I jumped on her bed to wake her up and broke it.

- Taught me how to make granola and many other food items and is the go-to person when it comes to cooking/baking questions.

Happy Birthday Ellie. You are old now.

just for clarification

because a couple people wondered...that "hot runner" is our friend andy and his wife is the one who suggested that title.

:)

hot runner spotted.

bethlehem fighter verse for this week:

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

fun at the vitullo's

A couple weeks ago after the Bethlehem Christmas concert we went over to the Vitullo's house to hang out with them and say goodbye to Molly, Abraham and Orison (we miss you guys)! When we walked in they were playing a fun little game called the "water shot glass game"...or something like that. The point of the game is to drink all the water in the six glasses the fastest. Some were better at it than others...