engagements in the house!! woo woo

Two 2520 girls got engaged - within a matter of a week of one another! In case you are wondering, the girls who got engaged were Courtney and Katie! Courtney to Daniel Ressig and Katie to Tony (aka Trenton).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Love you guys!

some really good music

Sovereign Grace Ministries has a new CD (Together for the Gospel Live) by Bob Kauflin and it is really good! When Steph and I were in Cali, the CD was in my sister's Jeep we drove for the week. It played through it's entirety about three times in one afternoon as we got lost in the ghetto of LA. The best part was driving through the mountains of Malibu while listening to the words of Before the Throne of God Above. So worshipful. We both bought the CD and listen to it all the time at work, home, ipod, everywhere. Go get it!!

You can download three of the songs free on the SovGrace webiste.

P.S. This is a shout out to one of our fav. worship leaders -- Bob Kauflin -- we'd like to wish him a happy birthday! (Jan 7th)

:)

p-i-a-n-o

My roommates are really cool and bought me a piano for my birthday! Here are a couple videos. You can't really see the second video very well but the best part is Sarah repeatedly saying: "Steph, turn on the light....steph, turn on the light...." :)

Really, though, I am so so thankful for my roommates. Not just because they bought me a piano. But Sarah, Ellie, Steph, Katie, Lacy & (Courtney!) are some of the best roommates I could ever have.

And the movers -- Mike, Nick & Becky, Trent, Mr. Lundquist, Andrew, Timothy -- Thanks so much!!

.69

When we were in Cali, we found great deals on candy at Target - 75% off! That meant we got big bags of Christmas candy for 69 cents/bag. The problem was that any candy we bought, we had to fit in our suitcase. Yes, we did think about waiting and buying it in Mpls. but there is usually never any candy left over at the Target's in Mpls. Maybe the Cali people are healthier. Ellie confirmed that there was no candy in the Minneapolis Targets....at least the one she went to.

Andrea happy about all the candy:
Steph trying to sort out which bags she can depart with:

Trying to fit everything in the suitcase was rather difficult:

As we were walking to the checkout each with about 13 bags of candy....
Andrea: "Are we being stupid?"
Steph: "Oh, do you think we should get more?"

being dead

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me..."

Last night I went to the all night prayer at church. It was so good. It ended with 5am Communion and Pastor John encouraging us to have a wonderful liberty from ourselves in 2009....and a blessed self-forgetfulness...to be others-centered. We've died with Christ so why be so concerned about ourselves or our ego? He said we should "count ourselves freshly dead."

I wish I could remember more but I was real tired at that point. If anyone has thoughts about this, please share!

what color is this hair?

Our friend, Jesse Peterson is visiting Mpls. right now. He is single and likes long walks on the beach, loves Jesus, plays drums in a band, lives in Boston, drives a Ford Explorer, is really smart, graduated from TBI, former youth pastor, etc. Just Kidding. Well, most of those things are true (except for the walks on the beach) but the real reason for this post is to determine a much debated subject. The color of his hair. We can't seem to come to an agreement so we are wondering what color you would describe his hair as? Please comment with one of the following hair colors:

blonde
dirty blonde
light brown
brown
dark brown
black

sitting at quizno's...

...reading the riddles on the kid's meal bag...

Andrea: "What should you not eat after it's served?"
Stephanie: "um...I don't know. OH! I know! Soft Serve!"

(The real answer: Tennis Ball)

Ellie Has Her VISA in Hand!!!!

PRAISE THE LORD!

fun at sarah's house!

Last week, we all went over to Sarah's parent's house for dinner. Sarah and Ellie made really good lasagna (you should ask Sarah for the recipe). And her mom made an awesome dessert. We ate, talked, listened to her dad tell ole and lena jokes....


laughed a lot, watched some home videos of Sarah and her siblings....

played and sang a couple Christmas carols.....

Sarah and I had fun playing together. AND we are thinking about getting a piano for 2520. If any of you know of a cheap or free piano, let us know.......

"How To Laugh Quietly" by Sarah K.

the newly acquired jewelry post (for Bep)

Ellie and I (Andrea) got our nose pierced a couple weeks ago! Ellie was much calmer than I. Steph in the background: "Whoa! I don't want to see!!"


As we ran out of the house, Ellie realized she was wearing her slippers but she decided to keep them on! Jake (the nose piercer) thought it was pretty funny.

Becky and Sarah came with us. They both already had their nose pierced. This is right after we got them pierced...standing outside of Saint Sabrina's. You can't really see them, but they are there...

Jesus is not gloomy

"If he is gloomy, our salvation will be sad. And that is no great salvation. Jesus himself - and all that God is for us in him - is our great reward, nothing less...Salvation is not mainly the forgiveness of sins, but mainly the fellowship of Jesus...If Christ is gloomy, or even calmly stoical, eternity will be a long, long sigh." John Piper

Before I went to China this past summer, Mike had us read the book "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ" by Piper. It was so good because it made me love Jesus more and helped me think more about what a great Savior he is. It made me want to know him more and helped me see that Jesus is the furthest thing from gloomy. He is glorious.

So, I think you should read it too! And pass it out to your friends and family this Christmas. Or maybe to your coworkers, classmates, neighbors. And a good thing is -- You can get a case of books from Desiring God at a suggested donation of $1 per book plus shipping costs! Here are the details.

You should read it!

knitting frenzy.

Lately, there has been a lot of knitting at 2520.  Last week I came home and there were seven girls in the living room having a knitting party!  One left before the picture but here are the rest of them: 

I don't know how well you can see the item that Steph is holding up but in case you can't tell, it's a wrist-band she made for me.  It's lovely!  

writing idea?

Anyone have any good ideas for paper number 3 in my Creative Writing class? For the first paper I wrote about experiencing pain through other people (focused mainly on my sister's boyfriend almost dying). I wrote about my trip to China and true happiness for the second paper. If you have any brilliant ideas for the third one, I'll take 'em.......

2520 group chat

yesterday afternoon all of the 6 2520 girls were on googlechat--so we (or I) started a group chat. It didn't last long, but it was CRAZY while it lasted...

Lacy has joined
Andrea has joined
Sarah has joined
Stephanie has joined

Sarah Kron: this is retarded
me: this is where it gets confusing
Stephanie: what is this?
Sarah: house meeting
group chat
cha-ching
Andrea: oh my goodness
2:14 PM
Stephanie: what?!!! this is crazy!!!
Katie has joined
Andrea: this is crazy
i don't have time for this nonsense
Stephanie: where is lazer tag?
Lacy: interesting?!
So what's the first topic for discussion
Katie: I don't have time email, but I love it!
me: crazy huh?
sarah, you might need to be a little bit more expressive in your chats....for example use more exclamation points!!!!!!!
I don't either
Stephanie: OH MY GOSH!!!
2:15 PM
Sarah: laser tag
where are you?
this makes me laugh
Stephanie: i'm dying
Lacy: I'm in my room....zap!
me: lacy and katie...can you confirm sara
Stephanie: lacy, you aren't up on my googlechat
me: oops
Sarah
Katie: yes
Sarah: wow
me: :)
Sarah: i'm offended
me: ok
Sarah: by that
me: I'm done
Sarah: actually
Stephanie: LOL
i need to pee
Katie: this is so overwhelming
Sarah: woah
Stephanie: i hav eto go
bye!
Sarah: ADD
Katie: I'm over stimulated
2:16 PM
Lacy: what?
me: do you need to pee so bad your eyes are turning yellow?
Sarah: seriously over stimulated
Andrea: you guys are crazy!!!!!!
me: (lacy knows what I'm talking about)
Lacy: haha ellie
Stephanie: yeah
Katie: yes!
Sarah: but funny nonetheless
Stephanie: this is
how did you do this?
Lacy: steph...are you really dying?
Stephanie: yeah please help me
ok i gotta run bye!
Stephanie has left
2:17 PM
Lacy: um... sad...she just left...should we be concerned?
me: bye
Lacy has left
2:18 PM
Sarah: lacy you are funny
i just re-read what you said
zap
ha
Katie: ok, I'm out
me: me too
Katie has left
Andrea has left
me: I mean, I don't really have anything "important" to do, but I just feel like I should leave

sermons!

This week I've been listening to some sermons by Tim Cain. I've enjoyed them a lot because he shows us how "insanely beautiful" Jesus is and how everything is a gospel issue. They make me want to know Jesus more.

If you want to listen to them, go to: http://hopeingod.org/Youth.aspx. They are from the Bethlehem Baptist Youth Retreat. They're geared to Senior High students but they are really, really good!!

some things you oughta know.

After living with Katie for over a year now, I've come to learn that she is normally pretty willing to let people use her 'stuff.' However we've learned that there are some things that you just don't ask about! Wrapping paper, recipe book and her Brownberry Country Wheat bread.

Last Christmas....
Stephanie (just asking for formality sake): "Hey Katie can I use your wrapping paper?"
Katie (with a smirk, knowing the question would come eventually): "Well...no...I like to save that for myself. I like to be the only one with that wrapping paper."
Stephanie (quite shocked): "Oh...okay..."

In the spring, Stephanie had a folded up recipe (not 8x10)...
Stephanie: "Katie! Can I put this is your recipe book so they are all together?"
Katie: "Well...no...you can put that in the recipe box. This is for 8x10's and only for my recipes."

Tonight...
Katie: "Do you want a grilled cheese? You can have one with my cheese if you use your own bread."
Andrea: (testing Katie out): "Well, I'll have one if I can use your bread."
Katie: "I like my bread. It's the only bread I like and I can only buy this bread at Cub and I don't want to run out."


I do want to add that Katie ended up making Steph her own recipe book and also bought her a roll of her own wrapping paper. And I am sitting at the kitchen table eating a half grilled cheese that Katie made with her cheese...and my bread. And there are many times she makes me a meal...with her own groceries! Love ya Kate.

road trip '08!

We've talked about taking a road trip for quite some time but with the high gas prices we refrained. But as you all know, they've been dropping so last night we made it to Hudson. That's right ladies and gentlemen - Hudson, Wisconsin. If you don't already know, 94East takes you directly there.

After hanging out at Matt's Bar (home of the Juicy Lucy), we thought we were going home but "missed the turn". Trent was driving. Steph nonchalantly said: "Let's take a road trip!!!" Trent, being the literal interpreter that he is, said "Ok." So we drove around some St. Paul backroads and went through the McDonald's drive-through. It was quite disappointing that they only offered vanilla. But the good part was that Trent paid for everyone. After this, Trent pulled onto 94East rather than 94West (which would have taken us home). He purposly did this. Andrea said "Oh."

So we turned up the hip-hop music and did a little dancing. Trent kept driving and driving...all the way to Wisconsin. Trent and Katie jumped out of the car and ran for a couple minutes. We stayed in Wisconsin for about 5 mintues and turned around and came home. Oh man, it was fun.

On the way home we stopped at a rest-stop because Trent was getting sleepy. We pulled in next to the truckers and Trent reclined his seat into Andrea's knees. He requested a newspaper and used it as a blanket. After about three seconds he sat back up and announced that he was well rested.

The atmosphere was quite different on the return-trip. Most were tired and the music changed to country. The other problem was when Katie found out that her partially un-eaten ice cream cone that she stuck in the car melted. Hmm. Good lesson. So moral of the story. Don't leave ice cream in cars while on a road trip to Hudson.

Can't wait for road trip '09...or maybe road trip '08 part 2. Secure your spots now. The car is full. But we can maybe rent a van...or talk to Tyler.

height changes

Has anyone noticed that you are taller in the morning than you are at night?

I've noticed this because I have a habit of looking out our little sliver of a window by our front door because there is so much activity going on outside at all hours of the day and night. But the point of the story is that at night, I have to stand on my tip-toes but in the morning, I don't....

Maybe everyone already knows this but I did a google search and read that our spine compresses during the day and therefore makes us shorter at night.

Meet Manny

We made a little mistake, at least I think, by stealing a friend's (Seth) mannequin on Halloween night. It's lived at our house since then and keeps getting placed in random spots and scaring unsuspecting people. Manny has been found on the toilet, sitting on the kitchen counter, lying under blankets on the couch and so on.

Tonight somebody placed Manny in a bedroom closet --



We found the culprit:

If I have my way, Manny goes back to Seth tomorrow!

bd

bd=blind date.

some married friends of ours decided to set some of us (meaning the single ones) up on blind dates. one down. three to go.

ellie is next.

well, there's really no point to this post. i just thought it was kind of funny and an update on our lives.

peace out.

hey 2520 readers...

Why not make the blogging world more fun and friendly?

We've recently realized that we have some anonymous readers...some that we now know about :) and maybe others that we don't.

So we would love to hear from all the anonymous readers. Those of you who have made your presence known, you can give us a shout out as well!

Au Revoir!

Snow!

Today, November 7th 2008, was the first snow of the season. Just Tuesday of this week it was in the 70's and now..."it's like flippin' winter out there!"

Tell us what the weather is like where you live!

update

Hey friends...

I thought I would update y'all on our lives here at 2520. We are all enjoying the wonderful weather. It's super nice out....today I wore my flip-flops....in November! YIPPPEEE!!!

Sarah is celebrating her two-year anniversary in this house. She moved in November 6th, 2006. She was just offered a job as a teacher at the hospital. Congrats Sarah!

Ellie is down in Chicago right now. She and Sarah drove down there last Friday night, and then Ellie stayed down there to visit her friend, Autumn. Ellie isn't eating any sweets, too. Keep it up!!

Lacy just went to bed and is going to Duluth this weekend to be with family. Have fun at work!!!

Andrea is studying French right now. She recently found a bumper sticker on her car that reads, "Mullets Rock"....does anyone know about this? Andrea is making leaps and bounds with her vocal outbursts. She got scared twice today and didn't scream out loud. You go girl!!!

Katie and Trent just had pizza tonight and shared the rest with us. Thanks guys! You rule!! Her excitement of the day was when she scared the Executive Director of DG with a fake mouse today. Way to go, Katie! (And she didn't get fired)

Anyhow, just wanted to let you know what's going on. This blog post is pretty much amazing. And, I love my roomies! They are awesome....just awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. Katie and I (Andrea) are taking over one paragraph. Steph voted yesterday in Shoreview and got free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's and free drip coffee from Starbucks. She is growing out her fingernails and this morning when she used the hair straightener, she felt as if it was not working properly.

We hope you feel updated. Cheers!

You Are God Alone (Not a God)

If my ipod has a play count, this song is high on the list. We sung it at church a while ago and since I downloaded it from itunes, I have listened to it over and over...and over. I love the words and they've been good for my soul to hear.

You are not a God created by human hands

You are not a God dependent on immortal man

You are not a God in need of anything we can give

By your plan, that's just the way it is

You're the only God whose power none can contend

You're the only God whose name and praise will never end

You're the only God whose worthy of everything we can give

You are God and that's just the way it is

You are God alone

From before time began

You are on your throne

You are God alone

And right now in the good times and bad

You're on the throne

You are God alone

You are God alone

If you ever download it, get the Billy and Cindy Foote version. A couple other worship songs I've listened to a lot lately and recommend: Come Thou Fount (Jadon Lavik), Mighty to Save (Hillsong), Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy (Fernando Ortega), His Forever (Sovereign Grace), Mission Accomplished (Shai Linne) and the Shane & Shane bluegrass sampler :) http://mp3.rhapsody.com/shaneshane/bluegrasssampler.

What songs do you love right now? Worship or anything...

Free at Chipotle!

All you have to do is wear tin foil in some way, shape or form and you get some of the best food in the world...free! It's today (October 31st) at Chipotle. Some ideas:

cleaning at 2520!!!

There are a couple of us in the house who apparently never learned how to properly clean a toilet. We realize we are probably the only two girls in the world who don't, actually didn't know this. But now we know. I guess I should say who, so the other girls are not embarrassed, because of course they knew this cool trick. It's Steph and Andrea. Okay.

So, a few weeks ago I was cleaning the upstairs bathroom with Lacy and I was cleaning the toilet. So, I was dumping the toilet cleaner in the toilet like this:


of course. Lacy kind of stood there and watched and said, "Oh, you don't do it like this?" And she proceeded to show me the correct way:


How genius, I thought. This way the cleaner gets everywhere in the toilet bowl, not just the center! Oh man, I never knew. But, I was told, that is why the toilet cleaner is shaped like this:


A few days ago it was Steph's week to clean the bathroom. The same think happened, only I took Lacy's place and was probably not as gracious as Lacy. Steph and I laughed a lot. We are glad that we now know how to clean toilets properly. Probably the worst part is that I actually had a job cleaning someone's house when I was younger. All the weeks of cleaning their toilets were done incorrectly.

If anyone has other cleaning tips that you think we might not know, please tell us........

a verse i love today:

Isaiah 26:3 "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." 

Perfect peace does not come from everything going the way we want but from a mind set on HIM. I want to trust Jesus more.  So sweet to Trust in Jesus!   

catering!!

A few weeks ago, Sarah's brother had a MN wedding reception (He got married in Idaho and had a reception at his parent's house here). We were 'hired' as the wait staff. Sharon gave us all matching aprons...which are really cute! Since we had so much fun serving the guests and because we really like the aprons, we thought we should start a catering business. However, we would not provide the food...just the service...with a smile. So, if any of y'all are looking for something like that, let us know :)

Lacy, Stephanie and Ellie

It got really cold outside!

These delicious treats are called 'Sins of the Inn.' Wow, they are amazing. Steph recommends these...and believe me, she knows everything about the dessert table.

Ellie and Katie...really excited...

All of us.

practicality.

So, we had this idea of doing a price comparison of essential items at frequently visited grocery stores (Cub, Rainbow, Super-T). This all came about because there are definite opinions amongst the housemates at 2520 over which store is cheaper overall. Do you have an opinion??

Well, we wanted to get your (our readers) opinions/input on what items you would like us to compare. We obviously cannot compare all the items you buy, but items that are consistently on your grocery list.

some of our ideas are:

• bread
• cereal
• yogurt
• milk
• eggs
• flour
• sugar
• pasta
• apples
• cheese
• lunch meat
• OJ
• canned soup
• chocolate chips
• chicken

Suggestions??

p.s. I know some of you would say Aldi should be on our list, but they don't have all of our items and we are looking for an overall cheapest store.

"desperate measures call for desperate times"

When you live with 5 other girls, you have to be resourceful. We tend to store our food in obscure places, such as our bedrooms or the trunks of our cars. Our cupboards are overflowing and there is no other place to store the items. We just wanted to pass on the idea...in case any of you may have the same problem. So, here you go...

i miss china...

Mostly I miss the orphans. Especially Wu Quihua. This is the orphan I was 'buddied' with for the week at the orphan camp. He was so precious and even cuter in person! He smiled all the time but when he was in his bus seat waiting for the bus to take him back to the orphanage, he put his head down in his lap and cried...along with those of us who were watching them leave.

Wu Quihua and Tan Ping. They are both 12 years-old. The boys loved to play together. They are wearing Minnesota Gopher hats that Trent gave them. They told us their stories of how they ended up in the orphanage. Unbelievable stories and real sad.

okay. some more pictures from the conference!

The Desiring God Conference this year was titled "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God." I've started listening to the messages on my ipod and so far they've been really good and convicting. If you want to listen, you can go to the DG website. I would recommend it! We've had some good conversations at our house about the messages.

Ellie was a speaker host for the Interpreters...looks like they chose her because she looks so welcoming. In case you don't know Ellie - she really doesn't look like this normally :) She likes to laugh and smile. If you want a longer list of her positive qualities, email me.

Hanging out with some cool girls. I love them!!

Mike and Orison had lots of fun with the rubbermaid tubs. The ones that have a warning about letting kids play in them.


Aaron and Mike didn't have any push-pins or blow guns to play with like they do at the office so they were able to rest.


There were many great things about the conference, of course, but also some disappointments.
1. We didn't get to see Gabe and Julia
2. No yearly tradition of Chipotle (except for Steph)
3. No C.J. Mahaney or Josh Harris

BUT a few of the highlights!
1. Singing
2. Meeting new people
3. Seeing friends
4. Hearing Bob Kauflin and the other speakers
5. New traditions: aka. late night Cub run to get candy for the desk. We bought Reeses, M&M's, Skittles, Twizzler Nibs and Cheez-Its (the big ones). At the time, it seemed necessary but the next morning it seemed a little over the top.
6. Serving people (and being able to pray with people in the prayer room).
7. Being convicted of sin
8. And lots more...

DG NatCon. Part Deux

Back in 2007:
And with the same candy bowl, in 2008:

how we prepared for DG natcon.

the new DG style: hiking the pants up...real high.