One and Two

Hello friends,

Daniel here, putting out a long overdue post for those still alive and following us out there in the cybersphere. My post title reminds me of a customer who comes into my Starbucks (yes I'm working at Starbucks--I've officially sold out to the Man) and orders a "four and two" every day. This refers to four shots of normal espresso and two shots of decaf espresso, in a short cup, with a dollop of foam on top. Today I didn't make the foam very well and he was quite disappointed in me. The customers who come into our store are a little bit crazy sometimes.

Anyways, the "one and two" is a reference to two very significant things in our lives today. First, we officially have been out of California for one year--we moved out on July 27th one year ago. I remember sleeping on the bare floor of our apartment (good ol' Stoneridge!), waking up at the crack of dawn, and driving through Nevada cracking ridiculous puns on the walkie-talkies in the desert. I can hardly believe that it's been a whole year. Time has certainly flown by. The second important event we remember today is our Two-year anniversary! That's right, two years ago today we were blistering in Boise and having the best day of our lives. It truly seems like just yesterday that we were chomping down on apple pie and beginning on this amazing journey together. I am so proud to be married to my best friend--the past two years have been terrific, and I can't wait to see where God takes us together in the many years ahead!

Since we last wrote we've been up to a lot. First of all, my sister Amanda graduated--although as you can tell from the picture Jonathan and I are a little bit skeptical of her education :)

We had a great time with family in town, although it was a bit challenging since my finals started the day after the graduation festivities. I made it through with God's grace though, and I have now officially finished a year of graduate school. We had enough time to go the city with my family, where we took silly pictures:

I took a one-week intensive summer class (Systematic Theology 3), which finished up right about the time we took a four-day trip out to California. There we went to Molly's good friend Karen's wedding as well as attending the Reider family reunion. It was an amazing time, and we loved seeing all of our friends and family members in California. While there we got to go to Disneyland, which brought back a ton of great memories from when we had season passes. It was a bit strange to feel like "tourists" and not locals. I guess that's what happens when you move away. Nevertheless, our time in California reminded us of how much we loved living there for seven years, and we definitely feel like it will always be an integral part of who we are.

Upon our return we immediately both got sick (probably because of the late-night flights both directions). We recovered enough to go to a local event just North of us, where pre-1980 cars drove around a loop in downtown Waukegan. We had a fun time but came back to our car to discover our back-bumper had been whacked by another car. Rats! Nevertheless we still had a fun and goofy time (see below). Yay for summer grapes!

Tomorrow we leave for another short trip to California--this time for our good friend Karisa's wedding, which Molly is a bridesmaid for. We're looking forward to it and are soooo excited that our friend finally gets to tie the knot. Speaking of weddings, Molly's sister Megan is getting married on August 15th, so we will be traveling down to Indiana for that soon after our return from California. And just like that, we'll be right on the edge of a new school year.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could update you on, but hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of our lives lately. We thank God for the past year, and the past two years. Although our lives have been busy and we're still settling in here, we know that He continues to lead and direct us, and we are never far from Him. Life is indeed good!

Spring has SPRUNG!!

 Springtime in Chicago...

A time when pathetic white skin says hello to it's long lost solar friend. A time when you throw open the front door to breathe the kind air..... and capture the bullfrogs under your bookcase that consider the motion an invitation to tea. It's a time when flowers fight off their snow-bitten skepticism and laugh in bloomin' glory. A time to listen to splintering thunderstorms, splash in puddles, and sand furniture frantically in the dry reprieve. A time to crack, cram, and synthesize the last morsels of theology before the semester's out. A time for Daniel to give new meaning to "cute guy in the Starbucks apron" and tuck away the earned money for tickets.... oh the tickets.... the tickets that get you to California sunshine and the hugs you've dreamed about. It's when you unpack your new! gelato! maker! and discover that the proverbial possibilities really are endless. It's when you work, sleep, wash the sheets, welcome the next beloved visitors, love, eat, pray for grace, laugh, give thanks for gelling friendships, round the corner, smile, and set down at God's feet the weight of the first long, hard winter. 

PSSST!!!...You can check out new pictures from our mad 24-hour Easter dash home, over there.... on your right!

Heading South

Hi there--be sure to check out the new album to the right, but here's a couple pictures of our recent trip South.

It's been a while since I (Daniel) have written, so I guess it's my turn to give a little update.  Last week was my spring break, and Molly and I were able to get away for about four days on a quick trip down to New Orleans and Florida, to visit Molly's grandparents.  It was a really fun trip, and it felt like a good getaway even though we didn't have a ton of time.  We got up on Thursday morning at 4:30, and then got up at 4:00 on the next Monday morning to fly back to Chicago.  Given that we had work and class respectively on that Monday, we were pretty exhausted by the end of the day.  But the rest of our week after that was fairly restful, so we're doing pretty well these days.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves about the trip, but suffice it to say that it was a blast!  In other news, we are amazed at how fast the spring is going.  And it does feel like spring here.  We are pretty much past any snow, and we even had a 70 degree day this week.  We think that Chicago winters are not as bad as everyone makes them out to be, or maybe we're just that tough!  Our February flew by, with visits from friends and family, and somehow our March has been just as fast.  We took a day a few weeks ago to drive three hours north and stay a night at an indoor water park in Wisconsin, which was amazing.  It was pretty hilarious to hang out with all the other pasty-white midwesterners and run around in our bathing suits in the middle of winter.  

My schoolwork is going fine.  I've definitely adjusted to being in school mode, and this semester has gone by so fast that I feel I must have just been on autopilot the whole time.  I'm through midterms, and don't have a ton of work left before finals come up.  I can't believe I'm almost done with my first year.  

Molly is doing well at work, and feels like she's made some breakthroughs lately in her approach to therapy, which has been very encouraging.  What has not been encouraging is the state of Illinois-ing, which has delayed her full licensing until next October (she thought it would be complete in February).  The other speech therapist is leaving the company in a month, so you can be praying for her as she takes over a lot of new clients and her already busy schedule gets even busier.

Our home bible study is going pretty well--we've added a few new members and are enjoying our times with them.  It's been a bit tough to get into a groove with it because we only meet every other week.  Our lives are so busy that it feels an eternity passes between every meeting.  But we are encouraged by our times together, and it's been really good experience for me as I try to be a good leader to people twice my age.

I need to run and help Molly clean the house--we're hosting the bible study on Saturday and our house is, um, not spit-spot at the moment.  Is there a point in a marriage where you both start enjoying house cleaning?  Anyone have any motivational tips for us?  

Thanks for reading, and we hope you all are doing well.  Feel free to drop us an email or a phone call--we miss all our friends and family living far away.  We'll give another update soon, once we've taken a new adventure :)

We've Got a Ticket to RIIIDE....

the Reider Rollercoaster that is...ah... aaaah. AAHHHHH..... WEEEEEEE!...

Boy, it's been a while since our little fingers have typed away at a new message on here. Of course, that could be related to the title of this post. Or the fact that we realized the other day we haven't had 2 normal weekends at home in a row since before Thanksgiving. For being what we would consider rather tame individuals, we can say with gusto life has been a little W-I-L-D.  So though meta-narrative of our overwhelming life in Blog-form feels a little cooky, our life is brilliant! and blessed! and should be updated!... here we go....

I suppose we could talk about our marvelous yuletide in quiet little Lyons Indiana (which wasn't very quiet or peaceful at all.. but was wonderful nonetheless), or my birthday/New Years Eve with my family here in Chicago (where we all got to meet my brother's most adorable and spunky girlfriend, Erin...), or our weekend roadtrip down to Indianapolis, or the best belated birthday surprise of my life (my best friend Kristin from California smiling at me in the Milwaukee airport), or the feet of snow the winter sky dumped on us and then insured would stay for over a month with single digit temperatures,  or Daniel's 26th birthday (along with our celebratory downtown excursion and mad bowling party) or our sweet sweet friends Anna and Karisa coming to visit us this past weekend..... BUT suffice it to say that the revolving door at the Reider house is very blessed and we have had a couple months filled with warm memories, great conversation, and ministry from many faces we treasure.

We have certainly needed the ministry of those we love. As the six month mark of our move here arrives, we often feel the firm protesting of things inside of us that we expected to feel a little more settled by now... but aren't.  Daniel has been a little bummed by what seems to be a repeat of less-than-thrilling classes from last semester, but he is loving his counseling class and concentration on developing more skills for something he already cares a lot about... loving people and listening well.  And though his people-loving tendencies have caused him to put  a lot of work on the back burner while we've had so many people in town,  he's still the Trinity Titan.... doing great in school of course:)   We continue to have many conversations attempting to discern whether it is three more years of seminary and a full-time job in ministry that awaits us. We can't be sure.  But as Daniel was right to remind us this week, it's not our shabby attempts at grasping for meaning that make our lives significant, but the all-sufficient meaning we get from identifying ourselves with Christ each day (no matter what we are doing) that is truly satisfying.

Life with the kiddos at the clinic is new and different every day. After a discouraging month, I enjoyed the reprieve of a very successful and encouraging week. I'm enjoying more and more the sweetness and laughter that the kids and my coworkers provide, as I feel more comfortable in my own skin (and skill-set:-). I think God has been gracious, never giving more than what I can truly handle, and revealing new challenges in one area just as I'm feeling more confident in another. Overall, I pray God uses me to point others to Him as I maintain a joyful balance in a working environment is not always so balanced. 

Oh yeah!.. and we're in a small group.. I mean leading an existing small group at church. Yep, not what we expected, but we are thankful for the opportunity and leaning on God to guide it. And we attended the membership class at church today. We also are slowly growing in our friendships here.  And though they feel like the tortoise sometimes, edging painfully toward the finish line marked "easy, comfortable, and familiar" we're still getting there. Sometimes we forget however the obstacles marked "time", "energy", and "work". But we know that every other Trinity couple is dealing with the same things. I am proud to say I'm looking forward to my VERY FIRST COFFEE DATE with girls this Tuesday night. It's been a long time coming and I think I'm looking forward to it like Christmas morning.

Daniel and I recently celebrated a year and a half of marriage and it makes me realize just how thankful I am to be on the journey with my dearest friend.  God is growing us through the roller coaster. I should know... I HATE roller coasters.  I'm a comfort-loving Scaredy Cat.  And goodness knows, inertia would get the better of my hesitation every time if I hadn't been given someone so cute to hold my hand.