A Two Week Update...

Well I thinks it's time for another update since its been about two weeks I think...

Last week we were on vacation and were having a blast in the Twin Cities. We got to spend time with family, do some shopping and walking around the Mall of America, go to the State Fair, Tim got to go to the Renaissance Festival (I wasn't feeling good that day), relax and relax some more. Boy was it HOT tho!

We went from one heat wave to another! Moline was hot, hot, hot when we got back! It wasn't very pleasant as our Air Conditioner stopped working sometime while we were gone so our house was pretty unpleasantly warm...thankfully when we moved we brought with us our window air conditioning unit as a just in case, so we slept pretty well in the nice cool bedroom...while the rest of the house was a sauna...but once again we were very thankful that the air conditioning fix it guy was out almost first thing the next morning!

If you haven't already seen on Facebook, I am now employed! Super excited! I start working for an American Family Insurance agent on Sept 23rd full time! It's a new change of pace from working in the medical field, but I am ready for that change! I will have to learn a lot of new things but that just comes with the territory! All I can say is that God works in many ways, wonderful but many ways! It's been a struggle to find a job and then out of almost no-where a friend of a friend was told by a friend of an opening at her husbands office.

So officially I am in my second trimester of my pregnancy! I still have moments of not feeling very well but I don't think just because I hit 12 weeks and 2 days that it automatically stops! But here's to hoping my moments are few and far in between!  We had another OB appointment this week and got to hear the baby's heart beat again! I will say that is one of the coolest things! Now we are just patiently waiting till we find out the sex of the baby...8 more weeks seems like forever! But I am sure it will fly by! Also my due date was changed...to two days sooner...so March 20th instead of March 22nd. Either way the baby will come when it wants to come! I also got my first two pairs of pregnancy pants! I'm not really showing at all yet just look a little more fluffy than normal but my clothes are starting to get more uncomfortably tight around my waist and belly...

This Sunday is the church's Back to Church Sunday aka Rally Sunday so it's going to get crazy busy for Tim's schedule now! He will start confirmation, young adults small group, high school small group, and continue with the preaching schedule and office hours. I am sure we will start going to the youths sporting events as well!

Again as always we are grateful and very much appreciate all prayers, thoughts and encouragement!
Blessings!

Answers to Questions

So Sunday Tim and I announced we are expanding our family! We are SO thrilled and excited! I thought this blog would be answers to all the common questions an expecting couple gets and a few from ones that I have been asked!

Currently I am in my 8th week of the pregnancy...we had a pretty big decision to make on when we were going to share the good news. Obviously we decided to tell early, which does carry some concern since I still have a few weeks to go until my first trimester is over, but so far everything has been given a good seal. We decided to tell early because with my challenge with the "morning sickness" our new church members were getting concerned and we were not enjoying denying the "Is she pregnant?" or "Are you pregnant?" questions with a "No" or "Nope". So with that we are asking for prayers for myself and our baby to stay safe and healthy!

Our little bundle of joy is guesstimated to arrive sometime around March 22nd, 2014!

As I said earlier I have had my challenges with the "morning sickness"...some days are manageable while others aren't very pretty. Although this last week it has been on the more manageable side, which I am so grateful for! I am just hoping it stays on the manageable side for the next 4 weeks and doesn't over stay its welcome! I know it's a lot to hope for but anything is possible! I'm just so thankful that I don't have to have a job right now, I don't know how I'd make it through the day on the not very pretty days.

Yes we will be finding out the sex of our baby! We both would be going crazy if we didn't know...we both have our wishes of what the baby will be BUT overall we just want a healthy baby!

I haven't had any weird cravings yet, although I still think it's a little soon for that but it's been a questions that's been asked. BUT there are some foods that I can eat more of that I couldn't before, like dairy products no longer have a negative effect on me if I eat to much!

My nose is probably picking up scents better than our dogs! There are some things I've had to stop using because of the not so pleasant reaction from the scent...which I hear will pass too!

I think that is all the questions I have been asked...feel free to leave a comment either on my Facebook comment section or if you have a blogspot account you can comment on this post...

One more thing again...we would really appreciate continued support, encouragement and prayers during this wonderful and exciting and a little nerve racking time!

Blessings!
The parents to be!

Short and Sweet

So this is going to be a short and sweet update...

Last week Tim was at camp with the Senior High students, which he had a blast at again! I think he is still a little "star struck" that he gets paid to have that much fun! Although Saturday was spent napping since there wasn't a lot of sleep that was had the week prior!

While Tim was at camp I had a relaxing week alone with the puppies...did some crafts and took care of some domestic duties but mainly was lazy and bummed around the house. I did apply for a few more jobs but unfortunately no luck...but that's okay. Tim and I will be coming home at the end of August for a bit so I think for now the job hunt is on hold since I don't want to miss that opportunity...but it gives me plenty of time to be crafty and enjoy the time we have together before his schedule gets more busy!

Not much has happened this week so far...Tim's been at the church, meeting with the youth, having small group and I believe he is starting to get Sunday school material ready and put together for this up coming year! Its crazy how fast time is moving! Some schools here start on the 5th of August and the rest are starting on the 14th of August! I can't believe how early school starts here it's insane! But I guess I don't have to worry about it since I'm no longer in school. But now it'll be just enjoying our time together until school starts and Tim's schedule gets even crazier than it is already!

Blessings!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Man its hot outside! So thankful for air conditioning that works and that this week is almost over with! It looks like it's suppose to cool down a little! I really wish someone could or would invent an "air-trapper" that would trap air that is cold and hot in separate container things and all we would need to do is flip a switch and just the right amount of cold or warm air would release cooling or warming us...that'd be nice but probably impossible!

So last week I don't really remember all that happened well at least not at the beginning of the week but the end of the week was fun!


Tuesday we had our small group in the evening, which was good as always!
Thursday Tim and I went out to dinner and saw Grown Ups 2, which is just as good as the first one I think!
Friday we went to a Quad-Cities River Bandits baseball game with a few people from the church, which was pretty fun! I believe for those of you in the cities the River Bandits are the same as the St. Paul Saints...I believe...pretty sure that's what Tim said. But anyway while we were there we learned that Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau (sorry if I spelt their last names wrong) played for the River Bandits, which was cool.
Saturday we spent pretty much ALL day at the John Deere Classic, which is apart of the PGA tour. It definitely was a new experience for me. We watched a lot of the groups start at the first hole until the guy that Tim wanted to follow went then we walked with him for about 2 holes, it was really HOT and very crowded so we went back and watched the ones come in at the 18th hole. Overall pretty fun day!

Last week and early this week there were a lot of birthdays and an anniversary so I did what I love to do and that was make some cards! I also made a get well soon card that was needed to be sent. You will find the cards below.

Birthday card for one of my sisters.

Birthday card for my dad.

Birthday card for my niece that had her FIRST birthday! 

Anniversary card for Tim's sister and brother-in-law!

Just another view. 

And the Get Well Soon card! 

I also gave Wini a bath last week and she wasn't to thrilled but she enjoyed it once she realized she could try and drink the water...didn't let that happen though! I think she is cute when she's wet so took a picture of her!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far and a blessed weekend! 

Blessings!

Home Sweet Home

So as it turns out I found my camera and I have no idea how I thought where I put it was a good idea...although I have a feeling I had put it in the box with the other things to file because my intentions of going through that box were probably pretty high at the time but slowly diminished, but none the less I did find it and it will be going in my desk where it belongs.

As promised here is our new house tour...it won't take two days like the last tour but we are pretty blessed to have found this house and our landlords are pretty much amazing!

The front of the house
Side Note: I took this picture when I was house hunting, but nothing has changed other than the trees have more leaves now and there are a few plants under the big window. 

One side of the spare room/ craft room
It was REALLY hard to pick just the "essentials" or most used items!
The rest is stored down stairs in the basement in a corner.
Yup I'm missing my craft room that I had in Hazen...

Other side of the spare room/ craft room

Part of our bathroom

Other view of the bathroom

Our bedroom view 1

Our bedroom view 2

View 1 of the living room...yup those are the dogs favorite spots...can you say SPOILED! 

View 2 of the living room

View 3 of the living room...notice how the dogs didn't move :)

"The Den"/ Tim's office space

View 1 of the kitchen or the dining room whichever way you wanna look at it!

The "real" part of the Kitchen 

Part of the back yard...its REALLY hot and humid today and my camera lens kept fogging up
so you may have to squint a little to see it clearly.  

The other part of the back yard

Another try to capture the back yard

And yet another try! 

Well thats the new house in picture tour form! I hope you enjoyed it! We certainly do! 

This last week was pretty low key. Tim came back from camp on June 28th, we had some company (my sister, her husband, my brother and my niece) that weekend which was nice. 

Sunday was good. We had church and then we were invited for a pool party with some couples our age which was very nice and relaxing! 

Monday Tim had off since he had to "work" on his day off the week before. He had a great time at camp! He is very much looking forward to go again in two weeks with the senior high. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days with Tim at the church and then me home attending to my domestic duties. Tuesdays we have a young adults (20-30's) small group at our home and we again had a blast with that! 

Thursday was Independence Day and in the morning we had an evangelism outreach at the Firecracker Run in East Moline handing out postcards with the Kingdom Builders Sermon Series scheduled and church information on it along with a granola bar, a few youth helped with that and then later in the afternoon we were invited to members house for a BBQ/ Pool Party which was nice and relaxing again minus the slight sun burn and bug bites but that comes with the territory though. We didn't go to any fireworks mainly because we aren't quite sure where we would have parked and such but it was ok since if we stood out on the street we could see three different shows at once so I did get to watch for a little bit. 

Friday we relaxed mostly. Went to Sam's Club...which not sure if I've said this before or not but I LOVE THAT PLACE! We stocked up on some meat and a few snacks and frozen goods! 

Saturday was very relaxed, got to sleep in and just hung out around the house. 

Sunday the 7th was Tim's first preaching Sunday, which he did a wonderful job! 

Yesterday Tim had office hours and I put my heart into job searching again...I applied for 6 jobs and now I am waiting to hear back...which is the worst part I think! But God has a plan and we know He will open doors he wants opened and shut the ones that he doesn't. 

And today Tim has his office hours and I've been pretty productive with my domestic duties...I really like saying that phrase "domestic duties"...even though I could think of a million and one reasons to do something else it's still fun to say!

But ANYWAY the doggies are giving me their signal they need to head on outside so I should let them out and continue with my To-Do list for the day! 

Many Blessings! 

Long Time No Update...

Well since the last time I updated this was in April and there was about 17 inches of snow on the ground...thought it'd be a good thing to update. No snow, sunny, and a hot hot hot 81 degrees today! Although that is not a complaint because I will take this weather over 17 inches of snow any day!

We have had some changes recently. A quick run through of May and June.
May 8th- My last day of work at the hospital! :)
May 9th- The start of my hunt for a house for us to rent till we find a house we want to buy!
May 15th- Found a cute little two bedroom house to rent! Plus side a HUGE fenced in backyard for the pups!
May 19th- Tim Graduated from Luther Seminary with his Masters of Divinity degree!

May 21st- Tim was ordained!

May 26th- Our last Sunday at Peace Lutheran Church, such a bittersweet moment! It was hard to be excited about moving and the new adventure when we had to leave such WONDERFUL people behind! (Also our moving day!)
May 27th- The moving day continued, but we arrived in the Quad Cities! And were greeted with about 40 eager new church members who helped move us unload the U-Haul! What an AWESOME welcome!
May 28th- May 31st- Tim and I unpacking and settling into our new home and his new office.
June 1st- Tim's official first day....yeah he built a castle. (The start of the new sermon series Become a Kingdom Builder!)
June 2nd- June 7th- I unpacked the rest of the house. Tim continued to get acquainted with his new role!
June 10th- June 14th- I along with a few other wonderful people made 275 cards for the new sermon series/ church appeal which is pictured below...as well as had a very successful week of Vacation Bible School! Tim did a little sermon or lesson at the beginning of each night and I was in charge of crafts...go figure right!

June 16th- Installation Sunday for Pastor Tim! Tim's parents were here for a visit that weekend, they were very proud of him!
And since then it's been Tim continuing to do his office hours, visiting with families of the church and preparing for his first sermon which will be July 7th! And for me I've been keeping up with my domestic duties while looking for a job.

I think that's about it...I will post pictures of our new home and church once I figure out where I put my camera...yeah I lost it again, well I shouldn't say lost because I know I have it in the house, just not quite sure where...I really should just put it somewhere that is practical...but I'm guessing where ever I put it I must have thought that it was practical at the time. Anyway if I don't find it by next week I will just use my phone to take pictures...better those than nothing at all!

Many Blessings!
Tim and Gracie

And the church is...

Well all I can say for today is that Mother Nature really doesn't respect the calendar seasons.... here is a picture of what it currently looks like outside our front window...

Yup SNOW...and LOTS of it...it's still coming down as I type. The really shocking thing is that about 3 hours ago Tim and I went outside and shoveled so I would be able to possibly make it out and to work at 5 AM tomorrow without any issues....looks like we'll have to go out and shovel again closer to bedtime...any volunteers would be wonderful!

Anyway, I'm sure you don't read this blog just for the weather updates :) 

If you haven't already seen the Facebook posts, Tim and I have FINALLY found out where we will be going to be once his internship is done...and we have decided to accept the call from Faith Lutheran Church in Moline, IL! He will be an associate pastor for Youth and Family! We are VERY excited to see what God has in store for us in Moline! Although it is an exciting time it's also a little sad too as we will have to leave behind all the wonderful friends and congregation we have gotten to know over this last year...but I am sure we will take advantage of the time left that we have with them! 

Just a little update on what we've been doing this last month...not much really changes from the day to day operations...Tim is still having a blast with his office hours and preparing for confirmation classes, Sunday sermons and services, Sunday School and continuing with a Men's Small Group that is studying the Church Confessions! As well as making his rounds at the Nursing Home, Assisted Living Center and when we have members who are hospitalized! 

I am still just working away at the hospital in town and keeping busy with my crafts. I recently finished two quilts one for a co-worker and another for one of my sisters. I took a picture of the one for my sister but at the moment I can't seem to remember where I placed my camera...next update I will put a picture up. And of course my paper crafting has kept me just as busy as ever...I have already made Tim's Ordination Invitations and hopefully those will go out in the mail tomorrow :) I will post a picture once I can find my camera...I really have no clue as to where I put it...I'm normally really good at putting it back where it belongs when I am done with it....but anyway back to the update!

Continuing with my paper craft theme, last night I started to work on something for the Relay For Life team that I am on...if you aren't familiar with Relay For Life it is a fundraiser for American Cancer Society to raise money for cancer research as well as for information and services for cancer patients and their caregivers here is their website if you'd like more information www.relayforlife.org ...anyway we are starting to sell Luminaries in honor of those you may have known who have died from cancer, survived cancer or is currently battling cancer, for a suggested donation of $10 we will put your loved ones name on a Luminaria to place around the race track on Relay Night so they are not forgotten while we walk! Now I've never participated in the Relay Night so I can't tell you exactly what it is all about but from what I hear it's a wonderful time! So if anyone wants to dedicate a luminaria just let me know and I can get you more information! But I think I should get back to making the name plates for the luminaries! 

Thank you to everyone who has been so wonderful at praying and encouraging us through this time in our lives! We are so appreciative of all, we know this time wouldn't have been the same without the prayers and encouraging letters and notes! 

Blessings!

Tim and Grace Balfanz

P.S If you could pray that the snow would stop and Spring would finally make an appearance I would REALLY love it! I'm so over the snow...and winter 7 months is a little long!