At Last!

So after trying NUMEROUS times to post pictures, today, it just decided to work. So here's a few I've been wanting to post for awhile now. This first one is of TCX - the conference we have every Dec. 28-Jan. 1 with students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. We had over 1200 students there. It's one of my favorite things of the year.

Here's a picture of the Chicago skyline from our day in Chicago over Christmas.

Here's a picture of what my dad called "mecca" - Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears :). And as every football fan says... Maybe next year.
And here we are on Michigan Avenue. And yes, I have a huge down coat that has been GREAT with how cold it's been lately.

Busy Bees

It has been a full week, but we're getting into more of a routine as the semester goes on. On Wenesday night we took an extra trip with our 3 AIA (Athletes in Action) student leaders to La Crosse to visit the AIA group at their campus. They consistently have 50+ students attending. It was good to meet their student leaders and hear what they've done the past few years and hear some words of wisdom from them. It was also fun to dream about what God could do with our AIA group in a few years. We were also able to take some of the students we lead with us to meet new students in the dorms. Aaron was able to have a great conversation with a guy and see him make a significant decision to make God a part of his life.
On Tuesday it was 4 months since Payton died. In some ways it feels like it's been that long and in other ways it doesn't. We still miss her a lot which I expect will last the rest of our lives.
On a happier note, 1 month from today I'll be flying to Toulouse, France with my mom, dear friend Sara, and 8 other women from our region. We're going on a vision trip to encourage the staff women there as well as participate in the campus ministry they have going there. I'm really looking forward to it - a missions trip with some of my most favorite people in France... I've never been to France and haven't traveled internationally since we came home from our internship during the 01-02 school year. Anyone will tell you that once you have traveled internationally, it puts the bug in you and want to keep going places. :)

So Sad

Aaron and I had our own little super bowl party. First I took a super nap, and then I got up in time for the game. We made wings and guacamole with chips. We may wash it down with ice cream shortly :). I'm frustrated the Bears lost not necessarily because they lost, but because they made stupid plays (really bad passes instead of running the ball more). I do, however, like Tony Dungee and Peyton Manning - so it's fun that even though the Bears lost, I can still be happy the Colts won. So that's our exciting super bowl night. There's a great website that AIA set up for the super bowl about the coaches: www.beyondtheultimate.org . Hope you had a fun game day. Many of you may have been like us and just not wanted to get out in the extreme cold! It's been so nice to be home a lot the last 2 days. It's been a busy start to the year, and we're trying to catch up with life stuff and getting things done around the house. We'll keep you posted on life and ministry. Much love, the Joneses