Settling into Wheaton

Well, Christy and I have been in Wheaton together for two weeks now and I must say it is better being together than being apart. My last two weeks in Richmond were fun as I got to say goodbye to all my friends and close out work at Capital One, but I did miss the family tremendously. Christy has started her job at Wheaton College as an adjunct professor and appears to be settling in nicely. I have given her sound advice on how to fail students properly but she does not seem to be listening - which is probably best for everyone. I've been mainly a stay at home daddy which is a big adjustment for me, but a wonderful (probably once in a life time) opportunity. The kids and I spend alot of time going to parks, museums, the public library, shopping for milk and other activities. I've also been able to try my hand at making several meals including Pad Thai, Red Curry Chicken, Spanish Rice and other meals. I even went shopping at the oriental grocery store for thai egg plants - I got some strange looks and had to search for someone to speak English, but I got the egg plants and they tasted great.

Christy and I had our first get together at the condo today and 7 different folks came. We had great fellowship together and everyone was so supportive of the move to Costa Rica. We've also enjoyed beginning to get plugged into Wheaton Bible Church. We have been going to service and also gotten plugged into a community group there. I'm also looking forward to being in the men's bible study on Thursday mornings and also involved in other capacities (not having a job has the perks of having more time to serve in the body).

Elizabeth and Sammy are doing well. Elizabeth's most common phrases (besides 'Milk Please' and 'Lets go see Nanna and Pappa') is 'Dad, lets go to the park' or 'Dad, I just have to get out of the house.' Sammy has started calling Christy and I 'Hey-dad' and 'Hey-mom' because Elizabeth will say 'Hey Dad....hey dad....hey dad....hey dad....hey dad...' until I answer her. Awesome.

Cristy was able to update many pictures of the kids (click on the link in the upper right) - I highly recommend everyone go take a look. My favorite is with all the cousins plus a few second cousin piled on the couch. I was in Richmond when that picture was taken, and with that many kids under the age of 5 in one area, I am kinda happy about it.

Before I go, I'll leave everyone with this picture. It is a picture of a monkey hugging a bird. I saw this on drudgereport and it is the cutest picture I have ever seen (minus any of my kids of course). Basically, this stray monkey has buddied up with this pigeon, and they are friends for life. Does it get any better than this?

Internet works!

Well, its been a while but I have an excuse...It took us a little longer to get the internet up running than we thought it would. I am happy to say that Christy and I have medium speed (I won't call it high speed because we went on the cheap and got the 700K download speed for 10 dollars a month instead of worrying about getting maximum speed for 40 a month) up and running. It is fast enough to surf the web, write emails, and stream music without any hassle at all. Hurray!

I'll be better about posting here and emailing everyone. Hope all is going well and we'll be in touch soon.

I caught a fish THIS big

Okay...so maybe it was a little smaller than I remember it being. I guess the digital age is not all its cracked up to be - it keeps us guys honest about our stories.

It has been a little over a week since I came back down to Richmond to finish out work and I am really looking forward to getting back and seeing the family. Things have been rough for Christy as everyone is sick (including her). Certainly something to pray for as Elizabeth has a 102 fever and Sammy has an ear infection. I guess when it rains it pours. All this and Christy has to start teaching her class mid next week and the storms in Chicago knocked out power for the next couple days.

I've been trying to keep busy around here with what little work there is left to do, exercise at the YMCA and lots of movies. I was also able to send out our update letter which I am hoping most of you have received by now. The most exciting thing I did by far this week was go fishing (see picture above) with two friends from church. My last few days are filling up with activities at church and meals with friends. It is hard to believe but our six year time is finally coming to a close here in Richmond.

Its been good Richmond.....

I'm off to play some bored (har-de-har) games with friends now. I'll try to get another post in before I head home.

What to do....What to do...

Between all the traveling, the move and the fact that we do not have internet at our place yet it is has been hard to get the blog updated. However, one thing I did not have before (time) - I seem to have an over abundance of now. I am down in Richmond finishing out my last two weeks of work - but Christy and the kids are up in Wheaton continuing to settle in there. Although a one or two hour break can be so nice when you are with the kids all day, my first three days of the fourteen day trip has left me really missing the Elizabeth and Sam. I managed to complete all my errands that I needed to do down here on Thursday and Friday, and I was able to spend some time today addressing, stamping and stuffing our next prayer letter. Keep on the look out as they will be in the mail soon!

We've settled in nicely to the new place in Wheaton. In between work I tried to spend time with the kids (cosley animal farm, children's museum, runs in the jogging stroller, etc) so that Christy could start preparing for her class. She starts teaching at the end of the month and is nervously excited - so hopefully everything will go off without a hitch on the first day.

A couple new posts of the kids below. The first is Elizabeth being cute while laying on the couch - the other is Sam-I-Am with a silly grin. More than likely he is thinking how much fun it would be to take the camera and chew on it. (I guess better that than Elizabeth's leg).

To sign off tonight, a quick note from devotions that I liked from yesterday. (Proverbs 4:25-27) 'May I let my eyes look straight ahead and fix my gaze straight ahead of me. May I ponder the path of my feet so that all my ways will be established. May I not turn to the right or to the left but keep my foot from evil.' I wish I could say that all actions I take in my life are the direct result of me focusing on Christ, but clearly that is not true. Clearly a verse to pray over and ask for help. Until next time...

We've moved!

This will be a short post, but I wanted to let every one know that we have officially moved. We packed up the truck on Monday, drove it up to Chicago Tuesday and unpacked on Wednesday (thanks to everyone that helped!) - we are now taking some time to relax in Michigan at my parents place. Our plan is to go back to Wheaton - and our large mess - in a couple days after some time with family and with Matt and Lisa Befus (the missionaries we will be working with in Costa Rica) who are driving up to Michigan on Monday.

We're looking forward to getting settled into our new place in Wheaton. If you would like to contact us you can use:

111 North Wheaton Unit #407
Wheaton, IL 60187

Can you microwave a plastic plate?

Now that we are less than 8 days away from driving the moving truck up to Wheaton, we find ourselves asking questions like that. We started packing up the house over five weeks ago - however - we promised we would not pack up the essentials (e.g., dishes, silverware, etc) until we go to t-minus 2 weeks. Now that most of our clothes, dishes, and many other common goods are in boxes, needless to say we are quite happy we waited until 2 weeks to pack them all up. When Lizzy asks for oatmeal and we are not sure how we will heat up the water - things are rough.

My (Josh) folks will be coming down on Friday which will be a huge blessing. We will be able to quickly finish up packing the house and do other odds and ends (clean, repair nail holes, etc). If we get everything finished early, I may try to get the moving truck a day early so my dad and I can get started. Christy and my mom will be driving up to Michigan with the kids probably on Wed morning. Another exciting event that happens on Friday is that Christy and I will go sign the paper work for the sale of the house. Although we do not close until the 27th, we are finishing up the documents early because we will be out of town. I guess its becoming real now!

God continues to amaze us with His faithfulness as we are support raising. We have a prayer team that spans from the east to west coast, and hits no less than 8 states along the way. We are at about 55% funding for our trip - which has come very quickly. We are looking forward to continuing our support raising up in the Chicago area and will hopefully reconnect with many old friends during the process.

Okay...I promise next time I will have some pictures of the kids. We had Sammy's birthday party two days ago (that kid can eat a cupcake like no one's business!) but I can't upload the pictures because the camera chord is packed. Even with no pictures, I still have something to offer. My investing tip of the day! And it is....*drumroll*...international stocks. I love international stocks for two major reasons. 1. Because if you are like me, you think the US economy is slowly peaking, and that to get larger returns (all be it with more risk) you have to go towards some of the emerging markets. I personally love the Vanguard ETFs as a no thinking way to invest in both European and Emerging Markets. The ETFs mean I can trade them easily like stocks and the management fees on the funds are quite low. However, another important reason is 2. It is a natural way to protect against the slide of the dollar which has been happening for some time (and will likely continue in the future). See here for one article with some economists that think the green back will go no where but down. Also, for those of you that follow, the subprime mortgage market has hit some hedge funds in the US pretty hard, which has driven the dollar down even further. Now clearly the US stock market and economy is still a money making machine so a majority of assets should still be there...though I personally have been happy to have 30+% of my assets outside as they have seen great returns. Clearly investment horizon should also dictate your international weighting. Given that mine is long, I like the high percentage.

Until next time....

Happy July!

Isn't it hard to believe that it is already the month of July? Where does the time go? I feel like it was just yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas, now we are half way through the year. I'm certain that we will blink, and it will be time to start school in August and then buy gifts again for Christmas. Let the cycle repeat! Which reminds me...

One of the books I'm reading is on the Apostle Paul written by Chuck Swindoll. I've always thought it would be fun to get to know all of the apostles a little better - so I've been trying to make time to do it. In the book, Swindoll mentions that it is important to 'not allow a lot of activity to dull your sensitivity.' The context in the book is specifically for those involved in ministry, and making sure being too busy in that ministry does not impeed your ability to hear God speak - but it can certainly be used in a more broad context. Anything in our lives can do this - spending time with family, working, getting things done on the house,vacation planning, etc. His simple advice is 'Be sure you're carving out regular time to be with the Lord, keeping an open mind, meditating on His Word, remaining devoted to prayer, and taking sufficient time to relax. Only then can you hear and discern His still, small voice...'

So clearly time will slow down for no man. Also, I would venture a guess that even if we do take Swindoll's advice and carve out time to focus on the Lord - time will still feel like its going fast. However, how great will it be when we think back at the last six months and instead of saying 'Where did that time go? I wish I would have...' we can take comfort knowing that we were in sync with God's will for our life over the last six months - and we can look forward to what he has in store for the next six.

Anyway...Christy and I have a little less than four weeks before we head to Wheaton. We are in the home stretch for the house (all home inspection addendum items are fixed on the house, we are getting the Virginia required termite inspection today, we have about 60 packed boxes in the dining room, etc) and are getting excited for the move. If you talk to Elizabeth, she'll probably tell you that she is looking forward to seeing Nana and Papa, but AFTER Costa Rica. So she clearly understands that changes are coming - the order is a little wrong though :) I personally think she would be most excited if she knew there were long hallways that she can ride her tricycle down at the condo unit in Wheaton. She is a terror on that thing; Sammy has the tire marks on his hands and legs to prove it.

Okay...my quick investing tip for the day. I personally love to invest in commodities or companies that have fundamental shortages in the long-term horizon (you need to be willing to live with large swings in price before that time so it is important to sit tight). I think a great example of this is oil which maybe I'll touch on another time. However, today we're talking about fiber optics...and I think this article does a good job of showing that. There was alot of fiber layed before the Internet boom - so when the demand starting increasing because of things like surfing online and emails - there was still a glut of supply and some of the companies suffered. However, now that larger bandwidth items are transmitting across the net there is a huge demand increase. The article mentions google and HDTV streams for phones, but I think there are tons more examples available. Online video gaming, streaming movies to consumers computers like Netflix has started, streaming TV shows like the IPOD allows you to do, technology like slingbox, etc. We are in the earlier adopter stage for some of these things and I'd venture a guess that demand will continue to go up exponentially. So, fiber optics is probably still a safe bet - however - I'm not so sure I'd invest in one particular company because you never know who will be the last company standing. Rather some index fund that tracks a broader set of stocks and technology would be a great idea.

Anyway, its time to get ready for work. Until next time...