Giving Thanks

On Sunday, November 21, 2010, Roelof and I celebrated our one year anniversary!!! What a great year! I know it was filled with ups and downs, but never has my life been filled with such joy! We are so thankful for everyone that has supported us and prayed for us over this past year, we treasure you and your friendship so very much.

In October we were blessed to find a rental house that had exactly everything we needed and even wanted! The Lord provides in ways we can't even imagine. We moved in the weekend before Halloween and feel very much at home here. I worked hard to get everything unpacked and set up because I do NOT like to live in chaos. So to say the least, we are completely settled in. Feel free to stop by anytime, we love to have visitors!! We also had a blast on Halloween by scaring the PBC senior class with Chris and Mendy Johnson! It was priceless. Roelof carved his first pumpkin and we dressed Lucy up as a bumble bee :)





meet Jethro and Jane Jack-O-Lantern


Lucy the bumble bee!

Lucy with my niece Madison


Another reason why I needed to unpack everything at a supersonic rate was because we had our first guests just a week after we moved in. We were blessed to see our good friends from South Africa, Sean and Gena Mullen. The Mullens are a part of the mission we worked for in SA. They were here visiting family and raising support and awareness for the mission. Please pray for our friends as they are still in the states traveling across the country. They will be going back home in January. We had such a great time with them, eating lots of mexican food of course, adventures at Wally World, a trip to the mall, and just sitting around and visiting. Roelof was extremely happy to see Sean, I thought he might cry! Haha, just kidding. But just talking with them has really made us realize how much we miss being in full time ministry. God was definitely pulling on our heart strings.


eating mexican food

adventures in Wally World


the creepy entry at the back of the mall


My photo business has been picking up. I've had several portrait sessions and have enjoyed each one of them. I love being taking pictures and creating something that has so much beauty in it. I get so excited at the end of a shoot when I'm on my way home. I can hardly stand it, I want so badly to upload those photos and see how they turned out! It's very exciting and something I take much joy and pride in. Please continue to pray for my business as it is still not enough income for me to take on as a career.

Here is an album from one of my latest sessions: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=25599&id=118234508226495

Also some pics of our new house: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=546820540709&set=a.546820251289.2057911.61800164#!/album.php?aid=2057911&id=61800164

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for! As you can see we have been greatly blessed and we thank God for His provision over us!

Celebrate Good Times!

The Lord has been faithful and provided once again! Roelof was offered a job at a shop called Amarillo Clutch and Driveshaft. He will be working as a counter clerk and earning about the same as he was making at the other place, however, we will now have health insurance, sick time, paid vacation, etc! And the working environment is 100 times better. We feel so blessed for this opportunity. We still want to do ministry, but we are content that the Lord has provided a great place for Roelof to work in the mean time. Please continue to pray about the ministry the Lord will take us to in the future as well as in the present.

Next week I will (hopefully) be starting a new position with Amarillo Independent School District as a substitute teacher. I have accepted the position and I'm just waiting for my paperwork to go through so I can start. We are praying that this will lead to a permanent teaching position (and preferably soon!). I'm a bit excited, but also a little nervous. Kids are known for eating subs for dinner, so your prayers will be greatly appreciated! Hahaha.

And I just realized that the word sub in the sentence above could also refer to a sandwich, HA, thats so punny.

Our beloved Lucy is doing very well. She is getting so big. This week she finally let go of the ball while playing fetch (this is a huge milestone, we've been working on it for weeks), she got her last set of shots, and she is learning to walk on a leash. She is very smart, but also very stubborn (she gets that from Roelof, I'm sure), so leash training is not going so well, haha, but she'll get there eventually.

Last week we received notice from our apartment that we have to either a) re-sign our lease and pay more on our monthly rent or b) give 30 days notice that we are moving out. This puts us in a bit of a predicament. We like where we are living now(and the current rent), but we really want a house with a yard for Lucy. If we could afford it we would buy one of these
But since we are making student loan payments, we will most likely end up in one of these

so we are currently praying that the Lord will provide a rental home for us to live in (that is not an apartment) within our budget and suitable for our little pup. Finding a home like that is an impossible task because we have a very limited budget, but all things are possible through Him!

Ok to wrap it up, please pray for:
1. our future ministry as a couple
2. stephanie's new job as a sub and her struggling photography business
3. patience with our puppy
4. an affordable and suitable rental home

Crazy Summer Adventures!

A lot has happened since our last post! It's amazing how much change one summer can bring! Since the last entry in May I have officially launched my photography business!!!! WOOHOOO!! This has been quite a journey and I still have a long way to go. I studied some photography in college and it has been a long time dream of mine to have my own photo business. My business will hopefully be focused on wedding photography, but also will involve portraits of all kinds: family, seniors, babies, bridals, engagements, etc. I am so excited about the future of this business and can't wait to have my first clients! Visit my website to see my portfolio!

www.kudosbystephanie.com

After much prayer, Roelof and I decided it was time to leave my job at CPS...for many reasons. Working as an investigator is a tough job and it takes a special person...I am not that special, haha. But seriously, God put me in a position in which I really had to decide what my career goals are. I'm not interested in climbing some kind of corporate ladder, I'm not interested in making lots of money, I'm interested in going back onto the mission field. Our goal as a married couple is to get back onto the mission field. At the moment we are involving ourselves in local ministry, but eventually we want to be full time missionaries. So I had to step back and evaluate my position at CPS and if it was helping or hindering Roelof and I with our goal. Yes, it is nice to have a steady paycheck! But the money was not worth working 60 hours a week, losing sensitivity and compassion towards people, and not having time to involve myself in ministry. There were many reasons for leaving my position at CPS, but we have a complete and total peace about it and we know the Lord will provide!

In Santa Fe the first weekend in August

Roelof is quickly adjusting to life in the states. I think I even heard him say "fixin to" correctly in a sentence the other day! Hahahah! But in all seriousness, we are enjoying our time as a married couple and can't wait to see where God leads us! Roelof is still working as a transmission mechanic for a local shop here in Amarillo, but he is avidly looking for a new job. We have had a few jobs that looked pretty promising, but he ended up not getting those jobs. We just keep telling ourselves that the Lord knows what He is doing and He has the perfect job for Roelof. Currently there is one job that is looking pretty promising, but in today's economy you just never know, so we are trying not to get our hopes up. Please pray that the Lord will show us what direction to look in as far as jobs go and that He will reveal the perfect job to us!

On a lighter note, after almost 4 years without a major haircut, I, Stephanie Beetge, finally cut my hair. Yes, I know it is a shock, but Madison and I cut our hair for Locks of Love. Now I know that getting your haircut is not considered a major life event, but for me and Madison it was! It was great to be able to donate a part of myself to someone else who really needs it! It was such a fun day and one I will always remember!

Before

After

And perhaps the cutest news of all is that WE GOT A PUPPY!!! Her name is Lucy and she is a border collie mix. She is almost three months old and she is the cutest! She is definitely a trouble maker and has loads of energy, but we love her so much and she brings us lots of joy :) Many pictures to follow in the future! Yes we are those annoying people that treat our dog like our child because we don't have kids yet!





Lucy at 5 weeks

Ok ok, so it's been a while since I've updated this thing. I got a MAC and I've been working on an actual website and the blog has been...well...neglected. Which is sad because my job as a CPS investigator is to PREVENT neglect....hmmmm....oh well.

Speaking of jobs, Roelof is still in the search. He's had a couple of interviews and one or two very promising potentials, so please be in prayer for that! And I have been working non-stop it seems like at my job! The work is really starting to pick up and I feel like I don't have a second to breathe. I knew this job was going to be hard going into it, but I never imagined how exhausted I would be.

Today has been such a blessing though, because I was able to take the WHOLE DAY OFF! I have been so excited about it all week (man I really did not appreciate free time like this up until now). This weekend is going to be sooo fun as my friend Brooke is here just to hang out like we did in the old days a.k.a. college. The next two days will be consisting of chick flicks, ice cream, driving in the Jeep, junk food, singing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" at the top of our lungs, more junk food, crafting (yes we are that dorky), Wii, and other fun things that have not even been thought of yet! Yay!

Ok well time to go eat some junk food! Love ya'll

-Roelof and Stephanie

Finally! The Work Permit Has Arrived!

Last Friday we received in the mail Roelof's travel papers (these papers mean that he can go to South Africa for a short time if need be and still be able to get back into the US when he comes back). We immediately got online to see when his work permit would arrive and it said about 30 days! What?! Why so long? So we began praying that his work permit would be here before the end of the month and lo and behold it came 3 DAYS LATER! What a mighty God we serve! Praise the Lord for blessing us in this way.

So now Roelof is officially searching for a job. He has begun working with a friend installing transmissions for peanuts until he can get something better. But at least it is something to do and it gets him out of the house. Please pray with us as we search for a job! He is looking to do something in computers. He is also very interested in teaching. Because he has a degree in Theology he may be able to get a job teaching at a private school without a Texas teaching certification. We are praying he will be able to get in somewhere. If not, we will pursue a teaching certificate down the road. So far he has applied at the Geek Squad and today will be applying with the Amarillo school district and the hospital as a PC Technician. Please let us know if you know of any job openings that will allow Roelof to work with computers OR perhaps even a teaching or ministry position that will be suitable for him.

YAY!!

Four Eyes

Today I am wearing my glasses. Why? Well I'll tell you why. Snow, sunshine, rain, sunshine, pollen, sunshine, snow, rain, pollen, rain, sunshine. My allergies are going crazy!!!!! And my eyes were too itchy this morning to put my contacts in. But other than that I've had a pretty good day, and I won a candy bar this morning when I went to Walgreens to buy some Claritine! Can you say scrumdidlyumptious three times fast? Well I can, and at 8:00 this morning everyone in line at the Walgreens on Western was challenged to do the same.


Ok now down to business. My brother's appendix was very angry with him last week and the doctor had to take it out :( After two days in the hospital he got to go home :) But on Tuesday of this week he developed an abscess, came down with a fever and had to go back to the hospital. The last thing I heard was that they were putting him on a drain (I don't really know what that means) and he's probably going to be in the hospital for a few more days. Please pray for him. He has a wife and two young boys to take care of and they need their popa back!

And while you are on your knees, please pray for Roelof's work permit as well. Hopefully it will be here by the end of the month, but for now he's going a bit crazy! My husband doesn't really know how to sit still for too long, so being at home everyday for the past 7 months has been an extremely difficult challenge for him.

Diet and Exercise

Roelof and I are trying something new. Since we've been back in the States we've both had problems with our stomachs. What is with all the grease, America?! Needless to say, we've tortured our tummies for too long. So we are on a diet….well, it's not really a diet, just a better variety of food. Instead of eating out 6 times a week we have limited ourselves to just once or twice on the weekends. And instead of drinking cokes all day, we only reward ourselves with a nice carbonated beverage on the weekends. We are cooking our meals WITHOUT the grease, we're drinking more water, and eating more veggies. This has worked quite nicely for the past few weeks. However, the getting in shape part has been a bit difficult. It's always either snowing or too cold or we're too busy. But hopefully once it begins to warm up and I'm settled in my job and Roelof has a job and is getting settled in that, then we will be able to achieve our goals.

We started reading this book called One Month To Live. It has given us the motivation to really start living healthier lives. We've made it our goal to run a half marathon together by the end of the year and hopefully lose a few pounds in the process. We are not only working on our physical well being, but also our spiritual well being. Most days we read a chapter from the book together and also have a quiet time. It's been great for our marriage! God is showing us so much through these times. It's amazing how God will lay something on my heart and before I can even think about telling Roelof about it, Roelof is already bringing up the subject with me! I love how God brings two hearts together and makes them beat in sync.

We have so many things ahead of us right now. We sit and talk about the future almost every day and make plans for our lives. Sometimes it's hard to remember that we don't need to sit around and plan because God does that for us. So we are praying about it. Where does God want us right now? Where does He want us to be a year from now? What kind of ministry does He have planned for us? All these things are still kind of up in the air. Obviously our goal is missions. We want to go back into missions and we're both itching to get there and we feel that missions is God's plan for us. But God has us here right now for a reason and he hasn't revealed to us yet what our role in missions is going to look like. Please pray with us as we seek God's will for our future. Also be praying for us as newlyweds. Sometimes it's hard to chose your battles (like getting upset because his dirty socks and underwear didn't quite make it into the hamper is not always worth getting upset over), so pray that we will learn how to live with each other without driving each other totally insane. It's always an adjustment when you move in with someone, especially when you are sharing everything with them. 23 years of singleness was a long time to get used to the way I do things and want things!

Our New Blog!!!

This is our new blog and the source of our upcoming combined newsletters. No more going to 5 million places to read our updates, now it's just one centralized place!