So...

Not much to say, well, because there is so much to say! We have almost completed a semester of school and it has gone very well. We have been back to Indiana twice this fall, been to West Texas to visit Joe's family, and gone on many other adventures. We have tons of pictures and we will be posting some of them soon.

More on the way...

Well...

So sorry for the lack of updates. We had the best of intentions, but the summer was been dominated by the tyranny of the urgent. We will do a better job updating from this point forward, or so we believe!

The big news is that school has started. Lindsay is teaching 4th graders and she is loving it! It is a much better age group for her than the 6th graders she had in Richmond for two years. She will write more on that soon to fill you in. The other big news is that Joe is no longer working at the church. It was a good run, but in the end everyone knew that it wasn't a fit for the long haul. When Joe accepted the job, it was with the belief that he would come in and build a student ministry and then move on. We thought that would mean three to five years, but it turns out that meant less than one. Jesus was very good to the ministry and turned a handful of uninspired kids into a thriving group of over thirty in a matter of months. We were able to expose the children to a greater calling and a deeper desire to live life on purpose in pursuit of the Kingdom. One of the highlights was a trip where we had almost 50 students and adults in Austin for a week in July - serving the homeless, the downtrodden, and the weak. We could go on and on, but our ministry at Faith Presbyterian Church of Baytown was blessed and we love the kids we were able to pour into there.

This is actually a very wonderful turn of events. Through the sovereign grace of our Lord, Joe was able to give the sermon at the Baccalaureate service for all the seniors who graduated in Baytown this past May. Through planning for that, he met a pastor in town who shares our theology and heart for people. Through meetings with that pastor, he was connected with the administration of Baytown Christian Academy(www.gobca.org). After spending hours sharing his heart with the leaders of the school and hearing from theirs, they began to discuss a partnership. At first it was decided to use Joe as an assistant football and baseball coach, just to get him around the male athletes in the high school. That grew into an opportunity for Joe to be the director of Biblical studies at BCA, which eventually became a full-time opportunity once it was decided Joe would leave the church. So, now Joe is spending every day at the Christian high school teaching his 175 or so students the Bible all day long! He is loving it! He is also going to be back in the dugout, on the mound throwing batting practice, and swinging a fungo bat year-round once again. He is delighted to be coaching in Texas again, where baseball is twelve months a year. Nothing against Indiana baseball, but there is only so much you can do there during the long and cold winters!

So there you have it, we are both teaching and very happy. We are going to be able to go back to Richmond a couple of times this fall - for Lindsay's 10-year HS reunion and then again for her baby brother's wedding. We are also able to do some weekend travel now that Joe is not locked down every Sunday. We are visiting, and most likely joining, a wonderful church full of other young and authentic believers, and we most likely will be serving in some ministerial capacity there in the near future. For now, we are blessed to be able to pour into students all day long and we are excited about the opportunity our classes provide for ministering to our students.

More to come soon, but for now please know that, if you are reading this, we love you!!!

A Mini Richmond Reunion!

Last weekend we spent some time in Austin finalizing some plans for the youth mission trip that we are leaving for on Sunday (more to come on that) then we headed up to Dallas again. We ate at some of our favorite spots, had dinner with and watched "Harry Potter" (for the second time already!) with our friend Marshall and his girlfriend Kristine, and ran some errands before meeting up with Jon and Jessica Bess. Jessica was one of Lindsay's very best friends through middle and high school. They share many memories and funny stories including embarrassing moments that Joe and Jon shake their heads at. It had been since May 2008 that they had spent some time together. Since that time, Jon and Jessica got married, packed up and sold their house in North Carolina, and moved to Wichita Falls, TX. Jon is, as Joe calls him, a "BAD man" in the Air Force which is why they now live in this glorious state. When we asked them how they liked Texas so far they both said instantly, "It's HOT!"

We had planned on meeting in Dallas for the Rangers vs. Twins game that night as Jon is originally from Minnesota and Jessica lived there for awhile as well. We were all decked out in our team shirts and actually got several comments throughout the day about how we shouldn't be together as we were rooting for opposing teams! We met in the afternoon, several hours before the game, and decided to head downtown to the JFK memorial and museum. We were all amazed at the sights and the information in the museum and we fully intend to go back another time as there is so much to see there. As we left for the game, we even started making plans for our next get-together in Dallas.

The Besses has never been to the Rangers ballpark so we spent some time before the game walking around, checking out different seats, and continuing the everlasting search for a red "Kinsler" shirt for Lindsay (we were told that her size always sells out within a day or two of coming in - eesh!). Jessica and Lindsay spent most of the game catching up on all aspects of their lives and didn't even really see much of the actual game. Even though the Rangers lost, it was an amazing day that was extremely fun and refreshing, especially for Lindsay.

The infamous Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald "allegedly" shot JFK
(6th floor, far right window)

"X marks the spot" where JFK was shot in his limo
(this was taken from the "Grassy Knoll")

Lindsay and Jessica sweating like crazy in front of
the grassy knoll

(The grassy knoll is under the tall tree in the background over
Lindsay's shoulder, the "x" is behind the lamppost)

Since we have gotten home we have searched everywhere around town for the movie "JFK" as Lindsay has never seen it. We can't find it anywhere. I guess we'll have to search online...bummer.

Fun times in Dallas

We have had several opportunities to head back to Dallas this summer which is always so much fun and so refreshing for both of us. Early in June we were there for the wedding of two of our good friends Ashton and Belina. They were married in a beautiful church in Highland Park and then had their reception on the top floor of a hotel right downtown. The wedding and reception were fun for many reasons including the fun Albanian dancing that took place all night. Belina's family came to the States for the first time and many of her friends from Albania live in and around Dallas for various reasons. One of the most amazing things was that we sat at a table (we were the very first to arrive at the reception and chose our own seats) full of Albanians who are on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ! This was fun in itself as Lindsay spent a few years on staff with CCC at Michigan State. The other fun thing was that one of the couples is on staff in Istanbul, Turkey!! They are currently in the U.S. because the husband is finishing up seminary and they are raising support. They have already lived in Istanbul and love the city. Joe had a blast speaking a little Turkish with them, comparing notes about their favorite spots around the city, and sharing stories and their hearts for the place and the Turks. Overall, while we enjoyed seeing our friends be united in marriage, it was also very refreshing to spend time with others who love the Lord and have a heart for some of the same things and places that we do! Praise God for "randomly" seating us together for the evening!

The beautiful ceremony in a beautiful church

The view from the reception

The Roddens and the Tassins!!

We never ask people to take our picture...weird

An Albanian dance

We have been to a few Rangers games this year already but at the beginning of the summer we enjoyed a game and an amazing fireworks show with our good friend Marshall and his girlfriend Kristine. She is from the Cleveland area and actually grew up in a church that some of our friends now do ministry in (yeah Andrea...that means you! Can you believe it?). She also attended Miami University in Oxford, OH which holds a very special place in our hearts as it is the place where Lindsay started falling in love with Joe. Needless to say, we are proud of Marshall for choosing a Midwestern girl! It was a really fun night in Arlington!

June Visitors!!

One of the highlights of the summer was a visit from Lindsay's parents! They came to Baytown for a few days in early June and it was a great time. Joe and Frank played a couple rounds of golf and Lindsay and Becky spent time getting scorched on the beach at Galveston, pampering themselves, and doing a little shopping. It just happened that the Houston Astros were hosting the Detroit Tigers that weekend so we took the opportunity to see our Tigers play. Frank and Becky had never been to Minute Maid park so as we walked around before the game we randomly ran into some familiar faces...from Frank's small college in Michigan! A few of the guys were some of Lindsay's Uncle Tom's (Frank's younger brother) best friends. It was funny to hear several of the guys tell us how they had always looked up to Frank and how amazing he was as an athlete. We always look forward to spending time with our families. We will be traveling to Indiana in October for Lindsay's high school reunion and then again in November for her brother's wedding.

Ready for the Tigers game in the Houston heat!!

I think this ball was really hot to sit on!

All dressed up in our Tigers gear watching Batting Practice

Our buddy Jim Leyland - he was kind of busy

Better late than never!

Once again we are very sorry for the lack of updates. It isn't that we haven't had anything to update about, we have just not taken or had the time to sit down to tell you about it. So, there are many fun events that took place over a month ago but that doesn't make them any less important to us. It has been a good summer and, while we don't want to wish it away, we are looking forward to moving into the Fall and some sort of normalcy...it has been at least a year since we have had that!

May Visitors

Yeah these are a long time coming but you know we blog in spurts :) Anyway, in mid-May our friends Jared and Erin Wellman came for a couple of weeks to visit and raise support for their ministry with Athletes in Action. Lindsay spent more time with Erin while she lived in Richmond than with anyone else before she met Joe. They haven't seen each other for months so it was great to spend some quality time catching up. We went to an Astros baseball game, took a trip to Galveston and the Kemah boardwalk, and visited Austin and San Antonio. Below are just a few of the pictures that we took while they were here.

Lindsay and Erin at the Astros vs. Cubs game - it was Pink in the Park
night and all of the women got free pink jerseys

We found the best hat shop at the boardwalk!

Joe's favorite hat

In front of the aquarium

Experiencing Texas

We enjoyed some excellent Texas barbecue

A trip to the Alamo

That's a big cactus

There truly is NO basement at the Alamo

The Riverwalk in San Antonio

The Wellmans in front of the San Jacinto monument

Baccalaureate

Joe was asked to deliver the message for the high school baccalaureate service this year. Two of the high schools in town come together for this service and he definitely kept the crowd entertained! He shared many hilarious stories and encouraging words to challenge this year's seniors to be great. As he did research about what many baccalaureate messages are about he found that they were mostly warnings about the future and keeping the faith. Through much prayer, he felt that he was instead being led to share a challenge to not settle for an ordinary life but instead to be the greatest at everything they do - the greatest doctors, the greatest teachers, the greatest mechanics - all for the glory of God.

Anyway, he did a FABULOUS job and I was SO proud. In my opinion, it was the very best that I have seen him speak. People were absolutely cracking up and there were many "sounds of agreement" from some of the older women in the back...it was very dramatic :)

He is so natural in front of a crowd

Joe, Will, and Pastor Richard

YIKES!

A few weeks ago our friends Erin and Jared were here (more to come on that!) for an extended visit. Each morning Erin and Lindsay went for a walk around the neighborhood. On one of those mornings Erin was attacked by a snake! Well, maybe it wasn't an attack but it did jump 0ut at her ankles. That doesn't happen in Indiana! She jumped and screamed and when Lindsay looked back there was a small black snake curled up on the sidewalk with its head up and tongue out...eek!

On Saturday Joe and Lindsay went to a graduation open house for our youth group's only senior. Joe was dominating a couple of our 14-year-olds in badminton and Lindsay was talking to a parent when the ladies noticed a snake slithering through yard towards the woods. Lindsay called to Joe so that he could get himself, and his bare feet, away from the danger zone. Apparently, though, Joe thought that he should go after the snake and try to pick it up. With only his badminton racket he was unable to do so as the snake was a good 4 1/2 feet long but he did grab the tail. Fortunately, Lindsay had not seen his attempts. Either way...we have snakes that big around here?!? Yikes!

Birthday Fun!!!

Anyone who knows Lindsay knows that she LOVES birthdays!! She not only loves her own birthday as her "love languages" include gifts and quality time - presents, cards, phone calls, and spending time with Joe and friends - but she also really enjoys celebrating the birthdays of others. This time, though, we celebrated her 28th with some much needed road trips. When Joe asked what she wanted to do Lindsay said, "Dallas."

We stayed with our friends Chris and Heather Chavez who we haven't seen since their wedding in January. It was fun to spend time and catch up with them. The morning of May 22 Joe woke Lindsay with some Kolaches for breakfast. She then spent the morning getting a deluxe manicure and pedicure at her favorite place in Flower Mound. For lunch we went to Parma Pizza & Pasta in Lewisville which is their very favorite restaurant in the area. Later, Lindsay had an hour long full body massage. She was actually very sore for the next few days which is exactly the kind of massage that she needs and likes! That evening they went with Chavey and Heather to Blue Goose, another of their favorites, for dinnner and then went bowling at Main Event.


The rest of our time in Flower Mound/Highland Village included a couple of trips to the movies - Night at the Museum 2 (the first one was the first movie we saw together) and Angles and Demons - eating at a few of our favorite restaurants including Rosa's and Patrizio's, hanging out with friends like Higgins and Marshall, and attending our old church.

We left Flower Mound on Sunday morning and headed to Valera to see Joe's parents. We watched some old family videos (which included many hilarious moments of young Joey), did a lot of catching up, had a meal with Rhonda (Joe's oldest sister), and celebrated the Rodden's 63rd anniversary on the 25th! We had an extremely long ride home to Baytown but the weekend made it all worth it. It was so nice to see so many people who love us and who we love so much. We are looking forward to several trips back to Dallas this summer for various weddings and Rangers games!

Overall, the weekend was amazing! Lindsay could not have asked for anything else...what an amazing husband Joe is :)

Updates are needed

We apologize for the lack of posts since we left for Turkey. We have posted a few pictures from our trip here but encourage you to read more in depth and see more pictures on our other blog...

www.roddens.wordpress.com

We updated daily while we were there and had many adventures to share. If you would like to view any of the pictures in a larger format, just click on them. Enjoy!!

Some of our Turkish friends from Bogazici University, Gohkan and Alp.

The side streets of the Asian side of Istanbul.

Istanbul University main entrance

In front of the Blue Mosque - home of the stinky feet
(read our other blog to hear more about that!)

The Turkish flag flies everywhere all over the city

Leaving for Turkiye on Tuesday!!!

Please follow our adventures in Istanbul HERE

Which is:  www.roddens.wordpress.com

We are hoping to update that blog every day while in Turkey, so go on over and check it out!

Great news!

Lindsay went to a job fair today for the local school district here in Baytown. Of course, as usual, she was more stressed out than necessary. There were hundreds of applicants there but through God's grace she went in with confidence that she would have exactly job the Lord wanted her to have. She had a great experience and met some wonderful people. She even walked out with a job at the school that she REALLY wanted to be at! The principal is wonderful and we have only heard amazing things about her and the school from many reliable sources around town. Lins will be teaching a self-contained 4th grade class starting in August. She is very excited about the job and is looking forward to meeting with the principal and some of the staff, seeing the school and her future classroom, and possibly subbing there some as the year finishes. Here are some links to the district and school websites for those of you who are interested (Frank and Becky!).

Goose Creek CISD
Victoria Walker Elementary

Thanks for all of prayers for us as we continue to trust the Lord to provide each month. We appreciate you more than you know...and LOVE comments hint, hint :)

March Update

First of all, we would like to apologize for the lack of updates lately.  There is no excuse, we just don't have a lot of roaming to tell about... until now!  We just returned home from spending a couple of days in downtown Austin.  We went so that Joe could make some contacts and do some vision casting for a student trip we will be leading the last week of July.  It is going to be a great time as we serve the city of Austin through service and clean-up projects, sharing the Gospel to the lost, and learning all about one of the world's (that's right) coolest and most unique cities.  We are excited about the experience this will be for our teenagers!

While in Austin, we spent time with Pastor Jacob Vanhorn and his family.  Jacob preached the sermon during our wedding ceremony and is the pastor of a wonderful young church, SOMA, in downtown/south Austin.  Jacob is a mighty man of God who has a heart as big as the city of Austin.  Many are and will be blessed by his ministry and church in the decades to come.  

Last night we were invited by Jacob and his wife to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for a Monty Python and the Holy Grail quote-along.  This is a fun concept that was very new for us, as we joined about 150-200 viewers in quoting the movie, through subtitles, and clapping together coconut halves to make the horse clopping sound.  It was a lot of fun and we would recommend a quote-along movie experience to anyone with a good sense of humor.

Today we toured the city scouting for potential projects and were blessed to eat at Freebirds, which serves the world's greatest burritos.  We also drove around several college campuses, the Texas state capital building, and the Austin Presbyterian Seminary.  We are looking forward to bringing our students to all of these places and more.

On the way to Austin, Joe greeted Lindsay in a gas station as she rounded a corner with the look below.  Fortunately for Lins, she did not allow Joe to buy the hat!

Below is a picture of the Spring Westfield HS baseball team.  They are talented group that Joe was able to help coach to a tournament championship last weekend as they went 5-0.  It was a lot of fun for Joe to return to the dugout and he really enjoyed coaching this very talented group of awesome young men!

Not long until opening day, and the Rangers will return to the playoffs thanks to The Natural, Josh Hamilton!

Finally, four and a half weeks until we fly to Istanbul, Turkey!

Go, therefore, into all the world...

Thoughts...

Well, we haven't updated in awhile so we thought it was time to update.  

***First of all, we have the blessed opportunity to travel to Istanbul, Turkey for two weeks in April.  Both of us have been there, and Joe lived there for a semester in 2004, but we are excited to experience one of the world's most amazing and historically significant cities together for the first time.  We are praying about the idea of perhaps living there someday.  Joe will be reunited with many Turkish friends who he has been blessed to keep in touch with since his last visit there in 2006.  

***Last night our student group hosted a Valentine's Weekend Appreciation Dinner for the members of our church, their families, and friends.  All in all, we were able to feed over 125 people from a menu including spaghetti with meatballs and either marinara or alfredo sauce.  We had salad and some tasty breadsticks, along with brownies and cheesecake for dessert.

***Things with our new church family are wonderful, and the students we work with are awesome!  2009 is already shaping up to be a wonderful year.

***Lindsay flew home last weekend to spend a couple of days with her parents in snowy Richmond, Indiana.  Though it warmed up in the 40s while she was there, there was still plenty of snow all around to greet her.  We are consistently in the 70s here in Houston, as winter came and went without so much as a heavy coat needed.  Joe loves being back in Texas!

***Finally, Joe is loving his life right now, though tomorrow is the opening day of spring training for the major leagues and he is missing the day-to-day involvement of the great game in his life.  He is blessed to have the greatest job in the world, but he sometimes misses being on the field.  To add to this longing, right outside the church door is the Lee HS baseball diamond, where young ballplayers are on the field and in the cages hitting every day of the week.  He wouldn't trade his job for any in the world, but boys are always boys and Joe is a lifelong baseball player and coach and that will never change.

Well, that's it for now, but we'll blog again soon...

A testimony to God's faithfulness, and more!

The other day we bought some groceries at Sam's Club and, since they do not take visa, we scrounged through our wallets to find the money to pay for our food.  The total cost was $108 and change.  Joe had $55 cash in his wallet, and Lindsay had fifty two dollars (bills) and dug enough change out of her purse to cover the rest.  We don't use cash much, and we were fortunate to have that much on us.  Amazing, we had the exact amount of money on our persons!  More amazing, when we got home and checked the mail we had a check for $108 exactly waiting for us.   We gave great thanks to our God and Savior that He is looking out for us, as Luke says, it is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom.  We are thankful and blessed for these little reminders in life that we are being looked out for by someone who is not limited by human understanding, intelligence, or ability!

On another note, last night we were blessed by a friend who gave us some money to have a date night, as we are scraping by on one income for now and haven't been able to have our date night lately.  We went to Baytown Seafood, which we highly recommend.  We enjoyed some awesome grilled salmon and vegetables (Lins) and red snapper with crawfish etouffee (Joe)!  The meals were awesome, but they also were enhanced by the boiled crawfish we enjoyed as our appetizer.  Lindsay had never even seen a crawdad, so it was a fun-filled experience watching Joe peel some tails and feed them to her.  She never got used to the eyes staring at her from the dish, and was in general creeped out by the experience, but she admits they were mighty tasty!  

Chavez Gets Hitched!

One of the most exciting weddings we've been to (outside our own of course) was last weekend back in Flower Mound. Chris Chavez, our best man, married Heather Duncan on Friday the 9th. The days leading up to the ceremony were full of joy as we could not have been happier to celebrate Chavey's day with him.

This was the amazing sky as we drove from Baytown back to Flower Mound! There are 2 things that remind me how amazing the Lord is more than most things: cool moons and sunsets. Needless to say, this one was awesome and a good sign of great things to follow that weekend!

I think Matt was saying something about being so much taller than the couple :) Just kidding!

JOY! JOY! JOY!

Moments after the very first kiss! YAY Chris and Heather Chavez!!!!

Oh how we miss dinners and desserts with Marshall.

Servant-hearted Lance, what a dear friend.

Two of Joe's favorites, Marshall and Paul. Look out ladies! These are INCREDIBLE men of great faith and love.

The 2 youth pastors, our Backstreet.