Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my daddy's birthday today and not only a birthday but a big one...he turned 60 today!  Hope you have a great day day!

Last week, I was able to get back to Wisconsin to spend some time with my family...unfortunately Alex had to work, so I just went.  But it was great to see everyone, such a blessing.  I was able to stay at Chris and Jen's and spend some time with my nephews and niece...they are the greatest kids and it's hilarious to hear them call my name...Aunt Andrea Dunner!  (dunner was my brother Chris' nickname for me...well I guess it still is)

One night while I was there we all headed over to El Azteca, probably our favorite Mexican restaurant in Appleton...we basically took over the restaurant...it was funny!

Afterwards we did presents...the best part was seeing my dad's shocked face when my brother told him that he was taking him to the practice rounds at this year's Masters!  Have a great time guys!

Here are some pics from the night...Enjoy!

I'll be there for you...

This is by no means a sappy post, but instead the lyrics to a song by none other than Bon Jovi. Alex was kind enough to give me tickets to the Bon Jovi Concert that came to the twin cities for my birthday. After a few months of waiting, the concert was finally here. Last Wednesday we headed to the Excel Center for the show.

The band that performed before Bon Jovi took the stage was Daugh

try. They did great as well but, hey I'm a Bon Jovi fan, they of course did better. Though he played plenty of songs from his new album, he sang the best of the eighties...and it was great:)

Here are some pics from the show (the pic is of Daughtry and Bon Jovi when the performed together)~

He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter!  and what an Easter it is...looking out the window, I spy inches upon inches of white, fluffy snow!  But we rallied against the weather and ventured out to Easter Sunday service, decked out in spring attire.  A way to brighten the day!

Here we are after returning home from church and by now we have already changed into more comfortable attire for an afternoon at Alex's brothers house for Easter dinner.  My family growing up as far as I can remember would have Easter at our house, my aunt's, or grandma and grandpas, and it always consisted of ham, aunt diane rolls, and anything else we thought of.  After getting married I realized that not every family does things the same way.  Coming from a family that is quite a bit larger than Alex's, having a formal sit down dinner or going out for brunch, just wasn't possible.  That is where getting married comes in handy.  Alex is from a family that normally goes out for Easter brunch (this year we are doing dinner together), but they also do Christmas dinner, Christmas day brunch, etc.  It is so fun celebrating with both sides and participating in each others traditions.

Hope you are finding yourselves in the company of great friends and family this Easter as we celebrate the resurraction of our  Savior Jesus Christ, whose death secured Eternal life for all whose hearts have been opened to the Gospel!

Happy Easter!

Welcome Baby Grace!

We are so happy for our friend's AJ and Jamie! Their baby girl, Grace Kimberly, was born yesterday around 2:30pm. Healthy and beautiful, both mom and baby! We had a chance to visit them this afternoon in the hospital to say hello ourselves and she is such a precious little girl...we can't wait to see her again soon!

Congratulations AJ and Jamie:)

Our house and the construction project!

House Before

Bluff Area Before

    Front Door Before

Removing the old stairs to the front door/replacing with planters

Dirt we have removed so far

Well if you read our Christmas letter you might remember that we are getting ready to put our house on the market in June.  We are really looking forward to a new house, but we will definitely miss our first home on the lake, especially since Alex remodeled it from the studs up with his own bare hands:)

Here are some pictures of the house before and during our ongoing project.  The issue is that we live on a bluff, approximately 30 feet from the lake.  From our front door towards the lake the bluff crest adn we are trying to work with the city to be able to dig out the hill within the bluff impact zone.  We have already removed as much of the hill as we can without a variance, but we are now waiting to hear the final word!

A changed heart, a changed life

Our pastor at our church has been speaking on faith and the process of regeneration and rebirth, what it means to be born again. It's been great and thought provoking and yet so reassuring, faith strengthening to revel in the truth that I am saved by grace alone, by faith alone, by the blood of Jesus alone. I am saved...though still a sinner, Christ is on my side, my advocate before the Father, allowing me to stand before God, cleansed and forgiven. Easter is upon us...not a time of easter eggs and the easter bunny, but the time to rejoice in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ...without this there would be no hope. I was in junior high when God began pursuing my heart. Though I grew up going to church, I thought and believed I was giong to heaven because that was just the way it was, becuase I was baptized. And as I got older I was never comfortable with that notion, it had to be something else...for me it was acknowledging who God was and who He is today. He is almighty, filled with grace...and it was his work, he took my sinful heart of stone and he gave me a heart of flesh, he opened my eyes to grace and my need for a Savior, and I now stand before God forgiven. My life is changed and I don't want to live any day without Jesus. Without Him, there si no hope, only an eternity of hell. This easter we urge you to seek and savor Jesus, his death and resurrection and pray that God would open your heart to new life in Jesus...

Wow...march already!

Well, it's been awhile since the last post...oops! Things have been a little crazy around here. We have stayed busy watching our nieces and trying to get some things done around our house. Last week Alex finished the first set of classes through CCIM, for real estate. He really loved meeting the people in the class and just learning more...plus he was able to get a new calculator so the new toy was pretty fun too:) I have been busy with our women's retreat through our church. I am in charge of the lunch on Saturday morning and with a projected 700 women attending it's crucial everything line up. We are catering through Panera, kind of like Atlanta Bread, so it will definitely be yummy:) Our biggest time consumer though has been our house. With the deadline of June, the things needed to be done are adding up. We did hear some good news potentially from the city that we may not need the variance to take out our hill. We will post some pictures to hopefully make some sense of all of this. But as of last week we have new garage doors, our crawl space went from being a dirt floor cave, to having a door, cement floor, insulation and built in shelves to extend the storage. Hopefully come the end of sumemr someone else will be enjoying the views of the lake!