September 2020 Update - Our New Home

 

1 Thessalonians 1:3,6 - "Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father...having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit."

Dear Praying Friends,

Aardsma Family 2020 - it sure is growing! <3

Thank you for all of your prayers and the comments you have left us on Facebook and emails you have sent to encourage us! Since our last letter, we have spent many, many hours in the car traveling thousands of miles. We started the month of July with a lovely visit with Megan's family and our friends in NY. We are so thankful to have spent time with them before the move and appreciate the hiking, beach days and prayers that we shared with the special people we love there. 

This boy was a great traveling buddy! So proud of him.

Sweet time with Friends at Good-bye cookout! 

Lots of hassle for a little bit of stuff.

Overnight stay with special Friends in Portland.

After our vacation with family in NY, we still had to travel back to ME to pack our apartment and rent a moving truck. Back in ME, friends and family met us with tremendous help and love during our weekend there (Not to mention being hosted by our old Pastor and his family on our way back!). We packed the apartment, made final preparations with the van and banks, got some much needed sleep and said good-bye to our church family whom we have come to love so much during the two years we've spent with them - and to Benjamin's family who we still miss hugely. It was a super busy weekend, but very blessed. We are so amazed and grateful as we look back over these past two years of marriage and life in Maine and consider how abundantly good God has been to us. 

Such hard work!

Such loving Family.

  

Home Sweet Home.

Once we got to Illinois, we hit the ground running and haven't stopped, it feels like. The long drive here was safe and smooth. We were blessed by the sweet families that hosted us along the way who were very flexible with our day-by-day plans as we waited for a firm closing date on our house. Once we arrived, we were met with fleas and dumpster loads of trash. Benjamin's brother Gregory was a tremendous help in making the house move-in-ready before he flew back to begin college in Maine. 

Getting used to the corn fields... 

And the heat!

 

We love fixing up this house God has provided for us. Megan posted some photos on Facebook, but if you missed them or would like to see more, let us know! It's a beautiful home with much more space than the apartment we lived in previously. We hope to make some updates over time to improve our resale value when we feel the Lord calling us again. We've also loved meeting our neighbors and finding a new church family down the street from us. Everyone here has been so friendly, and church is no exception, though covid restrictions do make it more challenging to engage with the community than it would be otherwise. 

Electrical work at ARP.

 

Study Buddies. 

Working on the house!

Benjamin loves his new job at Aardsma Research and Publishing (ARP), where he helps out in the lab and with demolition / reconstruction. He is also taking off two half days a week to work on the 12 credits he is enrolled in through Veritas Bible College, plus spending his free time and Saturdays working around the house. 

Such a big boy.

Loves his new cousins.

Keeping Mom company.

Megan loves the babysitting and work that she does from home. She is grateful to trade babysitting services with her cousin near-by and loves having Nathaniel around to help at home. He has adjusted to the move very well and is making friends with all of his new cousins! He loves being able to go out on our front porch while Mommy paints. 

Silly!

Most of all, we love and are so thankful for all of our family here. They have been so helpful to us in every aspect of making the transition to move here. We've received meals, welcome baskets, overnight stays, babysitting, help around the house and best of all - enthusiastic friendship. We love getting reacquainted with the family out here and hope to return all their hospitality soon! 

We've saved our best news for last, and hope you all know it already, but - WE ARE EXPECTING ANOTHER BABY!!! Along with all of the other to-dos of moving are added the tasks of figuring out healthcare and finding the right doctor to help us welcome our precious new addition to the family. We are trusting God with each step of our baby's development and care; however, and can't wait to meet our Little One in April!

Ways you can pray for us:

1) That our baby would be growing healthily. 

2) That we would continue to have peace and harmony in all of our new schedule and budget changes and that God would continue to direct our priorities.

3) That we would be a good witness of Christ to our neighbors and that God would direct us in forming the relationships He has planned for us to spread His Gospel. Our hearts are burdened for the people we shared the Gospel with while we lived in Maine. We pray that those seeds would be watered and reaped for the salvation of those we shared with and that we would continue to be part of God's work here in Illinois. 

Nathaniel's first swim in the Atlantic.

We are praying for you as we see different prayer requests posted and shared. We also pray that you and your families continue to be well through this next holiday season and election and with the start of the new school year. It has been incredible to see how God has provided for the desperate needs of people all around the world during this trying time, and has also had the desire to lead us in the tiny details of our everyday lives. We pray that you find Him "a very present help" in the big and small trials in your life as well (Ps. 46:1).

With love,

The McEndarfers ~ Benjamin, Megan, Nathaniel and Baby