playing a gig

The Belle Mehus auditorium turned 100, and I was there to help celebrate during New Year's Eve.




Nifty.

Suite # E-122

Hello Family,

Well, we (Alyssa and I) got to see most of you over Christmas break and we were so happy that we could be with you in the North Land. However, most of you have not seen our apt and now that we got it in tidy shape I figured we would show you!

Of course it's not always this clean, and with 660 sq. ft. there's only so much space for our stuff. But, we did what we could. See if you can spot any familiar items!

But first... a few honeymoon snapshots from NC! :)

Ok, now our apt... *cough, I mean condominium (we're not really sure because of the technicalities.)

Living Room

Kitchen (notice the artwork in white frames?)

Bought a washer/dryer pair on Craigslist

(had to change the cord to a 4-prong)

Laundryroom (Alyssa telling me that this room is her sanctuary and I am not allowed to enter :)

Dining Room (attached to the living room)

- door on the right side goes out to a small covered patio

Bedroom (1981 wall hanging...)

Headboard/Footboard found in Alyssa's Grandparents garage

After I finished painting them both (now look at the bedroom pic above)

Bathroom (small, but not with our curved shower rod!)

Man & Wife vs. Closet

We hope to have Christmas here next year with all of you! Not really. We'll be moving out of this apt. likely in May, and we don't know where we will be in the summer, so we'll keep you posted on that.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the newest set of Lands

We LOVE you!

Wildlife in Hixson, TN

   Here is a picture of Geese on the back 9 of "Creek Bend" Golf Course near where the Harrell's live. I went on a bike ride and noticed that the golf course was flooded due to the river backing up the creek after three days of consistent rain. They are swimming on the fairway!

Lots of Great Blue Heron around here!

 Because of the backup of the river from all the rain, a few species of fish made their way up to some

of the local ponds around here. This is a gar. Sort of a mix between a sturgeon and muskee.
 

This is a real bird! Mourning Dove on her nest. The owner of the house pointed her out to me.

Miss you guys! Can't wait to hit up the lake. What will we do next? I say we do an underwater family photo with a gopro camera. At least of the newlyweds.... :)

2012 is gone and in the past...

The Year of Love: 2013 has begun!!

I'm so excited for what's happening in our family this year :) Weddings, more lake time, and more of sharing Christ's love with one another! GOD IS AMAZING and worthy of our best this year!

I am so grateful with what God has given me this past year in the form of 7 blessings!
Not necessarily in order of importance...
#1 Blessing, my favorite:
I am blessed :) I love her! Can't wait till Sept. 14th!!

#2 Blessing:

My new job as a Decision Support Developer at Basin Electric! It is going well and I'm almost 4 months in and still learning a lot. Progress and completed projects is what I shoot for everyday. Its definitely different to be at a desk instead of walking around a warehouse. Also, I have access to a fitness center, which happens to be on the other side of my office wall :) Needless to say, I workout usually 2-3 times a week. I get my run on! I want to thank everyone in this family for all your prayers in this aspect!

#3 Blessing (This is for you Uncle Dave!):
My new car!! A BRAND NEW 2013 Toyota Corolla S! I bought it for $18,700 with 0% APR for 5 years, which included a $1,000 college grad discount! Hopefully my car will last me a decade or two! Also, my license plate reads: JXV 373. Slips off the tongue well doesn't it??

Here's a few shots of the car (aka Shadow), after his 1st car wash (about a month ago)!

Front

Driver's Side

 Back

 Passenger Side (a well-dressed man makes my car look...SO FLY!!)

This is what I feel like when I drive my car :) Acceleration at its finest for 132 hp!

#4 Blessing: Being asked to be a part/attend of a bunch of WEDDINGS! So honored!!
What a hectic wedding schedule I will have this year ~ I look forward to each one with all the love and adventure included! :) Prayers and blessings to the couples!
My JC friend Sam Riehl and her fiance Blaze - March 23rd - Attending (here in Bismarck)
Another JC friend Alyssa Page and her fiance John - June 1st - Usher
Michael & Rachel - July 5th - Groomsmen
My cousin Ross Lindgren and his fiance Juli - July 13th - I believe I'll be attending
Jeff & Marissa - August 10th - Groomsmen
Shelby Freeman, Lexy's best friend, and her fiance Thomas - August 17th - Attending w/ Lexy
Lexy & I - Sept. 14th - I should probably be there for that one!! :)
Joel & Alyssa - ??? - Come on Joel!! Haha. I better be your best man! Just saying...

So blessed by each person in this list of amazing people! What wonderful families they all come from! :)

#5 Blessing: Looking forward to being a part of so many different families!

#6 Blessing: The continual support from family and friends!
Whether I've been in the middle of a trial, struggle, or some sort of pain, you guys helped me through with words, prayers, and love. Couldn't ask for a better, biological and heavenly, family to be a part of! :)

 #7 Blessing: What I have learned from and of God
Most important lessons in life, for now and eternity!
I've been taught so many things from God, in so many different situations! From fighting through a 2-job schedule to independence. He always promises a safe landing with His love on the other side of struggle! So incredible! Now my challenge is to apply, step out, and love others better than before. To give my best in each facet of my life, giving Him all the glory! Each one of these blessings I've mentioned in this post aren't from my efforts or any of my doing, but from His majestic throne and from the wellspring of His grace and love! How can you not love something like that :)

I propose a toast to this amazing year that is ahead of us all!!
May we do our ABSOLUTE best to give Him ALL we have...To continually spread His love, even to our tight-knit family, as well as others, and to sacrifice and learn surrender when it is hardest...To learn love on a deeper level and give generously through money, time, and talents, with a cheerful heart...To help each family member, to support their efforts, and to encourage each person's gifts, being careful with our words through ideas, instruction, and sometimes constructive criticism...To be God's light to this dark world and be a transparent vessel of Jesus' love and a lover of the Holy Spirit's guidance, obedient to the Trinity, three in one! If we do all these things consistently and sacrificially with love, we will reap a harvest for His kingdom and we will reap heavenly rewards that are far better than anything this world can offer! That is my challenge...will you accept?? Thus my toast ends and so does my post.

I love you all, more than you know!! :)

Austin

Interview of Alyssa for Mass Choir at Inauguration

My sweetie is singing for the inauguration on Monday! I just saw this interview of her and the choir. Thought you guys would like to see it.

http://www.newschannel9.com/news/top-stories/stories/lee-choir-perform-at-presidential-inauguration-3819.shtml

Thinking of you all!
Joel

going pro

I got some headshots recently. Just look at me now! I hope to get some with a piano down the road. My last headshot was a little grainy and only black and white....

  The funny thing was these new shots were taken in my friend's kitchen. He just set up umbrella lights and hung a black curtain over his cupboards. hahahaha.

Hey Gang!

An Austin Land update hot off the press!!

I recently ran in the Bismarck/Kroll's Marathon as part of a relay team last Saturday (Sept. 15th). Our team took 2nd of 4 male teams and 3rd overall out of 102 teams! All 5 members of the top 3 teams in each division got a sweet zip-up jacket. So that was a nice bonus! I ran the 4th leg (out of 5) for our team. This was a 5-mile distance, including having to go up the massively long University of Mary hill. Good thing I got to come back down after the battle upwards. I clocked my time in at 37 mins, 5 secs, a 7:25 per mile pace. Not bad for running only a few times in the last 2 months and having just freshly recovered from injuring my back 2 weeks ago. If you don't believe me, here's the link of the full standings on Bismarck Tribune website:
http://bismarcktribune.com/sports/local/bismarck-marathon-full-results/article_28e6f030-ff92-11e1-8f96-0019bb2963f4.html

In other news, I'm still working my 2 jobs. At NISC in Mandan and at SuperValu picking orders in the warehouse. Its a struggle, as I just worked 11 days in a row, but I continue to push through. I've applied for 2 positions recently and hope to hear back from them soon! I'll keep you all updated on those!

Living with Michael is going well. We don't see each other very often, but we should make some progress on painting the house this weekend if things work out weather-wise and such.

Hope all is well in Prentice Land!

Love,
Austin

Alyssa gets up!

I was looking through my summer pictures and I noticed this one from my last weekend at the lake. I think you all will enjoy seeing it.

You go girl! Way to get that star.

(already looking forward to next summer!)

Double Rainbow!

Jeff, Marissa, and Darren came over to our apartment last night to eat pizza and play Settlers.  (Marissa won!).  There was a big rainbow at sunset so we had fun taking pictures.  You can't see the "doubleness" in these pictures but I posted a video of facebook in which you can see the 2nd rainbow.

Spiritwood Lake Forestry Report

Tom, Michael and I arrived at the lake last Friday night to this sight:

Another 80-90 year-old ash tree had blown down in a storm, probably a couple nights earlier. It was the one behind the new cabin, the one remaining "swing tree" with the cross piece and chain still attached, about 40' tall. Fortunately, it fell eastward and landed parallel to the cabins. Unfortunately, it fell on the young bur oak tree and bent it over about halfway up.

So we got to work. Tom used the electric chain saw to cut off branches and we started dragging them to the burn pile. It was a calm evening, good for burning, and there was already some dry wood piled there. That burned right away and got the fire hot enough to burn green wood. We also had to cut some broken boxelder branches which the ash broke off as it fell.

As soon as enough branches were cleared away from the oak, Tom got on a ladder and straightened out the trunk. He attached a splint to keep it straight, and wrapped some cloth around the place where the bark was torn. We're hoping it will survive and thrive!

Just couldn't resist doing some planking.

After the branches were burned up and the trunk cut into logs for the woodstove, all that's left is the stump. And some wide open sunny space.

Here's a little taste of the wedding I went to a week ago in NC. I (on the far right) convinced the groom (mid-air) that it would be a good idea for us guys to throw him up for the camera. He was pretty scared as you can tell (gripping his own pants and wide eyed, stiff as a board.)  It was a couple good friends of mine (Ben Johns and Caley (Hedrick) Johns) from Lee University that were getting married and I had the pleasure of being there to celebrate with them. From sitting in the choir loft (as one of their many good friends) singing two hymns during the ceremony, to contradancing with live bluegrass at the reception, to wine and sangria, to camping out that night and swimming in the cold creek the next morning.... IT WAS A BLAST. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures.


While I am having a great time here in TN, I miss you all. Hoping for a serving job at Olive Garden (interview on Monday),
Love,
Joel

The Lake Season Has Begun!

It's gonna get warmer!!! This is the crew who enjoyed Memorial weekend at the lake, plus Tom who was taking the picture. Brian did not get the memo about hoods. The only water activity was putting in the boat lift, and fortunately for everyone else, Brian brought his dry suit for that project. Oh, and Bella isn't deterred from her usual water activity no matter how cold the water is.

Carolyn posed by the irises in her Van Gogh iris jacket. Beautiful! Edie has been keeping this flower bed weeded and it looks great. All the trees are doing well. Time to submit ideas and preferences for what we should plant this year. We counted at least 20 varieties of trees, native and planted, on the property.

NEW HOUSE

Greetings everyone! Check out my new place! Closed on it today. I'm looking forward to refinishing the hardwood floors and sprucing this up to a "modern living-space." Notice how one can just board right up to the front door.

In the master bedroom. This color MUST go! hahaha.

 The living room as viewed from the front door. These floors need to get REFINISHED. That's step #1.

And this piano, found for free on Bisman, is STUCK.

We'll never make it..........................

WE MADE IT.

I'll keep you updated as we go along. Cheers.