What is a sandy colour, about 1.5 inches long, and scuttles along the ground?

That isn't a riddle, I really want to know. Last night I went downstairs to the laundry which is in the basement of the house we are currently house-sitting for the Couperus's, and there was something with the above description that scuttled under the dryer. I haven't seen it since - and it weirded me out a bit. Haha

Life in Lansing, Illinois

Well, this is just a mini-update, because there isn't too much to report from our end. Josh has his 'end of semester' exam on Tuesday, so he is currently studying hard for that. It means that he will get the day off on Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that. :D

He is doing really well at the moment - sitting on an A- which is  about 93%. As long as he manages to get around that amount on his exam he will keep that grade. So that is really good going, especially for someone who hasn't done a language in a long time! 

Last week we were very kindly invited to have a swim in the pool of a family from church with a group of other people. That was a lot of fun. I was looking forward to it all week because it has been so hot here - but as it turned out the pool was hotter than the air outside it! It was a crazy kind of experience getting into hot water in an outside pool. However, it was still really nice to have a swim, and lots of fun spending the evening with everyone. 

I also got to go out on Thursday with a lovely Kiwi lady from church and she treated me to a Culver's 'concrete mixer'. (N.B. Culver's is a fast food chain over here, but it has better food than other places like MacDonalds) I was excited to give one a go. I tell you what, it was A-mazing! For a girl who does like her ice-cream, the USA certainly has a lot to offer. Haha.

Hmmmm - treats of deliciousness.

On Friday night we went along to another free concert that was in a local park. It was a really nice evening, although warm - and it was quite cool hearing some more live music. This one was a tribute band for John 'Cougar' Mellencamp - who was relatively well known in the 60's-70's and was from Indiana. So although we didn't know most of the music, it was still a fun way to spend the evening. 

It was quite amazing because pretty much the whole time we were there, it was balmy, calm weather - but over to the right of the photo you can see some dark clouds. Well they developed into another lightening storm that was in the next town over. For the whole of the concert there was some epic lightening that we could see across the sky, but it didn't hit the area we were in until well after the concert was over. 

I have been trying to keep up with the cleaning of the Couperus's house so that it isn't a mess for when they get back :) and also it's a good habit to get into right! So I pulled out the Jif to do some epic scrubbing with the other morning. 

JIF! Peanut butter that is...

Yup, so over here Jif is peanut butter. Took some getting used to the idea of using something that is a house-cleaning product back home on our toast, but we are getting used to it (especially because it is delicious). Don't worry, I stopped myself from using it to clean with just in time. 

We are still being amazingly blest and well taken care of over here - like you wouldn't believe! We are very thankful because clearance came back from the apartment that we applied for - so we are set to move in on the 1st August. We are so thankful! Plus we (well, I - as in Hannah), have been writing up a list of all the things that we will need for the apartment - kitchen utensils and the like. I visited a couple of the thrift stores over here, to see what I could find which has been a help. However, because of the immense generosity of the people from the Seminary and our church, it looks like there will be very little that we will need to purchase. Again, it has been very humbling experiencing this generosity - and all I can see is how amazingly good our God is, in that He has been providing our every need, even when we are so undeserving. I found this verse the other day:

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
~ Philippians 4:19 ~

Ain't that the truth!! And we are experiencing it first hand. Not only through the practical and physical blessings that we are experiencing, but also in Josh's studies, and in the blessing it is to be a part of such an amazing church community over here. We have a lot to be thankful for. So with that I will bid you all adieu for now, and hopefully will have some more to update you on in a week or so! 

P.S. And if anyone can answer the question in the title... I'll leave it up to you to judge whether or not I actually need to know what it is. Maybe I don't really want to know!  :)