It’s hard to believe that in less than 10-days, this house on Clark Street in Warsaw will no longer be our home…

We got in tonight a bit before 11PM after a LONG trip from Onalaska, WI (might as well have been Minnesota) back home to Warsaw. We bypassed Chicago by coming South to US-30 way over in Illinois and came East on US-30 for just over 100-miles. Those were the longest 100-miles of my life, I think. Stop-and-go through Chicago-Heights and other similar cities nearly made me go insane. I’m glad I won’t have to make that trip again anytime soon. I would MUCH rather drive from Warsaw to Milwaukee-area where we are moving to than from the far Western corner of Wisconsin back here to Warsaw!

(Jess, reading over my shoulder just said, “I think you DID go insane a little…”)

So now I will “sign off” and get some MUCH-needed sleep. It’s been a long day to say the least. We’re VERY thankful that we attended the Wisconsin District Conference, but are now REALLY feeling “the crunch” and our “to-do list” is EXTREMELY intimidating.

The 8-or-so Mt. Dew’s that I had on the trip home are having ZERO effect on me right now (except maybe a potty-break in the near future). My tiredness is winning over my caffeine-intoxication.

Good-night.

I’m sitting here in Onalaska, WI at the Stony Creek Inn where we spent the night last night. I’m finishing my cream-cheese bagel and thinking about getting a donut. Conference begins again in just an hour, Jess & Ella are still passed out upstairs (and not coming for the start of conference), and we’re getting back on the road for what is now atleast an 8-hour trip to Warsaw sometime soon after lunch!

This is NUTS!

We’re having a blast, though! Meeting new people, and some old friends. I enjoyed a quick visit from Rev. Bickel and his wife this morning as they came down for breakfast, too. I know I am going to love Pastor Dan’s leadership as our District Superintendent – his leading of this conference is already proof-positive that his leadership-style is high-quality, and Christ-centered! He received a 4-year renewal vote yesterday by the conference and another vote to give him an “extended call” meaning the District Board will decide if we even need to vote in 4-more years!

Dr. Pence gave me a big hug yesterday as I was introduced as one of the Wisconsin district’s newest pastors this year. Dr. Jim Dunn was here yesterday for a bit to talk about the Spiritual Formations department of the Wesleyan Church. The SF department’s print-materials definitely stand-out among the “typical” church stuff in our folders. I can see Kory’s DNA throughout each denominational piece.

Two more bites of the bagel and I’m done. Probably won’t update again till we’re safe-and-sound in Warsaw…

We’re in our basement-dwelling tonight at the Krupp-family home. We’re settling in for a few-hours of much-needed sleep after a long, tiring trip from Warsaw to Naperville to Mukwonago. The drive from Naperville to Mukwonago is nearly 50-miles shorter than from Warsaw to Naperville and took us atleast an hour longer! How’s that for outside-of-Chicago traffic? Sheesh.

We enjoyed a quick supper at Culver’s before heading to the church to take a look around. It was kind of surreal seeing things now that we know we are moving here in just a couple of weeks. We’re so excited!

After a visit at the church we headed here to the Krupps to settle in for the night. We’ve had some great conversations with the Krupp-kids and Wenda. Pastor Gerry is already in Onalaska for the start of conference with the rest of the DBA.

We leave bright-and-early tomorrow morning for the 3+ hour trip to Onalaska. Should be a fun trip with Wenda Krupp and Jason Butler riding along with the Sheets, too!

I’m currently sitting at the amazing wrap-around countertop at the Swanson-home in Naperville. We had a heavy-traffic drive here and are just chilling for a bit before getting back on the road to Mukwonago. We’ll spend the night in Mukwonago at Pastor Gerry & Wenda’s and then hit the road early for the 3+ hour trip to a town called Onalaska and the Sand Lake Wesleyan Church where Wisconsin District Conference is being held. We’ll enjoy a day and a half of conference and then get back on the road in the afternoon on Friday for the long-trip back home!

Sherilyn is loving some quick Ella-time. We showed off Ella’s new tricks to Sherilyn when we first arrived. I think she was impressed.

Trick-list:
01. Standing up.
02. Saying “Hi” nonstop.
03. Saying “papa” when I say “papa”.
04. Doing the “stutter laugh” to imitate MY “stutter laugh”.

Good times.

Jess, Ella, and me are headed to Wisconsin tomorrow morning. We’re hoping to stop in for a lunch-break with Sherilyn in Naperville on the way. We’ll be attending the Wisconsin District Conference on Thursday and Friday and hope to get back to Warsaw sometime late Friday night.

This is one of those trips that makes sense for us in the long-run, but right now the stress of packing up our lives into cardboard boxes makes a trip like this a bit of added-stress for us. We’re looking forward to spending time with other Wisconsin-ites and getting to know people from the district that we wouldn’t otherwise get to meet in a state-wide district like Wisconsin!

Hopefully I’ll find some wireless net while we’re away to update from the road!

Does anyone else realize that next week is our last week in Warsaw? Did this whole “move-thing” creep up on you, too?

Also – trying a new look to ready stevansheets.com for the Wisconsin-move, too! What’dya think?