It's that time of year again...

Well, it's that time of year again. The boys get their time to play and the girls get to cheer on their husbands, friends, and coworkers. I think we all look forward to this time of year because it might possibly be one of the most entertaining things we have to look forward to during the week. The event is...flag football. Some of the guys that we work with asked Jared to be on the team a couple of years ago. The could have possibly been the worst team in the league. It was almost embarrassing to go and watch the team because we were cheering, "Come on AIA!" Having a reputation of being on Athletes in Action staff, we're supposed to at least be half way "athletic" but this team was just BAD! Last year they needed to make some major changes. They did pick up some new players and learn to run some plays but some days you could still see the old team coming back. By the end of the season however, the team became league champions! On Saturday the team started off by stating that they were the oldest team in the league...actually, the youngest person on their team still is older than the oldest person on some of the other teams. Does this mean they are in trouble? We're praying for them each week! This year they might not be the youngest or the most in shape but at least they have official shirts and a team name. Team "Woop Scoop" will not go down without a fight this year.

New pets...Not so much!

So it's packing time for the Wellmans! I asked Jared to get some boxes down from the attic because after the first bat experience (of it flying through our house, hiding from us for 2 days, and taunting us every time we called someone to come and get it), I was not ready to experience another! Jared told me to get one of the boxes that was toward the bottom of the stairs since I wouldn't have to go up to the top of the attic. I asked if he would get the TV that was sitting on top of the one box I wanted to use to start packing because I was afraid I would drop it if I tried...our TV went out a few months ago and for some reason, we're still holding on to it! Anyway, as he picked that up, I went for the box and sat it in the hall way. I looked up the stairs to see what other ones I could grab while the door was open and there was a familiar creature on the bottom step. Bat #1... I said, "Jared, is that a bat," as I quickly shut the door a he tried to take a look. He said, "I'll open the door and you look to see if it's one." "Heck no...I already think it's one. I'll open the door and you look to see if you think it's one," I said. After going back and forth for a few minutes we finally found a reading light and I opened up the door enough for him to confirm that it was definitely a bat! Our neighbors downstairs came up to see and confirmed that we had another one 2 steps up and probably more further up in the attic. YUCK!!!
Needless to say, we left the boxes upstairs and began to pack with the very few boxes that we brought home from my parents house. We're waiting for our landlords to get back from vacation to figure out what to do with the bats and our stranded boxes! I sure as heck don't want to deal with either one!

Tie the Knot

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas the Schenck's and the Dingle's would get together to celebrate the holiday. The relation between the two families is our grandmothers were twins. In the past few years, we have all gotten married except for the youngest, Kelli. We just joined in her beach themed bridal shower and in one month, she'll be the last of the girls to tie the knot. Our family holidays are growing with our husbands joining in on the fun and the set of twins from Jill and Dave. We are excited for one more wedding to celebrate in the family. Congrats Kelli and Will!

From Mountains back to Cornfields

We're back from b-e-a-utiful Colorado! Every 2 years we look forward to meeting up with our friends we joined staff with and our other Athletes in Action family all around the world. We joined with about 6,000 other Campus Crusade staff members to worship together. The feeling of singing songs, growing together, and sharing in the same mission with that many other people is an indescribable feeling.
While we were in Colorado we not only got to hear some amazing speakers but we got to see 10th Avenue North and Lecrea in concert, enjoy God's creation in the mountains on our hikes, and hang out with our friends Dane and Kristen Peterson (who now live in Denver). It was a wonderful 10 days of being away from the regular routine of things but now it's back to reality.
When we did get home, we had to say our "See ya laters" to our new and dear friends from our X Project. We had our final banquet where people were able to share stories, memories, and affirm one another. We had a slideshow that summed up the summer very well. It is very sad to see all of our friends leave Xenia after the summer is over, however, we know that we will have friendships that will last forever. Many of the interns that you have prayed for by name through our last prayer letter have indicated that they are interested in either doing an internship or coming on staff with Athletes in Action. Thank you for your prayers and investing in these student's lives this summer.

8 hours is nothing!

8 hours is nothing when you're going to show the love of Jesus Christ to others. Bridget, one of our X Project interns this summer, has gone through some pretty tough times since coming to Xenia. She arrived in Ohio not knowing what God was going to teach her, who she was going to learn to trust, or not ever knowing that pride was an issue that she was going to have to deal with. Shortly after Bridget started her internship she got a call from her family saying that her grandmother was not going to make it. The love of the other students and staff surrounded her during this time in more ways than she was prepared for. She was overwhelmed with texts, calls, flowers, and a fruit basket sent by her AIA family back in Ohio. She was learning that she could begin to trust her AIA family to a new degree.
2 weeks later Bridget got another call. Her other grandmother was given less than 24 hours to live. A staff member was able to book a flight for her to get home that night to say her final goodbyes. If it weren't for this flight, she would not have gotten home in time to be with her grandmother one last time. This was another hard time for Bridget...2 grandmothers within 2 weeks! WOW!
During women's night all of the girls started talking about going out to support her at her grandma's funeral. At first it started out a joke but shortly after this joke became a reality. We got approval to take an Athletes in Action 12 passenger van on a trip with the understanding we'd leave Monday afternoon and be back Tuesday night. So 8 students and 2 staff hopped in the van for 8 1/2 hours and drove to PA to surprise Bridget during this hard time.
There was a lot of laughs, singing, question asking, food, and much more on this trip to Pennsylvania. We were expecting to surprise Bridget (hoping for it to be a good one) but the response we got was beyond what we ever imagined...she bawled! She was so overwhelmed with joy and love that she wasn't expecting. The question of, "So all of these women drove from Ohio to be with you?" was asked multiple times from other family members. Bridget comes from a family where she is not surrounded by believers. She has been such a witness to them throughout these weeks and this was a great experience for them to see how the body of Christ comes together to love and support each other. There were a lot of tears shed that day...some out of sadness, some out of thankfulness, but the ones that I could see the most were the ones of joy after we found out that Bridget's grandma prayed to receive Christ a couple days before she passed away. Her family is searching and asking questions. Since the funeral a couple of family members have indicated they are interested in going to church. Maybe the van of 10 people planted some seeds, maybe not...one thing I do know is that Christ impacted these 10 people in many ways on this trip.

On June 23rd, Jared and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! In one sense it feels like there's no way it can already be 2 years. Time has flown by! On the other hand, we don't remember what life was like without each other.
It's crazy to think back to June of 2005 and all the events that happened in that summer. Jared and I were in Colorado meeting for the first time. We were both right out of college coming from several states apart. Jared had a ton of Crusade experience in college and shared many stories about summer projects and spring break trips that he had been on. I on the other hand, had never been involved with Crusade or anything quite like it before. The one thing that I did know was that I, along with the other 250 people who were at New Staff Training, had a heart to serve the Lord for the rest of my life. Jared's original placement in the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ was in campus ministry at Rhode Island; mine was with Athletes in Action in Xenia, Ohio.
After that our time in Colorado our relationship started to develop and Jared began to pray about what his future looked like within the ministry of Campus Crusade. The Lord began to place on Jared's heart that if we were to get married, Athletes in Action in Xenia, Ohio was where my heart and my passion was and it would be hard to take me away from that. He also showed Jared that if we weren't to get married this would still be a fit for him. Jared knew what his new calling was and made the switch to Athletes in Action (the athletic branch of Campus Crusade). 2 months later we were engaged and the rest is history!
The past two years we have grown in so many ways. When we first got engaged we began to pray that the Lord would continue to mold us into the husband and wife that He created us to be. He has been doing that in so many ways. He's been working on our character and emotional needs as well.
As we reflect back on our vows that we stated to each other 2 years ago, we pray that we can continue to make those statements true daily.
I Jared (Erin) take you Erin (Jared)
To be my wife (husband).
I promise before God and these witnesses gathered here,
To join with you and to share all that is to come,
In joy and in sorrow,
In sickness and in health,
To forgive and strengthen you,
In all circumstances of our lives,
So that we may serve god,
And we may serve others,
As god gives us life together.

Syracuse Visit

We're back from a wonderful week in the 'Cuse. It was a very busy but great time visiting with friends, family, and ministry partners. For me (Erin) it was the first time I had met some of the family I had been hearing about for the past four years! I will have to admit, I had many thoughts about how crazy my mother-in-law was for catering her own daughters reception for 250 people, but she pulled it off and it was a wonderful meal. I told Debbi that when she is done with her soup business, she needs to either go into wedding planning or the catering business.

Debbi and Rick had decided to cancel the tent that they had reserved for the reception on Tuesday morning because the forcast didn't call for rain on Saturday...this was the beginning of being glued to the TV, internet, and every other source of weather update for the next 4 days. Like Debbi mentioned to me on Saturday night after the wedding was over...the beautiful weather on Saturday night didn't show how big our faith was, it showed how big our God is.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and the reception couldn't have been better! After the wedding we spent our last night hanging out with our family telling stories and laughing a lot! We always enjoy our short visits in the 'Cuse and look forward to the next time we can visit again with our family and friends.

Our friends in Texas have encouraged us to create a Blog! This will allow us to keep our family, friends, and ministry partners a little more up to date about what's going on with the Wellmans. We hope to update this frequently with events going on at Athletes in Action, things going on in our life, and whatever else comes our way. We plan on sharing pictures and stories as they arise. No worries, we will continue to send our prayer letters...this will just be a quick update for you to enjoy online!