I keep forgetting to blog about this, I thought I would just post a link quickly.

There was a fire on Green Street in campus town. (About 12-14 blocks East of us). Green Street runs all the way through town and through campus (It is the street that we live on AND the street that the union is on.) The fire was less than a block away from the union. Thankfully it happened over spring break so less students were around, and no one was injured! They still don't know the cause of it... pretty crazy!

Here's a newspaper article about it.

Our due date is a month from tomorrow!! It probably won't surprise you to know that everything is "ready" :) This week I finished up her baby room, washed some clothes/blankets/towels/etc and steamed her bottles and got them all ready to go :) Now I can just sit and look at everything as we anticipate her arrival

We find ourselves saying to each other quite often, "Isn't it weird that this will probably be the last time we do this together with just the two of us?!!" It is really weird, but also really exciting!! As of tomorrow, our due date is exactly ONE month away! We are so excited for her arrival, but taking advantage of one last opportunity to travel with "just the two of us." :)

Tomorrow we are headed to a weekend getaway in Southern Indiana. We will be staying at a guest house on the property of Spring Hill Camp (Where we were for a month last summer). It is located among hills, trees and a LAKE! All things we love about WI and miss now that we live in IL! We are really looking forward to this time to connect with each other, get some extended time with God, and start writing in the baby book :)

With all the traveling we have done in the last 5 years of dating/marriage.... it's hard to believe that this is the last trip where we won't have to worry about nap times, feeding times, packing diapers, etc. We're looking forward to a great weekend... with just the two of us!

ps. Last week it was in the 70's where we are going, unfortunately the cold front that brought SNOW to Wisconsin has brought cooler temperatures to IL and IN too (in the 40's) We won't complain :)

We had the privilege of having Jim Downing in town for 5 days a few weeks ago. He stayed with the Hubbards and was a great encouragement to our ministry (attending Staff Meeting, some meetings with students, speaking at Nav Night, etc.) !! If you've never heard of Jim, he is one of the original Navigators! Find out a bit more by previewing the book he wrote. While Jim retired in 1983 (the year Noah was BORN!) He is now 97 years old and still travels across the country speaking an average of THREE times per week!!! He still lives on his own (his wife passed away just last year!) and keeps up with life using his Blackberry!! Can you believe that? He is an incredible man of God with a wonderful legacy and decades of wisdom under his belt! It was incredible privilege to meet him and host him for dinner one evening!

I'm so grateful to my dear friends Angie, Erin and Jen  who hosted a shower for us here in Champaign. It was a very special time to celebrate with our TCBC church family and a great reminder of how the Lord has been so faithful to provide us with friends here in Illinois. I never thought we would feel as "at home" here in Champaign as we do. Here are a few pictures :)

1) The beautiful decorations
2) Decorating cupcakes (how fun!)
3) The adorable cupcakes:)
4) A handmade dress for our dear daughter. It's a treasure! (Note: Rachel's face!:)

A few weeks ago we hosted our first ever Illini Navs Banquet. Community members and parents were invited to this banquet. Our students were all on board with child care, valet parking, waiting tables, cooking food, etc. etc. We had 3 students and one Nav Alum share about their involvement with The Navigators. It was a truly wonderful event! We had three main goals in executing such an event:
1) Give people (parents and community members) an opportunity to hear more about what God is doing on campus!
2) Raise funds for the Illini Navs ministry (All donations went to an activities account for our organization where we help subsidize the cost of our events and conferences)
3) Give the students an opportunity to serve together!

It was a great success and we are very thankful to all of our students for serving and all of our guests for attending!!

The bottom two pictures are post-banquet. We got an Illini Navs polo for Baby Haas from the Hubbards :) This also counts as my 33 week picture :)

Noah always laughs at me as I like to update the blog in order. So right now I have pictures of the finished baby room that I'm eager to add to the blog, but won't let myself do so until I'm "caught up." So.. first things first.

Things on campus have been going so well this semester! We are overwhelmed by all that the Lord is doing and find ourselves really needing to seek the Lord in order to know how to best use our time! I told myself at the beginning of the semester that I was committed as normal until Spring Break (which is this week) then after Spring Break I would have to re-determine my capacity and what I am able to do as I am in my 9th month of pregnancy. Funny thing is the last few weeks have been so amazing on campus, it is imA few highlights for me personally in the past few weeks...

1) Praying with two of the older female student leaders. Every other Wednesday morning the three of us (and Katie Hubbard as available) have been meeting to pray about life, the ministry, the girls in the ministry... as the Lord leads. This time has been SUCH a blessing to me. It's wonderful to pray with others who are "in the trenches" with me and who really love and know the girls on my heart! As I continue to learn more about my gifting, strengths, weaknesses, etc. I have determined that it is essential for me to have time set aside to pray with others about the ministry. The Lord has really blessed me through this time! I am praying about how to make this a priority after baby Haas arrives :)

2) Studying 1 Thessalonians with the upperclass women. I'm co-leading this study with a student named Jess. It has been such a blessing to be deep in the word with these girls. They are really maturing, strengthening their faith, and growing deep roots in the Word as well as learning how to reach out to their friends around them. It is truly exciting!!

3) The privilege of meeting with a girl who knows very little about the Bible. Last week we got together and I started our time by giving a brief intro to the Bible. This started with me simply explaining that the Bible has two testaments! When is the last time you've had the privilege of starting at square 1 with someone in the word??? Pray for such an opportunity, it's incredible!

Last weekend we went to Platteville for my baby shower. What a special weekend we had! It was hosted by my mom and my sister. They did an AWESOME job!! The decorations were great, the food was delicious, the game was all new to me. Everything about it was wonderful!

It was amazing to see how many family and friends made the trip to celebrate with us! It was also incredible to see how God is providing for our daughter through others' generosity! She is one loved little girl, and she isn't even born yet! :)

THANK YOU to everyone who made the effort to be there and celebrate with me (us!) And thank you Mom and Laura for all of the work you put in to pull it off!!!

Here are some pictures.... (These will also count as my 32 week pictures!) As of tomorrow.. I'll be at 33 weeks!

Katie, Nicole, Colleen, Abby & Jolie-- My College Friends

Kristi & Andrea - also college friends, married to Noah's best friends. Kristi is due 4 weeks before us!

Britney & Megan (high school friends) My other really good high school friend Lindsey had already left before the picture was taken. Britney is due 1.5 weeks after us!

Rogers aunts and cousins

Breihan aunts and cousins

Chelsea (Noah's sister), Pat (Noah's mom), Me, Luanne (my mom), Laura (my sister) and Claire (my niece).
Claire was wearing a dress that I wore when I was 12 months old!!