Introducing...

...my outreach team! You will remember my coleader Mike from posts over the past year- its a privilege to be leading the team with a trusted friend. Our students are the lovely Kelsey and Noelle- from Minnesota and Washington, respectively. I'm really excited at the Lord's having brought the four of us together to serve in Asia these coming few months! Please keep us in prayer- collectively, our team needs a few thousand dollars still before our December departure. Thanks!

half way there

We have reached the halfway point in this fall's SBFM course lecture phase- which means we have just another six weeks till outreach. Yay- we're half way there! Also exciting: we bought our tickets this weekend! Yay! Securing tickets is a definite milestone and marks a half way point in team funding as well, as tickets make up nearly half the trip cost. Yay- we're half way there! Praise the Lord we have come this far and that He is continuing to make a way for each of us. Please remember me and my team in your prayers as we continue to eagerly prepare for this outreach.

ps. Please pray also for our China visas- we sent our passports & applications off this morning!

team building gone girly

As you may have guessed from the distinct lack of blog entries lately, my schedule has been swamped. The good news is that although i am busy, not every thing i do is administrative. Besides lectures, grading, and meetings some of the things i need to do are less structured- like finding time to do some team building with the girls i am taking on outreach. It still takes time and still has to fit into the already cozy schedule, but lets face it- doing mud masks and eating french fries isn't the same as going to a logistical meeting:)

Meet Noelle and Kelsey- my outreach team girls:) I am stoked to spend a few more months with these two young women, supporting and mentoring them as they step into this challenge.

why we love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength:

"The heart cannot exalt what the mind rejects."

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer

afternoon coffee hour(s)

I love to sit and regroup over coffee in the afternoon. Life is not always conducive to this practice, however when circumstance allows, this is my afternoon ritual. And its hereditary. My dad is all about afternoon coffee. When he and i were traveling in Europe we definitely made an afternoon of it- daily. The moments below are glimpses into some of my more well-traveled coffee respites...

Paris

Edinburgh

Segovia

Nice

Rome

October: over ten years ago

Just a little glimpse into the Octobers of years past...

This is a photo with a bunch of my friends on an outreach to the Hawaiian island of Molokai, in October of 1998. I'm up in the left:) Can hardly believe that night was thirteen years ago.

In Manitoba, Canada in October of 2000, for a wedding with friends from YWAM. (This is scanned, so theoretically, i could have the date wrong, but i had this penciled on the prints.) And yes, thats me in the boots. Apparent evidence that my boot habit started over a decade ago.

I have such fond memories of this trip eleven years ago. It was such a perfect Fall weekend, and such a sweet reunion with friends.

Time really does fly...and here i am, back to October again, over ten years later...

[ Jeremiah 9:23-24 ]

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD." [Jeremiah 9:23-24]

travels with my dad

I deeply enjoy travel. Whether for outreach (most frequent), for leisure (when i have frequent flier miles), or to explore (always:)... its a joy to me. And its a joy i love to share. In the last five or so years, I've had the pleasure of sharing the joy of travel with my amazing dad (whom i love dearly). Of course he travels within the States without me- i think he drives more than anyone i know. (And he and my mother did take us over the Canadian and Mexican borders when we were young.) Over seas travel, however, is an adventure i got to introduce to him. We have made two trips together- one to Thailand and one to Europe. Its really meant a lot for me to be able to take my dad to some of my outreach locations; places i have invested, places dear to my heart. I love that even though we live far apart and miss so much of each other's lives, he has experienced something of my life in this way. And the places we went just for fun while we were in the neighborhood...well, that's how we roll. Such great memories- i really treasure these travels with my dad.

Travel ready on a train platform somewhere in Europe

A leisurely father/daughter breakfast at a coastal resort in Thailand, near where i did relief work after the Southeast Asian Tsunami

In Bangkok together

At Nice, on the French Riviera

In Istanbul, Turkey, where i first went to do relief work following a devastating earthquake. I have taken several outreach teams there since- its a place dear to my heart.

Its rather obvious: this is us in Paris, France.

Coffee, coffee and more coffee- when you are in Italy, the place that gave us espresso, you just go for it.

Gelato in a famous piazza in Rome, Italy.

Evening out in Nice, on the French Riviera. That was a good night- I love my dad.