Saturday, February 23, 2008

Surprise, Surprise

A couple weeks ago I was invited to a fundraising dinner for an organization called Amahoro, which strives to empower young leaders in Africa by giving them the tools and connecting them with the resources to strive in their own countries without the west's help. It was an interested dinner, but not a mission that I connected with.

One thing that did happen is that the mayor of Surprise was at the dinner, and I was able to not only meet him, but enjoy a lengthy conversation with him about Surprise and the work that I've done to get YL out there.

He told me of some friends that he knew of that tried to get YL out to Surprise a couple of years ago. He then mentioned the name and the guy who was heading that I've met because I taught his kids my last year of teaching in Surprise.

Seems like a lot of dots are being connected. Please continue to pray. This is fun for me to watch!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Another formal complaint

A couple of days ago these white and gray things invaded our skies and blocked the sun. They even had the nerve to drop this water stuff out of the sky.

It's happening again today and it's just plain annoying I tell you. This is a desert, not Seattle.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Surprise Young Life

We had our meeting in Surprise for interest in getting Young Life started out there.

The meeting was a REALLY positive one and much different that I expected it to go.

Before we talked about areas can be started either with a volunteer team beginning ministry with a committee to support or in can start with a staff member who pulls everything together (well, God pulls everything together, but you know what I mean).

John (AZ director of YL) came out and said that Surprise needed a staff person. Then the discussion went into a very specific discussion regarding finances, what would need to be raised and how soon we'd like to get started.

There was two people there who I think will be valuable leaders that are about my age who asked the question, "How long? 2-3 years?" and one lady (who appears to be a strong fundraiser) who looked appaled and said, "2-3 years, I'm thinking 2-3 weeks!" . We did talk about fundraising throughout the spring and summer and then bringing on staff in the fall.

Now throughout all of this, my prayers that I would be that staff person have been kept quiet, as we didn't want to build false momentum with someone thinking "oh, we have a staff person, let's get rolling". We wanted to make sure that the community support was there before that happened. Tuesday's meeting someone asked specifically if John had someone in mind for the area and "the cat was let out of the bag" :-) that this is why I've been helping and where I am hoping and praying that God is leading our family.

It's very exciting to think that I could be working for YL in the fall of this year! It's also very scary and daunting at the same time, there is a significant amount to raise before this can get started.

Please pray for this process as this seems nearly impossible, but we know that God is bigger than this whole thing.

Cute kids

The Lord has blessed me tremeandously with kids that look like their mom, so they are awefully darn cute.

Kate continues to show the fact that she has Rachelle's academic bent. She's actually reading! We have a series that we got that are beginning readers from Rachelle's mom (who is in last year of teaching cleanout mode) and she's taken to them like a fish to water. The last few days she's read to us a couple of "Critter" books and one of those "If You" something with a mouse. Clearly, she is her mother's daughter. My lips still move when I read.

Ryan is becoming quite the little crackup. He's always wanting to do everything "My Big Self" unless you talk about his pacifier, then he wants to be a "Little Big Boy" (we tell him big boys don't use pacifiers). We also tell him to be on his best behavior and he lets us know that "I will be good have". He's a little cuddler and a sweetheart, the other day he even told Rachelle that she was "My Best Girl". Not to soften him up too much, as he is a climber/wrastler as well.

So Cute.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Am I a baby?

Last week the weather was in the 70s. This week it's only in the upper 60s and I'm rather annoyed that I have to continue wearing socks.

Am I a baby?

Nomadic

We moved...again.

We were renting a house from a very nice gentleman who is an investor from California.

He only has one flaw as I see it.

He doesn't pay the mortgage. Not quite sure what he was doing with our rent, but the bank saw to it that we move as they declared the house legally theirs. Forclosure is an ugly thing.

On the bright side, God provided a family in our church that was looking for renters at the exact time we needed a home, and the new rental has a chlorinated cement pond in the back yard. Couple more months and nightly swims will be had.

Frequency

I read today on a friend's website that I don't update my blog very often. I used to be mentioned as this person's colleger roommate, but sadly I am just a slacker.

This Tuesday marks the second meeting for those intersted in Young Life in Surprise/El Mirage Arizona. This is significant, as for some reason God has placed this area and the fact that they do not have Young Life (but do have 4 high schools) on my heart. About a month ago we had a first meeting and there was a significant amount of positive energy from the event.

Rachelle and I are praying for clear direction in this. We could definately see ourselves moving to Surprise and doing YL as my new occupation, but as of now, no such job exists.

On another note, the fact that I currently hold two "part-time" jobs (neither of which is as part-time as I hope) will be the excuse for a 3 month (to the day, I might add) hiatus from posting on this website.

My "Interim Director of Children's Ministry at Faith Bible Church" job is good, but there is one thing that I must find a solution to; I don't get to go to church or attend adult Sunday School, both highlights of my week. I struggle with this, as I have received very good feedback as to the job that I am doing (both from kids and parents) and there seems to be positive energy. The struggle comes in the fact that although it is perceived that I am good at it, I really don't enjoy it that much. Is that bad?

My heart keeps longing to do more YL work. I pray that's where God is leading our family.