CCDA

So in October we had the chance to go to the CCDA conference.  It was a wonderful week of learning.  Richard Twiss was my favorite speaker of the whole week, and I just found his presentation he gave at CCDA on YouTube.  Check it out, its long, but worth it. 

....It's been awhile...

So life got really busy, and blogging took a back seat.  Life has calmed down some, and I thought it was time to catch everyone up.

Christmas was great.  We were on our trimester break and I got to have some quality hang out time with these two cute dudes.  We had lots of fun, did a lot of baking, and hanging out.

After Christmas, I realized that we were about to start the new trimester, and had a whole lot of work to get done, in not a lot of time.  We had a great trimester launch and have had a wonderful first couple of weeks.  We have had quite a few new families arrive in the area recently and our Kids' Club numbers topped 50 for the first time since we sent the teens to Teens' Club.  It is a whole lot of fun, and such a blessing to get to love these kids every week.

Right after the launch of the trimester we found a new house to move in to.  If you haven't heard, the house we had been living in was in bad shape and the landlord wasn't willing to fix anything.  We had been looking for a good place, in the neighborhood, found one and less than a week later we were moved in.  It has already been such a blessing.  It is in a great location, right next door to some of our great friends, and on the same street as many others.  I'm excited to see how the Lord uses this house to bless others.

fear

I would have to say that when I first moved down to the neighborhood, the question I got most often was "Is it safe?"  


At first I would get frustrated, "Of course it's safe", I would say.  Would I really move down here if it wasn't safe?


As time has passed my response has changed.   Now more often than not I respond,  "We were never promised it would be safe."  


I wanted to share with you the lyrics to one of my favorite songs.  Aslan, by Kendall Payne.  It paints a great picture of who Christ is, and how he is nothing we would have ever expected.  

Don't stop your crying on my account

A frightening lion, no doubt

He's not safe, no he's not safe

Are you tempted now to run away?

The King above all Kings is coming down

But He won't say the words you wish that he would 

Oh, he don't do the deeds you know that He could

He won't think the thoughts you think He should

But He is good, He is good

I know you're thirsty, the water is free

But I should warn you, it costs everything

Well, He's not fair, no He's not fair

When He fixes what's beyond repair

And graces everyone that don't deserve

No one knows Him whom eyes never seen

No, I don't know Him but He knows me

He knows me, He knows me

Lay down your layers, shed off your skin

But without His incision, you can't enter in

He cuts deep, yeah He cuts deep

When the risk is great and the talk is cheap

But never leaves a wounded one behind

Sorry...

So it's been a while since I've had time to post. I hope to have some updates up within the next week. Sorry, life has been crazy. It's a good kind of crazy though.

Christmas...

I love Christmas time.  I love getting to take the time and recount the birth of our Savior.  I love hearing the story of how God humbled Himself as a man, and came and lived life as a human.  I get goosebumps thinking about what it would have been like to be a goat staring into the manger that night, witnessing the birth of the King of Kings, Emmanuel, God with us.  

I love getting to share the story of Christmas with our Kids' Club kids.  In our 2 years of loving them, this is the second time we have come to the birth of Christ in our lessons.  We have been able to arrange the lessons so Jesus comes right around Christmas time each year.  We use the Jesus Storybook Bible as our curriculum, and the kids hear all trimester about how God is going to send His Rescuer to bring His people back to Him.  The kids have figured out his name is Jesus. 

The last Tuesday of the winter trimester we watch a video of our story about the birth of Christ. The story tells of how God could have sent His rescuer in so many ways.  He could have made the mountains bow down, seas roar, and trees to clap their hands.  But, He didn't choose that way.  He choose to send Jesus as a baby, a totally human, fully God, baby.  

One our most inquisitive kids asked after watching the video why Jesus needed that lady, Mary.  My young friend seemed to have a hard time imagining a God so humble, who flung the planets into space, was coming to earth as a baby.   As we took a second to chat we related it to the babies we knew in our community, and how if it weren't for their moms they wouldn't be alive.  We had the chance to talk about how to be a man, Jesus had to start out as a baby.

While they are young now, the Kids' Club kids are listening and learning.  They are beginning to understand how lessons from the Bible stories apply to their lives.  My hope for my Kids' Club friends is they grow into young men and young women who love Jesus, and allow Him to guide them through life.

If you have a few seconds watch the video we watch.  It's one of my favorites

Why I Love What I Do....

Soo...if you can't read it, here is what this note says.

(Please forgive my spelling and punctuation, I am copying this from the original)

Thank You note

Dear: Kristian

Merry Christmas.  Thank you for teaching alot about God and I enjoy with you when we do our homework and  I really like when we go to watch movie I hope you enjoy your Christmas.  Have a nice Christmas.

Love, A

So many sweet notes from this little girl.  Her heart is so open, honest and listening to what the Lord is teaching her, and she is only in the 4th grade.  Jesus was on to something when he talked about having the faith of a child and I am so lucky to get to see it in such a real and personal way.   

5 years...

So I realized today that I graduated from college 5 years ago this weekend.  

Yep, 5 years ago.  It got me thinking about what a crazy journey the Lord has led me on over the past 5 years.  

Little known fact: After I graduated I worked as a puppeteer.  Yet, that's right.  A puppeteer.  As a job.  

No, not Sesame Street.  

I hung out with these guys:

These are the Kids on the Block.  They travel to schools and teach kids about differences.  They cover everything from wheel chairs, to Epilepsy to bullying. It didn't last for more than a few months because I got in to grad school to become a teacher. 

So I went to grad school and subbed for about a year.  Then, I graduated again. 

Then I had an amazing first year of teaching in Nashville. 

Wasn't my room cute?  

Then I traveled Europe with two of my best friends.

Then I moved back to Kansas.  

And then I had the worst second year of teaching imaginable.

But, the Lord redeemed that year by introducing me to my beautiful friends.  

I loved being with my friends so much that I quit my teaching job to spend more of my time with them.  I started to raise funds to be able to spend all of my time with them. Over the past year and a half we have had so much fun together, grown, loved and laughed.  

If you would have asked me 5 years ago where I would be now I would have probably said NOT in Kansas City.  Now, I can't imagine being anywhere else.  It is amazing the wonderful things the Lord brings in to your life when you follow his leading.  He might even take you where you said you would never go.  

So these last couple weeks have been crazy busy.  We just wrapped up our 6th trimester, and January marks the 2 year anniversary of the launch of the Bhutanese outreach.  It is crazy to think about the past two years and the work that the Lord has done, and the fun we have gotten to have along the way.  Our friends from Christ Church Anglican hosted our party last night.  They really went above and beyond and served our Nepali friends and our volunteer in a generous and loving way.  

Suzanne, from Christ Church and I went shopping at Sams for all of the food Padam needed to cook a Nepali dinner for over 300 people, we got some strange looks buying all that starch.  

I don't know how to wrap a sari, so a bunch of the women helped me out.....a bunch of them. 

  

Christ Church's youth group hosted the kids portion of our party.  We played games, painted nails and had a great time!

How you serve Daal to over 300 people. 

Thank you to everyone who came out, it was such a wonderful night!

...thanksgiving.....

With it being Thanksgiving and all I wanted to share a few of the things I am thankful for....

• My missional family.  Being a part of a wonderful community that encourages each other, laughs with (and at) each other,  cries together and loves others together.  It is beautiful.  The friends that have become family since I have moved to KCK are priceless, they support me in so many ways.  Being on mission and in community is unique and so incredibly wonderful. 
• My kids.   Wait a second I have kids?  Yes, about 40 of them depending on the day, and if you count some of my teenagers that number jumps to about 60.  Being in the lives of my Kids' Club kids is great.  It has its goods, bads and uglies.  Some of my favorite things have included:
• Washing headlice, I know...really?  Yes, there is something really personal about picking lice out of someone hair.  It gives me a chance to serve families in a tangible way.  I might also say I feel blessed in that I haven't gotten it yet, even though there have been some false alarms.  
• Getting phone calls from kids, they could need help with homework, a ride somewhere, have a question or just be tired (bored) and be looking for something to do or someone to hangout with.  I love that they feel that they can call me and count on me if they need something. 
• Laughing together.  According to one of my kids I laugh like a chipmunk and her friends, and little sister have taken to calling me chipmunk laugh as of recently.  Laughing together is beautiful and shows how much fun we get to have together.
• Deep conversations.  Kids ask the best questions, they challenge your faith and keep you on your toes.  No amount of study or classes could have ever prepared me to answer some of the zingers these kids can come up with.  The Spirit though, is really good at providing words.  \
• Watching them grow.  It is hard to believe that it has been 2 years since we started walking with some of these kids.  They are growing up so incredibly fast.  I pray continually that as they grow they continue to be lights in  their schools and families. 
• My family.  They are pretty cool.  I mean they let me without much question move to a fairly rough neighborhood, and have found many ways to support me. 
• The chance to grow.  I can not begin to put in to words the ways that the Lord has worked in my life over the past year.  He has shown me his faithfulness in so many ways.  He has demonstrated His abundant provision in providing supporters to fun the ministry to the kids, when my faith was small and slow.  He has shown me that letting others in on your struggles isn't a sign of weakness, but a chance to grow.  He has shown me a better way to live life, with me being open to His leading, and honest with myself about what He is calling me to.  

I hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Interns

This past summer we were blessed with some great interns.  They had an amazing impact on our community. 

In college I had the chance to spend several summers interning at Northlake and being developed as a leader.  I am so thankful for that time, and am so excited about the chance to invest in interns myself.  If you know of any college students or young professionals that have a heart for cross cultural ministry encourage them to check out our summer internship.  The application deadline is February 15th!

Internship Interest Form