sweet retreats

The past two weekends we have been in California. Quick trips with a lot packed into them. The first time we went, we drove down to Calistoga, CA to celebrate Jake's grandma's 90th birthday. This lady is pretty incredible and you would never know she was turning 90! We went on a wine tour, had a surprise party for her at her favorite Chinese restaurant, took a tour of the town, stopped twice at In N Out, and drove home just in time to be back to work on Monday morning. A great time to hang with family.

We got home, worked the week, and unpacked just in time to pack back up for California round two. Jake decided we were past due for a Disneyland trip (we LOVE Disneyland!!), so he decided to take me for my birthday. We had flight vouchers from being bumped when we went to Thailand last year that were expiring soon, and pricelined a decent hotel on the cheap. So it ended up being a pretty darn reasonable trip. We left Friday night, drove to Portland, flew out of Portland early Saturday morning, went straight to Disneyland (after dropping our bags off at our hotel), stayed until the park closed, got up and went to the park for an early morning admission (an hour before the park is opened to the general public), stayed until the park closed, got up the next morning and went to the park from open to close again, then got up and flew to Portland and drove back home. That was the longest run on sentence of my life. Basically we spent 38 hours running around Disneyland in a 56 hour period of time.

It was a blast! My parents, little brother, Jake's parents, and his sister and brother in law all were able to come. We had thrown out the invitation to our families a week before we left, not thinking anyone would be crazy enough to join us- but they were. We tore Disneyland a new one. In the last 40 minutes on our last night there (my birthday), we did big thunder, indiana jones, and with three minutes until the park closed sprinted to make it for one last ride on pirates. An epic feat if you've ever been there. The trip also included the boys riding space mountain shirtless, 9 rides knocked out in the early morning admission, lots of dole whip, bengal beef, chowder bowls, hand dipped corndogs, and hot fudge sundaes, a whole lot of laughs with family, big thunder during the fireworks, and birthday dinner at buca di beppo's complete with a sweet toast (gravy). Thanks so much for everyone who made my birthday so special.

handmade Christmas gifts

It's always the debate in my mind whether handmade gifts are a cheesy cheap route to go, or if other people value receiving them like I do. Due to my indecisiveness, some people get store bought gifts and some get gifts handmade by yours truly. There's just something about spending time to plan a project, and create something with your heart and own two hands for someone in particular that I think is super special.

Time to craft was short due to the fact that we got home from Kenya and wrapped up our bible school on December 11th. Nevertheless, here are a few of the projects I made this year for Christmas gifts:

little owl crinkle toy (have you seen those squares of fabric with the crinkly paper inside that makes noise when babies play with them? this is the same idea, but shaped like a sweet little owl)

a beanie with a flower on it for my niece (yikes! it's the best picture I got of it)two play tents (most time consuming yet rewarding. my 3 year old niece and nephew loved them and wanted to take all the new toys they opened thereafter into their tent. BONUS for the parents: they're all fabric except for the removable hoola hoop that gives the top structure, so they are super easy to store)a little hairclip:

home again, home again

This post is pretty darn late, but living in Kenya for a month deserves a little commentary. It's so difficult to summarize our experience in a few paragraphs. Kenya is an amazing place, and our time there was kind of indescribable (but I will do my best).

Upon arriving in Kenya I remember thinking "wow, I'm in Africa". A surreal feeling that never quite sunk in the whole time I was there. We went to work on a farm called Nehemiah whose mission is to raise up a generation after God's own heart. After 22 hours on two different flights and a 8 hour bus ride, we finally arrived at the farm in Miwani, Kenya.

Nehemiah has multiple aspects to it's ministry. 1. a church on the 200 acre farm property 2. a working dairy to a. support the ministry and b. have an apprenticeship program to train up young men to have a trade and be able to then go and start their own farm and be a light in their community 3. homes with Christian couples who take in orphan boys as foster parents - the boys are raised in a family setting rather then an orphanage, are sent to school, and discipled in the bible 4. they were just opening up a medical clinic on the property to offer aid to the community where people die because of what we would call minor injuries because they can't get to a hospital or pay for treatment. We got to be a part of each of them.

Every day was utilized to the max, and every night we hit the pillow physically exhausted but super blessed. We started out every day with devotions with everyone on the farm. Our team of 18 was split into 4 groups and each day a group would either stay and work around the farm (in the gardens, cutting silage for the cows, at the dairy, cleaning the clinic, slashing the grass), go out into the community (visiting schools, delivering supplies, playing soccer against a school team, grocery shopping for the team, visiting peoples homes to encourage them in the word/share the gospel/invite them to church, check up on people who had left Nehemiah to start their own farm), or be on a cleaning/meals team that stayed at our house. Then we'd come back and have a couple hours with the orphan boys to help them with their after school chores, mainly to build sweet relationships with them. The night usually ended with dinner, prayer, worship, or an event on the farm (potluck, various meetings, soccer, game nights...).

We were so blessed by the people and their super generous hospitality. People who have barely anything would slaughter one of their chickens (a very rare asset) and prepare a meal as soon as they saw you coming up the path. All for complete strangers. It was sweet to see the church being the church. Traveling to share meals with each other with the purpose to dig into God's word and encourage one another. True fellowship. We met people who were once Sikhs being persecuted by their family and friends and whole community for now being a Christian. Yet persevering and joyfully clinging to the Lord.

Thank you all who supported us financially and with prayers. Continue to pray for the orphan boys on the farm that they would be truthfully discipled from the word, and would grow in their walk with the Lord. Pray for the farm that they would continue to be a light in the community. Pray for the people of Kenya that they would not be misled by the many false gospels and that they would live their life as a result of what Christ has done for them, not just to earn merit on their own accord.