It's official now - I packed my first box today. So I know we are not moving for another 6 months, but it will take a little more time to pack with 2 kids than it did before! We received our unofficial acceptance via email earlier this week and have attempted to work through the application process for an education grant (to jump start our funding) and for CTEN (the organization that will handle our finances and provide pastoral care). We are in the tedious phase of applications and working out all the details. So many things to think about - insurance, storing our stuff, preparing our place to rent. . .
It is weird having a temporary mindset. I am constantly looking around our house for things to get rid of. I have never been very sentimental about our stuff, but now I am just plain ruthless! If it isn't practical, I am not packing it :)
On the family side, we spent a week in Colorado Springs to celebrate Peter (Tim's brother) and Joy's wedding. We even got to stay a couple of extra days after the wedding for some much needed family time. It was beautiful and I keep wondering why we are not moving there. . . .
Tim's mom finished her third round of chemo last week. She is on an alternating schedule of "easier" treatments and harder treatments. The harder ones require a hospital stay and are very draining. She thankfully has not had too many side effects. Please keep her in your prayers.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
St Louis
This past week we went to St Louis for Tim's work conference. It was my first time to join him and the first time to stay in a hotel room with the kids. 
Of course, we were not totally roughing it - we were blessed with 2 rooms and my mom joined us from Dallas to help me out. Traveling with little ones is always an experience, though, and I have had to adjust my definition of "vacation". In fact, I am not quite sure why that word is still used when you have children along. Maybe it is only viewed from the child's perspective - staying up late, eating lots of junk food, days filled with fun. Although I enjoy watching my children have fun, I have to say that I am way more exhausted when I get back than when I left in the first place.
Of course, we were not totally roughing it - we were blessed with 2 rooms and my mom joined us from Dallas to help me out. Traveling with little ones is always an experience, though, and I have had to adjust my definition of "vacation". In fact, I am not quite sure why that word is still used when you have children along. Maybe it is only viewed from the child's perspective - staying up late, eating lots of junk food, days filled with fun. Although I enjoy watching my children have fun, I have to say that I am way more exhausted when I get back than when I left in the first place. 
St Louis ended up being a great place to take Joel. On the first day, we went to the Magic House. It was awesome - Joel was actually entertained the ENTIRE time (without fussing) and we could have stayed much longer than we had time to. I highly recommend it to anyone who is going to St Louis with kiddos. The next day we went to the zoo. Joel hardly noticed the animals, but we did have a great time riding the train and carousel several times. Little Caleb was his usual sweet self during both excursions. All in all, the trip went much better than I expected and it gave me confidence to travel with my boys once again.Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Why go to the GFM mission training school?
Many of our friends and family have been asking why we have chosen to attend Global Frontier Missions (GFM) training school and why now? We officially turned in our application to the training school this morning and I copied the response that Tim wrote on the application to this exact question. I added a couple of explanations in parenthesis for clarification on a few things. Hopefully, it will give you a good understanding of how all this came about and what we are doing. . .
"A series of fortunate and ordained events really. I have always felt called to do more for the body of Christ then I was currently. In some sense the blessings in my life have conspired to put a burden on me:
1. I have always been pretty well aware of the state of the rest of the world. Just being an American felt like such a blessing that it became a burden,
2. I have a job situation that is somewhat unique in that my dad owns a very successful business and wants me to eventually run it. This is also an amazing blessing so much so that it has become a burden.
3. I have an upbringing that was, while fraught with imperfections and its own unique taint of sin was so overwhelmingly Christian and filled with correct instruction that to hoard it and keep only for my own successful management of family and business would be an insult to God.
My wife has shared my desire, but she is a little more practical then I and also a little more fearful. This is fortunate because I may have gotten us into several things that God had not called us into simply from impatience.
I had decided that my path was to work hard in my dad’s business as a career because I have seen how he has been able to bless people both financially and through his influence as a successful Christian in the community. Since then, Sarah and I have been very involved in discipleship at WFC both in leading small groups and leading small group leaders. My plan up to the point that I went to GFM in Mexico was to keep going to Mexico on short-term mission trips until I hit upon something that could be a more permanent ministry for us. This never happened and in a way I was continually discouraged by the very nature of the short-term mission trip. My vision letter that I wrote from GFM in Mexico to myself states that I was:
1. Done with short term mission trips for the time being.
2. That I needed to talk my wife into moving down into Kansas City closer to Hispanic populations so we could serve in ministries that were not available to those of us who live in the suburbs.
3. That I wanted to focus our energies more on discipleship within organic church ministries and less on traditional church ministries, but I was still planning on working full-time.
On the missions trip I got several gentle but fairly bold nudges from Grant, David Wyndam, and Jordan among others to go to MTS (Mission Training School) which I considered but not really seriously. When I got back from Mexico, Schaun (our Missions Pastor at Westside Family Church) had the idea about opening a MTS in Kansas City, Kansas to the area that I felt like I should move our family. The final piece fell into place when my father told me that he was not retiring for another ten years, that he was fully supportive of me leaving for awhile and that he would like me to work part time when we got back. At this point it felt like God was conspiring with the universe to send us to the MTS and we should probably pay attention. "
There you have it in Tim's words :) We will be in Atlanta, GA at the school from January to end of May and then are planning to move to Houston for the summer to help open another MTS there. Houston will give us the practical experience of starting a school from the ground up. We will return to Kansas City in late August/early September and work on setting up the school here with hopes of opening it in January 2011. If you are interested in finding out more information on GFM, the link is posted on the right side of our blog.
"A series of fortunate and ordained events really. I have always felt called to do more for the body of Christ then I was currently. In some sense the blessings in my life have conspired to put a burden on me:
1. I have always been pretty well aware of the state of the rest of the world. Just being an American felt like such a blessing that it became a burden,
2. I have a job situation that is somewhat unique in that my dad owns a very successful business and wants me to eventually run it. This is also an amazing blessing so much so that it has become a burden.
3. I have an upbringing that was, while fraught with imperfections and its own unique taint of sin was so overwhelmingly Christian and filled with correct instruction that to hoard it and keep only for my own successful management of family and business would be an insult to God.
My wife has shared my desire, but she is a little more practical then I and also a little more fearful. This is fortunate because I may have gotten us into several things that God had not called us into simply from impatience.
I had decided that my path was to work hard in my dad’s business as a career because I have seen how he has been able to bless people both financially and through his influence as a successful Christian in the community. Since then, Sarah and I have been very involved in discipleship at WFC both in leading small groups and leading small group leaders. My plan up to the point that I went to GFM in Mexico was to keep going to Mexico on short-term mission trips until I hit upon something that could be a more permanent ministry for us. This never happened and in a way I was continually discouraged by the very nature of the short-term mission trip. My vision letter that I wrote from GFM in Mexico to myself states that I was:
1. Done with short term mission trips for the time being.
2. That I needed to talk my wife into moving down into Kansas City closer to Hispanic populations so we could serve in ministries that were not available to those of us who live in the suburbs.
3. That I wanted to focus our energies more on discipleship within organic church ministries and less on traditional church ministries, but I was still planning on working full-time.
On the missions trip I got several gentle but fairly bold nudges from Grant, David Wyndam, and Jordan among others to go to MTS (Mission Training School) which I considered but not really seriously. When I got back from Mexico, Schaun (our Missions Pastor at Westside Family Church) had the idea about opening a MTS in Kansas City, Kansas to the area that I felt like I should move our family. The final piece fell into place when my father told me that he was not retiring for another ten years, that he was fully supportive of me leaving for awhile and that he would like me to work part time when we got back. At this point it felt like God was conspiring with the universe to send us to the MTS and we should probably pay attention. "
There you have it in Tim's words :) We will be in Atlanta, GA at the school from January to end of May and then are planning to move to Houston for the summer to help open another MTS there. Houston will give us the practical experience of starting a school from the ground up. We will return to Kansas City in late August/early September and work on setting up the school here with hopes of opening it in January 2011. If you are interested in finding out more information on GFM, the link is posted on the right side of our blog.
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