Messed Up Knee Caps: We're Still Blessed

From October 15 - 19th, the kids left us an empty dorm as they hung out with families in the community for MEA weekend. It was a great and much needed time for Ibrahim and me to catch up on some sleep and extra projects around here, but the dorm did feel unusually quiet, . . .  it was a gift to have their crazy and noisy laughters fill the gathering rooms again come Sunday evening.


 The week went on pretty normally until Tuesday night. It was a volleyball game far away, so the girls didn't get back until late, but the time was stretching about an hour past the time I figured they would be home. Soon I learned why as Aleyna came up the stairs on crutches, a knee brace, and a wrist band saying she came from the emergency room. Aleyna twisted and fell on her knee, dislocating it and creating a good amount of damage during the pre-game warmups.

It was great to see the way that she still wanted to make Jesus known and leaned hard on His strength as they took her by ambulance into the hospital. She was quick to breathe out Philippians 3:14 as she needed that strength during some intense pain.

We took her to the doctor again this past Tuesday, and we learned that she doesn't need surgery. Praise God! :) What a major blessing! It will take 5 plus weeks to heal, but we're counting down! Please pray for her as you think of it, that she would have joy during the pain and the readjustments she has to make to everyday living.

 Back Row (L-R): Danae, Alicia, Amy and Dimon
Front Row (L-R): Serena, Aleyna, Joyce, and Katie
We missed Maya! She had to take her TOEFL on Sat. morning.

On a BETTER note though, that following weekend after Aleyna's injury, Alicia Olfert and Amy Fast accompanied us to a Billings trip that they orchestrated so wonderfully. Our trip centered around a Beth Moore conference happening in Billings. Someone so graciously donated tickets so that all of us could go. It was wonderful. Here's a video recap from the conference: http://vimeo.com/87212009. If you watch closely enough, you'll catch some of our girls near the end. :)

Beth talked about how we are BLESSED.

We may be crazies, but we are BLESSED! ;)

Bountifully
Loved
Extraordinarily
Saved
Supplied
Empowered
Delivered

She talked about how no matter what comes our way, we cannot be cursed. It's too late. We've already been blessed by God, His loving Word spoken over us, and His Word is action.

Beth gave us a chance to write out all of the curses we've been given, the curses that we hear, that we speak to ourselves. Over it, we were to write: "I AM BLESSED." Our blessing outweighs any curse. How powerful!

After the conference ended on Saturday afternoon, we headed to Cafe Rio for lunch. How delicious! We did some shopping and then headed back to the hotel where Alicia led us in a debrief, ending with us sharing what we love about each other, giving each other blessing. Speaking blessing and truth over each other is so powerful.

We went for frozen yogurt that evening. We had planned on going out for Asian food, but we were still stuffed from the delicious Mexican food, so frozen yogurt was PERFECT. The girls stopped and got some noodles at a grocery store before the night ended. They love their noodles. ;)

On Sunday, we went to Alicia's home church in Billings: Harvest Church. What an encouraging service! The Pastor talked about "ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives" in order to follow Jesus, loving Him and others well. It was a really convicting message for me.

Afterwards, the girls and I piled into our 15 passenger van, made a quick stop in Walmart and then headed to Panda Express for lunch. They are pros! Look at them and their chopsticks. ;)

We drove the long way back. We had a great time, but it was definitely nice to be heading back home.

Chen had also been in Billings, taking his TOEFL. He arrived back shortly after we did, and he was very excited to show us his brand new
Billings purchase.

Maya also had something to show off. ;)

It's true . . . that short, black hair looks pretty classy on her, and she fooled several of the guys until Chen pulled the wig off and her natural hair came through.

We laugh a lot around here. :)



The worst thing to come home to was Nathan's absence. Nathan headed back home due to some unforeseen circumstances on Saturday, and sheesh, it's sure hard to have him gone. We miss him very, very much! We really love him . . . always will.

A Montana sunset . . . so beautiful around here!
Pictures are poor excuse from the real beauty of them.

A special thing to come home to was meeting our newest member to the dorm family, Etien! He is a sophomore from Indonesia, and it's wonderful to have him. He arrived on Friday, and I'm excited to get to know him more!

Tomorrow, the girls volleyball team will play in the district tournaments. They will play their first came against Saco/Hinsdale at 11:30am, and their next game will be dependent on the final score. It is so crazy that their season is coming to an end.


So much has happened within two weeks. A messed up knee cap, one of our guys gone, one new one joining, a Billings conference. Hopefully we'll hear more about the guys' weekend without us girls. They had some good adventures too. :)

Even in all that has happened, some things have not changed. We have still been given a blessing . . . we are still loved. God still speaks peace and love and hope over us. It is so comforting to know that some things don't change . . . even on the struggle days and on the much-laughter days. He is good.

Chen modeling his Superman outfit. :)

Serena videoed Dimon's new chopstick talent. :)

A Quarter Past

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted and a couple months since these kids have made their home in the dorm. It's probably the most overused phrase in the book, but really . . . time flies.

The end of the quarter is this week. These guys are a fourth of the way through their year. Wild.

Here's a few miscellaneous memories from the past few weeks.

On October 5th, our whole crew went to the Lustre MB Church (Mennonite Brethren) for their Harvest Festival. Special speaker Rick Eshbaugh talked about what it means to be devoted to God. He gave some lively examples and challenged us to intentionally follow God's Word.

After his message, there was a feast! Roast beef, salad, dinner rolls, potatoes, pie, etc. We headed out after the meal, and the girls looked a little tired, don't you think?

Katie (Jr.), Dimon (Fr.), Joyce (Jr.) all piled on Serena (Sr.)
Time for a Sunday nap!

The guys ended up going to Wolf Point to help someone move. They and their strong muscles were blessings to those they served.

Here are a few pictures from Monday's devotions. We started out with a crazy Rock Paper Scissors game. I LOVE seeing these kids laugh!

I'm bummed this is a blurry picture. Still love it though.
Their laughter is contagious!

Maya (Sr.) and Katie (Jr.) duking it out.

Dimon (Fr.) and Katie (Jr.) battling for the win.

Here's a video from the wild experience.

That Friday was the Volleyball Team's senior night! It was so exciting to celebrate our three seniors: Maya, Serena, and Chen (videographer for the team). It was UBER exciting that the girls pulled off a WIN! What an incredible way to end the night! That was the last of their home games, but they'll have a couple more away games before completely wrapping the season up.

After the girls finished their game, everyone came back, and we ate some celebration brownies, played games, and just hung out.

From Left to Right: Alek (Fr.), Nevin (Jr.), Maya (Sr.)

Aleyna (So.) on couch and Silas (Jr.), Chen (Sr.) and
Mawin (Sr.) . . . Just chillin'!

Did you know these guys can sing?! That's good these guys don't look at the blog too much otherwise I might be hunted down in the middle of the night for posting it. For your entertainment and pleasure, I think I'm gonna risk it. ;)

This is probably the best version of JB's "Baby" 

you've ever heard, huh? Mine too. Grin. Love these guys!

We have fun around here. :)

That Saturday, the Morazco's invited the girls over for dinner. That was so kind of them, and the food and company were great! It's a special thing to be able to go into homes as a dorm. 

The next day was the EMB (Evangelical Mennonite Brethren) Church Harvest Festival. The speaker was Darrin Clinton, and he spoke of the importance of a Christian's Worldview and how foundational our view of Genesis is. It was a wonderful service. Following the service was another feast! We sure were spoiled those two Sundays. The food was incredible.

That same afternoon, Brant and Lynn Unrau had the youth over to hang out. Ibrahim and I dropped the kids off and came back to stories of them playing some fun games, eating good food, and watching some football. They seemed to have a great time.

Last week was a short week. The kids were in school from Monday to half of Wednesday as it was MEA week when the teachers headed out across the state to various teaching training events. The kids were excited to have time off! They went to various homes in the community or to preplanned events. Some came back to the dorm on Sunday tired, but they seemed to have a nice time taking a break. 

This week ahead should be a full one. There's an away volleyball game tomorrow, the quarter ends on Friday, and the girls are taking a Billings trip from Friday - Sunday. Exciting things ahead! Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it!

Joke of the Day: How many guys does it take to fix a paper jam?

THREE! ;)

Guys weekend in

"We all we got, We all we need"

This is the Seattle Seahawks chant before every game. Yes am a Seahawks fan so deal with it. Before the girls left for their dorm weekend out, these were the same words I was thinking. If you ask me why, I wouldn't have given you an answer, but all I knew was that our ladies were leaving and the guys will have to survive the weekend without them. Nerve wrecking it was, but we made it through. 

The guys and I were happy to have the girls back but we proved to ourselves that we can survive without them - sorry ladies. On Friday we all went to the ladies volleyball game. We planned biking after the game, however we decided to stay at the gym. After some quality time in the gym playing Volleyball and Basket Ball, the guys had a sleep over in the boys gathering room where they watched movies all night (I know, am such a great mentor).

Saturday morning, some of the boys went to work while the rest slept in. After brunch, I rallied the guys who were at the dorm to do some community service. We borrowed some tools and went to put up the Lustre sign on the route to Wolfpoint. It was cold and windy but I managed to cajole and reason with the boys about the blessing that comes from serving. Story short, we had a good time digging holes; putting the sign back up and having fun.

The work crew

Later that night we invited a special guest for dinner who also brought a game we played. The boys love their movies so we watched ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ that night because our guest also wanted to watch the movie.

Sunday morning we went to church; it was also communion service which made the service extra special. After church, we went back to the dorm, ate and got ready for our afternoon trip to Glasgow.

I had a date night with the guys. We did some grocery shopping, ate in the car and watched the ‘Maze Runner’ at the cinema. Oh Yea! we had a great time.

Movie with the guys

For those of you who haven’t met the dorm guys,they are different in unique ways. But even with our differences, we manage to adapt and love on each other in our own little ways. I love my boys but it is more reassuring to know that God loves them more than I do.

Danae is usually the blog guru but I thought once in a while I should write something and make fun of people like Jerry Fast who told us to come to his place for paintball but bailed out on us. Part of it was our fault but it is nice to blame him a little. I love you Jared and I know you might not read this blog.

I love taking pictures so I volunteered to be the photographer for the dorm while Danae chose to be the blogger if I remember correctly. Below are few pictures I have taken so far:

last four standing

you go girl

A Letter to My Thirteen

Dear Alek, Nathan, Dimon, Aleyna, Joyce, Katie, Jaques, Silas, Nevin, Mawin, Chen, Maya, and Serena,

Serena's Rendition of Our Family Portrait
Kylie, McKaylah, and My Parents Included :)

It's been over a month since I first met you, since you first stepped into my world. I knew about many of you before I met you. I loved you from the get go. I can't really explain it. All I know is somehow, Jesus intentionally mapped out our lives to intersect for this short season, and even though we have our different points of view and even when you think the rules are crazy, know that we love you. We REALLY love you.

I write in this blog partly for your parents and for community members. Gives them a chance to peer into our world and meet us here. I also write this for YOU, hoping that someday, maybe years from now, you'll come back to these pages and relive the memories of this special season in all of our lives.






Remember that time that my parents came and joined us for awhile? I know I'm a little biased, but they're pretty special people, aren't they? They sure loved you and enjoyed you! I was so proud of how you welcomed them in and answered their questions, gave them a hug before they left. They will continue to love you and pray for you, even miles away. That's how they are. Much like Jesus. They also know what sacrificial love looks like as they scrubbed our kitchen floor and browned our hamburger and fixed running toilets. They served . . . because they love. Love is servant hearted, isn't it?





Remember that one time that I had you sit down for devotions and had you make sheep out of homemade play dough, straws, marshmallows, and cotton balls? You kinda thought I was crazy, didn't you? But you played along pretty well. Thanks. ;) What you didn't know is that I had NO IDEA what to do for devotions a few hours before, and I was SO TIRED that day, but this idea popped into my head. You rolled with it. Mawin googled sheep so Maya could learn what they looked like. Dimon made a shaved sheep. Jaques, Mawin, and Alek drew sheep instead of forming them, but hey . . . creativity.

I asked you what would happen if someone came in with a gun and asked if they should kill you or your little sheep that you created. Alek, you kinda broke up my analogy because you said that person should kill you instead of your sheep. Kuddos for being sacrificial. ;) I think the others of you were much more apt to let the killer take out the sheep. You are all so much bigger and smarter and more talented than those tiny creatures, and you had created them . . . not the other way around. It's a ludicrous thought almost to think anyone would want to take the time to destroy your sheep.

And then I read to you this verse reverberating in my heart. John 10:11. Remember it?

"I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."  

If Jesus, the Creator God, created us and considers us like sheep, why would the all-powerful, all-marvelous, all-perfect Creator give up His life for us? People who forget to thank Him or believe in Him or follow Him or love Him? We're so quick to go in the opposite direction of God and disobey Him (sin). We're SO SMALL compared to who He is.

 

Chen Won the Sheep Creating Contest

But the absolutely wild truth of it all is that Jesus laid down His life . . . for YOU, Katie, Joyce, Aleyna, Dimon, Maya, Serena, Chen, Silas, Mawin, Jaques, Nathan, Nevin, Alek. He continues to stick up for you, to fight for you in the thick of your battles. He compares us to sheep, and the comparison is pretty solid. We're often pretty helpless, and when we think we know what's best, we totally miss it. Even though we're like sheep, He values us as if we were His highest treasure. He loves you all. So much. He is servant hearted and sacrificial towards you.

The most beautiful thing though is that He doesn't just lay down His life without purpose. He lays down His life for us so that He might save us from all of our heart-darkness that keeps us from Him, from healing, from relationship.

Someone has to pay the price for our disobedience to God. The guilty always pay. Jesus did that in place of us on the cross. All He asks of you is that you accept His death and His coming to life again on the third day as a free gift of salvation (you lean on Him fully to save), and you turn from sin and turn toward God as Master and Leader of your life. Oh guys, He is so willing to pour out His love and healing on your life. His arms are open. We just have to say "YES!"

It's an important decision. One that each one of you will have to make if you haven't already. Will you say Yes to Him?

There will be times when you leave this dorm, and you won't know which way is up and which way is down. Maybe you feel like this now.

Know that the Shepherd loves you, that He will meet you right where you are at with the fullness of His love. He can take your honesty, the rawness of your heart. He created you. He gets you. He will also take care of you and wash you clean if you let Him.

I'm praying for you guys. You are dear to my heart. I know many of your stories are so far from over. Several of you will change dramatically within the next five years. You have so much ahead of you.

Ibrahim and I love you . . . we really do. We believe in you. We care for you, far more than you imagine.

Sincerely,
RA's

PS On a different note, so proud of you girls for your first win against Glasgow on Tuesday! It was the best sound to hear your screams in the halls. :) Way to go, Lady Lions!

PPS Here's a copy of the letter my dad wrote to you before he and my mom left. You are so loved . . . by many.

Letter from Danae's Dad: 10/1/14