50th Annual Schmekfest

Everyone told me that I would be overwhelmed by Schmekfest, by the way the gym was transformed and the way that so many came together to make it happen. They weren't lying. This Friday (March 27th) was the 50th annual Schmekfest. The gym was decorated in quilts and along the far wall were several displays and silent auction items. Over 800 people came to eat the German food, enjoy each other, and participate in the auctions, bake sales, etc. It was an amazing sight. 

The biggest thing that influenced me wasn't the amount of people who came or how different the gym looked. It was how so many community people all came together, everyone assigned a job, and served together because they love the school and want to invest in this community. It was INCREDIBLE!!! The people of Lustre really, really care about these students and this school and about serving Jesus. It is incredible.

I wish I had pictures from the night. I and the kids were busy with the jobs we had been given. We have good memories of it though. It was a busy, great time.

The next day was the first track meet in Glasgow. Nevin, Mawin, Etien, Alek, and Joyce are participating in track this year. It was great to hear them come back and share their stories! While they were at the meet, most of the rest of us helped clean up from Schmekfest in the morning. The cleaning went quickly as several came to help. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. 

Katie and Chen playing Janga. They were getting into it!

One evening this past week, a few
of us made s'mores by roasting
marshmallows over the stove. :)
Fun memory.

Nevin, Mawin, and Etien just hanging. :) 

A typical sight around here . . .
some wifi loving. 

As for other important news, yesterday was Joyce's 17th birthday! 

Happy, happy birthday, dear Joyce!

Ooh, you are such a treasure! Your laugh and smile bright up a room. You were so quiet when you made your home here at the beginning of the school year, but now, your laugh and funny sense of humor speak so loudly and joyously here. You are hilarious and courageous and smart and so full of life. I love who you are. Your positive attitude speaks volumes to those around you. You are so beautiful!

The verse I gave to you was this one: 

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11ESV

My prayer for you is that you learn more and more the joy offered in the presence of God. You have felt His presence, and you know it. You believe it. Keep following Him, Joyce. He is worth everything. Jesus is worth everything. I am so grateful for you!

For Memory's Sake

It's March. Those two words have some gravity to them. It's sunny outside, and I think (I hope?) the end of March might offer the possibility of spring. smile. We've almost seen two whole seasons through in this dorm, autumn and winter, along with all those seasons brought with them (the dislocated knee, the broken leg, Brett Norman's tragic death, kids leaving the dorm, along with a lot of really good memories scrunched in between these very difficult ones).

I am feeling that yucky apprehension that this year will end, and it will end much sooner than I'd like.  Some of the seniors are sensing that too. Serena recently pleaded (in trying to convince me to do something like go to town on a Monday or to let the girls sleep in the girls gathering room on a Saturday night or something like that . . . ha!), "Danae! But we got to make some memories!!!!" :) And memories we must make. I know no better way to make the most of a season than to create some fun memories, so we're sure trying over here. I think we're succeeding. :)

My sister Briana came to visit the dorm two weeks ago (oh, it was the best to have her!!!), and she and I taught the kids how to catch whipped cream in their mouths. Memories have to be made somehow. It was HILARIOUS! I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I do!

On Saturday, the girls took a trip to town. Maya wasn't feeling well, so she stayed back. It wasn't the same without her. I missed her!

We did some errands and then spent some time at The Worx coffee shop, sipping something yummy and doing homework. It was so fun!

L-R: Serena, Joyce, Aleyna, and Katie
We may live in the middle of nowhere, but that doesn't mean we
don't like to pretend we're still sorta civilized! ;) ;)
Yay for coffee shops!

We went to Soma Dis Deli too for an early dinner and ended the evening with some Bergie's homemade ice cream. It was a blast!

L-R: Serena, Katie, Danae, Joyce, Aleyna
Photo Credits: Serena

L-R: Joyce, Aleyna, Serena, and Katie

After we got back, the girls spent time hanging together and laughing like goofs. I'm not sure there's much better than a group of people really enjoying each other and enjoying life. They're so much fun. :) I love that we're from all over the globe, but we can still make tight knit friendships. We're all born in God's image, and that image comes plainly through, no matter where we were born or what type of lifestyle we came from. I love seeing it reflected in my kids. It is so stunning. 

Serena, Joyce, Aleyna, Katie
Look at those smiles!!! LOVE!!!
Photo Credit: Serena

The guys ended up going to Wolf Point to watch basketball divisionals and hang out with each other. Maybe Ibrahim will have more on that sometime. :)

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, Jerry and Susan Fast invited the girls over for Sunday dinner. It was such a fun time! We ate some delicious food and played some fun games. We played Spoons and Memory even. :) It really is refreshing to be in community homes and to interact with these incredibly big-hearted people here. We are so blessed. 

The memories are being made, and I'm hoping for many, many more within these quick moving last weeks. Thanks again for following along! Please continue to pray for us as Jesus brings us to mind. Here's a few ways you can pray:

• Pray for the seniors as they think about their futures, that God would lead them and prepare them for what's to come while enabling them to finish strong and invested. 
• Pray for our kids too as it's really tough for them to be so far away from home. They all do pretty well with it, but I can tell many of them miss their families very much, and some of them won't be going home this summer. Please pray for comfort for them. They're so brave!  
• Pray for health within the dorm as it's still cold and flu season.
• Pray for wisdom for the dorm committee and us staff as we try to figure out plans for next year and what that will look like. 
• Pray that we would all come to know Jesus more and more, that we would all accept Him as Leader and Lord in our lives. 

Thank you so much for standing with us. It makes a big difference!

Ordinary Wonder

A few weeks back, the sophomores had to do projects on either a plant or an animal cell. There were a variety of options as to how the project could turn out, but my kids decided they wanted to do edible projects. I had forgotten the agony and creativity and wonder of school projects, but I had a BLAST working with Etien and Aleyna, and we all laughed so hard by the end of the night.

Aleyna's lemon cake example of a plant cell

Not pictured was my flour war with Aleyna. Okay, "war" may be too intense of a term, though we did have flour war paint on our cheeks by the end of her lemon cake making experience. :)

Etien ventured out on making a pizza! He loves cooking and hopes to pursue that further someday. It was so much fun to work with him and try to think of fourteen plus items we could put on a pizza . . . not an easy task.

Etien hard at work on his animal cell pizza

Normally during study hours, the gathering rooms are closed to members of the opposite gender, but with Etien using my kitchen for "homework," we had several guys come wondering through the room, and while they're full fledge turkeys, I have such a blast with them and these girls in ordinary, unplanned moments like those when we laugh so hard and just enjoy figuring life out together.

Aleyna, Mawin, Joyce, Jacques, Nevin,
and Chen being all stalker-ish on the couch.

As for other very important news, Nevin's birthday was last Tuesday! It was special to get to celebrate him and all he is to us!

This was the pre-haircut days. ;)

Nevin, happy, happy birthday to you! I am so grateful Jesus brought you to this dorm and into our lives. I still remember you coming into the kitchen, asking if I was feeling "some type of way." I was confused until I later heard you jamming to the "clean" version of that horrible song! :P I'm pretty sure those four lines were your favorite part of the song anyways. :) Nonetheless, I'll always associate those four lines with your quirky, fun-loving, friendly personality. You are driven, intelligent, and caring, and I can't wait to see where you go in life. 

These verses are for you, Nevin. Praying this over your life, that someday, you will be a declarer of His Light, of His healing, even as you seek to mimic the greatest Healer there is or ever will be. I believe in you! May this year be the best one yet. Jesus is worth everything. I promise.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

3 

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3

Super Bowl Party and Such

These kids make me laugh so hard!
I enjoy them so much. :)
This is Chen stacking a snack
in his mouth!

Again, my sincere apologies for the delayed update. Sometimes, I get so caught up in living these moments that it takes me time to remember to blog about them! I'm so grateful for this space to catch the memories and hold on to them. Thank you for letting us share them with you.

A couple Mondays back, we warmed up for devotions with a game of Catch Phrase. These kids are so competitive. It's fun to see them interact with each other while they're playing games and see the energy level rise in the room. :) After the game, I read 1 Corinthians 12:21-26, a passage that talks about how in a group of believers, all are important, and when one person hurts, we all do. When we're a healthy, tight knit community, all are affected by one person's pain. We talked a little about Silas and how his pain not only affected him but the rest on the bench. We're a unit. We stick together. After that, the kids wrote notes to him, and we took some time praying for him.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Silas. He seems to be doing well and recovering well. He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so more prayers for that would be great. Thank you so much! We have so much to be thankful for in what God has already done in healing his leg. Praise Jesus! Not something to take for granted.

Etien, Maya, and Nevin playing Catch Phrase.

That following weekend, the boys had an away game, so it was just the gals and Ibrahim home. A couple of the girls wanted to go to town, so we got in my car and went while the rest stayed with Ibrahim. We were glad to convince McKaylah to join us too. :) We had a fun time!

Serena, Joyce, Danae, McKaylah
The typical excitement of a town adventure includes visiting
Albertsons and possibly Shopko. Maybe even MacDonalds! ;)
Photo Credit: Serena!

That Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. That afternoon, after church and lunch, we headed over to Amy and Tony Fast's house for a Super Bowl party. It was so kind of them to host us with such yummy snacks and a great place to watch the game!

One of Ibrahim's passions is football, and he was all excited for the Seahawks to win. Most of us were. Jacques decided to be countercultural and root for the Patriots. Sadly, there was only one voice cheering when the game ended. Oh Jacques. :) Ibrahim is already looking forward to next year . . .

Zoned in on the Super Bowl game!

There is much more catching up to do on this blog. Coming soon hopefully. In the meantime, thanks again for caring about our lives. Sometimes just caring makes all the difference. :)

Catching Up: Part 1

This week may require a three-part series on all the dorm life that has been happening around here lately. It sure seems like it's been a lot. I am so sorry I didn't pull out my camera more often for more pictures. Sometimes, it's sweeter to live life through my own eyes instead of peering through the eyes of an artificial lens. I write to remember. This is such a unique, special season.

On November 2nd, the whole dorm was invited over to Meredith and Dan Reddig's house for Sunday dinner. It was so generous of them, and it does us so much good to be out of the dorm. Thank you, Dan and Meredith, for loving on us and making us feel a part of this community!

Meredith and Joyce make delicious caramel corn for us all.

Chen playing pool in Dan's
special room downstairs.

Ibrahim enjoying one of his favorite pastimes,
watching Sunday football, at the Reddig's. :)

Alek and Dimon playing an intense game in Dan's western-styled room.

Monday, November 3rd was Silas' 19th birthday! What a gift to be able to celebrate him! I am so grateful for his life and presence at the dorm. He adds so much! The morning started out fantastic as Jerry and Susan Fast (along with their kids, Megan, Nathan, and Lauren) surprised Silas by coming to the dorm and making one of his favorite breakfasts for everyone. Wow! We were all spoiled!!!! Waffles with white sauce, eggs, muffins, ETC. Silas was surprised and appreciative. (I was so appreciative too! Such a gift to not have to worry about Monday morning breakfast . . . though I may never be able to trump that breakfast in these kids' minds ever!!!! ;)

Mawin and Silas
Silas may not have been so appreciative of me taking a picture
here. Whoops. ;)

Dimon, Serena, and Joyce used their crazy creative skills to decorate cupcakes for Silas. We surprised him after lunch with them. The girls managed to decorate the cupcakes with basketball symbols, Chinese symbols, etc. They are artists!

Dimon, Joyce, and Serena with Silas' homemade cupcakes.

Later that day, Randy and Becca Reddig, plus their two sweet kids (Cam and Harlow) surprised Silas by joining him for dinner at the school where Jean Toews made the meal he had picked out as his birthday meal. It was DELICIOUS. And Silas was so surprised to see the Reddig's!

We played some games in devotions that night to enjoy each other and enjoy Silas. Before the games though, I gave Silas these verses that had popped in my head for him.

"But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

    he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

    I have called you by name, you are mine.

2 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

    and the flame shall not consume you.

3 

For I am the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

Isaiah 43:1-3a. 

Silas? My prayer for you is that you hold true to Him who called you. He is your Savior, and His love for you is vast and overwhelming. You are a leader, a brother, a friend. Continue to live into all you were created to be. I am so grateful for your part in this dorm. I am so grateful God created you the way He did. You are so loved.

More to come about these past few weeks.

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. :)

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