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. :)

The Last Few Days of the Year

The countdown has most definitely begun. We are now down to 4 more school days, and then it's time for CHRISTMAS BREAK! I think we're all going a little crazy around here. Whether that's from our excitement or all the sugar that sweet people have been bringing our way, we may never know. ;) The past few weeks, kind hearted community members have been bringing us goodies! We've had some delicious fudge, chips and dip, coated pretzels, cookies, ice cream, and much more. I am beyond grateful for the way the community has loved our dorm family. It has made a profound difference for us!

The sugar has probably helped us survive the craziness of these last few weeks. It has definitely been busy around here. Time is flying. Last Thursday was the high school's Christmas program. Dimon played her flute in the band. She was our only band player from the dorm. The band rocked it! 

The high school choir also sang. Most of the high schoolers participate in choir, including all of those who live in the dorm. Together, they made some pretty great Christmas music.

We appreciate Mr. Butler's work in organizing the program and directing the choir and band. He does a stellar job.





On Friday night, there was a Blue White game at the school. The girls and boys basketball teams each split in half, and they played against each other (girls against girls, boys against goys) that night.  Meanwhile, there was a fundraiser Spaghetti Feed in the cafeteria. It was a special time for the community to gather together and watch the teams that they will soon be cheering hard for as the games begin.

Our Fantastic Refs: Ibrahim, Mr. Leland, and Mr. Orr

Boys Team Going Hard

Girls Team Intensity

On Saturday, the girls played their first game against Opheim, and THEY WON!!!! It was so exciting! They rocked it. We are all looking forward to watching them play and excel the rest of the season.

On Sunday, the whole dorm visited Glasgow Evangelical Church to watch their Christmas program. It was so great to watch their kids program and to remember the importance of Jesus being central in Christmas. We need those reminders in such a hectic holiday season. He is the perfect, best reason.

After the service, the kids hung out in the youth room while I went and picked up pizza and some pop. We ate lunch together in the youth room, played around a little bit, headed to a grocery store, and then back to the dorm.

Later that evening, we went to the MB Christmas program. SO.MUCH.FUN. The program was called David's Dynasty, a spoof off of the very famous Duck Dynasty. It was a riot! So much fun. You can watch the program here: http://www.highschoolcube.com/event/426001.







Amongst the extraordinary busy moments, there are precious ordinary moments too. I don't want to forget these. I don't want to forget the BEAUTY of waking up to a sunny, frosty morning in Lustre. Yes, even those early Monday mornings. There's still beauty in those. :)














I don't want to forget the gift it is to all eat together outside the school's kitchen for supper each weekday. Jean Toews is our cook, and my word, we are SPOILED ROTTEN! You should see our menus!













I don't want to forget these kids' smiles or the mornings when everything goes mostly wrong, and we laugh about it anyways. Or they laugh at me, . . . one or the other. ;) I don't want to forget that they're growing, that we're all growing and becoming through this process of together-life. We are always given the choice . . . to become better or bitter.



We definitely have our moments. Lots of moments. Even in the stressful, tense times, we're learning to be family, to connect, to grow. Sure, we all probably need this upcoming Christmas break to spend a little time away from each other, but I'm pretty confident there will be some happy reunions come January. We may be from many different parts of the globe with different thoughts on life and relationship, but we're all human, and we can still come together and grow together and seek Truth together. That's the beauty of this dorm, of this life.

We have made many memories in this past four month stretch. I am expectant to see what will meet us in this brand new upcoming year. :)


Upcoming Events:

• Wednesday
• All School Caroling
• Thursday
• Boys Basketball Game (4:30pm: JV and 6pm: Varsity)
• Friday
• Christmas Party at School
• Girls & Boys Basketball Game (6pm & 7:30pm)
• Christmas Vacation Begins! See you in the New Year!

Here is a small clip from one of the songs the choir sang during the school Christmas program. So sad for the static in the speakers in the beginning and that I cut off the recording early. :/ A good representative of our imperfect life here . . . in the midst of the imperfection, there is still incredible beauty, isn't there? Enjoy!

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