my family

I have to say that I love my dear niece, Emma, and my nephew, Olivier.

This is basically an excuse to post some pictures of them on my blog. They are seriously the cutest little babies ever. And the most exciting thing is that my dear sisters-in-law are about to bring two new nieces for me into the world.

Anyway, here are the babies!

pix from last weekend at the beach

One of my dear students sent me these yesterday!

john under a cave thing


me resting on my japanese friends tubes

these girls are actually my room-mates!

blood, outreach (?), and ahhh, the beach

My poor baby, John, is sick. We took him to the doctor yesterday, he had multiple amounts of blood pulled from his body this morning (6 vials) and next week, we find out the test results. He has been sick on and off for three months, and finally, on Tuesday, I had had enough and we figured out a way to get him to the doctor. Please pray that they find what it is.

We are now re-praying through a lot of things, particularly about whether or not to go on outreach, and what to do if we don't go. We are starting to realise that it might not be the best idea for him to go if he's still recovering from whatever this sickness is. So, we are trying to figure that out.

Other than that, we had a glorious day at the beach last Saturday with some of our dear students. We went snorkelling (v. cool fish), sunbathed, climbed some lava rocks, swam under under-water caves, and just generally toasted & bathed in the sunshine! We finished the day by crowding round a TV outside to watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The perfect end to a really good day.

the beauty of a sunset

After two hours of faffing, we were finally on our way. We rode the bumpy, long road to the volcano while watching Speed in the car. The scenery, sky, sun, everything was just beautiful. We raced to get there and arrived 20 mins before the sun set. It was beautiful. To be so high (one of the highest peaks in the Pacific area), to be so cold (yes, it was freezing), to think of God and His beauty just made the day really.




We then proceeded to make our way back down the mountain to the star-gazing area, where we ran into a group of students from the DTS. We hugged like lost-long friends who hadn't seen each other for months, when we'd seen them all earlier that day. We all stood together seeing more stars in the sky than we've seen in a while. It was a perfect clear night (we were actually above the clouds). B-E-A-Utiful...

good stuff

I am connecting more with students! We had our small group yesterday and it went well, as far as I could see. It was more just hanging out together and getting to know each other a bit. I'm excited for more times together. I also led a Bible reading/study time last night that seemed to go really well too, which is very cool. I felt like God was leading me throughout the whole prep process, which was exciting.

I'm kinda tired today though, and frustrated with some of the things that are going with the school - things that we can not really control, because they come under the base and the DTS departmental leadership peeps. It makes me not want to stay here after the school is over (one of the things we're praying through). I just don't know if I'm suited to the big base thing. I feel like smaller ones allow for so much more accountability and friendship as well as cutting down on dumb policies.

OH, and I am so torn with this whole outreach decision. Should I stay or should I go now...? I so wanna come back to the mainland and be with my brother's families as they receive their new babies. But, then I would so love to go to Tokyo for 2 months with a group of our students (who are just great, btw). Lord, help us make this decision!

nihongo people rule

Am still finding it hard to connect to students. I seem to find it easier to hang out with the Japanese girls then with the young American girls. Oh, I have to say, that I officially love Japanese people. Well, I guess more specifically Japanese women, because I have not yet met any Japanese men, but I'm sure they're just as cool.

We spent some time this morning looking at the "Nature and Character of God" (to be said/read in a loud booming voice). It was so good. I could just feel the tension in the room thicken as the speaker (David Hamilton - see the book, "Why Not Women") challenged us with the "Christian" fatalist view of God, comparing it to Islam and saying that God's will doesn't happen all the time. Good to see some people scratching their heads and starting to think a little bit.

Am enjoying hearing from God again.

john and i are two years old...

This is picture is of John and I on a relaxing Saturday last week before the school started. We went up to the fancy Hilton with some friends and enjoyed snorkelling on the beach, watching the dolphins (owned by the hotel) and going on the little boat that takes you around the ginormous hotel. We kept looking out for Paris & Nicky, but they weren't there.

We're back from the wedding after some crazy flying. It was a lot of fun and also a bit crazy. We were a bit knackered, spending our 2 year anniversary (3rd July) at Midway Airport and later, on three planes. It's good to be back though and starting to connect a litte bit more with students. I'm finding the largeness of the base a bit hard, as it spreads us out a school a lot more, but I'm sure it'll just take a bit more time to connect with them.

And God is moving. He is speaking to me about insecurities and doubts, concerns about where I'm headed and why I'm back in DTS again, when I wasn't super into it in the first place. We had a great teaching this morning from Darlene Cunningham (wife of the founder of YWAM) that just spoke to me. It had lots of good stuff feeding my soul and answering some of those questions that often reverberate around my brain. Good to hear from God again.

Oh, and John and I found a great couple to do couple's counseling with. They're really excited and are really wanting to commit a good amount of time to us, which is great, as they are generally very busy people.

All in all, things are going great!