I'm Engaged!!!

Kids Power Camp

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to help lead VBS with my church in Fort Worth. Instead of having one large VBS at the church's main building, we go out into the community and hold VBS at schools and apartment complexes. I was at an apartment complex that have several refugees from Nepal, India, and Iran. The age range was suppose to be 6-12, but we ages 2-16. We didn't mind, we figured if they wanted to come hangout at VBS we would let them.


These two Nepali boys kept us busy, busy trying to keep them on task and in the correct place.



I helped out with rec and all of our games included hola-hoops.


This little Nepali girl didn't speak any English. She was very timid, but her little sister loved getting involved in the activities.


Working hard on a craft project.

Oscar - He's no Grouch!

I've adopted!! I rescued a sweet little mutt from the humane society. He is a 3 month old terrier mix.

Here are a few pictures of my new baby!

Baby Tate!

On Monday this past week, I received a call from my mom letting me know that my sister Lesli, who was due to have her third child May 26th, would probably have her baby this week. And just as we expected, early Tuesday morning my mom sent me a text informing me that baby Tate was on his way.

My mom and I had intended on driving up to Indiana to help with my niece and nephew while my sister went to the hospital to have Tate. But due to Tate's early entrance we spent all of Tuesday in the car driving from Texas to Indiana.

We Eat Yellow Snow and Like it!!!

It's a snow day in Fort Worth!!!!!

This is what I woke up to this morning.





Thursdays are typically my busy days. I go nonstop from 7:30am - 10:00pm with barely anytime to even stop to eat lunch. As I was getting ready to roll out of bed this morning I was super excited to hear that all classes were canceled and since I work on campus work was cancel as well. Woohoo!

Stephanie and I couldn't help, but take advantage of the snow we received last night and decided to make some snow ice cream.










Ice cream for breakfast... Yum!!




You know it is cold outside when you have icicles on the inside of your window in the morning!

Adoniram Judson's Letter

One of my classes this semester is Women & Missions. A class of only 15 girls. We discuss anything and everything that deals with women and foreign missions. One of our assignments was to research a pioneer missionary women and then give a first person presentation on that person. Last week one of my classmates told the story of Ann Hasseltine Judson, the wife of Adoniram Judson - missionary to Burma. Her story was quite tragic and horrible. All three of her kids died and then she died at the age of 38. But what really stood out to me was the following letter written by Adoniram to Ann's father asking for permission to marry his daughter.

"I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteous, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

Surprisingly, Ann's father allowed Adoniram to marry his daughter and take her away. And, sadly she did die a tragic death. Reading and hearing the stories of all of these pioneer missionaries has made me very thankful to be a missionary in this day and age, where there is much more support and help for missionaries. And, thankfully, I could also Skype home and see my family. It doesn't necessarily mean that missionary work is easy today, however it has improved so much since the pioneer days.

We Can Do It!!!

I have recently moved into a two bedroom apartment with a friend of mine from Prague. Living in seminary housing is cheep, but that typically means it comes with its downfalls. Stephanie and I have lived here for a little over a week and have called maintenance multiple times to come fix basic things like the thermostat, the stove door, the bathroom fan, the dripping faucets, and few other problems.

In front of Stephanie's bedroom window is a very overgrown rose bush. Not really a problem except when the wind blows the bush scratches and bangs up against her window. Not a pleasant sound for sleeping purposes. So today, instead of calling maintenance for the hundredth time (a bit of an exaggeration) this week, we decided to take care of the thorny bush ourselves. Despite the fact that we are not equipped with gardening tools. We began with scissors. That quickly failed to chop through the thick limbs of the bush. We went back into the apartment for a better tool and came out with a steak knife. Several cars slowed downed as they passed by our apartment wandering what we were doing.

It took us about 15 minutes to complete a job that would normally take less than one minute with the right tools, but we completed our job. Stephanie's room should be a peaceful place tonight. Only a girl would think to saw through the branches of an overgrown bush using a steak knife rather than just calling maintenance to come do the work. All well, mission accomplished.