RockTheDesert

Burundi

Burundi is a little known African country - directly in the center of the continent. It's referred to as "the heart of Africa" and to my surprise, when I looked it up on a world map, it's actually sort of shaped like a heart. Sort of. Or maybe a goat's head. But probably mostly like a heart. You can see from the picture that it's located directly south of Rwanda.

Dan's final training trip will take place in Burundi in January 2008. The first ever E3 trip to Burundi is currently scheduled for January 17-27. According to the promotional flyer, they will be working with 11 or 12 churches to establish new mission churches/cell groups through door-to-door evangelism and evangelistic services in the capital city of Bujumbura. Statistics tell us that less than 5% of the people are born again Christians. Government representatives, including the President, have extended an invitation for E3 to come and evangelize their country.

We all are very excited about this incredible opportunity to share the Gospel in an unreached land. I hope to be able to go with Dan on this very first trip. While in Rwanda in September, we actually met and worked with some wonderful Christian leaders from Burundi. They love & worship God passionately. The pastors/bishops we met will be key leaders on the Burundi campaign. This picture is of Steven with Bishop Independence and Bishop Bosco.

Dan is currently assisting in mobilizing Christians to be a part of this adventure. If you think that this might be the missions trip you've been waiting for, or you know someone who would love to be a part of this, please have them check out the E3 website for more trip details and registration info.

Cable

We have caved in.

We have backslidden.

We have...Cable.

Our house was built in 1956. Other than a poorly built family room addition (circa 1973) , there have been zero improvements to the house. We called Cox Cable last week. We were dissatisfied with our previous DSL service and were determined to have Cox Internet since Dan and I both work from home and it is literally impossible to do our jobs without reliable high-speed internet. So they looked up our address and were surprised to discover that the house had never been hooked up to cable. They would be charging us an installation fee of $49.95. And while they had us on the phone, they explained the benefits of their package deal which included cable TV. And of course, the NFL channel had to be added on. At least 'til right after the Super Bowl. On Wednesday, the Cox trucks pulled into the alley behind our home and started running cable from the utility poles in the alley. 4 hours later, they were still doing the installation. During that time, Dan stayed home to supervise the workers and I picked the kids up from school, dropped Mike off at work, went to FNC for Burgers & Bible, ran a 45 min. rehearsal, raced off to Urban Tribe (small group), picked up Michael from work, then got home by 11pm and fell right into bed. Thursday morning, I raced off to work then picked up Michael at school and took him to work. When I finally got home, I pulled up to our house and noticed...Cable. Running from the roof, through the patio roof, down the front of the house, right next to the front door, disappearing into a hole drilled into our red brick trim and into the living room.

Next time Dan will be running the errands and I will be supervising the workers.

Rose

We finally have a rose in our garden. In the late spring, we planted about 12 rose bushes. 9 survived the scorching summer. 7 actually have greenish-brown leaves on them. 1 has a timid-looking rose blooming on it. I think that's another rose about to bloom right next to this one - do you see the green bulb?

Fire

I found this picture at msnbc.com. These firefighters are working very close to where I grew up in California.

My brother-in-law is a fire chief in that same town. This has been a pretty rough week for him and all the crews he's been directing. So much chaos, frustration, waiting, helplessness, horror, pain, and tragedy. And now that their area is calming down, there is so much clean-up and restoration that needs to take place.

Sure, the people who've lost homes probably have fire insurance. But fire insurance doesn't cover memories and irreplaceable photographs and baby blankets and grade school art projects. OK, so they're just "things." But even so, each item points to experiences, places, friends and family. Yes, just having each other is absolutely fantastic. But living in a rented place while your home is rebuilt can be mighty stressful. Sorting through the rubble can be overwhelming. Starting over with borrowed and donated items from strangers wanting to help has got to be exhausting.

I hope and pray that people will be able to see God in this tragedy. That He would reveal Himself to them. That this would be an event that draws people closer to Him rather than further away from Him. I also am praying that the churches in the area and even from around the country would respond with compassion and acts of service far beyond what anyone could ever hope for or imagine. That God would lavishly pour out his grace and mercy and love upon people through His people. That the Church would respond quickly, generously, and willingly. 

Family Band

My mom has been searching the photo archives in her vast scrapbooking room - I've got some great photos to post in the near future. First one is of our very own backyard marching band. Back in the day we were so easily amused...I'm sure we all were entertained for hours.

I'm the drum major - Crissy is the youngest - she's got the mandolin. Sandi is next - the laundry hamper makes a great bass drum - Donni is next - looks like that's Cheryl's flute in her hand - Cheryl (my best friend from church) brings up the rear - she's probably carrying my clarinet.

This was our backyard at our Vista Verde Way house. My parents lived there for nearly 30 years before moving to coastal Vista.

Sunday Worship

I love this watercolor by Randy Elrod. Simple. Yet says a lot. Repentance, forgiveness, freedom, darkness to light, surrender, hope, receiving, brokenness. Great picture of worship

Yesterday Team 1 led worship. Patty did an awesome job being the lead worshipper. She has a gift for drawing others into God's presence. That's because she lives and moves and breathes in His presence all the time. She really gets worship.

Songs:
All The Earth Will Sing His Praises - Paul Baloche
We Lift You Up - Mike Hohnholz
My Glorious/Sing To The King - Martin Smith/Billy Foote
To Know Your Name - Hillsong (new album Saviour King)
Mighty To Save - Hillsong

Great day...
Check out the new Fellowship North website. I've been working on it for a couple of weeks now. Ean (IT Guy) has been trying to keep up with all the design changes. We took a pre-existing Wordpress template and have been trying to customize it a little bit. It's not perfect yet, but we're getting there. At least it's FREE! fellowshipnorth.com

Caught on Camera

Well, Sharon would be appalled. I've got three bags hanging from my shoulders. A true triple play. And Sharon's right - - it's not a very attractive look. Rather cumbersome. And bulky. And awkward. Makes me trudge along instead of briskly walk. BUT, hey, my hair looks pretty good (thanks to Sharon) and two of the bags slighty camouflage my hips. Unfortunately, "the rules" clearly state "...you are never allowed to carry more than one bag unless one of them is CLEARLY an attache'." So, I admit it. I'm busted. And while I'm admitting it, I might as well come clean and tell you that I carried this combination of bags 3 days in a row this week. I think I need to see a chiropractor now. Oh, and don't tell Sharon about this. And if you happen to EVER see Alyssa try this kind of juggling act, IMMEDIATELY report her to Sharon!

Band Memories

I've been involved in music for a really long time. When I was six, I started piano lessons. When I was 8 I started violin and mandolin lessons. When I was 11 I started playing clarinet. In High School I experimented on various woodwind instruments, finally landing on Alto Clarinet. I loved teaching myself how to play instruments. I learned how to accompany groups on the piano. Became sort of good at it. I accompanied a small singing and dancing group called Opus One which was able to sing at various gigs in the community every year. I also accompanied the yearly High School musical - Carousel, South Pacific, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Since I have a competitive streak, I loved being in marching band. We marched in award-winning (ok, maybe not actual awards, but really fun) half-time shows and really loved competing in parades every Saturday during the season. Our band had a long-standing history of excellence in marching band. Tons of parent sponsors and financial support from alumni. We were well-known as tough competitors and champions. We even competed for and won a spot marching in the Rose Parade. My mom probably has pictures of me in my OGHS marching uniform...maybe she'll send one my way for future posting. In the meantime, here's where my love for marching began - back in Junior High at Grant Middle School. Here I am, flanked on either side by fellow band members. I'm pretty sure it's Cheryl Thomas on the right. Not sure about the left. Nice hats. I mean shakos.

The Other Fam

We used to be called "The Fam." Dan and I were both first-born children. We got married first. Had kids first. Dan's brother, David gave us that nickname because, first of all, he's a nickname kind of guy (his nickname is Uncle Buck) and secondly, because it was such a foreign concept for a 14-yr old punk kid to have a brother with a wife and a baby. He had to have a way to express his admiration/disdain/dismay/approval of this whole marriage and family thing. And lastly, he saw the classic movie "What About Bob" and instantly picked up on the phrase.

Fast forward 16 yrs. Yeah. I said 16 years. When David Met Ruthie. They fell in love. Got married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Mexico.

Then the countdown began. Fast forward 3 more years to April 2007. A new legacy began...David & Ruthie welcomed baby Josiah David into their family. Thanks to technology, I had a picture of Josiah text messaged to me within hours. He was so tiny...around 6 lbs.

Check out these newest pics we received about a week ago. Looks like he's full of personality and fun!

And now, by the power vested in me as an in-law, I pronounce you, David, Ruthie and Josiah, to be..."The Fam."

Rwanda Video

Check out this video - it contains brief highlights of our recent trip to Rwanda.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Legos

When you think of Legos, don't you just think of quiet children, peacefully playing together or alone, building and creating endless forts, cars, spaceships, etc? You might even think of the incredible Lego sculptures you might see at an amusement park. Or you might even think of Legoland, whee, yippee, so much good clean fun! Well, when my boys outgrew their Legos, I put them all in a donation bag for the Salvation Army. It's always so great to be able to share perfectly good toys with children who might not otherwise be able to have them. Unbeknownst to me, Dan spotted that innocent bag of Legos in the discard pile beside the back door. He took it upon himself to squirrel it away for future purposes. These purposes have been secretly guarded in the underground brotherhood of men that exists in this family. Only recently did I find out that these colorful, children's building blocks...

were being furtively assembled and glued together into forts and various other configurations...

and then stashed away under cover of darkness into the cobwebby recesses of the ice chests...then when there's a camping trip being planned, these artistic creations are just ready and waiting to be hauled out to the desert, set up in various locations, and become targets for shooting practice with paint guns and with real guns. These peace-loving, angelic boys I'm raising have no problem putting on their camouflage jackets, arming themselves with their weapons of choice and blowing these harmless little Legos to bits. This is Reason #97 why I never go camping.

3 Pictures

This first picture is of my dad. He's sitting by the escalator in Nordstrom, waiting patiently for the shopping to end. We spent a few hours at Nordstrom on Saturday looking for a dress for Sandi to wear at a wedding she's going to in December. Actually, she's the maid of honor. So, finding that perfect dress is like looking for a needle in a haystack - virtually impossible. We didn't find the dress, but we had a fun time trying. We went to the Chandler Fashion Square. Easy to get to. Millions of square feet of everything but the perfect dress.

This next picture is of my sweet little baby. He had braces put on his teeth on Monday (Columbus Day present). Braces are a pretty pricey expenditure these days. But of course, they give you a lot of value for your investment, such as homebaked cookies upon arrival, unlimited soft-serve ice cream, unlimited cold beverages, and an ice skating party twice a year for you and your friends. I apologize for the unflattering angle of the picture - I never said I was a good photographer.

   

This last picture is of the tree in our front yard. You may recall when we were first thinking about purchasing a house. We had rented our apartment in Scottsdale for 4-1/2 years then we spent another year renting an apartment in Phoenix. So, basically, our kids had grown up with lots of concrete walkways, asphalt parking lots, and well-trimmed shrubs, but very little grass to run wild on and zero trees to climb. So, Steven's wish list had two requests on it: a big green yard and a big tree in the yard. If he got his own bedroom, that would be a bonus, since he typically spends all his time outdoors. So, when we found our little ranch home, we overlooked the 50-yr old turquoise shag carpet and the 1 electrical outlet in the kitchen. We pretended not to notice the tiny bathrooms, lack of closets, and lack of master bedroom. We saw the green grass - tons of it. And we saw...the tree!

Big Weekend

We had a big weekend. My parents, along with Sandi & Di came out to visit. They stayed at the Residence Inn not too far from our house. We did a lot of eating. Of course. And a lot of shopping. Of course. But it was a really good visit. Here's a picture of us all at Chino Bandino's in Phoenix. Di is taking the picture. Dan and Steven decided to have lunch on their own at a sports bar so they could watch the football games.

On Friday night, while the family was enjoying pizza at Patsy Grimaldi's in Scottsdale (see pic to the left of Alyssa & Joshua outside the restaurant in front of the fountain) Dan and I were being treated to a sumptuous dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Luckily, I had found a sparkly, long-sleeved brown shirt at Nordstrom earlier in the day, along with a pumpkin-colored tank which went perfectly with my favorite jeans and the 2-inch wedge sandals Donni gave me for my birthday. I somehow found time for makeup and my hair was surprisingly under control. We met Sharon & Scott at the restaurant. The meal was spectacular. I had the perfect caesar salad and a ribeye seared at 1800 degrees until perfectly medium well, served sizzling hot on a 500 degree plate, topped with butter. Yumm...we shared garlic mashed potatoes, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. And then, we had to top it all off with white chocolate banana cream pie, topped with caramelized banana slices. We drank coffee and talked for hours. Fortunately we had a gift card which paid for 1/2 of the meal. Meeting Scott for the first time was a real treat. Dan and I really enjoyed meeting him and it seemed as if we had known each other for a long time. The conversation never had awkward pauses and I don't think we ever talked about the weather or the local sports teams (standard filler topics). We look forward to many more good times together.

Do Not Call List

Read this article then take action!

Download do_not_call_list_about_to_expire.doc

Believing God

Today, a group of 8 women met together for the first time in Dr. Steve Phinney's conference room to begin "Believing God" which is a video-driven Beth Moore Bible Study. I've been through this one once before. I actually had to miss 4 or 5 of the sessions, so it will seem practically brand new to me. We've got quite an eclectic group of women assembled - we've all got a common goal of digging in deep to God's Word to glean spiritual insights and truths in order to live and walk more fully in God's light, plan & purposes for our lives. Today, our chief organizer (Lisa) swung by Pita Jungle and picked up a fantastic feast for us to share on our first day together. Everything at PJ is super-healthy and totally delish. We had cilantro-jalapeno hummus among other tasty treats, including a fruit and cheese platter and cheesy pita crisps! Next week I believe we're brown-bagging it.

We all tied blue bands on our arms as a reminder that we're "believing God" for the next 10 weeks together. This should be quite an adventure...I wonder what God has in store for us????????

Baptism

"Buried in likeness of His death, raised to walk in a new kind of life." Those are the words Randy says as he baptizes people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. FNC had a baptism celebration on Sunday night at the Gladstone's home. Twelve people were baptized: 3 adults, 5 teens and 4 kids. I love being a part of the audience. It is so cool to see people from every walk make a public declaration of their faith in Christ by being baptized. I remembered to bring my camera. Started to take a few pics inside the house. Then tried to take some pics of the baptism. My camera let me down. It was too dark outside to get any good images. So I'll have to settle for word pictures...the Gladstone's home is as lovely inside as it is outside. As I approached the massive front door, I was greeted by festive scarecrows and pumpkins adorning the front porch. The inside of the house was filled with the essence of fall. Pumpkins, fall colors, candy corn. I headed straight for the heart of the home - the kitchen - which was filled to overflowing with food and friends. Sandwiches, white bean chicken chili, cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, chips and dip, veggies and dip, chips and salsa, luscious desserts. Wow. What a spread. Then out to the patio where a lot more people mingled, sipping sodas and water, watching the kids play in the yard. Lots of people I didn't recognize - most likely family members of those being baptized. Then the actual event. We all gathered around the pool. Randy read out of the Bible. Then proceeded to baptize all 12 people. Then all the kids who had been waiting patiently to swim, jumped in the pool for some more fun! Such a great night!!

Karen (far right) was baptized. She's a member of the worship team - great singer with a great heart!

So nice to relax and get to know each other away from church!