Women's Day Run

Today Ella and I ran a 5K at the Sandbank Wildlife Reserve. This is the place we scouted out last week where we saw zebra. We woke up to rain this morning and unusually cool weather. It reminded me very much of a fall run in Alaska. So I am totally intrigued by running in Africa. One interesting thing...the race was a 5K the same "distance" as our last race a couple weeks ago. Well, today's race took 10 minutes longer to run than the last one. I'm not on the official Track and Field Association but I know that we didn't run that much different of a pace. James was telling me afterward that most fun runs and "unofficial" races are not really measured they guestimate the distance and call it good. So we ran between a 5-6K race today.

The highlight you ask? There's always a highlight. A lot of the runners today were from running clubs. I mentioned this in my last race post, but people pay into a club, some more elite than others. They are assigned a number and race EVERY race with THEIR specific given number. No numbers are duplicated. In a more official race foreigners or non club members have to buy a liscense to run in a race and get a temporary number. The more hard core runners go barefoot. There were several today...on a muddy, rocky cross-country trail. Whatever works. These guys came 3 minutes after Ella and I crossed the finish line. Impressive you say...only they ran a 10K (or whatever distance the course really was) and we ran a 5K. We were thankful they didn't lap us!

Okay so I got on a tangent and didn't share my highlight. Five of the top ten runners were from the "Harmony Athletics Club." We saw them afterward and asked them if we could take their picture which they agreed to. So this picture is of me with the stellar runners that I never saw during the race. James said that this particular club is one of the largest in the country and they are known to send runners frequently to the olympics. I may be standing next to future track and field atheletes of the next summer olympics! Unlikely but you never know. Note the guy standing in the middle of the group is barefoot.

Orphanage

Ella took me to an orphanage today that houses babies birth to 18 months. These babies are mostly African or Colored (mix white/black) and have been abandoned or have HIV/AIDS. There are several orphanges like this all over S. Africa, but this one happens to be 10 minutes from the Embree's house. This particular orphanage just moved into a new facility that can house up to 60 babies! Over the past 3 months they had 9 adoptions leaving them currently with 10 babies. They are all beautiful little babies.

One little girl was an abortion survivor. At 6 months her mother aborted her through a method that proved unsuccessful. They had her "remains" on the table and she started crying! She has a little scaring on her face, but is one of the healthiest and brightest babies in the facility now! God is a God of miracles, even among the tiniest of people! Another miracle story is a little boy someone found in a tied off garbage bag in the trash can with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached but barely alive. He is also thriving now and doing well with the tender care of the nurses and nannies at the orphanage.

I spoke with the founder of the facility about bringing a group of youth to such a place to help out and she said that is a definite possibility. They've had groups come before and it's worked out well. I'd like to do a few mornings or afternoons there as a side ministry and experience for any youth that might come down. It's very eye opening!

Bollywood!

Continuing in the mix of Indian culture, Ella and I went to a "bollywood" movie tonight. Bollywood is the Indian equivalent of our Hollywood. The movies are produced and spoken in Indian with English subtitles. You can rent them or go to the cinema and watch them. Ella encourged me to go to the cinema to have the "full" cultural experience and I can say now after going that it was by far one of the most...enjoyable experiences I have had in a long time! I laughed so much and so hard I was crying!!

In a nut shell the plot of the movie (and most bollywood movies) is not real deep, but it is relevant to the Indian culture, which to some degree is becoming more westernized. The experience is hard to explain but I'll try to paint a quick picture...

Imagine yourself in a theater with 150-200 other people, most if not all the other attnedees Indian. The movie starts and the plot begins to take a little shape, tyipcal guy likes girl, date, get married, hit some bumps, get on the brink of divorce, but all is resolved in the end. Okay, kind of boring you say...oh no my friends. Humor is in the eye of the cultural receiver.

All the parts Ella and I thought were HILLARIOUS, NO ONE else in the ENTIRE theater laughed at at all! They were completely engaged, intent and straight faced. The funny parts to us being the sudden "dream" where the girl in love breaks out in a dream type dance with her back up dance crew, the guy joins in with his back up crew like something off Westside Story only the dancing is a mix between salsa, Trinity Irish Dance Co., and Footloose. Then during a "dryer" husband/wife/family conflict (Indian families live together) everyone busts out laughing and Ella and I look at each other clueless. We of course break into somewhat controlled body shaking laughter (trying not to offend those around us) b/c we're NOT laughing.

At the end of the movie, which there was a 10 min. intermission for, the man sitting to my right asked if I come to bollywoods often. I told him I was just vising but Ella came more often. He proceeded to share how great the movie was and how serious divorce would have been if it had ended that way. He also said that he cried too during the movie b/c it was so touching. I think he was refering to MY crying only he didn't know I was crying b/c I was laughing. This of course tickled me to the core of my being and I had to quickly and graciously wrap up the conversation before I lost control. I don't say all this to be offensive to their entertainment or culture, but to share how different cultures CAN be and how we don't "get" things in the same way when we don't understand the little inuendos. If you ever get a chance to see a bollywood moving I highly recommend going to the theater. It will be an experience you won't forget!

Indian Culture

So I mentioned in the cultural tid bit post that Durban has the highest Indian population after the country of India itself. I'm not sure all of the reasons for this, but most of the people I've interacted with this week are Indian. James and Ella's church is predominately attended by Indian people, DBC is primarily Indian students etc.

Last night I had the priveledge to spend the night with an Indian family. Pricilla (mother) and her two daughters Anneline (27) and Cordelia (18). Pricilla's husband of late (as they would say), passed away 7 years ago from a major heart attack. Very hard for the family and his work community. I was told ahead of time that Indian people love to cook and cook a lot. It's true. They made an incredible tuna curry with rice and sausage. Like a true American I dove into my meal eating with my fork...it was effecient and got the food where it needed to go, my mouth! Ha! I watched them all begin to eat the same thing with their fingers. They mix it all up, clump it in a ball shape and literally (for lack of a better term) shovel the food into their mouths. I say shovel because as I set my fork down determined to eat like the Indians eat they promptly began laughing in unison at me for "dropping" my food into my mouth from above. I had it all wrong. Long story short, about 3 helpings later I had "mastered" the clump and shovel technique. They made the recipe milder for me so I could enjoy the meal and not be fried out. They LOVE HOT food!!

After a great meal the girls and I and a couple of guys from their church worship team sat at the table and sang worship songs together for about 1.5 hours. This was probably the greatest blessing of my time with them. Both daughters play guitar and piano and sing beautifully. We all harmonized parts. It was a low key but intimate time of praising God in their home together.

Before the evening came to a close we played "dress up." For those who know me you know dress up is one of my favorite things. Whether it be a WBC wiffle ball tournament (ref/cheerleader), youth disco night, ballerina pink marshmellow or cowgirl you name it, I'll be it! I asked the girls and Patricia if they would try on a sari for me. They decided instead to dress me up in fancy Indian clothing. It turned out to be a 3 piece modeling show. First they dressed me up in a traditional Indian "sari" which would be worn to a wedding or engagement celebration. Next they dressed me up in Patricia's wedding dress which fit like a glove. The final "piece" was a deep plum and gold "gharara"...more of a dress suit for formal business engagements. Of course they had to add "bangels" (bracelets) and other fancy jewelry. Along with that came DARK make up. Indian people pride themselves on wealth and looking beautiful. They wear a lot of jewelry and have the most gorgeous long black hair. So we had a blast pulling out clothes and taking pictures.

African Safari!

Saturday we all drove out to Hluhluwe, sounds just like it's spelled (hl-oo, hl-oo, wee), to go to a big(ger) wildlife refuge. The town is 3 hours from Durban so we left Friday and spent the night with another missionary couple Embree's know out there. It was the full on African safari! We drove with a guide in a giant safari jeep and got to see several animals...elephant, giraffe, gnu (a.k.a. wildebeast), a variety of bok, wild buffalo, hedge hog, and zebra. Lions and cheetas were no where to be found. There was a sighting from another group of wild dogs. They are rare to find and almost extinct, but in this refuge. I didn't know it but they are one of the most violent of the animals there. I also learned that hyenas (which we also did not see) have one of the strongest bites, they exert over 3 tons of pressure when they bite breaking bones like hot butter! Cheetas, as most know are one of the fastest animals in the world, BUT there is a type of deer/bok that runs even faster than a cheetah. A little animal history lesson for all you history buffs!

Sooooo, the safari. The biggest highlight for us was an elephant sighting. There are two packs in this park. One is about 100 elephants and the other is about 200. Yes, the park covers oh, a couple of acres! We spotted a few off in the distance and as we were looking at them with our binocs 3 came right up in front of us and walked out on the road! They were SO close we had to back up to get out of their way! It was AWESOME!! National Geographic in front of my face! Males are loners and hang out by themselves which later as we were leaving we saw a male up close also walk out in the street next to us. Males are huge and have giant tusks.

For those who wondered, hedge hogs are one of the ugliest animals around. There really isn't anything cute about them. They have a face and wild scrappy hair that only a mother could love.

On the safari note, Ella and the kids and I went to a nearby park yesterday (Monday) and also saw rhinos and hippos. Incredible animals!

cultural tid bits...

There are a lot of differences between South Africa and Alaska so I thought I'd add a little blip about some things I find interesting here. One biggie is they drive on the left side of the road and the driver sits on the right side of the car like in England. The majority of vehicles are manual. They have men that "watch/guard" cars in parking lots to keep down vehicle theft and you tip them 2R (rand) before you leave. Equivalent to about 40 cents.

They have wild monkeys that wonder around in their yard and roof tops...a change from moose wandering in my yard back home. Their reserve parks have animals like elephant, hippos, zebra, giraffe while Denali National Park has moose, bear, caribou, fox, wolf.

Being in the southern hemisphere their winter is during our summer and their winter temps are like our summer temps. I'm glad I'm here for the "cooler" season.

A diaper is called a "nappy", a napkin is called a "serveet" and a stroller is called a "pram," a traffic light is called a "robot," a pacifier is called a "dummy" and a zebra is spoken with a short "e" sound. Other interestings terminology: running shoes are called "takies," a car trunk is called a "boot," a windshield is called a "wind screen," a flat tire is called a "puncture" makes sense to me. My favorite that my dad will be appreciative of the blinker in your car is called an "indicator switch." My dad always refers to as that and I always roled my eyes or laughed at him, but know I know of an entire culture that calls it that!

Their currency is the African Rand and the exchange is 7-1, for every American dollar you spend 7 Rand. A little on time...Durban is 10-11 hours different from Anchorage. A funny thing, ALL of South Africa stays on ONE time zone and they do not recognize day light savings. So it could be light at 4:00 a.m. and dark at 6:00 p.m. in Durban and not get dark in Cape Town (far west side) until 2-2.5 hours later.

I learned today that Durban has the 2nd highest Indian population in the world after India itself. I was talking with Ella about it today b/c by far the most people I've met and see have been Indian. There are African and Colored people here too, but not as many in the urban area.

Another interesting thing about Durban for all my pyro family and friends...there are numerous wild fires here b/c it is so dry and warm. They let them burn out of control for the most part right next to neighborhoods and 8 lane major highways. We did see a couple fire trucks out the other day working on a fire that was burning close to a lot of eletrical wires. Ella said that is the first time in their 4 years here that she's ever seen a fire truck respond to a fire!

A couple new things I learned today (9th), babysitters are not paid here. They do it out of the goodness of their heart. They think it is crazy to be paid for watching someone's children. Another tid bit...you cannot pay for gas anywhere in S. Africa with a credit card. The government sets the price for gas for the country (fixed amount) and the gas companies lose $ by going through credit so all gas MUST be paid for in CASH! I can't remember the last time I paid cash for my gas in the U.S.

James and Ella...

This entry has turned into a little "bio" of the Embree family. For those who don't know, James and Ella are my good friends from Alaska that are now full time missionaries in South Africa.

Ella's "job" consists of being a full time mom, wife, home school teacher, kids club leader and Sunday school teacher. She also helps plan and lead missionary workshops for kids during mission conferences. In fact she'll be leading a big one a few days after I leave. I've mentioned before in previous entries that Ella is FULL of ENTHUSIASM!! Children's ministry is a perfect fit for her. She is also a GREAT hostess!

James is a full time husband, dad and teacher at Durban Bible College (DBC). This term he is teaching Greek I & II and John. He also speaks/preaches at his church and other events occassionally. Watching him with his kids this past week I can say that James is an AWESOME dad! He loves his kids and has incredible grace and patience with them. He also helps out with school science experiments...not Ella's forte' (not mine either!).

If you can't tell from the picture they are one crazy fun couple! They are serious and grounded in their faith and work, but let loose and bring a lot of spice to the mission field.

Hannah...

Hannah is 6 and the oldest of the Embree kiddos. She is busy getting into her 1st grade year of home school. Working in a public school myself I have to say she is ahead of the game academically. She's one bright little girl. Hannah is the family princess and loves to dress up. She went to a ballet last night on a father/daughter date and wore a pink and purple ballet/ball gown. She was oh so beautiful! This picture was taken at a petting zoo this week.

Super Max...

Max is their 4 year old son who is totally sold on super heros and Star Wars. He has a Super Man t-shirt and we call him Super Max! Hannah loves feeding and petting the animals while Max LOVES chasing them away! He also loves playing in the dirt...my kind of kid! This picture was taken at a petting zoo this past week.

Bronwyn...

Bronwyn is their 2 year old daughter and is as cute as can be. She's picked up the South African accent, a little similar to a British accent actually, and she LOVES to talk and sing! Here she's enjoying an icecream cone at the "Palace," a huge mall in Durban.

kids club

One of Ella's major ministries in Durban is kids club. She holds one at her house on Wednesday and one at a park in a neighboring suburb on Thursdays for the kids near the area of the new church plant they are helping with. I got to help this week with both days and loved it. They are taught the same story/message, but in different ways.

Wednesday there were about 11 kids that came to their house for club. Pat, another TEAM missionary, helps out too. She and Ella divide responsibilities of singing, lesson, memory verse, review etc. The kids come to her house shortly after they get home from school. They love the songs. Two of the girls that came sang "God is so Good" in Afrikans. It's a form of Dutch that evolved over time as the Dutch settled in S. Africa. These children all live in Ella's neighborhood and vary in ethnicity from white, Afrikans (Dutch descent), and African.

Today, Thursday, we did kids club in Shallcross a nearby town. This group meets at the church plant sight...a tin roof, tarp walled carport where the new church plant meets once a week. The setting is a little more challenging to keep kids engaged b/c it is outside, but they do a pretty good job. Most of the kids that come on Thursday are Indian. The church Embrees attend and the new church plant is primarly people from India.

I loved leading along side Ella and watching her enthusiasm as she told stories and led activities. She is a high energy woman! Kids can't HELP but get excited when she leads!

Durban Botanic Gardens

Yesterday Ella, the kids and I went to a nearby botanic garden. We saw a plethora of birds, cactus, trees, ferns and flowers. I had no idea how many types of palm trees there are. There were at least 8 or so there, all completely different. It was a relaxing way to spend an afternoon. The picture is of the "Sunken Garden." They had different garden areas, one was called a sensory garden (very cool) and this particular one was the sunken garden b/c it was planted and landscaped below the rest of the park. The girl you see is Hannah, she's wearing her pink fairy costume. She LOVES playing dress up!

running with zebras!

Ella and I went for a walk/run at a local wildlife refuge this evening to scope out the race course for a run we'll be doing on the 9th. This refuge has all safe animals, lots of birds, boc (antelope), zebra, snakes. We met up a few times with wild zebra and got awesome pictures right next to them! I got a little close to one once and he showed his teeth (like Mr. Ed) and kind of hissed at me so I backed off pretty quickly. I LOVE the wildlife here!!

Durban Bible College

What an incredible day today! I spent the day at Durban Bible College with James today. This is the seminary he works at. Funny story, one of the teachers at the school (missionary) heard that a speech pathologist was coming to visit and wanted me to be a part of one of his classes. Sunday night I met this man, Dr. Liddle, a missionary from Ireland. He asked if I would be willing to teach his Tuesday class on "Public Speaking." The class is actually a mix of homaletics (preaching) and the art of public speaking. He figured that a speech path must have some knowledge or training in public speaking...not exactly my profession, but close enough.

SO, I went in today and led a two hour lecture on public speaking. He left it wide open to do whatever I wanted. It was a blast! I did some interactive stuff to open it with a brief "lecture" on form and technique and then had the class share a personal story or testimony the 2nd hour. The class consisted of 9 students, all men with one young woman. Most of them preparing to be preachers. A little humbling to teach a seminary class when I haven't gone yet myself. They said they enjoyed the time and I was hugely blessed by their stories and testimonies. Amazing people from a WIDE variety of backgrounds.

I wasn't sure culturally what to expect. I asked James the night before about using humor in class and he said it would be appropriate for this group. They absolutely cracked me up! There were about 5 that were very witty and tried to play jokes on me. I gave them post cards of Alaska and shared some stories of home.

The best part of today was a sighting with a specific student I met at "tea." His name is Lincoln and he has (in his mind) significant difficulty with public speaking. He stutters and it really bothers him. It used to hold him back when he was younger. He didn't like to talk in public at all. He said he heard that I was in Durban and was praying for me to come to DBC so he could talk to me about his stuttering. I got to talk to him at tea and in class about some techniques to help decrease his stuttering. THAT IS totally my profession and up my alley, crazy how the Lord works things out! He also shared up front in class and did an excellent job. It was neat to see him do so well and be able to encourage him in his pursuit to preach.

eating bunnies...

Yes, Ella and I ate a bunny today for lunch. Not a rabbit bunny, but an Indian food. It's a bread bowl with curry and vegetables, potatoes inside that you eat with your fingers. It was really good, spicy, but good. Curry is a huge staple in South Africa. My girls had an African dinner night this past winter where we made two types of African curry...a pasta and a hot meat and vegetable one. They were excellent! If we come next year, we'll be eating more!

Church

We went to church together this morning. James and Ella attend an evangelical church that is attended predominately by Indian people. The building is fairly small, a sanctuary with a couple classrooms on the side. I got to lead pre-K Sunday school with Ella and had a blast. For those who know Ella she is a DYNAMIC person! Anything she does, teaching, leading, parenting, she does with ENTHUSIASM!! I loved working with her and have loved watching her with her own children.

I also got to talk some with the youth pastor at their church about my vision to bring youth from AK next summer and planning an activity/ministry that our groups could do together. Youth students and ministry are looked at in a different light here from what I've been learning. They are not in as overt ministry as in the U.S. because they are young and "unruly." Similar in some ways to our own preconceived ideas about youth, but they are starting to break out more and do more with the youth here. Talking with the youth pastor he said they do get together occassionally with nearby youth groups and had a big youth rally a month ago that went really well. I would love to learn more and be able to do something together in the future if it works out. Something to pray about!

African Fun Run

Yesterday morning Ella and I ran in a 5K fun run in Durban. It started and ended at a mall with carnival type stuff there for kids. There were a few "runners" there that were obviously a part of running clubs and ran in blazing African time...the hard core were bare foot. The course you ask? Good night, it reminded me of San Fransisco. The hills were incredible, straight up and straight down. All in all it was a great time and the weather was perfect. Their winters are like our high summer temps. James was telling me yesterday that the more serious races you have to have a lisence to compete in. Everyone in a running club, which most are in, already have a lisence, outsiders (such as myself) have to buy one. Kind of like getting a fishing lisence. Needless to say they take running pretty seriously here. We're signed up to do a 10K on the 9th in a wildlife refuge...more of a cross country style race on trails. Should be quite the experience! Running with the elephants!

Durban!

Woohoo!! After 30+ hours of fly time I am HERE!! I got in to Durban yesterday afternoon (Thursday) and got to hang out with Ella and the kids for ballet, lunch and play time. Last night Ella and I set out all the gifts from AK people so they had a "Christmas" of sorts here this morning. They LOVED it! Today Ella, the kids and I are headed out to a rural village pick up their next door neighbor who is out visiting her mother. James will be working at the college while we're out.

I didn't realize initially that Durban is as big as it is, over 3 million people! So I'm going to get a taste of the rural side of life this afternoon. I am EXCITED to be here! It's great to see them again and catch up. I slept a ton last night so I'm hoping to be more coheriant today. :-)

London

So I am en route to South Africa. Right now I'm at the London Heathrow airport for a 7 hour layover before my final legs to Durban to see James and Ella. I flew out of Anchorage Tuesday morning and am due to be in Durban Thursday afternoon. Talk about travel time. I am thankful for this layover to be out of a plane for awhile. So far I've flown 17 hours and have about 13 hours left to fly. Woohoo for air time! I slept about 5 hours on the last flight from LA to London.

I've enjoyed great food on the plane, bread, cheese, hot tea with milk...truly European. I forgot that Europe is not big on AC, conservation of energy or something. Reminds me of our heat wave in 2003 Carrie. There are parts of the airport that are a little toasty.

I'm hoping to walk a few laps around the international terminal before I sit down for another long leg. I have a whole new admiration for the Embrees doing this with 3 small children! You guys are amazing!

I'll try to update my blog while I'm in Africa but I'm not sure how often that will be. Thanks again for your prayers!

Chicago

Our conference at Wheaton wrapped up Friday afternoon. We met one final time as a group before leaving to "debrief" and set individual and team goals...things they want to do when they get home to share what they have learned. One of the things they are planning on doing is going on a monthly basis to the senior center in Palmer to have a game night or just visit. We went to a senior center one afternoon in Chicago to play Bunko and everyone (young and old) had a blast! Dierdra had the opportunity, by request, to perform some of her South Pacific song/dance. They ate her up! For those who don't know Dierdra is the performer of the group, she can sing, dance, do gymnastics and anything else like it at the drop of a hat. You name a song, she has a dance.

Another goal we set as a group is to talk to our youth pastor about having this group lead one of our youth nights so they can do the lesson in a similar style to how the talks were shared during our large group times. They are also hoping Kris will let them add a mosh pit to worship. :-) I'm letting them pursue that one!

A little wrap up to the trip, Friday afternoon the group split. One van went shopping and the other went to the Navy Pier. I was part of the Navy Pier group and we had a great time riding some rides, playing mini golf and eating. Saturday we spent the entire day at Six Flags riding rides and standing in LONG lines. I finally got to try out Dejavue, nutso roller coaster. Steve and I waited and sat in the front row. INSANE!!! We all had a blast that day.

From beginning to end this trip was an absolute blast and blessing. This is the 2nd summer trip I've been on with this group and I am even more attached to them now. They are an awesome group of students. Thanks again to all who are praying. I can't think of even one glitch the entire week...aside from the insane amount of water fights. :-)

Wheaton

It's our 4th day in Illinois and we are soaking it up! The conference is excellent, completely different than last year. They changed the name, the layout, the number of students (1,000 down to 500), the focus and it is exactly what our team needed. The focus this year is not so much on going out and verbally sharing our faith every day through different day trips and places, but studying the Bible, retelling those stories and then sharing how our lives relate today to those stories. We've gone through creation, separation, people of promise, new covenant is today. It has been so good for me as a leader to dig into the Word every day. I have been longing for a youth experience/training like this and this is it! It has been a huge blessing to hear the students share every day/night about the things THEY are learning and how God is showing them things in their own lives in a new light.

To give you a little taste, yesterday we had our large group gathering which consists of worship/singing and then the speaker shares the target story of the day. Yesterday's story was a summation of most of the Old Testament...people of promise, Abraham to Moses to Joshua hitting hard on the Promise Land. That afternoon one of our "group expressions" was to walk to the "Tabernacle." They set up rooms on campus that were laid out like the tabernacle that the Israelites had while wandering 40 years in the wilderness. It was a powerful experience. We would read at each room/station where we were and what was done in that room...all the way back to the holy of holies.

In the evenings we get back together to worship and then students share as they feel led about what they experienced that particular day, specifically what God is teaching them or showing them in a new light. One of the things I have appreciated most about this conference is that there is not a lot of "fluff." The worship time, study time, group time, even large group sharing time is very genuine...focused on God and not us. It's hard to explain on a blog, but it is evident that the Holy Spirit is present among us and is working in and through us. I am excited to see how this group of students will be challenged to take what they've learned home and teach it to other youth group students.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. Friday we head out to a hotel and half day of fun somewhere...downtown Chicago I think. Saturday we hit Six Flags and Sunday we head home! This is an AWESOME group of youth! They are a blast to work with. Every night at our youth group time 3-4 students and one leader share their testimony/story too. It has been great to get to know everyone on a more personal level and be able to encourage them where they are at. Thanks mucho for all those who are praying for us! We are BLESSED!!

heading to Chicago...

Tonight was our final Merge meeting. Saturday night our team is heading out for Chicago...a direct flight so all should be smooth in the way of travel. :-)

Steve and Sara Novak did the lessons tonight on "Your Story" and "God's Story." In a nut shell, who is God and what did he do for us? God sent his son Jesus, as a human sacrifice to bridge the gap between us and God by dying on the cross paying the price for our sin. Because of Jesus' sacrifice we don't have to pay a price. We don't have to earn merit, pray a ton, read our bibles every day, do a bunch of good works to try and earn our way to heaven or a better place "enlightenment." Some of those things are GOOD, but not necessary to get to heaven. We need to recognize that the price has been paid IN FULL and ask for forgiveness for our sins that we can engage in a personal relationship with God. It's not a high mucky heirarchy of people you have to work through or go through, just a recognition that God is who he says he is and that Jesus is his son and he paid the price for our sins so we could be connected to God...back in the love relationship he always intended us to have with him. God LONGS for us to have a relationship with Him!! God is crazy in love with us, messy lives and all. I don't get it in my little finite mind, but I know it is true b/c of the bible and have experienced his love and grace poured out over my life time and time again. If you've never experienced it, you're missing out!! God is CRAZY IN LOVE with YOU!!!

So that wasn't such a nut shell version, but I don't think we are reminded often enough of how deep God's love is for us and the incredible relationship we can have with him.

All that to say...God loves us, our meeting went well, and I am pumped about this upcoming trip. I'm excited to get to spend time with this group of teens and leaders. I'm excited to see how God is going to move and work in these student's lives and my own. For those of you praying for us, please pray for wide open teachable hearts...me included. There is a lot of great content that will be given and it can sometimes get bogged down with the fullness of the week. I'll try to update my blog when I get back. This next transition is going to be a quick one...24 hour change over before I head out to Africa. More on that later! See you SOON James and Ella!

Dave and Aimy

Soooooo, this summer has been great so far and is full of trips, ministry and lots of fellowship. In the mix of all that I haven't been very faithful about updating the biggest Eller news. We're having a wedding!! I mentioned back in March that my brother got engaged. It turned out to be a rather eventful/memorable proposal.

Dave was very tight lipped about his plans to propose b/c he didn't want anything leaking out to Aimy. The short of it is he had the majority of the Wasilla PD follow him to her house one afternoon about 3:30 p.m. There was a big production when she came to the door, much to her surprise, a huge line of cop cars, lights flashing etc. All of it on video, he knelt down on her front porch and popped the question. The more memorable part for our family was what happened on the outskirts of this proposal. School was letting out at a nearby elementary school and they held up the busses for 30 minutes or so b/c they heard about all the cop cars and thought they were busting a perpetrator they'd been watching for the past month. After calling dispatch the staff learned it was just a guy proposing to his girlfriend. My mom happens to work at that school and got some great harassment the next day! Way to spice it up Dave!

The big day is August 19th. I am excited for you guys and wish you the VERY BEST! I'm going to have a sister!! Woohoo!! Love you both!

Cristo Rey Family

Cristo Rey in English means "Christ King." We (WBC) have developed a relationship with this church over the past 8 years. They are on fire and excited about God. It is evident throught their worship time (singing), prayers, and sharing.

Pastor Enrique and Ava started the church and have 4 incredible kids, two grown and two at home. The women of the church showed endless hospitality and love to us making amazing homemade Mexican food for dinner every night. They showered us with hugs and encouraging words. They would hang out with us long after the evening service was over to talk, eat and sing praise songs.

There were times the "flexibility," no set schedule, weighed a little on me trying to do children's ministry, but I learned to go with the flow and enjoy the spontenaity. The part of Mexican flexibility that I loved the most was the evening times when we would just sit and talk, sing, do whatever getting to know each other with no busy agendas in the way. Many of the people there still had to work each day and go to school, but they were very giving of their TIME...something I struggle to do at home. To me one of the greatest gifts a person can give is TIME. Why is it so hard to do?

The picture above is of pastor Enrique, Ava and their daughter Esther heading off to her 8th grade promotion. In Mexico 8th grade promotion is a HUGE deal. They have a full course dinner, prom style dresses and suits and a dance.

hair braiding...

I mentioned in my previous post that Margarita braided hair as part of her income. All of the girls and one of the guys on our team had our hair braided. Elizabeth's took the cake for the longest time, 3.5 hours! She has hair down past her belt line. The kids LOVED playing with her hair!

Margarita

Our first day at Cristo Rey I met a young woman, Margarita, that I immediately connected with and got to know more as the week progressed. Margarita and I are the same age but with very different life stories. She is a single mom of three beautiful children. She lives with her mother so she can work, go to school (via DVDs she said) and take care of her children. Her home is basically a cement walled shack. Part of her income comes from braiding tourist's hair such as us. She was at the church daily to braid girl's hair from our team and did an awesome job.

Through getting to know her I found out that she was introduced to Cristo Rey sometime this past year and loves having this new "family" in her life. She is a believer and her life has changed for the better since making new friends at the church. Wednesday we had all day together at our beach day. The church family and WBC team went to the beach that day to hang out and fellowship in a relaxing environment with less structure and agenda. She shared with me about her kids and how she wants so much for them. She has a daughter that is 10, and two sons that are 7 and 5.

I hope to keep in touch with her and encourage her as she presses on to make ends meet for her family. I was able to give her a huge bag of beads before we left. The kind she uses to bead hair. Something so simple for me, but so huge to her. Meeting Margarita really hit home and put things back in perspective for me personally how wealthy I am here in Alaska and how little you can live off of.

foot washing...

In year's past our group has led 3 ministries in Mexico, children's ministry, sports ministry and women's ministry. This year, due to smaller numbers, we did not do a "women's ministry" specifically. Amber, one of our team interpreters and leaders, had the idea to do a foot washing for the women one afternoon to have a time to pamper them and lift them up. We purchased plastic tubs and foot washing scrub, lotions, salts in San Diego before heading down.

On Wednesday we had a fellowship day planned where our group would go with the church family at Cristo Rey to the beach and hang out together in a more relaxed atmosphere. This posed to be the perfect time/day to do our foot washing. We set up with some of the women there to meet at the church at 1:00, inviting any girls, teens/women to come.

Amber read a passage in her Spanish bible from John 13:1-17 that tells the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. As the women sat a listened our girls began to wash and massage their feet. Some of the women enjoyed it and were very appreciative, a few were uncomfortable with us touching their feet but they sat nearby and listened. Women don't get the same TLC and pampering (little to none) that we do in America. It was a joy and priviledge to be able to serve them in that way.

Children's Ministry

The girls on our trip were in charge of the children's ministry this week. Five girls did bible story lessons and Mayerly interpreted for the group. Having never been before myself I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've always heard that the culture in Mexico tends to be much more laid back, unscheduled and flexible. That could not have been more true this week. There was a general layout of things we had planned, but every day was different. In general a typical day of ministry would be getting to Cristo Rey, our church site, and going out to invite kids to come to the bible club that day. Kids would begin to gather and we'd play games, kick ball, jump rope and soccer. The girls would get things going shortly after by leading singing...children's songs we'd learned in Spanish. A girl would present the verse of the day and we'd all practice together. Another girl would give her bible lesson giving an invitation at the end allowing kids to have a time to respond to what they learned, ask questions and pray together with a leader if they wanted to. At the end of the lesson we'd do a craft together and go out and play with whatever time was left. There was never a set beginning and ending time, we just started when the kids showed up and they would leave any time after craft, sometimes staying around until we had dinner.

From what I could tell, most of the kids that came to our bible club were kids that already attend Cristo Rey. Throughout the week we had between 20-35 kids each day. There were two evenings that we did children's ministry as well. We were not prepared for this having been told prior to leaving that we would not be doing evening ministry, but again, FLEXIBILITY was the theme. Emily gave her lesson Tuesday night because we skipped Wednesday afternoon's club time and I did an impromptu lesson Thursday night on John 15:5. The kids made the props and I had them act out a skit to that verse then asked them questions about it.

I think the relaxed atmosphere and forgiving scheduling helped the girls relax and let down their guard a lot quicker. Most of the girls that went were nervous about leading ministry, but after the first day they opened up loved on the kids, led the club time and filled in as needed. I loved being able to sit back and watch them step up and not hold back as we (myself included) often do back home. They made me proud!

Travel to Mexico

We're back from an incredible trip to Rosarito, Mexico! Many thanks to those who were praying for us those 8 days! All in all things went very well, no major hang ups, NO SICKNESS, a huge answer, one student committed her life to Christ, interactions with Mexicans were encouraging (church family and new acquaintances), and WBC students stepped up to the plate in terms of leading the ministries they were involved in. There is a lot I would like to share so I am going to pick some highlights and break it up a little to give you a better picture of what we did and learned.

Starting out the trip we had a couple "gliches." One of our guy leaders, Cody, got very sick with an infection a couple days before we were supposed to leave for Mexico. It became clear the day prior to leaving that he was not going to be able to make the trip. The Lord provided someone last minute to take Cody's place. Rob Sande, the resource manager at WBC, readily stepped in leaving his family for a week. The leader dynamics, Amber, me, Rob and Kris, turned out to be a huge blessing. We worked very well together. Goes to show God knows what is needed when and where and he is in control!

We were delayed leaving Anchorage Friday night which ended up messing our connections for the rest of the day. Initially we were going to get into San Diego early in the morning Saturday and go to a water park together as a fun day. What ended up happening is our group was split in two. One group got to S. Diego around 3:00 p.m. and another got in at 8:00p.m. Needless to say our "fun day" didn't happen, but there was adventure to be had in spontineity.

Kris, Rob and Amber (3 leaders) went with the 1st group on to San Diego. I stayed in Seattle with 6 students for a 7 hour layover. Not wanting to lay around in a airport and knowing our water park day was shot, I gave the students the option of going downtown together to scope out the water front, Pike's Market etc. They were excited about the idea so off we went. Kris and I touched base via cell phones and his comment to me when he heard our group was on a bus to downtown was, "please stay together!" For those who don't know I am directionally challenged and being the only leader, I think it made him a little nervous. We had a blast getting out and soaking in the 80+ degree weather together and made it back in time to catch our flight to CA. It was a blessing in disguise. By 9:00p.m. we were all reunited and eating dinner at Olive Garden. We spent the night at a small private college campus that night before heading down into Mexico the next afternoon.

final Mexico meeting

Last night we met at the Howell's for our final Mexico briefing and prep time. Amber reviewed some cultural things with us...children's games, interpreting tips etc. and then we broke up into our ministry groups to practice with our team interpreters. It is exciting to be at this point in the process. All the pieces have been pulled together, children's lessons, games, crafts are ready to go. The girls have done an AWESOME job preparing!! This by far has been the most prep for a youth trip that I have ever been on. I am proud of all the girls going. Now we get to look forward to meeting the people in Rosarito that I've heard so much about. A handful of people on this year's team have been one or several times before so they will be enjoying a reunion with people.

We are meeting tomorrow night, Friday, in Wasilla and then heading in to town to fly out that night. The plan is to spend Saturday at a water park in San Diego and drive into Mexico Sunday morning. I won't have computer access down there, but will update my blog when we get back after the 1st of July.

On a personal note, thanks to those of you who have mailed notes and cards or given me a card or personal word of encouragement the past few weeks. It means the world to me to know that there are people dedicated to praying for me and the teams I will be with this summer. You have no idea how encouraging it is. Thank you!! Blessings on you too this summer!

Mayor's Marathon

Last year three of my youth girls and I decided to start a "tradition." We entered the Mayor's Marathon Relay race in Anchorage. Yesterday we competed in it for the 2nd time and had a blast...at least I think we all had a blast...aside from getting up at the crack of o-thirty on a summer day!

The relay is broken into 4 segments, my leg 7.1 miles, Johanna ran 2nd for 8.1 miles (our endurance girl), Erin ran 3rd for 5.5 miles and Emily brought it home with 5.5 miles...total distance, 26.2 miles. The weather was perfect this year, slightly over cast and in the low 60s. The general course leads from Bartlett High to West High in Anchorage. During my leg we had a crossing with a moose and all the out of staters (New Yorkers) oooed and awed with excitement over it! It was a blast! I love talking with people on the way about where they're from and sometimes why they are racing...cancer sponser etc. You meet a lot of interesting people from all over. Only one more year left girls!!

reunion...

This past Thursday night we had a youth group reunion with one of our old leaders, Sarah. She moved a couple summers ago to NC where her husband is going to seminary. Blessing of all blessings, they are back all summer in AK working and interning. Ashley is working at WBC helping some with the construction of our new building along with leading the college group and preaching occassionally on Sundays.

Soooooo, the girls have been ACHING to have time with Sarah and catch up. They all came over to my house that night and we sat around talking, not hard for girls to do, and hearing everyone's stories. It was a natural fit to have Sarah back with us. We MISS not having you here Sarah!! It's great to have some time together though and I know that God is preparing your awesome family for incredible future ministry! You are dear to my heart! We love you!!

summer bridge shot...

Mom and I were in Anchorage this weekend for a Beth Moore conference. An excellent speaker/ teacher of the Bible. Beth has written books and several bible studies. I have yet to do one, but have heard great things about them. I hope to do one this fall called "Believing God." Her focus this weekend was from II Kings hitting on spiritual warfare that we battle daily and how to overcome it. There are SO many lies, doubts and fears we buy into b/c satan wants nothing more than to tear us down and destroy us.

One of the things that struck me the most was putting so much weight on "statistics." Whether it be odds of survival against a deadly disease, academic performance, self-esteem, overcoming an addiction, odds of staying married/healthy marrital relationship etc. One of the "stats" that has weighed on me the last several months is the percentage of divorce, extramarrital affairs and pornography. Sometimes I am bogged down by it and I think marriage is a farce. What's the point when the odds are likely a marriage will be destroyed by one of those stats. Really, though it's a fat lie from satan. Those things definitely DO happen, A LOT more than they should, but I don't need to throw marriage out the window b/c the odds are poor of having a healthy marriage. God is bigger than any stat, whatever it's in relation to and He has the power of ALL things...mainly over satan, who one day will be bound by all the havoc he is causing right now. Satan has NO power over God and that is FREEING!! As Christians we can live daily in VICTORY b/c sin has no stronghold over us! Praise the Lord for that!

So, that was a longer summary than I had in mind, but all in all it was a short, but good conference. She is a dynamic speaker and I recommend going to see her sometime if you have the chance.

The main reason I am posting a blog today is to share my latest Knik River bridge picture...summer time! Enjoy!

Curtis Menard Memorial Run

My dad and I ran the CCM Memorial run this morning in Wasilla. Curtis was a family friend that I knew through Wasilla Bible Church. I used to babysit their kids when I was in high school. Now Gabrielle is in middle school! Curtis was killed in a private airplane crash in August of 2001 leaving behind his wife of 9 years, Carole and four children. Sullivan at the time was 10 months old. A very hard hit for our community, church and family. Carole is an AMAZING woman and continues to be a good friend. I enjoy stopping by occassionally to see how things are going.

Today was the 5th annual memorial run. There was a great turn out and perfect weather! So dad and I ran it this year (5K) with personal goals in mind. And yes, Dean and Dale, he STILL beats me! The Ellers are little competative, particularly with running stats. I had a PR at 23:30 minutes and dad ran it in 22:48. I figure I have age on my side so I'll pass him up eventually. :-)

Eagle takes flight...

I'm adding some fantastic eagle shots Carrie took while we were down in Seward this past April. Incredible shots Miss Photographer! Eagles are such a majestic bird. They were all over in Seward. An awesome sight!

Knik River Bridge

My favorite local scene again, but in spring. Knik River bridge is one I drive across to and from Anchorage. I took a picture of it in late summer years ago before I left for college and kept the picture on my wall all through college. I decided this year to get a picture of it every season. Fall and spring are the most challenging b/c if you blink you miss the season. Literally we have about 2 weeks of each. This was our "spring" taken about 2 weeks ago. We are now in full on summer with the past seven days being in the upper 70s low 80s! Thank you Jesus for SUNSHINE and warm weather! For a peek at the winter bridge click back to my January posts...so far that's my favorite season picture. Gotta love Alaska!

Gold Nugget Triathlon

I competed today in my second GNT (Gold Nugget Triathlon) and had a blast! A couple of things made this race particularly fun this year. One...I got to train with a team. We dubbed ourselves team "Surf 'n' Turf." It consisted of myself, one close friend, Katie Conover, and three new friends, Wendy Bredburg, her sister Natalie and their sister in law Brandie. The second great part about today was the weather. It was INCREDIBLE!! Probably the nicest spring day we've had yet this year! Last year I recall rain, wind and chilliness!! This year was awesome! I don't know my ranking or times yet, they come out online tomorrow, but I felt great and had a blast...that's what matters most!

The GNT is one of the largest all women triathlons in the nation. Women of all ages, ablities, shapes and sizes compete...from age 10-80. There were 1100 women registed this year! The race consists of a 10 lap swim in a pool, 10 mile bike and 4.1 mile run. Swimming is my toughest and running is my best. Woohoo for running!! I enjoy all three, at least my interest in swimming is growing. I figure it may be the only thing I can do when I'm 80 so I better learn now! :-)

The picture is of me and Katie post race at her sister's house. She had a birthday BBQ with a bunch of people afterward. Happy birthday Conover! Thanks for introducing me to something so fun!!

A giRl tHinG...

Monday the high school girl youth leaders put together a full day retreat for all 9-12 grade girls. There were several girls from WBC and a handful of girls from other local churches. All in all about 35 girls came and it was...AWESOME!!

We broke the day up into four main sessions covering the following hot topics, Friendship, Faith and Life, Dating and What about Me?? It got going at 9:00 a.m. and went until a little after 8:00 p.m. The day started with a time of worship, singing and then broke into a quite time alone...prayer stations focusing on four areas of prayer: confession, thanksgiving and adoration, suplication and submission. After that the sessions began! Carrie Lambing headed up the session on friendships and went through "seasons," spring, summer, winter and fall friendships. Janeen Maxwell and I headed up faith and life touching on worship, fellow-SHIP (different than cruise ship), and the BIBLE. Jen Howell and Tammy-wa headed up a totally fun session on guys and dating. Then Sarah Novak and Amanda shakin' Bacon wrapped it all up with "What about ME??" A session that focused on healthy habits, eating disorders, exercise, time management, stress etc. A LOT of ground was covered!

In the mix of all that Brianna did a crafty key chain deal and another break led to the true Alaskan craft session...making purses out of duct tape! Talk about creative juices!! There were some stellar purses designed. All in all it was one of the most fun days I have had in a long time. It was a blast preparing and doing. An incredible group of leaders and an awesome group of girls. I'm thankful I got to be a part!

MExiCo oR buSt!

Tonight we had our 2nd Mexico meeting...just the children's ministry team this time. Each girl is going to be leading a lesson/Bible story one of the 5 days we are there. Tonight they reviewed their lessons and we talked about songs we're going to attempt to learn...in SPANISH, woohoo!! We decided, after listening to our CDs that having a copy of the lyrics would be most helpful. I don't know if you've ever listened to music in another language, most of you probably have, but it's hard to hear the words when it all blends together in a melody. You can memorize just about any music if you listen to it long enough...just the way music works, but it's nice to know what you're saying!

Why the mug shot look you ask? We're a serious group...strictly business. Actually that's not even close to the truth. They were posing as a interview committee, but it came out to be more of a mug shot look. Nice ladies! !Buenos noches!

Phrase of the day... "Dios le bendiga." Leave a comment if you know what it means.

(girls from left to right: Natalie, Mayerly, Emily, Diana, Cathy, not pictured: Elizabeth)

Merge

Woohoo! We had our first Merge meeting tonight with the sophomore gang that is going to Chicago this year. It was an awesome training night at the Parker pad! Tammy-wa, you are the hostess with the mostess bar none! Thanks for opening up your home during a busy season.

Merge, formerly known as SEMP, is a week long experience geared for high school students to "merge" with God's mission of love and restoration. What in the world does that mean you ask?? Basically, it's a week for kids to be inspired and trained to live and love like Jesus did in their OWN communities...it encourages them to be able to go home and serve where they live and be confident to share their faith. We had three leaders speak on outreach and give some general info on how the week will be laid out when we get there. There are 16 sophomore students going and 6 leaders. Dan, Steve and Sean will be leading the guys and driving us around Chicago. Sarah and Brianna will be leading their girls and I will be overseeing the logistics part of it all.

The team will be flying out July 15th and will be spending a week on Wheaton's campus. We'll be there with several other youth groups from all over the country. Last year there were about 1,000 youth participating...not including all the leaders! Most days we do service projects and outreach with other youth groups. It's a great opportunity for our students to connect with other teens. Merge ends on Friday, but we will be staying an extra day and half to hang out, bond as a group and check out some of the Chicago sites...Six Flags is our big Saturday shabang before we head home on Sunday.

I am very excited about going again this year. I feel somewhat bonded with this group already b/c I was able to go with them on their 8th grade campout a couple years ago. They are an AWESOME group of teens! The leaders going are incredible too! Stay tuned for more later on Merge!

Mexico training #1...

We had our first Mexico team meeting yesterday out at the Howell's (youth pastor's house). It was a packed day (3-9 p.m.) with lots of information, intro stuff and great fellowship! Our team consists of 6 Junior girls, 5 guys, myself, another girl leader/interpreter, and 3 guy leaders. The girls going are Mayerly, Natalie, Diana, Emily, Cathy and Elizabeth. The guys going are Alan, Nate, Shane, Cameron and Jeremy Burris.

There can be up to three ministry teams on this trip but b/c of the smaller group size we'll be focusing on two: children's ministry and sports ministry. I am excited that it is a smaller group b/c I think it will allow for more intimate bonding with the whole team.

Cody is in charge of the sports ministry team and Eddie will be helping out. Amber Shea will be the interpreter for that ministry. I am in charge of overseeing the children's ministry with my girls. Mayerly, one of my girls, will be our group's interpreter. Mayerly is from Columbia and speaks Spanish fluently. She actually volunteers at my school 2 days a week workingin the Spanish Immersion classes at Larson. Mayerly has been to Mexico a couple times prior as an interpreter and she is excited to be going this year with her own group. Kris, our youth pastor, will be overseeing the group as a whole.

I loved having yesterday with the team to get to know some of the students better and their desires/expecatations for going on a trip like this. There are a handful of guys AND girls that are interested in possibly seeking missions in some form in the future. I am EXCITED to see how God will use this trip to stir in their hearts and plant seeds for future ministry! He has gifted them all in unique and awesome ways!

We will be meeting 3 more times before we actually take off for Mexico. Hence the "training #1" title. :-) Stay tuned for more...

snow in April...

I got up Monday morning to go to work and I hear an ever so familar sounds outside... scraping of snow shovels. My dad is outside shoveling the driveway b/c there is a fresh 5" covering of SNOW!! This was on April 24th!! I don't know if it's global warming, freezing or just weather schizophrenia, but this is crazy! I keep telling my track kids, when the fields dry up a little we'll be on them...that may not happen until the season is over at this rate. Hard to do hurdles, long jumping and softball throwing when your jumping in SNOW and balls are buried!! Makes for an interesting month and creative training. Gotta love Alaskan weather!

Seward

Last week Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Seward with two of my closest friends, Carrie and Kari. My old college roommate from MN, Kari, came up for the Easter holiday and following week to visit and hang out. I was a little concerned about the timing with work, track and youth group being so busy right now, but the timing couldn't have been better. I ended up being sick most of the week, but a blessing in disguise b/c I took a couple sick days and was able to lay low and have that time to just talk and catch up with her. Friday the three of us drove down to Seward...through the rain, sleet and yes SNOW. We were pretty fogged in Friday, but Saturday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Clear skies and SUNSHINE!! Thank you Jesus for sun! We toured around the area, walked on the marina, checked out the Sea Life Center and soaked in the scenery. A double blessing of a weekend b/c Carrie (current youth assistant at my church) is moving in June and Kari (my old roommate) got to see more of the beautiful state I live in. I am thankful for that time and memory with both of you!! Thanks for going!

Junior Prom...

Saturday was Colony High's prom and Amanda and I had the honor of helping four of our youth girls get bee-yoo-ti-fied for the great occassion! The festivities started at 9:30 a.m. at Natalie's house. We filled up on homemade chocolate chip sourdough pancakes, compliments of Jinks (her mother), then the curling, toe painting and primping began. Amanda does AMAZING hair styles and fixed Johanna's and Natalie's hair while others of us painted fingers and toes.

Later that afternoon a second round came out to Amanda's...Erin and Elizabeth. Both girls had GREAT hair, perfect for a Pride and Prejudice movie! The second round was a blizt because they had just finished a science olympiad and were heading into Anchorage for the dance shortly after. The day was a blast! A memory that won't be forgotten and a tradition that needs to continue next year! My youth girls are BEAUTIFUL!!

Elizabeth...

Erin...

Natalie...

Johanna...

spring??

We just got another fresh sprinkle 3" of snow yesterday, April 2nd, so I am living "spring" vicariously through my pictures from North Carolina. All the trees and cherry blossoms were in full bloom this past month. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Birthday Blessings

I met up with nine of my girl friends this afternoon at Evangelos Restaurant to celebrate my birthday. I don't realize sometimes how blessed I am with so many friends, from all walks of life...married, single, friends in ministry, friends from work, friends from way back. It was a great time to hang out, catch up and eat great food! My lunch and desert was paid for by the owner and his wife...my former boss. I worked at Evangelos for 4 years just out of high school. I went to thank them for my lunch and Diana, Angelo's wife, gave me a dozen long stemmed roses to say, "happy birthday!" It was a complete surprise to me and added to the specialness of the day...in some ways though it doesn't surprise me because that is just Diana's nature. She is always giving, going above and beyond with hostessing and making people feel loved. Thanks Diana and Angelo! Thanks too, to all my friends who stopped by to celebrate with me!

Exciting news!

So I have some pretty exciting news to share from the Eller homefront. My brother is ENGAGED!! Woohoo!! A wedding for the Eller family! He proposed to his, now fiance, Aimy yesterday with the majority of the Wasilla PD there to cheer them on...lights and all! They are planning on getting married sometime this summer between all the sibling trips...Aimy's brother and sister-in-law will be in Europe 6 weeks and I'll be gone off and on 5 weeks. I'm pretty pumped, I'm going to have a SISTER!! I am very happy for them.

Geo Cacheing...

While I was in North Caroline, the Brown's took us out on geo cacheing hunt day. For those of you who have never heard of geo cacheing, it's like a glorified scavenger hunt. There are caches all over the world! You go to www.geocacheing.com and type in your zip code. All the caches in your area will show up, GPS coordinates will show up with some clues as to how find the cache. Then you and your GPS are off! In urban areas, like NC, there are a lot of micro caches that are pretty easy (terrain wise) to find. I tried with a group last summer to find a cache in Crow Pass AK, but to no avail. Most Alaskans that cache are outdoorsy and pretty hard core, hiding caches on top of mountains or places like Crow Pass that are not easily accesible. Anywhoo, if your the outdoorsy, scavenger hunt type I recommend checking out cacheing sometime! It's addicting!

tea parties...

I mentioned in my last entry that one of Charlotte's favorite things to do while we were in NC was have tea parties...more for an excuse to consume cookies than to actually have "tea." Some day's we'd have 3 or 4! I eventually asked if she just wanted to have a cookie instead of pull out the formal tea dining wear...she agreed!

North Carolina Sunshine!

Tuesday night I flew into NC to see Sarah and surprise her with Tosha Cypher being there! She had NO idea, we were able to keep a tight lid on it and she was completely surprised! As soon as we got home, about 11:30 p.m. Charlotte set up a tea party on the floor and four of us sat down to our first, of many, lady bug tea parties. She loved the cookies Cathy! I will add pictures when I get home. :)

The past couple days have been relaxing, great times catching up and seeing Charlotte and Liam. Liam is very mild and mellow, an easy baby, with a melt your heart huge smile! Charlotte is full of personality and energy. From a speech path perspective, she has advanced speech and language. Her vocabulary is huge and she's VERY articulate! She has become Tosha's new shadow, they are "best friends."

I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to go to a couple seminary classes with Ashley, New Testament and International Church Planting. Fascinating stuff! Confirms even more, my desire to go to seminary.

Tomorrow, while Ashley is working (his first day at a new job, a huge answer to prayer!), the girls are going shopping. Tonya Cribb, a former AK roommate, now back in SC is driving up to spend the weekend with us. Woohoo, a big girl party bash! Ashley may head over to his parents to get away from the maddness! :)

Minneapolis in March

Woohoo for spring break! I flew in Sunday morning to Minneapolis to a nice sunny 50 degrees and then I woke up Monday morning to a fresh 12" of snow! Guess it goes with the saying, "March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a lamb."

Kari, my college roommate, and I spent a good part of the afternoon shoveling neighbors out on her road. All, in all, my time in MN was a blast. Low key and refreshing. Sunday we went with some friends after church to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to view the new displays. I also learned a new game called Bohnanzah. Kari gave it to me for Christmas, so I'll have to show all you Alaskans when I get back. It's a blast!

Monday night we met up with Holli, another close college friend, and had dinner together. We had a great time catching up seeing pictures of her cute kiddos.