mission connexion northwest part 1

this weekend becky and i went to mission connexion northwest at crossroads community church. if you know me personally, you know how much i love missions. i have not been able to 'go' in recent years (partly my fault, but partly i have been feeling that God has me more as a sender and supporter for now) but oh how i have loved my previous trips. i firmly believe that missions is for every Christian and that if you are not 'going' then you need to be 'sending'. missions is not something that is negotiable, not something you can say 'it's not my bag' to. Christ clearly gave the great commission and the great commandment because they are the way to spread His good news. ok, off my soapbox now :)

the conference started friday night with one workshop (didn't attend because of timing) and then one large group seminar. the speaker that night was joseph d'souza who is the president of dalit freedom network. i had heard about dalits several years ago but even then not very in depth. the dalit are the lowest caste in hindu's caste system. according to their beliefs, they are so spiritually polluted that if an upper-caste person is touched by the shadow of a dalit then they themselves become polluted. for this reason in villages where there is some possibility that this may happen, the dalit will lay down in the street (even the mud) when someone of an upper caste walks by so that their shadow does not touch the upper caste person. HOW MESSED UP IS THIS?? these people who in reality are infinitely loved by a gracious God are told that they are so worthless and bad that they WILL NEVER HAVE ACCESS TO GOD. can you imagine the despair? to have absolutely no hope? to believe that God wants nothing to do with you-ever?

now, imagine being told that you are actually made in the image of God. imagine being told that you have dignity and purpose because God valued you enough to die for you. what would you do with that? i think you might do what hundreds of thousands of indians are doing-accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and finally being reconciled to the One True God.

i wish you could have been there to hear this account from joseph's mouth. in fact, if you want to hear it in dvd form let me know and we'll set up a time to get together and watch it. i guarantee that you will not feel the same way about the message of the gospel ever again. i had a huge 'ah ha' moment when joseph was talking about the dalit mindset and the approach missionaries use to share the gospel to the dalit. you see, in much of 'western' churches and seminars we learn about making sure a person understands that they are a helpless sinner in need of a savior, as without the belief that you are a sinner -there is no reconciliation needed between yourself and a just God. however, the dalit already know they are worthless sinners. it is all they have ever been told. they don't need to be reminded that this is what they are. what they need to be told is that they have been made in the image of God for His glory alone. that through the cross Jesus gave their life a new identity and meaning and DIGNITY.they now have access to God through Jesus because of their dignity and value as God's prized creation. the reason this struck me so much is that it challenges our cookie cutter view of witnessing and missions. using the same four step plan of salvation i learned in bible college is not going to cut it with everyone. we have to find out what a person's individual 'hang up' is with their identity/life/world view and come against IT with truth. if you had told me this in a different context i would probably say it sounds a little too liberal and might compromise the truth. but i understand now.

truth is not relative, but the WAY we share it IS. we can be completely true to the scriptures and not diminish God in any way but still spread the Word in a way that will effectively touch people's lives.

Father, forgive me for putting your message in a box! open my eyes to new opportunities to share You with the world.

mt hood railroad

there was homemade rootbeer at the pub we ate at. i looooove rootbeer!

i guess it's not THAT bad of a view to live with every day :)

a view of the dome car

glamor shots by katie

the day after sand in the city becky and i went to parksdale, oregon on the mt hood railroad western train robbery excursion. she had gotten free passes from a customer of hers, and invited me to go along. it was so nice! we rode in the dome car which was very nice. the seats were comfy (important for a 4 hour ride) and the a/c was nice too (also important for a 4 hour ride). the tracks went through forresty areas, pastures and fruit orchards finally making it's destination in parksdale. there was a great pub in town that we ate dinner in, even though we brought our own picnic lunch, and got delicious ice cream cones from a little parlor.

i highly recommend the mt hood railroad. if you take kids, definitely take some toys and coloring books cause it is a long ride. BUT it's not like being in a car because they can move around and walk down the isle and around the cars.

check out their website for more events!

sand in the city 2009

well, one of my summer of fun ideas was to go to the sand in the city event at pioneer courthouse square, and i went! becky had never been to the event so i dragged her along too :) we started off at the square, then headed over to the mall for lunch and window shopping. FYI there is a moonstruck chocolates kiosk at poineer square mall. consider yourself forewarned :)

bart simpson...cowabunga dude :)

this was a cute display. you may not notice the big sasquatch footprint in the sand where 'he' and the smart car are placed. this display was done by an energy conservation group, i think.

the two pics above were of my favorite display. it is called 'family game night' and was all different boardgames families can play. the pic directly above is of hungry hungry hippo :) i loved that game when i was little!! then notice the life car in the top picture too. :)

me and my boyfriend

yeah, becky tried to creep in, but ended up keeping her distance. good idea, girlie :)

summer of fun schedule

the last few summers i have tried to mark down on my calendar what events are taking place in pdx and vanc during the summer months. i check out the city of vancouver website to see what is going on downtown (mainly at the fort and esther short park), clark county fairgrounds website, and the city of portland parks and recreation. the portland website lists all of the parks and major public areas so you can search by area to see what is taking place. i really like the events at pioneer courthouse square and the japanese and chinese gardens. another place to look is the website for the oregon convention center and portland expo center. the types of events held at these two venues are going to be more 'conventiony' than entertainment based, but are still worth looking into.

below are some of the events that i have on my calendar...i may make it to all of them, or none of them but the goal is to at least have no excuse for not having fun :)

JULY
Friday 10th-Flicks on the Bricks (FOTB), Pioneer Courthouse Square (PCS), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Take a blanket, low folding chair or bean bag and watch movies presented on a screen at the Square. Cost:It's free!
Friday 17th-Saturday 18th-Yoshida's Sand in the City, PCS This is a really fun event where they fill up the Square with sand and have sand-sculpture building contests. There are a lot of really interesting sculptures, and its so neat to see the teams working together. Cost: Free
Saturday 18th-1860's Baseball at the Ft. Vancouver Historical Reserve Parade Grounds. I haven't been able to make it to this event in the past couple of years, but I hear it's really neat to watch. The game is played just like it was in 1860 (apparently the rules and regulations were different then). Cost:Free!
Sunday 19th-Southwest Washington Humane Society Open House. The new east county facility is finished! Take a tour, learn about microchipping and spaying/neutering your pets, and get information on the services that the HS offers. Cost: Free
Friday 24th-FOTB at PCS, Dirty Dancing. This is probably gonna be a really fun one to be at! Tell me you don't think there will be sing along!!! :) Cost: Free
Friday 24th-25th-Camas Days in Downtown Camas, Wa. Lots of events for the whole family! Enjoy shopping in the cute boutiques, good food and music and other vendors. Cost: Free (except of course if you buy something)
Friday 31st-Tillamook Celebration at PCS. Tillamook will be sampling cheese and ice cream in celebration of their anniversary. Cost: Free. FREE CHEESE PEOPLE :)

AUGUST
Friday 7th-FOTB at PCS Jurassic Park. A good one to take the older kids to! I remember seeing this movie in the theater as an early teen (that dates me!) and it's just not the same on a TV screen. Might be your only chance to see it again in big projection! Cost: Free
Saturday 15th-Another installment of 1860's Baseball. Same details as above.
Sunday 16th-India Festival at PCS. Go experience Indian music, food and vendors at PCS. This would be a great learning opportunity for kids, and a perfect chance to teach them about different cultures and (if age appropriate) the persecuted church and human rights.Cost: Free
Friday 21st-FOTB at PCS Anchorman! Not one for the kids, but a fun one to take some of your friends to. Cost: Free
Friday 28th-Italian Festival at PCS. Need I say more than Italian food?? Nope. Cost: Free

there are a lot of other activities out there...please let me know if you know of anything interesting that i missed, or if you know of other sites to look at for local entertainment!!

fun times

last saturday we went to the portland international rose test garden in portland, oregon. the occassion (though you definitely don't need an occassion to go!) was my mom's birthday and she had never been up to the garden. mom, dad and i met up with seth and breanne and made our way through the seemingly endless rows of roses. some were so bright, almost neon, while others were so pale you could hardly tell what color they were supposed to be! it was a great day for being outside too. as you may know, our weather around here is a little 'ify' at best this time of year so you never really know what you're going to get. on our day it was warm, overcast (great for pictures) and not a drop of rain!

as we walked around the flowers we found fun places to have our pictures taken, then settled in one of the courtyard for some family photos. i set up my tripod and snapped away. i love photography so it was fun to have some captive subjects :)

after we were done at the garden we drove down to pf changs in the heart of the pearl district. we had quite the wait (because someone, who shall remain nameless...ok, me, didn't make reservations) but it was worth it. my mom highly recommends the shrimp in lobster sauce and the dynamite shrimp! ;)

here are some pics from our day:

seth and me

can you feel the love?

awww...

mom and dad

seth and breanne

the whole family

canada 2009

as we did last year, my roommies from New Tribes Bible Institute got together for a weekend of fun. i just love these girls!! last year kristyl hosted us in her home in michigan and this year sharon hosted us in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.


mostly we just sat around and talked, catching up with what's been going on in eachothers lives in the past year. being adults brings a whole new line of conversation compared to when we were in college. struggles with marriage, jobs, having children, trying to have children, family, money (well, we talked about money when we were in college but we were okay with not having money then!!! :) one big excursion we made was to go get fries from under the bluewater bridge. apparently Sarnia is known for their french fries and people make it a special stop when traveling across the bridge to get fries. oh, it was heavenly! great fries, just by themselves since they are hand cut and freshly cooked, then get a nice spritz of vinegar and salt before being served. however, i did partake in the large serving of poutine. yummmmmmy :) also we had deep fried pickles. well, you should just watch the video.


let me introduce the characters :)



me of course
elisa

kristylsharon and her husband brandon
**Okay, so i am having a ton of technical difficulties posting video right now. i'll have to update w/ video later.

the next visit will be held here in vancouver and believe me, much craziness will ensue. i already have so many places in mind that i want to take the girls to it's just a matter of time!

post of pics

we took jesse and two of my mom's old day care kids to the park...typical face for him :)

us at the oregon zoo

bekah, becky and me at the beth moore conference @ memorial colluseum. absolutely life changing! so much fun, great worship and 7,000 other women being touched by the Holy Spirit through that wonderful woman.

a march trip to cannon beach w/ friends

this video is of us using a GINORMOUS piece of kelp as a jump rope. oh the entertainment one can find at the beach :) darlene was on camera duty, feng and i were swinging the 'rope' and nicole and debbi were the athletes

It's been a long time

Hello :)
i took a sabatical from blogging basically because my life was pretty boring for a while :) i have moved back in with my parents for a while to pay off my debt and save some money. this savings will either go to purchasing a condo or getting me back on my feet in an apartment so i can pursue education.
currently i am considering going to nursing school at clark which means i need to complete my prerequisites in a few sciences. i am not afraid of the courses since i love science and am in such a different place than i was when i was at clark years ago. okay, so i am actually in the same physical place, living w/ mom and dad but in a much different place emotionally and in my maturity. :)
if you have known my educational hopes in the past 6 months you might be wondering what happened to midwifery and lactation consulting. well, i have not given up on these but have moved them to the back of the educational line. while i could work independently as a lactation consultant, i would like to have the option of working in a hospital as it provides a more stable work schedule. the same goes for midwifery. in washington and oregon midwives and lactation consultants can practice outside of the hospital in homes and in birthing centers. however, this requires me to make a significant investment in supplies/facility that is a risk i don't really want to take. i grew up watching my parents struggle in their home-based businesses and i just don't like the insecurity of maybe or maybe not having 'customers'. to work in a hospital requires an RN for lactation and a masters degree in midwifery for being a nurse midwife. thus my decision to pursue my RN before anything else. besides, maybe going through my labor and delivery rotation will completely turn me off to the birth process...at least i have other options as an RN!
i have started going back to therapy on a weekly basis (i was down to once a month) and am hoping it will be a big help. i am just unable to take my antidepressants because of all the physical side effects, though the medicine works SO WELL to regulate my moods. i see a nice christian woman, which makes it easier to talk about all of my issues. she is able to offer support on an emotional, physical and spiritual level and i think that makes all the difference in the world when dealing with depression. though i am not a person who thinks that praying harder and reading your bible more will cure your mood disorder, spirituality definitely plays a part in recovering from these issues.
i have been having a ton of fun lately with my nephew jesse! we have been to the parks, the oregon zoo, we shop, cook and of course color. he's so well behaved and has such a great personality, i just love him being around. he likes coming over here too because he gets special blueberry 'pannycakes' and he also likes to chase and play with maggie.
i guess that's a brief synopsis of some of my life recently. i'll post a blog entry of pictures, and then one about my most recent trip to see my college roommies from NTBI.

jouvenile fun

lately my parents and i have been taking care of my nephew j almost every weekend. though we are sad about the reason why we are seeing so much of him, we are so glad to be able to build relationships with him.
we have had some good fun together lately too, just me and him. he loves maggie and gets a kick out of watching her run around and chase things. we have gone to the park a couple of times, gone shopping, watched movies, cooked and grocery shopping has never been so fun as it was a couple weeks ago!...okay, i have to elaborate on that a little...we went to whole foods, which if you have ever been there you know that they carry 'whole' foods and some pretty wacky items. the seafood section was an absolute amazement to him because he had never seen a whole fish at the store or a whole crab, live lobster, whole chicken or anything in it's somewhat 'natural' state. we went down the asian food section where i was getting some nori for sushi, and he saw some crazy sea urchin looking thing and BEGGED me to buy it for him because "i love this stuff. i eat it all the time" he said. yeah right!! i know the type of food this kid eats and it certainly isn't sea urchin. we then went to the book section of the store (i tried to find a cookbook to no avail :( ) where apparently he had been NEEDING every single book we saw. i couldn't contain my amusement any longer when he picked up a certain book and wanted me to purchase it for him. here's the dialogue:
j: oh man aunt k, i NEED this book. i have been looking for it everywhere!
me: really? THAT book?
j: yeah! it's so good and i have been wanting it for a long time. will you buy it for me?
me: do you know what that book is about?
j: no, but i really need it!
me: j, do you like to eat?
j: (with a look of 'um, duh! of course i like to eat!') yeah!
me: well, that book is about NOT eating.
j: silent, but his face is quizzical....then he speaks..WHAT?!?!? (in a tone that spoke for itself)
me: yeah, i don't think you want that book. maybe when you are older and your liver is dying from preservative overload and cholesterol....
the book was about doing a fasting cleanse for your liver! :) he was such a crack up. we spent about an hour and a half at whole foods looking at everything. i think he has a crush on the cheese sample lady,too.
it's fun to see the world through kid glasses and experience things in a different way. he is still my family, mind you, so he does have quite the ornery side! :) he certainly is a cutie though and i just love spending time with him.

christmas!

i love christmas! december 26th is the worst day of the year for me because it means that i have to wait another 364 days for christmas to be here again. i do try to savor the holiday season though by decorating my house, doing fun holiday things and listening to inordinate amounts of christmas music.
this year was fun setting up for christmas because N and D were here to share it with me; whereas last two years i have been living alone. last friday i posed the question of going to get a christmas tree and N became very excited about the thought of WALKING to the corner to get our tree and CARRYING it back down mill plain blvd. as crazy as it sounded....it also sounded fun :) so we bundled up and headed out. we had walked this same distance during the summer going to sheridan's for ice cream but let me tell you, the walk seemed a lot longer when it was 35 degrees out versus the hot summer afternoon! we walked around for a bit looking for the 'perfect' tree. after about 20 minutes of looking we found the one....we named him "gap tooth" because he has quite a gap at the top between some of the branches. the guy at the tree stand made fun of us for carrying the tree home and kept trying to convince us that we needed help. we told him he was a chauvenist and that women can do anything they set their minds to and walked off...carrying our tree.

maggie had to have a say in what tree we picked too...after all, she is a member of this household! ;)

D...cute as always (p.s. she's getting married in less than a week!!! woo hoo! )

i am not excited at all to be christmas tree hunting. nope, not at all.

N dancing to the christmas music with Doug...doug fir that is!

we must have been quite a site to see, walking down mill plain with our christmas tree in tow! i commented that all that was missing from this norman rockwell-ian scene was a few inches of snow on the ground :)

we got it home just fine and set it up right away. i love trees that go all the way up to the ceiling but that aren't too fat around, so this tree is perfect! gap tooth and all :)

mom dates

on saturday N, J and i took our moms for a nite out on the town! first we went to the keller auditorium to see the oregon ballet theater perform george balanchine's 'the nutcracker'. it's the only performance on the west coast of this choreography and it was gorgeous. there is nothing like hearing beautiful life orchestra accompaniment to this classic ballet.
after the nutcracker we took our moms to pf chang's in the pearl for dinner. please keep in mind that these were all new experiences for our mothers!! first time at the ballet, first time at the restaurant...first time eating the yummy lettuce wraps there :) we had such fun! each mother/daughter combo ordered their own choice of appetizers then we swapped and shared some too. after dinner we went across the street to peet's for coffee and hot chocolate. we stayed there for probably another hour just chatting. our mom's hadn't ever met eachother before so it was neat for them to get to know one another. it was also neat for us girls to see our moms have so much fun and getting a glimpse of the lives we lead as 'young single gals' :)






what a fun evening! we will have to to it again!

ah, the fair

yesterday N, JVB and i went to the clark county fair. oh, how i love the fair. i don't like rides, and the prices are outrageous for food/drinks, but i love it anyway. if nothing else it provides boundless sociological wonderment.

our tall, dark, handsome (?) man
ready to rope and ride
awwwww....

we had a good time walking around to see all the animals and various artisan booths. we also took in an american classic...the dirt track road course. we commented on how this event probably did not exist in other cultures, and that only an american could appreciate the beauty of a run down piece of junk car going around an obstacle course and barely making out in one piece. i have included a video for your enjoyment.

elephant ears :$4.50, dairy maids milkshakes :$4.95, fair entrance :$9.00 = fair experience: PRICELESS

blueberry picking!

today D, N and i headed out to ridgefield to pick blueberries. a gal at work had told me there was a place that had u-pick berries for about $1 and that they were ripe for the picking. i couldn't resist! my friend sam and her toddlers little man and princessa came along too...princessa liked to eat the berries instead of put them in the bucket : ) i don't blame her though!

N took them directly from the branch : )

D picked the most of all of us at 9.5 pounds

princess and little man picking 'only the blue ones'

sam managed to pick as much as i did even though she had toddlers distracting her!

me out in the 'bush'