Home?

Well, we're back home. At least, we're back in Modesto. This has been our home for all of our lives, and now we're here without a house, staying with family, living out of suitcases. Cohen doesn't quite have it all figured out. After living at Papa Boones for a few days, then moving over to Papa Baumans, he wondered aloud in the car, "Where DO we live?". As a dad it pulls at my heart a little bit. We've been teaching him that home is where our family is at any given time. As long as we are all together, we're "home". I'm not sure if he's buying it. :)



Preparation for Costa Rica is in full swing, and preliminary packing has begun. I just read that in the months leading up to language school we should be memorizing spanish vocabulary. I probably should have read that months ago.
We're actually really excited about learning Spanish, for us as well as Cohen and Titus. Speaking of Titus, he's walking now....as often as he feels like it. For as long as we've known him (ten months) he has had strong opinions about what he prefers to do or not do. When he prefers to walk, he walks. When he prefers to crawl, he crawls. He'll walk all over untill I get the camera out, then immediately he prefers to crawl. Nevertheless, I did manage to capture this in the Colorado Springs airport. The sun makes it difficult to see, but it is proof that he walks. I feel so incredibly blessed to have a couple of handsome, growing boys.






I've been reading Micah, and it speaks so strongly of God's dissaproval when we use positions of leadership and authority to take advantage of the poor and those less fortunate. Jon Foreman wrote a song paraphrasing Micah 7, and it's really been impacting me as I consider the injustices around the world and especially Nicaragua. So many innocent people, especially kids, get caught up in the greed and lust for power of a few. It's comforting to see that God cares, and in His time all will be made right. Our responsibility is to LOVE....to allow His LOVE to flow through us to all we encounter......







If you know me well, you know I tend to be a bit of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I still open the gifts that have my name on them and I do appreciate Christmas for Who it really stands for, it's the over-commercialization that rubs me wrong. In spite of that, on behalf of myself, Kate, and the boys, I do want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and that you will find yourself in God's favor in 2009!
Dave

Revelations 15:4 What man is there who will not have fear before you, O Lord, and give glory to your name? because you only are holy; for all the nations will come and give worship before you; for your righteousness has been made clear.

Week Two

Well, it's already Tuesday of week 2 and it feels like we've absorbed so much heavy information and are pretty emotionally drained. The teaching here is intense as they try to fit a huge load of information into three weeks. At this point I haven't even processed and unpacked it all to even give much of an overview. We've learned value awareness, figuring out our own core values and how they might be challenged in the field; how we manage stress now and the predictable ramping up of stress in the future; Our own personality types and how we relate to God, our spouses, family, community; how we handle adversity and conflict; cultural differences and adjustments we will have to make; etc etc etc.

I think the best part has been the self reflection, realizing that going to the field with a false sense of who you are could be devastating to yourselves and the people you're ministering to. Our identity and ministry has to be rooted in Christ, not in our home country's style, etiquette, or even ethics.

On our family's health side it's been a bit of a bumpy ride. Last weekend found us resting up, trying to get us all better. After two doctor visits, one ear infection each for Cohen and Titus with accompanying coughs, liberal amounts of snot, antibiotics and lot's of prayer, we all woke up this morning feeling great and able to attend all our classes. Cohen loves school minus the naptime. His schoolwork actually mirrors ours in an age appropriate way, so that's pretty cool. Titus's teacher probably has the biggest challenge. He's more of an adventurer than a cuddler, and it's not a huge nursery.

This place is beautiful, with some great trails outdoors for getting away on a walk and reflecting on God's creation. Here's a few pics:





Thanks for all the support and prayers!
Love in Christ,
Dave and Kate, Cohen and Titus

first day

Wow. The week of thanksgiving was crazy. We moved out of our house, finished up all the last minute items needed to remove yourself from culture, sorely misjudged how much time it would me take to change the heater core in our car, enjoyed a great thanksgiving with family, and finally ended up at the San Francisco airport at 5:15 am on Monday morning ready to hop on our plane to Colorado for school at Mission Training International. I walked up to the check-in counter, pulled out my itinerary and my heart stopped. Flight 914, leaving at 6:23 am from San Jose, Ca...........San Jose? SAN JOSE? NOOOO!



Yep, we were at the wrong airport. Of course our ride (Katie's mom, God bless her for her patience) was already heading across the San Mateo bridge, and by the time she came back, picked us up, and shuttled us down the 101 to San Jose we missed our flight.

So one long travel day involving flying stand by, running across airports, giving of ultimatims (i.e. "you have two options, get us on that plane, or get our luggage off!"), shuttles that were MIA resulting in one long taxi ride, we ended up at our destination, MTI in Palmer lake Colorado.

I'm not sure if miracles count when you need them because of your own stupidity, but we saw quite a few that day and felt pretty blessed to make it here only a half hour late for supper. Cold spaghetti has never tasted so good! If we needed any more evidence that God is good, we only needed to step out of our room the next morning and be greeted by this.......


The teaching after day one has been incredible and the kids are adapting well. Cohen kept telling everybody from the stewardess's to the airplane pilots to the taxi driver where we were headed. "Umm sir, I have something to tell you. We are going to Colorado!"

I will update more in a few days..... See ya from Colorado!