Summer fun

Can't believe it's July!!  We just got back from a wonderful trip to Indy to visit family and while there our baby girl turned 2 and we celebrated of course :-) 

4th of July has always been a favorite holiday and we lived it up!  

First a parade in Carmel, Indiana. All those years in Texas and having close friends that are avid UT fans rubbed off on Max so when any marching band plays he automatically thinks it's the UT fight song :-). Note that he is signaling "hook 'em horns!"  

Max was a little tentative at first but thankfully warmed up to holding some sparklers. It's just not the 4th without some fireworks!  

What a blessing!  Sydney's great grandfather Collins and great great aunt Bobbie were there along with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and super fun cousins. 

I truly can't believe that Sydney is 2 already. In true Sydney fashion she decided to jump off the diving board into Grandmas pool--and insisted on doing it herself with no help from her frightened Mama!  

Jason and I were able to go visit our friends the Wilsons in Ohio.  They work on a farm that's been in Karen's family about 5 generations and is about 5,000 acres.  It was wonderful!  To say that Max was excited to see some John Deere tractors is the understatement of the century. 

The kids were troopers through all the traveling and they love seeing all their extended family. 

So now we are in Stilly and thankful to get back into the swing of things and continue building relationships here.  

Stillwater living

We have been in Stillwater now for about 4 months and life has been pretty busy. We have been working with Lightbearers students, making some new friends, committing to a church, visiting friends and family in Texas, and enjoying our neighborhood pool :-). 

  Visiting the Oklahoma City Memorial 

At the Oklahoma City zoo with some friends. Max is of course wearing his Colts jersey :-)

Enjoying a park in Stillwater 

We are kind of in the calm before the storm... The vast majority of students are gone for the summer and we expect quite a few students for Lightbearers this upcoming school year. This summer has been a time of preparation and rest. 

We are becoming more and more acclimated to life here in "Stilly" and so thankful for the continued peace The Lord has given us about being here and this change. 

5 Years

Five years ago today I married my love. 

These past five years have brought so much joy, its share of trials and a whole lot of learning. Jason truly is my best friend and partner in crime. 

We've had a couple kids:

And a whole lot of fun:

Jesus- thank you for this life. Thank you for your love for us in all things and in all circumstances. My cup runneth over...

Change

The past couple months our family has experienced a lot of change. Being in Arkansas has really gone well and feels like the calm before the storm. 

Our apartment here has been super spacious and the kids have enjoyed playing with all the new neighbor kiddos. Max pretty much runs out our door yelling "friends!!!!" or is always asking us to see "his kids."  

Our family has also enjoyed being so close to GG and Papa :-). We have enjoyed dinners with them at Tim's Pizza and hanging out to watch some good ol TV.  

Max running at GG and Papas--in his        Colts jersey of course!

Well we finally have a house in Stillwater! After several delays on our closing in Dallas we were finally able to close that chapter and look to the next one.  (Pics to come). 

All in all it's been a time of relying on The Lord and growing closer as a family.  More updates to come on life in Stillwater :-)

--Courtney 

Broken

    There is an epic story that floats around my extended family which involves me, my mother and my teenage stupidity.  My mother had a miniature, antique rocking chair and if memory serves me correctly was a gift from an elder family member.  This was a cherished item to my mom, beautifully carved and stained, made from the finest hardwoods.  So I decided to sit in it.  Crack!  The main support for the back of the little chair snapped and everyone grew quite.  Within minutes mom was in the living room surveying the damage.  My life flashed before my eyes.  My stupidity only grew when I promised, “I can fix it!”  Using screws, glue and other ways I repaired it only for it to break again and again.  This antique, beautiful, miniature rocking chair would never be the same.

    This story flooded my mind when I was hiking with my son in Devil’s Den the other day.  Noticing trees young and old around me, the word “broken” kept coming to my mind.  Whether a rocking chair, glass, clay pot or car, many things broken are never the same.  A car can be wrecked, completely repaired and look brand new, but once the repair is mentioned to perspective buyers, doubt begins to form and a sell is difficult.  The rocking chair never was the same and most things that break are never fully fixed.  In fact, one could say that which is made of dead things once broken are never the same again. 

    Living things are different.  Noticing trees in the forest while hiking, a tree limb can break, but the tree will continue growing.  The apex or terminal buds closest to the break will start a new shoot like nothing ever happened.  As you man know, regeneration of trees actually occurs at the base of the tree.  A broken limb is still connected to the trunk which is connected to the shoot apical meristem, which is connected to the roots.  A broken tree limb will fix itself because it is connected to that which gives life.

    Once the limb breaks and dries outs, or is intentionally cut to form into wood selected for furniture, it loses its regeneration power.  The longer it is dried out, the harder it becomes increasing in strength and its chance to break.  Dried out wood used for construction is impossible to completely fix once broken and one must scrap the piece and start over.

    I share this as I think about two trees.  The first is a tree once living in a garden gave everlasting life (Gen. 2.9) and the second tree gave the knowledge of good and evil.  Then the choice was presented.  Eat the former tree and regeneration will continue: eat the later and one will be removed from regeneration—one will become breakable.  As the story goes, the second tree was chosen and man has been breakable ever since. 

    But a third tree was formed.  This was grown and chopped down, dried out and used for construction.  When the order came, it was sawn into pieces, fixed together and made into a cross.  Jesus came to fix mankind, was nailed to this breakable creation and left to die.  This Man that came to give life was placed on the very thing that illustrates brokenness.  Everything about His death communicated brokenness in order for mankind to be grafted into life again.  And grafting cannot take place unless the limb is severed off and the source of life is cut open to accept the new limb.  Grafting is very violent, but life is restored to the new limb.  This new life, this rebirth (John 3:5) has cost everything for us to become whole, but if we choose to be grafted—if we choose to abide in Him—He will abide in us.

Sharing

    When my son gained a sibling, my wife and I were anticipating a struggle with sharing of toys, attention and the like.  We were pleasantly surprised he was willing to share with his sister most of the time.  His sister however was very different.  Half his size, age and strength, she has no fear to take and do it in a cunning, mischievous way.  This surprised us and as much as my wife and I trade jabs of “she learned that from you”, in the end she was born with it.

    The same can be said of the modern professional as well.  After a recession, increase of competition from abroad and evolution of technology, the way careers are engineered have drastically changed.  Loyalty and honor seemed to be valued greatly in my grandparent’s generation as companies and employees kept their word, grew slowly and intentionally with competition between companies.  Now the most important corporation is “you”.  One must distance themselves from their peers to portray the idea they are valuable.  Whether it is a credential, degree, master’s degree, prefixes or the like, each are heavily sought after whether they add value or not.  “They make me more valued”, we tell ourselves and give our money and most precious resource (time) to achieve these standings without questioning motives of the ambition.  Ultimately the pursuit of excellence disconnected from an awareness of brokenness ceases to be excellent.

    This has a profound economic impact.  It also has a profound theological impact as well.  As we are either immersed in this culture, adhere to it or struggle with it daily, we read passages like Phil. 2:1-11 and cannot fully understand “emptying ourselves.”  “Sure”, we explain to ourselves, “Jesus was the Son of God, a perfect man and of course He give it all for me which I am thankful”, but stop short of a philosophical break-through in this passage.  We execute generosity in shallow levels, keeping it from affecting our identity and controlling it to the realm of emotions—mostly pity.

    The very answer to who you are is tied directly to sharing, which is why it occurs in toddlers and adults.  A human is created by God and given life.  Upon life, this creature can then be given abilities, character traits, talents, gifts, good looks and whatever else is valued in the economic system the being exists.  Now here is the real kicker: time, the breath of life and talents are a gift.  Which helps us understand what we are supposed to do with it.  No one except the modern, westerner ever thinks of getting themselves a “gift”.  One hears this in advertisements repeatedly of “give yourself a gift”, but this is more of a ploy by marketing psychologists than anything.  A gift is given to share with another being, whether it be close or far. 

    Therefore everything possessed must be shared.  Everything.  If one ceases to share one thing—just one thing—this thing becomes something it was never created to be.  It will begin to latch hold of the heart, then the mind, then it will start manifesting itself through the greatest resources: time.  God has not given us all things in order to accumulate them, but to share as we did not create them to begin with.  When one lives in this understanding, one can fully know who they are and rest in that fact.  So where are you in this matter?  Do you see all things as a gift or expected because of your greatness?  Hold nothing back from anyone, not even your favorite pen and you will begin to see who you really are.

Fayetteville!

    Wow, what a full two weeks here in Fayetteville, AR.  It seems like yesterday we loaded up to head north!  The first week was full of very cold weather, some sickness and much newness of place and home.  We are currently staying in a four bedroom apartment graciously given to us by Lightbearers as we begin the onboarding process.  With four bedrooms and two bathrooms it is almost the same size as our house in Dallas!  Max and Sydney have plenty of room to roam inside and it is fully furnished so we are very blessed.  Once the cold made way to warmer temperatures, children began to play outside and several boys have become Max's teammates in a daily game of "football/biking/run around" sport.  There's a hill called the "Knoll" in the middle of the apartment complex that the kids bike or run up to and back.  All in all we are blessed to have families close by with children! 

    We are adjusting to our life here in Fayetteville as we do miss family and friends in Dallas.  New Heights Church here in Fayetteville is our new church home and spending much time with the grandparents is always a blessing.  Dixie, our dog, is staying with them and has become quite the escapee from the dog kennel!  Only a couple miles away, we stop by the grandparents house regularly and watched the beloved Colts once again lose to the Patriots. 

    My work has increased more over the past two weeks from onboarding to taking on responsibilities.  Current I am reading the 1,100 pages of Grudem's Systematic Theology , the entire New Testament, planning the lesson for 1 & 2 Thessalonians and James to the OSU students in February and learning how discipleship, training and management processes are performed here at the University of Arkansas.  Lastly construction management and planning for the development in Stillwater I assist in as well.  Next week a team including an architect and director of Lightbearers will be in Stillwater to discuss the development and expectations of the team which is exciting!  Hopefully we can break ground soon and have our own facility at Oklahoma State.   

    Overall Courney, Max, Sydney and I are doing well, but do feel the affects of change, distance of close friends and family and realize the cost of this change.  We are really looking forward to being in Dallas Jan. 31-Feb. 10.  The majority of our time will be spent packing and loading the truck, but if you have space in your schedule and would like to see us, send us a message/text/tweet/post!  We close on our house Feb. 11 in Stillwater, OK and hopefully can be in Stillwater full time shortly after that date. 

PRAISE/PRAYER:

-Help us to find great community in Stillwater

-Thanks for the great friends here in Fayetteville

-Thanks for the generosity of everyone as year one financial support is complete!

-Help Courtney and I communicate better in this complicated process

-God goes before and continues to work at OSU

-Protection for Jason as he goes to Turkey/other countries the end of Feb.-beginning of March