grow something new

Resurrection

Up the Coast

Ryan's family is here over Easter weekend, and so what better way to end the quarter than with a trip up the coast to Big Sur.  We had a great time together, and the coast is spectacular!  Click here for photos...

Yamba and Pegwende

I just found out from the pastor I worked under in Burkina that the old couple who served as house parents just died in a car accident on their way back to the Village of Hope last night.  Yamba and Pegwende are two of the most incredible people I have ever known.  They were old and yet tireless, constantly caring for the children, teaching the Bible, passing out medicine, leading worship, bandaging wounds, providing a home for the youngest children who were scared at night or wet their beds.  Some evenings I would walk over to their room for a visit, and they would be sitting outside eating dinner together at a little table, so thoroughly enjoying each other and still surrounded by children.  They both preached and read Scripture with an authority that was convictingly humble.  I have so much to learn from their lives.  Please pray with me that Christ would comfort the children, everyone at the Village, and Pasteur Michel's family as Pegwende was his older sister.  Death still stings...

Yamba is on the far left, and his wife Pegwende on the far right (and they actually have the brightest smiles...but in Burkina you don't smile for photos...Sara and I obviously never quite caught on to this!)

Finally

So it's finals week, but the whole reason I'm in school is so that I can better learn to care for people and understand this world, right?  And thus it is, that with a beast of a paper to finish and exam to begin studying for, today allowed for yet another reunion with friends.  Paulita, Janelle and I are friends from St. Peters Elementary School, where we decorated our lockers and played street hockey and went on field trips to the Air & Space Museum.  L.A.'s done it again...bringing people together : )

 

And now I need to work on my paper.

just a heap of cousins

Yesterday evening, cousins started gathering.  Two from the Hollingers, a Krabill and a Kraybill, and here we all are in Pasadena.

[you may want to take note of carter's height, as it compares to his 2 older cousins in his armpits]

Family Fun

Mom and dad came for a whole month and this is what we did. 

As you can see, life is pretty exciting when you vary up the studying.

because i love him

happy birthday to cousin matthew.  hummus, lamb, and good times had by all.

Ho-hum

I wish I had some clever story to provide, but honestly life has just been busy.  Anyway, it's been a while since my last posting, so I figured better a little something than silence.  I was hoping this winter quarter would be less hectic.  Of course, it's largely my own fault for taking on too much.  (But they're all things I like!) 

It's been wonderful to have my mama and papa here this month, as they're both eagerly working on books and articles...and decided to do so in Pasadena!  (Check out the 4th floor of the library to say hi to them - dad's the one with the mustache, and mom's the cute little one.  They each have a thermos of coffee.)

There are things I hate missing, like the small group Ryan and I are part of at church, and talking on the phone to friends (ok...so I don't really miss the phone part...but I do miss YOU!), running more frequently, and cooking proper meals.  Then again, there are so many more things that I wouldn't trade for anything.  Like going to coffee shops with mom and dad; or my cohort group; or seeding rainbow chard and bell peppers or the balcony; or friday nights at gordon biersch.

And perhaps I should be on the lookout for the more entertaining bits of life.  If anything, for the sake of a not-so-ho-hum blog posting.

To end - a pic from valentine's day, by request of Becky.

This makes 6 months : )

 

A Nepali Lesson Saves the Day

I woke up in not such a good mood this morning, with one paper to finish and 2 more looming ahead.  Between work and classes and meetings there was hardly time to eat some crackers for lunch.  I'm not asking for pity - I really have quite an easy life compared to most of the world.  But it's hard not to get disgruntled when assignments and obligations overtake the joy of learning.

This all changed when Julia and I left for our weekly Nepali language lessons with Harka, a Nepali pastor working on his doctorate. Slowly penciling devnagari consenants (carefully paired with vowels A and E) into our nepali notebooks made of homemade paper, I was reminded of the breadth of learning I'm offered.  In exchange, Harka gave us copies of his thesis to edit.  A topic which I was relentlessly searching for sources on this week for one of my papers.  He also told us about a Nepali church that meets each week in L.A.  And so I left in a much better mood.  Reading about atonement in Hinduism, and memorizing the Nepali alphabet (again), and learning from brothers and sisters: that's why I'm here.

Oh, and I can now say "I am a crow or a sinner" in Nepali : )

Abolition

I know I dedicated a blog to this topic early, but there are just 21 days left until Stop the Traffik will be presenting a document of (hopefully) 1 million signatures to the U.N., urging them to endorse a fund used to end human traffiking (slavery).  Stop the Traffik is actually a coalition of 800 organizations in over 50 countries all working together.  Just in one of my Children at Risk meetings today, 2 people from these member organizations explained the necessity of this petition, particularly since most countries don't acknowledge that slavery is actually practiced within their boundaries.

You can sign the petition (and learn lots more) by clicking on the following link:

Stop the Traffik

Thanks!