HOME...at last!

After almost a month of traveling, Caleb and I are now finally home.  It was a wonderful few weeks, but it is always so amazing to be in our home.  I am actually excited to do laundry and clean our house!

For the past nine days, we were in Colorado for Denver Christmas Conference.  It is an incredible conference, and God uses it again and again to change the lives of the students (and staff) who attend.  

The morning we were leaving to make the two-day trek out to Denver from Indiana, Caleb woke up with a barking cough.  Unfortunately, the cough and the congestion that accompanied it never went away throughout the entire duration of the conference, and we were unable to put him in childcare.  Although I had hoped to participate more this year, I really enjoyed getting to spend fun time with people.  And I also didn't mind too much not having to cook or clean. 

This morning, Brandon went back to Kansas to go pheasant hunting with his dad and brother. Caleb and I came home to a fridge stocked with the basics, freshly made bread, a very excited cat, and an amazingly leaf-free yard.  Our friends, Daniel and the Wong Family, all took great care of our home and Millie while we were gone.   I cannot say THANK YOU enough!  We love you guys!

Our trees finally decided to dump all their leaves just as we were leaving...and I was not looking forward to dealing with that when we came home.  A group of friends from church took it upon themselves to rake all those leaves and bag them up.  Our yard looks amazing, and there must be twenty or more bags out there on our curb waiting to be picked up by the trash truck.  What an incredible BLESSING you guys are!  Thanks so much!

I am off to go do some laundry now.  :-)

 

Check this out!

We know some seriously gifted people.  PLEASE check out this video that some of our Cru students made.  They made it to promote Denver Christmas Conference...a week long, life-changing conference over Christmas break.  God has done unbelievable things in my life and in countless others through this event.  This year's conference will be my thirteenth.

Watch this video.  I guarantee you'll laugh plenty, and the more people that watch, the more votes they get for the video.  It is a contest, and there is money involved.  And we all know how much college students need money.

Celebration Banquet

So, after the triathlon I wasn't sure I could get much prouder of Brandon. Tonight, I was reminded of how wrong I was...and how truly blessed I am that I get to be married to him.

We had our Cru Celebration Banquet this evening. It is our annual fundraiser for all of the expenses we as an organization have throughout the year, and it was an incredibly affirming night for us. Brandon spoke first about the changes we made to Cru, and his passion really came out tonight. It is so exciting and fun for me to see him love being on campus this much. I wish that everyone could have been there to hear him speak. As I mentioned before, I was so proud of him.

I wish I could accurately put into words all that God did tonight. I can't. There really aren't words to express how truly good He is. I can share one pretty crazy thing He did though. After taking care of every detail for the event, we felt that everything looked professional. The caterers, however, brought plastic plates and cups and flatware. They had made a mistake, and there was nothing we could do about it at that point. People had paid 20 dollars a plate. After praying about it, we left it in God's hands.

At the end of the evening, the woman who owns the catering business came in and made an apology to everyone and told us basically that she would not be charging Cru for the meal in order to compensate for the mistake. Normally the majority of the ticket price goes to the costs of the night, and what people give on top of that becomes what we use throughout the year. So, for her to basically wipe out the majority of the cost of the evening, we saw so much more come in than we had expected. How crazy that God would provide so much for us through plastic plates and silverware. How good is He!

Ultimate Frisbee

As I write this, Brandon is getting more exercise than I do in a week.  Every Saturday, guys gather in the middle of campus and play ultimate frisbee.  It is a cross between frisbee and football (I think), and Brandon looks forward to it every week.  It is relaxing for him and a great way for him to hang out with the guys involved in Cru.  And don't tell him that I told you, but he is AMAZING out there on that field. :-)