Giving of Life

Every once in a while an opportunity comes along that is just really cool. This is one of them!

God gave three guys a passion and a vision for something they call "Giving of Life" - helping out people and ministry organizations who are "giving life" to others.

He also entrusted them with resources to pass on to those people. These guys want to hear how others are giving life and help them give more with no strings attached or hoops to jump through.

Josiah Venture is one of the organizations that are a part of their vision, and YOU have an opportunity to make a difference for us as we seek to give life to young people across Central and Eastern Europe.

If you click here, we have an opportunity to receive up at $50,000 from these guys!
http://givingoflife.com/browse/josiah_venture/

You can click it once, and it will register a vote for JV. If you sign in to their website, you can get an additional two votes. And if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, you can sign into those accounts and get one more vote. Cool huh?!

It doesn't take long...it's something you can do in a minute...and it might make a difference for eternity.

If you want to read more about this project, you can find their info and their hearts here.

Voting ends November 4th so if you're going to vote, do it now!

**Update on November 7, 2011 - Josiah Venture is in the Top 20! We'll find out in mid-December if we received anything. Thanks for voting!

Heading to the States

Caleb and Dave are off to the States today.

It doesn't seem like too long ago that this was what they looked like!

Ah, but life moves on. Now he and his dad are off to check out colleges.

Caleb graduates from Czech high school this coming spring and plans to be somewhere in the States for college next fall.

We're praying for God's specific leading on this trip as he visits schools in Colorado, Michigan and Illinois.

It's an exciting time of life for Caleb!

Baby Shower Today

One of our dear JV ladies here in Czech, Emily Hughes, is pregnant with her first child.

Using her amazing gifts and talents for hosting, Kim Johnson, another one of our JV ladies, had a baby shower for her today

What a gift she gave to all of us as we celebrated this new little life that's coming soon!  Doesn't this look like something out a magazine? What a treat it all was!

After that very yummy food, it was oh so fun to be together with girlfriends, laughing and enjoying the time with each other.

Really, who doesn't love a baby shower?

Especially when there are fun gifts! Audrey, another one of our JV ladies, made baby bibs from past JV English camp t-shirts - what a brilliant idea! They were perfect as her husband, Nate, has been running the English camp team here in Czech for a number of years! He'll feel right at home putting those bibs on his boy!

Emily is due January 5th, so it won't be long before there will be a little guy in her arms to wear those bibs!

Back in the Saddle

A week of no posting on my blog??!! Almost unheard of!

But I'm back in the saddle again...and couldn't resist posting this cute picture (complete with saddles...ha ha!) from Dave and Claire's dad-daughter date last week-end when they went horseback riding in the mountains.

It was such a beautiful fall day to go riding in the mountains - one of their favorite things to do together.

Dave and I were in Prague for two days before that - great time of catching up after he'd been gone for nearly a month.

But now he's leaving again! This time with Caleb as they do a college-search trip together. They leave on Sunday night (fly early Monday morning) to head for Colorado, Michigan and Illinois. I'm praying that God leads Caleb to just the right college He's already prepared for him!

While Caleb will be gone just a week, Dave will be gone two weeks altogether as he heads to speak at the mission's conference at Master's College in California after his time with Caleb.

So we're all in the saddle these days...riding along on the journey God has for us. It's definitely not boring!

The Scoop

Caleb got back safely from Rome on Monday.

Dave got back safely from the States yesterday.

After three months away, Caleb got his repaired computer back - one of those months it was lost in a UPS office in Oregon!

Dave and I are off to Prague today: 1. to get some time together after being apart nearly a month, and 2. so he can be in some meetings tomorrow morning!

I'll be offline for a couple of days

If you want to read some fun updates from Claire, click here - she's always got fun posts on her blog!

Our "Almost" Daughter

 When Tyler first told me her name, I had one of those strange mom moments that is unexplainable.

In the space of the time he said "Lara", to the next moment's thought, it occurred to me: "This could be his wife".

I know, crazy! And I didn't know for sure...but I had a hunch. And that mom intuition turned out to be right! She's the one I've been praying for all these years for Tyler!

Tyler and Lara will be married on June 8, 2012 in Chattanooga, TN. We are SO excited about them joining their lives together!! See their wedding blog for more details about them and their wedding.

Before we went to the States this past summer, I had another thought - to ask Lara if she could come to meet us in Oregon. Again, I didn't know for sure but I had a hunch that if we didn't meet her then, Tyler could propose in the fall before we'd even had the chance to meet her (which turned out to be true as well...he proposed on September 18th!).

It was a very brave girl who got a plane in Tennessee to fly across the States to meet people she didn't know...all without Tyler by her side (he was already in Czech for his JV internship).

But she came! And honestly, from the moment she stepped into our arms at the airport, she stepped into our hearts. I had the sense that evening as we left the Portland airport that my other daughter was "home". Kind of a crazy thought since none of us were really home! We were staying with dear friends there who hosted us through our days with Lara.

It was a whirlwind three days, where she bravely came into our world with her whole heart. She graciously met lots of family and friends, went to the Oregon coast with us, and did all sorts of other things along the way.

And along that way...we all came to see why Tyler had fallen in love with her! She's perfect for him, and we adore her!

They are coming to spend three weeks with us at Christmas. I'm so happy to think of having my son and "almost" daughter here for those days to get to know them as a couple, and to enjoy more time being together with our newest family member!

We love you Lara! (And Tyler too!)

Sleep Help

I had a friend over this morning who has not slept through the night in one and a half years.

That's because she has a daughter who is one and a half. And she also has not slept through the night since she was born a year and a half ago.

I'm sure there are a myriad of reasons for this, but today I thought to tell her about white noise makers. It's something that we got for Claire years ago because she was a very light sleeper.

It's made a huge difference for her to sleep with some white noise in the background, whether it was a fan or the actual little device we eventually bought for her.

I thought everyone knew about the benefits of white noise...and maybe you do too! But just in case you don't, it can be a huge blessing to those who struggle with sleep. I am praying it helps my friend's little girl so they can both get some much needed sleep.

**Claire's noisemaker beside her bed...been there for at least seven years now!