Stormin’ Morgantown

 

There was an awesome electrical storm that is still passing through Morgantown as I’m typing this.  Here is a perfectly timed shot of one lightning bolt.

A new one on the way

  Just a few months away from having a little boy in the family.  I’m kinda nervous because we have a lot to do before then.  The office space needs heat and transformed into a nursery, a changing table needs finished, and we need at least 20 more people to partner with our ministry so we can be finished with the big undertaking of raising our support. 

It’ll be a boy…

09.09.09 is the due date.  We are expecting again and the doc claims it’s a boy.  Chuckville Rayendusky Friend is the name for sure!

Outreach Video:

I spent some serious hours on photos and a video for this upcoming year.   We hope do do more like it to get students interacting with their thought about God.  And the bigger hope, that they will be open to talk about and eventually embrace the Gospel of Christ.

watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCAaic5BLKo

eventually posted here:

http://wvucru.com/mycollegestory

Funny Blog about Raising support

My good friend Chip emailed me a link that was super haha. The part on how to raise more money as a missionary family is great. Check it out. If you've ever experienced the difficulty of raising support (or grown a missionary mustache), then you'll get a kick out of it.

here

The waiting game

In our fast food culture (piggy backing off the House's 30-day fast from fast-food)it's not just hard to eat healthy, it's hard to wait! We're finding that sometimes God puts momentum to a vision much slower than we might want or think. I'm learning the discipline of simply being. I guess what I mean is that sometimes we are so focused on the successes that we neglect other aspects that could be just as important. "Stopping to smell the roses". You know, who we become when we get focused on a goal and the tunnel-vision clouds anything else from mattering as much as it should. It's a human weakness. MAybe we should enjoy the wait and check out that drive-thu landscaping a little more closely next time we stop for a burger. Who knows what great lessons might be waiting in the McD's parking lot! Back to the fast-food mindset... to illustrate my own learnings:

Late last year we moved in temporarily with my parents in hopes of getting to Morgantown ASAP. Operation Cru at WVU was under way! But when our support was coming in slower than we hoped we had a tendency to complain. But thank God that He kept me patient enough to be a part of my mom's new journey with God (she told me I could write about mentoring her through her walk with Christ but I told her I would keep the details to a minimum). Operation Cru at WVU has changed direction a bit... it's more like Operation " Let God use me when and whereever He wants me. We are still "stoked" to be going to WVU to minister to students there but we love what God is doing with us in the in between. I'd have to say I'm beginning to understand that learning patience and perseverance aren't just methods of God's cruel torture--- they actually can teach us something. Huh! Who woulda thunk it. I'm learning to wait on God. I hope I've gotten better at living in the in-between.

House Hunting

Who woulda thought that trying to buy a house is as confusing and complicated as creating the atom bomb. Christina and I have been house-hunting for a while now and we have come to a couple of conclusions...

People want more for a home than they are worth.
"Spatious yard" means the yard is on a 45degree slant.
"Classic home" means old and falling down.
"Privacy" means overgrown bushes and a yard that no one want to walk into.
"Great starter home" means you can afford this because it is a piece of trash.
And most other "realtor terms" are designed to mislead and romaticise junky homes.

So alas, we have a couple that we befriended back in our college years and they called us out of the blue and told us they wanted to sell their home. We're excited about that. The price seems about right and the style is older but we like that. It's a neat place- and we're wrestling whether we should jump on it. Please be praying that we make the right decision and that we can raise enough monthly support for the bank to give us a mortgage in Sept. Honestly I didn't know if we would ever get a home-- since it seems like we've been without a place of our own for years! We're so excited to be moving into this new stage!

Blogging ends up being a quarterly thing for us!

It has been a dog's age since we last posted on this site. Sorry bout that to any loyal "blog-checkers"! We have been moving alla around as usual. We are soooo ready to have a place we call home!!!!!!!!! (could I put enough exclamation marks?) We are still raising our necessary montly support and at last we have broken 55%. It may seem like we've been doing this for a long time to many of you (as it does to us), but it is no easy task to raise all the necessary funds to fund years of ministry- where we can dedicate ourselves fully to reaching college students. It has been a time of seeing so many caring people show us grace by lending a hand or by investing in the awesome ministry God has put before us. We are praying that a miracle will get us to campus before that clutch 1st week of class. If we don't reach the students that 1st week we'll be playing catch-up for the next 4 years of their college life.

Back in the Big D

Sing this with me (to the tune of "Boys are back in town")... "The friends are back in town". We are so glad to be back in Dallas to see our great friends, our ministry team partners, and Tex Mex Food. Of course the food is what excites us least. We're trying our hardest to share our vision of campus ministry with as many prospective partners as we possibly can in a 3 week period. Thanks so much to our great friends who are helping us make those contacts! We couldn't do it without you. We are blessed to have people half way around the country investing their time into our lives and ministry.

Back in the Big D

Back in the Big

Snow!!!!

Cora's Fall Time Spectacular

I made Cora's ladybug wings. She was adorable telling all the neighbors hello. She didn't get much candy but she was given a Christmas ornament and a yellow gourd instead.

Cora's Special Days in Pictures

The pictures here are from her first hola to cake on Thursday. She really enjoyed it. We all enjoyed the parade on Saturday. Cora liked the band and the Ali Ghan Shrine cars. She is like me and wasn't overly thrilled at the clowns. We are trying to keep her from a dislike of clowns as I (Christina) have. Scary makeup and crazy hair.. aren't you scared too? :o)

The elephant cake (carrot cake w/tinted cream cheese icing) was enjoyed at her great grandma's house yesterday. It was very yummy.

Cora's First Birthday

Well, Cora's first birthday was good. She is cutting her molars so she isn't her usual self. She enjoyed the birthday song and the cake. The candle wasn't necessary--she would blow it out. Although she can toot her wooden train whistle from the Folk Festival, the candle was not going to happen. She dug in to the cake. We are thankful that God has given us a year with our darling daughter.

Wow. It's seems like forever since...

This past week I did something I haven't done in over four years.... and that's raked leaves. I made a little pile and Cora stomped through them. It's been good for my soul to see the seasons change. What a refreshing time to take walks in the evening--the air is crisp and the sky ablaze with stars!

Cora and I went to a folk festival with my mom. Believe it or not I drove 40 minutes without passing one fast food restaurant. I enjoyed the seeing the sloping hill and trees in shades of yellow, orange and red! We had fresh sauerkraut--it was very good. We are enjoying the apple harvest and look forward to the Autumn Glory Festival this weekend.

Cora's birthday is just days away--she's going to have an elephant cake. She loves elephants and makes the cutest elephant noise.

The Wind Blows

We have been in Maryland for 2.5 weeks now. The autumn wind has been blowing and we have enjoyed the coolness that has for so long eluded us while in Dallas. We can once again feel the hint of winter on its way.

We enjoyed eating the fresh produce--gardens are just on their way out here--of corn, tomatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, tomatoes. We helped Becky (Corey's mom) can 37 pints of salsa. One can get tired of chopping tomatoes but never tires of eating them.

Cora has a swing in the yard and enjoys it profusely. She is learning so much and growing every day! She repeats many of the words that we say like Mama, Dada, ticket, zeezee (glasses), god-da-god (she says this a good bit but it's funniest when we're talking about going to church or to say a prayer). Corey claims she even said her own version of cockadoodledoo. Her new tricks include---drawing, using a fork (well, today she got her egg on it and got it to her mouth), walking really fast and "mooching" for whatever someone else is eating.

Chloe, the dog, spends her time sleeping, looking for falling food from the high chair and chasing Pierre, the cat. She also enjoy walks around the neighborhood and the cool air makes her super hyper.

Corey and I are working towards our support. We know it's a long road but have faith that God will provide. To know more about our ministry, see our blogspot http://friendfamilyatwvu.blogspot.com

More PICS from COLORADO

I posted more pics from our hiking trip at Rocky Mt. Park. Check our flickr page! http://www.flickr.com/photos/peitho_chrio

Not only have we packed our bags and headed to Colorado... but we packed the whole stinkin house and headed to Colorado! We've finished our 1st week of New Staff Training at Colorado State and the atmosphere, the relationships, and the classes have been a real joy for us. The first steps of many more to make it to a college campus and start our full-time ministry. We're so blessed to see how so many of our friends and family have supported us. I'm reminded of Paul's words to his loyal church family in Philippi..."
Php 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you,
Php 1:4 always praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you
Php 1:5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Another sign of God's undeserved grace for us.

I've updated our flickr page with new CO pictures. Enjoy. I'll post more ASAP.