our adventures in cali

we have been in some part of california for almost a week now and have participated in quite the range of activities, all centered around visiting friends who lovingly and sacrificially support us in ministry.
we started our time in oakland with jeff and sarah. this is really my first time meeting them (the actual first time was our wedding but that is not a day for meeting new friends). dan went to college and served in intervarsity together with them. and i am forever indebted to them because they were the organizers of a trip to ECHO where dan heard about NMSI and therefore met me. so thanks jeff and sarah! because i do not spend a lot of time looking at maps of CA, i had no idea that oakland is right across the bay from san francisco. so our first full day, while jeff and sarah worked, we toured the city. we had lots of fun learning about and riding cable cars, walking the hills, seeing famous things like lombard street, alcatraz, the golden gate bridge, fisherman's wharf, and sea lions basking in the sun! we also met up with dan's friend jen, who he went to high school with and had not really seen since! we had lots of fun with her and ate at the stinking rose- famous mostly for having garlic in just about everything! the next day we drove to napa valley to tour wine country. it was beautiful to just drive through the hills and see vineyard after vineyard. i thought a bit about the passages in the bible about vines and fruit that comes from them. i like being connected to the land- even if it is just through sight and thought.


we left oakland to fly to LA to visit some of my friends from college, rachel and warren. i love the random times i get to spend with rachel and warren, which because of our locations happen vary rarely. on sunday they planned a cookout with another couple and family that we share friendship with. joy we know from our milligan days. she met her husband, jordan while serving in australia with YWAM and now they have two beautiful children. tim, i know from NMSI and introduced to rachel and warren. he and his wife, becca live out here and now they are all friends. so we had quite a strange reunion/meeting. it was so good to just share about our lives and ministries about people who understand or are interested in it. while we stayed up far too late, my spirit was encouraged by time with friends who have known me for quite awhile. for most of this week we are trying to rest up for the weekend of wedding festivities ahead. we have no idea what to expect from these events but we are excited and honored to participate. one thing we have done here is eat some amazing food. like last night when i had carne astada fries. yum! and tonight we are doing the "taco crawl" where you go around and eat at various taco trucks in town. sweeet!
the best part of this whole time has been realizing how grateful i am that i get to travel through the rest of my life with dan. the way God works is amazing and i am in awe of the partner He brought to me.

-mary

On the runway again...

So, today we're flying to California. We're in a tiny airport, about to get on a microscopic airplane...but then again, this is the boy who grew up with Newark airport for a backyard. I've probably flown on close to a hundred flights...and I still get giddy at the thought of getting on an airplane. I don't know what it is, maybe the crazy acceleration at takeoff, maybe the novelty of a cart full of cocktails rolling down the aisle at 35,000 feet in the air...in any event, I spend about a third of my time on a plane thinking about Bernoulli...
This morning as we were getting ready, I had a flashback of sorts, to the airport in Johannesburg (Joburg, affectionately), which was/will be our last stop before we get to Zimbabwe. I remember a profound/auspicious feeling there, as in "you're about two spend two weeks/months in a strange culture"...it was all the more weird because everybody else just seemed to be going about their normal business. I think there's a lot of life that feels like that. So anyway, I thought about that this morning, and I have a feeling every flight between now and Zimbabwe might be the same.

In case anybody's wondering why we're going to Cali (as they call it), my brother is getting married there. Fortunately, we also have several friends and supporters, whom we're more than happy to visit with (that's right, I used "whom").

-Dan

memories continued 05-06

i missed an important part of 2005- angela and i moved into a new house across the alley from our previous duplex. we had a few roommates come in and leave for the field and then ashleigh moved in with us and shared a room with me. and thus began a very beautiful friendship, ashleigh is now serving in kenya with africahope.


in early 2006, all the girls moved again. this time i moved in with stacey, who five weeks later got married to derek. we loved our five weeks together. i learned a lot and miss her but am glad she and her family are now serving in southeast asia.

in feburary i joined one of our board members on a trip to japan to set up the summer internship we were sending to japan that summer. (did i say before that my job from the time i started at nmsi was to direct the summer intern program?)





in 2006 we sent interns all over the world. here they are at our pre-field orientation.





meanwhile, i worked at the camp missionary and life guard at the church camp that i grew up attending

after thanksgiving, i took a month long research trip which started by a few days in amsterdam talking with a ministry called the shelter

i then went on to berlin to visit the seidls and talked about the next year's summer intern teams...











and on to india to continue to set up internships and visit the frys and stammers

and i finally ended up in kenya to spend my christmas with one of my best friends erin. she is lovely. :)

memories 04-05

last night i took some friends on a tour of the NMSI campus through my memory. so i thought i would do the same for you. it starts in 2004. i moved into duplex 2 with angela. unfortunately i cannot find any pictures of us or our little home. so i will just share what i have:

stick-sticktacular: my 23 birthday party where only food on a stick was served.

clean up after a hurricane -->

a trip to thailand & myanmar

my sister got married

i went to kenya for my first triennial!!!

packing, parents, and leaving

our house is a wreck. it has been in a state of transition for over a week now. and in that week so much has happened.
first dan and i packed up all the things that we can live without for the next 3 weeks so that my parents could drive it to their house in VA where it will be stored or gone through again before we leave for zim.
second my parents came to visit last thursday - Easter sunday. and dan's parent's came friday to sunday. we have never hosted our parents so to host both of them at the same time was exciting. we had a good weekend full of the joys of the great FL outdoors.

we are now in our last 5 days of living in ft myers. this has been my home for the past 5 years and on wednesday all of my things will be packed up and will leave with me. moving has always been part of my life so on one hand it feels normal. and it is terrible. i guess because i am more mature each time and my relationships are a little deeper that leaving continues to get harder. i really like working here. i really love the people i work with. and while i know that we will continue to be close friends i also know that that friendship will be very different. watching children grow up through pictures is bittersweet. this past wednesday our office devotion time was focused on remembering times with me or dan. we made a time line of memories on the board and various people shared memoried with us. it was beautiful. and funny.

-mary

my bff, misty, and her husband

came for a visit last week. it was delightful to see them. i enjoy hosting them because they don't need to be entertained. they come just to be in the sun and spend time with me (and my community). there is only one to do on the list: go to the beach and that is pretty easily taken care of. it is also nice to host them because they love my friends here. it is strange when my two worlds collide but i like it so much when they do it nicely. :)

here we are doing one of the many things we do best together: just being.

-mary

the end of one thing...

About a week ago, COAT ended. (COAT is NMSI's missionary development program...my job for the past six months has been to sort of co-lead it two times, especially the people part.) I'd have to say it has been a challenge and a huge learning opportunity...with no shortage of fun times, rest assured. The guy responsible for me this whole time was Matt (see photo), but most of the time I just called him "boss" (which most people attribute to my urban roots) and I probably will for a while. Anyway, COAT has given me a lot of insight into group dynamics, tough love, and failing well. So, this past week has comprised the end of one thing...
...and the beginning of another, namely, transition. We filled up our mini white board with ideas on what to pack and where and when to pack it. From here we move out of our little apartment in Fort Myers and drive and/or fly to a few select states: Virginia, NJ, NY, California and Colorado, for visits, support raising, training and weddings (in no particular order). I think we're both ready for this, or at least as ready as we can be.

-Dan