We Have Returned

We made it back safe and sound from our survey trip to Chile last night. It was an amazing trip and I do not even know where to begin. I think I will take baby steps in sharing the story but I will say that we met some wonderful Chilean people and saw a great need in Concepcion for people to know Christ.

Picture of the city

We are excited at what the future holds for our team and for living in Concepcion. We feel so blessed by all the support we received from locals and the Providencia team in Santiago. We have a lot of things to think through and to make decisions about, but there is no doubt that God is already working in Conce and that he is guiding this process.

Me on the Universidad de Concepcion campus

Please keep us in our prayers and stay tuned for stories and pictures from the trip.

Look! It's my car in Chile!

They eat lots of avocados

We Are Off

This will probably be my last post until after our Chile trip...and maybe for a while after that because it is always so hard to write a short blog about such an amazing trip. I doubt I will blog while I am there but you never know!

Tonight we are driving to FW and then we fly out tomorrow (Friday) and arrive Saturday morning!!!!!!!! I am super excited. I have been a little nervous and anxious about things but now my excitement has overcome those feelings (especially since I got one of my summer classes done early) and I cannot wait to get there!

I am all packed and hope that I have got everything I need. Most importantly I have my passport and camera. Everything else is replaceable!

Please keep us in your prayers while we are gone. Pray for safety, relationships, patience, selflessness, guidance from God, the people we will be visiting with, decisions that will be made, and a deeper faith in God. Gracias!

Chau, besos!

It's a Big Big World

I have been reminded lately as to how much goes on in our world that I am totally unaware of. I have been studying Chilean history and some of it is pretty awful and even their history does not compare to how tough all of Latin American history has been. I never knew!

Now granted I was like 6 when things in Chile took a turn for the better so I do not feel that I should be held responsible for not paying attention back then, but what goes on today that I have no idea about. I try to pay attention to world news but our world is just so big that I have no idea how to keep up with it all but I want to be aware and informed.

In addition, sometimes I do not want to know everything. Most historic things that go on in the world are pretty horrible. I think it is good to be aware and to not be naive about what a loving, peaceful world we do not live in but I also know myself and know my past and know that I can easily let all the awful things going on weigh heavy on my heart. I can become obsessive about knowing the details and then have to take a step back. I can get down about how bad our world is and miss the beautiful things that are still occurring.

So I decided to look up some Happy News for you today. There are lots of positive stories on this site and I just picked one that made me smile. Check it out!

Free Food If You Wash Dishes

Did you ever know that you're my HERO!

For the second time recently I have had the joy of making a Hero Loaf and both times it has been amazing and delicious. It makes a lot so I have plenty of leftovers for lunch each day and I have been loving it. I am not sure why it is called a Hero Loaf but that is the name I was given and I am sticking with it.

A friend of mine in school, his wife makes it and I think it is a family recipe. I had it a few times and I knew I had to learn how to make it. It took a while to get the recipe out of them but it was worth the wait.

Here it is about to be braided and wrapped up

The first time I made it I followed the recipe exactly so I could learn how it worked. This time I got a little more creative and tried to make it a little healthier. There are many layers and they are just baked right in between the bread. Mmmmm!

All ready to go in the oven

I made it with part whole wheat flour and inside is some ham, pepperonis, provolone cheese, and olives. Then I added myself some purple onions, tomatoes and spinach. Perfecto! I cannot describe how yummy it is.

Check out all those awesome layers

I loved making it and will probably make it a regular occurrence. I typically do not buy meat especially if I have to cook it raw, but I will make an exception for this baby!

On another completely different note, we leave for Chile in ONE WEEK!!! I am totally pumped and nervous and so ready to go. Here are the crazy things I have done to be over prepared:

• Bothered the travel agent over and over to make sure we could make our flights
• Tried to see how many layers of clothing I could fit under my rain jacket
• Practiced fitting as many of my liquids as possible in a 1 quart bag- I may have to go to the farmacia in Chile
• Am testing to see how long my 3 oz. bottle of gel will last me
• Daily thinking about what clothes I will take to deal with the weather
• Working hard to get all my homework done- that is not too crazy but it is driving me crazy!
• Having a running to-do list of things to get done and buy before taking off

I guess that is all for now. Next week I get to start packing!!!!

Hello My Name is Dee...

and I am a tooth brushing multitasker. Whew! That feels good to get off my chest. :) I am being silly, but really I am. I hate just standing in the bathroom looking at myself brushing for 3 min. "What a waste of time," I think to myself. I tend to try to find anything to do so I am not just standing there. Let me illustrate.

Not all occasions are as crazy as this one but here is an extreme example. Yesterday morning I was brushing my teeth and looked up at the attic door on the roof next to the bathroom. I noticed that I had not put the screws back on the door from the last time I went up there. We screw it shut to keep the hot air out. So what do I do while brushing my teeth? I went and got a kitchen chair and stood on it and screwed the screws back in.

Seems like a good use of my time right? What actually happened though because screwing screws is a two hand job I ended up standing there just holding my tooth brush in my mouth, not brushing so actually I was not helping myself at all. After I finished with the screws and remembered I was brushing my teeth I told myself how ridiculous I was being. The screws were not urgent and it is not even that I am so task oriented that I want to get as much done as possible. I am fine with wasting time, just not while brushing my teeth.

Typically I am not as bad as that (I hope I am not getting worse), but really I cannot brush my teeth and do much else because I have to brush with my right hand and do most other things with my right hand too. Sometimes I come and try and do stuff on the computer. I start out trying to do things left handed or try to brush left handed but before I know it I am sitting there with a tooth brush just hanging out of my mouth and me not brushing.

This is not a new thing in my life. I still remember walking around the house as a kid and my mom telling me to go back to the bathroom. Back then I did not try to accomplish things as much, I just would rather wander. The best is trying to have a conversation and as the toothpaste gets bubblier and bubblier I get harder and harder to understand until it spills out and I have to run to the bathroom!

I am not the only one this happens to. My roommates can say they do the same thing sometimes. I just need to figure out what tasks I can do while brushing and which I cant and yet it is not really about using my time wisely. It is just about not wanting to just stand in the bathroom while I brush. Where does that come from?

Prayer of Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying [to ourselves] that we are born to eternal life.

-Author Unknown

Nurturing

Most people my age are blogging about their babies or about their dogs or cats, but I am going to share with you what I enjoy taking care of. Plants! My pictures will not be the best but you will get the point.

I have liked taking care of plants for a couple of years now. I am not great at it and have killed my share of living things, but this spring has been quite successful. I think my desire to have a green thumb runs in the family. My parents have a beautiful yard and my s-law and brother like to plant things too.

Here my mom and I are planting plants at a past house together

When I lived in Colorado I grew some bluebonnets to remind me of home. Last spring/summer I tried to grow a tomato plant but it got fried in the hot summer sun. Oops! This spring I decided to try again. Most of my plants I had froze during the winter so I started over completely.

I planted some seeds a couple of months ago and got to watch the amazing process of them growing. I planted them and forgot which was which or what I even planted so it was a total surprise to see them come up. I loved seeing all their different stages.

Both of these are in the middle stages

Now they are thriving and surviving! They have grown flowers that are continuing to bloom. They have been tough little plants fighting topples off the porch, crazy winds, pouring rains, blazing hot suns, bugs and cats!

Some have more blooms than others so I hope they keep making it so they can grow more and more

Now I just get to look at their beauty each day, water them every once in a while and wonder how long they will last. It is so fun caring for something and seeing it grow and change.

Along the way I also acquired a few other plants that I am now caring for. Our porch is not very big but sometimes I cannot resist. I mean who can pass up free plants especially when they have cute little flowers or awesome pots!

I bought this one at Walmart for $.88- it has done so well

My mom got me this one for my b-day because I have been wanting this cute tea cup pot for a while

This sweet little plant has cute pink flowers on it and at night the leaves and flowers close up

Close up

Brave cat protecting the flowers

Lost My Blogging Groove

My desire to blog comes and goes. Sometimes I have so many things to write about I could write more than once a day. Other times I don't have much to say but I feel like blogging so I come up with something. Lately I have had nothing to say and have not had the desire. I guess I just feel like I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head that no one really wants to hear about on here. I would rather talk to you about them!

So I think I will continue to stay surface level. I said at the beginning of this that I do not like to read deep, theological blogs and so I did not want that to be the focus of mine. But taking all these theological classes, they tend to consume my thoughts. Those about thoughts about Chile. Which by the way, we leave for our survey trip in 18 days. I have a counter! :)

Our team at a module

Maybe I can let you know what we are thinking will happen on this trip and what we hope to accomplish. We are going to be gone for about 10 days and most of those will be spent in Concepcion (Conce) with a few spent in Santiago with some missionaries there and taking time to look into language schools.

I don't have the best pics of the city, but here are 2 that are ok- I LOVE the trees here!

In Conce we have many things on our itinerary such as:

• Get a feel for the city
  
• Meet with local missionaries and church members
• Look at houses and apartments with a realtor
• Go to various stores and price things to see what cost of moving and living will be- stores like furniture, grocery, department, etc.
  
• Eat yummy food
  
• Visit clinics, banks and schools
• Take great pictures
  

Skyline from the hotel

In addition to all of this we will spend a lot of time talking and dreaming about our lives there. We are very excited about this trip and a little nervous. It is very important and we want to make the most of our time. We have been fasting and praying the past few months and believe that the Lord has gone ahead of us and is going to be working in and through us for this short time. Please pray for us!

The girls