No Titles for This One

I don't even know how to start this. No catchy phrases or insightful thoughts to begin us, just the truth.

Today one of my students showed up late to school. As I was writing her a pass to class she gave me no reason for her tardiness, but told me her mom should be calling. This is common practice for our students and I was sure she had missed the bus or something of the sort. At lunch she asked me if her mom had called yet, but she had not.

It was not until this evening that I discovered why she was late today. This student, as with many others, lives in one of the gang infested projects of Los Angeles. Before it was time for her to catch an 8am bus to school, a group of gang members had gathered in her backyard. Now I am not sure what happened next, but I know it ended with one of them getting shot and being abandoned there by all his hommies. It was her family's responsibility to ensure he received medical treatment. And before she was certain he would live, she was at school. And sometimes I wonder why they just can't focus on their schoolwork.

P.S. The car is fine. Some bolt they replaced broke, but we are good to go now.

Cars

In three weeks we will be taking our little Marvin on a long road trip up to Seattle and then around the NW for two weeks before we head back home. In light of this upcoming trip we decided to have a tune up. Luckily there is a man that does all the mechanic work for the Dream Center and he gave us a screaming deal --- he changed all the belts, spark plugs, fluids and the list goes on. Praise the Lord for generous people.

However, we were pulling out of a parking space this morning and as I shifted from reverse to 1st gear there was a rather unnerving sound and then . . . . . . . . Marvin wouldn't move :( He revs but no movement. Ironic that there was really nothing wrong with our car earlier this week but we had it looked at anyway. And now, two days after getting it back from a mechanic it is not running. Oh the joys of life! Luckily work is right next door, church is less than a mile away and we have enough groceries to get us by for a few more meals.

Our friend will look at it again on Monday ---- let's just pray that whatever is wrong wont be too expensive to fix.

4 Toothbrushes

Last night I walked into our bathroom and was delighted to discover that our toothbrush holder was full. And then moments later Cami said to me, "Hey did you notice all the slots in our toothbrush holder are full?"

We recently had a couple of additions to our family. Two of our students who have been kicked out by their parents have both found harbor in our home. I wish you all could meet them and see how wonderful they are. Maybe someday :)

Cami later said, "it is like we are finally complete."

Who would have thought that toothbrushes could be so exciting?

Confession and Recent Events

So I feel like I should confess to all of you......I had a pepsi yesterday :(

I had decided to give it up for a year and have done well so far, but yesterday was my downfall. I will not make excuses or explain why I did it, but I will say that I have not fallen off the horse entirely. Or if I did, I have climbed back on and plan to be faithful with the rest of my commitment!

Thanks for listening!

We have had a lot of activity around here recently. In February I turned 27 (how did I get into my late twenties so quickly). And the next week Mom and Dad Potter came to visit. Actually, they had work to do in the area, but we will take any excuse to have them around for a while.

About three weeks later Cami and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! There is a lot I could say, but I will sum it up with - marriage is fabulous and the most wonderful gift God has blessed me with. The weekend after our anniversary my dear friend Bri came to visit. We didn't do much exciting, but we didn't have to - oh the joy of good friends. It was so refreshing to share life with someone - to truly experience the beauty of knowing and being known. I love having Bri around and talking through life ponderings together, I swear my have such better thoughts: deeper, fuller, insightful thoughts when she is around. Thanks friend! You are a blessed gift from the Father!

(this is a lame picture, I know, but it is all I had from this visit.....packing the car to go to the airport)

And the day before Bri left Ro flew in! Ro got to stay with us for a week as well. She was doing some work in the area also, but we saved plenty of time for fun. I am trying to convince her that LA is the best place for her to live - all the connections and opportunities here - I think I make some valid points and I think I might be convincing her. We will see.Easter was also exciting, but I will write more in detail about that later.

Oneyeariversary!!!

For many it is not that big of a deal to have lived in the same home for a whole year --- but for us, it is quite an accomplishment. In the first 23 months of our marriage Cami and I lived in 5 different apartments in 3 different cities. Talk about transition! But here were are, having moved from our home in Portland just two years ago and actually staying in one place for 12 whole months.

I wonder how much longer the Lord will have us here....it feels fairly permanent, but so did Portland :)

A couple pictures (because they are always fun) of some of our students hanging out in the apartment with us.

Two Things We Love About Living in LA

Sorry we haven't posted in so long......rather than try to catch up, we are just going to skip to the current. So the things we love:

#1 Watching the US National Team beat other countries. On Father's day in 08 we watched them beat Barbados 8-0 in a World Cup Qualifier and a couple weeks ago we watched them beat Sweden 3-2 in a friendly match. Here are some pictures from the most recent game.




#2 Getting to camp on the beach in February!!! School is out this week so we went to the beach for three days. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderfully refreshing time.


But the days off had to end in the snow :) So after we packed up camp, we drove two hours into the mountains and went hiking.......that's my husband for you from the beach and bathing suits straight to backpacks, snow and mountains. It was an adventurous day!

Recent pictures

This past Saturday Ryan (on the left) and Phillip (right) allowed Cami and I to take them on an adventure. They are both graduates of the program - Phillip lives close enough to still attend DCA, but Ryan does not - so it was especially great to have him around. We took them boulder. It was fun to see them be boys and enjoy one another so much. They were inseparable when they were in the program! These are two boys that are a continually reminder that the Lord truly works through this ministry. Many times people still marvel at the change in them, especially Phillip. These two remind us that we truly are new creations in Christ.

After climbing we took them to Little Tokyo, for my beloved Japanese cuisine - Ramen. It is all homemade and they serve it in bowls the size of your head. Oh it is so heavenly.

After climbing Cami and I rushed off to our first quincenetta! What a fun cultural tradition. We only stayed for about an hour, but I heard today that the party was still going past midnight. The young lady that was honored is such a woman of integrity and a great joy to have around.

Sorry the pictures aren't great.

And finally a picture from our most recent dinner with students. These are a couple of the boys currently in the program. Together we made turkeyburgers, grilled squash and some fabulous cucumbers. It was great to hang out with these boys outside of school.