quick

quick, this is tim. kristi is in the other room showering and then we are leaving for backpacking for four days.

I need your help, vote NO HAIRCUT.

I know their are some dissenters out there who will still vote the wrong way, but for the rest of you familiar in the ways of cool, vote early and vote often.

we will prevail.

tag

so much like email tags... i have been blog tagged by stina (christina - dear friend from college - her blog is linked on the right).

7 things about me:

1. i love my dog. i could talk about her for hours. i think she is hilarious. i miss her terribly. she is living with my parents. some of the funniest things she does: watches sports on tv (but has figured out there are commercials), plays ball for hours, goes to bed when my mom washes her face (guess she learned from her mom that face washing means time for bed) - well i could go on, but i won't.

2. i miss salsa more than anything else. special thanks to my sweet friend keri for sending us chips and salsa.

3. my favorite place on earth is disneyland - not even joking. love it.

4. my birthday is a big deal to me. poor tim. one birthday he even made me 2 birthday cakes and took me to a micheal w. smith concert :)

5. my new favorite game is beans (or as the game maker calls bonanza). we love playing beans with erin and kurtis. usually after american idol. go carly (thanks hill for voting for me!)

6. if i lived 200 years ago i would want to be a pirate. or at least a pirate like those on pirates of the caribbean.

7. i think tim should cut his hair. :)

i tag brooke k and abs.

galilee

4 day trip. so much to say. i imagine i will continue to share about our field trip next week. we had a great time and saw SO much. still very much processing the time. these are just a few of hundreds and hundreds of pictures. :)

day one - caesarea - herod's man made sea port

aqueduct and kristi
our favorite moment of the day - looking over nazareth as the sun was going down
day 2 - early morning with the time change - tk is very tired...tel dan - where the dan spring is, one of the biggest head waters of the jordan river. huge city and nature reserve

me with mt. hermon in the backdrop (mtn with the snow)

day 3 - we began the day at a site where they have reconstructed an ancient town. here i am looking out a window.

by the sea :)

one treat per trip we decided. here i am after enjoying my ice cream. yum!
day 4 - started the day with a boat trip across the sea.
caves of arbel - don't fall tim!
arbel - notice kristi in the lower right hand corner

tk and dr. wright. often after we are done meeting as a class tim has lots of questions.

beth shean - kristi and the theatre

end of the day. end of a 4 day trip.

tomorrow we leave for 4 more days in the galilee backpacking for spring break. we are thankful for the opportunity to rest, be together, and reflect on all the Lord has done.

FOUR DAYS LEFT

four days left to vote. the final decision will be made after spring break. way to go people. keep the votes coming!!

also here are the rock climbing pics as promissed.

tk above, kk below :)

rock climbing

today with calvin and brent we went rock climbing. it was super fun. i am too tired to post pictures now but they will come later.

tim and i leave tomorrow on a 4 day field study to the galilee. we are both extremely excited about it. we return sunday and then head out backpacking monday afternoon for spring break. we hope to return in time for a relaxing weekend at home.

i will post pictures when i can. i hear to get online at the place we are staying in galilee is expensive... but you all are totally worth it. :)

ps - watched american idol with erin, of course, and am now waiting anxiously for tomorrow am to find out who got the boot. fingers crossed that it wasn't one of our favs. go carly.

hair cut - a new poll

a new heated debate has emmerged in jerusalem. many have casted their votes, so i thought you all too should be able to put in your say.

so to the right of the blog is the poll - should tim cut his hair? i have included a few pictures to illistrate the pros and cons of each decision.

i too have my own opinion. but for now will keep it to myself.

good-bye :(

tim and i had a blast hosting colin and greg. they left last night after a fun day at the dead sea (with calvin and brent). i think this picture says much about how they felt about leaving... so sad...
walking to jaffa gate to meet the shurute (or as they like to say the "short-rute")


yeah for visitors! i don't think i have ever laughed more in one week. it was truly a joy loving, serving, showing these two a place we love and for now call home. hopefully they make it back to the states safe and sound. (but probably not without some adventure and many funny stories).

friend

this post i have been thinking about for a while. mainly because i have been overwhelmed by the Lord's faithfulness. so here it goes...

in october i went on the Young Life wives retreat. 3 days of resting, sharing, reflecting and encouragement. the retreat has always been a safe place for me. some of my closest friends are Young Life wives and the time to share about how we are all doing is extremely intimate. i know the Lord is glorified by our time together.

it was appropriately at the wives retreat that for the first time i shared about moving from denver and beginning this journey tim and i are currently on. tim and i had been praying about him going back to school intentionally since april, but for many reasons we did not share this process with many - except our families - mostly because we felt from the beginning it would most likely involve leaving aurora. in sharing i felt a weight lifted - finally others knew we were moving.

at the end of every weekend we pray for one another. this year elly prayed for me. my eyes are filling with tear as i think about the words she prayed. she prayed for a strong sense of peace, for intimate time with the Lord, for sweet communion for tim and i, and for a friend.

a friend. i wasn't sure what He was going to do with that one. but the Lord we serve and love is faithful! for i have made a dear friend here. her name is erin. and in the Lord's perfect style she and her husband kurtis will be in Vancouver in the fall - he will also be studying at Regent. erin is actually from the Commercial Drive district where we hope to live. so i am extremely thankful for a friendship i know will continue in real life in the fall. as the Lord is already preparing a community for us in Vancouver (drew and bekah will also be in vancouver beginning in june). He is so good! and like me - she isn't in school - just here as a wife. our friendship was birthed out of american idol, which i think is hilarious. but the Lord is certainly doing bigger things in our friendship besides our common love for carly.

so Jesus thanks for a friend. thank you for answered prayers.

(blurry pic - but at this point this i all we got) :)

easter

awake early for the sunrise service at the garden tomb. (greg not so sure how he feels about being here...)
after seeing the picture above i asked for a "take 2"

tk and calvin
CAVES!!
greg, colin, calvin and tim (i stayed home to bake chocolate cake)
shopping in the o.c.

dinner time - colin thinkin' it's going to be good... greg maybe not so sure. (it was super great by the way - nothing like homemade type foods for easter thanks to the JUC student crew who made the food).

walking home. tim taking "spy" pictures. his favorite new hobby. i think this is his best one so far of kurtis.

colin and greg (i don't know if it counts as a spy picture if those you are taking it of know it is being taken... oh well).

finished the day with a game of beans. new fav game. taught greg. he won. tim, kurtis, erin and i were too focused on beating each other and so greg slipped in there for the win. way to go greg!

calvin's blog

our dear friend calvin and his brother, brent, are currently here with us. check out calvin's blog (i am not blog savy enough yet to put the link somehow into his name - so look below). at the end of april he will begin a 3 year commitment to the land and people of nepal. tim and i will have the opportunity to visit calvin in nepal this summer. super cool and good guy, who is faithfully following the Lord.

this is a huge time of transition for calvin and his family and the gathering community (his church home) and the community of the Well (where he has loved kids of many, many years). i know he would covet your prayers.

http://www.xanga.com/coloradocalvin

ramparts walk

took the team on a tour of the old city via the ramparts walk. good times for one and all.



tk, colin, greg, brent, calivin

(note sign: "stairs watch your step" - sign noted. made it through the whole day without a spill).

on other notes. the good friday service went well. many people mentioned to me that it was meaningful to them. and i know the Lord was honored by our remembrance.

tomorrow we will go to the sunrise service at the garden tomb. i imagine i will awaken many tired guys for they are up now enjoying a rousing game of cards. tomorrow we will also tour some different sites and eat dinner at the school. a family style dinner. (today the guys also went to the mount of olives and had a good time - while i enjoyed hanging with my friend erin).

falling

so as many of you have read i have come into the contact with the ground much more often lately than usual. i am finding myself extremely clumsy and i don't know what the deal is. today again, in a hurry to answer the phone (for i love when people call) i totally tripped - my shin met the stair and diet coke went everywhere - now i have another bruise on yet the same calf to show for it. needless to say all of this has got me thinking about falling.

falling. falling by myself and in front of others. totally whipping out. every time getting up as quickly as possible and convincing myself and those around me that i was/am ok. because really no one likes being on the ground. i wonder what i would do if i couldn't pick myself up?... and needed someone to help me...

that would be humbling. for everyone (or even one person) to see that i had fallen and was incapable - powerless to do anything about it. unable to get up.

so who is this Jesus that chose to fall - chose to publicly fall. for from the right hand of God to death on a cross is certainly a great fall.

His whole life he related with and sought after the fallen. those who can't pick themselves up. those who have no power to change their situation - who are at the mercy of many and He not only picked them up but proclaimed love over them. and ultimately took their/our place.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:1-3

You reached down and picked me out of the pit - my fallen state - lifted me up - cleaned me off, bandaged and healed my wounds. now You ask that i go and do the same - the fragrance of You. the fragrance of love. love that changes people, love that brings freedom.

the way of simple prayer

You wonder what to do when you feel attacked on all sides by seemingly irresistible forces, waves that cover you and want to sweep you off your feet. Sometimes these waves consist of feeling rejected, feeling forgotten, feeling misunderstood. Sometimes they consist of anger, resentment, or even the desire for revenge, and sometimes of self-pity and self-rejection. These waves make you feel like a powerless child abandoned by your parents.

What are you to do? Make the conscious choice to move the attention of your anxious heart away from these waves and direct it to the One who walks on them and says, "It's me. Don't be afraid" (Matt. 14:27; Mark 6:50; John 6:20). Keep turning your eyes to Him and go on trusting that He will bring peace to your heart. Look at Him and say, "Lord, have mercy." Say it again and again and again and again, not anxiously but with confidence that He is very close to you and will put your soul to rest.

H. Nouwen.

welcome home colin and greg

Took these pictures of the old city wall on the way to purim (with JUC - the building to the far right).

long walk to purim - ended up not dressing up, which was better in the end as most adults weren't dressed up. got lost on the way. whoops. needed a pick-me-up, what's better than popcorn and good stories from colin and greg about their adventures in the galilee.
my feet - YUCK! (Jesus did your feet look like this?)
greg - how do you feel about my feet?
colin... not sure... scool (colin and greg's favorite word - said in response to almost anything - translation - not exactly sure... 'it's cool' i think is a safe guess)
as i was waiting for the pictures to load calvin called. him and brent have arrived. i will meet them in an hour. whelp, better get ready for the day.

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam 3:22-23

tonight we will remember the cross. i helped organize a tenebrae service - songs, communion, scripture - remembering the progression of Jesus' death. the service is divided into 7 sections and after each section a candle will be extinguished, and when the service is done all 7 candles will be out and we will leave in silence.

thank you Jesus for your death - for your obedience. that because of your death we may have life. may we honor you in our remembrance. may you change our hearts more into your image. may our celebration of your resurrection on sunday be more complete because of tonight. we love you.

a open letter to the stairwells of jerusalem

i know we have had our differences in the past but now i am ready to say that i surrender. i now realize you are superior and so i wave the white flag. this became obvious to me in our encounters over the past few days. while i was on the roof of our apartment and thought i could nibley step down while caring the clothes basket and walking in my slippers, you however thwarted my plans and my busied calf reminds me of your triumph. or later that day when i tried to slip past the orthodox jewish man with the 3 foot stick in the stairwell i thought my balance and timing superior to anything you could throw at me, however after tumbling to the floor, as my money rolled across the floor, all the jewish man could say was "wow." this was much like your earlier victory when walking in the old city and falling to my knees the arab man i tumbled in front of similarly said, "wow, are you ok?"

so stairway steps and stairwells i formally submit my defeat to you. please cease and desist all hostile activity. i humbly wave my white flag.

(kristi)

purim

jerusalem has been overtaken over by what to an american would look like halloween. jews throughout the world tonight/today/this week are celebrating purim. a holiday that remembers esther and God's work in her obedience to save the hebrew people.

tonight tim and i will go to a purim service, where children and adults will be dressed up. the book of esther will be read (in hebrew - bummer for those of us who don't understand) and whenever the name of esther is read people will cheer and whenever the name of haman is read people will boo.

again flashbacks to 2001 where hillary, kristin, nico, andrea and i dressed up like characters from the wizard of oz. sarah and bekah were country folk. drew were you a 50s rock star? slightly scary memories of jonah in a toga come to mind. tim was MIA for the evening - probably roaming the mountains in search of adventure.

tonight should be interesting to say the least. tim and i were going to go as pirates (big surprise) but we think we may go as backpackers - easier and less embarrassing as we walk through the old city. pictures to come.

oh and on a totally different note - how is it that carly was in the bottom three on american idol?! in my honor will someone vote for her for me next week :)

and also - kendal was wondering about fly fishing in the jordan river - would be totally awesome. you will have to bring your rod/pole (or whatever you call it) when you make it to israel. the river is calling your name. show the picture to sean - maybe you could both make it over. (as we arrived people where packing up some kayaking gear, which looked super fun). fly fishing in the jordan river - glory to God! (shout out to beth moore and sonya).

hezzy's tunnel

first day in jerusalem - what could be better than hezekiah's tunnel (or as colin and greg like to call hezzy's tunnel).

here we go...
me, colin and greg (not sure why greg is lifting his shirt) :)

tk and i (i like this picture even though it is blurry)
all done. so fun.
colin and greg are currently exploring the galilee area, which gives me time to catch up on life. they return tomorrow. and friday we welcome calvin and his brother brent. nothing like lots of visitors. all and all my energy levels are back to normal and am thoroughly enjoying showing off israel to good friends.