Are you broken enough to trust Him?

Word: A-Rae

This past weekend Court and I had the priviledge of having our oldest nephew Derek stay with us. We had an action packed day on Saturday. Court drove to Pittsburgh for a baby shower and D and I started the day with a visit to the local skatepark. There was only one other person there when we arrived so we literally had the park to ourselves. Following our little skating excursion we made our way to Swenson’s. This is a local favorite here in Akron. A few years ago they were voted the best burger in America. My nephew loves this place and since he doesn’t have one by his house we usually visit it at least once when he’s in town.

After lunch we got cleaned up, we spent some time with Court and made some coffee drinks. Courts dad had given me two tickets to the Mahoning Valley Thunder game for Saturday evening (the seats happened to be located the in the General Motors Suite). Court had to work so D and i went to the game together. The suite was mid field and we had a stocked fridge and food galore. The game was incredible. I had never been to an arena football game before and it was pretty intense. The Thunder won by scoring two touchdowns in the last minute of the game.

Sunday we had another busy day. The three of us planted the garden, went skating and made yet another trip to Swenson’s. All in all it was a great weekend with D. I’ll try to post some pictures in the next day or so. I hope you have a great week.

Word: A-Rae 

Beck (our “middle child”) is a 3 year old Shiba Inu who loves to run… and run, and run.

About a month ago, Beck began to limp. We thought that he had stepped on something and perhaps would get better with time. When his limp turned into a 3-legged hop, I took him to the vet. They said that it seemed like a torn ligament in his knee. We were advised to have x-rays done and were given a prescription for pain medication.

After a week of trying to figure out what to do, I called Countryside Vet to talk to Dr. Deb Williams, a family friend from high school. After a visit, x-rays, and a lot of discussion, he had a 2 hour surgery to fix his knee.

It will be a very long recovery process – we were told to expect 6 months of various levels of activity restriction. So, my little baby who loves to run will be caged up for half of a year… this is going to be interesting!!

Sing with me: “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I’ll be done with my undergrad finals tomorrow… it’s only a day away!!”

I will be done with my classes tomorrow… only after 6+ years at 3 colleges! In case you don’t know, here’s my history: After graduation, I had a year of full-time at Westminster College. When I got married, we moved to Columbus. While there, I took a long break then went to school part-time at CSCC. When we moved to Akron, I took a short break before starting classes again.  I went part-time then full-time at UA, where I am currently finishing up my degree. Crazy stuff!!

Done with classes… what a strange concept to wrap my mind around! Granted, I will not graduate until December (I will be student teaching in the fall), but no more scheduling multiple classes, buying over-priced text books, or sitting through lectures. I will finally be able to invest in lives, teach interesting and innovative lessons, and joyously struggle through a crash-course on becoming a teacher. Wow. Overwhelming, but I can’t wait!

As of today, I do not know where I will student teach – I’ll post something when I find out.

much love, Court

For me, one of the best things at camp this year was having Court lead some of the sessions. My wife is an incredible teacher with insight on scripture, prayer and God that just blows me away. The first session she lead was called ‘Imaginative Prayer’. There were a total of six groups and each group was given a section of scripture that fell somewhere between the Last Supper and the Resurrection.

The students were asked to pretend they were there, living out the passage. Court led them through a sense chart that was broken down into the following areas: sight, smell, taste, hear and feel. The poster boards were full of possibilities.

Following the sense chart, some options were given for us to work through individually. You could write yourself into scripture (i.e. Jesus and I were eating together and He said to me “This is My body broken for you Aaron”) or draw a storyboard that depicted what was happening in the scripture. The students were absolutely amazing. They blew me away with how well they responded.

I would encourage you to try this sometime. I know for me that it brought the scripture to life in a whole new way. The students talked all week about jumping into God’s word this way.

Word: A-Rae

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to go and visit 5 friends/mentors in the Warren area. All these guys are pastors and I’ve known all of them for a very long time.

My first meeting on Monday began at 7:00 am at Starbucks, one of my favorite places. Meetings at 8:30 and 12 followed. My lunch meeting was at the Mocha House, one of my favorite places in Warren. If you’re ever in the neighborhood I highly suggest going there to grab a bite. Personally, I am a huge fan of the barbeque chicken wrap with seasoned fries and barbeque sauce on the side.

After my lunch meeting I got to swing by the old homestead to see some of my family. After time with them, I was off to another meeting. I then joined my family for a late dinner at a new local diner and crashed at my parent’s house on Monday night.

Tuesday morning brought some fun. I was able to take one of my nephews to preschool. He asked me the night before if I would take him to school in my “fast car.” My car really isn’t all that fast, but to a four year old, it’s pretty fast & fun!

We decided to grab breakfast on the way to school, so we stopped by the local grocery store for some fresh doughnuts. He snagged a chocolate one that was covered in yellow, red and orange sprinkles. When we got to his school he had chocolate all over his face! It was then that I noticed he had the most slamming bag for a four year old. It was an AC/DC black canvas bag. I wish I had taken a picture… It’s not everyday you see a four year old big pimpin’ with an AC/DC bag and chocolate doughnut smeared on his face.  Too awesome!

After the preschool drop off, I was able to spend some time with Ike (Isaac). He’s one and a half years old and pretty darn cute. We jumped on my parents’ golf cart and went around the pond several times and even took pictures:

Then I was off to my last meeting before returning home to Akron.

It was a good trip. Now I need to make plans to go and visit my other nephew and nieces in the near future!

Word. A-Rae

One of our favorite places to be in Ecuador is El Refugio. It is a camp located about 45 minutes north of Quito and is the site we’ve used to host our junior high camp the past 4 years. Last year the camp staff began working on an amazing new project – a tree house built on the side of a mountain.  Our friend Paul has an incredible vision of the tree house becoming a place for people to individually connect with God through solitude retreats, as well as connect with each other when the platforms are utilized for team/group times. Last year one of the platforms was finished and they were working on a second as well as the rope bridge that connects them.

Courtney and I wanted to visit the tree house to get away for an afternoon before camp started. I found myself in the book of Numbers. (*I know, who reads the book of Numbers?!*) I was reading from chapter 22 and ended up focusing on verses 21-34. This section of scripture always makes me laugh, but it is also quite profound.

I won’t share all the scripture here, but I encourage you to read it. This guy named Balaam ends up riding his donkey and beating it three times. Finally, God enables the donkey to talk and Balaam has a conversation with the animal.

This prompted me to think. What will it take for me to listen to God? (*You know what I’m talking about?*)  Sometimes God is speaking so loudly in our lives and we find it easy to ignore Him.  Ironic, but true.

God used a talking donkey to get Balaam’s attention. What is He using to get yours?

For fun, read the scripture passage here. I put it in the King James Version because it will make you chuckle like a little schoolgirl!

Court and I were in the tree house on Good Friday. Before we left we sat together overlooking the valley and read the account of Jesus’ betrayal and his crucifixion. It was an incredible moment and a reminder – How many days do we not even take the time to acknowledge Him and the incredible sacrifice He made on our behalf?

Here are pictures taken in the tree house. It was truly amazing.

Word: A-Rae

My recap of a touristy day:

Court and I caught a cab and headed to Quito’s downtown markets. There are two markets that we like to visit. The first is called the covered market (because it is covered) while the other market is referred to as the outdoor market (because, in fact, it is outdoors). Now that we have that straight…

When we jumped out of our cab, we were greeted by a broken, naked, face-down mannequin. When Court and I finished browsing in the market, the same mannequin was casually standing against the wall. It made us laugh to think of someone picking her up and carefully putting her back together.

Here are the before & after photos:

People do a lot of things to earn money while traffic is stopped at red lights. One guy caught my attention on our way to the outdoor market. At the time, we didn’t know why he had two mannequins strapped to his back (this is a lot of mannequin talk!) The male figure was in a suit and the female figure was in a dress. The performer was also holding a pair of boots with sticks in them.

At the next red light, we saw an amazing act: he would go into the cross-walk, bend over, & made it actually look like two people were fighting/dancing.

So all you high schoolers looking for a job, find a busy intersection and go for it!

Finally, what day would be complete without a picture of an authentic wiener-mobile?

Word: A-Rae

Stryp and I have been loving the open windows & beautiful weather

Don’t you love it when you can photograph a pure moment of happiness?!

much love & smiles, Court

Early on in our trip we joined the Alliance academy in their weekly ministry at Zambiza, Quito’s city dump. Our friend Daniel goes there every Wednesday to help at the daycare. He spends time with the kids and loves on them. The kids were incredible as they always are.

They always seem to have a new way to break my heart. One little girl and I took turns tracing each other’s hands. She was absolutely precious.

Word. A-Rae