Hi friends, surprise it's Gregg :) i know i don't write on here that much (i'll share more about why in another post later), but today you may just get 2 whole posts out of me. exciting :) I plan to write a general update on the both of us a little later, but I wanted to share some personal thoughts here that I jotted down this morning.
now what i don't want to do is to pretend that my thoughts are so profound that you would want to read them, but i know that it's good for us to share what we're thinking, profound or shallow, because it brings us closer and maybe we can all learn & grow from it.
first, a little context, i received a job offer on friday and i have until tomorrow afternoon to accept it. since our return, our thoughts and prayers have been focused on how our lives will look after our experience in guatemala, where God taught us a ton and continues to challenge our worldviews. so, with that backdrop, i wanted to share what i jotted down today. It may read a little bit random, kelley can tell you that my mind jumps around a lot and it's not always easy to follow for someone outside my brain, but i hope it may strike a chord with maybe at least one of you :) oh and then there's an excerpt from C.S. Lewis that kinda goes along with it.
9/20 - Decision
I have a decision to make today. What a great thing it is to have an option, to have the freedom to make a decision. Lord, I ask you to not only be so kind as to speak to me, to put your will on my heart, but also to help me listen and act. In reality we have a choice everyday, you're constantly calling us, seeking us, running after us. You love us, help us to love you; to not only say it, but do it because the world needs to see you and you've chosen us - the weak, broken, and humble - to show them. I don't want to mess up, but even so, I know I will sometimes, and I am nevertheless comforted in knowing you are gracious and merciful. I pray that I will identify with the ones the world is rejecting, the world's outcasts are the Kings and Queens of your Kingdom.
I used to always ask you Lord to completely captivate my heart, soul, mind, and body - that I would truly seek you with all my being. I hear you calling me, probably clearer than I've ever heard you; I have more proof that only in you, in your perfect path that you've created for us, will we find our joy. I ask you now to not let me step outside of it. What a tragedy it would be to ask for it, to see it, and then turn away from it. Let me not be a tragedy; I pray that I would cause you to rejoice, that my life would be pleasing to you. You are continually pursuing us; thankfully, your leisurely, patient pace is is much faster than my fastest sprint; you have caught me.
There is beauty and liberation in choice; I think there's a different beauty and liberation in a lack of choice, an inescapable duty perhaps allows us to focus on the task at hand and not be distracted at "what could have been". Regardless, now I am faced with a choice, help me to choose right. end
C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair, chapter 2
"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I ----could I -----would you mind going away while I do?," said the Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless build, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to----do anything to me, if I do come?," said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?," she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion.
It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!," said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion
end
Showing posts with label Ch-ch-ch-changes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ch-ch-ch-changes. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Chiblogo: the Chicago Chronicles
We made it! After an awesome month in Seattle we packed up all our junk and made our way across the heart of the US to our new home - Chicago! Unfortunately we were very lazy about picture taking while in Seattle but let me just tell you, we had fun.
Thankfully we did remember to take lots of pictures on our drive out to Chicago. Neither of us had been to that part of the country before and we really enjoyed seeing the Great Plains, although I'm still bitter I didn't see any buffalo or cowboys. Here are a few photos from our 8 states in 4 days extravaganza!
Of course with a name like the 'Great Plains' you know there were some incredibly boring parts to drive through. We overcame them in true Brown fashion...
Now we are in Chicago and we are really enjoying everything so far! Praise the Lord He provided us with awesome friends to stay with while we apartment hunted. Tim and Ashley Van Oss are seriously the most welcoming people in the whole world. You guys are the BEST!
Besides having tons of fun with the Van Osses we have also been crazy apartment searching. Again, thank you God, we found a great place in a very fun part of the city. We are really excited to move in on Sept 1st and use all our stuff again! I also started school this week and so far so good. I am taking 5 classes though which is apparently a lot in Grad school so we'll see how much of a social life I have in the coming months. HOWEVER do not let that stop you from visiting! Seriously people...come visit us! This city is amazing and there are at least 8 million fun things to do every single day. Seriously.
Thankfully we did remember to take lots of pictures on our drive out to Chicago. Neither of us had been to that part of the country before and we really enjoyed seeing the Great Plains, although I'm still bitter I didn't see any buffalo or cowboys. Here are a few photos from our 8 states in 4 days extravaganza!
Of course with a name like the 'Great Plains' you know there were some incredibly boring parts to drive through. We overcame them in true Brown fashion...
Now we are in Chicago and we are really enjoying everything so far! Praise the Lord He provided us with awesome friends to stay with while we apartment hunted. Tim and Ashley Van Oss are seriously the most welcoming people in the whole world. You guys are the BEST!
Besides having tons of fun with the Van Osses we have also been crazy apartment searching. Again, thank you God, we found a great place in a very fun part of the city. We are really excited to move in on Sept 1st and use all our stuff again! I also started school this week and so far so good. I am taking 5 classes though which is apparently a lot in Grad school so we'll see how much of a social life I have in the coming months. HOWEVER do not let that stop you from visiting! Seriously people...come visit us! This city is amazing and there are at least 8 million fun things to do every single day. Seriously.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
I'm Accepted!
and HERE!
Now I'm just waiting to hear from these slow pokes...
Seattle Friends: Start praying NOW!
(if you want us to move home that is...I suppose I shouldn't assume)
oh and Gregg wanted me to remind you that we've all been accepted here...
AMEN
Monday, December 20, 2010
Yalu and the Future
We're back! The last two weekends we spent out in the village of Yalu having end of the year meetings, planning the upcoming year, feeding 300+ kids, fiesta-ing and more fiesta-ing.
Check the rest of our Yalu photos here.
Besides having a great time this past week, God also really spoke to Gregg and I about the rest of our time here in Guatemala. Pretty consistently over the last month both of us have been struggling to feel content for multiple reasons including; being away from home, being in language school, thinking about where to volunteer our time, missing friends and family, etc. One of our thoughts was that we just need to start getting more involved doing the work that we came down here for. So, a few weeks ago we decided to make something happen and start volunteering with different organizations where we had been excited about the projects being done in public health and microfinance. Though this seemed like a good idea at the time over the following few weeks we have both just felt that something was "off" about the jobs, we have not been as excited about the opportunities as we had expected. Looking back it is clear that we really just rushed into making commitment because we felt like we needed to hurry up and get to the real reason we are here.
Once we got out to Yalu however we automatically starting feeling better, like we were supposed to be there. In the various meetings we had we learned that 1. Mano Con Mano is going to partner with a church nearby that wants to do some really amazing things in the community including public health stuff and microfinance! and 2. The current directors decided to step down starting in January and the incoming directors aren't coming till April after they finish language school in Costa Rica. So, long story short, we decided to commit the majority of our time in Yalu! We are both really excited about the things God is doing there and we think this coming year will bring some really exciting changes in the village that we want to be a part of. Anyways, definitely more on that as we figure out what exactly we will be doing but just wanted to keep y'all in the loop.
This week we are just going to be hanging out in Antigua, finishing up language school, and trying to get in the Christmas spirit. Tonight we are heading to the Erickson's to watch a Christmas movie so that will definitely help. We also will have more time to update this thing so check back again soon. Merry Christmas and God Bless!
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| Los ninos of the head cook(Edwin, Ana, Rosa, Leslie) |
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| Gregg giving out multivitamins |
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| A Mayan woman washing her clothes in the pila |
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| Spaghetti day! |
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| Us with the in-coming Missionaries, Gerry and Barb Norman |
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| Cooking the Christmas Feast: Fried Chicken and Rice Krispy Treats |
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| Pinata at the kids Christmas party |
Besides having a great time this past week, God also really spoke to Gregg and I about the rest of our time here in Guatemala. Pretty consistently over the last month both of us have been struggling to feel content for multiple reasons including; being away from home, being in language school, thinking about where to volunteer our time, missing friends and family, etc. One of our thoughts was that we just need to start getting more involved doing the work that we came down here for. So, a few weeks ago we decided to make something happen and start volunteering with different organizations where we had been excited about the projects being done in public health and microfinance. Though this seemed like a good idea at the time over the following few weeks we have both just felt that something was "off" about the jobs, we have not been as excited about the opportunities as we had expected. Looking back it is clear that we really just rushed into making commitment because we felt like we needed to hurry up and get to the real reason we are here.
Once we got out to Yalu however we automatically starting feeling better, like we were supposed to be there. In the various meetings we had we learned that 1. Mano Con Mano is going to partner with a church nearby that wants to do some really amazing things in the community including public health stuff and microfinance! and 2. The current directors decided to step down starting in January and the incoming directors aren't coming till April after they finish language school in Costa Rica. So, long story short, we decided to commit the majority of our time in Yalu! We are both really excited about the things God is doing there and we think this coming year will bring some really exciting changes in the village that we want to be a part of. Anyways, definitely more on that as we figure out what exactly we will be doing but just wanted to keep y'all in the loop.
This week we are just going to be hanging out in Antigua, finishing up language school, and trying to get in the Christmas spirit. Tonight we are heading to the Erickson's to watch a Christmas movie so that will definitely help. We also will have more time to update this thing so check back again soon. Merry Christmas and God Bless!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
All your questions answered...
We have been (understandably) getting a lot of questions about our trip over the past few weeks. We wanted to quickly fill everyone in on the basics. As of right now we still have a lot of questions of our own that we will be figuring out as we go. But, here is what we do know...
When are you leaving and how long will are you planning to be down there?
We are leaving September 29th and will be staying about a year. The plan for now is to study Spanish, be engaged in the culture, and help anywhere and anyway we can. Gregg is looking to volunteer in microfinance, and Kelley wants to volunteer in Public Health.
Where will you actually be living?
Initially we will be in Antigua, Guatemala. We will be studying Spanish there for 3-6 months, depending on how long it takes for Gregg to 'master' Spanish (he keeps bragging that he is going to know more than me when we come back. Yeah, ok buddy). For at least the first month we will live with a local family that will feed us, speak Spanish to us, and be our 'Guatemalan Familia'. After that we will possibly rent a furnished apartment in Antigua which is where you will stay when you come visit us :) There is also a chance we will be moving to a smaller, less touristy city after we're done at language school, where we can be more immersed in the culture.
Will you guys be working and/or volunteering? Are you going down with an organization?Are you raising support?
We technically are not going with any particular organization. Since we have a few different goals for our time we didn’t want to make any long term commitment to one specific organization. That being said, most of you know that we do work with Mano Con Mano which is in Guatemala. We will continue to do various things for MCM and hopefully visit the village and feeding center at least once per month. Check out MCM’s new website for more information about what they do in Yalu.
Since we are going 'solo' we didn't feel comfortably raising support. But we have known that we wanted to do this for a while, and Gregg IS a finance man after all, so we were able to save up enough to live without income for the year. Its pretty amazing actually considering our grocery bills :)
Why in the world do you want to do this?
Ever since Kelley got back from Guatemala before we got married, we both knew that she was going to have to go back someday. There is something about the people, the beautiful surroundings, and the culture in general that just sucks you in. Then, after our trip in December, it was clear that Gregg also felt "the calling" and the planning began. This specific time in our lives is perfect because we don't have kids(whew!), don't have a lot of debt or bills, we both felt good about exploring this opportunity, and it just seems like life is slowing down in general. We are excited to be immersed in a different culture that will challenge our traditional preconceptions about most things and we're excited to do this together.
Another motivation is that Kelley is planning on going back to school hopefully next fall and the program she is interested in requires International experience. Add everything together and how could we not go! Like we said in our first post, we are VERY sad to be leaving our family and friends but we know God is calling us to do this and we can't wait to see what He has in store for us!
So thats that! Feel free to keep asking those questions. The purpose of this post wasn't to make people stop asking us about our trip, Promise! :)
When are you leaving and how long will are you planning to be down there?
We are leaving September 29th and will be staying about a year. The plan for now is to study Spanish, be engaged in the culture, and help anywhere and anyway we can. Gregg is looking to volunteer in microfinance, and Kelley wants to volunteer in Public Health.
Where will you actually be living?
Initially we will be in Antigua, Guatemala. We will be studying Spanish there for 3-6 months, depending on how long it takes for Gregg to 'master' Spanish (he keeps bragging that he is going to know more than me when we come back. Yeah, ok buddy). For at least the first month we will live with a local family that will feed us, speak Spanish to us, and be our 'Guatemalan Familia'. After that we will possibly rent a furnished apartment in Antigua which is where you will stay when you come visit us :) There is also a chance we will be moving to a smaller, less touristy city after we're done at language school, where we can be more immersed in the culture.
Will you guys be working and/or volunteering? Are you going down with an organization?Are you raising support?
We technically are not going with any particular organization. Since we have a few different goals for our time we didn’t want to make any long term commitment to one specific organization. That being said, most of you know that we do work with Mano Con Mano which is in Guatemala. We will continue to do various things for MCM and hopefully visit the village and feeding center at least once per month. Check out MCM’s new website for more information about what they do in Yalu.
Since we are going 'solo' we didn't feel comfortably raising support. But we have known that we wanted to do this for a while, and Gregg IS a finance man after all, so we were able to save up enough to live without income for the year. Its pretty amazing actually considering our grocery bills :)
Why in the world do you want to do this?
Ever since Kelley got back from Guatemala before we got married, we both knew that she was going to have to go back someday. There is something about the people, the beautiful surroundings, and the culture in general that just sucks you in. Then, after our trip in December, it was clear that Gregg also felt "the calling" and the planning began. This specific time in our lives is perfect because we don't have kids(whew!), don't have a lot of debt or bills, we both felt good about exploring this opportunity, and it just seems like life is slowing down in general. We are excited to be immersed in a different culture that will challenge our traditional preconceptions about most things and we're excited to do this together.
Another motivation is that Kelley is planning on going back to school hopefully next fall and the program she is interested in requires International experience. Add everything together and how could we not go! Like we said in our first post, we are VERY sad to be leaving our family and friends but we know God is calling us to do this and we can't wait to see what He has in store for us!
So thats that! Feel free to keep asking those questions. The purpose of this post wasn't to make people stop asking us about our trip, Promise! :)
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