Kafe Kakuma

The Latest

2012-01-19T19:34:00.001-05:00

It's finally gotten cold here. We're coping by drinking much tea, coffee and hot chocolate. The past tow weeks have been pretty fun and thankfully healthy. It is so great to have the whole fa,ily healthy again and not hear so much coughing and nose-blowing.
Last weekend we had a great time connecting with several families. We met a new family that is related to Leno and Jaque in our house church last Friday night. We went with Leno and Jaque and had a discovery Bible study at their house and they are very interested in doing it again. We told Leno and Jaque that they are going to have to keep it going. It it happens, that will mean that they will be leading two new Bible study groups. It was such a blessing listening to them tell about how God is changing their lives and invite their "cousins" to trust God more.
Saturday we had supper with a Venezuelan family that is also just starting to walk with Jesus. They are a part of a different church, and we are encouraging them to keep connected there, but have also been able to encourage them in how to read the Bible for themselves. Again, God is amazing in the changes that he is bringing to their lives.
Sunday with our house church, we had a new family there as well. It was Sabina's cousin and she was able to unload some of the stress and unforgiveness in her heart and Sabina and her children prayed for her. Again, something that a year ago we never would have believed possible.
On Monday Gaby and Marcus participated in a MLK children's choir and loved it! Marcus even got his picture in the paper. If you click on this link and then view the slideshow, you will see him. Gaby was singing too, along with Sabina's daughter Emily too, but they were off on the sides, so they didn't get in the picture.
For this weekend, we have our annual Columbus Network of Microchurches (CNM) winter retreat. We aren't sure if many people from our church will be joining us since sometimes people in our Spanish group aren't quite as committed to the English groups. However, we ask you to pray for those who do go that it would be a refreshing time. We also ask that you pray that the retreat be a catalyst to our church to press on and keep working to see the Kingdon come more in our city.
Naty has started doing more with her Mary Kay business and we would appreciate your prayers for it to take off more. She is very good at her classes that she gives, but needs more people who will join her team.
School is a bit busy for me right now with report cards due and district writing assessments to do and state English tests right around the corner in February.
Next Sunday it looks like we will be sharing more about LAMP at Hicksville Mennonite Church and spending the day with Dan and Lynelle Delagrange and their family. They are former missionaries to Ecuador and we are interested in learning more about what they did when they were there.
Well, there is a brief update of what we are up to these days. What's going on in your neck of the woods? Are there ways we can be praying for you?

Africa 2011

2011-11-17T21:24:00.002-05:00

Mid October Naty had an amazing trip to Tanzania and Kenya:

prayer nights

2011-10-01T14:37:00.003-04:00

I've been hearing, reading, thinking and even praying about the importance of prayer for disciple making to be effective. We long to see more house churches in Columbus, but what are we doing about it? We've talked a lot about how important it is to pray. But what have we done about it? Starting last Friday we had a Praise and Prayer night at our house and we are planning to keep doing it every Friday for the next several months.

We want to see the Kingdom come, but what are we doing to bring it? We have decided prayer is where we need to start so if you want to join us we will be praying every Friday evening at our house starting at 7 PM.

Yesterday we read Acts 16 and how Paul and Silas' praise and prayer got them out of a jail in Philippi. Then we did some graffiti prayers. Everyone drew a sketch of what they wanted to pray for then we went around the table and each of us shared and the next person prayed for our requests. It was truly a beautiful and memorable time because even the children where highly engaged and offered up prayers for all that was on our hearts. I know God is going to start doing some more interesting things through us and our church.

La Cosecha Está Lista

2011-08-27T11:31:00.005-04:00

Casi siempre escribo en inglés, pero pensé escribir este mes en Español para mis amigos que acabo de conocer la semana pasada en Nicaragua durante el congreso de AMCLA.

Desde el inicio del proceso de preparación para dicha conferencia he estado contemplando la cosecha como la presenta Jesús en el Evangelio de Lucas capítulo 10. Él dijo que la cosecha es abundante pero son pocos los obreros, por eso tenemos que implorarle a Dios que mande mas obreros. Esto fue la razón que fuimos a Nicaragua a pedirle a Dios y a pedirles a la gente allá, que manden más obreros.

Llegamos de regreso de Nicaragua el martes por la noche a las 10:00 y a las 7:30 de la mañana el miércoles fui a trabajar mi primer día en la escuela por este año. Por la tarde, cuando llegué de la escuela, me puse a trabajar en el jardín después de una semana sin trabajar allí. Le invité a mi hijo para que me acompañara a trabajar en la cosecha, porque había mucho que recoger, pero por alguna razón, él no quiso ayudarme. Me pareció extraño porque casi siempre, él es el primero en cosechar lo que hay en el jardín. Pero, por otro lado la experiencia de cosechar solo me dio mas tiempo para contemplar porque Jesús había dicho que tenemos que llamarle la atención a Dios para que mande más obreros. Esa tarde aprendí que COSECHAR TOMA TIEMPO. Cosechando con dos o tres es mucho más rápido y eficiente que con uno solo. Yo tenía en mente también podar la grama o hacer otra cosa antes que anochciera, pero no pude porque pasé todo el tiempo cosechando.

Me puse a contemplar: Si yo tenía ganas de terminar la cosecha y ponerme a hacer otra cosa, ¿Cuánto más anhelaría el Hijo de Dios estar ya con su novia disfrutando la celebración de su boda y el comienzo de los nuevos cielos y la nueva tierra? Pero, la cosecha no se ha terminado todavía. No se ha recogido por completo, porque no hay suficientes obreros! Hay pocos, pero les está costando mucho tiempo. Sería mucho mas rápido con más obreros.

También aprendí COSECHAR NO ES DIFÍCIL. Mi hijo Marcos, de la edad de 7 años, es muy buen cosechador. Es jóven, no tiene mucha experiencia, pero sabe cosechar y lo puede hacer muy bien (cuando obedece y lo hace). Si la fruta está madura, es fácil de reconocerla y no toma nada de fuerza recogerla. Con razón se dice, "Cae de la mata." Miren las fotos que están a continuación y verán como es de facíl reconocer la fruta que está lista.

¿Se dan cuenta de como es de fácil encontrar la fruta que está lista? Allí está, solo tienes que agarrarla y cosecharla.

Una cosecha espiritual no es muy diferente. Claro, primero hay que recoger las piedras, arar la tierra, sembrar, esperar que nazca la planta, cultivarla y esperar que la fruta madure. Seis pasos MUY importantes antes del cosechar. Pero, cuando es tiempo de cosechar ¡hasta los niños pueden hacerlo! No sólo eso, pero van a disfrutarlo y tener éxito. Jesús dijo, "La cosecha está lista." Quiere decir que tenemos que buscar la fruta madura y ponernos a cosechar, YA! Hasta niños espirituales lo podrán hacer. ¡No hay porque esperar! No me van a engañar con la excusa que los discípulos de Jesús y los 72 seguidores de Él eran expertos en cosecha. Nunca lo habían hecho antes y ¡BUM! Jesús los manda a cosechar, y lo hicieron muy bien. ¡Tanto que se asombraron de los resultados! ¿No sería igual para nosotros? Pero tenemos que obedecer y hacerlo.

Otra lección: SI NO COSECHAMOS A TIEMPO, LA FRUTA NO ES TAN BUENA. Fíjense como está de grande el calabazín de atrás en comparación con el de enfrente...

El pequeño enfrente es un calabazín normal y el otro creció así de grande porque estábamos en Nicaragua y no hubo nadie que lo cosechara. No es que se ha podrido, pero ahora va a tener semillas muy grandes adentro y no va a ser tan saboroso al cocinarlo. Su tiempo perfecto para la cosecha ya había pasado. Eso pasa en la vida también. Hay personas que pierden su momento mas oportuno para ser cosechados para Dios y luego se engordan de otras ideas, religiones y filosofías. Después, cuando son cosechados, no son tan efectivos para El Reino gracias a todos los requisitos adicionales que añaden a la vida en Cristo. Tienen su utilidad, pero no tanto como si se hubiesen cosechado en otra época de su crecimiento espiritual.

No obstante, no podemos olvidar LA COSECHA ES LO MAS RICO QUE HAY EN LA VIDA!!!! Miren estos tomates y vainitas. ¿No se ven deliciosos? Me tomó tiempo, pero ahora, tendremos algo rico para comer. Apenas en esta semana, mi esposa tuvo la experiencia de explicarle a dos mujeres en su unidad de Mary Kay el plan de Dios para la salvación. ¡Pregúntame si ella no estaba feliz! Tanto ella como sus amigas estaban celebrando la buenas nuevas de lo que significa vivir en relación restaurada con el Creador! ¿Habrá algo más rico que eso?

OBEDECE Y DISFRUTARÁS...
Sabemos que Dios nos ha llamado a tabajar con AMCLA y ayudar a los pueblos Latinos no sólo llegar a conocer a Dios, sino también llevar las buenas nuevas a las naciones. El viaje a Nicaragua tomó su tiempo, tuvo sus sacrificios, (como dejar a nuestos hijos por una semana) pero también fue un gozo! Disfrutamos y reímos mucho con amigos conocidos y amigos nuevos que estamos conociendo. Pinoleros, Ticos, Ecuatorianos y hasta un Catracho! Aún en el viaje al aeropuerto esperando en un semáforo, conseguimos un vendedor ambulante ofreciendo mamones. ¡Creo que no había visto a Naty tan contenta con una fruta en mucho tiempo! Junto con nuestro amigo Joe, comimos todos los mamones antes de llegar al punto de seguridad en el aeropuerto.

¡La cosecha mis panas, es RICA y VALE LE PENA!

1,000 miles!

2011-07-07T09:27:00.003-04:00

Tuesday I passed 1,000 miles on my bike for the year so far!

This summer one of my goals is to participate in the Ride For Missions in support of Rosedale Mennonite Missions. The ride now includes 58 riders and 10 support people. We will be riding from Columbus, OH to Frostburg, MD the site of the 2011 Annual Conference for Conservative Mennonite Conference. I have been training a lot for the ride because I hope to enjoy it and not be in pain for the five days that will take us 400 miles to our destination. When I did the ride in 2007 I didn't train much. We only rode 220 miles in three days and pain is what I remember from the experience. I'm not letting that happen again!

I've learned a lot about discipline, exercise and biking over the past 5 months since I began training. There is an African proverb that says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." I've experienced the truth of that proverb because if it wasn't for the group of 4 or 5 other guys that I ride with regularly, I know I wouldn't have gotten this far. We encourage and inspire each other to press on and go a little farther and faster even when we feel like we are already dead! Distance takes team.

Here is a picture that my friend Ulises took on Monday when we were doing a 60 mile ride. We went from Shiloh Mennonite Church near Plain City to Urbana and back, taking on some nice hills southwest of Mechanicsburg. I had the chore of reading the map and am in front and our friend Robert is behind me.

Wednesday morning I rode with my friends Quimi and Ulises on a loop just west of Hilliard. The beauty of the fog over low places was inspiring.

Then Wednesday night I went with my friend Leno and we took Bryan, Marcus, Dalia and Gaby on the Olentangy Bike Trail that winds through Columbus following the river. I'm excited to see that Gaby and Marcus like biking too and want to keep doing it. They rode almost 9 miles and loved it!

tonight

2011-06-29T23:40:00.004-04:00

It has been forever since I've written anything, so tonight it is time...

Tonight was a Wednesday night that means it was a Mary Kay night. Naty has been working a lot with her Mary Kay business and is about to enter in D.I.Q. Director In Qualification. She has been having a lot of parties and recruiting more team members which has been great! Every Wednesday she has a class and facials at our house, so I usually try to do something with Gaby and Marcus somewhere else so she can have the house to herself and her ladies...

Tonight we went to Darby Creek Park to ride bike. We rode about 8 1/2 miles! Gaby and Marcus did a good job! They also enjoyed visiting an old horse barn and seeing some bison that are a part of the park now.

What does discipling look like to you?

2011-06-24T08:26:00.001-04:00

This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

the latest... finally!

2011-04-18T20:47:00.004-04:00

If I haven't blogged for a month and a half should I even bother to start again? One of my goals for the year is to blog at least twice a month, but I haven't set it as one of my highest priorities. I could give many excuses for why it's taken so long to post again, but that is just wasted time.
Reality is that I've realized there are many other priorities in my life so I'll just be blogging when I feel like it's not getting in the way of something else. Hopefully at least twice a month, but we'll see.
Nicer weather has meant time to get outside again and this makes all of us happier! We have started having a monthly party with our church called Fiesta de Luz (Party of Light). We named our church Luz Viviente and we really want to be light to everyone around us. One way of doing this is inviting our church and other friends believers or not to a party where we have food and drinks and games or dancing in a healthy family atmosphere. So far it has been a lot of fun. This picture is from our party for March and last night we had our April party.

Spring break was from April 4 - 11 and Gaby and Marcus had all kinds of fun being at home. Naty and I did too, for her it meant several Mary Kay parties and for me, painting the ceilings in the whole house and also painting the living room and hallway.

Naty has been doing weekly trainings with her team of MK consultants and their group is growing. Naty really likes this new business and is planning to start doing it "full time" when summer vacation gets here. She is also planning to keep going with Mary Kay and not go back to her Kindergarten assistant job in the fall. Please pray with us that the business will grow.

The second weekend of spring break, Grandma Peachey came out to stay with Gaby and Marcus so that Naty and I could go with our friends Ismael and Victalina to a Vineyard church planting training for Latinos in Mundelein, IL just north of Chicago. We learned a lot and came back with fresh energy to keep seeking God in our church planting among Latinos in Columbus.

Ismael and Victalina also had a great time and came back with a vision of planting a house church in their new neighborhood and also with their family. It was so exciting to see God speaking to them showing them their giftings and calling and hearing them share about what they want to do in the future.

There have been some other exciting things happening that can't really be shown in pictures. Naty and I have decided to participate with a few others in our church network in a group called T4T which means Training 4 Trainers. We have been learning and practicing some new things with our house church and are looking forward to seeing God begin a church planting movement through us. We are excited about casting vision for a movement, not just a few house churches and resources from the Church Planting Movements web site have been very valuable. I have also had some Skype trainings hosted by Paul Watson and have found their trainings about access, and Discovery Bible Studies to be great tools to sharing good news with people that are wanting to connect more with God.

The last big thing for us right now is that we were approached by RMM two weeks ago and asked to consider joining their LAMP team as Ecuador representatives and committee coordinators. We have said "yes" and are excited about connecting more with Latin America in this way. Our role will be to help local churches develop vision for international missions and send out missionaries. Currently this means selecting and sending people to Thailand to serve with the RMM team there. But there is also the possibility of sending missionaries to other locations as well. This will be a part time position shared by Naty and me and we will be connecting with churches in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Pray that God would move through us and LAMP as a whole to see His Kingdom come more in Latin America and around the world, as it is in heaven.

first ever podcast

2011-02-09T19:44:00.003-05:00

The podcast that Brian Jones and I shared talking about some of what God is doing here in Columbus is now ready on iTunes if you would like to download it.

Missional Church - Subtitulado

2011-02-05T12:17:00.001-05:00

I hope that our church can look like this. We aren't there yet, but we need to get there.
Espero que nuestra iglesia puede llegar a ser así. No hemos llegado todavía, pero espero que estamos en el camino.

podcast with Brian Jones and Missional Monks

2011-02-03T22:13:00.003-05:00

Last night my friend Brian and I had the chance to talk with Bret and Chris AKA the missional monks about missional and monastic Kingdom life. You can listen to it here. I'd also recommend that you visit the Missional Monks web site and join the conversations about what it means to join God's mission wherever you are.

a new puppy!

2011-02-02T10:52:00.006-05:00

It is hard to believe, but we are once again doing something we never thought we'd do... we now have a dog in the house! Don't be alarmed, our beloved Coffee is still with us, but now we have a new puppy too. His name is Buddy and it has been quite a journey to get him.
Gaby has been asking for a puppy for a long time and we had told her to stop asking because we already have one dog and that was enough. She quit asking us, but she started praying more about it and telling friends to pray with her too! Then, last Thursday when she was going to another school for her enrichment class she got to talk with a bus driver there who knew that she was working on a research project about golden retrievers. He told her that he had just rescued a lab/retriever puppy they found out in the country and had taken it to his vet. Gaby gave him Naty's number to call and ask if we could get the dog. Miracle of miracles, Naty said we could go and see the pup! The vet then told us that they needed to keep it one more day to see if the owners could be found and if not, we could take him home for the weekend to see how it went and if we really wanted to keep him or not. A test drive for a puppy!
We got Buddy Friday after school and he has been with us ever since. We spent the weekend praying and processing and came to the conclusion that having Buddy would be an answer of prayer for Gaby and also a good way to keep us focused on what God has called us to in Columbus. We keep reverting to thoughts of moving somewhere else, even though we know God has called us to be right here right now. Thirdly, having Buddy will connect us more to our neighbors here in suburbia. Since Coffee is usually outside with room to run around, I don't walk her very much. We decided to keep Buddy inside because his hair is too thin to spend much time outside or in the garage. So, he needs walked every day and Coffee loves the walks too! We've already had more interaction with our neighbors thanks to the walks and I'm sure it will only increase when the weather gets above freezing again!
For now, we're learning about how to train a puppy, and it is bringing our family together and we hope leading toward God's Kingdom coming more in Columbus.

Coffee and Buddy playing in the snow Saturday, after they decided to be friends.

Buddy's new den.

Nap time...

Let's go for a walk!

snow day

2011-02-01T14:45:00.004-05:00

We had our second snow day of the year today and all enjoyed it immensely. With extra time on my hands I "tweeted" more than usual today. So instead of writing more here just give http://twitter.com/dionpeachey a click and you can see a bit more about our day.

The biggest news for now is that we have a new member in our family, a yellow lab named Buddy! We never thought we'd ever have a dog in the house with us, but thanks to our daughter's persistence in prayer and proving she can be responsible, we now have Buddy. He was rescued by a bus driver that Gaby knows and he knew that she was crazy about getting a puppy so now he's ours! So far he's been a real blessing, we hope that continues...

"This much change us"

2011-01-21T13:45:00.001-05:00

sweet spot

2011-01-21T13:07:00.002-05:00

Last week I had a conversation with a good friend about living in your sweet spot. Knowing what it is that you were created for and passionate about and then living there, growing in what you were made for.
I feel like I'm discovering more of where my sweet spot is: Enjoying and sharing the Kingdom of God with others.
Last Sunday was a great example of living in the sweet spot. I started by going to a 5:30 am prayer meeting with some Latino Kingdom people and spent more time on my knees than I have in a while. We prayed and then looked at the story of Rachel and Leah's wanting to have more kids than each other in Genesis 30. The leader ended by sharing that he felt like God was showing him that Joseph, the 11th child was a sign of God's provision of fertility and that this year, 2011, is going to be a year of fertility for the Kingdom. Interesting thought, I never would have looked at it that way, but I can pray that it happens.
We have a lot of goals for this year and among them is that of training the people that we are discipling how they can better share Jesus with those around them.
Last Friday and Saturday I was able to participate in a Skype training that presented Discovery Bible Studies and we had a chance to practice it with some other disciple makers. We then talked and prayed about it with some others from our house church network on Sunday morning.
Sunday afternoon I took what I learned and translated it into Spanish to share with our house church later that night. We had one of the most memorable gatherings of our church's short existence. Everyone shared, everyone was challenged and everyone prayed for each other. This was where I saw the joy of the Kingdom most visibly. Our friends are very disturbed by the recent raids that ICE has been doing in the area and we spent a lot of time praying for each other and sharing how we could help each other out if something were to actually happen in our families. We ended the night with lots of laughs as we watched the kids present a song they are sharing at our church network's retreat this weekend. Then we picked a song to teach all of the Americanos how to dance merengue! God was visiting with us and we were sharing deeply with each other. The Kingdom come. That's sweet!
Where is your sweet spot? What do you do to live there more?

December 2010

2011-01-04T18:30:00.009-05:00

Okay friends, let's just pretend that this post is only half as long as it is! My goal for the year is to blog at least twice a month, so I'm on track for January, but didn't do too great for December. If you want to follow more of what we are up to then check out Facebook or Twitter, for now, I'm going back to just 2 blog posts a month unless there is a tremendous outcry for more updates...

December:
Somewhere in about the middle of the month I helped out at school as the narrator for the 4th grade play, lots of fun and Marcus loved it too! The music teacher gave him the CD for the play and he almost memorized it!

Sunday the 19th we took our church to the streets. We joined up with another friend's house church to sing carols and share hot chocolate, ponche and cookies in the trailer court where one of our church members lives. We met lots of Mexican and American families and it looks like a few of them are interested in starting to study the Bible together. Here we are gathered around a fire we made and Alejandro is sharing his story of coming to Jesus in the past year.

December 21 is a super special day, GABY WAS BORN!!!! We woke her up singing Happy Birthday, Cumpleaños Feliz, Las Mañanitas and Ay Que Noche Tan Preciosa... do you think that was enough birthday songs? Then we had yummy arepas for breakfast.

Gaby's birthday party was the next day so the kids could stay up later since there was no school the next day. Not quite all of her friends could make it to the party, but she did have a great time with everyone who came.

The Next day we had a Christmas party with our church before we left for Pennsylvania. We spent all day getting ready. Gaby and Marcus were a big help. They helped clean the house and also did a lot of cutting to help me make Pan de Jamón "Ham bread" a typical Christmas specialty from Venezuela.

Here is a look at the final product. It turned out very delicious and disappeared as a appetizer for our guests later that evening.

Naty was in her glory wrapping presents almost all day. We have a very generous friend who gave us all of these gifts to give out to the people in our church and community. Naty absolutely loves wrapping gifts so she couldn't have been happier!

At about 8:00 the party got started. We took time to toast to the many things that we are thankful for from the past year and hoping for in the year to come.

Here is Naty's glorious turkey! (or maybe it's Naty's 2 turkeys)

After yummy food made by all and shared by all we had time for some carols

And opening presents.

Then it was off to Belleville, PA where the partying continued. We had Chrismas with the Yoders, Naty's host family, on Christmas Eve. More delicious food...

And more presents! Can you tell these guys like John Deere?

Then Christmas Day it was Christmas with the Peacheys and we finally got to meet our new niece Madison.

After more yummy food we heard the Christmas story shared by Marcus and Sidney.

Then again, more presents! For little kids and...

for big kids too!

Sunday meant yet another Christmas party, this time with the Hostetler family. (My mom's family)

There were about 50 or 60 of us as we gathered in the church gymnasium. All this fun thanks to the lovely couple at the end of this table, Grandpa and Grandma Hostetler.

If you were counting, that was a total of five parties in five days for our family! That wasn't enough for Naty she even had two Mary Kay facial parties while we were in Belleville too. This was with my mom and Aunt Rhoda.

Since our kids already get enough stuff for Christmas from everyone else, Naty and I choose to give them an experience instead. This year we went to Sight and Sound in Lancaster, PA.

We saw the "Miracle of Christmas" show, which was truly amazing.

Even Gaby's new baby Molly got to see the show!

Here is one of the actors outside afterward with some of the donkeys. They had lots of animals in the show, which was Gaby's favorite part.

After Sight and Sound we went to my brother David's house to be with his family but I guess Naty either ran out of battery power or forget to get out the camera because we don't have any pictures?!?

Now we are back in Columbus and planning to really get back to normal tomorrow when school starts again...

home again

2010-12-04T18:23:00.008-05:00

We liked Puerto Rico so much, we didn't really want to leave. That turned out pretty well, because we actually missed our flight to come home on Saturday. We got to the gate just as the plane was backing out onto the tarmac! We waited to see if we could get on anther flight, but it wasn't to be. The next day we were back at the airport ready to try to fly "stand by".

Marcus and I flew together and went from San Juan to Dulles and then home. I loved the view of the Puerto Rico coastline as we left.

Then we made it back to chilly Columbus at about 7:00 p.m.

Naty and Gaby caught a later flight and went to Chicago and then home to Columbus at 11:30 Sunday night.

Wednesday morning, we had our first snow of the season.

Marcus was sick with a horrible cough that morning, so Gaby and I walked to school in the snow. She loved it and couldn't stop smiling.

Then last night, Friday, we got out our Christmas decorations and set them up.

Marcus enjoyed setting up several nativity scenes around the house.

Gaby and Marcus both loved decorating the tree.

Thanks to Naty's organizational skills, everything went very smooth.

This morning Gaby enjoyed snuggling up next to the tree with her Bible and a cup of coffee with milk this morning.

Viejo San Juan

2010-11-26T19:18:00.010-05:00

Today we were official tourists, finding out a bit more about Puerto Rico. We spent the whole afternoon and evening visiting Castillo San Cristóbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro "El Morro". These fortresses were built in the 1500's and 1600's to protect the Spanish colony of San Juan from attack.

We started our trip with a visit to the gift shop (I know, you're supposed to do that last, but oh well!). There we saw lots of cool stuff and I took this picture of a postcard of a Coquí frog. These frog are very common here in Puerto Rico and have become quite famous. Last night at our Thanksgiving party we kept hearing them, but couldn't ever find one, so this is how I got a picture.

Gaby found a stuffed Coquí that even made a whistling sound, just like the frog makes.

Marcus decided he wanted to be a pirate!

We happy these cannon balls aren't loaded with powder!

We took tons of pictures way too many to post here, especially since Naty and I are both taking pictures now!

The day was cloudy, but it didn't rain on us when we were outside. In fact, we still haven't had any rain fall on us for the whole trip, a miracle in itself! We have watched it rain when we are inside, but by the time we go out, the skies are clearing! Thank you God!!

Here is the picture from the picture of the picture:

The peep holes inside the watchtowers made nice frames for pictures we took. I loved the combination of skies, green grass, beach and ocean. God's creation and some impressive man-made structures were spectacular.

Wladimir and Rosanna having some fun in the plaza.

Old doors make another interesting frame overlooking the seaport.

Looking out toward "El Morro". You really should click on this picture to get the panoramic view.

And looking back toward "Castillo San Cristóbal."

The huge grassy areas just begged to be walked on.

There were also so many great places for pictures.

We asked Rosanna to take some family pictures for us at a few places around the fortresses.

Since she and Wladimir were taking our picture, I thought it would be fun to take theirs too!

The cemetery between the fortresses: It's quite solemn to think of all the lives lost over this small piece of land thanks to the lustful passions for wealth and power.

On the lighter side, watching all the people flying kites lifted you to look at what our friend Carmen says is the most beautiful thing about Puerto Rico... the skies.

This lighthouse still shines leading ships toward the harbor.

We watched the sunset before heading down through Old San Juan and back home. The beauty of these pictures speaks for itself.

Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-26T11:52:00.004-05:00

Our Puerto Rico Thanksgiving day started out at the pool here at Wladimir and Rosanna's apartment complex. We had a little visitor who wanted to read Irresistible Revolution and Mi Experiencia con Dios.

Gaby and Marcus absolutely loved it! They had the pool all to themselves.

They were unusually interested in taking pictures so Naty fired away with the camera as they were posing. Here is the "seal" pose...

And the horsey-back-ride...

In the evening we headed to Wladimir and Rosanna's friends' house for a Thanksgiving meal together.

Gaby got the camera and started taking pictures of everything there, too many pictures to post. She said she needs to learn to be like Mommy and take lots of pictures.

Part of the photo session included pics of Esmeralda her favorite stuffed animal.

Marcus' challenge of the evening was keeping up with José Miguel, Carlos and Dayana's 2 1/2 year old son who is 120% ENERGY!!!!

Finally at about 8:30 the turkey was ready! Our menu included turkey, filling, gravy, corn, baked potatoes, salad, applesauce (made by my mom in Belleville) and pumpkin pie with ice cream!

After that we were stuffed and ready to head home. Gaby and Marcus both fell asleep in the car on the way back. Wladimir and I fell asleep at home watching a Marcos Witt video and Rosanna and Naty fell asleep watching a Mary Kay video. Quite a day!

day 1 in Puerto Rico

2010-11-25T15:37:00.006-05:00

Wednesday morning we left Columbus at 6:00 AM to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Wladimir and Rosanna in Puerto Rico. We watched the sun come up on our flight from Columbus to Dulles, Washington D.C.

I got a new iPod touch that I want to use at school with my students, but it also has a camera which will be nice to use for blogging. Now I get to take pictures of Naty too!

On the plane headed from Dulles to San Juan.

We arrived at about 1:00 in the afternoon.

Then headed off for lunch with Wladimir and Rosanna at La Casita Restaurant. Gaby and Marcus ordered the special of the day: Meatloaf with rice and beans. Us big people had Mofongos, a typical dish made from platanos and your choice of meat or seafood in a tasty sauce.

Then we had to take Wladimir back to work for a few more hours. Here is the office building where he works.

Then we headed back to Carolina to go to the beach. The mix of English and Spanish with the North American and Latin American cultures is very interesting. Sometimes you think you are in Caracas, at other times Columbus, and other times Miami. This bridge is lined with US and Puerto Rican flags.

THE BEACH!!!!

Natacha and Rosanna or also known as "las mujeres de éxito"!!!

I happened to catch a sand crab by accident when I was digging sand for a sand castle. I love Gaby's reaction in this picture.

The beach we were at is right beside the airport so we kept seeing planes take off all afternoon. Can you find a plane between the trees?

Wednesday night we visited Wladimir and Rosanna's church "Fuente de Agua Viva" it was quite a bit different from a house church, but God was still there!!

After that it was time to go home and go to bed... hasta mañana!

give a listen

2010-11-25T11:39:00.002-05:00

I listened to the podcast with Christine Sine a week ago and really liked it give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Find more music like this on Missional Monks

november happenings

2010-11-20T22:10:00.005-05:00

So what have we been up to the past few weeks? Lots of stuff as normal, but there have been a few highlights to share.

We met this beautiful family that is also planting house churches here on the Westside of Columbus. They have been doing a lot of things to embrace our community and we are very excited about working with them in the future.

Two Fridays ago, I gave a presentation at the Ohio TESOL conference and then we invited some friends over who were also at the conference. Suzanne, helped Naty get a job in an after school program soon after we moved here and she worked for her program and then later babysat her son later. Thanks to Suzanne, and her job I was able to get my ESL job later.

Last Sunday, we had some Colombian friends over for lunch and had a great time with wonderful food and great conversation.

Sunday night it was time for church; at our house this week.

The menu for the evening was hot dogs South American style with potato sticks, salsa Mexicana, onions, pink sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise basically anything possible, on the hot dogs!

Alejandro, having some soccer fun with the kids.

For church, we took time to go over the Experiencing God course and then set goals for 2011. We had a great time, sharing and seeking God for what He has for us in the coming year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Marcus is now 7 years old!!!!! He had a birthday arepa for breakfast before school and then we went out for shopping and supper that evening. This year, he wanted an iPod Shuffle instead of a party, so that's what we did. Now he goes around the house singing his heart out.

Today, I spent the entire day cutting mats for some artwork from kids at Stiles that we are entering in the PTA Reflections program for this year. Stiles hasn't participated for about 15 years and now I know why. It took about 7 hours to cut out all that mats!

So, there is a glimpse at what we've been up to... Now, next week we are heading to Puerto Rico to be with Wladimir and Rosanna for Thanksgiving. Should be a great!

Agape Prayer Ministry School - Ohio

2010-11-02T14:33:00.002-04:00

This past weekend Naty and I attended an Agape Prayer Ministry school with 5 other people from our house church. The weekend consisted of prayer ministry time as well as training how to pray for others. We were very excited that several people from our church could join us. I simultaneously interpreted during two of the teaching sessions and Elmer Lehman did interpretation for another session so our friends could receive the teaching in their own language.

Elmer and Eileen and Vince and Marcela Frey also helped Naty and I as we offered to prayer ministry to all of our friends. It is so great to have other partners in Kingdom work who also speak Spanish. Both couples were missionaries in Latin America for several years and are now ministering to Anglos and Latinos in various churches here in Columbus.

The classes were held at the Agape Fellowship church in Hilliard. The Iglesia Cristiana Hispana, which we were formerly a part of, also meets at their building. Agape is a great church to relate with because they also have a passion for disciple making planting other churches around Central Ohio. They also regularly send ministry teams to Cuba and India!

Here is a glimpse of the group involved in the training.

This is our "Latino table".

Ismaelito (Alex) being silly. Thanks to Danielle, a new friend in CNM, Alex and Dayana had babysitters so their parents could participate in the ministry and training.

Here is Victalina with Dayana, the youngest member of our church who is now 5 months old!

Gaby and Marcus stayed with our friends Kevin and Wendy Mayer for the weekend. They had an incredible time with their children Evan and Ellie at their home in Rosedale. The Mayers just got a new golden retriever puppy and their neighbors have horses... Gaby and Marcus were in their glory! Gaby came back even more impassioned that really need to move to the country and get her a horse. She said she even learned how to fork out stalls and liked it! After the last session Saturday afternoon we went out to Applebee's with the Mayers and had a great time of conversation.

Please pray for Naty and I over the next several months. We would like to translate the Agape Prayer Ministry training manual into Spanish and help facilitate a Spanish school late next spring if possible. We really see the Holy Spirit moving through this ministry and feel like it may be an even better fit for us than the Married For Life course that we taught last year.

God did some major breakthroughs for the people in our church and we are excited to see what He has in store in the coming months.

fun with papapa and mamama

2010-10-25T20:00:00.006-04:00

We had Naty's parents visiting us from Venezuela the past 10 days. We started our visit with a trip to Belleville, Pennsylvania for an extended weekend. It was great to see family and friends for us and them. This year marked 15 years since Gustavo and Osiris first visited Belleville, PA when their youngest daughter Rosanna graduated from high school with me. Little did they or I know that they'd be back so many more times.

This is a nuclear power plant in the mountains of western PA that we always see along US Rt. 22 on our drive home from Belleville. Gaby says this is an ugly picture because of all the smoke that is contaminating the environment.

Here is Gaby having a tea party with Polly, a new Venezuelan doll that Papapa and Mamama (grandpa and grandma) brought her.

Some of our Mexican friends from our church came over on Thursday evening and brought some taquitos and stuffed peppers for us all to enjoy.

Gustavo and Osiris had visited Mexico early in their marriage and really enjoyed the tastes and tales of life in Mexico again.

Friday night we had some Venezuelan friends over for supper. (We forgot to take pictures.) After they left Gaby and Marcus started working on a puzzle and this is how they ended up!

Sunday morning early Papapa and Mamama left headed down to Miami then Puerto Rico and eventually Venezuela again.

Naty and I decided to have a real Sabbath rest on Sunday and slept in (after she got back from the airport at 7:00). Then we did a lot of reading praying and planning together the rest of the day. We were working a lot on a better budget and visioncasting for the future.

Then at about 6:00 our church got together at our house. We had a great time worshiping and sharing together.

The kids had a good time being the dancing and percussion section.

Ismaelito is getting good at keeping rhythm and loves helping me play the guitar. As soon as I get it out he comes over and wants to play it.

This coming weekend we would appreciate your prayers as we will be ministering to and with many of our churchmates at an Agape Prayer Ministry School. It will be a lot like the school that Vince and I led in Souderton, PA at the beginning of October. Please be praying for us as we share and minister and for the Holy Spirit to flow bringing forgiveness, breaking bondages and healing broken hearts. We are expecting great things from God.

Agape Prayer Ministry in Souderton, PA

2010-10-13T20:09:00.009-04:00

Last weekend I had privilege of traveling with Vince Frey to Souderton, PA to present an Agape Prayer Ministry School at a Spanish church there. We had an amazing weekend and saw God move in some powerful ways.

We started out the weekend putting together teaching materials at the pastor's house. His daughter Sarita was a big help!

Then, Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we taught about Agape Prayer Ministry and prayed for people during the ministry times afterward.

The pastor couple, Segundo and Trilce, and their family are from Peru. Vince knows them from when he used to pastor a church in PA and he has been discipling them ever since.

Here are a few of the brothers who took part in the classes and ministry. By the end of the weekend, they were also praying for each other.

Hermano Reinaldo is an elder in the church and was a big help in pulling the weekend off.

Here are a few of the ladies who found a lot of freedom over the weekend. I don't think their smiles were as big on Friday as they were on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon more of the church got together for worship, teaching and ministry. Most of the people in the church work in restaurants and couldn't attend on Friday and Saturday so Sunday afternoon we met a lot more people.

This lady is also an ESL teacher and she was enjoying God's presence along with her dancing daughter.

Here we are with the pastoral family. From left: Vince, Segundo, Josué, Sara, Victoria, Segundo's mom who is visiting from Perú and yours truly.

camping with church family

2010-09-26T17:23:00.006-04:00

We had a fantastic weekend camping with our church family. Friday night we packed up and headed to Alum Creek State Park, about 40 minutes north of Columbus. Naty and I both agreed that we had even more fun this year than previous years, but we're not sure why. After all we never took showers all weekend! This was the first year we were able to take some of our Latino friends along with us and it was also fun meeting some new friends from some of the other house churches.

Our neighbor Jose came along and had his first ever camping experience, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Alejandro, Yolanda, Dennis, Chio and Kevin, a Mexican family from our house church joined us camping for the first time too. They also had a great time. Here are Dennis and Chio, ready for a chilly night after a week of 90 degree temperatures.

On Saturday morning Marcus caught himself a 12 inch Largemouth Bass!

With a catch like that, we had to cook it up...

... and eat it! (Lamar doesn't look so sure about this fishy breakfast!)

We also had some delicious blueberry pancakes made over the fire by Sim.

Coffee, our dog, came along for the camping trip too and had a lot of fun running free and playing with all the kids.

Does Brennan look like a camper or what?

We had a great time with new friends like David, Aaron and Ian.

Here is beautiful Rachel in one of her many cute outfits! How many times did she change over the weekend?

All the fisherkids headed back to the lake!

Here we have Alejandro trying to make Kevin laugh, but it seems Kevin is very deep in thought!

Hot dogs anyone? (Editor's Note: During the men's retreat in August I think I had hot dogs for about three meals, this time it was for only one!)

Ready to go hiking.

We think we followed the trail...

Our littlest camper enjoying the ride.

I finally convinced Naty to get in a picture with the hiking bunch.

Looking at a Hickory tree and then picking up Hickory nuts with Gaby on the way back to camp.

Juggler Yoder with our evening entertainment.

Time for some of John's famous "Utah S'mores"

Sorry we don't have any more pictures, our camera battery died...

After some more fishing and a short COLD night sleeping we had a bountiful breakfast and a wonderful worship time together on Sunday morning. Then we packed it all up and headed back to the city. We can't wait for CNM camping again next year!

lately

2010-09-14T20:43:00.004-04:00

Greetings faithful blog readers from your not so faithful blog writer... I'm past due again...

Lately we've had lots of excitement and celebrations, we like that! On August 28th I graduated from THE Ohio State University with a M.A. degree. We were very happy to have Dad and Mom, AKA Grandpa and Grandma Peachey with us for the weekend to celebrate.

Labor Day weekend, my brother Daniel and his family came out to visit us a celebrate some more!

We had a great time at Slate Run Metro Park on Saturday...
and then had a blast setting off model rockets on Sunday.

Sunday night we invited them to join us for a cultural experience at a Mexican birthday party to celebrate our friend Dalia's 9th B-day.

On Monday, Labor Day, we bought some more rocket engines and set off the rockets again with other friends.

Last Thursday we celebrated Naty's Birthday with some new friends from Venezuela. They made cachapas con queso one of our favorite Venezuelan foods.

oh my goodness!

2010-08-10T22:06:00.006-04:00

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! Well here is a quick run through of the last 20+ days of our lives.

We visited Belleville, PA in late July and had a great time with family. We had so much fun that we didn't really take too many pictures. Here are a few we did snap though.

No trip to Belleville is complete without visiting the sale barn. This time we actually went exploring inside the livestock barns to see the animals. This really brought back memories for me of when I'd go through the barn with my Grandpa Peachey who used to work at BLM as he always called it. The only thing missing was the can of Hires root beer for my kids like Grandpa used to always get for us.

We also got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Hostetler in their apartment. We savor every moment we can share with them.

Some scenes around Big Valley... probably the only place on earth where almost all of the billboards are painted with scripture verses!

And of course lots of Amish everywhere!

When we got back to Ohio, Naty left to Dallas, TX for a Mary Kay seminar of for 4 1/2 days and I stayed at home with Gaby and Marcus.
Monday July 26 was my last day of studies at Ohio State. I had my "oral defense" of my portfolio with my adviser Dr. Haneda and the "second reader" Dr. Moore (L to R beside me). The oral defense sounds scarier than it actually is. It was more like a directed conversation about my work and was actually enjoyable. The best part is... I'M FINISHED WITH MY MASTER'S DEGREE!!!!!! Graduation is on August 29.

I though I should include a picture of Arps Hall, the building were most of my classes were held. I have no idea how many hours I spent there over the last three years!

Oh... remember the post a while back about pruning the tomatoes and hoping for fruit, well here is the reward. I have tons of tomatoes coming on and now, they are starting to ripen too.

We're still enjoying the birds as well. I decided to get this sock feeder after seeing one at Ambrose and Katie's apartment in Belleville and now we have goldfinches coming to dine. Last week we saw the first hummingbird too!

July 29-August 1 was the annual Conservative Mennonite Conference in Cedarville, OH. Our whole family was involved this year. Naty, Gaby and I were in dramas that were presented throughout the weekend and Gaby and Marcus sang in the mass children's choir. Marcus loved the choir and sang his heart out, especially since this was the first year he could participate.

During the summer we have been meeting at Westgate Park for our "house church" even though it isn't really a house. We love being outdoors and the kids love having more room to play.

Sunday night August 1st was an extra special house church service because Gaby's Barbies, Tarissa and Eric, got married! Gaby had everything planned and set up the decorations.

I found the wedding vows on the Internet and conducted the ceremony.

Gaby made sure they said "I do" and gave each other a kiss to seal the union! (It looks like Ismaelito wanted to help too...)

Gaby was extremely happy to have several of her friends join us. She made personalized invitations and sent them out a few weeks before the big event. Clarimar, one of Gaby's best friends (far right) even gave Gaby her doll house for the newlywed couple to have as their very own! Thank you so much Clari!!

This past Sunday we were back at our house for our church gathering. We introduced the "Experiencing God" course to our churchmates and a few other friends, inviting them to join us in deeper discipleship training over the next year. We will be doing the "Experiencing God" course, selected chronological Bible readings, different types of prayer and specific practical application over the next twelve months as a more directed way of knowing God and knowing each other better.

The last picture is of two ladies that Naty was giving facials to tonight. Naty started her own business as a Mary Kay cosmetics consultant and has been busily working to help make her friends and friends' friends more beautiful everyday!

Well, there is the flyby view of what we've been doing lately. I think I need to update more often, then this wouldn't take so long!!

birthday party

2010-07-24T23:06:00.003-04:00

Naty is in Dallas at a Mary Kay seminar for the next four days and I'm home with Gaby and Marcus. We miss Mommy but are having fun too. This evening we went to a birthday party for a little boy in our house church. He just turned 1 year old, but that didn't make the party any smaller! Our friend Quimi came as "Fosforito" the clown for the night and everyone had a ball.

As usual, Fosforito did a great job making the kids look good and the grown ups look really silly!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU KEVIN! Here is the birthday boy with his parents, uncle and aunt.
I couldn't believe how many people showed up... if you party, they will come!

Will little Kevin remember any of this? Not a chance, but most of the rest of the people there will and they'll likely remember how Quimi turned our attention to God and the importance of family as well. My friend has an incredible ministry and I pray that God continues to open more doors for him to share.

family pictures

2010-07-14T22:46:00.004-04:00

Two weeks ago we had some amazingly wonderful weather so we called up a friend to take some family pictures for us. I hope you like them.

Marcus is in the picture too, he just fell down at the bottom of the hill. Can you find him?

We love Columbus and we are so grateful for every moment that God gives us to share with our friends and neighbors here. God bless Columbus!!!

freaked out

2010-07-14T22:44:00.001-04:00

Naty was a bit freaked out by a toy that Gaby and Marcus made at Bible School! Enjoy a good laugh!

great stuff!

2010-07-05T22:38:00.002-04:00

I never thought I'd see this. Here are my current top three authors in an interview talking about incarnational missional living in the city. It doesn't get much better than this! Enjoy it!

The Ideacamp at Exponential 2010 with Shane Claireborne, Neil Cole and Alan Hirsch from The Idea Camp on Vimeo.

pruning

2010-07-02T14:17:00.004-04:00

Foreground: pile of leaves headed for compost
Background: skinny, naked looking but (hopefully) soon to be fruitful tomato plants.

Yesterday I pruned my tomatoes for the second time this year. It's my third year with a garden here in Ohio and last year my neighbor told me that I should prune my tomatoes and I'd have a bigger harvest. He was right! I did it last year and had more tomatoes than ever before, now I'm hoping for a good harvest this year. With tomatoes, fruit is what you want, not leaves. So, all of the vines that are just leaves and are heading toward the ground, you cut off allowing the plant to devote more energy and life to the vines that have tomatoes on them.

Jesus talked about the same thing in John 15, one of my favorite and most challenging scriptures. Vines that don't bear fruit are cut off, collected and burned, in my case, put into the compost bin. How fruitful am I? Are you? What can I take out of my life that isn't bearing fruit to be able to focus more energy on things that are productive?

Naty and I have been asking which of our disciples seem to be the most fruitful. Who is putting faith into practice and sharing with others. Those are the people that we are investing our time and energy into. It's hard when you have so many friends to just focus on a few, but Jesus seemed to do that too. When the pile of leaves heading to the compost looks bigger than the tomato plants left in the garden you have to wonder what you're doing. When there are more friends that you haven't seen in a month than the ones that you have seen, you wonder what you're doing too. We are trusting that God is the Lord of the harvest and his Son's ideas about farming and discipling are the ones worth following, no matter how much it hurts to snip off what look to be lovely vines or relationships.

slate run metro park

2010-06-09T01:09:00.005-04:00

To celebrate my first real day of summer vacation (Monday I was writing a paper all day) we went to Slate Run Metro Park. I had gone to the park back in May with the third graders from Stiles and had a great time. I knew I wanted to take our family there, but didn't know when it would work.

We were keeping Bryan and Jose so their mom could work today so they came along with Marcus, Gaby and I to the park.

The park has a functioning 1880's era farm and the kids loved every bit of it. Gaby said she can't see why anyone would want to play Playstation if they could use a wooden hoop! She got pretty good at it.

Bryan, Marcus and Jose wanted to climb into the pasture with the chickens, cows and sheep, but I kept them on this side of the fence.

Here's Gaby again in "a one horse open sleigh." She said she always wondered what that was!

Saying "hi" to the horses that were cultivating the corn field.

Marcus said he had to wear his overalls since he was going to the farm. He absolutely loved the day.

Naty loved having a day at home alone too. She just started selling Mary Kay beauty products, so she spent the day getting her new business organized.

a new family member

2010-06-09T00:02:00.003-04:00

We're happy to have a new "big brother" in our family for two months. Jose, AKA Pepe, is a law student from Mexico who is here through a college exchange program to learn more English. He spent a semester at Juniata College in Pennsylvania and is going to be with us in Columbus for two months while he is completing an internship at the Ohio Hispanic Coalition.

I'm not sure how much English he'll learn with us, but he is learning a lot about the immigrant experience here in Ohio. He would like to become an immigration attorney so he's getting an inside look at the complications of immigrants lives here.

It was such a blessing for both Naty and I to be welcomed into families in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Belleville, PA so we are glad to be able to return the favor for Pepe now. Gaby and Marcus are love having a big brother.

baptisms

2010-06-07T23:34:00.005-04:00

Two weeks ago we celebrated the first baptisms for our house church group. Gabriela our daughter and Alejandro and Yolanda, a Mexican couple in our group decided to go public with their commitment to Jesus. We had a very meaningful day with our house church network as well as with other friends at Batelle Darby Creek Metro Park.

It was the Global Day of Prayer so we first met for worship and prayer all together in English and Spanish.

Here is Gaby with one of her friends finding the lines for where we are singing.

Heading down to the creek.

Before the baptisms we gave each person time to share their testimonies about how they came to put their faith in Jesus.
Alejandro was the first to be baptized by his wife Yolanda and Naty and I.

Next, Alejandro helped Naty and I baptize Yolanda. We decided to include them in baptizing each other because we know that they will continue to disciple each other for the rest of their lives and we believe that the people who do the discipling should do the baptizing as well.

After that, Naty and I had the privilege of baptizing Gaby. It is on of the greatest thrills of my life to know that my daughter is committing herself to Jesus for life.

We then had a prayer time for all of the new disciples.

My Dad and Mom made the trek out from PA for the special day and we were very happy to have them with us, even though it was just for a day.

We celebrated in typical Latino style with a delicious "parrillada".

Here is Naty with a group of her lady friends.

And this is Dayana, the newest member of our church, born just a week earlier!

After the meal we played a little football, other wise known as soccer.

The kids had fun hanging out and playing at the playground.

birdwatching

2010-05-30T09:46:00.003-04:00

We've started to enjoy birdwatching more this year, so I got some new bird feeders with the birthday money my parents sent me. Now we're waiting for the birds to come.

We've started to enjoy birdwatching more this year, so I got some new bird feeders with the birthday money my parents sent me. Now we're waiting for the birds to come.

not much time

2010-05-11T23:05:00.003-04:00

So, I haven't posted in a long time and it will be at least another month until I get some interesting pics and comments up here because...

is taking up all of my time right now. I'm taking two classes right now: ESL Testing and ESL Materials and don't have time for much else. I'll be finished with this quarter on June 10 and then should have more time to update the blog again.

If all goes well, I should finish my portfolio this summer and graduate with an MA in Foreign and Second Language Education at the end of August. It can't come fast enough! I think I have senioritis again!

paseo a la cascada

2010-04-08T21:39:00.006-04:00

On Good Friday afternoon Gaby, Marcus and I piled into the back of two Land Cruiser pickups along with several friends and family members to take short trip up the mountain from the farm to a waterfall. Here is a glimpse of that trip. Naty missed it because she opted to stay with her mom and prepare our yummy supper for when we returned.

Here is the view I had looking out over the front of the truck. I absolutely love the Andes Mountains! (Come to think of it, I actually like pretty much all mountains.)

This is the only one of many beautiful butterflies I got close enough to for a picture.

Here we are headed up the trail to the falls.

We made it!

Gaby and Marcus enjoying their time with Tío Ovidio, Tía Oskarina and Prima Veronica.

This is Naty's brother Ovidio and his wife Oskarina.

Gaby and Marcus with their cousin Veronica and Arianny a friend of Ovidio and Oskarina's.

Yours truly enjoying my kids!

This is Jouber or as Marcus says, Superman ready for a cold plunge.

We saw some coffee plants in bloom.

Marcus is showing some still green coffee beans.

fotos de la boda

2010-04-06T18:11:00.008-04:00

Here is the bride with her own personal Mary Kay consultant getting ready for the big event.

Gabriela, Veronica and Arianna, three nieces, were the flower girls for the day.

Here's Rosanna the beautiful bride finally ready to go.

Her very proud father, Gustavo.

Grandma Mamaoca, looking great at 98, escorted by Ovidio, Rosanna and Naty's brother.

Karen, Rosanna's friend and host sister, gave an amazing rendition of Ave Maria.

Here come the flower girls...

And here is the bride.

Braiding the chord or three strands that can't easily be broken. Each chord symbolizes God, Wladimir and Rosanna in their life long covenant.

Naty and I were the padrinos/godparents of the wedding and had the privilege of giving the meditation.

"Sí, lo haré"

Marcus was ready with the rings.

After Rosanna and Wladimir said their vows, Naty and I renewed our vows, to remember our ten year anniversary this year and celebrate our marriage with our Venezuela family and friends.

Presenting.... Rosanna and Wladimir Alcalá
The Alcalá family

The Briceño family

The Peachey-Briceño family

Time for the first dances.

Since Naty and I were the padrinos, we got to dance with the groom...

... and the bride.

Gustavo and Osiris, Naty's parents having a great time.

A picture with an honorary flower girl.

Here is our table with some of Naty's friends from college.

And here are some of Natacha and Rosanna's aunts and cousins.

Having fun during the "Hora Loca" with Shirley and some of Rosanna's Miami host family.

One last picture of the beautiful couple posing in the trapiche.

Coming Soon: Boda de Wladimir y Rosanna

2010-03-30T19:15:00.002-04:00

Wladimir and Rosanna's wedding was incredibly beautiful and meaningful. I am trying to upload pictures, but the internet connection is too slow to handle it. I promise to post pictures as soon as I can.

network meeting

2010-02-27T16:02:00.004-05:00

So we're a part of a house church network, what exactly does that mean? Naty and I lead two different Spanish speaking house churches on the West side of Columbus but we aren't alone in this venture. We're a part of Columbus Network of Micro-Churches which is a group of several house churches that each meet separately in different parts of the city. Every third Sunday of the month we get together on a Sunday for what we call a "Network Meeting" for worship, sharing and food together. Since most of the folks in our groups don't speak much English it's been a challenge to get them connected to the network. But this past Sunday we had two of the families join us for our gathering and they really liked it. We even got started about half an hour late so we were right on Latino time!

Here is a new picture of Ismael and Victalina and their little guy Ismaelito. They hadn't ever been to a network meeting before and said that they really liked it. They especially enjoyed how everyone was open and able to share with everyone else during our worship time. They thought it seemed like a big family. Can you say that it feels like a family get together when you go to church? I know we certainly can. I look forward to our gatherings every time.

Here are Alejandro, Yolanda, Dennis, Chio and little Kevin. This was their second time coming to a network event and they really enjoyed connecting with everyone too.They are brand new Christians and it is so refreshing to see how God is working in their lives. They have been growing in prayer and faith lately as they don't have steady work and their son Kevin has been sick. Say a prayer for them as you read this that God would keep providing and especially that Alejandro could find steady work.

happy birthday Mexican style!

2010-02-25T18:12:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of my current students. It was a celebration for both her and her sister.

Here are the two birthday girls:

Here is our precious daughter with curls in the tips of her hair.

The whole birthday family.

Make a wish!

A Mexican tradition is to tell the person celebrating their birthday to take a bite out of the cake and then they push their face in the cake!

Big brother knew how to do it best!

Here I'm giving a bouncy horse ride.

Naty with some of our new friends.

All the kids enjoying the party. They really liked dancing a bit later.

curlylocks

2010-02-19T22:10:00.002-05:00

So, Gaby woke up very excited this morning with her rollers still in. Then she took them out and had these beautiful curls! Her first reaction was, "Mom, I look like you!" She had a really fun day at school showing off her new look. Now she has the rollers in again tonight!

Another great thing about this picture is that if you look really close through the blinds you can see daylight! Yes, days are finally getting longer again. Now if the snow will just melt and the ground dry up I can get in the garden!

the past week

2010-02-18T22:19:00.004-05:00

It seems like we have had more snow days than we have actually had of school over the past several days. We had two snow days last week and then had off for President's Day and another snow day this week!

Last weekend Naty and I presented at an Engaged Encounter, so it was nice to have some extra time off to recover from that before heading back to school on Wednesday. We used our days off to do what we like to do the most, visit friends and eat lots of yummy food!

On Monday we went to our friend Sabina's house and had some arepas stuffed with Mexican flavored beef. The combination was truly delicious. The meal reminded me of what I love the most, taking great things from multiple cultures and putting them together to make them even better!

That evening as the snow was falling it took me about and hour to drive to Ohio State for a midterm when it usually only takes about 20 minutes.

The next day we were happy to have a Tuesday off and after clearing out the driveway we piled in the mini-van to go to Milo's Greek restaurant for lunch and visit with our friend Leno.

After lunch and a visit, we headed downtown to Grant Medical Center to see little baby Joseph, the son of Mario and Paola, Colombian friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Little Joseph was only about 12 hours old when we saw him.

Mario and Paola are very happy, proud and sleepy parents.

From the hospital we headed up to near campus to visit with our friends Simeon and Janelle. For some reason we don't have any picture of them or Simeon and I shoveling out their driveway, but we do have some pictures Marcus took of their "Little People" toys. This lets you know what was really important from Marcus' point of view.

After some yummy donuts from Debbie Hochstedler we went to pick up Brian and Emily, Marcus and Gaby's friends to take them to "Build-a-Bear Workshop" to make stuffed animals for their birthday gifts. The kids were bummed that we couldn't stay longer to play in the mall because they didn't cancel school for Wednesday.

Tonight I had parent teacher conferences and Marcus went to juggling club with his new "big brother" LaMar. Naty spent the evening with Gaby and they went driving all around until they found some roller curlers. Gaby can't wait to take them out tomorrow and see how her curls turn out.

snowy in Central Ohio

2010-02-07T16:13:00.004-05:00

We had about 6-8 inches of snow Friday and Saturday and the kids have loved it! I didn't enjoy the shoveling part, but did enjoy taking them sledding this afternoon. We went with Gaby's new "big sister" Elizabeth and her sister Christy. I'll let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the post.

from there to here

2010-02-05T20:38:00.006-05:00

My last post was from Barquisimeto and we are a long ways from there now so it's time to catch up. We left Barquisimeto way back on January 8th headed to Caracas.

Here is a glimpse at some of the barrios from all around Caracas.

Marcus loved watching all of the action at the airport

Here is Gaby eating her last arepa (con caraotas in Venezuela...

All set to go, "Goodbye Venezuela, we'll be back in March!"

We arrived in Miami and stayed at the house where Rosy lives. Her host mother makes cakes and is planning to make Rosanna's wedding cake. Here she made a cake for Gaby and Marcus to decorate.

They had a blast! Then we all enjoyed eating it at the Miami International Airport.

When we got home, it was time for Christmas again as we opened gifts that friends and family had for us here.

We love Stiles!!!

Alright! Time to farm!

We did a whole bunch of stuff in the past several weeks, but we don't have any pictures! The most memorable was having our church's winter retreat two weekends ago.

Then this week we got the camera out again. Here we had Virginia Oswald, a niece of a friend in Belleville, over for supper and Gaby and Marcus had fun singing "You are Holy" with her.

Today we are having a big snowstorm. Here is a snowman we made named Larry.

saving a baby lamb

2010-01-07T21:29:00.003-05:00

So Gustavo and Osiris have a cluster of sheep that wander all over their farm. They started with only two and as God created things, they have now reproduced to a nice little herd. Several days ago (See previous post) two baby lambs were born to make the herd just a bit bigger.

Unfortunately one afternoon we heard the mother sheep bawling and bawling and we knew something wasn't right. We went down to the pasture to investigate and found that one of the baby lambs was stuck in a puddle of tar in the tool shed!

This had happened several weeks earlier with another sheep. Although they did their best to save him, just when they though he was better, he died. I really didn't want that to happen again, so I worked as hard as I could to cut the asphalt out of his coat.

Needless to say, he cleaned up pretty well, although he still has a quite a bit of tar stuck to him. He's now running around with his sister and mother and gets around just fine. Marcus has been praying for him and the lamb seems to be OK now!

hasta luego Venezuela

2010-01-07T19:08:00.010-05:00

Tomorrow is our last day in this wonderful country. We'll be waking up early to make the trip from Barquisimeto to Caracas and then at 4:00 PM we'll be flying to Miami. This has been a most amazing trip full of lots of memories. We're going to miss Venezuela, there is no doubt, but we are also looking forward to getting back to normal in Ohio.
We're only saying "hasta luego/see you later" because in March we'll be coming back for Naty's sister Rosanna's wedding.

Gustavo took some time to take some of our last pictures at the farm.

Naty made arepas the other night and we all loved them. It's been great to eat Grandma's arepas, but there is nothing quite like Mommy's arepas.

Gaby loved it!!!!!!

Naty laughed her heart out visiting with Prisco's daughters.

And Gaby and Marcus enjoyed playing with Angel for just a little bit longer.

Marcus and Gaby both loved being able to drive on the farm. I don't think they'll be doing that in Columbus!

One last "Cafe con Leche" with goat milk.

One last ride on the motorcycle with Armenio.

Whoo hoo!!! We love VENEZUELA!!!!

I enjoyed watching and drawing several of the birds around the farm. Gustavo was trying out his camera's potential taking these shots. This is a Mocking Bird.

Four teenagers, not sure what, but they look like Tropical Kingbirds.

A Tropical Kingbird.

Tuesday night we went up to Armenio's new house and had a good time telling stories and getting cold. Nothing compared to the cold we'll feel when we get back to Ohio!!!

Marcus was trying out his photography skills.

At the beginning of the new year it is very common for people to go visiting their friends to wish them "Happy New Year". On January 2 the Elio Fernandez family came to visit us and we went to look for the Caiman in the pond.

Needless to say, we found him!
This cow enjoyed watching us.

After the caiman, we went to visit the goats again.

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

2010-01-01T12:42:00.007-05:00

New Year's Eve is a much bigger celebration in Venezuela than it is in the US. There are lots of traditions to make the new year better than the one that just went by. One tradition is the "estreno" wearing all new clothes to welcome in New Year. We took advantage of looking sharp (it doesn't happen very often!) to take some pictures.

Here are Gustavo and Osiris, Naty's parents.

Elena (Naty's god-cousin) and her family Luis, Genesis, Adriana and Luisana.

Fireworks are another tradition. We didn't set any off this time, but enjoyed the show with the great view of Bocono.

If you hope to travel in the new year you are supposed to take a suitcase outside and walk around the block. We didn't have any block, so Naty and her mom just walked around the house. I guess Gustavo and I are going to be wifeless in these trips because we didn't take any suitcases outside.
At midnight we ate 12 grapes (supposedly with each chime of the clock) to make 12 wishes for the new year. Then after giving everyone hugs and wishing "Feliz año!" to everyone we sat down to a delicious meal at about a quarter past midnight.

Today, New Year's Day, we are just hanging out here at home and Gaby and Marcus are having fun playing Nintendo Wii with Papapa. Later we're going to watch some of the Penn State and Ohio State bowl games thanks to Direct TV.

Yesterday Mamama pulled out Marcus' first tooth. Last night "Ratoncito Perez" brought him a surprise in dollars and Bolivares.

around the farm

2010-01-01T12:06:00.009-05:00

On Wednesday I went with Gustavo and some of the guys that help him out on the farm to put up some signs advertising his hotel. Business as been incredibly slow and he is hoping that these signs, one on either side of town, will draw in more guests for the hotel.

Marcus went along to help put up the second sign.

He learned how to mix concrete South American style. His favorite part was riding back to town on back of Gustavo's pickup truck. It was pretty cold since we were on top of a mountain and the sun went down. He still loved it anyway.

Here Gaby and Marcus were having fun in the sun watching the cows

Hammocks are wonderful things.

Marcus loves going with Papapa early in the morning to take care of the animals.

He can pick up the baby goats now.

These sheep were just born three days ago.

Here he's learning how to milk the cow with Prisko.

This has been my favorite thing to do. I finished the book Organic Leadership by Neil Cole and am working on an ESL book now called Balancing Reading and Language Learning.

Gaby loves the water!

She also likes going around the backyard and picking up lemons, oranges and grapefruits for all of us to enjoy.

hanging out on the farm

2009-12-29T20:58:00.005-05:00

The best part of being here is just having time to hang out with family and relax. We were really grateful that Naty's brother Ovidio and his family could also be with us for a week at the farm. We don't often get to spend time with them and it was fun to be able to be together.

Marcus got a magic kit for Christmas and he and Ovidio had fun learning tricks and presenting them to all of us.

Here is the audience, ready for the show.

"Abra ka dabra, patas de cabra!"

We took a walk down to the laguna to look for the caiman and we found him.

Here is the view up the valley from the house.

I'm giving some friends a tour via Skype.

The town of Bocono is in the background.

Here is the table and hammock where we like to hang out and read and do homework.

Gaby and Veronica are working on some projects. Gaby got a make-your-own fairy tale book for Christmas and Veronica got a voice activated password diary so they were both writing on the day after Christmas.

Having fun with Mamaoca, Gaby and Marcus' 98 year old great-grandma.

Playing with Edgar and Edwin, two neighbor boys.

Marcus is practicing being a photographer with Adriana and Luisana, his cousins.

el 24 (Christmas Eve)

2009-12-29T19:56:00.005-05:00

The night before Christmas is when Latin America celebrates the arrival of baby Jesus, not Christmas morning. This year Gaby and Marcus were actually awake for all of the festivities, last time we were here in Venezuela they both fell asleep!

The night started off with some good cooking. Here is the traditional "Pan de Jamon" or ham bread that we cut up and enjoyed during the night. We actually didn't do a bid meal at midnight like normal because Ovidio made steaks on the grill Brazilian style in the afternoon and we were still full.

Another treat we had was "torta negra" which is a dark cake filled with fruits and nuts.

I took some time to do a blog post and organize some pictures while the cooking was happening.

We had another concert directed by "Pelo Peludo"

At midnight Osiris got out her "Cuatro" and we sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus and also to Gaby since the cake also doubled as her birthday cake. The cake we made for her birthday got burnt so bad we couldn't eat it, so she had to share a cake with Jesus.

After the cake we went outside to set off fireworks.
Then we went back inside to open presents.

After all the fun then we went off to bed at about 3:00 AM!

Enjoying Venezuela

2009-12-24T19:38:00.016-05:00

As you saw before, Naty and the kids went to a concert directed by Gustavo Dudamel that would have looked something like this:

Marcus Loved the concert and decided to pretend he was Gustavo Dudamel. Gaby, Marcus and Veronica gave us a concert the first night I got to Venezuela.

Here is the new Gustavo, or as Marcus calls him "Pelo Peludo" or "Hairy Hair" if you translate it to English.

On our way from Barquisimeto to Bocono we stopped by Venezuela's national cathedral known as el Santuario Nacional Nuestra Senora de Coromoto. It was built in the '90s and inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in February 1996.

It was a truly amazing structure that is 76 meters high.

The first few days in Bocono were quite rainy. Here Valdomero, a local campesino, brought us some yummy avocados that we enjoyed.

Gaby and Marcus have been diligently working on their homework since they got here. They are also helping their cousin Veronica learn some English with their lessons.

On Monday night we stared the process of making "hallacas" a typical holiday food in Venezuela. They are similar to Mexican tamales but made inside of banana leaves instead of corn leaves.

The next day we kept the process going by filling the hallacas and wrapping them and finally cooking them in a huge pot over an open fire.

Mamama and Veronica made sure we were following the recipe.

Farmer Marcus took me on a tour to show me all of the sheep and goats in Papapa and Mamama's goat milking operation.

This little sheep got stuck in some hot asphalt and almost died. He's slowly getting back to normal now.

Wednesday the 23rd we took a trip to Chejende to pick up Naty's grandma Mamaoca. Marcus didn't feel that great and slept most of the way.

We wound our way through the Andes Mountains enjoying all of the spectacular views.

Marcus loved all of the mountains. He said they are WAY bigger than any mountains in Ohio!
We stopped in Santa Ana, the town where Bolivar and Murillo signed accords ending the war for Venezuela's independence in 1820.

When we got to Chejende, the kids enjoyed some ice cream from the back of this jeep.

Naty's 98 year old grandma, Mamaoca, making sure she has everything ready for the trip.
Here are three beautiful cousins by some orchids growing in their backyard.

And here are all the cousins posing for a picture.

Elena (Naty's cousin) and Ovidio (Naty's brother) were helping make the sancocho de gallina over an open fire. It was amazingly delicious!

Marcus felt much better after the soup and loved riding around on horsey daddy.

Gaby loved playing with the little twins.

la playa again

2009-12-18T22:18:00.004-05:00

fun in the sun

2009-12-17T07:19:00.005-05:00

On Sunday, the other Peacheys visited a life sized nativity in Barquisimeto.

Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and today they went to the beach in Chichireviche. NOT FAIR!!!!

They were so happy to be able to visit with their cousin Veronica too. Did I mention that it is currently about 15 degrees here in Ohio? Well, at least this afternoon, I get to leave to catch up with them!

I was also glad to see that I am missed and loved!

a cultural day

2009-12-13T22:00:00.006-05:00

This afternoon Naty, Gaby and Marcus got to go with the grandparents, uncle and cousin Veronica to a concert conducted by Venezuela's most famous conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Here they are setting up for the 550 musician youth orchestra that was going to play in Barquisimeto.

Here in Ohio I got to go to my friend Carlos' birthday party and enjoy some wonderful goat stew and barbecued goat tacos! I'm not sure who was more blessed! BTW the yellow bottle has my favorite Oaxaca hot sauce in it, not mustard.
VIVA VENEZUELA!!!!! Y VIVA MEXICO!!!!!

from miami to caracas

2009-12-12T08:42:00.003-05:00

Naty, Gaby and Marcus are finally on their way to Venezuela. They left Miami headed for Caracas at about 7:15 this morning and should be there by 11:00 our time.

Saying goodbye to "Tia Oshi"...

This is Debbie, Gaby's doll of choice for the trip. She gave her the little braids this morning and wanted us to see them.

Are we there yet?

off to venezuela

2009-12-11T15:02:00.004-05:00

Naty and the kids left last night on their way to Venezuela. I am planning to catch up with them next week. They have had a pretty eventful trip so far since they had an itinerary change that they didn't know about and missed their flight from Miami to Caracas this morning. At least they are getting to spend the day with Naty's sister Rosanna in Miami instead of being here with freezing temperatures in O-H-I-O!

Here they are at Atlanta's airport last night.

Enjoying the sun in Florida!

They'd better enjoy swimming now because they aren't going to want to swim in their grandparents pond in Venezuela since this caiman moved in!

marcus' birthday

2009-11-20T13:55:00.001-05:00

Marcus is now six years old! We celebrated his birthday last Friday night with our church and other friends.

Marcus couldn't wait for his friends to get here. The theme of his party was Marcus' Farm and he loved being dressed as a farmer.

Our friends are here!!!

The big surprise was that our friend Quimi (AKA Fosforito) came to entertain us all.
All the kids loved it.

And the grown-ups liked it too!

Gaby was really happy to have her friend Emily from her class at the party.

Fosforito had everyone's attention.

Marcus even had a visit from Grandma Peachey and Grandpa and Grandma Briceno thanks to Skype.
FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!!!!

Here's all the farm animals.

We ended the night with the game "Pin the Hat on the Farmer" invented and produced by Gabriela Peachey.

mid-october update

2009-10-18T17:36:00.010-04:00

Greetings long lost blog readers! I can't believe that it's been a month and a half since I last posted. I knew our lives have been hectic, but didn't know it was that bad! We are now all back in school, which has life taking a totally different direction than it did in the summer.

Naty and I are both back to work at the schools we were at last year, and enjoying the year so far. I'm also back to studies at OSU learning about teacher decision making this quarter. Gaby is now a second grader and Marcus is in kindergarten. They both get to walk to school with me every day, which is a lot of fun!

Naty and I have started leading a Married for Life class every Wednesday evening, aside from our weekly house church gathering, so that is about all we can handle on the ministry front right now.

Gaby and Marcus have started taking violin lessons with a colleague of mine from the school I teach at and they are getting better at it. They have their first recital this coming Friday. They are also taking drama classes in Grove City every Saturday morning.

Here is a glimpse of some of our activities:

First day back to school for all of us.

In mid September we had an Engaged Encounter at Rosedale and had the privilege of having Naty's sister Rosy and her fiance Wladimir at the encounter.

Gaby and Marcus enjoyed some extra time with their "tios" after EE was over.

Enjoying an evening with some little friends at our place. We are helping this family out since they lost their home in a fire and are working to get all of their paperwork squared away.

Pumpkin carving fun!

Feliz cumpleanos Christian! The little boy Gaby is holding just turned one.

Marcus was having fun taking pictures. Here are the two most beautiful girls in the world cooking lunch. Naty is using a new hot pad that Gaby weaved for her.

Our dear friend Antonio from Honduras, helping us change our back door. He and his friends are also going to help us change out our windows next weekend.

Me, acting like I know what I'm doing! Notice the nice new door.

Here are the kids just after our drama class yesterday.

I'm so sick of paying for haircuts, so I decided to give Marcus a cut and then Naty cut my hair after that. Marcus was feeling really ICHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

After the haircuts, we went to work, taking all of the plants out of our garden. A sad day, but it just means spring will be coming again.

This morning we had a baby dedication with our church for these two happy families. God bless you Jonathan and Brennan!

After our gathering we had a nice hike at the park where we were meeting.

Fall has certainly arrived in central Ohio and we love seeing all the colors.

philadelphia and camping in pa

2009-08-28T18:11:00.004-04:00

I need to work on this post a bit more but for now, here are some pics. more later

the peacheys visit nyc

2009-08-28T17:31:00.005-04:00

We made a quick one day trip to NYC on August 8 with my cousin Rich. Here is a bit of our trip on the subway.

Gaby with a live statue.

Mis bellas mujeres....
Rich was our tour guide... (insert sarcastic glance here)
Us and Lady Liberty.Inside the Ellis Island museum.
Marcus was really hungry for pasta so we found some thanks to our friend Amy's iPhone.

globalocal house church

2009-08-03T23:52:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a suggestion from our friend Michael Phillipps, we decided to open up our house church to the world by inviting in people via video chat. Tonight we had Naty's parents join us from Venezuela as we had communion, ate arepas, sang and talked about faith. It was especially meaningful that we could put our faith into action and pray for Naty's dad since he goes to his doctor tomorrow to see if his ankle is healing well from the surgery so they can give him a hard cast.
During our gathering, just after a few worship songs, our dear friends Luis y Nubia stopped in to say goodbye before heading back to Philadelphia where they now live. We really miss having them here in Columbus, but it was great to see them over the weekend and giving them a prayer of blessing before they went.
So to put it all together tonight we had church with people who are native to PA, New York, Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador! There is nothing I love more that seeing first hand that the Kingdom of God truly is about ALL nations coming together to worship The King.

Quien es el verdadero cachorrito?

2009-07-31T12:14:00.004-04:00

Esta caricatura apareció en La Voz Hispana, nuestro periódico local en Español, la semana pasada. Hace como un ano el presidente Chavez hizo un comentario que el presidente de México, Vicente Fox, no era mas que un cachorro de Bush. Ahora, parece que quieren decir que Chavez es el cachorro, pero, de la FARC. Con todo lo que dicen que pasa con la FARC dentro de Venezuela, no lo dudo. Lo mas triste es que el poder de la FARC viene con billetes verdes que consiguen atravez de la venta de las drogas aqui en EE. UU.
Todo vuelve a la raiz de la avaricia del poder, el dinero y la fama que es realmente lo que controla a Chavez, sus colegas, la FARC e inculsive los distribudores y consumidores de drogas que en fin financean sus obras.
Nunca puedo quitar de mi mente las palabras de Jesus, »Nadie puede servir a dos señores, pues menospreciará a uno y amará al otro, o querrá mucho a uno y despreciará al otro. No se puede servir a la vez a Dios y a las riquezas.
Se puede saber de los actos de una person cual dios estan sirviendo. Es un ejemplo mas de que no podemos creer que los gobernantes de este mundo nos ayudaran. Jesus es el unico confiable de nuesta fe y adoracion porque demostro un camino distincto que el abrio con la humildad y el amor.

Food Inc.

2009-07-29T21:15:00.003-04:00

We went to the movies this afternoon and saw this movie. I'd recommend you find it, watch it and think about it. Who really feeds us?

cooking on a rainy day

2009-07-29T12:04:00.003-04:00

We woke up to a rainy Wednesday today. Thankfully, Marcus is feeling a lot better today and not throwing up anymore.

We decided to cook some of the produce from our garden. We got the recipe for "Chiles en Vinagre" from our Mexican friends and I gave it a shot. They turned out pretty good.

Here's the recipe:
Chiles en Vinagre

A bunch of Jalapeno peppers (from the garden)
A bunch of carrots (from the garden)
One big onion (From the garden)
5-6 cloves of garlic
Vegetable oil
Apple cider vinegar
Directions:
First wash all of the veggies and peal and cut up the carrots into thin slices. Then cut the peppers in two and take out the main vein and seeds in the center. (To do the original Mexican version, don't cut the peppers, just put them in whole. It'll be a lot hotter!) Saute the carrots, onions and Jalapenos with a large frying pan in a bit of vegetable oil until they are soft. Then pour in a bunch of vinegar until the veggies are covered and bring them to a boil. When you are finished you can eat them or can them. Since they are naturally preserved in the vinegar, they don't need to be refrigerated.

After that, Naty made some stuffed peppers with our sweet peppers.
Now, it's time to go eat them!!!!

PBJs

2009-07-27T16:59:00.002-04:00

This afternoon I had to babysit Ismael for a little bit while Naty and Victalina went to pick out her wedding dress. He seemed hungry, so I thought I'd introduce him to a classic "Daddy meal", the PB & J. He seemed to like it!

You can tell Marcus liked his too!

rainy saturday

2009-07-25T15:01:00.003-04:00

Today has been rainy, but I still mowed grass with Marcus.

Then we picked the first of the ripe tomatoes.

Naty is already turning them into some yummy food.

immigration anyone?

2009-07-11T17:19:00.002-04:00

If interested, you're invited to my other blog: Raising a Voice. I started this blog as part of a project for a class about pop culture and have been posting when something comes up that I find interesting.
Give it a visit and let me know what you think with some comments there.

"with" instead of "to" or "from"

2009-07-11T16:37:00.006-04:00

I just got to read the latest issue of Cutting Edge magazine and came across this quote from Paul Louis Metzger talking about ministering with the poor instead of ministering to the poor:

"We need to get beyond dealing with people as if they're on the far end of our outstretched hand, treating them as out ministry project, which is so non-communal and non-relational. I want a partnership where I give to them and they give to me, because that's what real friendship and relationship is about. I don't think we ever really make an impact in any context if we treat people as if we're better than them."

later:
"We have a lot to learn from the Lord in terms of vulnerability and authenticity. Even those who might have less than me in one sense have much more at times than I do. God uses them to humble us and to cause us to go deeper into Christ."
Metzger, P. L. (2009) Beyond homogeneity: Building diverse churches in a consumeristic culture. Cutting Edge. vol. 12 no. 1

I really like this magazine and find it to be the most stimulating mag I read. Even though it is geared toward traditional church planting there are still ideas that transfer to multiple contexts. We've been wrestling lately with how best to minister to the poor and this is helping me to shape my actions toward a "with" mentality. I still struggle so much with the concepts of better and worse, automatically classifying people when I meet them. I need to remember at all times "God does not show favoritism." (Acts 10:34 & Rom. 2:11) I am called to not show favoritism either. (Jam. 2:1) God help me.
Additionally, just a week or two ago I was talking with a friend about homogeneous churches and how it seems like the easiest way to plant and grow a church, but it is really an inauthentic representation of the Kingdom of God. This article looks at heterogeneity and how it is a challenge to bring multiple socioeconomic groups/cultures together in one church, but we should still work for it because that what Jesus did.
Even in our context, homogeneity is so much easier. We've taken a Mexican flavor (spicy!) with our gatherings, but we're really needing to widen because there are now some American Anglophones that are joining the group at times.

1,253 miles

2009-07-11T16:20:00.003-04:00

That's how far I've ridden on my bike since the spring of 2007 when I bought my odometer getting ready to do the ride for missions. I haven't done the RMM ride again since then, but I have been riding my bike.
This summer I've been riding to Ohio State every day for class. It's 10 miles one-way, but I get there in about 40 minutes, faster than riding the bus and cheaper than paying for parking. The only bad thing is that I've had a few flat tires but I've always been able to change the tube and get where I need to go with no problem.
I'd encourage you to consider biking if your job is 5 miles (10 if you're really serious) or less from your house. It is really faster than you think and you'll get some good exercise, save money and save natural resources. You'll want a small pack with some tools, an extra tube and a small hand pump. Happy biking!

green thumb

2009-07-08T22:05:00.002-04:00

I was working in the garden tonight and after I was done I literally had a green thumb, even after I washed my hands!

Working in the garden is a great time to think and pray. I was reflecting on Jesus' parables about the vine and the branches as I pruned the tomato plants and then was also thinking about how Paul talked about how some plant, some water and others harvest. I decided that I am more of a planter. I love spring and I love planting the garden, but then the pruning, cultivating, weeding and watering, I don't really like so much. To be honest, I don't even enjoy the harvesting part as much as I do planting. It's pretty much the same for me spiritually and socially too. I like meeting people and planting seeds in their lives, but then the rest isn't quite as enjoyable as the planting.
Naty is more of a weeder, pruner and waterer. She doesn't work much in the vegetable garden, but keeps our flower bed out front looking beautiful and seems to enjoy the weeding and pruning more. That is mostly the same for her spiritually as well, she does an amazing job relating to people and helping them grow.
Marcus on the other hand is a harvester. He has his eyes on all of the veggies and knows which ones are ready and is the first to go and pick them. Who knows, maybe he'll be the havester of the family.
Gaby, she is more into animals than plants. She's been having more fun taking care of Coffee by brushing out all the hair she is sheading. She says she might be a veteranarian some day.

family fun

2009-07-07T22:23:00.000-04:00

may trip to PA

2009-07-07T20:57:00.001-04:00

Ok, so May was a long time ago, but here are some pictures from way back when...

fun with friends

2009-07-07T00:55:00.003-04:00

OK, it is very late now, but here are a bunch more pictures of us being us with a lot of our friends. I hope you enjoy it! My eyes hurt now, I am really going to bed now!!!

summer house church

2009-07-06T23:00:00.002-04:00

Naty spent a lot of time organizing our pictures recently so I want to get some of them up here on the blog. I hope to make a few more postings over the next several days with more pictures. Right now I need to get to bed though.

This is a glimpse at what some of our house church gatherings have been like over the past two months.

incarnational living - worth reading

2009-07-01T09:13:00.002-04:00

We wanted to go see Shane at the Mennonite Convention here in Columbus this week, but aren't going to be able to after all. I'm going to a workshop to learn more about immigration, ESL and Ohio law instead.
I ran across this last night in a bit of personal reading about being Jesus in urban contexts. How does this strike you?

Downward Mobility in an Upscale World
by Shane Claiborne

The vision of Jesus is not spread through organizational structures, but through touch, breath, shared life. It is spread through people who have discovered love.

Not long ago, I sat and talked with some very wealthy Christians about what it means to be the church and to follow Jesus. One businessman confided, "I, too, have been thinking about following Christ and what that means … so I had this made." He pulled up his shirt-sleeve to reveal a bracelet, engraved with W.W.J.D (What Would Jesus Do?). It was custom-made of twenty-four karat gold.

Maybe each of us can relate to this man — both his earnest desire to follow Jesus and his distorted execution of that desire, so bound up in the materialism of our culture. It is difficult to learn to live the downward mobility of the gospel in this age of wealth. For the most part, those of us who are rich never meet those of us who are poor. Instead, nonprofit organizations serve as brokers between the two in a booming business of poverty management.

I believe that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that they do not know the poor. Yet if we are called to live the new community for which Christ was crucified, we cannot remain strangers to one another. Jesus demands that we live in a very different way.

I recently surveyed people who said they were "strong followers of Jesus." Over 80 percent agreed with the statement, "Jesus spent much time with the poor." Yet only 1 percent said that they themselves spent time with the poor. We believe we are following the God of the poor — yet we never truly encounter the poor.

About five years ago, I became part of a community called the simple way, a group of Christians literally born out of the wreckage of the church. Dozens of homeless families and children had moved into St. Edward's, a cavernous, abandoned Catholic church in one of the most struggling neighborhoods of Philadelphia. A small group of us who were students at Eastern College, a suburban Christian school, decided to move in with them as a gesture of solidarity. From that initial step, one miracle followed another as those families mentored us in community, worship, and love.

Eventually, we settled in a rowhouse in Kensington, a few blocks from St. Edward's. It is the poorest (but most beautiful!) district in Pennsylvania. There is no place we'd rather call home. Here, we play and dance. We plant gardens. We feed people. We cry. We have a community store. We help kids with homework. We live, and we spend our lives joining folks in poverty as they struggle to end it. Because we know that we cannot end poverty without ending wealth, we also spend time talking with Christian communities about our work and hosting visitors.

Before moving to St. Edward's and then Kensington, I had worked in Calcutta, India, first at Mother Teresa's home for the destitute dying and then in a leper colony. A week after returning to the United States, I began a year at Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest, wealthiest congregations in the world — where a food court graces their worship center. Talk about culture shock!

This contrast brought me face to face with Christ's radical love, a love strong enough to bring us together across chasms of difference. I longed for the two worlds to meet, for the lepers to know the landowners. I committed my life to trying to make that a reality.

Over the years I have come to see how charity fits into — and legitimizes — our system of wealth and poverty. Charity assures that the rich will feel good while the poor will remain with us. It is important that the poor remain with us, because our capitalist system hinges on it. Without someone on the bottom, there is no American dream and no hope for upward mobility.

Charity also functions to keep the wealthy sane. Tithes, tax-exempt donations, and short-term mission trips, while they accomplish some good, also function as outlets that allow wealthy Christians to pay off their consciences while avoiding a revolution of lifestyle. People do their time in a social program or distribute food and clothes through organizations which take their excess. That way, they never actually have to face the poor and give their clothes, their food, their beds. Wealthy Christians never actually have to be with poor people, with Christ in disguise.

If charity did not provide these carefully sanctioned outlets, Christians might be forced to live the reckless Gospel of Jesus by abandoning the stuff of earth. Instead, thanks to charity, we can live out a comfortable, privatized discipleship.

But when we get to heaven and are separated into sheep and goats (Matt. 25), I don't believe Jesus is going to say, "When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me" or "When I was naked, you donated to the Salvation Army and they clothed me." Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He is seeking concrete actions: "You fed me, … you visited me, … you welcomed me in, ... you clothed me.…"

If we are to truly be the church, poverty must become a face we recognize as our own kin.

Several years ago, I attended a protest against sweatshops where the organizers had not invited the typical rally speakers — lawyers, activists, advocates. Instead, they brought kids from the sweatshops. A child from Indonesia pointed to his face. "I got this scar when my master lashed me for not working hard enough. When it bled, he did not want me to stop working or to ruin the cloth, so he took a lighter and burned it shut. I got this scar making stuff for you."

I was suddenly consumed with the overwhelming reality of the suffering body of Christ. Jesus now bore not just nail marks and scars from thorns, but a gash down his face. How could I possibly follow Jesus and buy anything from that master?

If we are content with discipleship that ends merely with generosity, we still serve money. Generosity is a beautiful response, but we should not confuse it with love. Generosity is merely what is expected; what is required is to return that which has been stolen. God did not create some of us rich and others of us poor.

Basil the Great, writing in the fourth century, put it this way: "When someone strips a man of his clothes, we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not — should not he be given the same name? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute." Or, in the words of Dorothy Day, "If you have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor." Should we not, then, return our stolen goods with humility, like a child returning a stolen candy bar to the grocery store clerk? Should we not cry out, in the words of St. Vincent de Paul: "May the poor man forgive me the bread I give him"?

Often wealthy folks ask me what they can do for the simple way. I could ask them for a few thousand dollars, but that would be too easy for both of us. Instead, I ask them to come visit. Writing a check makes us feel good and can fool us into thinking that we have loved the poor. But seeing the squat houses and tent cities and hungry children will wreck our lives. We will never again be the same.

As we have done this work and have accompanied others new to it, we've come to see a pattern. People join us with the idea of "saving the poor." Later, they say instead that "the poor saved me." But both comments have one thing in common. They revolve around me — what I have to give poor people and what they can give me. God wants us to move beyond ourselves to join all of creation in groaning for liberation. There we face, perhaps for the first time, the reality that we, too, are poor.

I believe the church has forgotten its identity. The church is not an institution, a meeting, or a building. It is not something we go to. The church is something we are — an organism, not an organization.

Instead of living out this alternative vision, the church has been content to be a broker between the rich and the poor. Both those trapped in poverty and those trapped in riches view the church as a distribution center, a place where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff. No radical new community is formed.

In this model, both go away satisfied (the rich feel good, the poor get fed) — but neither goes away transformed. They do not join together to discover a new way of living.

In ministering in this way, the church has adopted the model of many of our nonprofit organizations. Functionally, many nonprofits act as brokers between the rich and the poor. They facilitate the exchange of goods and services, putting plenty of professionals in the middle to guarantee that the rich do not have to face the poor and that power does not shift. Rich and poor are kept in separate worlds. Charity does not feed fundamental change.

Brokering poverty also seduces Christians into being gatekeepers to power. Our progressive movements are haunted by the temptation to facilitate power. If anything, the recent dismantling of the welfare system and the corresponding public praise of small attempts by churches, nonprofits, and other faith-based institutions to take up the slack has increased this pressure. Policies like charitable choice (where churches compete for federal funding to run social programs) allow our government to pat churches on the back: "You do a better job at managing poverty than we do, so we'll just discontinue our social supports and let you do the job!" And our churches, flattered and uncritical, scramble for the new state money like a prize.

In that model, the power structure has not budged. The power has merely changed hands. But power does not trickle down. Just as trickle-down economics has failed, trickle-down politics does not bring change.

Many beautiful Christians working for social change in a range of movements believe we can bring about fundamental change by using power benevolently rather than reworking the power equation. We see ourselves as the good guys who will use our influence for justice — and perhaps, in these terms, we succeed in getting our candidate on the ballot or elected. But the Christ we follow has a different, harder path--one of downward mobility, of struggling to become the least, of joining those at the bottom.

Several years ago, I was at a meeting where a new movement to end poverty was announced. I looked around. The only poor people in sight were the handful of people I had come with. Launching a movement to end poverty without poor people in critical roles is like launching a civil rights movement without Black people, or a feminist movement without women. As long as the poor are not present and intricately involved in the process, ending poverty will remain an intellectual, political concept. It will not convert us.

The church needs to stop talking about ending the pain of the poor and instead join the poor. All around us, the poor are crying out. They can no longer be silenced. Wherever that outcry is heard, the church must be present.

All this does not mean that social-service organizations do not do a great deal of good. I am not calling for all these organizations to be dismantled. But I am calling Christians to ask critical questions about their relationship to God's poor people.

I believe all our "programs" should have their genesis in true relationship. At our house, we tutor — but we did not start by deciding to do a tutoring program. We simply fell in love with kids who needed help with their homework. We feed people — but we did not begin with a decision to start a feeding program. We simply fell in love with our neighbors, and they were hungry.

We have now established a nonprofit organization ourselves, but we did this in order for the organization to serve us. We are not committed to the organization, but rather to our fellowship together.

I see many communities doing amazing things through established organizations. God can — and does — work through these organizations. But the reign of God dwells in people.

Those of us who yearn for the kingdom of God must follow in the steps of Jesus. Jesus was not "in charge" of the poor. He was poor. The message of Christ from the manger to the cross is that the world is conquered through weakness, through leastness, through struggle--not from the top, but from the bottom.

The people wanted a mighty Messiah. They got a baby refugee. They wanted a powerful king to take over Rome. They got a wandering homeless man. He could have saved the world with his mighty power, but he did it through his ridiculous love. The power of God lies in the brokenness of Jesus: naked, cursed, spit upon, with birds picking at his flesh as he died the rotten death of a criminal.

The great temptation of the church, and of every believer, is the offer Satan made to Jesus in the desert: to win the world with power. But power will not end poverty. We must discover another way of living.

Jesus did not set up a program, but rather modeled a way of living that incarnated the reign of God. That reign did not spread through organizational establishments or structural systems. It spread through touch, through breath, through life. It spread through people who discovered love.

I am haunted by the command of Jesus to love our neighbor as ourselves. I struggle because I sleep in a house while my neighbor sleeps in a cardboard box; I eat twice a day while my neighbor hasn't eaten once. I draw strength from following Jesus in community. I live with people who, if they pass someone with a worse pair of shoes, have taken their shoes off and switched; people who have quietly handed over winter jackets to someone they met on the street without a coat.

This is the reckless love of Jesus, which teaches us to see the connections between our wealth and our neighbor's poverty. The love of Jesus will teach us another way of doing life, a way that will bring God's reign to earth as it is in heaven. The reign of God is not for the future. It is something we live today.

Jesus reminds us that it is easy to love people who are just like us: "Even idolators do that" (Matt. 5:47). We are called to love those who hate us. Love those who create poverty, and love those who are trapped in it. See in each of them yourself — the same blood and tears We are all capable of the same evil, and we have potential for the same good. As one believer said, "In the oppressed I recognize my own face, and in the hands of the oppressor I recognize my own hands." From addicts I learn of my addiction, and from the saints I learn of my holiness.

The God of love and the love of God know no bounds. The unending love of Jesus teaches revolutionaries to love police officers, anarchists to love politicians, vegetarians to love meat eaters, peacemakers to love soldiers. This is the love that makes us the church.

Ultimately, only this radical love of Jesus can end the poverty-wealth dichotomy. When the rich meet the poor, together they will end wealth. When the poor meet the rich, together they will end poverty.

People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

Recommended
Few pastoral and practical guides help conscientized Christians to move beyond guilt, charity fatigue, or paralysis when they finally confront privilege that insulates. In Beyond Guilt (Adventure Publications, 2000), George Johnson addresses the struggles common to Christians as their social consciousness changes, moving through the natural emotional cycles of reflection, denial, and feelings of frustration and disempowerment to develop a commitment to justice that can be sustained. Though it sometimes diverts from its focus (moving privileged people into liberated, constructive engagement) to talk about the issues themselves, this is a good resource for individuals and groups who wish to make their privilege a tool of empowerment for themselves and others.

This article was first published in the November 1, 2000 issue of The Other Side, and was reprinted with permission of the author.

having fun

2009-06-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

Check out Reform Immigration for America | Home

2009-06-17T15:26:00.001-04:00

I want you to take a look at: Reform Immigration for America | Home

mid april to mid may

2009-06-11T20:56:00.002-04:00

It's been forever since I've written anything here and I hope to put more here soon, but in the meantime here are some pictures that Naty separated for me but I never posted yet. Enjoy catching up!

the meaning of Easter

2009-04-13T16:43:00.004-04:00

This was the first Easter (I think ever) that we didn't go to church, we simply were church. But I also have to say that it was probably the most memorable and meaningful Easter we've ever had as well. We truly had a celebration feast and then had a very practical, personal, applicable worship time after the feast. Each of us shared what resurrection means for us through words and You Tube videos. Our friend Mary Kay led us in a very powerful ceremony as we each nailed a sin that we struggle with to a block of wood representing the cross. I realized after we were done that we didn't even sing or read the Bible. We simply shared scriptures that we knew by heart or shared what was on our heart. Even the kids were involved. It was very refreshing.

Then this morning Marcus drew this picture on the whiteboard in Gaby's room. It shows Jesus on the cross surrounded by flowers (the circles) and the Holy Spirit (the lines). The true meaning of Easter is obviously still beating in his heart and I pray that it will be in mine and yours all year long!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

2009-04-12T18:03:00.005-04:00

Easter trumps Christmas as the most meaningful holiday for me, especially after reading "Surprised by Hope" by N.T. Wright. I love spring too, so that makes Easter all the more exciting. This year, our whole family fasted from various things during lent and that also made the arrival of Easter day more joyous.

We celebrated the death and resurrection with both mega-church and micro-church experiences. For Good Friday we went to the Columbus Vineyard, a church of 3,000 + members and shared communion and worship with them.

Then today, resurrection day, we enjoyed a Mexican feast with our house church friends as well as the Eichelman family, friends that we met last year in Spain. Last June we got to spend a week at their house as we helped them with their English camp near Madrid. This weekend we were privileged to host them and share our experiences with house churches with each other. They are hoping to start house churches in their new hometown of Huntington, PA. All of the kids planned and presented the following drama of Jesus' resurrection.

Here is another video I found with the Easter Anthem "The Lord is Risen Indeed". It is by far my favorite Easter hymn. Since we didn't sing it this morning I thought I'd find it and sing it this afternoon. The icons are very interesting. I have my doubts that Jesus really looks like any of the images! I hope not, otherwise meeting him as he is presented here could be a scary experience! The music is great though.

acting fun

2009-03-29T20:00:00.004-04:00

This afternoon we went to see the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" at Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City. It was an amazing show, Gaby and Marcus really loved it. When we got home they decided that they wanted to do some acting too.

We saw some midget skits like this last year in Spain and so they thought they would give it a try. Here is a peek at their shows. We had a LOT of laughs!

the newest Peachey

2009-03-26T17:43:00.004-04:00

On Sunday we adopted a new member into our family. While Gaby and Marcus were playing with the neighbor boy a fluffy gray cat came wondering up to them. Gaby fell in love right away and went to get her some milk and some of Coffee's dog food. The cat acquired the name "Pepper" and decided to stay.
We asked all of the neighbors if it was their cat and no one claimed it. So now, we have Pepper Peachey in the family! The kids and I built a small cat door in the back of our shed, so Pepper has a house. Naty will have nothing to do with her living in our house!

Gaby is really hoping that she is pregnant and we have some little kittens soon. Who knows, we may have several new Peacheys on the way!

saturday

2009-03-21T21:18:00.005-04:00

We love weekends! This one is great because there is tons of sunshine and the air is a bit warmer.

Yesterday Marcus went to school with Naty. Here are some pictures of Mrs. Peachey at work and Marcus with the class.
Today we hung out with several friends and worked in the garden some. We had brunch with Carla, Derrek, Noelia, Ximena and Bridget. Then for supper we had Lamar Yoder and the Kenton and Karissa Kauffman family over. After some yummy Venezuelan food Lamar showed us some of his many juggling tricks.

Marcus loved it and tried to do it, but it just didn't quite work out the same! Unfortunately, Gaby wasn't feeling the greatest and fell asleep and missed the show.

Here's a quick peek at the juggling show.

reprieve

2009-03-17T20:35:00.003-04:00

Finished. Winter quarter is finished now a reprieve until spring quarter starts the 31st. We celebrated tonight with my new friend Alex and with a wonderful meal from Naty for us all to enjoy. She is the best cook in the world!
Then I got to workout tonight too. Dug half of the garden. What a relaxing time! I love spring!!! Time to get dirty again and plant, can't wait.
How did Jesus know so much about planting if he was a carpenter? He must have moonlighted with his own garden/fields too.
There is no better place to pray, reflect and be than in a garden with a shovel in your hand.

Face paint fun

It was even more fun to be with cousins over the weekend
Somebody was tired this afternoon

So glad to get in the garden

And ready to sleep when we were done

westside bible camp

2009-02-18T22:17:00.002-05:00

We met today to keep preparing for a Bible camp this summer here in our neighborhood. We still don't have confirmation on a place to host the camp, so we invite your continued prayers for that. We are hoping that we can have it at the same apartment complex that we used last year, but who knows, maybe God has other things in store.
We keep praying about how we can connect more in our community and what God wants to do here on the West side. We see so much need but want to focus our efforts in a way that will be most fruitful. For now we just keep praying, but aren't exactly sure where to begin to act yet.

happenings

2009-02-17T21:13:00.002-05:00

It's been too long since I've posted to say all that we've been up to, but here is a brief run through. I've decided to limit my computer time to 30 minutes a day to get other things done, so I haven't really made the time to write here lately. I think I may be over that quota for today but wanted to throw up a few current events before hitting the sack for another day.
This past weekend we had an Engaged Encounter up in Dover, OH and that was a great way to spend Valentine's Day and the weekend. Our dear friends Kenton and Karissa were nice enough to keep Gaby and Marcus for the weekend and then we got to spend Sunday evening with them when we got back to Columbus and had a great time.
If you didn't hear, Chavez won the referendum he was hoping for in Venezuela on Sunday and will no longer have any term limit for himself or any other elected official in the country. This gives him even more license to carry on with his "dictatorship" and socialist agenda. His spending, not unlike our country's, is leading Venezuela into debt and doesn't seem to be healing the countries social ills. Can anyone truly heal but Jesus? I'm all for helping to poor, but giving handouts without any accountability isn't exactly progress if you ask me. we all have lessons to learn in that I think.
The current challenge for ministry for us is deciding in whom to focus our discipling efforts. We have many ideas, but are praying for more direction into whom we truly ought to invest the most time. It's a hard decision, we keep reaching out to lots of people but looking at Jesus I keep coming back to how he picked 12 and then 3 of those 12 in whom he dedicated to locus of his energy. Talking with Kenton the other night he challenged me with the same message. I want to do it but at the same time it's hard to say no to people you know need help. I guess it's the same with socialist dictators' handouts though. Everyone wants help, the question is who wants to help others? Those are the people I need to look for. Who actually looks beyond his own interests and into the intrests of others?
Tomorrow night we have our second meeting to plan the second Westside Bible Camp this coming summer. If you can, shoot a pray up about that because we don't know yet when or where we will hold it this year. The venue we used last year has changed ownership so it remains to be seen if they will let us come back or not. We are praying for favor.
Well, that's pretty much the latest. Thanks for reading. I'd be interested in ideas from anyone about how Jesus knew which disciples to pick. Or, to bring it closer home, how do you know which disciples to pick?