Congrats, Curt!

Thank you for praying for Curt. He spent a very stressful week preparing for his climbing exam. It was 2 full days from 8-5 out on the rock. He was asked to do certain things and watched by the judge. Any mistakes that were made were noted. He was only allowed to make 3 minor mistakes. A 4th would mean failing. A major mistake (forgetting your helmet, doing a knot wrong) was an automatic fail. It was a very stressful time for him, as you can imagine. Day 2 was taking out a group of clients (just volunteers) and actually guiding the whole day, again being watched by a judge. He passed with only one mark against him for his inexperience. We were all praying for him like mad and are so glad that it's over!
This was a big "to-do" for the summer. Now Curt is licensed to take out anyone and can lead climbing groups with Lifelines. It's a big plus for the ministry.
Stuff starts up with school about mid-August so we will spend the rest of the summer starting homeschooling the girls and preparing for the baby. Hopefully, once August hits, we will be ready to roll!

Training in CO

Training in CO was fantastic. The girls were able to amuse themselves all day (there were lakes, swings, lots of land, animals to watch, etc.) and Curt and I were able to attend all the meetings or switch off when the girls needed us. We spent everyday from 9-9 either in a session or out applying what we were learning. Thanks so much for praying. It was very much what we needed.
We spent two weeks at a camp which is the annual location for Lifelines Rocky Mountain Summer Project. Summer projects with CCC give us staff the opportunity to interact 24/7 with students and engage them in growth opportunities. My times on summer projects as a student were amazing summers of growth.
We spent the two weeks getting volumes of the ministry principles of Lifelines. So much of our personal ministry philosophy is also shared by Lifelines as a whole. They place such a high priority in engaging the unchurched population and come up with ways and strategies to do that. Someone who has never opened a Bible will be a lot more likely to come to a rock climbing day than a Bible study. And Lifelines outdoor programs are much more than just the physical aspect. There is always a part in the day where the staff sit down with all the students and talk through life issues. We are very upfront that we engage the whole person: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual and students who have just spent the whole day with us are very willing to do that. We are excited to actually try it and see how Bible storying might fit into it all.

A Week of Training

We leave tomorrow for a week of training in CO. It's such a great opportunity and we are glad that we'll get to be around for it. A week before the Lifeline's summer project begins, the staff gather and are either introduced or help train the new staff in Lifeline's strategy. We will get to be around for that week of learning. I'm not exactly sure what's ahead but I know that the older staff will lead us through meetings and activities that will train us and then everyone else will then be joined by students and will implement the same strategies for the rest of the summer.
For the last month, we have been continuing to settle in (cleaning out the yard which hasn't been touched in years, buying furniture off Craigslist, etc.) and Curt has been able to take a climbing certification class. This is a huge blessing because, once he passes an exam, he will be able to lead climbing trips with students in the fall. This adds one more thing that Lifelines has to offer at NAU and can attract more students. Although this may sound like fun, Curt has been overwhelmed with work. The class was extremely stressful and he was gone for 3 days from 6:30am-7:00pm. He was blown away by the amount of knowledge needed and will spend the next month after we return from CO "cramming" for his exam.
Pray for us over the next week as we travel with the girls (who are super-excited to go) and as we spend most of our days in meetings. Pray that the girls would do well as they play by themselves or with the babysitter who has been hired and that we would get good times together as a family. Pray that Curt and I would really soak up what the staff have to teach us. Thanks!

So, we're here. We moved out to AZ and finally found a house (see pic), which seems to be working out great for us. The girls love it. We spent about 2 weeks moving in (which still is not finished) and had a week of meetings with our new team (see other pic. We are still waiting on one couple and a single girl to join us in late summer). We had two days where the team evaluated the old year, which was good for Curt and I to get caught up a little. And then two days of planning for the new year to come. It was a really good time of taking the box and blowing it apart. We asked questions like, "What can we do more effectively? What are our priorities? How can we keep our students focused on actually being out among the unchurched and trying to reach them?". We came up with some really good values that we want to hold onto as a team. One of those was "Being with the lost!". From that stemmed ideas about how to train our students and be involved in their life but not take up all of their time so that they have no time for ministry. What Curt and I both had a hard time with in college was that we became Christians and then were so involved in all the activities that we never spent time with unbelievers. We want to see the students out there and excited!
The team agreed to try out storying among the students and want to dedicate about 3 months of the leaderships' meeting times to just storying. If they are trained in it and like it, they can take it to their ministry hubs (where they are pouring into; i.e. their sorority).
We will be leaving in a couple of weeks to go to CO. We will be spending a week there with other staff and students learning more about Lifelines; their values, goals and mission. Lifelines is a part of Campus Crusade for Christ that uses the outdoors to form relationships with students. The staff also always debrief the students they take out after their experiences, which of course leads to spiritual topics. The more we learn, the more excited we are getting. Please pray for us as we travel to CO and spend time getting educated!