Wrath Mercy Grace: Episode 2

Stephen and Conner (the High Schooler he tutors) have made the next installment of Wrath Mercy Grace. Hope you enjoy it!

My Husband the Film maker.

I've been begging Stephen to post the videos he made for our High School group to youtube, so I could share them on here. 

Stephen made this with a student he tutors. He wanted to make sure everyone knew that it was just Henry Weinhards rootbeer.

Physical Change Vs. Chemical Change

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 

Recently at school I have been teaching a cooking class for 5th and 6th graders. It has been a great chance for me to pretend like I can cook. :P 

In these first few weeks we have been discussing the definitions of Physical changes and Chemical changes as it relates to cooking. We have made Vinaigrette and fruit salad to show a physical change; and mayonnaise, veggie chips and soon chocolate chip cookies to show a Chemical change. Each week I reinforce the concept from their science standards by asking "Is this recipe a physical or chemical change?" And each week, they let me know. 

For those not in the science vocabulary loop, in a physical change nothing new is made. The parts are mixed together, or rearranged, but all the parts remain the same. This type of change is able to be changed back to it's original state (like Vinaigrette dressing, or fruit salad)

A chemical change on the other hand is a change of the very substance. In this reaction, something new is made. It no longer resembles it's old self (like mayonnaise, or cookies). This type of change is not reversible. 

Even more recently, I was reminded of a "chemical change" that took place in Stephen's best friend. Within the last year, this friend dedicated his life to Christ. Since then, everything about this man is different: his attitude, his priorities, his speech, and his actions. To paraphrase another friend, "All he does is talk about Christ." His transformation has been just that, he has been transformed into a new creation. And as with science and cooking, this type of transformational change can not be changed back. 

"The old has gone, and the new has come."

I sometimes forget that Christ has this transforming power over those who put their trust in Him. I confess, I sometimes am looking just for the outward, Physical change of new actions, or appearance. 

Praise God for the work He is doing within each of us. May we each seek to be transformed in our entirety. 

Adventures in camping

Stephen and I spent Labor Day weekend at Florence Lake, in the high sierra, with my Dad. The theme of the weekend seemed to be, Stephen doing manly things, and me documenting them.

Here he is building a fire with out matches. 

(It helped that my Dad teaches wilderness survival)

By far the funniest part of the weekend was when Stephen caught a fish with a willow branch, and line. 

I don't think I have ever tasted such a delicious trout before. 

It was nice to spend some time away from our everyday lives. Stephen really enjoyed learning all about camping from my dad and I enjoyed curling up with a book by the creak. it was almost a shame to drive back down again on Monday. 

supported in So Cal

Stephen and I just got back from Southern California. We had the blessing of reconnecting with family and meeting our brand new family face to face. 

It all started with a BBQ with our new A2 family. By divine providence an extra-ordinary amount of A2 alumni, staff, current missionaries, and missionary candidates we going to be in So Cal on the same weekend. So, we made the drive down to meet our new ministry family at the BBQ that was being held in honor of this freak occurrence. 

We were encouraged by warm greetings and conversations. 

Some of our A2 family

Since we realized driving all the way from Fresno to Diamond Bar just for dinner would be a bit unusual, we decided to make the most of our time down south and visit Steve's sister Jenn, and her new fiance, Jeff. It was great to hear how the Lord is working in their lives and has been providing for their needs. 

(Sorry for the lack of pictures, I kept leaving my camera in my purse. I'll post what I can steel. :P )

Our final stop was to hang out with our friends Christian and Marie and their super sweet baby. It has been awhile since we had seen either of them, and we had not been able to meet their daughter yet, so being down south gave us a good excuse. It was a joy to witness their new ministry as full time church employees. We lucked out and came down during VBS week and got to see Christian in action as Festus Augustus the "famous" shot-putter (maybe you have heard of him, cuz I sure hadn't :P ). The kids, along with Stephen and I, got a kick out of watching him ham it up in his role. 

The weekend was a whirl-wind of a vacation. And we were surprised to find out God desired to minister to us through our friends and family (we thought we were just getting a break from the valley heat). Each stop along the trip we heard different stories of God providing in ridiculously perfect ways. We were touched by the hospitality and generosity of our hosts. One more than one occasion, I found myself thanking God for such a great community of supporters that He is building around us. 

One Year

On July 11, 2009, Stephen and I celebrated our one year anniversary. One of the perks of getting married on 7-11 (July 11) is the free slurpees :-D. 

It's been a great year. Here's looking forward to many, many more. 

Photo update

It's taken me a while, by I am finally motivated to update pictures from our week with E. It might have something to do with summer vacation starting, and me not having to teach for a couple months, or it might have to do with the wonderful reminder of our time together Stephen and I got in the mail today. 

Here we are in front of our house in Fresno, before leaving for San Francisco

While we were there we wandered around the Warf and Pier 39. The plan was to visit Alcatraz, but by the time we actually found the right pier to buy tickets, we found out that the next available tickets were for the next day. :/

So, we did some other weird touristy things  like...

... The Rocket Boat! 

I think our favorite part was when the giant tidal wave drenched us all. 

...and...

...Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum!

Now this is a place I have walked by before with never so much as a second glance. I only

 considered going because E thought it would be fun. But you know what, it was really fun. I was pleasantly surprised. 

That evening over a ridiculously large Pizzokie (the best dessert known to man), Stephen tried to get some last minute language study out of our friend. The result was riotous laughter from us all. Stephen decided he wanted to fill out the hotel evaluation, in Japanese. 

If I remember correctly, we complained that there was an octopus in the bathtub. 

It was signed by someone who lived on the moon in a tree. 

As for the piece of mail that reminded me to post some photos...

E sent us a package filled with Japanese snack foods. So far my favorite are the green tea chocolate chip cookie. 

I can't wait 'til next year when we get to see E again.