A week in review

This past week was different from the typical week.  The weekend was pretty chill, just the way we like it.  On Monday we left for the mountains.  We decided that we needed to have a strategic planning meeting to figure out how to finish the year well, how to close out the partnership well, how to pass the torch to the Venezuelans for next year.  Of course, going to the mountains made it more enjoyable and relaxing.  Most of the team had never been there before, so I think everyone enjoyed it.

Part of the team while we visited the
church in Colonia Tovar

After hours of meetings, lots of time for the kids to play and a lot of sausage and potato salad, we were ready to head out.  We were only there for 2 nights so people wouldn't miss as much time from campus.  Thursday meant back to the normalcy of campus and the weekly meeting.  We attempted to do school while we were gone, but it was somewhat of a fail.  Luckily we were able to catch up.  These are the little battles I'm just choosing not to fight so much.  I have to hold things like school pretty loosely when it comes to living in Venezuela and being flexible.

It's good to be back home but hard to feel like we're in a routine.  With planning different outreaches on campus, different events going on on the weekends, it's hard to feel like there is ever a norm.  The norm is there isn't a norm.  Bart has felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things he has to do with trying to help walk the team through closing up this year well, amongst a lot of other things.  We try to take it all in stride, but sometimes there's just a lot to do.

At this point, we still don't know much about our future.  We're leaning toward taking a year to be in Orlando doing a program called Lake Hart Stint.  It's basically a year for staff to work in the headquarters (of Cru) office and have specific times designed for rest, rejuvenation and personal growth.  After living in Venezuela for this long and for Bart specifically, we feel like this could be a good next step before jumping into campus ministry again.

The morning view from the patio in the mountians

Of course, none of this is final.  We still want to have some conversations and make sure this would be a good fit, but it's the direction we think we're headed.  Would you pray for us that we would be wise in making these decisions?  Would you pray that we would make decisions out of health and not out of desires or our sin?  We want to be in a healthy place no matter where we go.

Until then, we trust in where God has us right now.  For Bart, leading the team through strategic planning was fun and life giving for him.  For me, I just try to find the things that I need at the grocery store.  I do the best that I can with school.  And we're both just trying to walk with the Lord and not beat each other up when life gets hard.  The beauty of marriage, right?

This is our stash that we brought with us from the States (have I
posted this yet?).  It's so nice to have little things like Pop Tarts
and Cheez-its.  And I have to say that we have wonderful family
that takes care of us since we got some of what's in this picture as
Christmas presents & were even able to enjoy some Skyline chili
last night for dinner (thanks Deb)!