Columbia, Cars, & Apartments

Before leaving for Columbia Jonny's car would not start! We have been waiting for this day because we have known long enough that it was bound to happen. His car has been on the fritz for a while. We are grateful for our amazing friends Jim & Sara for immediately allowing us to borrow their second car for how ever long we need it! What a blessing it has been! The car is still not running and we will most likely need to tow it to a junk yard! We have decided it is not worth putting more money into his car (prob. a lot more than it's worth), but it is worth looking for a newer "family" car that will last us for a while! Oh, the decisions of being a grown up...

It is absolutely amazing to be home, though, after a week away from Jonny, our dog, and our cozy apartment! My time spent in Columbia was wonderful! I attended the conference for work, which was very insightful. And we were well taken care of during that conference, which is always a plus (great meals, great snacks at every break, door prizes which was a carolina snuggy for me, goody bags, etc). The couple of days following the conference I was able to spend great quality time catching up with great friends, which was extremely refreshing but a sad reminder that I have moved and now need to build relationships with others here. I was able to end my week with a trip to Charleston with Jonny and a friend of his who was playing in a show for Oktoberfest at UMSC! This was a relaxing event and wonderful time spend between me and Jonny. I was also privileged to do a photo shoot for some great family friends! Kendylmae turned 4 on Saturday, so I took the 3 kids to the park for some updated family photo's. This was such a good experience and a reminder of how much I love photography! Here's one of my favorites...


Last night we had another Kids Club night for our apartment ministry! Going into the evening we were very discouraged from the previous times that no kids were showing up, but last night we had 5 young boys come and hang out with us!! The overall night went very well, games, a snack, a craft, and then a lesson about your tongue getting you in trouble. After it was over was when reality hit for me... throughout the night I kept hearing the boys ask when would it was going to get over and make the comment that "it's dark out". So when we ended I told the boys we were willing to walk them back to their apartment. They ALL jumped on that idea and were thankful that we would walk with them. Jonny walked 3 of them to the other side of the complex and I walked the other 2 boys to the opposite side. While walking with them I realized how terrified of the dark they were for several reasons; danger, guard dogs, and the simple fact of darkness. This saddens me that they've grown up where night time = danger. When we arrived at the boys apartment, the boy took out his key and opened the door. When I saw him with the key I probed with the question "is anyone inside waiting for you boys?", their answer was simple, "No, we can take care of ourselves"... This broke my heart! It was 8:15pm and no one was home to take care of those boys! What a culture and time we live in! After talking to Jonny about this, we've decided that we really need to reevaluate how we reach these kids bc lessons are not going to work, they need good examples and love in their lives! So this is our goal! We ask for your prayers as we continue to work in multiple ministries. Pray that God would continue to give us wisdom and guidance!

I'll end it with this verse I came across the other day and that summarizes life for me...
“For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.” -Romans 11:36