Sakura

As the seasons change, I always want to change 'my favourite season'. In the Fall, as the leaves turn, and I see pumpkins for sale, I think 'Fall is my favourite season'. When it snows, Winter is number one. But then how can you beat those long Summer days? Without fail, though, Spring probably brings me the most delight! There is just nothing like the power of spring. The earth is waking from its winter slumber and God's power, majesty, and creativity are coming to life more and more each day.

My all time favourite 'Spring-Thing' is the Cherry Blossoms. In Japan, the blooming of the Sakura is a highly celebrated event. In the midst of the concrete jungle that is Tokyo, lie beautiful parks FULL of sakura trees. A spring tradition in Japan is to go 'hanami'...'flower viewing'. People come from all over, and will even camp out overnight in order to stake out the perfect place to spread out their tarp for the party the next day.

Fortunately, we can still enjoy the beauty of the sakura in Memphis. Cherry Rd, Memphis, TN is in full bloom right now. While we don't party beneath them - each Memphis Spring, we have taken a little time to wander over there and enjoy their beauty. Jason and I visited there this afternoon with our friend Rachel. Today was the first sunny day in a while so we went over there before Bible study tonight and took a few pictures. I'll post one of the two of us later if Rachel can email the ones she took. I ruined the one from our camera when I tried to enhance it. Opps.

Please enjoy my feeble attempts to capture an awesome part of God's creation. Hope you're feeling a spring in your step these days.

Clinically Normal

You'll be pleased to learn that the results of our recent psychological tests are in....

Jason and I are 'clinically normal'. Sigh of relief! :-)

This past week we spent some time with Dr. Flatt discussing our tests and their results. Of course, we are not without our 'quirks'. :-) And we certainly have areas needing growth. They say the biggest room in anyone's house is the 'room for improvement'. It has been a good learning process. Learning more about ourselves is surely going to be a benefit to us as individuals, to our marriages, and to our team relationships.

We know that our confidence cannot lie in these tests, their results, our relationships, nor our abilities. Praise be to God who continues to refine us. May He receive glory in all we seek to do...in spite of our weaknesses.

Oklahoma Happenings....

We've been to Oklahoma and back again. Oklahoma was wonderful. We were able to spend time with friends and family. It was a pretty tight schedule...arriving in OKC about 2am...almost 3am before we were able to get to sleep. Saturday we spent at Kent and Nancy Hartmans with the Powell family and the Dale Hartman family. The day was spent visiting with them, asking questions, eating, and praising God together. We were blessed by the MKs who were there and were able to visit with Darian and Brenna. As is usual for the Hartmans, they put on a great spread of food...distinctly Aussie....TIM TAMS and pavlova and cups of tea throughout the day. :-) We're really thankful because these families really pulled together to pull this thing off and were very gracious about us descending on them.



Sunday we worshipped at Memorial Rd and visited the Community Class. We enjoyed a great lunch with Doug and Cheryl, and Amanda and Judson. It was so fun to catch up with them and enjoy a leisurely afternoon together. Judson took team pictures for us before the sun went down. Thanks a bunch to him for that....

On Monday, before heading back to Memphis - we enjoyed lunch with Jason's family. It is a rare occassion for us to able to be together with Mom, Dad, and Melissa - as well as Grandma and Regina. The only one missing was Stephen and missed he was. We were so glad it worked out for us to be together. Our trip was a blessing. Thanks so much to our family and friends for a great weekend. And thanks Griffiths....they are great at 'going with the flow' and are great fun to travel with.

Headed for Oklahoma

Tomorrow we will travel to Edmond, Oklahoma. This is a long awaited trip to meet with the Campbelltown, Australia team. 23 years ago, five families moved to Campbelltown, New South Wales to spread the Good News. We are really excited to meet with these families - I know we will learn a lot from their experiences and wisdom.

Of course, we all have to put in a days work before heading west...so we will be traveling until the early hours of the morning. And it will be a quick trip - we will head back this way on Monday.

We're also looking forward to this trip because we will spend some time with Doug and Cheryl Cox. I lived with them in 1995 during my year abroad in Manitoba, Canada. My relationship with them and Jenny and Brian is so dear to me. I am SO thankful that we could have these few years to be a little closer, geographically. We don't get to just 'drop in' on each other - but it is WAY more than I ever anticipated when we said goodbye to each other in December 1995. If I had of known how our lives would cross as they have...I could have saved a few tears! :-)

Missions Resource Network

This week some folks from Missions Resource Network (MRN) in Dallas, were in Memphis to meet with our team. Pictured here is Kendra Griffith, Phil Jackson (MRN), Sam Shewmaker (MRN), Alan Phillips (MRN) and me. Their visit was just what we needed. We're in the process of putting together our mission and vision with more clarity. The whole preparation process we are in the middle of seems so overwhelming at times. These very special people gave us a super dose of encouragement. Thanks guys! I feel re-aligned and focused. Our time of prayer together was uplifting and powerful. We're really thankful for their willingness to go out of their way to spend time with us. And we're thankful - very thankful - because we know that there are others petitioning God on our behalf, along with these. Thank you!