in pieces

I just recently turned 30 and my sister in law bought me this awesome shirt from the gap for my birthday. You may be familiar with the campaign that Bobby Shriver, Bono, and Oprah are supporting for medical aide for the widespread epidemic of HIV and aids in Africa. The campaign is called product [red] Companies are supporting this effort by donating a portion of their proceeds towards it. If anything this campaign has done lots to at least raise awareness. What a great way to make a difference in the world! Half Way There At the most recent conference that my husband Leigh and I attended there was a presentation made with regards to the CLEAN WATER ISSUES of Africa. Many people are dying and are incredibly sick because of lack of clean water - with some solutions being as simple as educating Africans on "how to" dig clean wells. According to the United Nations, more than half of Africa's population lacks access to clean water. That's three hundred sixty million peopl...

The base at YWAM Ensenada, MX Jacqui, Leigh and Ryan at the YWAM Waves Gathering Conference Kay Charlotte - conference coordinator - riding a wave. Hi! I'm a Mac and I'm a PC (Uncle Dave and Craig - the network guy) Our time in Ensenada was awesome! 2 highlights: 1 - Getting prayed for and being encouraged through others 2 - Fish Tacos

We are presently in Ensenada MX attending the Mission Adventures Network Conference - the 10 year anniversary. This is a photo of the themes devel0ped by the network every year, for the past 12 years or so. Each sign represents a different theme from a different year. It was really cool to see them all, and I realized that I was a part of a good majority of these themes for the past 8 years. THE NETWORK: The network has done lots in aiding teams worldwide: by collecting resources, setting up marketing and promoting strategies, as well as sharing ideas, plans, and themes, in developing a program of excellence as well as serving the church to give groups easy access to missions. Here in Mexico, there are representatives from bases all over the world who are a part of this network such as Norway, India, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and the USA, among many others. TONIGHT'S MESSAGE Sean Lambert- one of thefounders of MA, spoke today and said that celebrating the success of the program w...

The Church Canadian Aunts and Uncles Jason Blanca Prayer Declaration of Intent (Jason said in Spanish) Solo - Be Thou My Vision Pre-Reception Party for church guests Reception at Los Generales Restaurant The Buffet was incredible! The Happy Couple Some of the cutest boys EVER! The Wedding Day was wonderful. The only thing that could have made this day better was to have my brothers family join us to celebrate. They were definitely missed by us all and we thought of them many times throughout the day. It was amazing to see Blanca's family mix with ours despite the language barriers and I couldn't help but think that Jason chose well. There were many heart connections made with her family and ours, that will last a lifetime. We look forward to having the happy couple in Canada and celebrating with the rest of our family and friends at the Canadian wedding. Adios Amigos!

Jason practicing his steps at the rehearsal... Mother of the Bride and Abby (Blanca's niece) know how it's done Blanca tries to teach her father how to walk down the aisle - properly!!! Blanca's parents house where we met for the Rehearsal Dinner. Blanca tells us that their family has a tradition to eat taco's every Friday night, and so we did the same for the rehearsal dinner. This was exceptional food, and it tasted so delectable! (this is Abby and Blanca) Taco Barbacoa - YUM!

Blanca's family took us sight seeing around Monterrey - San Nicholas. The mountains were breathtaking. We stopped to eat a tasty meal at El Portal de Morillos. Their family was so good at helping us to understand what we were ordering off of the menu as it was all written in Spanish but that didn't stop us wanting to be adventurous! We spent the rest of the afternoon on National Road touring through many shops that displayed a variety of wares and doo-dads (as Jason would call them)

I realized in the last post that I didn't tell you all what I was doing in Mexico. First off, my brother Jason is getting married. We are so excited that we are able to be here to celebrate this big day with him - thanks to all of you that made this happen - we are truly blessed and humbled! Anyways, he and Blanca will be married here in Monterrey on Saturday, and afterwards we are heading over to the West Coast of Mexico to attend an International Mission Adventures conference in Ensenada. This too will be a great time of connecting with other YWAM family from around the world that are also running the same program that we are running in Vancouver. It is amazing and inspiring to hear stories of thousands of young kids world-wide getting involved in missions. We flew from Seattle to Los Angeles to San Diego, and then from San Diego to Houston to Monterrey all today, and so I can say that we are tired. It was great to finally be here, and I wasn't sure if it was the long jour...

And so we are off on our Mexican journey. Our first stop being in Seattle. We took a 3 hour bus ride here from Vancouver, and other than the doggy immigration officer who seemed to like the smell of my suitcase, our trip was uneventful. Even though I have nothing to worry about there's something a little nerve wracking about an immigration dog itching his face on your luggage. I think he secretly had it in for me, knowing my dog allergies. The officer told us that he was looking for some treats. I only have make-up in my suitcase - will you take a lipstick treat? Tonight we stay in Tacoma and tomorrow at the break of dawn we board the 1st of 4 plane rides to Monterrey. Off we go...