The Aussie Invasion

It’s conference week at church. And that means that not only the Aussies, but the Welsh, the Argentinians (is that even a word?) and I’m not sure what all other countries, have come to my tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Alaska, to bring heaven down to earth in a beautiful way. I love it. I love the house full of people and nonstop laughter. I love the expectation when we all arrive at church. I love the accents, the stories, the people, the nations. I love what God does through ordinary dreamers in extraordinary ways.

For all the impossible going on, we have some serious fun here on the ground as well. Literally, on the snow covered, freezing Alaskan ground, where a few of the Aussies made their first ever snow angels. There was a whole group of us there to document the momentous event. We even outlined the angels with some jello mix to show them off a little better.

Oh My Lovely Life

The sixth of December last year was a beautiful, glorious day. It was a bit like a sneak peak of what my wedding day might look like.

It was my official engagement ceremony day.

My parents flew from Alaska to the Amazon in order to join the party. The pastor’s family cooked up a feast, and I tried not to get too nervous about the upcoming ceremony. I’d never even seen an engagement ceremony before. I had Taylor Swift’s “Romeo and Juliet” running through my head all afternoon, while curling my hair in the air-conditioning. When I finally walked down the stairs in my white dress and high heels I caught a glimpse of his face and I have a hunch it just might be a bit like that feeling right before you walk down the aisle to say “I do.” It took my breath away.

My dad was doing the ceremony and let’s just say it’s a good thing that English was the second language in the room. I think he nearly married me off when my querido and I exchanged our engagement rings. It was a beautiful evening. A sweet time of family and friends and translation and beginning.

And now thousands of miles and a continent apart, as we pray about his visa and finances and plan a wedding and look into houses and work for him here and all of the million and one details that flood my head every second of the day, for all of the things we have yet to figure out, I can’t help but look ahead and smile at my lovely life.

It’s going to be a beautiful, incredible, unbelievable adventure.

A Sweet Interlude

I’m hoping for a bit of time soon to catch up on all the random bits of my life, this blog being one of them. Until then, here’s a cute little face to brighten your day on a very cold, dark January.

I had been making some chocolate frosting when my too adorable niece came wandering in the kitchen asking for chocolate. I gave her the wrapper of the unsweetened baking chocolate I had been using, thinking she would not like unsweetened chocolate at all and wouldn’t want any more.

I was wrong.