OH BOY!

I apologize to my friends and family who keep waiting for me to say something new. I have become the worst blogger! I considered giving it up altogether because I have been doing such a bad job at posting and responding to friends. There are SO MANY people with blogs now that I can easily spend hours online flipping from one blog to another to another, and by the time I check in to see how everyone else is doing, I don't have time to post on my own blog. Surely I'm not the only who gets lost and overwhelmed in blogland. Lately I have been avoiding it-- not really intentionally. I've just been busy and have put it off because there's so much to catch up on.

We are all doing well. I am 18 weeks now and we learned last week, rather unexpectedly, at my 4 month appointment that we are having a BOY! We are all very excited, and a little surprised. Ava has been really funny about the whole thing, commenting on my growing tummy, and letting me know that she is "bigger" than the baby. Overall, she hasn't had much to say about having a brother, but on Saturday while we were in the car, she said, "I don't want a he, I want a she." I explained that God was giving us a baby brother, and he was going to be so much fun! Ava kept insisting that she wanted a girl instead. She got over it pretty quickly though, and is back on track for having a brother!

Quick review: We have travelled some in the past months. We enjoyed spending time with family in Decatur and visiting the Fort Worth zoo with cousins, had a fun and crazy visit with Julia and Heather at Julia's new house. We each have very strong willed first born girls who love each other, but each want to be in charge! We had our hands full! We also enjoyed a snowy Easter in Brownwood with family.

Enjoy some pictures and I promise I will try to do a better job posting more frequently.

Big Sister

Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while. The truth is that when I have found any free time, I have been busy napping. . . if you haven't heard, I'm pregnant! I'm almost 11 weeks and due in late September. In addition to being very excited, I have beeen very tired and a little pukey. Ava is pumped about being a big sister and talks about it almost daily! She actually had quite a hand in praying for this baby. Chad and I had been trying for some time. Then a little over a month ago, as Chad was tucking Ava in, she asked if she could pray for a baby sister. Chad said he thought that would be a great idea. Ava looked up to heaven and yelled, "I want a baby sister!" After a few seconds of quiet, she leaned over to Chad and whispered, "He said, 'Uh-huh.'" Chad said that if I ended up being pregnant this month, we'd know that Ava has a direct line to God. Apparently she does because after months of trying, I found out about a week later that we were expecting! I love that girl, and look forward to the joys the next one will bring. Here are a few pictures since I haven't posted any in a while:

The gift of giving

If you haven't heard, Mike Cope's sister-in-law is going to be on Oprah on Friday with an amazing story. You won't want to miss it! Set your TiVo and tell your friends to watch. For more about this, check out Mike's Blog or The New York Times where she was featured in an article!

Chad and I have been convicted lately that Jesus repeatedly tells us throughout the Bible to take care of those in need around us and give to the poor. We have done this through tithing, but after some discussion and prayer, our small group decided to take it a step further. With Chad's leading, we set up a shared account with everyone who wanted to participate. People can contribute anonymously any amount they decide. After only a few months, we had collected several hundred dollars. Some give a regular amount every month and others just contribute when they can. The point is to set aside money collectively with the intention of using it only for those in need, and then be on the lookout for anyone who might need it. A few examples so far: we were able to help a struggling family by providing Christmas presents and groceries, we paid for someones car to be fixed, we've paid for meals for several people we have met on the street or the side of the road and medicine for one man's sick wife. We have already been amazed at the way God has multiplied the money in the account. There always seems to be enough, so we all just keep finding ways to share it. It's amazing!

This is my favorite story so far: Chad has the unique opportunity to be in people's homes through home health. He sees several patients a week in their home, many of whom live at the poverty level. Last week, he came home talking about an aging couple whom he has really grown to care about from Boston who have been down on their luck. The wife has been in the hospital and needing full time assistance, so the husband had to take off of work, and this has put them behind in their bills and rent. Chad happened to see several bills on their refrigerator and asked if they needed any help financially. The man (a tough Bostonian) almost broke down in tears. He explained that they were behind in the rent and their gas would be turned off next week, but it would be several weeks before he could go back to work. Chad consulted a couple of folks from our small group and we were able to use money from our fund to pay their bills and give them a good amount toward their rent so the landlord would let them stay. The couple was completely humbled and thankful, and wanted to know what they could do to show us their appreciation. Chad just told them that when they could, they should do something to help someone else who needed a hand. Yesterday, when Chad went back for his home health visit, the couple was so excited to tell him that they met a homeless man who needed a place to sleep for a few days, so they let him stay at their house for 3 nights and fed him. Then the husband went on to tell Chad that he wanted to start contributing to the fund we have set up, even if it's only $5 a month. Suddenly, WE were humbled and grateful!

The amazing thing about giving is that it blesses those who receive and those who give, and God is glorified again and again! Still it's easy for me in our consumer driven society to think I can't give because I have school loans and car loans, and my daughter needs new shoes, etc. There is always something else I think I need, but God is faithful. I am only beginning to know God as provider. Whatever we give seems to come back-- sometimes in an anonymous gift of money in a time of struggle, sometimes in gifts from friends, and sometimes in the wonder of witnessing someone with so much less give with such an open and willing heart!

Just catching up

I've been feeling overwhelmed at the thought of writing a new post because I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll just start with what has been heavy on our hearts this holiday:

1. Two of our dearest friends here in Abilene are Zach and Kara Sheets. A few days before Christmas, Zach's younger brother, Tyler, died in a car accident. He was a freshman at ACU and an amazing guy! You never saw him without a smile. It's hard to write about, even now. I feel like my words are so inadequate to express the deep sorrow we have felt with and for the entire Sheets family. Tyler was one of 10 siblings in an incredibly close knit family. Over the past few weeks, we have cried and prayed and laughed remembering Tyler. His life, though short, was lived fully and authentically for God. Please continue to offer up prayers for family and friends of Tyler in the coming weeks and months.

2. Nothing seems like a good follow up to that, but I will share a few Ava stories some of you might enjoy:

Over Christmas, I got in the mood to rearrange so I had Chad help me move the couch. Ava had been out of the room at the time and when she walked back in to the new furniture arrangement, her reaction was priceless," Mommy, I love it! It's awesome! It's cool." She went on and on about the room with more excitement than she expressed on Christmas morning. Chad and I were cracking up. His comment: "She definitely takes after you!"

This morning Ava told me that Dotty (our dog) is her granddaughter.

Ava is almost entirely potty trained, except for night time. We are very excited about this new phase of life, but I find myself constantly looking for bathroom signs and mapping out the fastest routes when we are out. She is pretty good about telling me when she needs to go, but I have short window of time to get her to a potty, so I have to think fast and run hard.

3. We had a great holiday with family in both Fort Worth and Austin. We enjoyed spending time with my new great-nephew, Bryson. I feel much to young to be a great-aunt, but I loved holding him. Ava had so much fun with her cousins. She talks about them constantly. In her mind, she relates anything funny to Kallan. So if she's trying to be funny, she says," I silly like Kallan!"

4. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to be more laid back. I like laid back people, and would love it if someone used this term to describe me, but I unfortunately tend to lean towards the opposite personality descriptions-- high strung, uptight, and the ever popular "OC" (obsessive compulsive,) none of which, by the way, are endearing terms. On more than one occasion I have been compared to Monica on Friends. Seriously, am I that bad? I hope that I can learn to let the little things go and enjoy the moment. I really am working on it, but I have to confess that I did iron my newly washed sheet today-- only the top of the sheet though, not the whole thing. I hear that Oprah likes a crisp sheet, so maybe it's not so bad. Now I'm embarrassed I even admitted that, but rather than deleting it, I will be laid back and let you all know the real me. . . even if I am a little more like Monica than I'd like to admit.


Hope you enjoyed this, Nicole. Peace!

Christmas Pictures

With shopping and wrapping and parties and packing, I haven't had much time to blog. Here are a couple of pictures that didn't make the Christmas card this year. I'm hoping to get those in the mail before Christmas. We'll see if that happens. . . if not, Merry Christmas from the Walters!

Happy Holidays

Hope everyone is doing well. We're pretty busy getting ready for the holidays, but so glad to be settled in our house this year for Christmas instead of packing. I couldn't wait to put up the tree this year since I couldn't last year. Our halls were decked before Thanksgiving! The few of you who check this blog (mostly out of town family) wanted some new Ava pics so here you go! Enjoy! She's hilarious and is getting so excited for Christmas this year. She is starting to understand the whole Christmas present thing, and has let me know that she wants a rocking chair. We'll see what we can do. . .

Striking a pose in the mirror with cousin Carly. Riding a big girl tricycle
Catching snow
Playing dress up

Treadmill Dance-- Here it Goes Again

Need a laugh? Check out this site for a cool music video. I promise it won't disappoint!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV6vPyTEdoE&mode=related&search

We're off to see the Wizard

Here are some photos of Ava as Dorothy at Halloween. In the picture below, she is holding hands with her good friend and bumble bee, Emma Walker. Ava is posing with all of our pumpkins. We had a party with several friends and carved jack-o-lanterns. These were the ones that got left at our house.
Here we are dressed as Glenda the Good Witch, the Scarecrow, and Dorothy. Our friends Zach and Kara Sheets completed our ensemble as the Lion and the Tin Man. Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice before we got those pictures. I'll try to get copies from friends because all of the costumes were great. The Flinstones won for best overall, but we were a close second! I love dressing up. Really, I don't even need a reason. . . and when it comes to shoes, Ava doesn't either! She wants to wear her dress up shoes everyday of the week.

The Pumpkin Patch & Sparkly Shoes

Today we visited the Cedar Creek Pumpkin Patch.

It was so cute-- pumpkins, games, cookie decorating and storytime. Ava loved it! She wouldn't leave without telling the "teacher" (the woman who read the story) bye.

The picture below requires a story. First, Ava is wearing the red sparkly shoes that Julia mailed us today for Ava's Dorothy costume. She refused to take them off during her nap. She even took her pants off because they were blocking her view of the sparkly shoes. My girl LOVES shoes!Second, I have been experimenting with different forms of discipline lately because there have been more and more "terrible two tantrums" around my house. A few days ago, I tried putting Ava in time out in a small chair facing the wall in her bedroom. It backfired. She thought this was a new, fun game and has been asking to get put in time out ever since. When I put her down for her nap today, I reminded her not to get out of her bed. Several times she got up and walked around loudly in her sparkly shoes, yelling, "I'm up mommy. You can put me in time out." After the second time delivering her back to her bed, I decided just to let get back in bed when she got tired enough. When it finally got quiet, I peeked in and Ava had fallen asleep in her chair. . . still waiting for me to come put her in time out I suppose.

Back to the 80's

There is a fine line between totally lame and rad to the max! Last weekend our small group had an 80's party and walked that fine line. . . we moon walked it! Here are some pictures to prove it. Blogger won't let me upload any more, so for more laughs, check out http://www.katestover.blogspot.com/ for our couples pictures and a full story of the night's events-- the good, the bad, and the ugly! Making an appearance at the Galaxy Grub definitely ranks on my top 5 lists of most awkward moments. But if you're going to show up at an ACU grub as a 29 year old mom, you might as well be wearing a lavendar poofy sleeved dress with really big hair!

This is what the Walters family might have looked like in 1986.

The boys are posing like the 80's band ( I forgot the name) album cover behind them. Check out Brandon's Miami Vice look-- so classic!

Like, what a cute little valley girl!

Here we are trying to jump and pose like the movie Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

Anyone up for a 70's party next?

From the lips of children and infants

I just left Ava's room after putting her down for the night and I had to come write this down because I don't want to forget. Ava was crying and having a hard time going to sleep tonight. As I rocked her, this is the conversation we had:

Mommy, It's too dark.
I know it's dark, but you don't have to be afraid because you can talk to Jesus any time.
Where did Jesus go?
He is with us all the time.
Yah, he lives with us.
He does? What does he do?
He talks to me. He funny. (she laughs)
What does Jesus say?
He prays to God.
Do you pray with him?
Yah. He my friend.

Thank you, God, for sending your son to be both man and divine, to have relationship with us, to know us, to love us, to laugh and talk and pray with us as we seek you. You have revealed yourself to me many times throughout my life, but never so sweetly as tonight, through the lips of my two year old. I am overwhelmed by your goodness as I praise your name.

Psalm 8:2 You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of infants and children you have ordained praise.

Emma's Princess Party & Ava's Shoe Obsession

Ava poses for her princess picture at Emma's birthday party. All the pretty princesses. I love how frilly they all look-- so cute! Ava lining up her shoes

We had a fun, busy weekend in Fort Worth, seeing family, friends, attending birthday parties and Chad's 10 year high school reunion. It was good to see everyone, even though it was a fast and furious visit. Maybe next time we'll get to visit a little longer. The first 2 pictures are from Emma's 3 year old princess party. It was so cute. Julia decorated the house like a castle and all the girls were dressed up like princesses. They decorated crowns, ate lunch, listened to a princess story, and took pictures on a "throne." But Ava's favorite thing at the party was all of the little shoes the girls were wearing. My girl is obsessed with shoes-- big shoes, little shoes-- doesn't matter, she LOVES them. If you've been around her for more than 5 minutes wearing a pair of flip flops, she's probably either asked you for them, or just taken them right off your feet. The last picture is Ava lining up her all of her shoes-- one of her favorite games. She might end up being a little obsessive compulsive. That will probably be the one thing she gets from me. I have to fight those OCD tendencies! (And for those who are interested, she is sleeping great in her new big girl bed. She loves it and has slept through the night with no major incidents of wandering through the house. . .yet.)

"And Ava will be there. . ."

Today in Bible class Ava learned a new song. When she learns something new, she repeats it over and over. . . and over, just to make sure she's got it down. Today's song is to the tune of the Farmer and the Dell and goes something like," We are going to Bible class, and Ava will be there, and Jude will be there, and Emma will be there, and Ashton will be there,. . ." this goes on and on as you say every child's name in class. Ava sang this all afternoon inserting almost every name she knows into the lyrics. At one point, Kate and I were driving in the car with her and we started laughing at the length of the song and how many people will "be there." Ava quickly changed the song to, "And mommy will not laugh and Kate will not laugh. . . " This of course only made us laugh harder. She is a funny kid. This picture has nothing to do with my story, but new photos are always fun. This one is of Ava reading and singing as she rocks her baby.

The West Texas Fair and Rodeo, ACU & other things

1. I tried to take a picture of Ava's first day of school ,but whenever I tell her to smile, she makes this face. She closes her eyes as soon as I hold up the camera. What a goofball! She was pretty excited about having pockets on her jacket, so she walked around all morning with her hands shoved deep in her pockets as you can see in the picture. (Note to moms out there: Ava's hair is getting lighter and thinner. At first I thought it was just because we were in the sun, but it's gotten so thin, I can't even keep a bow in it anymore. I am starting to worry that she is malnourished or something. Is this normal? Do you have any ideas or experiences with this? I don't want to be paranoid but people ask me about it all the time, and I'm getting more concerned.)

2. We went to the annual West Texas Fair and Rodeo last night with our small group. I ate Sharon Allen's chopped brisket sandwich, sweet iced tea and a funnel cake. What's a trip to the fair without sticky fingers and a layer of white powdered sugar all over your clothes and mouth? Highlights for Ava include dancing to the western band, feeding the goats at the petting zoo, and riding the train. (It cost $6 stinkin' dollars for a 30 second ride-- $3 for her and $3 for me because she's too young to ride alone.) Somebody is making some serious bank at the fair and I'm pretty sure it isn't the "carnies" who work there. Highlights for me include watching Kevin Campbell ride a fake bull for 8 seconds, dancing with Ava to the music, and hanging out with my friends. Something about that environment reminds me of being in middle school! We had fun, but 2 hours at the fair is about all I need until next year.

3. Today I went to chapel at ACU with my cousins and had "Cousin Lunch" afterwards at Little Panda. I've got four cousins and a nephew at ACU right now. Being back on campus is interesting. It has the same feel with the same young faces, so I kept expecting to see someone I recognized. I caught myself scanning section "L" for a familiar face. Then I did a little math and realized that the freshman starting ACU this year were in 2nd grade when I started at ACU in 1995! Needless to say, that one made me feel old. Still, being on campus brought back great memories. Ava loved the singing and seeing all those kids in chapel!

4. For those who don't know, I took on a second part time job. In addition to being the Nursery Director at Highland, I am now a Rep. for National Geographic and a few other publishing companies. I market curriculum and instructional materials to schools. Generally speaking, I hate selling anything to people. It is just not my personality to be a salesman, but I am stretching myself and giving it my best effort. I took the job because we have to replace our air conditioning unit so we needed to make a little extra to help offset the cost of that, plus our electicity bill, and the gas prices lately have been making us feel the crunch. Chad has also been working extra hours. We've both been pretty worn out, but we're thankful to have ways of making extra money to help when we need it. I know many people don't have those opportunitites.

Good Morning, Patty!

So I spoke with my dear friend, Patty, a couple of days ago, who told me she checks my blog every morning after she gets to work. Talk about putting on the pressure to post more often! Everyday she checks only to be disappointed that once again there is nothing new, and then, wa-lah! Two posts in a row. Happy reading, Miss Patty!

This got me to thinking about who actually reads my blog. Patty has never posted a comment so I wonder who else has been secretly reading. Kind of creepy when you think about it. Have you ever cliked next blog in the upper right hand corner of your blog just to see where you end up? There are some pretty interesting folks out there. I actually don't recommend this practice because there's a pretty vulgar blogging culture outside of the family oriented bloggers I'm used to reading. It is interesting though to click and see that many of the other blogs are written in different languages. It makes me feel somehow connected in such a big world.

Isn't it crazy that you can use the word blog as a noun, verb and if you really stretch, an adjective?
I am a blogger.
I blog.
I have a blog.
This is blog world.
Fun Word! Hope all you non-posting blog readers out there have a good day!

Happy Birthday Dear Ava

Two years ago today, our sweet Ava Grace was born! It's so cliche to say this, but I can't believe how quickly she's grown from being a tiny baby to a little girl. The past two years have been the most fun, exhausting, joyful, selfless, happy, prayerful, thankful two years of my life. And we're just getting started. . .

This week, Ava has been saying, "Oh my gosh." We think she picked this up from a decorating show as the room was revealed. It could be worse, but still, it doesn't sound very nice coming out of her little two year old mouth. We have been redirecting her to say, "Oh my goodness" instead. A few nights ago during dinner, we repeatedly corrected her "Oh my goshes" to "Oh my goodness." After a few minutes, she announced. "I don't want to Oh my goodness. I want to Oh my Gosh!" She certainly has a mind of her own! Oh my Goodness! Needless to say, we're still working on it.

We've been so into the whole birthday thing lately that Ava has been singing "Hatty Burtday" to everyone and everything. In the past couple of days, she's sung happy birthday dear peanut butter, squeaky shoes, Abraham, and cantelope to name a few.

I love so many things about Ava, but mostly I love her spirit. She has something remarkable and hillarious to share with me everyday. I am blessed to be her mother.
Here are some pictures from Ava's ladybug birthday party:

Our little ladybug

Smiling for the camera Ava and mommy

Blowing out the candles

Cancun Baby!

Okay, so I have been a horrible blogger lately. I have been hearing from the few of you who actually check my blog that it's time for a new post. So here it is-- our Cancun pictures from July! We went to Cancun with the Ridgells a little over a month ago for a short, but fabulous trip! Ava loved the beach, the sand, and the swimming pool. She got pretty confident with her floaties. Jamie, Joe Don and sweet Anna were great travelling companions.

We were both a little nervous about flying with the girls, but I packed a bag of goodies and a portable DVD player and Ava did great. Anna did so good too. We didn't hear a peep out of either of them on the plane. We love hanging out with old friends. We have a special relationship with the Ridgells because Chad and Jamie grew up together in Fort Worth and Joe Don and I grew up together in Abilene. Then Chad and Joe Don were roomates in college, and Jamie and I bonded on our summer abroad trip to Oxford. Jamie actually takes credit for setting Chad and me up! Needless to say we're friends all the around and had a great time with the Ridgells in Cancun! I love the beach.

Jesus diapered all the babies

After bath time, Ava, Chad and I usually sing a couple of songs, read or tell stories, and pray before bedtime. Here are a couple of my favorite Ava bed time stories:

As I was singing songs with Ava, I asked her, "What song do you want to sing now?" Ava's response was, "Jesus put diapers on babies." Not sure about this one, so I asked her to sing it. Ava started to sing, "Jesus loves the little babies, all the babies of the world, every color dark and light, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little babies of the world." This song I am familiar with. We sing "babies" instead of "children," and "every color dark and light" instead of "red, and yellow, black and white," but still I was confused about the diapers. Then she proceeded to verse two. "Jesus diapered all the babies, all the babies of the world. . . " Somewhere along the way, I had sung, "Jesus died for all the babies. . ." Ava has no frame of reference for the word "died," but she certainly knows a diaper, so in her mind, Jesus diapered all those babies. He must be one tired guy!

Last week, we were reading from Ava's picture Bible, and we were on the story of Abraham (which in her version is a very short poem about Abraham leaving his homeland to be father of all. It makes no mention of Sarah or Isaac.) Ava pointed to the picture of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac to the left and said, "Who's that?" I told her, "This is Abraham and his baby Isaac and this is Isaac's mommy." Her response was, "Sarah!" Stunned, I looked at Chad, who had a similar expression on his face. Neither of us could remember the last time we had read this particular story and pointed out and named Sarah. It was sweet to know that she is soaking in so much of God's word, and a little bit scary to think how much of everything else she is soaking in too! She copies everything we do and say!

Ava sees Jesus in everything! Any photo of a man with unfamiliar attire and some facial hair is Jesus to her. Recently she has seen Jesus in a drawing of Shakespeare, an American Indian carved into wood at a local museum, and a photo of a man from the middle east. I'm glad that she's got Jesus on her radar!

4th of July Fun!

This is Ava watching the fireworks at Nelson Park. She made this face almost the whole night. The lights and sounds surprised and excited her every time! I loved experiencing fireworks for the first time again through her eyes!

Watching fireworks with Daddy!

Loaded this picture before I saw it up close and realized

how rough I look in it with my eyes half shut. Don't know

how to delete one without losing them all. Oh well.

We spent the 4th of July weekend with the Thompson side of the family in Brownwood. We ate great food, played games, and hung out on the lake all weekend! In this picture, Ava fell asleep on the boat ride. You can barely see her under her life jacket.

Pretending to drive the boat!

Can you believe how blond she's getting?

Swinging with Great-Grandpa at the Lake. Ava stood by the door all weekend talking whoever walked by into taking her outside to either "Swing high,""Go see the lake," "See the dog," or "Go in the boat."

That's me and Ava tubing (very slowly) behind the boat. She said,

"Whee. I like it!" as soon as she realized we were moving.

Ava and me floating in the lake!

This is a cousins dog paddling contest. Jenny and Joe won with an impressive 1 hour and 20 minutes. I was out after a long and painstaking 12 minutes. I'm obviously not a swimmer. . .

P.S. Dad is safely back from Israel, and recovering from jet lag. He has great stories and cool souveniers-- I got a 4,000 year old pottery shard from the dig and a tooth dug up from an animal that was probably sacrificied around the same time! Thanks for your prayers for his safe return.

A different perspective

Usually my blog is pretty egocentric. I generlly post photos of our family and talk about things that are going on with me, Chad and Ava. I love this form of communication and being able to share with friends and family via the web. I still plan on posting photos of Ava and letting you in on our daily happenings. Today's post will be a little different though.

Lately, I've been thinking and praying alot about my role in the bigger picture. I think that it's so easy in America to allow things to become routine, comfortable, sheltered even. For some reason, Chad and I have both had a heart for Africa in recent months, but not just Africa-- Iraq, Isreal, nations living through war. I don't have any answers for war, but I think that being sheltered from it is not what we are called to do. I enjoy listening to Christian radio, but the "safe and fun" mantra seems to spill over into our Christian living. I don't think that Jesus called us to live "safe and fun" lives. He called us into the world. He called us to be salt and light. Jesus lived a dangerous and uncomfortable life. When I ask myself honestly, "What would Jesus do?" I am frightened by the answer because I'm not sure that my life is truly a reflection of his. I love him, that is certain. I attend church, bible studies, I serve in ministry. I love others in His name, but is that enough? I am still very comfortble. When I see children living in poverty in need of things I take for granted, I am haunted by the fact that this would not happen in America. And yet these children are loved by their parents and God just as much as I love Ava.

Africa:
A couple of months ago, Chad and I participated in a "Global Night Commute" to help raise awareness for the "invisible children" living in the Sudan. These children are being captured by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) and forced to kill. We first saw a documentary about this in Fort Worth. It brought us both to tears, but we didn't know what to do. Right after we moved to Abilene, we attended a forum at Highland and met some young people who were on a national tour to raise awareness for the invisible children. Since then, we receive e-mail updates, and have been in prayer for these kids. The Global Night Commute consisted of people all over the U.S. who walked from their homes (or in our case, ACU) to a downtown area and literally spent the night in parking lots to raise awareness and publicity. Click here for a video clip about the Global Night Commute . I also have a link on my blog to the main invisible children website.

Israel:
If you know my family even a little bit, you probably know that my father marches to the beat of a different drummer. Right now he is in Israel on an archeological dig for a month. He found a group online and joined their team. They have been excavating an area in Maggedo; he is living in a Jewish Kabbutz (communal living area), and eating Kosher. I have always admired his spirit of adventure. He deliberately seeks out experiences that are not comfortable and familiar. For more on his travels, check out his blog at jkpierson.blogspot.com His experiences in Israel have gotten me paying more attention to international affairs in Israel and Palestine as well.

This is alot of type for a blog so I'll sum up. I want to be more consiously aware of global issues. I don't want to live too comfortably. I want to be intentional about the way I treat others, even others I don't know across the world. I appreciate and admire families like the Vaughns, who don't just talk about this, but act on it, and go to Africa to live like Jesus. Great is their reward. I am inspired by that kind of courage and I pray that God will help me to be more courageous and less comfortable in my faith.