Staff Training Week 2

Another week is under our belt for our time in KC for staff training and this was a great week! It had a completely different feel than the previous week because everyone was on base for the training!

Monday through Friday this week we did a bunch of things here on base and it was such a blessing because Noah and I could participate in a lot of it. We were given a monitor by a generous acquaintance back home and I'm soooo glad I brought it with us! I am able to put Noah down for a nap in our apartment and the reception reaches the lounge, the classroom and the student services office! All the places that I may want to go and participate when my baby is napping! Praise the Lord! What an incredible blessing since my baby likes to take many short naps in a day!

Some of the things we did as a staff this week are worship and prayer in the mornings for an hour, student service/mobilization for the June DTS, prayer room time as a staff at IHOP (I even got to go by myself once this week!), a meeting with Mark Anderson to review the vision of Call2All, the campus, etc and spent a number of hours sharing our testimonies to get to know one another better. I've especially been enjoying the testimony time and I love having worship together each morning. I feel so blessed to be living in a community of believers and that worship and prayer are something we do together frequently and steps away from my front door =) These YWAMers really value hearing the voice of God and I'm constantly reminded to make decisions based on prayer. We also had a community potluck with all Call2All/YWAM staff on base, supper at our neighbors and a BBQ with the Starks. What a full and great week!

My easily overstimulated baby is adjusting really well this week. I'm so grateful! He gets overstimulated really easily and even at family gatherings and such at home, I really have to watch him. Often that night, he has a harder time going to sleep, cries more and needs a day at home to recuperate. There are many opportunities for him to get overstimulated here and I'm keeping a close eye on him. I feel that the Lord is really providing grace for Noah to adjust to community living. He is a joy to all those he comes in contact with and everybody loves "Baby Noah" =) He's been held by so many different people from so many nations already and I'm proud of myself by being as relaxed as I am handing my baby to people I don't know very well yet =) Everyone wants to hold him =) He has been able to nap in the prayer room and during our meeting with Mark Anderson but otherwise, I really try to give him his naps at home. He is also really easily distracted when feeding and doesn't want to miss anything so I try to do all his feeds at home and then we go back and join the team. It really is working well! He is feeling better this week and has gotten extremely active and mobile almost overnight. He is rolling like crazy now and spends the majority of his awake hours on his tummy, moving and rolling. He's going to be crawling before we know it!

The adjustment for me this week has been a lot better. The noisy neighbors above us moved out and that has made evenings/nights so much better. Noah is still getting up more than he usually does at home in Winnipeg but oh well. The insomnia I was really struggling with back home and in the first few days here has been significantly better and I'm so grateful! I'm feeling more sleep-deprived than I have in months but hopefully we'll all continue to adjust with time. I have cried much less this week =) I have enjoyed being with people and feel the blessing of community. I can see that life will be full and busy here and I need to figure out how to have quiet time with Jesus on my own in the midst of the buzz of ministry/campus life. Looking back, I'm really grateful for the first week here and though it was hard, it was great to start my time here leaning in to Jesus in such a big way.

On Tuesday we fly home to Winnipeg for the month. And now that the staff training adventure is coming to a close, I realize that the next chapter ahead awaits me with TONS for me to do. We have a number of plans with friends and family, my bro's wedding, doctors appointments and lots of errands and packing to do before moving out of our apartment we've had for the last 8 years by the end of the month. Wow. I just need to take it one day at a time so it doesn't seem too crazy!

I really am blessed. God is leading us well!