I2I DTS Week 7!

This week flew by! Week 7's topics were church planting and evangelism and we had a variety of speakers throughout the week including Erik Fish, Kevin Stark, SunAwh Park, Laurie Ditto and my very own hubby Friday morning! I missed out on a lot of the teaching this week as I worked hard with Noah on the napping front at home, but I got to spend Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning participating for part of the morning. It was great to hear Shane talking about the Simple Church Model and sharing our experience from South Africa. It was special and dear to my heart to remember such tender memories of Red Hill and our experience doing the simple church model in circumstances out of a book or movie.

Kevin Stark speaking on the different stages of readiness to accept the Gospel

Shane teaching on the Simple Church Model

Simple Church Model

Highlights of the week:
- Noah started prunes and blueberries this week! He really enjoys eating the prunes but I don't enjoy cleaning up all the puke that happens afterward! He puked a ton and I've been shouting out the stains on the carpet the last few days!

- Working with Noah and the Holy Spirit on issues related to sleep. Noah did awesome this week with naps! I took on Project Self Soothe Again on Tuesday. And Noah did great! He soothed himself to sleep all week and I've only had to go in once at naptime. He's such a trooper! I'm thinking my almost 8 month old was finally ready to go down to 3 naps, because he's adjusting well, still happy and having 1 extra long nap a day! I've been wishing for that for months and I hope this keeps up! This week we have had our best naps since June 21st!
- Talked with my sister for 2 hours! And got to talk with all Noah's grandparents this week!
- The biggest highlight of my week was my time in the prayer room on Tuesday evening! I got totally rocked by the Lord for 2 hours and it was soooo awesome! It is probably the most meaningful time I've had encountering the Holy Spirit since Noah's been born....and no one even prayed for me =) I got to go for the evening Wednesday too!
- A quick trip to Price Choppers on Thursday with Noah was fun. He is so much fun to take grocery shopping and he is such a good baby in public! He just loves to stare at everything and everyone. I really enjoy seeing him out and about....and we aren't off base a lot these days! On the way out the supervisor paid me a nice compliment =) It was a great little grocery trip!
- Class prayer time on Thursday afternoon and seeing a number of our students really getting excited for outreach! It's so neat to see them turning the corner from the last few weeks being a lot about their own healing and now they are starting to prepare to give what they have received away and focus on others!

Davy and Sarah sharing/praying at the mic

 

 

- Meeting a new mom and baby and getting to pray for their postpartum transition when I brought supper over for them. My heart is especially moved for the transition first time moms go through since my own is still fresh in my memory.
- Spontaneous pancake breakfast on Saturday morning when we found 2 students on our lawn, who had camped out in our backyard overnight =)

 

Noah and Rebekah

- Awesome family time on Saturday! Lunch at Panera (the only time we've gone out for lunch/supper except Father's Day since arriving in KC surprisingly!) and a walk around Towne Square! Then a swim in our pool in the afternoon!

 

Strangers commented on how relaxed he looked because he LOVES to put his feet up =)

Low lights of the week:
- Stressors as a staff team/challenges with students/warfare over our school this week
- Many wake-ups at night (1-5 times) and usually a rough hour most nights this week....I'm tired but my emotions have been doing a lot better with it this week as I press in to hear the Holy Spirit in those night hours...
- Super rough naps on Monday (which made me start the self-soothing work again on Tuesday...which went super well!)

Praise reports from last week:
- No headaches this week (just the weekend)!
- The neighbors above us were gone Monday through Friday and that was a really nice break from the noise above us and the effect on my nerves =)
- We started putting up a sign on the window that says "Noah is napping" whenever he goes down. It eliminates all guesswork for our considerate neighbors who need to use the tap to water their gardens and flowerbeds. It has been wonderful and I don't have to think about the tap...I just have to remember to put the sign up! I thought of this idea a few weeks ago but was worried it would seem I was controlling of the tap. I talked with the neighbors last week and they loved the idea, so we started it on Tuesday and it has been working wonderfully!
- One of our staff, Katrine, who spent the week at the hospital has returned to the base! Sadly, she is still in a ton of pain and without clear answers.
- Our team has worked together this week as we've felt a heightened sense of urgency to battle against the darkness coming again our students and school.
- I've been finding a lot more strength and energy from the Lord this week!
- And I got the encounter I was hoping for! Praise the Lord! And I want more!

Prayer requests for this next week:
- Encounter from the Lord in our lectures! This week's speaker is Peter Xu who will be speaking on surrendering our rights. He was imprisoned for his faith with Brother Yun and I'm guessing there is going to be a lot of conviction and perspective this week. I really hope that it works for me to be in the lectures as much as possible to receive what the Lord has for me this week! Hey....if any of you who read this blog can make it here.....you can join us for lectures this week!
-  Monthly partners
- Good family connecting times, since the following week Noah and I will be in Manitoba and apart from Shane for the first time =(
- Breakthrough with our students and that they would pursue Jesus and flee from temptations
- Sleep and rest....that we all would sleep through the night in this house
- Healing for our bodies....especially the remainder of the cold that Shane has been dealing with, the runny nose that Noah's had/teething pain and my throat that is sore

Noah in class

Noah getting prayer/encouragement from Ray (one of our students)

Calleen and Noah have a very special bond =)

This little guy can get into all kinds of things he's not supposed to quickly! Here he's in the closet =)

Getting into more stuff!

Sucking on apples!

Rebekah and Calleen did a prank for our staff meeting....the point of it was to create a diversion so they could steal the carrot cake I baked for the meeting=)

I2I DTS Week 6!

Lecture phase is already half over! Wow! The weeks are flying by!

Week 6 of DTS was on the topic of the Father heart of God! What a good topic! Our speaker was our very own school leader, Athol Barnes and he did a great job! Many of our students were touched in a deep way by the Lord this week and the testimonies of the revelation, healing and forgiveness that took place was awesome to hear!

Reading Noah The Father's Love Letter in class

Highlights of the week:
- Noah started peaches and peas this week! He really likes peas! I'm glad because I need more green veggies in his repertoire because someone noticed his nose is getting a little orange =)

Shane feeding Noah peas!

- Laying down for a nap each day
- Talking with my sibs
- Surprise brunch for the students! Thursday morning we made a shmorgasbord of yummy things for brunch to show in a tangible way, the extravagant love of the Father! It was a hit!

Yummy brunch!

 

 

That turned into a small whipped cream fight...

They still love each other =)

 - My one-on-ones!

Sarah (one of my one-on-one lovely ladies) and her kiddos!

- Got to be in class on Friday and hear testimonies of what the Lord did in the hearts of students this week! That was really encouraging!

Everyone wants to hold Noah=)

All of us, students, children and staff (minus Katrine)

 - Coffee with Christina on Friday afternoon! What a life saver after a rough night and rough naps that day! I returned home 2 hours later feeling WAY more human!
- Enjoyed playing games with the students on Saturday evening

Playing soccer on the big screen

- 2 of our students wanted to come over and make homemade pizza with us. We headed over to Walmart to get groceries and came back to our place and had a feast! Yummy homemade pizza, dessert and sparkling grape juice to celebrate! It was a great time with Calleen and Rebekah Sunday afternoon!

 

The pizza was SOOO good! We enjoyed our time with Calleen and Rebekah!

And dessert was sooooo good too!

 - Sunday evening we had a BBQ as a staff and played Cranium together! It was good to have some fun times together to bond as a team!

Noah and Christie

Everyone loves Noah's smile =)

Staff BBQ....just to let you know, those are root beers =)

Low lights of the week:
- Some brutal nights due to teething =( Since Friday, it's been really tough at night....I guess that is only a few days looking back, but it feels like forever to this tired momma! Thursday to Friday night was brutal!
- Noah has been refusing one of his four naps on most days this week. It has been tough at times but also a blessing if he's finally ready to go down to three! I would like that! So, as of yesterday, we are starting to try only 3 naps in a day. This week, naps have been harder (also probably due to teething). He's been a lot more cranky, not feeding as well and not going down for naps well =(
- Less time in the prayer room....and I need more!
- Update on the neighbor above situation....she's not moving out and 2 more ladies have moved in. I found out on Wednesday and had a little cry about it. We've had some dialogue about volume with the girls upstairs and they have been really nice about it. I was proud of myself for talking with them instead of being passive-agressive and getting upset in my apartment! 

Praise Reports from last week:
- Shane's headache is finally gone and the nausea and dizziness at night have been better!
- Noah slept well a few night's this week!
- Our students received from the Lord during the Father heart week!
- 8 out of 10 of our students have paid the lecture phase and a number have had incredible provision toward outreach in the last week or two!
- Though the tap was turned on 2 times in the last 3 days while Noah was sleeping, he didn't wake up! Yay! And though we can hear every foot step from the girls above, it hasn't woken Noah at night!

Prayer Requests for this next week:
- Continued healing for Shane....for the rest of the effects of the cold he's had this last week.
- Healing for me too....I've been having headaches (makes sense with the lack of sleep).
- Continued breakthrough in finances for our staff and students...especially those who are gathering funds for outreach to Brazil.
- Monthly partners to be apart of our team
- Continued grace for living in community (tenants above, tap situation, students, etc)
- That Noah would sleep through the night, not need to feed at night and grace for teething!
- One of our staff, Katrine, has been in a lot of pain and in and out of the ER the last few days. She has returned to the hospital today and they have admitted her. Please pray for speedy healing!
- Strength and energy to complete the next 6 weeks well!
- Wisdom and unity for our leadership team
- Encounter with the Lord for our hearts so we can give out of a place of abundance!

Noah loved Calleen's singing and guitar playing!

Noah's first encounter with a guitar

Noah discovered the kitchen and now he makes it there quickly from the living room!

He likes to sleep on his face....and he's started sleeping with his bum in the air =)

Going upstairs to do work duty with daddy!

Noah and Selah enjoying each other!

He sits and plays so well now!

Little drummer boy!

My cutie....sometimes my camera strangely chooses horizontal view instead of vertical and I don't know how to switch it!