a new sister!

this is Eva Nakisuyi.

Eva is 11 years old. Her birthday is on November 27th. Her parents are no longer living.

Our House decided that one way we'd like to give the money in our common fund is to sponsor a child. our dear friend, Katie has wonderful parents who are a part of a beautiful organization called Buyamba Orphan Outreach.
Buyamba translated into English simply means “Help”. This orphanage not only reaches orphans but also assists children whose parents are too sick or destitute to care for them. We wanted to support Buyamba's ministries because of the wonderful people that care for the children there in Uganda.

There was a glorious time of celebration when we joyously opened the envelope that contained Eva's picture and information.

thanks be to G-d for His blessings.
for His provisions.
for His LOVE.

If you feel in your heart a desire to join with us in daily prayer for Eva, please do pray.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough,
money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So,
spread your love everywhere you go.
– Mother Teresa

a new beginning

we're continually finding that this is a year of learning and growth for us. this is a year of finding a renewed spirit.

we're learning how to ask for forgiveness when we fail those who we love. we're learning how to have grace for those that fail us. we're learning that having hard conversations, that may require vulnerability and humility are more often than not, beneficial and quite needed. we're learning what it really means to love someone who may continually be hurtful. and most importantly, we're learning how only the LORD G-d is able to fill us with the grace, humility and love that we need each day.

when all of Our House came back together after being away from each other for Christmas break, we discovered that our hearts needed rejuvenation and greatly needed the unity that we once shared. it took us three weeks, a hard but heartfelt meeting with our mentors, four house meetings, and many tears amidst one-on-one conversations to find that sought-after peace and unity.

last week, my word of the week was 'reconciliation'. i don't normally pick descriptions for my days or weeks, but that particular theme was inescapable.
know this about me: i don't enjoy initiating. and confrontations are difficult for me. the LORD knew what i needed this week, and He readily provided me with all that i needed. He's such a generous Father. it was a surprise to me when one morning, as i was working on homework in between classes, i felt this pulling in my heart to ask my dear sister if she would meet with me so that we could talk through some things together. i had been feeling for weeks a disconnect between us and G-d gave me the courage to initiate a conversation that would probably be hard and possibly emotional. she agreed, so we went to 7-11, got drinks and found a spot to sit in the sunshine. my faithful Father filled me with an abnormal desire to be open and to be vulnerable. we left our time together to go to our separate classes, having understanding, respect and our renewed unity. thanks be to G-d!

we're all taking one day at a time, trusting G-d to help us up when we fall on our faces, ashamed or hurting. because of His grace and mercy for us when we fail, we smile now more than we ever did before. we rejoice instead of crying out.

there's something i've been thinking a lot about lately that perhaps you may also want to apply to your life – we may always have reason to be sad or hurt, but in everything, we have reason to rejoice to G-d. for He is loving. He is forgiving. He is trustworthy. He's full of grace, patience, mercy and joy. G-d gives us our every JOY.

G-d IS our every JOY.

Winter Break part I

Hello all,
Greetings with love and prayer. We're all over the country! Here's a bit of an update. Heather is in Oregon. Cory is in Michigan (ILLINOISE?). Lindsey is in Jersey. Abby and I remain residents of Washington, but not for long, because she's flying to New York and I'm flying to Florida. I reckon we'll all be back here early January, since that's when winter term starts.
Our house has been able to host a couple ragamuffins this week and that has been a wonderful blessing. The picture below shows me with New Zealander, Arielle, between Pioneer Square and the international district. She'll be on her way by tomorrow, but she has blessed us this week (and thanks, Heather, for lending your bedroom.) Also, it's been great to share a handful of adventures with Patrick this past week. Blessings in Ohio, friend.


Well, I guess that's about it! Don't buy too much shit for the holidays. Time spent is more valuable anyway.

blessings all around.

greetings family!

the month of november is nearly over, which means Autumn Quarter at SPU is also almost over. time passes quickly, and we are still learning how and trying to practice slowing down. as i ride my bicycle, i realize and am thankful for how it allows me to take in my surroundings and truly appreciate them. i actually notice the beauty of the persons walking on the sidewalk beside me and am able to greet them warmly with a "hello!" or "good morning!" without a rolled-up car window giving me an excuse to drive fast right past them without even a wave of my hand.

i hope you had a wonderful weekend of giving thanks and were able to spend time with people that you cherish and love. we had a lovely weekend here at OurHouse. cory, lindsey and i stayed in seattle. heather spent thanksgiving with her family in Oregon, and ben enjoyed himself immensely in Cabo, Mexico. my mom, Becky came up from Indiana, and my brother and his 4 yr. old son, Teague came over for Thanksgiving dinner, as well as Lindsey's parents, Susie and Joe and brother, Curtis. we also were blessed to have some friends join us for dessert and merry music-making. the fireplace set a warm glow to the room, and a banjo and harmonica entertained us with their joyous sounds.


cory, nate, brother josh, mama becky, abby


indiana family photo


jacob


within the last couple weeks, many blessed opportunities to serve our community have been presented to us. we are continuing to seek our Father's will and are so blessed when He gives us ways to serve.

+ one night, a few of us went over to the Green Bean [a coffee shop in Greenwood that lovingly serves the community] to help them finish their clean-up and asked if there was ever any need for volunteer baristas. our response was a very excited "YES!" so cory emailed Hayden, one of the women who runs the coffee shop and told her of our interest. we met together one evening at SPU and shared hot cider and relaxation while listening to some friends play music at a fall art party hosted by Lingua- the arts journal on campus. i told Hayden how i was once a barista at tullys for 1.5 years and missed making drinks but even more, i missed my customers and the relationships that i had built with them. those relationships are what makes the Green Bean so beautiful, and we want to be a part of that community even more. Hayden even talked about the possibility of offering a class for those wanting to learn the art of coffee-making [ben and cory want to learn! heather, lindsey and i have all had equal experience in this area]. thank you Hayden and Lisa for needing help! we'll begin volunteering there in December and January!

www.greenbeancoffee.org

+ We're going to be hosting an exchange student!

our new friend Richard Struijk is coming to Seattle from the Netherlands to work a 3 month internship with Steve Geelhood and his company, a member of Sanctuary church. Richard is in his early 20's and is 4 years into a 5-6 year joint BS and MS Chemical Engineering degree. happily, we have an extra room in our house to offer him. we are excited to have another member in our family! thank you Steve for thinking of us!

finals are next week for us at SPU. we're almost done and trying not to procrastinate as we desire to finish well.

please contact us if you need prayer, for we would be so blessed to have you come to us.
we LOVE you.
also, if you know of someone who needs help in some way or could use clothing donations, we are here to serve that person. we want to serve YOU.

slow down and find the beauty. it's everywhere.
and be blessed as you bless others.
thank you for your prayers and your support.

Happy Anti-Halloween

Tonight was Halloween and we gave away pumpkin loaf and extremely dyed pumpkin bread (pictured above). We walked around our neighborhood, met our neighbors and got some candy. They are really amazing and in love with our block. They made reference to how amazing all of the people on our block were and said that they didn't know about the people south of us. It was kind of funny.
On of our favorite neighbors lives behind us and up the alley. Her name is Mikel and she was dressed as a man for Halloween but assured us that she was a woman. She was great. A little emo girl that came us to the door after us was really funny too. In the most apathetic and flat tone she could muster, she mumbled tricker-treat and then ran away.
Our personal experience with tricker treaters was slightly traumatic. We saw people approaching our front porch, ran to greet them and then discovered what they were really up to. Two young boys were quickly emptying the entire contents of our candy bowl into their bags. They were so started that we came that they ran off with the totality of the candy and the bowl. We got the bowl back and I think that they were a little traumatized as well, but they deserved it or something...
All in all, it was amazing. Our landlord is going costume watching on Capital Hill which is amazing too.

We love our neighbors a lot and are looking forward to getting to know them over the rest of the year.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

our family

our Father in Heaven gave us His love for each other.

we are a community of believers who love Jesus.
it is a struggle at times to love others and be loved.
but we choose to love at all costs.

"Life in community is no less than a necessity for us, an inescapable 'must'... all life created by God exists in communal order and works toward community." -- Eberhard Arnold

we are a family.

School is cool but not for a fool who can drool with a tool in a swimming pool making a rule about a cruel mule

The first couple weeks of school bring many things into our lives. We've been busy, but not too busy (debatable?) haha! We're trying to remember to pray often and love generously. It's so fun to get free stuff! I'll just say it right out! It just is! coffee! coffee grinder! french press! marker board! If you're ever thinking about buying a cup of coffee, come to our house instead =) Most of all, though, we're thankful for the people that share life with us. It has been wonderful! It means so much to us that people find a sanctuary when they enter. We hope you come soon.