Hi all. Just want you to know that dad and I are going to Green Lake, WI tomorrow morning to be at a church planters boot camp. It ends at noon on Sat., and since it's only about an hour out of our way, we're going to Grandma's for the afternoon and taking her out for dinner. We'll be home later Sat. night. We'll have our cell phones with us.

Miss you all!
mom

I had a little help...but it makes me want to curl up with a book!

Nali is a pretty sick little doggy. We'd appreciate prayers for her--we're waiting on tests to see what's going on inside her body. She's had very bloody poo and is throwing up. She probably picked something up on our hike last weekend.

Always reassuring when the worst case scenario could not only be fatal for her, but for us, too...Nice.

We'll get test results back in a day or two, and for the rest of the week, she'll be enjoying a diet of white rice and cottage cheese. Mmmmmm.

Just so you know, we're going to Indiana this weekend. My former roommate Andi from Hungary is there at my other former roommate Anna's house, so we're gonna drive down and see her tomorrow night through Sunday.

It doesn't really affect any of you, but...just so you know. :)

Not nearly as big a deal as the conference, but Kenya and I completed our first year of training last weekend and we are done with formal training and competition for a while (will probably start competing again after Thanksgiving). We passed/completed everything we wanted so her name now reads U-CH Alta-Tollhaus-Krieger Lamb Chop CL1-R CL1-F RA RN TT HIT TDI CGC. She passed the Canine Good Citizen three times, passed the Therapy Dogs International evaluation, passed the Temperament Test, passed the herding instinct test, earned two agility titles (three first place, one second place), and earned two rally obedience titles (two first place, one second, one third, one fourth, and a non-placing qualify).

Passing the TT at the Falconhurst Police K9 Academy


Recent portrait


Agility ribbons from last weekend (4 Qs, first place Standard, second place Standard, first place Fullhouse, first place Jumpers)








Going over the LAST jump in the LAST run of our LAST competition for a long time

I just received an email from the Executer Director of Home Missions in which he described the conference as a "stunner of an event." "Stunner" I finally found the word for how I've been feeling since the opening session on Friday night. God was just so present--so active. People were so responsive. The main speakers were so challenging. You should have heard this young woman who ministers among the poorest of the poor in Canada. She is a stunningly beautiful woman who gave a non-flashy, straight message on Jesus' call to minister among the poor. As one paster said after her, "I'm undone." The hotel was great, food was outstanding and I didn't hear one complaint about any break-out. The prayer people created this incredible prayer room and it was so obvious that they had the conference totally covered in prayer. The worship team, I think, was the best I ever experienced. Great musicians, but great hearts. Dad heard from so many about how meaningful it was to have him front and center with them. They all just showed so much heart---dad included. He had so much fun.

Why else am I "stunned"? I don't feel like a conference planner. I don't pay much attention to planning manuals (actually, I boxed it up because it only stressed me out). Putting things on charts just stresses me out. There was no way dad and I could create a minute by minute schedule of the worship sessions. Details are not our thing. So I'm stunned that we created this event where God was so obviously at work. I can honestly say I, or our planning team, did not do this. We just allowed plenty of space for God to show up. He did in incredible ways.

We're hearing comments from other leaders like, "This was the best conference I've ever attended---anywhere." "The bar on my Christian life has been raised." "I can't stay so comfortable in the way I live my life any longer. I don't know what that means, but it means change." Dad and I feel like this week-end showed us that our move here wasn't wrong. We don't get into denominational issues or agency issues so much, but we are able to still influence spiritual lives, and for that we're grateful.

Did I tell you about the fun small group mixer we tried---and it worked? How about the impromtu prayer time in groups of 3. The prayer murmer in the room of more than 500 people was "stunning" I wish you all could have experienced this with us. I also had great fun being the emcee. I threw out any script and just went with it---which of course allowed me to interject some Leys/Kelder humor.

So....while I'll never take on a project like this again, God's gift is that this was a "stunner of an event"---especially to me.