My Life in Status Updates

The month of October wrapped up in 50-count status updates that never were:

October 4: After 5 months of devoted studies, I passed my national social work boards!

October 5: Feeling accomplished after lining a whole wall with self assembled bookshelves. #backachesfordays

#nottwentyanymore #happybirthdaydavid

October 21: Back from our first trip to Japan and we survived: 

an earthquake (slept through it), a typhoon, rush hour on the subway, 

navigating bus routes, squat toilets (is it strange that I miss them), missing our train, and getting lost. And I do miss it already.

October 31: So proud of David for completing his PhD proposal!

A Year of Blessings

As you can see, I haven't been good at blogging this past year. It's been a busy year. A blessed year. In reflecting over 2012, I am struck with how good the Lord has been to us. Always there despite our mistakes and failings. Always faithful and ready to pour out His blessings on us, on you.

As an exercise in reflection, as well as an effort to get caught up (and stay caught up?), here are the headlines of our blessings in 2012. Consider this my belated "Christmas Letter." =) (Click on the pictures to make them larger.)

AUSTRIA
In February David and I flew to Zurich, Switzerland, then drove on to the mountains of Austria for a ski/snowboard camp. David was the devotional speaker for the week. We were blessed to fellowship with vibrant young people and make new friends, as well as enjoy the fresh mountain air and surroundings. We left feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the Lord's protection on the treacherous slopes neither of us were prepared for. Praise the Lord for not only the absence of broken bones or concussions, but for our lives being intact.

SOUTH AFRICA
In April we joined good friends, Ron and Lynda du Preez, in South Africa for a week of vacation in Cape Town, followed by a week of speaking at Sedaven Camp Meeting. We enjoyed the fellowship with our friends immensely, as they took us around to see the beautiful sites of the southern coast of Africa. The Lord also blessed David's messages at Camp Meeting and we were able to witness the Lord moving mightily among the youth he spoke to.

Picture from Trevino Warren Photography

DOCTORAL TRAINING

David has spent many hours this past year thinking and praying, brainstorming and drafting, tweaking and honing. All for the first step in his doctoral schooling, the Thesis Proposal! I've been enjoying his journey as well, as it makes for great theological conversations. I just love it when David talks theology, I really do. We're looking forward to the progress 2013 will bring.

HOOD FAMILY REUNION/SHIN COLORADO TRIP

Over the 4^th of July we enjoyed a week of Hood Family Fun in Denver, followed by a weekend of Shin Exploration in Dillon, CO. There's just nothing like family and the crisp mountain air.

     

  

OLYMPIC TRIATHLON

In August I completed the longest triathlon I've ever done (and plan to do). It was an Olympic distance - .9mi swim, 24mi bike, 6.2mi run.

This was my last-year-in-my-twenties celebratory goal. Yeah, yeah, it's not like doing seven marathons in seven consecutive days in seven countries for turning 60 =) but I still needed to do something "crazy" (pastor's wife-style) before my 30's. Besides, next year I'll be in a more competitive age bracket so this was the best time to do it with a better chance of placing high. ;) 

Back in college when I witnessed my first triathlon, in which swimmers were drowning and calling for lifeguards, I never would have dreamed I would complete a triathlon at all, much less of this distance. For me, it felt like a miracle. It definitely was a milestone.

HAWAII

We were fortunate enough to have a sister(in-law) get married in Kauai in September, so we enjoyed lengthening our stay for what we considered our 5-Year Anniversary Trip (two months early). We had so much fun spending time with extended family, with each other, and in celebration of a marriage. Our hands-down highlight was taking an hour-long helicopter tour of the island on our last day there - just before boarding the plane to depart! Eventually I'd love to get out the video footage I took, but David took amazing photographs of this adventure that we'll treasure forever.

 

Picture from Diane Reynolds Photography

REVOLUTION FEVER

Most people know I'm part of an endurance sports racing team. We're a mission-minded team with the goal of raising awareness and funds for various areas of ministry through racing and obtaining sponsorships. Well this summer David and I officially became the Mission Coordinators for the team. It takes a lot of work and effort but it has also been a lot of fun. I write/organize a weekly(ish) blog called Mission Tuesdays and encourage our athlete members to be active in missions locally and internationally. Specifically, we've spearheaded an international partnership with Amazon Lifesavers, in which we'll raise money for one of their local projects, then later attend a mission trip on-site. This has been a really exciting development for us to be a part of and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it unfolds in the next two years.

In addition to this, David organized a team-sponsored century bike ride, Tour DeWitt, in our local community this past fall. It was a huge success and we're planning to make this an annual event.

WELCOMING MISS BRYNLEY
Brynley Emma entered the world on November 19. My fourth, beautiful, perfect niece.

HERITAGE PROJECT
David's parents flew out here for the Thanksgiving weekend and we enjoyed having them so much. The highlight of their visit was the embarkment of what we've termed our "Heritage Project." Our goal: telling the stories of our parents, grandparents, and ancestors, bringing us closer to our heritage and their legacy.

More to come on this in a future post.

FIVE YEARS OF MATRIMONIAL BLISS
Or something like that. =) No lying, we've had our disagreements (you can't bring that many books, I need to fit my blender in there), debates (to ordain or not to ordain), and yes, okay, arguments (...). But the other night we were doubled-over laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. And that's not all that infrequent. David and I celebrated 5 years of marriage on November 28. I can hardly believe it's been 5 years. 5 years? Are you sure?! It really has been so incredible. The Lord has specifically blessed us with a deeper spiritual connection to each other this year. We've been able to open up our hearts even wider in a way that only God can do; sharing our spiritual struggles, and victories, and yearnings. I can't wait to see what the next five years bring. Wow, I'm so proud of you Love, and so grateful you chose me to spend your life with. 

WINTRY CHRISTMAS
David and I left for "home" (North Dakota) quite dramatically as Storm Draco was starting to rage through the Mid-West. We realized a little late in the day that if we waited to leave until Thursday morning as planned, we would likely end up stranded somewhere in Wisconsin. So we packed up the car with our bags, the dogs, and ourselves in 30 minutes and headed out through the UP of Michigan for an all-night drive. Praise the Lord for His protection. We only hit the edge of the storm in northern MI and WI just as it was starting to snow. We arrived home safely by Thursday afternoon.

We spent a wonderful week in North Dakota, in Christmas family fun. Playing with my nieces was a highlight. Seeing their awe and amazement over the simplest things was a treasure. "Hey, watch this," I'd say, as I did a jump heel click in the grocery store isle while we were "helping" mom shop for groceries. Their eyes widened; I tried to hide my laughter. Oh, I love it! Other highlights with them included geocaching, playing board games, puzzles, and reading bedtime stories. Our family also did a reenactment of the Christmas story which was a lot of fun.

GYC
After Christmas we flew from Bismarck to Seattle for the Generation. Youth. Christ. conference. Since we flew in a day early, I was able to drive down to Oregon and spend some time with a dear college friend. Oh, it fed my soul as only a girl friend can do.  I was also able to reconnect with my old running buddy who now lives in Seattle. Thank the Lord for good friends!

David was the evening speaker for the conference. He became sick with fever and chills the first night of his sermons and was ill throughout the weekend. Though seemingly less-than-ideal, this ended up being a tremendous gift as he recognized his frailty and relied solely on God for strength and clarity of mind. Through the Lord's blessing, he shared the messages laid on his heart to the thousands of young people present. "I went to inspire, and I left inspired." Surely, the Lord blessed. I know, because He blessed me. Through the morning devotionals, seminars, afternoon meetings, and evening meetings, I left feeling revived, renewed, and ready to partner with the Lord for whatever He has in store for 2013.

Picture from GYC Facebook Page

What stands out the most to me in my reflection of the past year is relationships. The time spent with family, friends, and most importantly with our Lord. Nothing can take that time we've spent with them and Him away, and we treasure those moments. Thanks to all of who you have given us the gift of your time; for the good conversations, the leisurely bonding, the prayers, the meetings, the brainstorming sessions, for the inspiration and the encouragement to "press towards the mark" (Phili. 3:14) this next year.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to us.

The Asia Room

I have, yet again, been up to some re-decorating, which is a never-ending story in this household.

I've been wanting an Asia room for awhile now. One of my favorite rooms of this house is our Africa room, which is also our library/my office space.

A long time ago I received a chinese box which first gave me the idea for an Asia-themed room. All I needed was a trip to an Asian country to stock up on pretty artwork and good memories. That never happened. But what did happen is I married a Korean American. And other family members took their own trips to Asia for me.

So, as I've been inheriting David's grandfather's artwork and gifts from Taiwan, I've been slowly saving them away for my "Asia Room."

Last March, I received more artwork from David's family and this past week I've been working on framing them.

I had some good finds at Goodwill again:

And with a quick trip to Walmart and Michaels I set to work on creating these:

Galations 5:22 - The Fruits of the Spirit in Chinese Characters

And so to put it all together with my previous framing projects and gifts from Taiwan, I have a small start to my long-awaited Asia Room:

The chinese box that started it all

Wall Hanging from Tell & Lacey from Taiwan

Traveling Home

On our way home after the reunion, David and I stopped in Houghton, MI to spend the weekend with our friends, the Ramoses. They live on the Keweenaw peninsula, the northernmost area of Michigan, and it is beautiful. We enjoyed hiking near Copper Harbor, finding waterfalls and 500 year-old trees, and seeing Lake Superior from scenic vantage points.

On Sunday we had a hard-core training day involving biking, running and swimming. Then on Monday, as a superb ending to a fabulous long weekend, Judy took me for a trail run along the beautiful Hungarian Falls. To think places like this exist in Michigan.

Thanks for a wonderful time in upper Michigan, Judy and Israel!

One more week and we'll be back to represent Team Revolution at the Great Northern Race - the Kuparisaari (half iron distance) Triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. Here we come.

Journeying North, Photo Log

The weekend before last, David and I began our journey to Northern Lights Camp on Lake Metigoshe, North Dakota, for the Suckut family reunion.  We stopped for our first night at Manistique, located in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

The next morning we took a small detour and stopped at the DeYoung Family Zoo, in Wallace, MI.

The next day we finally made it to our destination, and thus began a week of family fun.

(Thanks for the pictures, Myndi!)

Aunt Dawn and Grandma making Knephla

No vacation from triathlon training

Playing Settlers of Catan on a rainy morning

 As a way of getting to know each other better, each of us wrote down three things about ourselves, then we had to guess who wrote what. This was one of my favorites.

 Round Robin ping-pong

 Grandpa, still playing frisbee at age 92 with his (great) grandchildren

Bocci Ball (I must've missed the cue =)

The Suckuts vs the In-laws

(randomly chosen)

 Grandma, still tubing at age 88, with Aunt Dawn

 My Family 

(missing William Tysver)

Has it really been three years?

For our three-year anniversary, David and I headed out for a two-night stay in Chicago.  

Our church very generously paid the hotel expense - a gift for Pastor's Appreciation Month.  We are so blessed!

In preparation, we purchased Chicago CityPass tickets, 

which, for one discounted cost, we were given tickets to five of Chicago's main attractions:  


the Shedd Aquarium, 

the Adler Planetarium, 

the Willis (Sear)'s tower skydeck,

the museum of science and industry,

and the Field Museum, which we didn't have time for. =(

Despite being Thanksgiving weekend (we were expecting large crowds), we got lucky and happened to have our anniversary on the day there was a Bears game, so the museums, etc. were empty! Although I have to admit that I was a little bummed that the CityPass tickets, normally used also to skip in front of long lines and save time, were useless for that. The lines were so short that they didn't even respect the fact that, Excuse me! We are Very Important People, don't you know!?

Oh well. That's exactly why I don't agree with elite status stuff, like Delta platinum memberships for example. It just feeds into your ego.  =)

It wasn't completely useless though - we did get to skip past two people at the aquarium.  =) 


Another highlight for me was ice skating in Millennium Park. 

I can hardly believe, though, that David and I have been married for three years. It really feels like it should be something around 1.5 years. But THREE!?

It's been a wonderful three years, though, that have brought me so much joy, growth, refinement, and... the list could go on. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I read a passage yesterday in Prophets and Kings:

Far more than we do, we need to speak of the precious chapters in our experience, of the mercy and loving-kindness of God, of the matchless depths of the Saviour's love.  -p.347

In many, many ways over the past couple months have I felt very closely the "mercy and loving-kindness", the "matchless depths" of God's love. His goodness. His graciousness. I could speak of many different ways the Lord has overwhelmed me with ... Himself, His character, His goodness ... lately. But one way, a profound way, is through David. And I am forever grateful for the graciousness of God in saving him for me, and saving me ...very undeserving...  for him.

Thank you, David, for three wonderful years.

Thank you, Lord, for Your deep, unfailing, goodness.