Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Big News

We are excited to announce that Sharon and I are expecting a new addition to our family on September 22nd! This came as quite a shocker to us since we weren’t trying to get pregnant and quite honestly didn’t think we could get pregnant naturally. It took us so long to have Eliana and even then only though fertility treatments.


We feel like God has given us an amazing gift and tangible reminder of His grace towards us. All we can say is WOW! Everyday we are still trying to wrap our heads around it and yet thrilled. Here is our most recent picture of our baby.


In other news, we have created a new blog for those of you (mom) who really just want to see more kid pics on our blog.

So, without further ado, let me introduce "Life in the SLO Lane." You'll see a link for it to the right. (By the way, that is SLO as in Slovenia, not as in "slow." Sheesh, when was the last time that life felt slow?!)

Soma School

I (Matt) was really hoping to get into a special training in May where I would spend a week with a church in Tacoma, WA. learning why they do what they do and experiencing how they do it first hand. By God's amazing grace, I'm going.

What's so special about this training you ask? Good question, glad you asked.

Soma Communities is a different form of church that is based on and in community. They move the primary emphasis from a typical Sunday service which tends to be "come and see" to a mid week small group "go and be" way to reach the neighborhoods they live in. These small groups (missional communities) also come together on the weekend for a service, but its not the main emphasis and they would even say that the church is really the small groups. So we'll learn how to form deep community on mission, which is something that I can't wait to inject into the DNA of the university ministry we will be starting in Slovenia.

Josiah Venture is also partnering with Soma in regards to church planting in Eastern Europe. They are helping J.V. to train national church planters. In fact Terry Jackson is flying over from SLO to the training with a Slovene couple (Andre & Nina) who are going to plant a church in Maribor, Slovenia. Can't wait to spend some quality time with them learning some killer stuff.

To learn more about Soma School click here. Its cool stuff, can't wait.

Monday, March 22, 2010

a walk to remember

Saturday was absolutely beautiful here in Portland. It was a sunny 70 degrees (thats 21 for my Euro friends) and the trees were in bloom so Sharon, Eliana, and I headed to the waterfront park area to stroll.

We took a couple hours to enjoy the 2.5 miles which goes up from the Hawthorne Bridge along the east side esplanade to the Steel Bridge and back down to the Hawthorne again on the west side waterfront park.

I love P-town, especially on its rare sunny spring days.





Tennessee trip

We are back from our trip to Tennessee where we visited the Luke's and the Norman's. These are couples who are trying to help us raise support and get to Slovenia. It was a great time of connecting with those families and their kids.

The Norman's took us out to some good BBQ.
Shoot, these folks know how to put the fun in fundraising.




I love southern cooking and apparently so does Eliana.




It's always great seeing the Luke's



Friday, March 05, 2010

February in a nutshell


February was an eventful month packed full of excitement.


Eliana turned 1 year old, has started walking and got her first tooth.




Meta, Neja, and Mateja visited from Slovenia





We moved into the new missions house on Good Shepherd's property.