My husband and I are youth group leaders at our church with another couple. Our group is fairly small and normally runs about 10 kids on a Wednesday evening.
I found out this AM that a boy who visited a few weeks ago, a senior in high school, was killed last night in a car accident. He hadn't been back again since his first visit. I am unsure if he had ever placed his trust in Christ.
I am in shock. I hardly knew this boy, though several of our girls went to his school. I keep trying to remember everything that happened the night he visited, but one question keeps coming to the forefront: Did we clearly present the salvation message the night he was there? And the answer is: I don't know.
I am pretty sure the week he visited we watched the second part of a video meant to discredit the theory of evolution from a Biblical perspective. But I just don't remember everything that was said when talking about the video before and after.
I think sometimes in my responsibility as a youth leader I get lazy - I always think "Aw, these kids are young, they'll be back - we'll deal with issue xyz next week." But they might not be back. They might not even make it home that night.
I have heard of a lot of deaths of young people lately - maybe no more of them are dying - maybe word just travels faster on the internet so you hear of it more...
One thing is certain: my eyes have been opened to the fact that life is short, and there are no sure things. My salvation has been sealed and I am ready to meet Jesus. But am I sure that everyone I talk to can say that same thing? Of course not. Do I need to do a better job of witnessing? Yes of course. Am I going to? I better.
This has been a wake up call for me: Wake up and love people enough to make sure they know Jesus the FIRST time, because it might be your last time talking to them.
Please pray for Leo's family and for the 2 survivors of the accident, who are also HS boys.
And if you've happened upon this blog and don't know me or what I'm talking about, don't wait to find out. This isn't a doomsday commercial, but anything could happen at any time. Email me at nkiowa@hotmail.com or find a Holy Bible and read the book of Romans.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Last Game
This evening is the last volleyball game I get to coach with my first group of freshman girls. I have coached 2 seasons before this at a Christian school here in town - so it's not the end of my first season. It's also not our last game - my primary responsibility is freshman but I also help with varsity, and their post-season play begins next week. So the season isn't over quite yet, but today is my last group with MY group of girls.
They've learned a lot (not nearly all from me) and they've really improved and I'm proud of them. We had a good time and it'll be fun to watch them travel through the ranks.
And as my first season in the public schools with a fairly competitive and talented team I have also learned a lot. The level at which these girls play is different than what I've coached before at the Christian school and even than what I used to play as a high school player. Volleyball has really "evolved" in the last few decades and it's very cool to get my head back in the game at this level of competition. There's really nothing like watching a good volleyball match. And I get a front-row seat :)
And, now that I will have a little more free time I am going to be hitting my homework hard for the second class I am taking in Nouthetic Counseling. The assignment is a lot of reading (which I also did last year). I'd like to get a book review up on here but I had always intended to do that last year as well and it never happened, so we'll see... I also have to write a 17-20 page paper on exegesis and (counseling) application of a passage of Scripture. I was given I think 7 passages to choose from and I picked Ephesians 4:1-16. Many people in my class are Pastors or at least Bible school grads, so this could stretch me at least a little. Which is a good thing, right? :)
They've learned a lot (not nearly all from me) and they've really improved and I'm proud of them. We had a good time and it'll be fun to watch them travel through the ranks.
And as my first season in the public schools with a fairly competitive and talented team I have also learned a lot. The level at which these girls play is different than what I've coached before at the Christian school and even than what I used to play as a high school player. Volleyball has really "evolved" in the last few decades and it's very cool to get my head back in the game at this level of competition. There's really nothing like watching a good volleyball match. And I get a front-row seat :)
And, now that I will have a little more free time I am going to be hitting my homework hard for the second class I am taking in Nouthetic Counseling. The assignment is a lot of reading (which I also did last year). I'd like to get a book review up on here but I had always intended to do that last year as well and it never happened, so we'll see... I also have to write a 17-20 page paper on exegesis and (counseling) application of a passage of Scripture. I was given I think 7 passages to choose from and I picked Ephesians 4:1-16. Many people in my class are Pastors or at least Bible school grads, so this could stretch me at least a little. Which is a good thing, right? :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
It's Been a While
Wow - well, it's been a while... No, we didn't drop off the face of the earth. It's been more like running around crazy all the time I feel like. Let's see if I can fill in some of what's happened since my last post. There are many posts that I started and just never got finished, and in 6+ months they can really pile up. So, maybe someday I'll get some of that stuff posted but for now I'll do what I can.
The Adoption: Still a no go. And we're at peace with that - the issue of starting again hasn't really come up. It is certainly not that we don't want a child - we still do very much. Just with everything that happened when it finally became clear that it wasn't going to work - last time we talked about it we wanted to let it go for now, and maybe forever. Someday maybe I'll post what I started writing back in Feb to post on here as to why it didn't work. But maybe not - I'm not sure that it matters. One thing is certain: following our experiences I have strongly considered becoming an adoption activist on some sort of political level. Don't know where that's going either for right now...
At the end of February we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
In March we went to Florida with my family, which was fun. While there we rented a Harley for a day and drove a couple hundred miles on the open road.
April was quiet - a sort of calm before the storm that has described our summer...
In May we went to Fiji for a week. We had a blast - it is beautiful there! We did it sort-of as a celebration of our 5th anniversary, and sort-of as something to take our mind off the failed adoption. Narasimha had saved up most of his vacation in the case we could go to India to pick up our child early in the summer, and when that fell through we decided to use it to kick up our heels. It was fantastic to get away and reconnect. I couldn't have asked for a better relaxing vacation. I really would like to post something about the trip sometime - timeline and pics and stuff. We'll have to see. But I can say now that it's been like 5 months since we've been there I can still remember like every small detail - it truly was the trip of a lifetime.
In June we took a trip to the Creation Museum and to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with our Youth Group (which we co-lead with another couple from our church). We were gone for 4 days and had a really good (but exhausting) time. I would like to also have a post dedicated to that trip at some point. That trip used up the rest of Narasimha's saved adoption vacation days.
In June and July we got new appliances for our kitchen, which we have loved, but took up a lot of my time since the fridge didn't fit exactly in the space for it, so we had to do some modifications to our cabinets. Dust got EVERYWHERE and I am still (literally) cleaning up from that.
In July I spent 1 week as a junior high camp counselor at our Regular Baptist Camp here in Iowa, with my friend Kris as a co-counselor and 4 girls from our youth group. We also had 4 girls from other churches. That is the same camp I went to several times as a kid. It was an experience. I came home exhausted but changed and more aware of my responsibility to the kids I interact with in my position as a youth leader.
I also got a random call for a volleyball coaching job I had applied for months before and never heard anything about. In the course of just a few days I had landed myself a freshman volleyball coaching job at the public school here in town. I then had to rush through getting certified by the state and through all the other little requirements.
We also went with my family to Colorado for a few days for the wedding of a family friend. We got to do some hiking in the Rockies while there which was a blast.
In August I started my coaching job. Starting the season is a pretty intense time commitment. The first week is camp - so 10 or so hours a day for a week. Then for the next week and a half there are 2-a-day practices until school starts. Since the first day of school in August we have either had practice after school or a game all but maybe 2 days. And a few all-day Saturday tournaments.
I also started the second class working toward my Masters' in Nouthetic (Christian) Counseling, and now I am trying to get the homework for that class done. Homework and all the reading is due in just a few weeks. (YIKES!)
Also in August Narasimha acted on a dream he's had for a while now and became the proud owner of a brand new Harley Davidson. Someday maybe I'll post pics - it's a nice bike and we've had some fun riding around. We haven't gone on any super long trips yet because we haven't had the time, but we're looking forward to logging some miles in the warm weather months of years to come.
At the beginning of the month we also went on a family camping trip to Lanesboro, MN, and floated down the river on intertubes for several hours. The whole family went, including both Kyndra and Kyra's boyfriends. It was fun and relaxing, and something we're considering making into some sort of annual thing.
We also started taking apart our deck so we can build a new one. We want a new one partially to upgrade and make it a little nicer than the one that was there. But the real reason for doing the remake is because the deck we had wasn't built correctly and it would constantly cause our breezeway to flood anytime it rained hard - which is just getting old. The deck is now totally down and we have plans for the new deck - now we just have to build it.
September came and went and I don't know how it all happened so fast. I of course kept coaching. Narasimha took Step II of his Psychiatry boards. Nothing too special happened but time flew by.
Now we're into October: looking forward to a busy month ahead. Narasimha's brother and sis-in-law will be visiting for a long weekend from the East Coast. The regular season of volleyball will end close to the end of the month. We have a few youth group activities planned at church. There are a few other obligations we have at church and with family.
Time flies - I don't think it matters if you're having fun or not (which we are - I'm just sayin'...). Busy 3 months left of 2009 and already have quite a bit on the calendar for the 1st half of 2010. Hope this finds all of you well - somehow even after not posting forever my traffic counter down in the corner says I have the occasional visitor. So thanks for stopping by! Leave a note, and I'll try to be a little more regular with my posts. Happy Monday :)
The Adoption: Still a no go. And we're at peace with that - the issue of starting again hasn't really come up. It is certainly not that we don't want a child - we still do very much. Just with everything that happened when it finally became clear that it wasn't going to work - last time we talked about it we wanted to let it go for now, and maybe forever. Someday maybe I'll post what I started writing back in Feb to post on here as to why it didn't work. But maybe not - I'm not sure that it matters. One thing is certain: following our experiences I have strongly considered becoming an adoption activist on some sort of political level. Don't know where that's going either for right now...
At the end of February we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
In March we went to Florida with my family, which was fun. While there we rented a Harley for a day and drove a couple hundred miles on the open road.
April was quiet - a sort of calm before the storm that has described our summer...
In May we went to Fiji for a week. We had a blast - it is beautiful there! We did it sort-of as a celebration of our 5th anniversary, and sort-of as something to take our mind off the failed adoption. Narasimha had saved up most of his vacation in the case we could go to India to pick up our child early in the summer, and when that fell through we decided to use it to kick up our heels. It was fantastic to get away and reconnect. I couldn't have asked for a better relaxing vacation. I really would like to post something about the trip sometime - timeline and pics and stuff. We'll have to see. But I can say now that it's been like 5 months since we've been there I can still remember like every small detail - it truly was the trip of a lifetime.
In June we took a trip to the Creation Museum and to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with our Youth Group (which we co-lead with another couple from our church). We were gone for 4 days and had a really good (but exhausting) time. I would like to also have a post dedicated to that trip at some point. That trip used up the rest of Narasimha's saved adoption vacation days.
In June and July we got new appliances for our kitchen, which we have loved, but took up a lot of my time since the fridge didn't fit exactly in the space for it, so we had to do some modifications to our cabinets. Dust got EVERYWHERE and I am still (literally) cleaning up from that.
In July I spent 1 week as a junior high camp counselor at our Regular Baptist Camp here in Iowa, with my friend Kris as a co-counselor and 4 girls from our youth group. We also had 4 girls from other churches. That is the same camp I went to several times as a kid. It was an experience. I came home exhausted but changed and more aware of my responsibility to the kids I interact with in my position as a youth leader.
I also got a random call for a volleyball coaching job I had applied for months before and never heard anything about. In the course of just a few days I had landed myself a freshman volleyball coaching job at the public school here in town. I then had to rush through getting certified by the state and through all the other little requirements.
We also went with my family to Colorado for a few days for the wedding of a family friend. We got to do some hiking in the Rockies while there which was a blast.
In August I started my coaching job. Starting the season is a pretty intense time commitment. The first week is camp - so 10 or so hours a day for a week. Then for the next week and a half there are 2-a-day practices until school starts. Since the first day of school in August we have either had practice after school or a game all but maybe 2 days. And a few all-day Saturday tournaments.
I also started the second class working toward my Masters' in Nouthetic (Christian) Counseling, and now I am trying to get the homework for that class done. Homework and all the reading is due in just a few weeks. (YIKES!)
Also in August Narasimha acted on a dream he's had for a while now and became the proud owner of a brand new Harley Davidson. Someday maybe I'll post pics - it's a nice bike and we've had some fun riding around. We haven't gone on any super long trips yet because we haven't had the time, but we're looking forward to logging some miles in the warm weather months of years to come.
At the beginning of the month we also went on a family camping trip to Lanesboro, MN, and floated down the river on intertubes for several hours. The whole family went, including both Kyndra and Kyra's boyfriends. It was fun and relaxing, and something we're considering making into some sort of annual thing.
We also started taking apart our deck so we can build a new one. We want a new one partially to upgrade and make it a little nicer than the one that was there. But the real reason for doing the remake is because the deck we had wasn't built correctly and it would constantly cause our breezeway to flood anytime it rained hard - which is just getting old. The deck is now totally down and we have plans for the new deck - now we just have to build it.
September came and went and I don't know how it all happened so fast. I of course kept coaching. Narasimha took Step II of his Psychiatry boards. Nothing too special happened but time flew by.
Now we're into October: looking forward to a busy month ahead. Narasimha's brother and sis-in-law will be visiting for a long weekend from the East Coast. The regular season of volleyball will end close to the end of the month. We have a few youth group activities planned at church. There are a few other obligations we have at church and with family.
Time flies - I don't think it matters if you're having fun or not (which we are - I'm just sayin'...). Busy 3 months left of 2009 and already have quite a bit on the calendar for the 1st half of 2010. Hope this finds all of you well - somehow even after not posting forever my traffic counter down in the corner says I have the occasional visitor. So thanks for stopping by! Leave a note, and I'll try to be a little more regular with my posts. Happy Monday :)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Pause
Well, I finally have somewhat of an update to report - though it's not quite the update I'd been hoping to pass along. It's not yet final, but it's close. Narasimha and I have decided not to pursue adoption at this time. It has been about a month of pushing pretty hard, and getting educated, and we just aren't at peace with what we're finding out. As I'm sure you can imagine, this decision was not come on easily, nor is it easy to say (and do). We're pretty bummed - but it's ok. I will try to post an update in the next week or so as to how we got here. We are fairly discouraged about the whole not being parents thing, but I am actually more at peace now and with this decision than I have been since we started. And, thankfully, Narasimha and I seem to be on the same page with that. Sorry for the lack of detail - it'll come. I just have to sort this all out and mourn a little. Thanks to all of you who have offered encouraging words and prayed for us thus far - you are appreciated!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Decisions
This is a prayer request. If you pray, and if you remember, please pray for us:
We are at a crossroad in this adoption. There are decisions to be made regarding how we proceed from here. I am not going to give many details but these decisions overlap all of the following at least a little bit: our testimony, our conscience, right and wrong (maybe), relative ease vs. frustration and annoyance, trusting God, our child, health and illness, legal procedures, timelines, our desire (for a family), finances and stewardship, cultural differences, and a lot of the unknown.
We still need to talk to our Indian lawyer, but over the last few days we have come up with some very clear paths that we could follow with our adoption from this point forward. As you can likely see by the list above, we have some decisions to make. And truly, we're having a hard time deciding which path we should pursue. There are no black and white, right and wrong answers here. The only way I can even figure to pray at this point is for a clear path to follow and discernment. And, we're at the point where we need to be making decisions to even go any farther with the process.
Please pray that we would make the "right" decision and then that we will have peace with whatever comes from it. Not the decision that would make us happy or give us what we think we want, but that we would be able to make decisions knowing that we are first and foremost interested in honoring our God in all we do. And if we can acquire a child while honoring God in these decisions, that a child would come to our family in His way and His time.
If you have any words of advice, PLEASE feel free to share (seriously).
We are at a crossroad in this adoption. There are decisions to be made regarding how we proceed from here. I am not going to give many details but these decisions overlap all of the following at least a little bit: our testimony, our conscience, right and wrong (maybe), relative ease vs. frustration and annoyance, trusting God, our child, health and illness, legal procedures, timelines, our desire (for a family), finances and stewardship, cultural differences, and a lot of the unknown.
We still need to talk to our Indian lawyer, but over the last few days we have come up with some very clear paths that we could follow with our adoption from this point forward. As you can likely see by the list above, we have some decisions to make. And truly, we're having a hard time deciding which path we should pursue. There are no black and white, right and wrong answers here. The only way I can even figure to pray at this point is for a clear path to follow and discernment. And, we're at the point where we need to be making decisions to even go any farther with the process.
Please pray that we would make the "right" decision and then that we will have peace with whatever comes from it. Not the decision that would make us happy or give us what we think we want, but that we would be able to make decisions knowing that we are first and foremost interested in honoring our God in all we do. And if we can acquire a child while honoring God in these decisions, that a child would come to our family in His way and His time.
If you have any words of advice, PLEASE feel free to share (seriously).
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Moving Forward
Yesterday's meetings went very well. We got some questions answered and we feel satisfied with the services to be offered by both of the people we met. The lawyer actually told us that his input will be minimal and we probably really don't need him as much as we think we do.
The issue mentioned in yesterday's post regarding the health of the future child is not resolved. We have thrown around some ideas as to how we should proceed from here - some more valuable than others. It seems like it could work, but we still don't know. We will likely know more when our Indian lawyer gets off vacation and we can chat with him. I am convinced that THE ONLY way this is going to work without an agency is that we have family in India - without contacts in the country we would not be able to do this. My family on both sides of the ocean is excited about this adoption which makes me so happy! I don't know that there's anything more important in a situation like this than the support of family and friends who care about you. And, as a side note - thanks so much to those of you who comment and send notes our way - notes of encouragement and that you're praying for us in this. It absolutely does make the process and frustrations more manageable! Please know your efforts are appreciated.
And, we've decided, after advice from others and talking to each other, that a home study is necessary no matter what. So, our home study is underway. We got the fingerprint cards and the background checks will likely be started by the end of this week. Meetings soon to follow. We're moving forward. I gotta get this house cleaned up! Those smoke detectors need to make their way to the ceiling... :) Any advice from any of you who may have been here?
The issue mentioned in yesterday's post regarding the health of the future child is not resolved. We have thrown around some ideas as to how we should proceed from here - some more valuable than others. It seems like it could work, but we still don't know. We will likely know more when our Indian lawyer gets off vacation and we can chat with him. I am convinced that THE ONLY way this is going to work without an agency is that we have family in India - without contacts in the country we would not be able to do this. My family on both sides of the ocean is excited about this adoption which makes me so happy! I don't know that there's anything more important in a situation like this than the support of family and friends who care about you. And, as a side note - thanks so much to those of you who comment and send notes our way - notes of encouragement and that you're praying for us in this. It absolutely does make the process and frustrations more manageable! Please know your efforts are appreciated.
And, we've decided, after advice from others and talking to each other, that a home study is necessary no matter what. So, our home study is underway. We got the fingerprint cards and the background checks will likely be started by the end of this week. Meetings soon to follow. We're moving forward. I gotta get this house cleaned up! Those smoke detectors need to make their way to the ceiling... :) Any advice from any of you who may have been here?
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