November here we are

October was beautifully full. We moved The Door to a new location. It is called Rosewood and is a community center of sorts that provides space for many organizations to serve the community. It is located in outer Southeast Portland. 

We prayer walked our first Sunday there and felt God speak many things over the area: restoration of families, increased awareness of the Kingdom of God, resilience of heart, life and beauty. Believe with us for those things in the Rockwood neighborhood where The Door is located. 

Not only did we change locations but we added a new member to our team. The Dorroh's had their little boy Jack on October 27th. He is quite the little cutie! 

November is going to be quite full as well. Christian and I went to a cousin's wedding in Kansas City and were able to connect with family - though only briefly. Allie did great traveling. I mean, GREAT. She could not have been more flexible and chill - no tears on the flights - was smiling and cooing at everyone  - ABSOLUTELY GREAT. She is such a little gift in the lives of all. 

We have begun ministering to college students at Concordia University and are already seeing fruit of lives being radically transformed. WOW!

Vision Sunday is this week. We will be unpacking a lot of the structure of The Door as well as envisioning our group for the direction of the Church. Please pray for concise communication, understanding, and a passion to rise within our midst to see Portland changed! 

So many good things are happening!

It's Been A While... Again

It's been a hectic couple of months - but wait - I said that last time I posted. Maybe it hasn't been hectic and I've just chosen other things to do besides blog... yup, that's it. I've not made it a priority to do this - the reason for sporadic, sparse, and few posts is my own choice not a hectic life. Now we all know the truth. : ).

It is October and wildly beautiful in the Pacific Northwest. Whereas last fall, Christian and I were floundering with what to do with ourselves amidst the rain, adjustments to a new city, building new relationships and so much more; this fall, we find ourselves enjoying the colors, brisk mornings, and rain showers that fall over our city almost daily. Though we still miss home (I mean let's me honest, no other state can say "OKLA-HOME-A") we are feeling more settled here. That might be because we moved into a rental house and out of an apartment, we have friends within walking distance, and my Mom and sisters helped us decorate when they came in town to meet Allie Joy. Speaking of...

Isn't she just the cutest?! We love her to death. These were our attempts at newborn photos. She is seven weeks old now (I think she was maybe 4 weeks old in these pictures) and we are enjoying every minute with her. Really. We love being parents!

In other news: 

The short term team made it back safe and sound from South Africa! They had a blast and saw God move in some really powerful ways. The team learned what it looks like to disciple and look for opportunities to minister within normal life. They learned to rest and rely on God to bring people into their day rather than to strive to find people. A small group was formed and several women were connected to the long term team. WOW! Thanks God!

Christian finished up his Portland Net training in disaster relief. What an opportunity for him to learn more of what is going on state-side in disaster relief efforts. He continues to work with Acts of Mercy and City Team, as well as Portland Net to coordinate Church efforts in disaster relief. 

As we continue to see a discipleship movement begin and grow in Portland, we have a practical need to move our Church location - again. So, we are now moving The Door further into outer Southeast Portland to a neighborhood called Rosewood. On Sundays we will be meeting in a large room that is owned by The Rosewood Initiative. During the week, the room is used for a basic after-school program, mentoring space, community gathering place for police, business owners, apartment managers, etc.. We are believing for creative ways to utilize the space for our needs and are thanking God for the $25/week we will pay to use it for now. This location will help us to also better reach the neighborhoods in which we are ministering! 

When someone hasn't updated their blog since April, you can almost always assume life is either going great, crazy, both in the best way ever, and or that they have been incredibly busy. That's been us. Hence, the picture of us in an orange VW bus coming out of a wall... crazy.

We travelled to Oklahoma in May to raise financial support and increase our prayer team. When we got there, so did a huge tornado which devastated many in the Moore, Norman and Oklahoma City area. Christian helped Acts of Mercy International coordinate their relief efforts through Antioch Norman. What a blessing for him to get to step in and lead teams, coordinate outreach, and be a part of God's sweet plan for Moore, Oklahoma. You can learn more about Acts of Mercy on their website: http://actsofmercyonline.co.uk.

We extended our trip and didn't arrive home until June. Between disaster relief, support raising, a baby shower, and family time - blogging went out the window.



We returned home to Portland in early June, the Door's intern moved in with us and we hit the ground running with community outreach, events, and a strategy planning meeting.

In July, we moved into a house, had a college team from Waco come up, some friends temporarily move in (pictured above left), more strategy meetings, community events, and so much more. It could not have been more full of LIFE. Really, truly full of life.

Now it is August - more to come on all this later!

Crazy fun, crazy busy... April

First things first: Baby Updates
We are having a baby girl! And, as of now, her name will be Allie Joy Madrid (unless of course that changes for some reason between now and mid-August). We could not be more excited!

Other Fun Things...

We are heading home in May:
In May, we will be traveling to Oklahoma to connect with family and friends, refuel, and raise support. If you want to connect with us while we are there - shoot us an email or call us with some times that work for you!

Summer intern comes to Portland:
This summer we are going to have an intern at The Door! His name is Kyle, he is a college student, and we are so excited for him to come! He will stay with the Dorroh's for just a bit while we are in Oklahoma and will then move in with us for the rest of the summer. We are so excited to have a college student spend a couple of months with us!

Discovery Bible Studies - everywhere we turn:
We are now doing discovery Bible studies within the Door, outside of the Door, helping to train people to do them, and still looking for people of peace. It has been amazing to see these small groups of discovery based bible study take off within our city. We are seeing them happen with singles, marrieds, and even kids! So exciting! Believe with us for continued favor as we build relationships with community development leaders, pastors, university students, refugees, and people within the Door.

Blog upate

Hi everyone!

We are going to keep this update for more church/ministry related updates but I am going to start my own blog, www.laughterfull.blogspot.com. For whatever reason, trying to blog from both Christian and I's perspective - rather than just my own, has just been hard. I think I will feel more free to just be me if it is my own space rather than an update page for our life. You would think that blogging would not be that hard but I guess for some of us, it just is. We'll see how it goes with the new space and if I blog more than I have here but I think it will at least be a start. And, it will probably be more fun. So, join me at laughter-full and journey with me through my ponderings!

We will keep this one updated monthly - with very similar updates as our email updates so it will be a great place to keep in touch with updates with the Church, ministry, and work here in general.

Thanks for encouraging and loving us so well on this journey!

Friend in town

Today has been so fun! First off, our friend Benjy is in town. And - as I'm sure anyone would agree - having friends in town (no matter where you live) is the most fun thing ever! We love catching up, sharing life, laughing and having deep heart conversations with life long friends - it really is the best thing ever. Second, the sun is out! And, on top of it being out today, it is going to be out all weekend! I mean, really - what a blessing! And the third fun thing - is we got to see some pretty cool sites and just enjoy the beauty of where we live! Here are some pics.

Benjy & Christian at Vista House

The view from Vista House

Me at the Vista House overlook

The Vista House

A new waterfall we found - I can't remember the name : /

Multnomah Falls

Christian & Benjy at Multnomah Falls

The flowers on our deck - they finally bloomed!

Our family of two is now THREE! 

We are having a baby! Our little one is set to arrive sometime mid to late August (we are probably going to take bets to see if it lands on my Dad's (19th), brother's (14th) or Debbie's (21'st) birthday once we get a bit closer.

This is the ultrasound pic from 9 wks. The Dr. ordered it to double check the due date and she was glad she did because it puts me and Baby two weeks later than she had initially thought. ; )

This is the barely existent belly. Jeans are tight but wearable at this point.

No cravings so far. Just aversion to crunchy foods for a few weeks in late Dec. and early Jan.. That is gone now though and all food is good food! 

No fun pictures to share for today but I do want to share about the fun and new model we are using as a Church plant.

We have transitioned fully from meeting at Academy Theatre to meeting in the home of our lead pastors, the Dorrohs. Rather than a more traditional service where everyone comes in, sits down, stands for worship, sits for sermon, and leaves... we now function in more of a home church or family church model. This means that on Sunday mornings we have a potluck brunch and family meal together to start things off. It has been amazing to see the deep community that has come out of simply sharing a meal together every week. After plenty of time to eat and talk, we move into a time of worship and then discussion. The end time varies every week as community determines the length of time rather than structure.

What an amazing shift this is. It allows the structure to support our vision. Rather than the structure fighting our vision. It also fits our city better. Portland is known for being non-institutional - having a family model feels less institutional to people than a traditional Sunday service.

Another change is that we have, for the time, done away with Life Groups. In the grand scheme of being an Antioch (AMI) church plant, this at first felt - well, almost illegal. However, we believe God is saying that community and family gatherings will begin to  happen organically rather than through set gathering times every week. Since we made this change, people in our community have over and over said that they are enjoying not having something in the middle of the week at a set time that they feel, for whatever reason, obligated to attend. We have also noticed who those individuals are who are natural gatherers and have a heart to foster community as they have risen up to plan hang outs, worship nights, etc.. So, even without Life Groups, community is actually happening more. It is amazing.

Something else that we are doing are Discovery Bible Studies. More than just doing the step by step process of DBS, we have utilized its core components in every area of church, discipleship, our training school, staff meetings, encounters with people in every day life, and evangelism. The core components are essentially scripture, questions, revelation and prayer. When we meet for discipleship or DBS, we read scripture, ask questions about that scripture, and let others answer the questions as Holy Spirit gives revelation. It is amazing the depth of revelation and encouragement that comes from these meetings.

So, thats the skinny on our new structure and DBS.

Wow! Over a month has gone by and I haven't written anything! Wow, wow, wow. Well, here we go - a myriad of pictures and short descriptions to summarize the last six weeks of life. 

We went home December 18th and were so excited despite having to be at the PDX airport at 4:30am. Thanks Blake Brinkman for waking up and driving us there so very early in the morning!

Upon arrival we were greeted by some of our favorites! My precious Mom and the Davidsons! We just love them!
 

After a quick stop at Johnnies Charcoal Broiler for burgers we were home at my parents where Christian got to play with Rex! He loved it and Rex hadn't forgotten him!

 

And of course, a quick stop to Dad's office before heading to Okeene. Couldn't have appreciated this man's hugs more that night!

Christian's family was so fun! We celebrated eating at Chick-fil-A together, shopping and then on to Christian's favorite place, La Feria Latina.

La Feria Latina is a grocery store in Oklahoma City that also has the most amazing restaurant inside. They serve authentic Mexican and Guatemalan dishes and have the most delicious sweet bread ever. 

Stephanie and Kenzie - Christian's cousins

Sarah and I - She is also Christian's cousin.

Us enjoying La Feria Latina and Christian expressing his complete excitement to be there.

These are the seasonings from Christian's mom's (Nellie) home made, authentic Guatemalan tamales. They are to die for. She takes an entire day to prepare the spices, fillings, plantain leaves, then mixes them all up and cooks them until late in the night. We eat them when we celebrate Christmas at midnight! So fun. So so fun!

After spending a week in Okeene with the Madrids, it was time to head to the Odor's... this is my dad and I.

A few of the decorations and the long table that actually did fit the ENTIRE family. So fun! We love big gatherings!

This is my Grandaddy (mom's dad). He is sooooooooo kind!

These are my Papa and Nana (dad's parents). They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this December so we celebrated them at Christmas. What a legacy and sweet inheritance in the Kingdom they have given us by loving each other and Jesus for so long!

Celebrated New Years with these crazies - I mean couldn't love them more.

Here's more of the fun from New Years!

When we got back to Portland, one of my very favorite friends showed me that SHE CAN READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then, because God is so kind and just knew how homesick we were going to be leaving all our friends and family in Oklahoma, these two came to visit! Kevin and Michelle took their time off to come love on us with their two kiddos. Amazing. We could not have been more blessed by them and the kindness of God in the timing of when they came out. 

Last week, we saw the largest snow flakes we have ever seen. They didn't stick but they were the size of our palms as they fell from the sky. I attempted taking pictures directly of the snowflakes with my iPhone but did not succeed. So, this one will have to suffice.



Now that you have the update on Christmas vacation, I'll next fill everyone in on Church planting in the Northwest and the transition from a more traditional Sunday service to more of a house church type model. So excited to tell you all about that in another post!