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! 

I cannot believe it is December. I mean, really. In 12 days, Christian and I will be home for Christmas. What?! No way! Seriously! You bet. I keep having to tell myself that it really is December.

November flew by. We had some of our best friends come to visit, Thanksgiving, a board meeting, and adventures left and right. I didn't even have time to think about potentially sitting down to update this blog.

We have officially entered into the "we love it here but feel the weight of missing home" stage of moving. Maybe it is just that we are so close to walking through airport security to head that way, that it heightens that feeling - or maybe it is just been long enough that we truly feel how much we miss everyone back home. All that to say, we can't wait to see all of you Okies we will get to hug over Christmas!

We have been meeting people like crazy which has been so fun. From our apartment complex, grocery store, city police, other pastors, to business owners - we are meeting so many people. We love it!


Here are some pictures from the last month!

Katie and Jordyn came to explore our city and to see us! They were such an encouragement to us and we had a great time together. We loved having them here and wished they would stay forever!

Jason and Ashley Kennedy also came to visit - they taught in DTS and on Sunday morning. But, most importantly, we went with them to shop for a few things Ash wanted and they taught Christian how to swaddle a baby. I'm thinking that could come in pretty handy some day!

Toward the end of November, Christian and I decided to go hike at Forest Park on our day off. We had not been there before but had heard it is pretty cool. It is basically this huge forest just on the outskirts of Portland. We did "Hike Two" and loved it. We could have spent the whole day there except that it was drizzly and cold and I didn't bring snacks. ; ). We will definitely be going there again!

This is just ONE of the cool bridges in Portland. We are constantly in awe of the bridges here. For one - they are just cool. And two - the view from the bridges is incredible! I wish we could just pull over and stare at the city from the bridges but that would be a traffic violation and we can't have that.

Traveling Around - Our Day Off

Every week we have Friday and Saturday off unless there is an outreach or event scheduled. But, for the most part - we have it off.  Christian surprised me a couple of Fridays ago with a "traveling date" to drive West on Interstate-84. It was beautiful. I kept thinking, "God, am I really living here? Have you really brought me to a place of mountains, rivers, incredible beauty? Seriously?" For as long as I can remember, I have told people that I want to live in mountains, in a place full of trees and beauty and here I am. God KNOWS us. Here are some pictures from our drive...

 Yellow Leaves

 Old Highway along I-84

Remnants of Flowers

 Tree Canopy

 Train on Old Highway

 Multnomah Falls

 Multnomah Falls

 Trees Reflecting in Water

The Gorge

Around the House

Many of you have wondered what Portland looks like, or at least, what we see every day. Here are a few pics from "around the house."

        Make-shift Pantry                             Kitchen Table

A View of the Apartment Complex

Our Door Mat

Some Plants on the Balcony

The Beginnings of Rain... 

Food Carts.

A Quick Look at the City from the Car Window.

Discipleship Training School Started

I feel like maybe we should just all face the fact that, well, I'm not much of a blogger. So, for those of you reading, feel so loved because I'm posting for you all! I really do want to stay connected and want everyone to know what's going on, have a picture of where we live, etc.! It is sooooo important!

October marked the start of the Discipleship Training School. We have seven committed and super fun students. Tomorrow, we announce where we are taking them on their overseas outreach ; ). 

This is the class:

This is where we meet. It is the semi-finished basement of our office building. And guess what, we get to use it for free! And, we don't have to set up and tear down every week!

This is me of course... Christian was testing camera options.

The DTS retreat was at a mountain-ish cabin on Sandy River. It was beautiful. Here is the class eating dinner.

Here are a few pictures from around the cabin. Just to make you a tad jeali...

Well, it has now been... a month... I know, I know... since our last post. What was I thinking when I told myself I would keep everyone up to date via a blog? A blog - that requires uploading photos to the computer first, sitting down at the computer and looking at a screen - something I've never done pre-Portland? Hmmm. I'm not sure exactly. I did add it to my fall 2012 goals though so we'll see if I keep up.

The last month, the last few weeks really, have been busy.

We did another outreach at Barberry Apartment Complex:

Christian, Blake and I went to Costco and purchased 150 hot dogs, buns, chips and water bottles. We also tasted a smoothie, apple cider, and ice-cream made in a BlendTech blender. If BlendTech blenders weren't so expensive, I would have bought it right then and there. It will make soup, peanut butter, flour, smoothies, ice cream, cider, and so much more. We were thoroughly amazed.

The outreach involved food and fixing bikes. Needless to say, my role at the outreach was to play with kids and help facilitate food as I have no clue how to fix a bike.

We served hot dog after hot dog. Justin, lead pastor of The Door is on the far left in this photo.

Christian cooked the hotdogs on the grill - how he fit so many on there and got them all hot without burning them quickly enough to feed everyone - who knows. He is a grilling stud. That's for sure.

At one point, Christian and I looked behind us to find that his truck had become the kids' playground! They were playing all kinds of games, climbing on the cab, and seeing how hard they could rock the truck. Of course, we snapped a picture. ; )

The Sunday evening after the outreach, I needed alone time so Christian went to watch a movie with the Dorrohs and I stayed home to read. I ended up reading "Changing the World through Discipleship" by Robert Herber in one sitting. It was fabulous.

This is just a glimpse of what mornings look like for me. I don't always read and journal but more often than not, I am sitting at this table (Craigslist find) with my coffee. 

I walk almost every day down a street near our apartment. It is a quieter street compared to my other options and I like to look at everyone's gardens along the way. Even though people don't have large yards, they maximize the yard space they have to plant fruits and vegetables. I have a lot to learn but our little balcony garden is going strong! Here are pics from my walking path...

This is spinach from our balcony garden. We actually didn't eat it because it wilted so quickly (does anyone know why it wilts so fast?) but I enjoyed picking it. 

This is a pic from when we watched the Dorroh girls the other night. This little world changer gave Christian a hair do and could not have been more proud of herself. 

After Christian had his hair done, we decided to have a hair styling train. So fun!

This morning, Christian and I went on a breakfast date to Jam on Hawthorne. It is quickly becoming our favorite place to eat breakfast here. The food is great but even more than that, we love the servers. They are fun and make us laugh every time we come in. Christian got french toast and I had oatmeal chia blueberry pancakes. They were amazing.

A Couple of weeks ago, we were part of an outreach to Barberry Apartment Complex in Outer Southeast PDX. We, along with 13 others from The Door spent three days together on this outreach. During the mornings we would worship, pray and have practical teachings. In the afternoon, we went to the apartment complex to love on kids, share the gospel, and meet practical needs in the community. There, Christian and I connected with several influential families in the neighborhood. Their kiddos are in the pictures below. We were mainly looking for people of peace, people who were open to spiritual things, the gospel and to relationship with us. Our goal was to find these people, establish relationship and in the future move toward developing small groups in the neighborhood. We definitely found people of peace and have been blessed by the new relationships. In light of them, we are now learning conversational words in Swahili, Arabic, Spanish (obviously Christian doesn't have to learn Spanish), and French. I personally, could not be more excited. Here is a picture of me with the kiddos.

Here is one of Christian too...

This week we will mainly be unpacking remaining boxes, getting a little more settled in and working on some more practical life things like passing the Oregon drivers test, getting new license plates, changing over voter registration, and getting caught up on connecting with everyone!