Return to the Wild!

Hello, friends!

In the midst of the various COVID-19 stay at home orders, a number of different news outlets have reported stories about wildlife returning to reclaim cities and towns. While a number of those stories are not exactly true , there still make for some fun and entertaining videos.

Here in the great city of Omaha, particularly around our house, we've had our own run ins with wildlife too. Just in the past week, here's what's happened.

- On Thursday, Megan found this spider next to our house:  The photo doesn't really do it justice but we're pretty sure it was around 2 inches long. 
















- On Friday, while I was working, I got a text from Megan that the neighbor dog dug under our fence and was running around our backyard. A different neighbor was able to get the dog back into her yard and Megan put a stone over the hole so I think we're OK. And yes, I know that dogs aren't really wild animals, but still!

- On Saturday, we realized that the swallows have returned for the season. There is a family of swallows that has decided that our outside lights are a perfect place for them to make their nest. They've been doing it since we moved here. The nest is annoying and the bird poop all over our porch isn't great, but the worst part is that the birds, after they lay their eggs, are very protective. They sit in a nearby tree, and if they think that someone or something is getting too close to their eggs, they dive bomb out of the tree. What counts as getting too close? That would be going outside our front door...

- Sunday, we took the kids for a picnic at the park across the street from our house. As we were eating our spam musubi, we were telling the kids how great it was that they eat all different kinds of cuisines. That led to a discussion about the word "cuisine" and as we were explaining that Chinese, Korean, Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, etc., cuisines are distinct but still "American" a bald eagle flew by! Symbolism, anyone?

- Monday, there was a wild turkey in our backyard. I'm not sure how much more I can say about that.

- Also, Monday, underneath a water table we have outside that had been flipped over so mospuitos don't start to breed in standing water, we found a baby bunny!

Do any of these things have to do with COVID-19? Besides maybe the turkey, almost certainly not. Still, in the midst of pretty much being homebound for the past month, it was a blessing to see that God is still in control of nature, and that the animals are coming to visit so we don't get too bored. =0).

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Elevate!

Hello, friends!

Even though it feels like an eternity ago, I wanted to share an update on one of the projects I had the pleasure of working on this Summer.

If you remember the amazingly hard travel May that Megan and I had almost a year ago, you'll recall that I needed to go to Chicago to help lead a training for InterVarsity National. The Elevate program was designed to help staff directors who were struggling in their MPD make 50 asks over the Summer. Below is a recap video. It was a pleasure working with such wonderful staff and I was so excited to see all the ways that Jesus worked in their lives. Enjoy!

Distress Day!!!

Hello, friends!

Did you miss me last week? Maybe you didn't notice, but there was no blog post last week. Why not? Did I run out of things to say? Well, if you know me, you know that will never be the case. =0). Nope, I just decided that last week, I was going to take one of my new "Distress Days."

After the COVID-19 pandemic pretty much shut down society, things definitely changed for everyone, InterVarsity staff included. When campuses across the country closed for the semester, our model of ministry had to be adjusted, but that wasn't all. Much like many of you, many of us had to navigate new school, family, and daycare situations. To say that this transition has been trying on all of us would be an understatement.

In response to all these changes in life circumstances, InterVarsity gave every paid staff 20 "Distress Days" to use before the end of June. These aren't quite paid vacation days, but rather margin for us to not have to worry about the added stress of "working enough" while also trying to balance and cover all the other aspects of life. I'm so thankful to InterVarsity for their generosity and willingness to care well for their employees.

Most of my distress days are going to be taken in the form of fewer hours worked each week when I'm on kid duty. Megan and I have adjusted our schedules so that we are both working some (albeit less that pre-COVID-19) and both doing school with the kids. (Note: she's doing more with the kids because she's the best). However, last week, I decided that I was going to actually take off a full day to spend with my family.

What did we do? Well, about a half hour outside of Omaha is a wild animal park. For the month of April, it's free to zoo members and you can drive through the park and look at the elk, deer, bison, and birds. The kids love it because when we are driving through the park we let them sit up front so they can see better. Megan and I like it because we can get out of the house for a bit. The rest of the day was just hanging out with my family. We played some games. We wrestled some. It was nice.

My next full Distress Day isn't scheduled right now. I have a lot of big projects on the horizon that require all my time (more on those later). Still, I am thinking that I should put one on the schedule before too long. The last one was tons of fun and a blessing for sure. I wouldn't mind experiencing that again.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

A Non-COVID-19 Story!

Hello, friends!

Under normal circumstances, I'd be trying to get you to click on this link here...  but these aren't normal times. In the midst of all the craziness happening around the world right now, I thought I'd try to lighten the mood by sharing a story of God's provision and funny timing.

In 2004, I was living the life. I had just finished my Freshman year at WashU (Go Bears!), had an encounter with Jesus, had made a ton of new friends through ACF and the larger IV movement at school, and really was loving life. I'd returned to California that summer in pretty good shape. Plus, I still had the car of my dreams. 

For some reason, in highschool, I got it into my head that the VW Bus was the best car in the world. When a guy I knew was selling his, I borrowed money from my parents to buy it. My first car was a 1972 VW Bus, Westfalia Camper style. I had it painted two-tone white and cream, and loved driving that car around.

Was it a good car? Absolutely not. It got 18 mpg highway and probably 12 in the city. It didn't have power steering (or a sound system). After I got in an accident, something got messed up in the wiring and the horn would go off randomly while driving. No, it wasn't a good car... but it was my car.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to take The Bus with me to St. Louis, and Phuzz or the Kid wasn't going to drive it, so I needed to sell the Bus. I drove it around the summer before going to school, but now, after my Freshman year, I had a whole summer to sell it. I put up an add on Craigslist and within a few days, got an offer.

Long story short, I got scammed. I was so motivated to sell that I didn't do due diligence, sent money via Western Union to what turned out to be a random bar in Chicago, and ended up filing a police report later after realizing that I'd been scammed. I ended up selling The Bus a few weeks later in person, for much less than I'd wanted.

You may be asking yourself, why I'm telling you this story and how this is a happy story. Read on.

Just a few days ago, I got a call from my dad. He said that some mail had been sent to his house for me from the Justice Department regarding The United States vs. Western Union Company. I knew exactly what it was in reference to, seeing how I'd only ever used Western Union once in my life, but didn't know what the situation was. Apparently, in 2017, I'd been contacted about being part of a class action lawsuit against Western Union for fraudulent practices. I'd figured that there must have been a check in there for a few bucks relating to that suit. I told my dad to open the mail.

His response... "Whoa."

God bless the Federal Trade Commission! Apparently, I'd gotten a full refund as part of a settlement from earlier this month. It was definitely a blessing.

So, what's the lesson? It's definitely not to get scammed now with hopes of getting your money back later. I'm going to go with the lesson that God has a sense of humor, and I'm OK with that.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam