A bit of a break...

Hello, friends! 

The Fall semester has absolutely flown by. It's hard to believe that October is already over (happy Halloween!) and the November is right around the corner. Before you know it, it'll be the holidays and preparation for Urbana. Then, it'll be 2026! 

One of the things that will be coming in 2026 is that Megan and I will be taking a bit of a break... NO, not from each other! We'll probably actually be seeing each other a lot more since we'll be on Sabbatical for the first half of 2026. 

InterVarsity does a lot of really great things. One of those things is Sabbatical. Every 7 years, staff qualify for a 6 month Sabbatical. That Sabbatical can be spent studying, pursuing spiritual formation, resting, or some other project. The key is that we won't be holding our ministry activities. 

We last took Sabbatical in 2018. We actually used that Sabbatical to move to Omaha. We wanted some unadulterated time to get used to our new city. We wanted to find a church and community. I wanted to find a good beef noodle soup (unfortunately, that never happened) and learn the bus routes (that DID happen!). During this Sabbatical, we won't be moving (thankfully) but we will be taking some time to reset and reconnect with Jesus. 

Seven years (really, 8 since we moved) is a long time and a short time at the same time. On the one hand, we still haven't quite lived in Omaha for as long as I lived in Missouri. But, the time that we've spent here has been really significant. We bought a house, started new roles, had a third kid (JoJo!) served as elders at our church, made new friends, got the kids into school, and survived a pandemic, all while living in Omaha these past 7 (8!) years. In terms of ministry, we've seen staff thrive, other staff leave, students groups get planted and cease to exist, and generally face all the highs and lows that come with ministry. I'm still very much in love with the job but I can also recognize that having 6 months without ministry responsibilities will be a good thing. 

Number one on our priority list right now is the preparation. We need to write our Sabbatical plans and have them approved. We also need to make sure that the roles we would normally have in the Spring Semester are covered. We also need to make sure our finances are in good share since we won't be doing any Ministry Partnership Development during our Sabbatical. 

For that last bit of preparation, this is where I'd love for you to consider partnering with us. If you'd like to give a one-time gift, or even better, become a recurring donor in these next few months, it would help us ease the financial and mental burdens for us so we can enter into Sabbatical well. If you're interested, you can follow this link here. 

Last thing: It is Halloween, so here are some photos of the costumes. I'm pretty sure I nailed my costume... =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

An Odyssey of Car Miracles

Hello, friends! 

A few Sundays ago, our car wouldn't start. Thankfully, we were in the parking lot after church so we were able to get the car jumped and be on our way. I dropped the family off at home then drove to AutoZone to get the system tested. There were options of what it could be

:
- If it was the battery, no problem because we just recently bought a new battery so it would be under warranty and we'd get it replaced free of charge.

- If it was the alternator, a slight problem but we just had THAT replaced a month ago, so you'd better believe that I'd be fighting to get that replaced free of charge.

- Alas, it was the starter, meaning another good chunk of change would be going down the drain to get it replaced.

It was at that point that Megan and I had the conversation as to whether or not we needed to trade in our van and get something new. We had a tough decision ahead of us. On the one hand, we had the long term decision of whether or not to get a new car. On the other hand, there was the short term decision of whether or not to get the starter replaced. If we get it replaced but then get a new car, then we sort of wasted the money to get the starter replaced. BUT, if we do get it replaced and ride it out, who knows how long until something else breaks down.

We bought that van in 2016 when it had just over 25k miles on it after we found out Megan was pregnant with Thaliea. That van survived our move to Omaha, many trips to South Dakota (and a vacation to Colorado!) and over 125k miles over 9 years. It served us well but we knew we couldn't hold on to it forever. Plus, the dealerships of that particular car company in the Omaha area are pretty bad when it comes to customer service. We'd be getting a new car at some point, there was just a question of how long we could hold out. 

In the short term, we decided to not get the starter replaced and literally pray that the starter wouldn't go bad again at any point. Miracle #1: The starter survived! 

With the starter seemingly in good shape (albeit still a gamble), we decided that we could look for new (to us) cars but we weren't so desperate that we would make a bad deal just because we needed something. That Sunday night, we looked around and found a few options that were close to what we wanted. There was one in particular that was a 2019 Honda Odyssey with about 60k miles on it. The price was in our range so we set up an appointment. 

When we got to the dealership, the car wasn't actually ready. They said it would be ready in an hour so we went to a different dealership to look at a different option. That wasn't going to do it for us, so we went back to the first place. The salesman brought the car out to us... except that he didn't. IT WAS THE WRONG CAR! 

At that point, we had to go, so we told him we would try again tomorrow when the right car was ready. Except we never got the chance. When I called the next day to confirm the appointment, I was told that the car we never got to see had been sold the previous night. Miracle #2: Not getting that car. 

Why was that a miracle? Because Sunday night, I decided to look online again, just to see if there had been any new listings. There I found a 2023 Odyssey with under 35k miles on it, also within our price range. Miracle #3: Finding a better car! 

We tried to set up an appointment to see that car but they said that it wouldn't be ready to look at until Tuesday. There was a small crack in the front bumper that needed to be replaced. Megan was heading out of town for work on Tuesday, so it looked like we were going to be out of luck. EXCEPT WE WEREN'T... Miracle #4: The car got finished early so we were able to look at it on Monday. 

As I said, there was a small crack on the front bumper but that was easily fixed. HOWEVER, what that meant was that since the car no longer had any cosmetic damage, the asking price was going to be much higher. EXCEPT IT WASN'T... Miracle #5: Because we saw the listing at the original, lower price, we were able to buy the car at the lower price. 

The only thing we had left to do was the finances. I wasn't stoked about having a car payment but I knew our budget could handle it within a certain range (Thank you, Public Schools!). But in order to get the payment within our range, we needed to put some money down. How much down? Well, the exact amount that we had... 

Let me explain. Last month, my dad was looking through his files and he found some savings bonds that belonged to me. The amount those bonds were worth was the exact amount that we needed in order to put down a down payment that would get the monthly payments within our budget. Miracle #6: The savings bonds that showed up out of nowhere. 

So, now we have a new (to us) car. It's a Honda, which means we can use the mechanic that fixes our other car (Honda Fit) that we really like. It also means that we don't have to worry about getting a jumpstart in the middle of a parking lot. God really came through for us. The next miracle will be to see if we can keep it clean for more than a week... =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Bye, bye old car!

Hello, new car! 

Running (Around for) Revive!

Hello, friends! 

Last weekend we hosted InterVarsity students from Nebraska and Iowa for Revive, our Fall Conference. Everything that I've heard about Revive is that it was a really great time. The students had fun, folk got connected to one another, and the Holy Spirit moved in some really powerful ways. 

I say "from what I've heard" because honestly, I didn't participate in much of the actual conference itself. Between running snacks and running around with the kids, there was plenty to do. Allow me to break down my Revive. 

Friday:

- 9am: Take Thaliea to Costco, the Asian Market, and Walmart to go shopping for snacks. Did I buy too much? Definitely. Do I regret any of it? Certainly not. =0). 

- 11:30am: Back at the church to start setting up with the rest of the staff.

- 1pm: Staff meeting.

- 2:pm: Start setting up welcome snacks, which was coffee, hot water for tea, and chips. This included cleaning out the hot liquid containers and learning how to use the church 7:coffee maker. 

- 4:30pm: Dinner volunteers (Thanks, One Hope Church!) arrive and we begin dinner orientation.

- 5:15pm: Dinner arrives (shout out to Bridge Church for providing dinner!).

- 7:00pm: Dinner cleanup while the session starts.

- 8pm: Start heating up water for post-session snack (hooray for ramen!).

- 9pm: Run snacks after the session, which also includes trying to convince folk to take extra slices of pizza from dinner.

- 9:30pm: Clean up.

- 11pm: Home for the night.

Saturday:

- 7:15am: Head to the church with Thaliea to set up the morning breakfast spread (bagels, fruit, baked goods, and coffee/tea) as well as the mid-morning snack (granola bars).

- 8:10am: Switch with Megan to take the boys to sports.

- 8:30am: Coach Ezra's soccer match (Black Widows win!).

- 9:30am: Watch Jonah's soccer match (Cheetahs win!)..

- 11:30am: Watch Ezra's flag football game (Fire Phoenix lose...).

- 1:15pm: Drop the boys off with Megan and pick up Thaliea to take her to dance.

- 2:15pm: Back at the church to set up afternoon snacks (popcorn and trail mix)

- 4pm: Dinner volunteers (thanks, West Hills Church!) arrive and we begin setting up for dinner (baked potato bar!)

- 5:30pm: Serve dinner.

- 7pm: Clean up dinner.

- 7:30pm: Start setting out all the leftover snacks so that students can take them home after the session.

- 8:30pm: Connect with Bellevue and MCC students to hear about their experience.

- 9pm: Giveaway ALL the snacks

- 9:30pm: Clean up the church so it's ready for service tomorrow.

- 11pm: Home for the night. 

Three big lessons from the weekend: 

- Hospitality is hard work! Megan is the one with the gift of hospitality and I see how valuable that gift is. I'm sure that she could have found a way to do everything better, faster, and for cheaper. Mad respect to everyone who has that gift. 

- Kid Time and Conference Time is hard work! We opted to d o Revive in Omaha because it would be easier logistically for us. That was true for the conference but because that also meant we were in town for all the kid activities, it was much more complicated than if we were all at a retreat site somewhere. 

- The Holy Spirit loves to move at Fall Conference. The one thing that I heard consistently when talking with students was that the Holy Spirit did his thing, like he always does. Our Bellevue students were especially impacted, including one student who may have recommitted his life to Jesus (I still need to follow up). 

Thanks to everyone who prayed and gave so we could make Revive happen! 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam