Re-entry...

Hello, friends!

This past week, Megan and I had pre-fall staff meetings. For some Regions, this is a normal thing but for our Region, this is the first time since I've been on staff that we all gathered together BEFORE the school year started. What's more, this was also the first time since COVID that we would physically be together... sort of. 

Our meetings were done in a hybrid style. For the times when the whole Region was together, we were on Zoom. We had some training, Megan and I led a workshop on making good invitations during New Student Outreach, and all our Area teams competed against one another in an Olympics style competition (we took 4th out of 4... not my best effort...)

However, there were also times when Area teams did things together and for those times, Area teams got together in person. We had a cooking competition (we won that one) and did a prayer walk on a local campus. Megan and I joined the Nebraska staff team for those functions. 

Looking back on the past few days, there were a few things that really jumped out to me.

1) It is really good being with other people, especially coworkers. There's an old saying that you don't know what you've got until it's gone. I think that was true of human interaction during COVID. Most of my job is done via Zoom anyway, even before the pandemic, so the actual job for me didn't change much last year. However, I don't think I realized how much I missed being around other people during those Regional gatherings. It was a blessing and joy to be in person with other co-laborers. 

2) There are some things from the pandemic that are worth keeping. After 15+ months of practice, I'd say that our Zoom skills have actually gotten pretty good. Every time we have another Zoom meeting, it seems like things go smoother and smoother. I'm convinced that while there's no substitute for in person gatherings, we don't need to throw away everything that we've learned about how to make virtual meetings vibrant. There are ways to make it work. 

We're now almost to August, which means that soon students will be coming back to school. With the Delta Variant on the rampage, it's still unknown how long schools will be fully open. Staff are planning like campus will be fully open but fully aware that things can change. It's a time of excitement and also of anxiety. I'm glad that we as a staff team were able to re-enter together. I believe that God is going to do some really cool things this year. Whether it happens in person or virtually, I have no idea. What I do know, is that time waits for no one and it's time to hop back in. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

A Wild 2 Weeks...

Hello, friends!

Y'all, it is good to be back in Omaha after a much needed vacation. The past 2 weeks have been absolutely wild, with no sign of slowing down. If I may break it down for you. 

Friday (July 9): A massive storm rips through Omaha. We're talking hurricane force winds and massive power outages across the city, including our house. 

Saturday morning: Ezra has some friends over for his birthday party. Thankfully, the weather was nice and it was meant to be a slip and slide party, so we didn't need power. We'd also already done a bunch of the prep ahead of time, so Ezra had a great time. 

Saturday afternoon: With no power in the house, we spent the afternoon driving around, charging our phones and looking for a place that had power for lunch. This included spending 45 minutes in line at a Jimmy John's. It was a less than "freaky fast" experience. There was also a second storm that came through, soaking all the stuff from the party that we hadn't cleaned up yet. 

Sunday morning: Instead of traditional church service, our church decided to do a neighborhood clean up. We spent the morning taking down a tree that had a tree break near a community garden by our church, which was a lot of fun!

Sunday evening: A couple we met a few weeks ago from church invited us over for dinner. It was a huge blessing to eat dinner in a house that had power with great people. The couple also had kids, so it was a blessing for the kids to be able to run around too. 

Monday: Mondays are our Sabbath, which is always a blessing. Megan took the morning, so I took the kids to the zoo. It was packed. In the afternoon, I was able to bike around a bit and try to spend some time with Jesus.   

Monday evening: Another couple was gracious enough to let us use their washer and dryer. It was another huge blessing to be able to wash our clothes and have another set of eyes on the kids while they played at the park. 

Tuesday: This was supposed to be a day of work before we left for vacation. Not a ton of work got done. We were still without power, so Megan and I decided to leave a day early (since we didn't have power anyway). So, instead of getting a lot of work done, we spent the day putting gas in the car, dropping off the other car at the mechanic, packing in the dark, realizing that our basement flooded a little, so tearing up the carpet pad so the office can dry, and trying to get a few things done before heading out of town. 

Tuesday evening: Pick up the kids from daycare and head out of town. About 45 minutes out of town, we got a message from our neighbors saying the power was finally back. We ended up staying the night in middle Nebraska at a so-so AirBnB. 

Wednesday-Saturday: Welcome to Colorado Springs! Our trip consisted of lots of hiking, more than a few parks, the older kids loving their bunk beds, Jonah getting ANOTHER ear infection, and plenty of family time. (more on this trip later)

Sunday: Driving back to Omaha. For the most part, the kids did great. We made one more stop than I'd wanted, but hey, apparently it's important to eat meals and go to the bathroom. =0). One stop we made was in Grand Island, about 2 hours from Omaha. Our friend Miguel lives there and he graciously treated us to some really good pupusas. We got home around 11pm. 

Monday: Another Sabbath. This was my turn to take the morning off, so I spent my morning cleaning out the car from our trip. It was kind of nasty. In the afternoon, the kids and I hung out at home. I also got a call from the mechanic saying the Prius was dead. 

Tuesday: TODAY was the day to get some work done, right? Well, sort of. I did get a lot done but I also had to meet with the foundation guy so he could give us an estimate about installing a sump pump in the basement, run down to the mechanic to let him know that someone would be coming to scrap the car at some point, and make some phone calls to get someone to come look at our garage door after a cable snapped and it got stuck askew. 

So, that's what's been happening around here. If you're keeping score, that's:

- 4 days without power
- 5 days in Colorado
- 2 flooded rooms in the basement
- 1 dead Prius
- 1 busted garage door
- 1 more ear infection
- Dozens of friends who have offered to help

LORD, help us all. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Ezra's Birthday, a breakdown...

Hello, friends! 

Monday was Ezra's birthday! If you haven't see the birthday song I wrote for him, it's right here. 

One of the things about Ezra's birthday being when it is (July 5) is that it's right next to a big holiday for Meg's family. They LOVE Independence Day. This year was especially special because Meg's uncle who died in Vietnam was having a bridge dedicated to him and it was the last time Meg would see her grandma's house before it was sold. So, we went up to SoDak to celebrate. 

At first, Ezra was not pleased about being in SoDak on his birthday but after the day he had, maybe he'll reconsider. Let's break it down: 

9:00am - Sleep in and wake up when he wants, in SoDak

10:00am - Play in the lake by Meg's parent's house with his cousins

11:30am - Lunch from Subway, his most favorite restaurant in the world right now

1:00pm - Leave SoDak for Omaha; starting with "resting time" in the car

2:30pm - Free to use his tablet for the rest of the trip to Omaha

5:00pm - Get home and unpack the car so we can load it up again to go to dinner

5:30pm - Dinner at Yummy Crab, which is a boiling crab type restaurant in Omaha

6:30pm - Go fishing at the lake next to the Yummy Crab, promptly catch 2 fish and 2 crawfish

7:30pm - McDonald's sundaes on the way home

I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty spectacular birthday! I don't know if we'll be able to replicate it like that every year but this year sure was a blast. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Happy New InterVarsity Year!

Hello, friends! 

It's July, which means it's the beginning of InterVarsity's new year! As amazing as it is to think about, this is the beginning of year FIFTEEN for me! I remember when I first started, I saw staff who had been on staff for 20 years and thought, "man, I wonder if I'll get there there." Now, I can actually see that milestone on the horizon! Who knows if I'll get there, but it's fun to at least see that it's within the realm of possibilities. 

This upcoming year promises to be a wild one. Last year was definitely a wild one with the pandemic, racial tensions being brought to the front of the country's consciousness, and the election season. While this year will have some of those same elements, it'll also be something a little bit closer to "normal."

Really, what I'm looking forward to the most this year is continuing the momentum from last year. In terms of my job, we got to see some really cool things happen in our Region in terms of moving towards a more fair, just, and equitable system for Ministry Partnership Development. Personally, I got more involved in church and started moving our congregation to think about race and justice differently. This year, I'm anticipating more pushback and challenges in both areas but also more opportunities for God to show his goodness. 

So, friends! Here's to another year with InterVarsity! May God bless you this (fiscal) year and continue to bless the students we serve. I'm praying that God will continue to work through me and in me as I spend another year serving college students. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

California by the numbers...

Hello, friends! 

Last week, I told you about our wild trip home from California. That trip was too wild for me to not post about it immediately. 

HOWEVER, the original plan was to post last week about the actual trip to California. It was a long, wild, delicious, and really fun time with family. Even as I just write down all the things that we did, it's staggering. You know those vacations that are so full that when you get back you actually kind of feel like you need a vacation from the vacation? Yeah, this was one of those. By the numbers:

- 8 days in California (Wednesday to Wednesday)

- 5 trips to the beach, including one at night

- 3 sandcrabs that Ezra found on those various trips to the beach

- 2 birthday parties for my nephew (he's totally worth it)

- 2 dates with Megan (1 of which was a double date with my older sister)

- 1 trip on a train with the grandkids (my mother's dream)

- 1 set of matching jammies for all the grandkids (my older sister's dream)

- 2 trips on a roller coaster (1 with each older kid; Megan's dream)

- 1 pickleball tournament (we did not do well...)

- 1 delicious bowl of beef noodle soup (to go along with the soon du bu, chili burger, korean bbq, dim sum, In & Out, Chinese food, Dairy Queen, and bubble tea)

- 3 bedrooms taken up by my family at my parent's place (which was a HUGE blessing)

- $4.25/gallon for gas, which is just about double what it is in Omaha

- 75 degrees in the house because my parents finally got an air conditioning

- 2 nephews and 1 niece who needed my utmost attention (to go along with my kids)

- 1 dinner with Megan's uncle and family

- 1 InstaGram famous moment when the men in the family were featured on a site that sells Tshirts

That doesn't even include how good it felt to see family members, both immediate and extended, and to bask in the beautiful California sunshine.

It had been almost a year since we were out in California. We didn't do Thanksgiving or Christmas last year because of the pandemic, so it had definitely been a while. Thankfully, we'll be out again in October for my sister's wedding reception and possibly again for Christmas. My hope is that as more and more people get vaccinated, we'll be able to see more and more people with each subsequent trip. Until then, we'll always have the beach... =0). 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

A Wild Trip Home

Hello, friends! 

This is a photo of us as we got ready to head out from Omaha to California for a family vacation. You can see that we are excited, we are relaxed, and we are ready to go! 

What you will not see is a photo of us on the return trip. That trip was a hot mess. Allow me to break it down for you. 

Tuesday, 2:50pm. I log on to check into our flight and see that I can't actually check it. After doing some Twitter research, I see that the Southwest Airlines system had a failure and the whole system was down ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Thankfully, we're doing family boarding so it's not a big deal anyway.

Wednesday, 9:00am. I have an idea. Maybe if everyone had the same trouble I had, I could go straight to the airport and check in early to get a better boarding number. I drive to the airport, check in, and our numbers are pretty much trash, so we stick with family boarding. 

Wednesday, 10:00am. I look and see that our flight has been delayed from 2:50 to 4:35. This is actually a good thing because it means that our layover in Denver is shorter and we can spend more time with my parents. 

Wednesday, 2:00pm. Oops. I get another notification saying that our flight has been move UP to 4:10. Now we have to get going so we can check in on time. 

Wednesday, 2:45pm. Literally, the moment we get to the airport, I get ANOTHER notification saying that our flight has been moved BACK to 5:00pm. Suddenly, we're early again but even more crucially, we now have only a 25 minute layover in Denver, which is tight. 

Wednesday, 2:55pm. Try to check in using the kiosks but for some reason, I can't check any bags. Our best guess is it's because our flight's original flight time had already passed but the system hadn't been updated. We get in line for a ticket agent. 

Wednesday, 4:55pm. We're on the plane. Everyone has their dinners and we're ready to fly! Megan and I are checking our flight status on the flight to see if we can gain any time to make our connection. 

Wednesday, 7:10pm. The plane starts its descent but due to wind shears, has to pull up and circle around again. We're certain that we're going to miss our connection. 

Wednesday, 8:35pm. Finally of the flight and walking to the gate in Denver. Thankfully, the plane was held for us and another flight coming in from San Diego. 

Wednesday, 9:30pm. Wheel's up in Denver. We made it! 

Wednesday, 11:30pm. Touch down in Omaha. Praise the LORD!

Thursday, 12:30am. Get back to our house, put the kids to bed, and find out that our internet is down...

Oy! 

The important thing is that we're home and we're safe. It was a wild ride, but we made it! 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

MPD 201!!!

Hello, friends!

Starting Wednesday, I'll be leading our staff team through MPD 201, which is our Spring training for Ministry Partnership Development. I'm really excited about our time together, not just because I love taking about MPD but also because we have some really great stuff planned and I've enlisted the help of a few of our younger staff to help with various parts of the program.

I'll be going all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, and the first part of Friday. Megan will be taking the kids with her up to South Dakota so her parents can help watch the kids while we're both in session, so that will be a blessing. But, she also has a wedding on Saturday and since they wedding is kids only (and the kids have tball on Saturday), right after I finish on Friday, I'll be driving up to SoDak to pick up the kids then bring them back to Omaha for a dad weekend. 

Needless to say, it's going to be a really hectic week next week. Prayers appreciated for peace, wisdom, and good health (both Megan and I are fighting colds right now). A lot goes into planning these trainings but ultimately, it's all up to Jesus. My hope and prayer is that God will do what he needs to do in our team and through me.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam