A Death in the Family...

Hello, friends! 

Yesterday, I performed my second funeral of the year. Right around noon, we lost our dear pet, Fluffy. My original goal was to get Fluffy to 3 years. Instead, we had Fluffy for just short of 9 glorious months. He will be missed. 

Honestly, we'd seen this coming for a while. When we got back from SoDak in early July, Fluffy looked bloated and wasn't moving around much. There were a few possibly diagnoses: it could have been dropsy, a swim bladder infection, or he was constipated. We were hoping it was just constipation, so we didn't feed him for a few days and the bloating went down. It seemed like we were out of the woods but Fluffy still wasn't moving around much and he wasn't eating much either. Megan and I were pretty sure that the end was coming soon. 

Thaliea was the first one to discover Fluffy. Obviously, we were tore up about it and the older kids cried. Jonah just kept asking why Fluffy died and I don't think my answer of, "no pet lives forever" was really satisfying for him. Having the kids write final notes to Fluffy helped. We had a short service in the backyard, where Fluffy was buried, surrounded by his loved ones. 

Ezra, Thaliea, and Jonah have already talked about wanting to get a new pet. Once Megan gets back from her trip to Indonesia, we'll probably grab another betta. We bought some better food to supplement Fluffy's diet towards the end, so hopefully that'll help us keep the next fish alive a little longer. 

RIP Fluffy, you were a good pet. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

An eBike Saga...

Hello, friends! 

A few days ago, I rode my bike to the store to pick up some ice and other items for Ezra's birthday party. It was a relatively quick trip and I got there and back without incident.

The important thing was that I rode my electric bike there, which was the first time that I'd ridden an electric bike in literally months. It was a long process that cost way too much time and money. 

Everything started last September. I'd had my ebike for about a year and realized 2 things:

1. I really like riding an ebike. It made getting around town way better and it was nice getting to my meetings and not being all sweaty. 

2. I really did not like the ebike I had. I'd purchased a folding ebike so that it wouldn't take up as much space in the garage. I also didn't want to break the bank of an ebike before knowing how much I was going to use it. However, riding this bike was not a ton of fun. The quality could have been a lot better and it just wasn't as much of a fun ride as my other bike. Also, while being folding did help with space, it didn't help enough to really make a huge difference in the inconvenience of having that many bikes in the garage.  

So, here was the plan:

- Sell the old ebike

- Buy a bike conversion kit to turn my current bike into a ebike

Part one was easy. I sold the old ebike in September and then started research on which conversion kit to buy not too much later. 

Here's where the problems started. 

I picked an ebike conversion kit wit WAY too long of a delivery time. I finally decided on a brand in December. The delivery date said March, which wasn't going to be a problem since I wasn't going to be riding much during the winter anyway. What I couldn't have counted on was the backlog that meant that my bike didn't actually get delivered until April. 

My conversion kit was actually just a front wheel hub with a motor in it. The reason I picked this kit was because of the ease of installation. I had to connect a few wires, strap them down, swap the front tire on my current bike, and I'd be good to go! After I finally got my kit, I spent some time installing things and had everything up and running. Unfortunately, I did the installation on a Monday and realized that I was running a little late for soccer practice. So, I put the bike away and drove the practice. 

The big mistake was that instead of keeping the battery with the bike, I took out the battery and accidentally left it on the hatch of our car as I got the soccer stuff ready. I forgot to take the battery off the car and drove to practice. At some point, the battery fell off the car but I didn't realize it until the next evening, AFTER the street sweepers ran through the neighborhood. 

Since the kit was from a specific company, the battery was a proprietary technology and a random battery wouldn't fit. I'd have to buy a replacement directly from the company and they weren't going to be delivering until September at the earliest. So, instead, I spent the next few months trying to purchase the parts I needed online to see if I could still use the motor. After a few returns for bad parts, blowing out more than one front fork because of the torque provided, and eventually having to buy a garage sale bike, I got everything up and running and can now run to the store. 

All said and done, I'm back to having 2 bikes. The one I originally wanted converted needs its front fork fixed (the front tire won't stay attached, which is a problem...) so it's hanging out in the shed for now. The Frankenstein ebike I have now is a little big but it gets the job done. I've also learned a TON about how to repair ebikes, so I guess there's that. It was a frustrating process that took up way too much time and money but we're here and I'm happy. There may be some sort of lesson in the midst of all this but frankly, I don't think I want to learn it quite yet. For now, I'm just going to enjoy riding. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

ACE Recap!

Hello, friends! 

A few weeks ago, I posted about our Alumni Communication Extravaganza (ACE) that I was leading for our Region. We were going to be contacting alumni up to 10 times over 3 weeks, asking them to consider starting or increasing a recurring gift to their alma mater's chapter accounts. We'd procured a $20k matching grant, so every pledge would be matched for the first year. When I last posted about ACE, we had about a week left and had raised just over $10,000. Things were moving but they were moving a little slower than I would have liked. 

Our ACE Coach from InterVarsity National told us that things would look like a step up graph. We'd get a lot of pledges in the first few days, then things would go kind of slowly during the middle chunk before really ramping up the last week, particularly the last 24 hours. Our graph looked a little bit different, as we had a slow start but a consistent middle chunk. I was cautiously optimistic that we'd hit our $20k goal by the 23rd, but I was also preparing for us to fall a little short. 

Friends, God showed up in a big way! Just over the weekend before our Deadline week, we saw our pledges jump from $11k - over $16k. We started the 23rd (Deadline Day) with $18k matched and immediately saw 2 more gifts come in to bring us past the finish line. Praise, the LORD, we'd done it! (Well, God had done it and we got to benefit from that. =0).).

BUT, God wasn't done yet! We passed our $20k goal so early in the day that we were able to find another $5k match to still hopefully inspire alumni. Then we passed $25k and had another decision to make. We ultimately decided that we would just tell alumni that we would guarantee to match any pledges made by the end of the day and go find the money later. 

Praise the LORD, by the end of the day on Friday, we had raised OVER $30,000!!! It was so great to see how alumni were inspired to give and how many connections were made. Our staff team was encouraged and everyone was glad we gave it a shot. 

Saturday, I was in a bit of a stupor all day. I was physically tired from having to hold so much tension for the past 3 weeks. I've definitely been sleeping well since, so glad to see God come through and to see a major project come to fruition. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Welcome to Scout Camp!

Hello, friends! 

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking the older kids to Cub Scout camp. For Ezra, it was his second trip to Camp Amikaro but this was Thaliea's first trip. One of the most fun things this past year was seeing how much Thaliea enjoyed being in the scouts. This camp definitely solidified her love for scouting. 

Ezra rode a horse!

Thaliea got to participate in the camp-wide morning flag ceremony

Thaliea and another scout wrote a skit that was performed at the camp-wide campfire on Saturday night

The counselors taught the scouts a few new dances

Pool time!

Thaliea's target after our unit on shooting. She took 2 shots and decided she didn't like it, but she still took credit for the target that I shot. =0). 

Ezra's target

Learning about animal habitats

Learning about static electricity

Rock climbing! Both Ezra and Thaliea made it to the top of the wall!

Hay Ride!

Thaliea really liked getting her camp shirt

Greetings from Pack 481! This is actually just half of the pack. Due to scheduling, we had to split our pack into 2 camping dates. The second group will go camping in July. 

Playing games with the camp couselors!

Hanging out with Conrad, who is in the same grade as Thaliea. 

Overall, it was a really great experience. The kids slept better than I thought they would (which was a blessing). Since our scout master wasn't there, I acted as the de facto leader for our crew along with another parent. At this age, all the scouts need to be accompanied by parents, so it was a lot of good collaboration. 

I was joking with another parent that I hope our kids remember these fun times later in life when they're complaining about their parents. =0). It really was fun and I'm glad I get to share these memories with them. 

Have an excellent day! 

ACE Time!

Hello, friends! 

This month, I'm leading a project for our Region called ACE, or the Alumni Closing Extravaganza! The tl;dr is that we have $20k in matching grants available for any alumni who set up recurring gifts to any of the campus accounts in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri by next Friday. Praise the LORD, we've already raised over $10,000 of our match. It's also been a joy getting to connect and reconnect with InterVarsity alum from all over the place! 

Friends, ACE has been a LOT of work. In order to cast as wide a net as possible, each of our staff has a list of 20-40 alumni (depending on if they're full time or part time) they are contacting. Since everything is happening in such a tight window, our staff are contacting each alumni 2-4 times each of these weeks too. I've sent so many text messages that I'm pretty sure Google Voice suspended my account... =0). 

And yet, we've seen some really cool things happen! A lot of our staff have reconnected with alumni with whom they haven't spoken in years. It's been so great to hear about how our former students are doing and the impact that InterVarsity had on their lives. It's been such a blessing to see that students are continuing to follow Jesus and that they want to continue to see InterVarsity happen on their campuses. 

So, want to be apart of our ACE?! If you are and alumni of a school in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, or Nebraska and want to be a part of seeing the Gospel go to every corner of your campus, click here to search for your campus and please do let me know if you decide to give! 

If you're not an alum in the Central Region but still want to give, that's totally cool too. You can also tag friends or family who are alum to let them know about this great opportunity. 

Either way, would you be praying for us? Pray that alumni would be responsive, that staff would be filled with strength, and that our campuses would be blessed by the work we're doing now. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Getaway Travel Adventures!

Hello, friends! 

We are back from International Getaway! How was it? You'll have to ask Megan, since I was with the kiddos. How did the kids do? They all slept mostly through the night, played well with the other kids, and had a ton of fun, so we'll call it a win! Seriously though, even though I didn't attend any of the sessions, I heard that everything was great. The students were engaged and connected. The photos I'm seeing show that everyone had a great time. I still believe that Getaway is one of the best things that we do as a Region. 

But I don't want to talk about Getaway itself. I want to talk about getting TO Getaway because THAT was an adventure. 

The original plan was simple: Pick up the kids from school a little early, grab dinner on the way, and make it to Getaway in time for the evening session at 7. I had a meeting that went until 2, so I figured I could grab the kids by 2:30 and we'd be golden. 

Waiting for the kids took a little bit longer than anticipated but we still got out of town by 3. That would have put us in St. Joseph for a drive-through dinner at around 5ish and getting into Getaway somewhere in the 6:30 range. Things were looking good. 

About 45 minutes into our drive, the low tire pressure light came on, which is never a good thing. Sometimes it's a false alarm and sometimes it's the real deal. This time, the light was accompanied by a "pop" and rattle... we'd blown our right rear tire.

Here, I have a decision to make. I could change the tire and get us to the next exit, where I could then look for a tire shop that would be open at 5pm on a Friday or I could call AAA and have them tow me somewhere. Given that it would take time for AAA to get to me and then the chances of a tire shop being open would be even lower, I opted for the change. 

Friends, trying to change a tire on the side of the interstate is not a ton of fun. Thankfully, it was the passenger side, so it'd be safer but it still would not be fun. Thankfully, a good Samaritan came by and offered to help. 

Oh, and help he did! Not only did he help me change the tire, since he was from the area, he knew the local tire shops and called around to see if one was open (all the local shops were closed but the Walmart was open). After we changed the tire, he noticed that the spare was looking low on air, so he followed me off the interstate then led me to a body shop that could at least put some air in my tire. He was an absolute God send. 

So, we get the spare filled up good then drive 20 minutes more to the Walmart. I check in the car and ask them to also check the rear tire on the driver's side too. Sure enough, there was a nail in that one and it probably would have blown on this trip too. It looked like we were getting TWO tires changed instead of just one. 

Do you want to know what's hard? Trying to keep 3 small children entertained but not destructive at a Walmart. This included having to scold the kids multiple times to stop climbing on the tires and running through the aisles. It included at least 5 trips to the bathroom (on the other side of the store). It included eating some really sub-par chicken tenders from the Walmart deli. It was an ordeal, that is for sure. 

One hour and hundreds of dollars later, we were back on the road. The rest of the trip was easy enough and we made it in to camp around 9pm, just as the evening session was finishing. All told, it was a 3 hour detour that I'm OK never doing again. 

Leaving Getaway was its own adventure too. A student accidentally gave Jonah some nuts and he had an allergic reaction that the medicine was a little slow in counteracting, so we had to take a detour to Urgent Care (Jonah's fine). When we stopped for lunch, the drive-through forgot part of our order so I had to turn around and grab that. We were supposed to make it home in time for Ezra to go to his friend's birthday party. We were able to catch the last little bit of it, which was good. 

Friends, I often ask for journey's mercies as we travel. I don't know how this qualifies. On the one hand, we were helped by a Good Samaritan, the Walmart tire shop was open so we could get the work done, they found the second tire nail before we blew the tire, and we did eventually get to Getaway. On the other hand, it was a 3 hour detour there (and a 90 minute detour on the way back) that was very stressful and tiring. Ultimately, I'm just happy that we made it. 

How was Getaway? From what I heard, Getaway was great. How was Getaway travel? I'd say... less great. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

I know  

Pray for Getaway!

Hello, friends! 

Depending on when you're reading this, staff are on their way, students have just started arriving, or we're in the middle of International Getaway, our Regional international student conference. As I'm writing this, Megan is on her way to Kansas City to get things ready for everyone. 

Honestly, International Getaway is one of the best things that we do as a Region. For the past decade plus, we've created an atmosphere where international students from all over the world and many different faith traditions, can come together, have fun, and explore who Jesus is. There have been dance parties, cultural showcases, high stakes quiz shows, and more than one student making a decision to follow Jesus. 

One of my favorite stories from Getaway is a few years ago, when Getaway fell on the calendar at the same time as Ramadan. As a way to welcome Muslim students, the staff team created a Muslim track with a completely backwards schedule. Since Muslims fast during the days of Ramadan, their schedule started with the evening meal, followed by Bible study into the night. It was a great example of how our International Student Ministry staff do an amazing job of contextualizing ministry work to reach every corner of every campus. 

Megan is directing Getaway this year (again) and always does such a good job. For the past few months, she's been working with her co-director to make sure the staff team are prepared in their various jobs. I'll be coming up with the the kids tomorrow so they can experience Getaway too. 

Confession time... I don't think I've ever officially staffed an International Getaway. For its first few years, it was held at the same time as another student conference we did and I was always working that conference. Then, once we started having kids, I was never assigned a specific role since my main job was going to be kid duty (as evidenced by the ONE photo I have of Getaway from last year...). This year, it's the same. I've experienced Getaway in some form or fashion for years now, but never officially as a staff (beyond leading a game or two since I was already there). 

So, friends, would you take some time to pray for Getaway? If you'd like to sign up for an official prayer block, here's the link for that. However, if you'd like to just pray in general, here are a few prayer points:

- Journey's Mercies: Staff and students are coming from all 4 states, which means a lot of driving. Please pray for safe travels for everyone. 

- Good Weather: It's supposed to rain on Friday. We're praying that it holds off until the night so students can have a good experience all around. 

- Bible Studies: Pray for open students and good discussions. They'll be studying the life of Jesus through Matthew, Luke, and John. 

- Family Time: Personally, the kids are pretty bummed that we don't get to join Megan early (alas, gotta keep the kids in school!). We'll have about 36 hours of "Daddy Time." Pray we all survive. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam