Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thinking a lot about Seattle!

Dear friends,
     Jenni, Allison and I had a fantastic time with Jesse in Monterey over Memorial Day weekend. He took excellent care of us. We saw Cannery Row in Monterey, the downtown and beach at Carmel- the town that is the most dog friendly town in the USA and probably the world. Very interesting and pretty place. Here are my road trip buddies. They did most of the driving. Early in the morning we found ourselves in the middle of the redwood forest. Here are my "tree hugging" girls!

     We were excited to see Jesse at his house which he shares with several others. He is only 2 houses from the Taylor St. gate to the Presidio, and so is able to walk to work.
     We were joined on Saturday day by Heng Hua- our dear friend from Taiwan we met in Denver 6 years ago, and have maintained contact with. She lives in San Jose now and Jenni and I stayed with her on our way home.
      Jesse took us to Big Sur on Sunday after church at Shoreline. Big Sur was gorgeous! The only wildlife we saw on the beach was a skunk! Big Sur was so amazing there is no way to capture it in  a few pictures, but here are a couple to give you an idea.

      After our day at the beach, we headed back to Jesse's. Here is a statement our our times...All of us with our laptops- including me! Since I got home, Jenni, Greg and I all got i phones for $20! Now I am learning how to work mine. Fortunately Jenni, Greg and Adjua are all good at teaching me how to use it.
      Jesse had a huge Arabic exam after we were there and didn't do well on it. He couldn't be studying any harder- at school all day and evenings and most weekends as well. We have been asking the Lord to help him with his Arabic studies and keep him in the course if it is where He wants him. As long as Jesse is putting his all into it, he and we have confidence that the Lord is in this. He has been assigned a personal tutor for the next 3 months. If he does poorly again they will decide what it next- another language (French?), or something else. He said he will be there for a while longer- 6 months or so- regardless. We would love for you to pray for Jesse. He is already an interigator.
     After sending Allison back to Seattle on a flight, Jenni and I went to LA. When staying with Karen, we got to see a humming bird nest outside her window. Here is a picture. Notice the size of the pencil next to it! They have since hatched.

       Jenni visited with her friends where she worked in Huntington Beach last swummer, and I visited with friends/supporters in the LA area. I really enjoyed seeing so many friends. I also had lunch with Greg's potential new boss who offices out of Pasadena. The actual office is in Seattle.
      I realized that it has been too long since I have seen these special friends. We got to meet a new supporter on the way home in San Francisco and visited another family before Jenni and I drove all night to get home. We decided to make a memory and drove through a redwood tree!
Our Transition Update
      It seems at this point that the Lord is steering us toward visionSynergy in Seattle. This is almost a finished decision. We will be making a final decision in the next 2 weeks. The Lord closed the door on the TX ministry, and the decision was clear. Thanks for praying. We are excited about the fit for Greg at visionSynergy and are having an interview on the 28th at the office in Seattle. They want Greg in the office without commuting, so we will have to be creative in handling this move. While there for the meetings, we will look at houses. The office is in Edmonds. We have to sell our house in Spokane. So we would appreciate prayer as we work on all this. We also have to find a new family for Adjua to live with. Pray for packing, selling, finding a house we can afford which is also big enough for ministry & hospitality, good-bye's, hello's, etc. Transition is just HARD. But God is BIG! I will have to depend on Him completely. We also know now that we need to find a place for Allison's wedding in Seattle most likely!

Next Week at a Kidzana Training Conference on Whitby Island

      After camping this weekend with Jenni, Adjua, Allison and our friends at Priest Lake, Jenni, Allison and I will head to Seattle. They will drop me off to go to a training for the week. We are going to be trained on the updated curriculum. I will be training in Asia in Oct., Lord willing, and early next year in Indonesia and India. I hope I can absorb all that I need to learn. My training mentor for Oct. will also be there as well as friends from Denver. I will hang out with Allison until Greg comes to Seattle for the house hunting and meetings. So I am packing for 2 weeks currently.

Going to My 35th Reunion
      I am putting together flying miles, a visit to my mom and my 35th high school reunion. I am looking forward to my first HS reunion ever. I have started making connections with some I will be seeing. That will be July 14-22. And this in the middle of moving, etc. What am I thinking??!! But that is when this came together. 
      My right knee is the one that has the spur and is hurting. I will get the shots at the end of June. We will be going on Cobra for at least 3 months. That will enable me to continue on with my same plan for this transition time. We are still trying to fill 30 spaces in our MoodyBible Institute housing townhouses here in Spokane. Pray that we would get them full since we really need to have them full to make our finances work.

Well, I need to get to bed and then packing for these trips tomorrow. God bless!
Nancy Fritz nancyfritz@aol.com