Merry Christmas! 2014! Hope you and your family are having an amazing Christmas!  We spent the majority of the Holiday with our roommate's family here in Cypress, California.  We ate tamales, exchanged gifts, and watched movies.  It was sweet and simple.   We are excited to be returning today - on December 26th - for Kansas City International House of Prayer.  We stopped there in the summer for their Immerse program, and we return to attend their annual OneThing conference.  This is going to be an awesome time of worship, lectures with amazing/world renown speakers, and intercession.  What an amazing way to wrap up 2014 and to kick off 2015!  I highly recommend for anyone to look into it!  http://www.ihopkc.org/onething/

Our LA Home Tour

I did something similar when we lived in Norway, a little tour through where we are living.  This week enjoy a tour through our LA home.  Click on the image above or copy this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_WLSWXalk   Highlights

Pilates Instructor - here I come... This is a journey that feels like it has been 8 years in the making.  As I've shared, my first pilates training and instructor inquiry was in 2006 when taking classes from teacher & friend at UofN - Kate Waddle.  This past weekend I passed my first exam in the course.  I still have 400+ hours, a final written exam, a case-study paper, and a final test out (where I teach in front of "judges" who will decide if I'm ready for the stamp of approval.)  All together it will probably be roughly a year before I "finish" however what an exciting time!  Grateful to be one step closer! Lion of War Series - I'm Hooked! This book series has me hooked.  The author has written these books with men in mind, particularly young men, however I love them.  The Lion of War series - which I'm most familiar with - is basically a fiction series based on the non-fiction story of David and his mighty men.  The latest in the series is Fires of War being digitally released in three parts starting on Christmas Eve.  There are short stories based on the individual lives of the mighty men being released, also books based on Joshua and Caleb are yet to be released.  If you haven't read Day of War, Covenant of War, orSong of War I highly recommend them first!  Click on the image for more info.  (Especially before considering the above Warpath membership.)

Stepping Forward .in ministry. Since getting married and traveling all over the place, 2010-2011 was probably one of my favorite years to date.  What happened?  We spent the year in New York City, dancing at the studios, seeing shows, enjoying our Brooklyn community, participating in ministry with fellow dancers in Project Dance/Atmosphere.  It was sweet time.  However when I left, I left wrecked. Wrecked? Yes, but in a good way. The short version: While in NYC I saw artists with amazing gift from the Lord who were disconnected from the Lord, because the only place they felt they could do their craft was in a place that didn't connect the skill with the Giver of the Skill. This bothered/bothers me to my core.  My heart is to see this gap bridged and a deeper reconciliation between the Church (the Body of Christ) and artists - a sort of exchange.  I wanted to see community plants with people who had strong discipled foundation from YWAM, moving into major dance cities.  I wanted to see artists from major dance cities connecting with these YWAMers and opportunities open for them to visit YWAM bases.  I wanted to see the YWAMers taking advantage of tremendous training that is out there, while not feeling they had to choose to walk away from YWAM. When I came back from NYC to Kona, I was sharing this over and over again. Guess what, it's happening!  Step-by-step. Our time in Houston was one step in this direction.  The next step was my awesome friend Crystal putting together a form that would register a program with University of the Nations.  Andreas and I have made a commitment as of September 2015 to facilitate this program - University of the Nations: Art Practicum. Call to Prayer in the Midst of a Tragedy This beautiful picture was taken while I was hiking in Waipio Valley in Hawaii.  The hikes and the landscapes are not to be missed anytime you are on the Big Island.  Unfortunately within this past week, while a group of students from the UofN were on a hike there was loss of life by one student who had organized the hike.  Please pray for the campus as they mourn this loss of life, as well as the student's family.  I did not know the student, however I do know several staff/leaders who will need wisdom from the Lord in guiding the campus forward.  Here is a article that is very informative on the tragedy.  http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/friends-remember-kona-student-killed-waipio-accident Highlights

40 years later Recently Maria Jackson had a surprise party waiting for her thanks to her loving husband - Kenny Jackson.  Who put it together and invited friends to celebrate Maria's 40 years in full time missions work!  What a testimony of someone who has dedicated their life and resources selflessly to the Lord!!! Thank you Maria for all your input, investment, and encouragement to me.  I can honestly say your love and wisdom has effected me and changed my life! More Networking & Connecting The day after Thanksgiving Andreas met our friend Caleb Mitchell who was passing through LA, in Downtown Disney.  Along with one of Caleb's dance friends Madison.  Caleb teaches dance at Belhaven, and we met him while living in Houston.   Madison is a professional dancer her with a ballet company.   What fun connections!  Thanks for all your prayers for our networking!  It's working!