Freezer Fan

This morning I am sitting on my couch enjoying the beautiful crisp morning with the sun shining through the clouds overhead as I listen to Kutless's rendition of "It is Well", which I must add, is a definite must listen. I have just returned from leading worship at one of the Christian schools in town. I had such a good time... I ended with the "Happy Song" which for kids their age (12-14yr) is a really fun song and for most of them, it was their first time hearing it. All this comes, however, after a night of interrupted sleep. The fan in our freezer has been giving us trouble again and randomly it will start to screech, which I have to say is one of the most obnoxious noises in the world! So can you imagine being happily asleep at 1am and then suddenly waking to that? Well, that's been my life the past two nights... all that to say, the freezer fan is going in for fan surgery.

So last night (before the fan made me it's enemy) I was reading in 1 Corinthians and read 4:1 which says, "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." I thought this was really beautiful and wanted to share it. I love how the end says - "stewards of the mysteries of God" - this leaves me in awe of God; He is so intricate, complex, and majestic, and how amazing that He would allow us to be stewards of His mysteries.
What have we been up too?
So lately our time has been occupied with work - planning, preparing, working with teams, and giving other people a hard time (like Lowell)... I'll be honest, that's my favorite part :) Other than that... at home I daily battle with Josh over a game of backgammon or speed scrabble - I'm pretty certain I'm loosing right now at both - we have a running tally. I have also been doing some baking which is always a favorite activity of mine. I recently made a Mocha Ribbon Cake which was amazing. Additionally we have been trying to get connected and more engaged in activities that are really important to us, so for Josh that is basketball and for me it is running.



Do you want to hear a super sweet story??? So I was telling Josh about a week ago that I was really sad that I was missing all the races that had been going on in Seattle and more importantly I was sad that I was missing out on running in general. The very next day following this sad-tale-of-woe, Josh presented me with registration and a map for an up-coming half-marathon in Jarabacoa (the town we live in)... he said he spent a lot of time searching but finally came across one. After reading through the "panphlet" I discovered that the President of the Jarabacoa Half-Marathon was none other than my own husband, Josh Mathews; and after discovering this it made the winner's prize more exciting - a date with the President of the Half-Marathon - Josh Mathews! He wrote out a whole "entry rules" sheet and made the map himself, which he drove to make sure it was actually 13.1 miles.

Later this month...
Lowell, Josh, and I are leaving Feb 14th to fly to Indiana where we will visit two different colleges (Bethel College and Taylor University) to promote our semester abroad program. We will work between the two schools for the week. On Saturday the 20th my grandparents are going to fly us out to see them for a few days too! I am so excited! It will be Josh's first time out to see my family in Canada, and it will be the first time in 5 years that we'll have had a chance to see my aunt, uncle, and my cousin.

Prayer Requests:
- Our dog Snickers is having some problems with his back end, the vet tried something and it isn't working, so pray that the issue doesn't require surgery and that he will not live out the remainder of his life in pain.
- We have about a solid month of teams coming and going with no break (beginning Feb 27), please pray that we will have energy and enthusiam for each team, along with good health.
- For wisdom, guidance, and discernment