Top Ten (12) Things we Love about Pasadena (in random order)

1) We love that we have ideal discipleship: wise people above us, peers going through life with us, and younger ones we are mentoring.

2) Working with students. We love still feeling like we are in college, having parties at our house, going to the coffee shop late at night, doing things on the weekend. We love that our life is filled with students in our house, movie nights, meals with them and doing life together.

3) Our work life/bosses. We feel appreciated and needed. We have good relationships with our supervisors who give us the freedom to use our gifts and that they give us responsibilities. We love that we have set but flexible hours.

4) Weather. Its warm most days and barely rains. What’s not to like about So Cal weather?

5) Living in a community with families. We love living in a community where people know you. We know if we ever needed anything help would be close by. We love living with families where kids are running around and playing with each other, often crossing many age/ethnic barriers.

6) Living near, but not in a big city. Pasadena still feels like a neighborhood. It is an escape from commercialization where local businesses thrive. At the same time we are an hour or less away from everything L.A. has to offer.

7) Walking to work. Who wants to drive in traffic for hours? We walk two blocks to work, eat lunch at home and barely use our car.

8) Missional community. Being around like-minded people that see the world the same way we do. We don’t feel crazy or like we harass people all the time talking about God’s love for all the peoples. Our week is filled with fresh insights on developing issues fresh off the field. We get reports straight from missionaries themselves as well as the executives that run the major organizations.

9) Cultures. We live around so many different cultures, we live in a primarily Armenian neighborhood, but ethnic neighborhoods are close: Little Tokyo, Chinatown, ect. At the same time the USCWM community is diverse with people having influence by birth or serving in countries/cultures all over the world.

10) Working together. We love to be a team and use each other’s giftings. We work beside each other, able to collaborate with each other, but don’t overstep each other’s territory.

11) Flowers. All these random flowers are everywhere. They grow instantly and are beautiful. Roses grow like wildflowers as well Melissa’s favorite bird of paradise.

12) Thursday nights: the community gets together for a meal together in the cafeteria. It’s a great time of watching the kids playing together, talking to parents or students and interacting more than just a superficial level.

One Year in Cali

Wow one year! We’ve been reflecting on our first year out here and are just floored. March 23rd 2008 we made our way into Pasadena, a year later we call it home. April 1st 2008 was our first day at our new assignments. I remember last year barely being trained and still having a hard time describing Insight, going to college fairs and sharing with high schoolers what Insight is. As I type this now, we are on our way to a college fair.

One year later we look back and are amazed that God used us to accomplish all the things we have. At the Pasadena Insight campus, we are experiencing one of the best classes in the history of the program. We have learned the ropes well and are finishing this year’s class and preparing for the next class. The Insight National Office is barely recognizable. It’s amazing to see how all the things we dreamed in the beginning of our time have actually come together. The program is successfully packaged and available to be exported to different locations. We have a detailed manual on how to run the program and a training for upcoming Program Directors.

It’s been an amazing year of community building, finding our niche in Pasadena and getting to know people. More to come later on our favorites of Pasadena.

Tarheels 2009 National Champions

What a great year of basketball. It was so much fun watching Lawson, Hansborough, Ellington, Green, Thompson, Davis and the rest of the team have a great season. Congrats to the 2008-2009 team for accomplishing their goal: National Champions. Following basketball has been different out in Cali than in our home ACC country. Everybody here is obsessed with the Lakers or Dodgers, no one really follows NCAAs. We do have a co-worker who graduated from Carolina in the 70’s. He’ll brag with us, but that’s about all the chatter we hear. Most of the games throughout the season we watched by ourselves with the aid of ESPN360. Why didn’t they come out with this when I was in college? We even watched the early round tournament games online.

A couple of guys (Andrew Mitchell and Chad Hines) are out here to watch games with every now and then, we rarely have the big time celebrations we are used to though. The later round tournament match ups we went a sports place to watch the games. Lots of TVs, lots of Carolina peeps and lots of Carolina beating its opponents. Every time after the game we’d all stand up and sing the alma mater with arms wrapped around another. Started to feel like home for just a little bit. After the national championship we were all pumped and ready to rush Franklyn Street. We almost went to Franklyn Street, Hollywood but decided to rush the most available street, Lankershim. Now unlike on Carolina’s campus, we weren’t able to shut down traffic. The 10 or so of us would run up and down the sidewalk yelling and screaming every now and then darting out on the road when there wasn’t traffic. Where at Carolina, everyone joins in, in L.A. we just had a bunch of people starring at us strangely. Again, great season. Rah Rah Carolina-lina.

Yard Sale Success

Saturday was the most tiring day of our lives, especially since it came after Friday which previous held that title. Saturday we had a Yard Sale.

Over the last month we have been collecting items for a Yard Sale. Going through old clothes, books, etc. We have also been getting donations from people in our community for us to sell. The backroom in our house was piled high with all kinds of treasures. Friday we had to sort through everything and price it. Our house looked more like a furniture store that some kids lived in than a home. The signs went up at 11pm Friday night and we quickly fell into bed.

The sale started at the glorious hour of 7am. Which meant we were up at 5:30, even Melissa. We had great friends who came and help set up. They came of course for Prontos donuts we provided, but also out of the goodness of their hearts. There was a ton of stuff to sell and really nice things too! We are so blessed by this community.

The sale started off slow but we had a great late rush starting around 10. We were haggling and bargaining away. The time flew by. Adam was in charge of keeping track of what we were making and he had all kinds of predictions. There was even talk of statistically if we made proportionately the same amount every hour as we did in the first three hours we would reach our goal kind of thing, lol. That came from the boys. Adam loves numbers. Throughout the day Adam was collecting the larger bills from my money pouch, and every time he came I had one or two, I felt like they were growing in there.

Our reason for this yard sale was to help pay the last part of the Homestudy. Before the weekend we needed $900 to pay in full. We felt we would probably make about 400-500 on the sale and then we would just save the rest over the next couple of months. I could have cried when Adam told me what we made: $750! I didn't cry, but I did scream and do a little happy dance. On top of this two families gave us checks for the adoption fund. so the grand total: $900

God is so good and so faithful!

We can not wait to go to our adoption class on Monday night, turn in our completed homestudy paperwork and hand them a big check! We are so full of joy and thankfulness right now it is overwhelming. God has been so amazing in the ways he has provided for this whole process. Thank you thank you to everyone who helped out and all of you who have been praying for this. We love you!

What an amazing community

We recently called a few people and sent out a few emails finally announcing the whole adoption thing. (For those who didn't know before, surprise! we are adopting!)

What a response from our community. We've had friends from all walks of life email or call to let us know their of their prayers and encouragement. We've been overwhelmed with the love we've felt from these people and are even more strengthened to move forward. Know your quick drops of emails and comments warms our hearts and exhorts us to continue on. We will need all of you in the ensuing months during the roller coaster we face.

Some have shared their future intentions to adopt. Some have given their personal stories (whether adopted themselves or have adopted) or the stories of relatives. We look forward to the wisdom you've gained and the ways you can lead us in this process. We are glad we are not alone in the matter.

Thank you to those who've responded and thank you to those who are following our journey through the blog