the latest

a bit of family news:

• we had a brief visit with old friends c and r from oakland. though our time was too brief, we crammed it full with a lot of catching up and a trip to sushi land -- delicious!

• m and i returned from a ten-day trip to marble, colorado where we participated in an intensive counseling retreat. excellent and very helpful, but also very demanding. we returned from the trip satisfied with what God accomplished there, but feeling the effects of some hard work. we continue to have plenty to think about and work on. you can see the slide show of some of our adventures on the right side of this blog page (for those of you reading this on facebook, you have to go to the actual blog page here.)
  

• b has finished her summer mission and is staying in nyc, volunteering with an organization that is combating human trafficking and connecting with friends. her summer internship seems to have been very fruitful, though she continues to process all that happened. many thanks to those who were able to partner with her in prayer and/or finances. she'll start her pre-semester conferences soon (with a mentoring program she works in and with intervarsity at columbia).
  

• n just returned tonight from a two-week visit with family, first in los angeles, then in houston. she came back happy, tanned, and full of stories (including one about the guy who tried to hit on her in the seatac airport!). she is studying for the sat, working on college applications, and researching scholarship options.

• p, m's sister's husband arrived on friday. he's actually here on business, but came a bit early to visit with us. among the highlights of our time together: some wonderful meals out (at red house, papaya, and simply thai), a road trip to leavenworth and deception falls, and video chats with p's family (starring daughters l and s). he leaves at 6am tomorrow, so naturally, we said our goodbyes tonight. :-)
  

thank you for your prayers our family. lots of transitions and some big discussions ahead...