Furlough Update

Well it’s been another great visit here in Fort Collins, Colorado with our friends and supporters Chris and Jennifer Damir.  On Sunday afternoon, the Damirs invited friends and neighbors over for snacks and an evening with the Coxes.  We thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and yet another opportunity to talk about God’s great work in Ethiopia.

Today was also a great day as I was given the privilege of sharing with the students at Heritage Christian Academy.  It was a little unnerving standing before 100+ students; nonetheless, it was exciting to challenge them to think outside of the box as they consider their future, to “not be conformed to this world”.  I am praying God will use what was shared today to strengthen those who are trying to stand against the tide of their culture and those that are trying to resist the onslaught of temptation the comes their way.

After sharing at HCA, Tabby and I traveled over to the Veterinary School at Colorado State for a lunch meeting with students from the Christian Veterinary Fellowship group.  That too was a good time of sharing and answering questions about our ministry.

Now we are in the process of packing the van for our departure tomorrow morning when we head for Montrose, CO.  Thankfully, the Damirs have offered to babysit for us tonight so that I can take the-prettiest-girl-I-know out on a date.  Eat you heart out!

Blessings,

Trent

So what exactly is a debrief?

Tomorrow is the last day of our Debrief and Renewal (DAR) retreat outside of Colorado Springs.  And it’s also the day we start the rest of our ten week furlough road trip to the west.  It has been a rich and rewarding week for all of us.  Tabby and I have really enjoyed the time to process and reflect with the skillful counselors here at the retreat.  Jack and Lily have had a ball doing their own debrief as well as tobogganing across the snow covered hills.  Today I wanted to share a little about the debriefing itself.  The DAR retreat, hosted by MTI, is designed to help missionaries with transitioning between the home culture (the USA) and the host culture (Ethiopia).  The aim is to equip us with practical tools to process our past and to help us develop habits to maintain spiritual and emotional health as we traverse the US by mini-van, sleeping in a different bed every night, in order to share what God is doing in Ethiopia.  I have included a little video clip for an illustration.  I hope it’s as helpful in your understanding as it has been to our own.

Blessings, Trent

Debriefing and Renewal

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Trying something new

We are trying our hand at video-blogging while we are in the US and have the internet speed needed for it.  In the next blog I’ll tell you more about our debriefing at MTI and hopefully get some footage from the trip out west.  Thanks for partnering with us.  Trent

Update from our last few weeks of furlough

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Still awake…

Going through my photos and just found this one…Jack and Lily enjoying their first fall with cousin Suzie.

Unfortunately I didn’t get even one good Christmas photo. How sad is that??

Notes from Florida…

Today is the first day I’ve been away from my kids – ever.  Well, that’s not entirely true…Jack has had a couple sleep overs with his cousins, but aside from that..nada.

Well, that all changed when we sent them to stay at my sister’s house.

And then flew to Florida.  On my birthday.

I know.  I’m crazy.  My babies are in TX and I’m in FL – way too many miles away.  What was I thinking??

I’ve talked to them on the phone.  No tears yet, but they’re a little unsettled.  Pray that they continue to have a wonderful time with their cousins and do well in our absence.

“Why are you in Florida?” you ask.

Well, several reasons, I guess.  The main reason is that we will be attending the NAVC (North American Veterinary Conference) in Orlando Jan 14-18.  We are required to get so many hours of continuing education to maintain our license, and large conferences like these allow one to get all their CE hours at one time.  We will also be sharing at a couple vet functions during the conference.   And since we were coming to Florida anyway, we decided to tie in a visit to ECHO, a place we’ve wanted to visit for a while.  We’ll talk there too.  Along the way, we are meeting supporters and visiting friends and, believe it or not, family, for as I write, I am sitting in the living room of Trent’s Aunt Lois, whom I had never met.  She has opened her home to us and we are delighted to be here with her.

Well, it’s now midnight and I must retire.  Can’t believe it’s that late.  Can’t believe I’m not more tired than I am.  Definitely one of the benefits of being childless…