DC Again

So I am back out in Washington DC again. This time it's with my parents and Emilie. Its been an awesome trip so far. Emilie and I left on Thursday at 6am to come out here. We spent some time in Great Falls National Park hiking around on Thursday and then relaxed and hung out with Mike and Mere. Its been wonderful to relax and not think about work and just enjoy family and the beautiful area around us. The weather has been great and the landscape really is something to desire over Chicago. (but I still love the windy city) Friday my parents showed up and we went into downtown DC and saw the national botanic gardens and the US supreme court. It was fun but still very very hot out. Its been in the low 90's the whole time. Friday night we headed out to Meres brothers Kevin and hung out. We cooked out and then went to a concert in the park. Saturday we had a great trip out on the Chesapeake Bay on Meres Moms Finace. Craig, Nancy's fiance took us out for along boat ride and then a clam and lobster bake afterwards. It was fun and exhausting day. Today was church which was really good. It was a new series called myth busters. The Myth we were looking at revolved around God's desire for us to have a happy life. It was intersting to say the least. Tomorrow we have our last day to relax and not think about work. Well I can fill in more later, Wathcing a movie now. Talk to you all soon.

Small Group

So a really quick post. God has been really good to the young adult ministry that Will and Amber Medel Started. Emilie and I have been attending for over a year and it has been really awesome for our lives and built some really amazing relationships. This past Sunday was our last meeting as a full group. We are multiplying out because we have gotten so big. We are going to be holding 2 groups One led by Bill Lyod at his place in Park Ridge on Sunday nights and then the one Em and I are going to be leading at her house in Glenview on Wed evenings. We are both going to be covering the book " the life you've always wanted" by john ortberg. Its a book on spiritual disciplines and should be really cool. Let me know if you want to come check out either of these night.
Quick prayer requests: for more quality out of my quite times and having a Godly world view.

Feel free to shoot me any requests you all have

Faithfulness

Its been a long past few weeks for me. My parents were gone in Florida helping out my grandma with her house and its possible sale, I am working a bunch and Emilie was in Paris for 10 days. In that time and before that Gods incredible grace and love have surrounded Emilie and I. It is more apparent to me than I have ever experienced before. I am humbled daily when I think about the love that God has given me, that he allows me experience and to be able to give. A lot of this just comes around the fact that I feel that it is so crucially important for people, Christians to have someone that they can talk to about anything.
I have been digging through some of my past that has been very painful and God has really been there for me. I have experienced His grace for my life, and understand how He will use all things for our good. It is very difficult to understand the Love that God has for each of us until we see it at work in your own life or someone close to you. Back to my original thought, finding someone who you trust, who is a God fearing person, whom you can talk with anything about. God says that we are forgiven when we confess sins to Him, but also that we must go and confess our sins to the people that they have hurt. God has pushed me to do this and I already see a difference in my life. Telling someone you deepest secrets, things you never wanted to tell another sole because of embarrassment, or shame or whatever the case is, is a freeing experience. Now its not always going to be good, I will still have to be held responsible for my sin and things I have done. Nor is it going to be easy, but I see God working in me, and opening doors that I shut because I didn't feel I was "good enough" to take hold of what God wanted for my life. I can only express that I know God will honor your commitments to Him as he has already honored mine.
Our faith is something is something that we must act out in community and individually. When it comes to sin though its something best done in community. There is support, and love available when things are done in this manner. Look to the early church in Acts as an example of how we as Christians should be striving to live out our lives.

Thanks for everyones prayers!

Make sure you are checking out my cousin Patrick's bog about his time in Swaziland and how the support raising is going for him so he can return to Africa for 2 more years.

Once again Check out Susan Rodgers Blog posting "hungry" . She always has such awesome tid bits about her time in Swaziland

bicycles, traveling, and job(s)

So the last month of my life has been one of the more challenging ones, actually the most challenging one ever. Lots of different things going with my 2 jobs, bible study and making it day to day. Recently God has been working in me and Emilie a lot. There has been a lot of things going on that we have needed to really pull ourselves close to God on. Its been really good but at the same time what has pushed us to need Gods Mercy so much is painful and taking a toll on us emotionally and physically.
I gave in and finally bought a bike that I have been wanting since my first week at REI. It is a Novara Divano.











Its fun! I took it out a few times already for some rides of 15 and 30 miles respectively this weekend. I enjoy it so much and it gives me time to think, and to be physically active; something that has been lack recently. If anyone needs a road riding parter up here let me know.
The two jobs thing has worn on me a little but there has been relief on some weekends. It is nice to relax on Saturdays but unfortunately Sundays are becoming part of the weekly grind. With Church, often work, and bible study on Sundays its almost like just another day. Thankfully our Bible study group is amazing and they provide great friends, relationships and a good time.

On the topic of the Bible study Emilie and I will be taking over bible study. We have grown enough that we need to multiply out ( which is awesome an sad) and we will be leading now on Wed nights. We are excited to see God bring new people and all the people our age that used to come around but have no place they fit in at our church. Our group is going to try to fit that niche.

Oh traveling, the other fun part of my life. Emilie and I are hoping to go visit my Brother and sister in law out in DC for memorial Day. We want to be able to hang out with them, relax and just be with them. Its very different having them be so far away after years of them living in Chicago and I really miss having them close. Not my traveling but fun none the less: Emilie leaves for Paris on Wednesday evening for 9 days to visit her host family from her study abroad and to meet up with a friend in Paris for the week and just enjoy life out there again for a little while. Needless to say I wish I could go with, but somebody has to work around here :)

Well lots of ramblings. Back to work and maybe some lunch soon.

Gods Work

So here is a link to Susan Rodgers Blog site. http://susanrodgers.blogspot.com/ What an awesome reminder of Gods touch and work in our lives.

Its been a long and trying past few weeks. A lot at work, and a lot of stuff going on at home. REI is moving to Northbrook so thats making things a little nuttier at that job. My "real" job is keeping me plenty busy. I am trying to schedule time to go down to Carbondale to visit friends, and to DC to see mike and mere.

Ahh, back to work. will try to do m ore of an update later on.

Psalm 63

O God, you are my Good, Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and behold your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than like, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I love and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods. with singing lips my mouth will praise you
On my bed I remember you,; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Planning

Wedding planning is exhausting stuff. After quite a few visits to different halls and country clubs and over 100 phone calls we found a place to have our wedding. Oct 7th is the date. But thats all I am going to say for now. Planning is moving forward and we were able to ask our attendants to stand up for us (they all said yes). Photographer is done, invitations and save the dates are in the works. So for though I think the hardest part is getting a honeymoon picked out. There are so many warm places with white sand and blue water that its hard to choose. If you have a favorite let me know!! Hope everyone is doing well.
The cold snap finally broke the other day and 25 degrees feels down right balmy!
Snowing today and tomorrow making everything beautiful.
Work is going really well.
Wishing I could visit mike and mere in VA.
Wanting to drive down to Carbondale to see friends.

Superbowl

THE CHICAGO BEARS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!! After 20 years since our last appearance, its good to be back. We are looking to run right over the colts and bring that world championship back to Chicago.

Busy

So, planning a wedding isn't all the fun and games. Theres a lot of driving, driving, talking, phone calls, and lots more phone calls. We obviously we are keeping busy. With Em and my schedules almost opposites it's making planning and visiting sights difficult but were narrowing it down quickly. We would like to have a date by February and a place selected for the reception. I might accidentally leak that we would like to do it the weekend of oct 6/7 but nothing is guaranteed! Work is picking up speed and i have slashed my hours at REI to give me some more time to plan and attempt to find time to myself and time for Emilie and I.

Nothing Overly exciting to report though, I did pass the national and state wide sales person licensing exam (allowing me to sell real estate) however i will use it just for my position as a property manager.

Ohh this is exciting, I got my "new" car. I bought my Uncle Bruce's 2004 Volvo S60 T5. I love it and i think it suits me well. Emilie enjoys making fun of me when i make calls using my blue tooth and driving with my cool driving gloves on. So i may be a little bit of a dork but I am enjoying it.

Well thats all for now, theres a good picture of emilie and I on Christmas day.

Celebration

Well I don't know how many people are still reading this blog but thats ok. Last night Emilie and I got engaged! Both of us and our families are very excited and can't wait to start building a life together. We are so excited to see so many of you this Christmas season. Love you all. Steve

Family

I know two posts in the same day again, but I wanted to make this one separate from the last because of how important it is. My family is great and I love them very much. My immediate family, aunts and uncles, all have been great and have in some way added to my life. I have been mentored, disciplined and loved by each one in a different way. I believe that God desired family to be more of what I have experienced and not what so many across the country and what a large majority of Swazi's have experienced. I know pat has written about this in his blog, how can people from broken families look at Father as a good thing when they have been beaten, raped, or left for dead by their father. How can someone be open to the Family of Christ when theirs is destroyed and only brings about pain. Jesus is the answer, but not always an easy one for so many.
The Family situation in Swaziland is in a bad situation, worse that the same sex marriage issues and the divorce in the US I would say. It is so important to understand the life power of family and the incredible destructiveness of your own words and actions in your own family. I am not sure where i wanted to go with this part, but i know that we all need to remember what God designed family to be like. What and who his Bride is and how that describes where we are supposed to be.


The second part of this was what i felt i was a part of while in Swaziland. I joined a family for 2 weeks and felt loved, accepted, appreciated, enjoyed, and welcome. Not only did I join the Rodgers family and become "uncles Steve" to their 3 beautiful, fun energetic children but I felt like i was supposed to be there. I know God wanted me there because there is no way i would have gotten 2.5 weeks off of 2 different jobs any other time in my life. The collective Children's Cup family was one that I enjoyed being a part of for 2 weeks. It was hard work, but there was a fellowship there and an example of Christ like living and Christian fellowship that i wish was more prevalent in our world. Again I want to thank the Rodgers for taking care of us all on our visit. I miss their three children and Ms. Joyce's great fresh breads! Charles and Kristin's excitement for life and what God is doing in and through them is inspiring, admire them as a great example of a Christian couple and as radically in love with Jesus. They Rehmeyer's are also just amazing. Their kinds are so smart, and doing a great job discipling to others. Darrin and Theresa have an endless job of caring for their own kinds and all the others that come to the care points in need of medical care and help.

Thank you so much for letting me come be a part of the work you are all doing.

Review #2

Sorry its been such a while since the last post. Its amazing how quick life is going. I though Swaziland moved fast (which it did) but it just seems a little crazier here. Maybe something to reflect on in the Christmas season. Spend more time doing meaningful things with friends and family. Remember what it is all about. Children's Cup just had a Christmas party for over 3000 OVC's. I can only imagine what that would have been like and wish I could have been there to celebrate Jesus with them too.

Back to the trip,

Obviously the game parks were good. We literally have hundreds of pictures of animals. The places we stayed went from very very nice (thanks uncle Bruce) to fun and comfortable. Highlights for me on the animals were a rhino road block that literally wouldn't let us pass them. Elephants on the side of road at 10ft. They really are so big and amazing animals. Watching a Giraffe drink water ( they have to do this crazy neck whip to get blood flowing back in their bodies. It stops when they lean down for water to prevent blood rush to the head) There were so many very fun things with driving around game parks in the crazy heat with 3 of your favorite people.

Back into Swaziland it was time to work, and thats exactly what we did. We built a playground/fort that resembles a large deck 6ft off the ground. This was no easy task since we had to dig out own post holes, mix our own cement and saw the wood and bolts by hand. Thankfully we got a generator on day 3 to speed things up. We saw 3 amazing sunsets in the first day from off our "deck" Every time, i remember wishing the sun would go down quicker (because I was so sunburned) but also thinking of how amazing God was. His design and though into everything all over the world. The landscape, the people, the country I was in had just taken hold of me. We continued work at the Fontane care point(the deck one) and also began building a the medonsa care point. We did the same thing digging holes, sawing and lots of nailing. We were unable to finish the Medonsa one but pat said that he and Rodger Raymeyer would get it done. During all the construction in the background the rest of the cup team was preparing for Invasion 06 our youth event that was put on. Plans were changing, people were constantly moving, calling, speaking about it, and mosre likely that not dreaming about it too. There was football(soccer) basketball, inflatable walls and slides, Volleyball, Live Music, and food. It was an great time for everyone involved. As a whole we were a little disappointed with the turn out of approximately 800 people, but realized more later that it wasn't about the numbers but more about what God did. God moved through people in a great way and that was all we really had asked for. God delivered.

Busy

Keeping busy for sure. I swear i will get other posts up on Swaziland and more pictures. The season is getting nuts. It was great reading The Young's Blog about the Christmas party. We all need a reminder about what its all about sometimes.

Review 1

Well there is a lot to be said about my trip out to Swaziland, and it will take me a while, so probably more than one post. First off i want to thank my Uncle Bruce who sent the three of us ( Robbie Barbara and I). It truly was a once in a lifetime trip for me( hopefully not though :)

Last night as I was telling a lot of my family about the trip more things hit me with a realization of how bad some things out there were, but also how amazing the work that Children's Cup was doing. On the first full day out in Swaziland there was an appreciation brunch for the cooks at the care points. I thought it seemed fitting to have a brunch for them because they cook everyday for the kids at the care points. Every day these women grab 50kg (over 100 lb) sacks of corn and sit over an out door fire and cook for over 200 kids. These women essentially are caring for 200 children each! 200 OVC children ( orphan vulnerable children) when they themselves might be barely hanging on. Every time We showed up at the care points they were glad to see us, always doing the same things: cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids. They are a huge part as to why Children's Cup works, these incredible women of God. It was an honor to be there to help thank these women for all the hard work they do for the children.

Shortly after the brunch Barbara Robbie, Pat and I left to go to the Manzini Hospital. After I read a blog from one of the Cup team members saying it was pretty much the saddest place ever I wasn't sure what to expect. As you would expect it is nothing like any American clinic or hospital you have ever seen. Immediately it feels sad, and broken. People are hurting everywhere and the condition of the hospital is so poor and and the care meager it made your heart ache. We went to the children's ward to visit a little girl named Pepe who Cup has been working with to help her ( she is 9 I think and has AIDS) On a bright note she was up and eating and moving around and apparently looked much better that week than she had a week prior. While that was a bright spot when we got into a much larger room with many kids it was so sad to see them all there with sores and bandages knowing that many of the kids there were dying of AIDS. I ended up sitting down next to a baby just a few feet in the door that was sleeping and just prayed. I didn't want to go any further into the room, it was to sad for me. Last night as I was talking to family though I remembered looking at my Aunts pictures and seeing all the kids at the hospital were smiling. I didn't remember seeing that while i was praying, but i was so happy to see it in the pictures. The kids have hope and it reminded me that they will be someplace better away from their broken and infected bodies and this broken world. At the time I was glad to leave the Hospital, but I was glad I saw it and more happy to see the pictures of kinds with hope left and some happiness in a very grim world.

Pepe




happy kids!

After a crazy first half of the day we left for our game parks and sightseeing part of the trip. Obviously that was a awesome part of the trip and I saw so much. The animals were amazing, our guides great and the food usually pretty good. It was a perfect beginning to a trip and kinda needed after a long flight and a very busy week prior to leaving with working both jobs and getting everything I needed ready to go.

That's all for now, busy life. Thanksgiving was great and it was wonderful to be back home with family and friends. I am so thankful for the opportunity to go to Swaziland and work with the Cup team out there. They are amazing and live their lives an great calling.

Pictures

Being back at work and suffering a little jet lag I haven't had time to upload pictures for everyone to see. However, my cousin Robbie has and here is a link to his website that has a bunch of the pictures listed. I have been thinking a lot about the trip and what effects it has had on me. It is a lot to think about and decompress but I will try to get some of my thoughts posted this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving all!!

Cousins Africa Pictures

"...in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God"
I Thessalonians 5:18

Home

Back home safe after multiple flights to get home. It was an amazing trip and I will unload it more when I have some free time. I will also be working to update some pictures on the site soon.

Busy

So we have 1 fort almost built a second one in process, and have been running around like nuts for the invasion event. We designed, painted and hung some banners in Mbabane and Manzini yesterday. Rob , Pat, Barbara and I all have some nice sunburn and things are going really well. We have had dinner with all the different families with Childrens Cup and it has been a lot of fun to hear all of the stories and history of how they came to be where they are. All of a sudden time is at a crunch, and were rushing for everything. Keep us all in your prayers for energy, organization, and getting some things done before te event. Love all.

ps we will get some pictures of the fort up sometime i hope.

pictures

Sorry so few pictures, it takes a long time to post them and we don't have a lot of that. These are from the trip to south africa with the Kloofing through a canyon, game ride, and some sightseeing/hanging off of cliffs.

Invasion event and work

Hi everyone, back in Swaziland and preparing for the youth event. We are working to do some organization, publicity and logistics stuff for the event that can all be prayed for. The event can best be described as an all day music, speaking event and game day for the youth of Swaziland. It's a beginning step to reaching a lot of the youth that Childrens Cup exists for.

Yesterday it was a little rainy but we went around to 3 of the care points to see some work that rob barbara and I are going to try to do doing. Two care points are being setup now to build forts so the children can play and the third is being eroded away by heavy rains and were going to try to fix that. The rain has slowed us down alot since it rained all night and is still raining to today but we are all in the office and Pat is catching up on some of the work here.

The conditions of Swaziland are very different in regards to housing and developement. Some areas look nice and have more or less regular housing, and the only difference is the electric fences and razor wire on the walls. Other areas though are jsut broken. There are houses made out of pallets, dirt, rock whatever can be found. Up by one of the care points we saw houses that were smaller than my den back home. Yet despite the housing or the dirt roads that most people would consider some serious off-roading the people are joyfull.
The attitude of most the people we have met or talked with is joy, happines and being content. Unfortunatly I think most of that masks so many of te problems plauging Swaziland. Ben Rodgerswho we are staying with said that the HIV infection rate of the children here is 10% and he expects that he 20-40 ages are as high at 60%. Aside from the disease, the number of orphan children, abused children and wives and completly broken families are amazing. Its difficult to understand how broken the home situation is because to many is what is "normal" and not discussed as a problem.
Childrens Cup is working hard not just to give a better life tthe children, but also to get communities, churches, and the adults here to take possesion of their lives and future. By working with them to build care points for food and education and not just giving it to them the people have a sense of ownership over what is going on and its the beginning of the culture change that is needed. Pat was explaing to us yesterday that the care points that are doing the bests are the ones that have taken hold of this shift and are workin for their community. Its all about what we can give out of ourselves to others. Our reward in heaven is standing with the people we have worked with and changed their lives by telling them about Jesus. As Ben put it last night: we all have something to give. At the very leat we have time, money, skills. knowledge, friendship. There is no excuse not to give of ourselves.

Post Safari Update

What do you do when a Rhino crosses the road? Chase it. At least thats what we did. We saw a whole bunch of stuff this morning, including giraffs, rhinos, zebra, impalas, and even some elaphants. We tracked some lions for while but we couldn't find them and decided to lok for other stuff instead.

Today we leave the first game park and head south to one more and stay overnight before we head back into swaziland tomorrow to start all of the fun stuff with the kids. Rob and I havebeen charged with building a fort for the kids near one of the care points. Maybe we are a little cocky from our tree building days but we just wanted to know how many floors he wanted :)

Thats all for now, going to clean up before we head out.