Olivia Marie

It is with so much joy and more pride than a spinster aunt probably should feel that I get to introduce the newest member of my family: Olivia Marie Custer!!! She was born on June 25 after 33 hours of labor (Fiona, you're my new hero) at 21 inches and 7 lbs 12 oz. And she's adorable if I do say so myself.

Summer Reading and Reflections

It's been a long time that a book as moved me to tears as often as Too Small To Ignore by Wess Stafford has. In it, he tells his testimony starting with the blissful months he spent living with his family in tropical West Africa, being loved on and cherished by the African village his parents were ministering to, and growing both in his conviction of God's love for him and the calling on his life to help the poorest of the poor. I actually laughed out loud at some of the stories, especially the one where a clothes donation arrives from America, and the chief, who gets first choice of course, selects old women's nighties to wear.

However, his testimony also includes the dark months spent at his MK boarding school several hundred miles away where he encountered child abuse of the foulest kind, both physical and emotional. It broke my heart and just added to the mounting resolve I felt this past year to keep fighting for children around the world. They are under so much more attack than I ever realized. Wess Stafford makes the point that the most common age in which people turn to Christ is under 18. Ask most believers today when they became Christians, and you'll receive a "pre-adult" answer. That's why he's convinced a spiritual war rages over children because the enemy knows if he can keep them from trusting God before 18, half the battle is won.

I went to BFA thinking I was serving missionaries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa and helping them stay in their ministries, and that's still 100% true. But it's so much more. I've found MY mission field in the 320 kids who attend our school, many more non-believers than I expected. So many of them have seen and experienced deep hurt already in the countries they come from: friends oppressed, families divided, war, murder, constant threat, and adamant refusal of the hope-bringing gospel. If Satan can get to them in these years, he may be able to destroy not only the ministries of their parents (who can't concentrate or ethically stay on the field if their kids are hurting), but also the spirits of these kids entrusted to BFA.

My child advocacy may not be among the poorest of the poor as Wess Stafford's is, but I believe in it more assuredly today than even a year ago! If you're looking for some not-so-light-but-excellent summer reading, I highly recommend this book.

Summer Plans

My summer is slowly taking shape, and I thought I'd put up some dates just in case any of you wonderful, loyal readers want to come to anything or possibly get together! I really want to see ALL of you this summer.

6/18: Update Evening at Grace Church Roseville in Roseville, MN
7/6: speak at Women's Missionary Stewardship at Grace Church Roseville
7/8?: leave for Nebraska, see friends and family along the way
7/11: speak at two churches in grandparents' home town?
7/13: arrive in Colorado
7/15: speak at Deborah Meeting at E-Free Church Colorado Springs, CO
7/15 - 7/17: Training at WorldVenture
7/19 - 7/23: Renewal Conference for WorldVenture
7/27: start journey back to Minnesota
8/1: speak at Cedar Creek Church in Hayfield, MN
8/4: speak at Bible Study at Hayden Heights Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN
8/4-8/8: Family Vacation (hopefully with my new little niece)

I'd love to fill in all those gaps. :-) E-mail me! Much love,
Katrina

Lizzie's Big Day

My whole reason for coming back to the states before BFA's school year was up was so that I could share in my old roommate's Big Day. It actually started 2 days earlier with the bachelorette party. Ask me sometime about how lost I got on the way there.
Here's a better shot of the beautiful bride on her wedding day:
I really enjoyed my time as a bridesmaid in the stunning blue dresses. I laughed so much! Though part of that could've been the jet lag. Rita (in the picture below) was usually the main reason for my laughter. Ooh, and they had the cutest chocolate-covered strawberries ever!
What a gentleman Ben was to help her into her shoes before their first dance and the father-daughter dance.Loved the shock when Lizzie discovered it was HER car that got smeared and not Ben's. I think he loved that, too.
All in all, a very fun day! Friends of Lizzie, if you want more pictures, see facebook.

Moving Day

I once again forgot to take pictures of the actual apartment, but it's a mess now anyway. Here are some shots of the move though. Thanks guys (AC, KK, TC, TA, HP, SS, and EH) as well as all my WorldVenture colleagues who showed up to move and pray. Love you all.

I had forgotten about the carrying the mattress down the street. It and two chairs were the only things that didn't fit into the truck. Fortunately, I didn't move far.
Enjoying my first outdoor dinner at the new place with Doner pizza. Yummm.

More of VW

As we're working on VW's final History project (a self-invented board game), he has me cutting out little circle soldiers while he works on the catapults and centurions. Of course, he only needs 4 catapults, but he's asked for 220 circle soldiers. So, I'm cutting away while he's drawing, when a parent walks in. She starts asking me about her two kids and their homework status, and naturally I put the scissors down to devote my full attention.

Barely two minutes into the conversation, VW looks up. "Hey, less talking, more working!"

Final Week

My last week at BFA for this first year hasn't exactly gone as planned. In fact, it's been rather tough in a year that's been rather filled with tough weeks. More bad things happened, and more tears were shed on behalf of students I've come to love and care for deeply. On Wednesday night, I found myself engrossed in a deep conversation with God, wondering what the point of being here was if the cost to my heart was so great. The spiritual weight felt heavy on my chest, and I went so far as to question MK schools as a whole. Were they really all that wonderful? Did I want to go back to the states and defend them to supporters and friends? "Sure, send your kids to an MK school where they'll be emotionally dragged through the mud!" I stood on my bed, peering out my skylight window, and praying over and over that God would bring more healing (theme of the year). It was a late night, and there didn't seem to be any answers, so I feel asleep exhausted.

48 hours later, and I'm still tired. I've been staying late at school and coming home to pack more boxes for the big move on Tuesday. There are errands to run, bills to pay in advance, suitcases to pack for the states, and good-byes to be said. And in the midst of this chaos, God just gave me a gift. 5 minutes ago, my work was interrupted by a pack of squealing boys out on the square. Yes, you read that right: squealing boys! I ran to the skylight over my bed to see what the commotion was, and I saw some strangely clad boys dashing around and looking behind lampposts, around the fountain, and under benches. One of them screamed louder, and the others congregated as he pulled a neon yellow hat out from under the bench with a crumpled piece of paper. He put the bright hat on his head, proceeded to read what I assume was a clue to the others, and then they all ran off squealing some more. It made me smile.

Maybe this place is a place worth investing in. Maybe these kids, who certainly have seen a lot of bad things in this world, need a haven, and just maybe BFA can still be one. I got to thinking. What if the bad things that happened this year would have happened somewhere else, where they couldn't have been caught or curbed or healed? What if being at an MK school actually was God's way of pulling them out? What if the people who are here are here for a reason this year? I may not know all the staff yet, but the ones I know really do care, and the students I know best have sensitive hearts. I feel honored to be a part of it.