This is where we will be on Friday! Bustamante or Bust! =)

We survived!

Yes, folks, we did survive the end-of-the-semester craziness. *sigh* It's good to have that over with. Of course, we have not really slowed down since then. We had Christmas to decorate for, work to catch up on, and of course preparing for our mission trip. By the way, we leave tomorrow for Mexico! We are taking a team from our church down to Mexico, to the town we visited this summer, to take shoebox Christmas gifts and to pray for the town. We are hoping to be able to go back next summer to do a VBS there, so we wanted to encourage the pastors, build our relationship with them, and pray for whatever God wants us to help do there. We are excited about the trip for sure! We are taking 27 people.
Of course, this trip in itself is a bit crazy, too. We are driving, leaving Thursday and coming back on Sunday. Yeah, it's really short. But this way we will still get to see some family for Christmas. That means that Monday morning, Christmas eve, Joshua and I will be flying to Colorado to see my family. We will be there for a couple days and then come back to whatever our normal life is.
So, if you read this post between 12/20 and 12/23, pray for our mission trip. I'll try to put up pictures from the trip in a timely manner. =)

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

To anyone who regularly checks this blog:
I'm sorry I have not posted since Thanksgiving. Talk about a busy time. Finals start tomorrow and I have been more busy these past weeks than ever. I know it will all be over soon and that I will finish well. But in the meantime I have to press through. Joshua's final project is due tomorrow and then he's finished for the semester.

Besides school we are also getting ready for the mission trip we are leading with our church. It's fun and exciting. We have our last training meeting with the team this Sunday. We are going to talk about taking our personal worship with us to Mexico. We'll share some things that we learned from our time in North Africa.

So anyways, I plan to update more thoroughly later. Over the next few days remember us in prayer as we end our semester.

Thanksgiving

This year Josh and I hosted Thanksgiving and our families came to us! It was so fun to have everyone in our house! The food was delicious and just about everyone had some sort of contribution to the meal. Then, just after we had finished eating, it started snowing! Big flakes! It didn't stick to the ground of course, but we all ran outside to take pictures. What a great Thanksgiving surprise!You can kind of see the flakes in our hair and falling down. From the left: Justin (Laurie's boyfriend), Laurie (Josh's sister), my mom, Matthew (my bro), Nila (a friend from church), my dad, Joshua, and me!
Here are the grandkids with Mamaw! We are so glad she could come spend Thanksgiving with us. We enjoy her being around.

After dessert we had a long game of Cranium turbo edition. Everyone got to laugh and I think everyone made a fool of themselves at one point or another. The worst activity in this game is when the whole team has to spell a word backwards by alternating letters. Makes even intelligent people seem dumb...

It was so great to be with our families and we are so blessed to have families who are willing to travel to see us. It was fun to cook and plan food for them and decorate the house. We got to use all our china dishes, too!

We have much to be thankful for...

Wedding fun!

The Saturday before Thanksgiving we went to the wedding of a couple in our home group at church. We have been waiting for this wedding for a while now and they were so ready to be on the other side. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was fancy and lovely, the food delicious, and, the best part, there was dancing! Oh yes, dancing! And did we ever...


Here are the girls of the home group who were at the wedding. We are a pretty good looking group!
And here we are, dressed to kill if I may say so! Josh wore his new suit and I wore one of my bridesmaid dresses (Thanks Brittany!) and black & white polka dot heels. We definitely impressed a few people who did not know we are dancers. It's about time they knew...

Congratulations Jon and Heather Fearing! (We didn't get any pictures of them)

College Station

Last weekend Joshua and I headed down to College Station to visit a friend who just started at A&M. We didn't end up getting to spend much time with him, but we still had fun seeing the campus again and checking out the old town again! I miss College Station!In Rudder Fountain! Don't get wet!

We met up with Wesley, who was down visiting his girlfriend and got to eat with them. I really wanted to eat at Zapatos, but they were cleaning or fixing the inside and it smelled bad, so we went to Fitzwilly's instead. We drove by our old apartment and hung out in Research Park for a little while in the afternoon. Such a great place!
For dinner Joshua and I got Layne's to eat on our way home. Yum, chicken!Under the Century Tree - Meant to be!

Josh and the giant hotdog man!

Date Night: Morocco

No, we didn't travel to Morocco for a date night...but we did eat Moroccan food. Last Friday night Josh and I went to a cooking class at Sur la Table in Dallas. The class was on Moroccan cuisine. Delicious! It was a hands-on class, which meant that we got to make all the food. We had lamb, chicken, couscous, salad, and rice pudding. It was really fun to learn how to cook all the food. The recipes were not too difficult and I think Josh and I could do them again. And the funny part is that it turns out the chef is a girl I went to school with senior year of high school! We had English class together! So that was fun to see her and find out what has been going on in her life.

Now we are back in Arlington. =) I'm studying for a test and Josh is at work. Tonight I have my practicum, which is going really well.

Hopefully more adventures coming soon!

Who is that cute couple?

Our neighbors had a Halloween party this past weekend. Costumes were a must so we borrowed Fred and Wilma Flintstone costumes from a friend.We decided to mix things up a little bit...
Here are our neighbors in costume. They normally look nothing like this. Interesting.

So we hung out at the party for a little while and then went back next door to go to bed. We felt kind of lame going home while there was a party next door, but we had an early morning at church the next day.

That was the extent of our Halloween celebrations!

Friends are great!

This past Thursday Josh went down to Austin to attend the architecture convention. His parents were there attending, too, as was most of his dad's firm. So Josh got to hang out with all of them and do nerdy architecture stuff! =)

Thursday night I went to dinner with some friends from seminary to celebrate our friend Melanie's birthday. We surprised her at the restaurant. It was so fun. We got to tell nerdy counseling jokes.This is not a great picture of either of us, but this is my friend Melanie.

On Friday, my co-counselor Anna took me to lunch at Mimi's Cafe, a restaurant she enjoys that she thought I would like. We had a really good time together and the food was delicious.
This is my co-counselor Anna. She is from South Korea and has been here at seminary for 2 years. She encourages and challenges me in my spiritual walk. We have fun together and share lots of cultural things.
This is Mimi's. Inside it is decorated like a European cafe. Very fun. Maybe these restaurants are all over, I don't know.

Josh got home on Saturday and had lots of things to share with me about the weekend. So we took some time to relax on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon before plunging back into school stuff.

Right now I'm working on a book evaluation due Friday. Josh had a test and homework due yesterday. Viva grad school!

Birthday Celebration

This weekend we went down to Houston to visit my parents and celebrate Joshua's 25th birthday. We enjoyed our time relaxing and visiting with my parents. Sammy got to run around in their backyard and we got to sleep in a little. And we were finally able to sit down to watch an Aggie football game...only to be severely disappointed. I hope the team practices hard this week so we don't have another poor showing like that.Sammy loves to sit in my mom's lap! He's such a spoiled dog! Do you like the tropical background? =)

On Saturday my friend from high school AC got to come over and eat with us. It was good to catch up with her about what she is doing and to laugh about some old times in high school.

Finally, we got to see the family that I used to babysit for back in high school. When I first started babysitting them, Robert was just turning 3 years old. Now he's in 4th grade, riding his bike to school, playing soccer...I can't believe it! And Rachael is almost taller than me and is in junior high. I guess she'll be able to babysit our kids some day...=)
Okay, in the picture she looks like she is as tall as me, but that's because she's sitting on a higher cushion than me.

Good weekend. Happy birthday Joshua!

Tribute to Joshua

Since Joshua's 25th birthday is Saturday, I thought I would let you all know what a wonderful man God had given me for a husband.
Joshua is a man steadily seeking after the Lord and actively pursuing the calling he has heard for his life. Not only is he diligent and persistent in his studies, but he also goes to work and provides for us, even when that means late nights doing homework. He is very talented at what he does and yet so humble you would not guess how good he is at it.
Joshua is generous with his resources and our money, understanding that it is not ours to hoard but ours to give, and yet wise to know that he should be responsible to take care of his family. He is generous with his time and willing to help me out whenever I need it, even when that means doing the stinky chores.
He serves willingly behind the scenes, doing whatever needs to be done. Many times long after I would have let someone else do it.
He teaches 5th and 6th grade boys on Sundays, not because it's always his favorite thing, but because he knows they need a man to teach them and invest in them.
He listens to me ramble, vent, complain, do mental gymnastics and crazy planning for our future. He prays for us and for our families.
He is adamant about sharing the truth of God and making sure that the truth gets said.
He longs to serve God in the nations, using his talents and skills to benefit those who have less than we do. And he is patient to know that we need this time of equipping, even when it seems like forever.
He inspired me to not grow weary, but to continue to run the race set out for me, and to continue to be conformed to the image of Christ.
He's my best friend...and the best I could ever hope for.
And he makes good coffee.Thank you, Lord God, for my incredible husband.

Birthday and Banquet

So I talked to a sweet friend last week and I was reminded that people do read this blog and I need to keep it updated...at least every so often. So here's an update.

Friday night we got to hang out with some of my friends from seminary. We went downtown Fort Worth to celebrate Scott's birthday at PF Chang's. They are a great group of friends and we had a good time.This is Scott with his chocolate birthday cake slice. The waitress brought extra forks and we all had a bite. Yum!Downtown is all lit up at night with these Christmas lights. We just had to stop and take a picture! Gotta love the "one way" sign in the back.On Saturday we did homework all morning. That evening I got to go to the Arlington Pregnancy Center's annual banquet. My home group leader, Carol, volunteers there and had a table at the banquet this year. So she invited the girls from our home group to go with her. It was a beautiful event. The food was delicious and we got to hear testimonies of lives changed. They had a silent auction at the end, but of course everything was out of our price range! We stayed for a little while and the item that people bidded the highest on was a 6 week old chocolate lab puppy! This is the group of us at our table. We all got to dress up and look pretty!
The theme for the banquet was "Crowns of Righteousness" so they had a little crown at each person's place setting. We thought they were kind of goofy, but I had the girls pose with them anyways.

Well, I think that's that for now. I'm off to go walk the dog. Have a great day!

Just for the record, I should not even be thinking about posting an update right now. I have my first test of the semester tomorrow morning, plus I'm supposed to have read a book by tomorrow that I still have about 60 pages in. I have research to do, counseling sessions to plan, and more housework than I really want to consider.

But I couldn't resist when I realized that I have not put a word out in the blogosphere in many days.

As you can probably tell, the Seefeldts are engulfed in the semester. Yes, engulfed. But the really exciting news is that Joshua found out that he can graduate in May of 2008 instead of December of 2008. Talk about a big change! We are so excited!

So, what does that mean for us besides one less semester of tuition to pay (as if that isn't enough reason for a party!)? Well, Sarah will finish her classwork in May and then do her internship to finish her program during the summer. She can't officially graduate until December, though, because there is no August graduation at seminary. (She is trying not to be bitter.) Sarah is working with a professor to figure out her options at that point on what she should do next. BUT - Joshua has the decision to make about Where does he want to work? Once we finish school there is nothing keeping us from moving for a job. So we are considering options.

This all came about this week, so it's all pretty new. Very exciting. And of course, for the planner like me, very overwhelming because I want to have it all figured out NOW!!! I'm learning to be patient, submissive, and trusting as I wait for Josh to decide where he wants to work and where we should live.

Alright, that's it for now. Back to studying...or was I reading...or is it time to start on dinner?

New Semester

The fall semester is off and running! It will be a busy one! Sarah has some of her hardest classes but she is excited about all of them. Joshua has a very different school and work schedule this semester and is getting used to the change. Neither one of us has classes at 8am this semester and we are loving that!

Sarah is in her second semester of practicum, which means that she leads a counseling group with another counselor. It is really challenging and exciting - she is finally doing what she has been studying to do! She is being stretched spiritually as she learns to really rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit as He guides her counseling.

Joshua has been in charge of a few projects at the office, which has been a new learning experience for him. He is learning a lot. Of course, he does a great job!

We'll keep you up on our semester as it goes along!

Tamara's Wedding

Congratulations to Tamara and Josh Stumpner! They got married on August 25th in Odessa, Tx. Joshua and I made the roadtrip out there to see them and had a wonderful time! Tamara was beautiful, of course, and we loved meeting her husband Josh.
The lovely couple!


We had a lot of fun dancing at the reception and visiting with friends from college. Joshua also got to see a few friends from high school, so that was great.

Morning Devotion

Here are some thoughts from my morning quiet time:

Isaiah 1:16, 17
The Lord has just finished telling Israel that He doesn't want to listen to their prayers anymore because they are not really seeking Him. They are going through the religious motions, but their hearts are far from Him. So He spells out for them what He desires from them:

• learn to do good - seek after what is good, try to learn it, you don't have to be perfect right now
• seek justice - be proactive about things being right and just
• reprove the ruthless - speak up and against evil
  
• defend the orphan - those who have no rights and no defender
• plead for the widow - one who has no one to protect her

The Lord is saying "This is what I'm all about - goodness, righteousness, kindness, compassion - and you can learn to be like me. No, good deeds won't save you, but they will draw you closer to me. And you know, this is all about a relationship, not religious motions."

And then the Lord goes on to say that if they will just obey Him, all their sins will be removed, forgiven, and as though they had not sinned. They will be provided with the best of the land. If they refuse to obey, they will be destroyed by the sword.

So not only does He continue to tell them what to do to be restored in their relationship with Him, but He also offers grace to remove their sin.

I think it's important in every relationship to understand where you stand with the other person and what you can do to get closer, if that's what you want. God realizes that and spells it out for us over and over again. Our God is so good to us.

School...almost...here

Today is Sarah's last day of freedom before her semester starts.

Joshua has until Monday.

The countdown begins...

Sorry to keep you in suspense. I did make it to the doctor last week and it turns out I had bronchitis. Not fun. But I go on medicine and am really much better now. Which is really just in time. School starts for me Friday and for Joshua on Monday. I have already bought my textbooks, but I left them in my car because I'm not ready to deal with that yet. =)

For those of you who keep up with our blog regularly and are wondering what is going on these days...Sarah is sick, sick, sick. I'm finally going to the doctor today and we'll see what the verdict is. So far Joshua hasn't gotten sick - he's still pulling long hours at work making sure everyone gets things done. =)

More to come later

Ashley's Wedding

Our good friend Ashley Rodenberger got married this past weekend to Ross Pagenkopf. It was a beautiful wedding and a very fun reception! Here are some pics!The bride and her mother before the ceremony. Don't they look beautiful?

A slightly blurry picture of Ash, Ross and her family.

A lot of our pictures turned out blurry. I'm not sure why. But here's one more!
Awww, the old married couple, as we have affectionately been dubbed! =)

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Pagenkopf! Enjoy your honeymoon!

JB Burrell - Papaw

SAN ANGELO — James Bernice “J.B.” Burrell, 91, went to be with the Lord on Friday, July 27, 2007, at home in Kerrville surrounded by family. He was a longtime resident of San Angelo and Odessa.

J.B. was born Dec. 21, 1915, in Gist, Texas, to Henry Ervin and Nora Lee Gist Burrell. He married Dot Eugenia Norman on April 16, 1939, in Miles and enjoyed 68 years of marriage to his bride. They raised their family in San Angelo. -

-excerpt from the Obituary for my grandfather - Papaw.

Sarah and I attended his funeral in San Angelo on Wednesday of this week. We drove to meet my brother in Waco, then drove together to San Angelo. The Funeral was a great time of celebrating with family the life of Papaw, worshiping his Creator and Lord- who's presence Papaw is now enjoying- and grieving the loss of his presence on earth with us.

I was most encouraged and challenged by the remembrance of Papaw's simple life of humility, love, obedience to, and faith in Christ. He led his family into the satisfying embrace of their Heavenly Father leading daily devotionals and consistently attending church. Through the generations that have followed this message and love from Papaw's Savior has been been taken around the world. Papaw's faith has truly rippled down through time and out across the nations in a way that I'm sure he never would have imagined.

Papaw was not a wealthy business man that lived a luxurious life, nor a revered theologian that meditated on the doctrines of scripture. He was a humble man that worked with his hands and walked obediently with Christ living a life of faith, hope, and love. All of which he is now enjoying the fulfillment of. He laid up for himself treasures in heaven.

We were challenged at the funeral to consider life and death, and where our priorities lie with our life left on earth and our life eternal.

Photo taken on Thanksgiving 2006 with Mamaw and Papaw

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinth 15:54-57

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

2 Corinth 4:14,15

3 years

Two days ago we passed another milestone...3 years of marriage! Yeah! We have had a great 3 years, full of adventures, many lessons learned (and still learning), lots of college and graduate classes, and many different living locations. Since getting married we have been to 4 countries outside the US, and at least 3 times to one of those countries. We have seen God provide in more ways than we thought possible and we've seen Him turn tears into singing. Sarah has been in 3 weddings and we've attended many, many more. And we've celebrated new life with friends as they've had their first babies. (No, we have not yet had any of our own...be patient).

So much in 3 years. And still so much to come. Thank you to all who have shared this time with us and walked with us through all of these experiences. God continues to amaze us as He shows us more of Himself, more of His plans for us, more of His love for His people. We get to see His love in the faces of our friends, in the supportive prayers of our home team, in the people we serve with at Connect. And we get to dream of what we will get to do with architecture, with counseling, with missions, with whatever else comes our way.

I was thinking the other day about the hymn I walked down the aisle to, 3 years ago, and how it is still our desire now.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Not be all else to me, save that thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping thy presence my light

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father and I thy true son
Thou in me dwelling and I with thee one

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and thou only first in my heart
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art

High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Son
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all

kids' camp

A couple weeks ago Sarah went to kids' camp with Connect. It was a Student Life camp in Sherman, Texas. It was fun...and exhausting. I loved getting to hang out with the girls I've been teaching for a year now. They are a lot of fun and I love them all.

Gotta love blue face paint! We were the blue squad for rec, so we went all out whenever possible.

Camp was great and it's also good to be back and sleeping in my own bed!

Wyoming!

This past weekend we went to Wyoming. It is so beautiful up there!
That's what we saw flying in! Mountains!
The conference was so great, too.  At the conference we got to see people we worked with in Guatemala, other interns, and other staff we hadn't seen in almost 2 years. We got to hear about more projects they are doing, the lives they are touching, and future plans for the offices and the glory of God. We have come home with our heads spinning about what it all might mean for us in the future.
A big thank you goes to Joshua's parents who made it possible for us to go and who joined us there to experience the great stuff. We also got to go whitewater rafting, enjoy great food, and stroll around the little town in Jackson Hole.

Update needed!

Wow! I realize that an update is way overdue! This summer class has kept me busy...as have other adventures.

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Houston to visit my parents and go to Spamalot.

It was a lot like the movie of Monty Python and the Holy Grail - basically irreverent about everything, with some very funny parts, some silly parts, and some obscene parts.
We had a great time with my parents and grandmother. Then we got to see Jesse and Melody's newborn baby, Ryleigh Ann. She is so sweet and they are so happy.

Then Sarah had more school, lots of reading, some work. Joshua worked long hours to make up for missing last Friday in order for us to go to...

MEXICO!

We went on a scouting trip with some other friends from our church to see if this town outside of Monterrey Mexico would be an opportunity for future mission trips. We left Thursday night and came back Sunday afternoon. It was a great trip! We got to speak Spanish again and hang out with Mexicans - who I love! This is Guillermo, the son of one of the pastors. He loved these little cats and carried them around everywhere - much to the cat's fear and trepidation.
Here are the ladies who went on the trip. The two girls with cowboy hats are daughters of a family we met down there. They are the "adopted" Mexican family of the man who took us down there. He has been taking trips down to this town for several years now and is excited that we might be interested in adopting the area.

So, as you can see, we've been busy. =) I'll try to post more thoughtful, reflective posts soon.
Until then, here is a slideshow to enjoy.

Birthday Celebrations

Sarah's 24th birthday was Monday, June 4th. But the birthday celebration started Friday night. We met Ashley and Ross at Starbucks for coffee and brownies. Ashley brought my birthday present and a birthday cake candle for the whole effect. On Sunday night we had planned to have our home group over for games and hang-out time since our bible study leaders are out of town. But Joshua secretly told the group that we were going to celebrate my birthday and even invited a few extra people to come over. He made me a birthday cake and we got to celebrate with several of our friends from Connect.

We look a little shiny in this picture because the air conditioner in our house isn't working. So we had 11 hot and sweaty people having fun playing games, taking turns standing by the fans! We had a great time anyway and didn't wrap up the evening until around 11pm.

Monday was my actual birthday. Joshua brought me coffee in bed and I got to open a couple of my presents from my grandmother and Josh's parents. Then I had to go to staff meeting at the office, but we had a birthday lunch for me and Joshua surprised me by meeting us there for lunch. We had a cookie cake and Rachael made me cupcakes, too. It was a lot of fun.

Of course, the downside to the whole day is that I got my first speeding ticket on my birthday. That's right, he gave me a ticket on my birthday. I guess that will keep me humble.

Thanks for all the cards, phone calls, emails, and birthday wishes!

Picnic at the park

Saturday was our first weekend with sunshine in a long time. So we took lunch and the dog to the park for some fun in the sun.

There's our football dog!