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!

A talk about James

On Sunday our pastor, Mark, was talking on James, since he's been doing a series there. This time it was James 5:1-6.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

Sounds like a fun passage to present, huh? He began by expressing that most of us don't consider ourselves rich and so it's easy to pass over this section thinking that it doesn't apply to us. But when we define "rich" as "having more than we need," almost all of us realize that we are rich, especially when we consider the world economy. James is talking to those who have more than they need, explaining that the "riches" they trust in are rotted.

So is James blasting the wealthy for being wealthy? No, not really. The question we need to ask is Why does God give us more than we need?
Mark gave a great illustration: Suppose you are little Billy's parent. You decide to take little Billy and his friend little Johnny to the park for a picnic. They each bring their lunches. Little B and little J each pull out their peanut butter and jelly sandwiche, apple, and juice box for lunch. When they are finished, little Billy (your son) reaches in his bag and pulls out a bag of cookies. Little Johnny doesn't have a bag of cookies. As a parent, what are you hoping little Billy will do? Share his cookies with his friend, right? And you will be so proud with little Billy gives 4 cookies to his friend and gives 4 cookies to himself.

So when God gives us more than we need, it's not really our need He has in mind. Rather, He's thinking about the needs of others. And what a proud Father He is when we share our bag of cookies.

Joshua and I really enjoyed this talk and are praying for and looking for opportunities to share what we have been given. May you be blessed with the same opportunities.

Memorial Day Weekend

We have had a very enjoyable weekend. At lunchtime on Friday Joshua's boss let the office go home and start their weekend with the afternoon off. Big surprise for us! We didn't think that would happen! So after cleaning the house that afternoon, we were free to enjoy the weekend!

Of course, it's been raining the whole weekend, starting Friday. But we have made the most of it. On Saturday we took the dog rollerblading and then went to a 6th grade graduation party at a friend's house. And we didn't have to come home early to do homework! How great is that?

On Sunday we got to celebrate new life as 6 people from our church were baptized. Since our church meets at a community center near a park, after the second service we walk over to the community pool there at the park and baptize there in the pool. We had two children and 4 adults make a public confession that they are followers of Christ. They each wrote in their own words about how they became a Christ follower and an emcee read their story so that we could all celebrate with them. It was sprinkling the whole time, but that didn't stop people from coming down to celebrate. It was such a special time. What a blessing to be able to share in the lives and in the special moments in people's lives.

Today it is still sprinkling off and on. We've just been relaxing and enjoying the time off. We had a very festive Memorial Day breakfast.Happy Memorial Day!

Graduation!

My brother graduated from UT this past weekend. I can't believe how fast those years went by! I am so proud of him and all he has done. He's a really great guy and I'm proud to call him my brother.We had a great time all getting to be together for his graduation and hanging out with some of his friends. Matthew plans to stay in Austin for the next year until some of the high school guys he works with in Young Life graduate. Then he plans to go to Costa Rica for about a year and start up a Young Life club down there.

We had to humor the parents and pose in front of the Bevo. But don't worry, we showed our Aggie pride with a Gig 'em. =)

More thoughts on James

James 1:25
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

This verse says to me that living the Christian life is not about memorizing a set of rules, but about looking up on the truth of God until it is seared on your heart and in your mind and you can't forget it. It's about knowing the truth so that when you are faced with decisions to make and difficult situations, you can respond in the way that is pleasing to God.

James explains that what we do will show if we have been look intently at the perfect law. Our behavior will show if we are effectual doers or forgetful hearers. And the one who walks in the law of liberty will be blessed in what he does.

What do my actions say about me today? Do I remember, as I go about each day, the things that I have read in God's word?

Finished!

Another semester is finished! Yay! We survived!

Joshua had his final presentation on Monday night where he "wowed" the architects with his project. He did a fabulous job!

Sarah finished today with her 4th final. Whew.

So what's next? Joshua is going back to work full-time. Sarah will be taking almost 3 weeks off of school before her summer class starts. She will keep working and catch up on housework, new recipes, and reading. She starts her practicum at the seminary next Tuesday!

Another semester older, another semester smarter.

Ahhhh! Finals!

Yesterday pretty much all I did was study for the 2 finals I had today. They were both hard. Basically, my brain is tired. I've crammed all kinds of information from this semester in there and now I want a break. But I still have 2 finals next week. So I'm trying to get motivated to keep studying...

Joshua is on the final stretch of his project. He presents on Monday night. So this weekend will be no fun as he has to work on that and I have to study.

Why are we in grad school again?

Reflections on James

Our pastor is preaching through James right now and in our home groups we are also going through James to deepen our study of the book. I thought I would share some reflections from time to time. Here's the first one.

James 1:19-20
But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

Can you imagine how different relationships would be if we applied this more often? What great parents we will be if we apply this when we have kids! And it starts right now setting good habits in our relationship together. So what I need to do everyday is ask myself:

1. Today was I quick to hear Joshua? Did I listen to his concerns, his ideas, his frustrations? Or was I busy making sure he heard all of mine?
   
2. Today was I slow to speak? Did I seek to understand Joshua first before trying to be understood? Did I really listen or was I thinking of how I would respond? Was I quick with a response without really trying to listen to him?
3. Today was I slow to anger? Did I jump to conclusions and get angry? Did I weigh each situation to decide if it was worth fighting over? Was I willing to "drop it" in order to promote peace?

We probably all know that person who listens a lot and speaks less, but when he/she does speak, you listen up because it is important. I want to be a person like that. I want to weigh my words and not spill them out carelessly. I will have to give an account of every word spoken, so being slow to speak is probably a really good idea!

Furniture by Joshua

Joshua took a furniture design class this semester. When he started, I gave him a list of pieces of furniture I would love for him to make for our house. I didn't get it all, but he did make some cool tables for us. Here is his handiworkThis second table he designed to fit in this corner that we have by the downstairs bathroom. I was having trouble finding a table to fit there, so he just made me one!He's so good at this!

Only 1 week of school left for Joshua and 1 1/2 weeks for Sarah! Joshua has just one project to finish up - the hospital he has been designing. Sarah turns in a project tomorrow and then has finals Friday, Monday, and Wednesday. The semester has flown by! We can't believe it is almost summer break. We were just talking about something that we did last summer...then it clicked that that was a year ago!

So we've been living in Arlington for close to a year and a half now. I would not say we would have chosen to live here if we had not come for school. But life is pretty good and we have some friends that we love. We are both getting a good education in our respective fields and have jobs that support us. The nations do call to us though...

Arlington News

So, what has been going on lately with us? Well, the semester is coming to a close, which means that projects and papers are due. So we are busy little beavers trying to finish stuff up. Then tragedy struck last weekend.

Well, it's not really a tragedy, just "too bad." Our truck got broken into and Joshua's laptop and iPOD were stolen. Yeah, it stinks. What we are really sad about is that his semester's worth of school projects was on that laptop. So now he has to try to put together a presentation from about 2 files that he could recover from other sources. He's been very optimistic about it, but we are sad that his work is gone. We filed the police report and all but nothing so far about our stuff. Insurance should cover something so we will find out. Fortunately, all of our pictures from our trips are either backed-up on CD at here at the house or on my laptop. So nothing like that was lost.

Besides that the other interesting thing is that we have 2 couches and a love seat in our living room! Haha! My parents gave us their old set and we are waiting to donate the one we have been using. So right now we have lots of seating room...sometimes we sit on different couches just because we can! =)

Yesterday we took a break from studying and went to the park to throw the football for a while. The wind here is crazy right now, so we didn't try the frisbee. But we had a little picnic for dinner before tackling more homework. Now I am procrastinating getting back to reading my textbook. Somehow updating the blog and checking email just seems to be more fun.

Well, have a wonderful week. I will try to keep this updated a little bit more. And if you are ever in the area, give us a call!

Book Corner

Just in case anyone is looking for a fun summer read, we suggest Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. He writes in a light, conversational style and keeps you laughing and pondering. He discusses his spiritual discoveries in a very non-typical way. Sarah ate it up and Joshua is reading it now. We are also starting to read together another one of Donald's books Through Painted Deserts which looks like it will be enjoyable as well.

Check it out!

Wedding and a baby (almost)

Hello friends!
Last weekend we got to go to the wedding of the girl who was Sarah's best friend in junior high and high school. We had so much fun seeing Heather and getting to meet her husband. They had a beautiful reception and Sarah got to see some of Heather's family who she hadn't seen in years. Good times.

We also got to visit our friends Melody and Jesse (who we met in College Station). They are expecting a baby in May! We are so happy for them! We got to see their nursery and catch up on what has been going on in their life. Isn't she so cute! I love it!

What's up with the Seefeldts?

I guess it's about time for another update...just in case someone checks this who doesn't get to hear stories of our life. School is still keeping our noses to the grindstone. Josh is upstairs right now designing a hospital for one of his classes. I've been reading St. Augustine's On Christian Teaching for a book review for my New Testament class. Joshua still needs to tackle his cardboard chair project - yes, ladies and gents, he's going to make a chair out of cardboard! That should be an interesting addition to our ecclectic living room furniture collection.

The exciting news for me is that I have been accepted to start practicum in the summer! This is a part of my counseling program at the counseling center on campus. We have 3 semesters of practicum where we watch other students counsel for one semester and then get to do it ourselves for 2 semesters. Yay! I'm really excited!

Last weekend we went to Houston to see "Wicked" with my family. So fun! We really enjoyed the "true story of the witches of Oz." And I got to see my cousins and aunt and uncle from Colorado. We forgot our camera, so hopefully I can get some pictures from mom.

One crazy thing that happened last weekend, too, was a crazy skin problem Josh started having. We thought we had bed bugs. We woke up one morning with bites on us. Then Josh got more the next night. Then the bites started getting worse and worse and turning into some kind of rash. He was still sure he was getting bitten at night. We washed all of our sheets, turned our room upside down cleaning and vacuuming and moving stuff. We tried to find anything that would be carrying bugs. We researched what to do online. The rashy bites kept getting worse. And finally I made him an appointment with a dermatologist. And the verdict...

POISON IVY!!!

He must have gotten it mowing one day last week. So we don't have any bugs in the house and Josh now has medicine to take care of the rashes. Man is he allergic to poison ivy!

So that was our excitement.
Have a happy Easter!

Here we are in North Africa over Spring Break. If you are interested in our adventure, let me know and I can email you about it. Needless to say, we had a great time. We love to travel!

Here we are dancing at a friend's wedding. I thought it was a nice picture and decided to share.

House Pictures

Okay, so I promised forever ago that I would post pictures of our new place. Finally I am keeping that promise! Let me give you a little...and I mean little...tour. (Not that our place is little, but the photos are few!)
This is the view looking in from the front door. This is our living room/dining room. A big place for entertaining. To the right is the staircase. Straight across is the back door that goes out to our carport and little paved patio.

This is our fireplace! We have enjoyed many fires this past cold winter.

This is my new dressing table in our bedroom. I love it! I have lots of drawers to keep all my stuff in and space to leave my makeup out!
Right now I don't have a picture of our room. It was kinda messy when I was taking pictures. But here are the curtains I made for our room...
So that's a nice peek at our place for now! Joshua just made some great tables in his furniture class, so I'll have to get some pictures of those up soon.

Can we say slacker?

Wow, I have been a really bad blogger lately. I keep waiting to put up a new post until I download my pictures to put up. But then I keep forgetting to download pictures. And then there's all that studying and doing work stuff. That totally gets in the way!

But we are still around. We have finally gotten settled in our new house and loving it. School is going fast and furiously, but has not left us in the dust yet. Joshua had a night class in Dallas on Monday nights, so I try to work really hard and get lots of work done. That, or I make phone calls after 9pm when I have free minutes. =)

I will work on getting some pictures up. I hope all is well wherever you are!

Snow Day!

It's snowing! Joshua and I had no idea we were supposed to get snow. This morning we were downstairs making coffee when I heard what sort of sounded like rain. When we looked outside it was all white! And it's still coming down!

These are from outside our front door. Sammy wasn't so sure about this cold white stuff. He did run around a bit though.

As I'm writing this it's coming down pretty hard and with good sized flakes. This is so great! Most school districts have closed up here and UT Arlington is also closed. So when Joshua gets off for the afternoon we are planning to have a snow play day! Right now I have the fire going and am still in my pjs. I don't think I'll be running any errands this morning, but I will do my work.
Hope everyone is having a great day.

Ice storm

Some of you may have heard about our ice storm this weekend! I think it was actually worse in Cleburne (where we were) than here in Arlington, but there is still ice all over. This morning it was 25 degrees when I checked the weather at 10am. The high for today is supposed to be around 31. Last night we had rain, which meant icy roads and stuff. When I took Sammy for a walk around 10:30 there were still a few icy patches on the sidewalk, even though the sun had been out all morning.This is my Tahoe bumper after I came back from the store at 11:45. On the drive home I kept hearing these crunching noises from the back of my car and when I got home I realized why! Haha! The back was covered in ice! And it's a decently thick layer (I mean, considering it's Texas!).
The sun has been melting the ice this morning, so I'm sure we will be back to normal in no time.

Disciple Now!

This past weekend Joshua and I were leaders at the Disciple Now retreat at Clayton's church in Cleburne. We had so much fun! I didn't get any pictures of Josh's guys, but here are my girls.
That's our group! I had 11th and 12th grade girls and they are awesome!

On Saturday afternoon we played with inflatables at the church. The best was this one where you put on this inflatable suit that looks like a transformer and wrestle your opponent. I did it twice.

When Joshua and I challenged each other I totally beat him 2 out of 3!









The study we did with the students was one based on the verse in 1Timothy 4:12 that says "Do not let anyone look down on you for being young, but set an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." In 5 sessions we broke down that verse and talked about how they could set an example and leave an impact in each one of those areas. It was really good and the students really liked it.
Sunday afternoon we drove back to Arlington. We hardly even unpacked before we crashed and slept for a while. Great weekend.

Engaged...

Ashley and Ross are now engaged! Yay! He proposed last Tuesday and some friends and her parents met them at Papasitos afterwards. She was surprised and excited and very happy. They are looking at getting married in August.

Showing off our rings! Haha!

We are still here! I have wanted to post pictures for a long time now, but I don't ever seem to have my camera, computer, and cable in the same place at the same time! The trouble with have a 2-story house is that you always seem to leave something you need on the other level from where you are! I guess the good news is I'm getting exercise! =)

A quick update: This is our last weekend before school starts! We have had many projects at the house and Joshua has been pulling long hours at the architecture office. He will start back at school on Tuesday the 16th and I will go back on Friday the 19th. This weekend we are leaders at a high school Disciple Now retreat in Cleburne at our friend Clayton's church (he's a youth pastor there).

We have other exciting things to post and pictures of the house to post. Maybe I can get to it after my meetings this afternoon! Hope all is well!

love, Sarah, Joshua, and Sammy

Christmas with the fam

Here we are, Christmas evening just after eating dinner. Don't you love the matching Santa hats?

A White Christmas

We got to spend Christmas in Denver with Sarah's side of the family again this year. Getting there was an adventure, though. After waiting in the airport for 5 hours, our flight from San Antonio to Denver was cancelled because of a broken part. They rescheduled the flight for 7am and we got a hotel room there in SA. We had to get up at 4:45 the next morning to get to the airport and get our bags all checked in. After that we made it to Denver no problem.

Colorado was as white as you can imagine!


During the day the weather was nice and not too cold. We didn't really even need to bundle up with scarves and hats. Then Christmas eve it snowed a light, steady snow. So beautiful.






Here we are enjoying a good snowball fight with my cousins, dad, and brother.
The guys built a snow tunnel through this pile of snow and my grandmother and I built two snowmen.


So much snow fun!

We've moved!

We are officially moved and in our new place. We love how much space we have! And Sammy loves the stairs! Unfortunately, he had to give up his back yard, but he's been a good sport about it so far and with a park about 10 minutes walking from the house, we'll just make sure he still gets to run around.
Much to Sarah's dismay there are still boxes all over the place. Things are slowing getting put together and we do have some paint on the walls. But Sarah is ready for everything to be set. Once that happens we will post pictures.

Now it's time to get a fireplace set so that we can start a fire in our new fireplace!

Merry Christmas from Connect Church staff!

We're in boxes! And taking finals!

We are getting things packed up and ready to move! Of course, it's going slowly since I still have two more finals to take. I took a really hard one this morning and two more tomorrow. And so much packing to do! Sammy really isn't much help. He tends to take things out of the boxes.

Almost there...keep going...so ready to move!

Snow!

Snow here! Our backyard has snow all over! The car doors got stuck shut because of ice! It's so exciting! Of course, it will all be gone tomorrow. But it was fun while it lasted!

(Sorry no pictures, Josh left the camera at school.)

Brrr!

Winter Weather is here! Last night the temperature dropped and this morning we have ice! Dallas/Fort Worth area is under a severe weather warning all day today. When we woke up the temp was about 31 degrees and will be dropping during the day. Most of the private schools are closed today, along with the community colleges and UT Arlington. There was no announcement for Southwestern. However, the weather channel said not to drive unless it is an emergency and class does not count as an emergency. So it looks like I will be spending the day at home in my sweatpants! Funny how just last night I was complaining about how I don't have enough time to get done everything I want to do....

Hope everyone is doing well. The semester is wrapping up and we are trying to keep up. Today I actually had a couple of assignments due that I stayed up late working on. Grr. Oh well, they are finished. The last day of classes for me should be Dec 5th, unless they add another day for bad weather. I think Josh's classes end that week too. Joshua doesn't have any final exams, just two final projects. I have three finals on Dec 12th and 13th.

Have a great day and bundle up!

Movin' on up!

The new news is....
We have a new place to live! For those of you who have had the chance to visit us in our dear little duplex, you know that although our house is great, the neighborhood isn't so much. But, never fear! We will shortly have a new address!
We have found a townhome in a great block of townhomes and will be moving in next month. It is a two-story place with about 15oo square feet of possibilities! We are so excited! It really makes it tough to sit down and study for finals and write research papers when all I want to do is plan and pack and dream about decorations and arranging furniture.

Anyways, we will email out the new address when we move in. And then you should plan a visit to come see the new place!

much love,
Joshua and Sarah

Another Dallas Weekend

Last weekend we went to the architecture convention in Dallas with Jack and JoAnn and their dog Gracie. Before the convention Gracie came over to play with Sammy. They had so much fun running around our backyard and playing tug-a-war.


Sammy has been waiting for a friend to come play in his backyard!











Then on Friday we headed over to Dallas. Since we had the dogs, we stayed a little ways away from the Convention center in a hotel that allowed dogs. Joshua and Jack went to their lectures and classes and JoAnn and I hung out at the hotel and walked the dogs. On Friday night we had dinner in the West End with some people from Jack's firm. We got to ride the train, the Dart, into town. It reminded us of being in Europe again.
Saturday the guys went back to lectures and we met them for lunch. Then Jack went back for one more class and Joshua, JoAnn, the dogs, and I walked around town looking at monuments and sculptures.
Water Crossing! Everyone over! No complaining!

We got caught in the stampede outside the convention center, but don't worry, we are all fine now.


Thanks for a fun weekend, Jack, JoAnn, and Gracie! Come back and visit us again soon!