A NEW KIND OF ADVENTURE

As a married couple, this is a new kind of adventure for us. In a little over three years of marriage, we have worked together in church ministry, primarily with college students, and that has been our focus.

That focus began shifting last summer, as we saw ourselves less involved in one particular demographic and more involved in building and facilitating strong community, leading small groups and pursuing deeper relationships with friends. At the same time, God was demolishing our ideas of what it means for us to live here in America. Our trajectory was becoming career, money, the white-picket-fence and 2.5 children, but it suddenly began to turn in another direction. Simultaneously, we were both finding that we wanted the picture of our lives to look a little differently. When we actually started talking to each other about it and realizing we were on the same page, we decided that what "different" looks like for us is living smaller and wiser, making community, generosity and compassion our goals and letting career, money, home and family fall into that path instead of the other way around.

The two biggest decisions that came out of this paradigm shift were that Mikey went to part-time so that he could work more on church ministry, and that we decided to spend summer 2009 in Africa.
Our two dreams and desires for this trip: to be useable and used in whatever way possible and to detach from some of the busy-ness, materialism and NOISE that we find ourselves consumed by here at home.