Lakehouse: Urbana 15

Urbana is the national missions conference for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and it happens every three years. This was Stephen's third and Ginger's fourth.

There was aproximately 16,000 participants at Urbana this year, mostly college students, but also a wide variety of people from around the world. We studied stories from the book of Matthew every day.

And we brought scripture to current events, including Black Lives Matter and the persecuted church around the world. 

Ginger's two favorite talks about racial issues in America:

Christina Cleveland gives a very calm talk- she's a social psychologist and has good insights about bias. I'm usually recommending this one first since it's less provocative.

Christena Cleveland - Urbana 15 from InterVarsity twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

The next speaker, Michelle Higgins, is much more intense and speaks prophetically. It's made some people super uncomfortable, and InterVarsity has been in the press a lot for her talk. Michelle thinks many people don't want to listen to the Black Lives Matter movement because they don't want anything to do with liberals or people who are pro-choice. She calls out the problem of putting politics before compassion.

Michelle Higgins - Urbana 15 from InterVarsity twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

InterVarsity was in the news after Michelle's talk, including Sojourners, Christian Post, Religion News, Christianity Today, and many more.

Michelle did several follow-up panel discussions about Black Lives Matter, and invited the students to join in a "die-in," where we marched through the hallways of the America's Center repeating chants, then lay on the floor for four minutes in memory of those killed by injustices.

Urbana dedicates a large space for students to meet mission groups around the world and find organizations that fit with their skills and passion for short or long term missions trips.

Mandy's college roommate, Lindsey, found her mission calling at Urbana '06, and was back this year to help share about Africa Inland Mission with others. Lindsey is currently living in Nairobi, Kenya, flying and fixing planes for missionary travels. 

Ginger was also excited to see a booth for Pioneers, a mission agency that employs her friends in a sensitive region of the world. 

We were excited to catch up with Lindsey, and also Texas Tech Alum Howard this week. Howard volunteers with his church in reaching out to refugees, including doing a computer skills training class. He wished that Urbana had talked more about the refugee situation, especially regarding Syrian refugees. In Texas, the government is trying to get rid of the same refugees he is trying to help. 

Ginger served Urbana for the second time as a Prayer Intercessor. The many different teams who make the conference happen send us prayer requests, and there is a prayer team working 24 hours a day in three hour shifts. 

Ginger, Kate, Anne, Lisa, Jason, Sara, Tim, and Osup.

Ginger's last prayer shift ended just in time to run to the stadium and ring in the new year with songs of praise and rejoicing with thousands of students seeking to show Christ's love to all people.

Lakehouse: Montalvo Christmas Cedar Park, TX

We spent Christmas vacation in Austin, getting to share treasured moments like Stephen's folks getting our Christmas letter in the mail. Which Rene had placed in the mailbox five minutes earlier :)

Only one day of chilly weather gave Ginger a chance to enjoy a new scarf from Honey, otherwise the weather was wonderful and warm.

The newly built Wendl house was finished this year, so the boys showed off the new space. Lukas demonstrates the work-out room-

-and Bailey shares his classic video game systems collection.

 Henry has mastered toddling, and can join in games with big sister Finley.

Sophia's life is forever happy since the family got a new puppy, Hazel.

Holidays means time for lots of treats, especially Stephen's favorite, peanut-butter and ritz crackers dipped in white chocolate. 

Everyone helped making cut-out cookies with sprinkles. (This photo demonstrates how the kids responded when Ginger said, "Smile!")

Honey and Tippy made chocolate chip cookies too. 

Ginger had fun crafting with the girls, creating a coffee shop for Barbie dolls. Sophia helped with cutting and glueing scrapbook paper.

Finley practiced cutting too, but she was best at painting chairs.

Ginger got the design plans from "My Froggy Stuff" The girls picked at the colors and patterns.

The girls even did a good job "aging" the chairs with a small amount of black paint.

Coffee shop completed!

Markus' brother Robert visited from Germany. It was fun to have everyone together for Christmas.

Lakehouse: Las Vegas NV

We last visited Las Vegas in February of 2008 for Tippy & Markus' wedding

 

It was cold, and we didn't have smart phones back then, so it was nice to visit for a whole week and figure out our way around town.

We were exited to see the fountains at the Bellagio since they were shut down the last time we came.

They go off every 15 minutes, timed to a variety of different songs.

Caesar's Palace is a staggering resort with more pools than we could count, but it was much too cold to swim.

We played games (and bought a bag of candy) at Circus Circus. Stephen's family visited here during their Disneyland vacation when he was 7. It was the only really family-friendly place in Vegas back then. 

Stephen answered a riddle at the Luxur. 

We had a romantic night at the Venetian, reminding us of another college trip to Italy.

We wished we had time to ride the rollar coasters at New York, New York but the lines were long and overpriced. 

But all Ginger wanted was a giant brownie from Hershey World.

Stephen's friend said we won the award for most selfies taken in a week, we haven't collected our prize yet...

We attended a show- after rejecting many, many Timeshare "special offers," we decided to see the Blue Man Group. Although we were not in the splash zone, we did get to participate in covering the entire room with toilet paper.

But perhaps you are wondering if we won big? Let me tell you the trick to gambling in Las Vegas.

1. A lucky T-shirt

2. Find the machine with the most cash inside

3. Win three dollars!

4. Celebrate

Our first side trip was the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, featured in Pawn Stars.

We also spent one day at the beautiful Red Rock Canyon.

 After seeing the museum, there is a loop drive and many places to stop, admire, and hike.

We didn't take a hike, but enjoyed some easy climbs.

Stephen's cousin Amanda and her family have been living in Las Vegas for several years. Her husband Jerrod just retired from the Navy, and now he gets to take care of their kids, Makinley and Tyler. Amanda just got promoted to Major, and works as an intelligence officer at Nellis Air Force Base. The last time we saw them was on our Austin to Boston road trip when we stayed at their house in Shalimar, FL, when Makinley was just a baby.

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