retreating and visioning

is visioning a word? spell check isn't pointing out that it isn't so i'm going with is.

this week we went on a strategic planning retreat. a great friend and amazing leader from winshape wilderness came out to facilitate. sometimes just being in her presence makes me feel better about life. she's someone from home. i love it.

tammy seems to be an expert on teams, vision, strategy, or maybe she's just an expert on facilitating things. at any rate, she did a fantastic thing with us. THANK YOU tammy!!!

we spent about three days talking about the vision, mission and plan for our organization. it's all at once frightening and exciting. we talked about 10-year plans and goals. we haven't talked specifics about that before. it's crazy how it makes the day-to-day easier and more exciting when you know where you're going and why you're doing the things you do. again, thank you.

we stayed at a house in the rift valley. people keep asking me where it was and i don't really know how to describe it. i never remember places and how to get to them when i don't drive there. and i've not driven myself on any of these roads before even though i've been there. the area was beautiful! i love living in kenya so much. we were in the hills so it was cold in the morning and at night and really hot during the day. our last night at about 4:30 a.m. the sky fell apart with a huge downpour. i was sleeping under a tin roof so the loud sound woke me. when the sun rose i looked outside, but couldn't see anything because of the low clouds and the thick rain. lovely. i tried to let it lull me to sleep, but my thoughts stayed with the muddy, rocky roads that got us to the house. the rain cleared up during breakfast at which we celebrated clay's birthday with chapati, eggs, bacon, and chai. delish! and, don't worry, we made it safely down the mountain. the mud was already dry. :)

this is the view from our porch. great rift valley. stunning. God is so good.

after the rain. you can almost smell this picture. ok, well, i can remember the smell anyway.

our retreat was from sunday to tuesday and the friday before was the football (soccer) finals. the school where most of my youth group kids attend was in the final. sadly, they lost the game to a team they've already beaten twice. such a heartbreaker. here's a pic of me giving relationship advice (ha! as if i knew anything about relationships!) during the game. and then all the fans on the field doing the soccer cheer one final time. i LOVE their soccer cheer. it gets me really psyched and i'm not even a student there, nor have i ever played soccer. except that once on the intramural field when i ran AWAY from the ball and then that other time in Western where i just laughed the whole time and ran around.

thanks for reading about me! keep praying!!!