Cracker Barrel

Liz got hitched!

Liz Shaw is Married. Just thought you should know ;)

She is now Mrs. Zack White!

Tiff, Sarah Francisco and I drove down to see it and had an amazing time.

Where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty!

Well, the 20 week check-up and ultrasound went very well, and Liberty Jane Robbins is expected to arrive on Feb. 22! Very excited!!!

The Art of Living

Life has been kind of strange.

Wondering when I'll get a job. Getting more involved with my church that meets in a comedy club haha. Missing New Zealand and wondering if I will ever get to go back. I mean, I want to go back next year, but I don't know what God's plans are for me regarding that...

I feel kinda stuck in life. But I know this past year hasn't been a waste. It was hard, but I see God's hand in it. It took my Growth Group yesterday to get me thinking about all the ways God is using me for his purpose and currently making me available to serve in many areas. And of course, the whole trust and dependence thing. A lesson that I will always have to re learn over and over.

I have been doing some art, but I'm trying to break out of this fog of discouragement. Here's some of what I've been working on this past year...

And this is a picture that I'm still working on, of the trinity. Not sure what direction the painting will be...horizontal, vertical, or whatever.

-Cara

Tiny Toes!

At left, if you can make it out, is an ultrasound image of a foot and 5 tiny toes...belonging to baby Steiner who will have been growing inside me for 19 weeks tomorrow! I was waiting and waiting for when Tiff found to set up a date when people could get together that worked with my youth schedule so that I could tell whomever it worked for in person before it had to come out via less personal online channels. So that event has finally happened, and I had a wonderful evening with Tiff, Cara, Sara B-B :), and Laura Keller, eating good soup and frolicking in the park and old college stomping grounds (TAGGARTS ice cream!!!). But now it's time for the rest of you to just have to make the discovery electronically wherever the news reaches you first, whether this blog or facebook or whatever! So now along with ongoing youth ministry planning and events, and keeping up with our little Amish mini farm produce and canning, I'm also trying to fit in self-taught curriculum on natural childbirth and prenatal yoga exercises to make sure my mind and body are both all ready for that big event! :o) Love to you all! ~Tara and Baby Steiner :o)

Home sweet house!

"Home sweet house," to quote Yul Brenner as the King of Siam! Greg and I are now in possession of keys to the house we own, and its quite exciting and a bit overwhelming. As much as we know this is the house God led us to, and as amazing as it is to realize we are homeowners, we made sure to listen to "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" beforehand. Y'know... longing for a heavenly country and all that! Its weird to be a grown-up with a husband, a house, and a baby on the way... but its so much better than I ever thought possible! The Lord is amazingly good, and He sure keeps life interesting with all the twists and turns of existence, in His infinite wisdom :)

Hopefully it won't be too long before I can find a date for the house blessing, and anyone able to come is welcome! We want to combine a day to pray through the house and bless the property with a day to pray over and bless the baby. Kind of like a house-warming, but more. And the plan is to celebrate the day we bless the baby annually from here on out, as a milestone to celebrate how the Lord has worked in and through our child. Kind of like a birthday, but not.

I am doing well, but trying not to drown in deadlines! Please pray that I have wisdom in how to accomplish (and prioritize!) everything in a balanced way (and on time!). Everything is going great with the pregnancy, but of course I need to pay attention to when my body has to rest. We are blessed to have all of September to finish our move, however the publisher deadline for book content is Oct 1st - this means translating it all this month! I'm not sure how classes are going to be arranged this fall. Looks like I'm tutoring English Lit & Composition, and possibly teaching two different times of youth beginning Spanish. The premier for the Reelate Film project has been pushed back, but I've still got a lot to put together (slow going as a rookie filmmaker!).

Its so good to hear what everyone's up to! The blog sure seems like a good way to keep eachother updated! Much love! ~Alex~

A Video that Laura Took

I had to put this video online because it was so funny. It was staged, but it's still funny. For those of you who haven't met Sara's fiancé yet, here he is, live and in action.

Cara the Moderator

Okay, just so you know, I put the post that Laura made in a comment out for everyone to see ;)
And I grabbed Tara's post off of the old site so for everyone to see as well.
It's so good to know what's going on in your lives. Love ya!

-Cara

Where has Tara been???

So the fact of the matter is that you all have gotten together a whole lot of times, and as I can remember I haven’t made it to one. No, I’m not avoiding you, I haven’t committed some heinous crime that I’m now on the run for under a new identity (although I flee across the border for 10 days…), and I’m not dead yet. But I AM a YOUTH PASTOR, aaaaahhhhhhh! Which, in my specific postion, has meant usually 3 evenings per week set aside for regular youth meetings of each age group, and many Saturdays and Sundays reserved for things like retreats, special events, service projects, special services for morning worship, and on and on. So the odds have just been that everytime ya’ll have something planned, you can bet I already have some staff meeting, or youth campout, or children’s ministry event that I”m already committed to. But I gave Tiff the tentative go-ahead that I pretty much have most September weekends looking clear right now, and she promised that you all would be trying to come up with a date that would work for others to have a get-together while you were out having Mongolian BBQ without me….so I’m still waiting on the results of that! :o)

So an overview update for now, because I have no idea how far behind I actually am in catching some of you up: In the picture I posted is my husband Denver, with whom I will be celebrating 2 years anniversary in about a month! (and actually, that was probably the last time I saw some of you, at my wedding!). And then Emily, my sister, who is now 11 years old. My portion of the adoption was finished last October after a VERY long process…if any of you are ever interested in adopting, whew, you can ask questions and vent frustrations to me, there are a LOT of hoops to jump through! Then this spring Denver completed his requirements for a Step-parent adoption, so now both of us have complete full rights as parents. (Actually, it’s really weird, because the way adoption works, you get a completely new birth certificate, with your names inserted as the actual birth parent. So her birth certificate now lists me as the mother at age 15, and Denver as the father at age 16!).

The vacation to Cancun was planned as a celebration of the finalization of all the adoption stuff, sort of a reward to Em for getting through it all. Denver’s sister and brother-in-law came with us, and we all had a great time together—and we just really needed to get away from “life” and work, at least I did!

Last summer we purchased a sort of mini Amish farm, 3.6 acres, between Kidron and Orrville where we live now. The house was Swartzentruber Amish (the most conservative level), so completley bare, no wiring or plumbing (but a very nice 2-seater outhouse), very small and plain. Our plans are to use that house as a start and do some pretty heavy addition and remodeling, so we have a builder who is working on our plans and hopefully they will be finalized this week and we can apply for our loan and get things moving. It’s been a long drawn-out process. But there are some nice perks to the place we’ve been enjoying already, like a nice grapevine I’ve canned juice and jelly from, raspberry and black raspberry bushes that produced enough this year to also make jam from, and we started a garden that has given us lots of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers so far, and we planted a strawberry patch that will start producing next summer. So yeah, call me Farmer Tara, I really enjoy the feeling of being able to produce some of our own food for our family! Oh, and there’s a big barn and fenced-in pasture that will be horse-worthy once we move in, that’s a big plus!

So that covers some of the biggest things that some of you might have missed out on since it’s been so long. And I might have other things that I should save so there’s still something to talk about if we do get together in the next month (just to keep the carrot out there so you still have a reason to want to set a date that works for me!). So yeah, that’s life :o) Love ya’ll, even if I’ve been absent!

My little family, on a dock at Sunset during our Easter Break vacation to Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Chichen Itza, and Tulum, Mexico.

-Tara

THe major thing that is on my mind is "the Shack." Have any of you read it? I enjoyed the book because it helped me get out of the box that I crammed God into. I got it in Feb after 3 different People that I know are good Catholics mentioned it. Recently, however, I have read/listened to a few articles that have brought out disagreements with Christianity doctrine,etc. I am ashamed for a number of reasons: 1 that I didnt listen to the red flags that went up a few times. 2 that I encouraged others to read it and potentially be misled. 3 that no one else who read it had a problem with it until now (or at least voiced it to me) My grandma mentioned that there was some questions and she wondered what the Church's teaching on it was. i kinda blow it off thinking "well she's old fashioned and doesn't want to think of God as a Big, Black woman." But that wasn't it at all. Anyway thanks to ALex Robbins, I did some recearch and would ask that if any of you are reading it (or planning to) to do so with open mind on some things but not to compromise what you know is true. That is what I mentioned to those that I know read it. The fact that I read it with a strong Catholic CHristian perspective.FInally and totally not related- I saw no big bird doing figure eights, but I am going to a mini-family reunion today. My grandma from FL (who's husband dies in May) is up visiting and her cousin, brother, sons and nephews and granddaughter (me) will be there to celebrate together. Celebrate what you may ask- LIFE, LOVE, Faith (PRAY) because we can and it's so rewarding to understand different people.

LOve, Laura

Update on Becca

Hi Girls! I just wanted to let you guys know that I am moving to Kent this weekend to start my graduate program in rehabilitation counseling. So if you guys could pray for all the transitions that I have going on in my life right now-moving into a new apartment, starting a different grad program, but most of all pray that I will find good Christian friends as I feel that I am starting my support system again from scratch. Also pray for me as I find a new church home for when I can't make it to Canton to go to Cornerstone Chapel (also where Alex goes). My prayer is that same that it was when I was looking for a new church after deciding to leave First Friends which is that God leads me to a church that is where HE wants me to be, and not because it's convenient because I have a ride there. I want a church that is on FIRE for God and is not stuck in the traditional ways of worship that it has become routine.

FYI: As I said in my response to Tiff's e-mail about a Sept. get together. I am having a Mary Kay party on Friday Sept. 11 at 6 PM at my new apartment in Kent. It's going to a combo House-warming party and an opportunity to meet new friends. But all my OLD (lol) friends are invited as well! E-mail me for directions!

Hooray!

No, Cara, you will not be disowned. AND, this was very easy to figure out! Thanks, friend!!!

From my retreat last weekend on Kelly’s Island. I had an amazing time watching the sun rise and talking to God. This is a picture of one of the girls, Liona, who was with me that morning.

Live. Love. Pray. But why?

Hello friends!
I thought it would be great to keep in contact through a communal blog where we can talk about what’s going on in our lives, share pictures, video clips (laura, I thought of the videos you took of a few of us) and whatever.

I titled this blog Live.Love.Pray because I thought it would be a good way to share with each other about our lives, to encourage each other in any way we choose…with a joke, or funny story, with kind words, or even with just talking about what God is doing in our lives, and finally to pray for each other.

I really want everyone involved to post whatever is on their minds, whenever you want. Even if it seems completely random and crazy. Maybe you saw a bird do a figure eight in the air today and wanted to tell someone. Maybe you wanted to take a picture of the Eifel Tower because you happened to wake up in France one day. Whatev. It’s all good. I love you girls and thank God for you everyday. Blessings!
-Cara