John and I on the Jesus bus in Atlanta

Some of the students joining us for a cookout at Lake Wauberg over the weekend.  Can you believe how beautiful this spot is?  The university owns it and students and affiliates can use it for free . . . volleyball . . . canoeing . . . watch out for the gators!  (A year ago this time my sis, bro and bro-in-law tipped their canoe in this lake . . . it was a good laugh for those not trying to hold a cooler and camera out of the water.)
And of course . . . the token picture of Sam.  He loves to play with his Dad!  

Navs in HotLanta

Last week, 18 of us from UF spent our Spring Break serving at a mission called Rescue Atlanta. RA is a church focused on ministering to the homeless, poor, broken, addicted, outcast, unwanted, etc of Atlanta....not your normal church.

We did all we could to help the church staff (most of whom were once homeless and drug addicted) for the week. We cleaned the walls, scrubbed the showers that are daily available to the homeless, prepared meals, brought food to the streets, prayed for people and spent a lot of time talking with those often overlooked. AND we rode "Jesus Buses" around the city!! (watch the video and you'll know what I mean) RA goes around town to pick up the homeless for church so imagine the 18 of us --mostly white-- traveling around the city in a Jesus Bus to pick up our friends--mostly black! Awesome.

We had a great time growing together as a community and having our hearts opened to those WE often fail to love as Jesus would.

Here's the video recap:

same same but different

This is apparently a vietnamese saying. I am not sure all the origin, except for that it refers to when something is the same, but different.

That is how I feel these days looking ahead.

We are for sure in Gainesville for another year. We are very excited about this. But we will be done with our training in May. So really we get a bonus year with our students and the staff. Same same but different

We are officially staying at our apartment for this upcoming year. I had not considered moving out of this apartment since we moved here. But the idea of renting a house and having a washing machine and dryer a few steps away sounded dreamy. However, we are staying but for a shorter lease and we are no longer the show unit. Mostly we love being the show unit, since it means $100 less on our rent every month. Our property management has just decided not to show occupied units. Shucks. Same same but different.

We are going overseas for 6 weeks this summer. Nothing similar about it, just different. We are SO excited and are going to Charlotte, NC for missions orientation this weekend for that trip.

And Atlanta has been our most visited destination this year. We are going again, but this time for a week to serve the homeless with our students for spring break.

I would love to share more and be altogether more interesting. But there is much to do!