You Spelled "wHoliness" Wrong!

The last two weeks I've been teaching in the Phase 2 Leadership School in Denver, and I had such a good time! The first week was called "wHoliness," a combination of wholeness and holiness. The main idea was how to connect our deepest values with our daily life and how we focus our energy. We talked about how to channel our heart (spiritual), mind (mental), soul (emotional and relational), and strength (physical) into the things that really matter.

The following week we talked about Public Speaking, a topic that everyone loves ;). Instead of spending time discussing techniques and getting technical, we honed in on this idea:

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." (D. H. Lawrence)

The students gave two messages- once at the beginning and once at the end of the week. They did an excellent job, and made me feel like a great teacher! Next week I'm teaching in a different school about "the Kingdom and Justice."

Back From England

I (Chris) returned Saturday from England after an enjoyable week speaking in their training school. Although on one hand it was sad because one of my friends was moving away from there and I only got to see him one evening, I made some great new friends, and also got to catch up with some other friends I hadn't seen in awhile. One friend of ours from Xi'an is back in England with his family for a few months and was only staying about 20 minutes from where I was, so we got to spend the afternoon catching up, kicking some football (soccer) and speaking Chinese, along with enjoying a great lunch of fish and chips. A few days after that another friend that I had not seen in almost five years took the train down to see me. We hung out for a few hours that went by way too quickly. Although he is studying Arabic and International Relations, he makes frequent trips to China. Hopefully the next time we meet will be in China.

Silleeee Joshuaaaa. . .

Joshua and I were walking to the tennis court around the corner yesterday with my grandparents, and he started playing the "red light, green light" game. All was going well until he said "red light!" and then started walking. He took a few steps. All of a sudden he realized what he had done, stopped dead in his tracks, and lowered his head. Then he burst out laughing, burying his face in his hands with embarrassed delight. Silly boy. We love that he doesn't take himself too seriously.

This morning my grandparents brought donuts and I was eating a maple bar. Joshua got the same kind as I had and Sarah asked him what kind of donut he was eating. "Meatball!" he replied with excitement. We thought it was too cute to correct him.

GGGGOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always loved sports, ever since I was a little kid. That's why it was really exciting when Sarah signed Joshua up for a little soccer league today! He'll get to play for a month, on the same indoor field that I play on. (Little bragging real quick: last Sunday I played there and scored a goal from 3/4 of the field away from the goal! I wish someone had a video camera!) Joshua's really excited, Sarah too. We have to try and find shinguards small enough for his adorable little legs.

And today we went to my little brother Blake's tennis match. He's only a freshman but he's on varsity, which is a big deal. He thinks he's going to beat me this trip- we'll see about that!

We'll be sure to post some photos of Joshua playing soccer. He starts next month!

Living on Two Continents

Yesterday we arrived in Denver where we will be living for almost six months. Leaving our home in Xi'an, China, was emotional for all of us. I (Chris) still feel like my body is here but my heart is there.

But yesterday Joshua had a great time with Nana and Papa (Sarah's parents), and we are truly looking forward to seeing our friends here. Some of our favorite people are moving to Denver tomorrow evening!

We will quite busy while we are here, our schedule is filling up already with trips, teaching, and spending time with friends and family. But May and June will find us quite settled in Denver, because our baby, who is due June 3rd, could literally come any time after May. "Baby Light" (according to Joshua) will be here in less than three months- we can't believe it!