2011 Desiring God Conference

What a blessing it was to attend the Desiring God "Finish the Mission" conference in Minneapolis this past weekend.  God definitely had a plan in taking us to the conference that focused on spreading the gospel to the unreached and unengaged people groups around the world.  That is the people that have never heard anything about Jesus, and that He came to save them from their sins.  People that are so secluded from the rest of the world, yet through nature know that there is a higher power out there.  They just don't know for sure who that higher power is.

Romans 1:20 "His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse."

As followers of Christ we were encouraged to join God in His work of revealing the plan of salvation to the unreached people groups around the world.

John 20:19-21 "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

As we read in Romans all the unreached groups around the world (which are around 6, 890 people groups = approximately 2.83 billion people) have just enough knowledge of God to send them to hell.  It is only through Christians being empowered by the Spirit that go to these people groups and tell them about Christ that they have any hope of Heaven.

My heart was so opened to the importance of people taking the gospel to the unreached people groups.  It was also opened to the importance of praying for and supporting missionaries.  Lastly it was opened to the importance to pray for the nations.  Matt and I bought a book at the conference that will help us in our prayer life for the unreached and unengaged people groups......

It is a book that we would both highly recommend.  Even though we haven't really dug too deep into it we can see that it is an amazing tool to learn about and be challenged to pray for every nation, country, and people group in the world. 

Matt and I both have had the prompting in our hearts to be missionaries and touch the hearts of the lost through the love of Christ.  God knows if someday we will end up overseas or if He can use us more where we are or somewhere else in America.  I pray that we can both just be open to obeying God in His command that He has "sent us" into the world to spread the fame of His name.  After the conference Matt's heart is so ready to drop everything and go, but to be totally honest that is not where my heart is yet.  I pray that God can help me open up to Him to search my heart and prepare it for His work wherever He would call us. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend...........

When I am serious....Matt is not.

When Matt is serious....I am not.

Being chauffeured by mom and dad Kaeb.

View from our hotel room

Grabbing some food for lunch.

Had such an amazing time with dad and mom Kaeb.  Grew closer to my hubby Matt, my in-laws, and God all in the same weekend!

Had the brief experience to meet David Platt.  Amazing speakers at the conference that have been blessed with the gift of teaching. 

2011 Desiring God Conference Video and Audio

Check out the link below to listen to Desiring God's "Finish the Mission" conference.

Video and Audio from the 2011 National Conference

Royals Game

We are about ready to leave to head to the Desiring God Conference in Minneapolis, MN with dad and mom Kaeb, but before we leave here is what we were up to last night.

Royals Baseball Game!

Troy and Amity met up with us there.  For the first couple innings of the game I sat by Matt and actually paid attention to what was going on.  Then Matt let me sit by Amity, and I kinda got lost in conversation to really pay attention to what was going on.  Toward the end of the game I realized that I didn't even know who was winning! =) Sadly (for Matt's sake) the Royals lost, but it was a very nice, enjoyable evening spent with T & A.

I even got a sweet Royals jersey from Amity! 

What a fun night!  

Africa Presentation

We had the opportunity this past Saturday to give a presentation of our trip to Tanzania, Africa to a small church in Kiowa, KS.  It has been about 5 months since Matt and I had the opportunity to be in Africa, so it was very refreshing in a sense to relive our time in Africa and to think upon all that God taught us while over there.  When Matt and I got home from our trip in early May we put it on our hearts to try not to let the things that God taught us fade away as we got settled back into life in America.  Of course over time our experience in Africa got further from our minds, so God knew we needed to dwell on it again through giving a presentation in Kiowa.  It was great to share with the small group there that our God is so alive and active all around that world!  


Matt shared some verses to the Kiowa group in 1 John that I think are worth repeating.


1 John 3:16-18  "By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth."


God has used our experience in Africa to open our eyes more fully to the meaning of these verses.  God desires for us as genuine Christians to have the fruit of sacrificial love in our lives towards our brothers and sisters.  We need to have hearts of giving sacrificially to help meet the needs of our neighbor down the street or our fellow believers in Africa.    

Reuben Visits!

Late last week I found out that my older sister Ashley and her little boy Reuben were coming to Kansas.  How excited I was!  Since they live in Champaign, IL I really don't get to see them very often.  Anytime I do see them Reuben has graduated to the next stage of his life.  A couple months ago when I met up with them in Quincy Reuben had just started to scoot across the floor on his hands and knees.  Now this time he was WALKING!!!  It was so fun to have them, and I must say that this week I have missed the little bundle crawling and walking all over our house.  

   My dad was in Quincy when Ash and Reuben got there, so he drove them out to Kansas.  On the way Reuben got to experience his first time at McDonalds!  He even got to meet Ronald McDonald, whom as you can tell he loved.

Reuben even helped Dad and Matt with some of our gutter work.  He was thrilled to be able to play in the dirt.

He even gave the shovel a try!

Look at him go.....

Here he is trying to help did dirt out of the hole Dad and Matt were digging.

Squeaky clean thanks to mommy!

Visiting Grandpa's chicks....he was a little intimidated of them.

Went to a cookout at Jason and Maggi's house.

Here comes the train!  Reuben was so excited at first.......

....then he got scared because it was so loud.

whhhooot whhhooot

Grandpa and Reuben playing

Love you Reuben and Ash!

Yard Rennovation

Matt and I love owning our own little home.  It has been fun for us to make the "ugly" house we bought, and add our touches to it to make it ours(and pretty.....at least in our eyes!).  When we bought the house in April 09' we did some major work to the inside of the house.  Now this fall we decided that we wanted to redo our yard.  The grass had been taken over by weeds, and it was a hilly mess just waiting to sprain someones ankle.  A few weeks ago Matt and his dad sprayed round-up on all the grass to kill it and make it easier to dig up.  Then just last Saturday Matt and my dad dug into the yard with a small tractor and shovels to resurface it and get it ready to plant new grass. 

They work so good together!  Matt did great knowing what to do, but it was so helpful to have my dad's experience with this project. 

We had a ton of rocks in our back yard that we had to haul out.

Oops!  We overloaded the wagon and got a flat.

Dad digging out the tree stumps from the backyard.

I felt left out.....so I had to get a picture of myself. :)

We transported a cement pad area to the front of our back shed to make it easier to get our mower in and out.

Such professionals!

Matt is having a blast playing with his tractor.

Thanks for helping dad!  You were amazing!

Kyson came over to get a ride on the tractor with Uncle Matt.

Yay! Ready to plant the new grass.  Good job guys.   

Beginnings...........

Matt and I have now been married for 1 year, 3 months, and 7 days, but I see it only fitting to start our blog out with a picture from our wedding to think back on the day that God binded our lives together to become husband and wife.  What a joy that day was!  In our a little over a year together God has already taught us more about our depravity as humans and need for Him to be first in our lives.  He has exposed to our hearts more fully to the sin of our selfishness and pride.  Praise God for marriage and the sanctification it brings to our lives.  I still remember so clearly standing at the alter with Matt promising to love him and cherish him and stand by him through anything that life throws our way.  I remember the excited love that I had at that very moment for him and for God, and as I type this with a huge smile on my face those feelings flood back to my heart.  Praise You Father.....Praise You Father!