4 weeks of blessing

About 4 weeks ago I began teaching an intensive ESL class - this means that I taught M-F, 4 hours per day. Yes, 20 hours of English per week for one month is what we offer refugees who have just arrived in America! It's pretty rigorous, but they have so much to learn! So, for the past four weeks I've been teaching vocabulary about household items - from appliances to furniture to rooms in the house, food, health, jobs, action verbs; how to count money and make change; how to tell time and I'm sure more that I can't remember just now! My class was 11 students - 2 Kunama Eritreans and 9 Karen(this is a group who live in Burma). To read more about the plight of the Karen from Burma to the refugee camp in Thailand, you can click on this link. To read more about the life of the Kunama people, you can click on this link.
After a 4 week intensive class, the students then begin attending a regular ESL class, which meets twice a week, 2 hours/day. So, they go from 20 hours a week to 4 hours a week after just one month. Of course, there is still so much to learn!

I said goodbye to my students yesterday because they will be joining an already established class that meets in their apartment complex. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially after spending 20 hours a week with these precious people! They walked me downstairs and out to the parking lot where I would get in my car. They hugged me or shook my hand goodbye, then they stood there, waving and looking at me as I got into my car. It was like they were still in their refugee camp in their country, and I was leaving their country to return to America, never to see them again. It was so sad! They stood there with tears in their eyes as I drove off. They definitely stole a part of my heart! I think I'll visit them soon!

10 years ago...

I graduated from Ruston High School. This past weekend I got to see several people I graduated with, meet their spouses, catch up with them, introduce my Daniel to them...it was really a great weekend. And, strangely enough, it really seemed like just yesterday that we were all sitting in Mrs. Gay's senior English class. The past 10 years sure have flown by!

We began the day with BBQ in the park

Daniel enjoyed playing "bearcat" for a brief moment

the committee and our spouses minus Molly and Brandon

Kim, Miranda, Jamie, Suzanne, April, Sarah, Shannon

Heather, Miranda, Angie, Mary Catherine, Kim

decor

Heather, Karen, Miranda, Kim, Molly

Erin, Kim, Sara

this one's for you, Anna Banana - we missed you!!!

for those of you who love Jeremy Annillo...

Daniel and I went to Seattle this weekend for Daniel to stand beside Jeremy as a groomsman in his wedding. Jeremy and Daniel were roommates at the Cornerstone. Jeremy married a sweet, fun-loving, Jesus-loving, great-laughing, girl named Sarah. I met her for the first time this weekend and can see what it is in her that has Jeremy so smitten - she's great!

We're a bit sleep-deprived from our long weekend in Seattle, but are so grateful to have been there. We arrived Friday and went to bed around 3 a.m. Fort Worth time. We stayed with Anna, my best friend from high school. We slept about 6 hours that night, then went to the rehearsal and brunch. Jeremy and his dad own a restaurant, Sorci's Italian Cafe & Market. The wedding was in the garden behind the cafe and the restaurant catered the brunc and the reception. Great food! Absolutely fantastic! We ran into Kelly Aldrich, another guy who had lived at the Cornerstone with Daniel and Jeremy and who was the best man in the wedding.

After the rehearsal and brunch, we headed to downtown Seattle for a litte sight-seeing.

Anna showed us around Pike's Place, a well-known open market in Seattle.

Look, Daniel found a "little person" :-)

The fresh fruits and veges looked delicious!

We checked out the original Starbucks across the street from the market.

THE WEDDING DAY

The wedding was outside in the garden behind the restaurant. It was lovely. Washington isn't like the South, with a bunch of church-goers running around everywhere. Instead, there are many there who don't really know much about Christianity. I'm sure their wedding will bring about many questions, and maybe, just maybe, the Lord will allow several to come into His kingdom through the testimony of their wedding ceremony as well as the testimony they will have in marriage. They washed each other's feet during the ceremony and took com-

munion. They wrote the sweetest vows to each other and the wedding was really beautiful! Hot, but beautiful! :-) They sealed the ceremony with a fun kiss...and they were glowing as they walked away from the ceremony as Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Annillo!

The reception was much fun and we really enjoyed hearing more about Sarah as her family and friends said such sweet, sweet things about her as they made toasts to Jeremy and Sarah. It is obvious that she is a good friend, a good sister, a good daughter who loves deeply those in her life! Jeremy's mom said that Jeremy had once told her he wanted to marry someone who was fun-loving, adven-
turous, and who loved God. She said that when she met Sarah, she knew this was the girl for Jeremy! Everyone said that after meeting the other one, they knew this was right. They knew it was from God and that Jeremy and Sarah were perfect for each other!!

WEEKEND IN RUSTON

We spent Labor Day weekend with our family in Ruston. 'Twas a great time!!! Jenny, Brian, and Meredith came too! Meredith can do so many things now that she couldn't do 2 months ago when we last saw her. She's actually 10 months old today! She can sit up on her own, crawl, pull up to stand up (but not stand on her own yet), wave 'bye bye,' give kisses, and shake her head 'no.' I'll brag...she's sooo smart!! And her beautiful big brown eyes'll make ya melt!!!

We went to a LA TECH game while we were there, too, and saw lots of my extended family - Annie, Laura, Liz, Sydney, and Garson! Go Dawgs!





One last picture for your viewing pleasure... and I hope my sister doesn't kill me for posting this, but I thought this face Meredith is making was priceless!!!

3 years

3 years ago today I flew back from Egypt after having lived there for 2 years. So crazy what the Lord has done in my life in the past 3 years since being back. Honestly, I thought I'd be living there again by now, but the Lord has had other plans. They are plans that I'm grateful for, though my heart still longs to be back in Egypt one day - at least to visit my friends and share what my life was like there with Daniel. Of course, if He called us there, I wouldn't argue! :-)

There's a great Egyptian Restaurant, KING TUT, near downtown Fort Worth. It's my celebration place. So, Daniel and I enjoyed koshary and couscous last night in honor of my time in Egypt and my 3 year anniversary being back in the States.

wedding bells

Nicole is a girl both Daniel and I knew before we met each other. We both know her from our individual experiences in Turkey. Nicole had lived in Turkey and organized trips for volunteers to come out there. She was the coordinator of volunteers when I was there in the summer of 2000. I thought she hung the moon! I didn't know my path would ever cross hers again, but it has. Daniel knew her from his time living in Turkey and teaching ESL.

Since he and I have been together, our paths have crossed again. There's a circle of former Turkey folk here in Fort Worth. Fort Worth brings people with similar hearts together partly because of the seminary. Nicole also was a student at SWBTS, but before my time. She's friends with girls here in Fort Worth that I've become friends with. This circle of friends are all bonded through Turkey, which is how Daniel knows all of them and reconnected with them once moving here. So, there's a mix of Turkey/SWBTS going on.

Anyhow, we got to be with all of these fun Turkey-lovers the other night at a FIESTA shower for Nicole and her fiance, Jason. Amy Nobles threw the party and it was great - great music, great decor, a great pinata, great food, great friends!!

Oklahoma City

Daniel and I traveled up to Oklahoma City a couple of weekends ago to see some friends and meet our friends' little boy, Graham. He's such a good baby - sleeps well, doesn't really cry unless his pacifier has fallen out of his mouth and he's wanting it! Mommy and Daddy are super proud of him...look at him concked out on Mommy - wouldn't you be proud too? He's so cute!!

Our time there was really sweet - just hanging out really, but hanging out with people who really love the Lord and who really love us. We stayed thru Sunday church and after church we sat with Andy, Ryan, and Adriane before coming back to Fort Worth. They all prayed over us and then when we finished praying Adriane said she wanted to share something with us. She told us that while we were singing this song with the words something like "Lord I know you hold us in your hand. I will trust you even when I don't understand..." that God kept putting Daniel in her mind. As she was praying for Daniel, God gave her this picture of Daniel putting together pieces of a puzzle. And when he finished, the puzzle was beautiful. Then, the Lord came and He took apart the puzzle pieces and began reworking the puzzle. In His finished puzzle, the picture was even more beautiful. Then she encouraged Daniel to trust in the Lord and encouraged both of us to ask for wisdom in the coming weeks.

We have been seeking Him, asking what that vision means. When God directed us away from moving to Turkey, He also assured us that He had great plans in store for us. We've been in a journey of discovering what those plans are! It's so exciting! So restful just to know that we can trust in Him and that as He opens doors, we are to walk through them. When He closes them, we aren't to be disappointed. Rather, we are to accept it as His directing us to another place, something better! God is good! Yes, God is good! He is trustworthy! We can trust in Him...He loves us and has the very best planned out for us. We just have to walk in obedience...

the Rangers and Somali Bantu

The tutoring program at Catholic Charities was able to get free tickets as rewards for our best students from summer tutoring. I chose two of my students and they got to invite their families to come to the game. Daniel and I got to take 11 kiddos with us to a Rangers game a couple of weeks ago! It was of course their first time to a game. There were lots of, "Ms. Kim, what's that?" questions. We took our picture with Nolan Ryan as we entered the stadium, then walked up to the top level - quite an exercise! Several of the kids are under the age of 8. Three of the four older ones were girls, and mostly came with us for the company, not for the sport! But Omar is 16 and he and Daniel hung out in the stands and Daniel explained to him the rules of the game! The man selling cotton candy came up into the stands and this sweet woman sitting behind us bought 5 things of cotton candy for our bunch. I was really blessed by her generosity. Some people would be annoyed by such a large group of kids with few adults asking questions throughout the game, but not this lady. Her heart was generous and she really blessed the kids and me as well!

The Dulock Wedding

A little over a year ago, Daniel and I were asked to disciple Caleb Dulock and Michelle Orth. They were pursuing their 2nd-go-around at dating. So, we started meeting at Starbucks every-other-Sunday-morning before church - at 8 a.m.! God has really gifted Daniel with a love and a gift of discipleship. He's passionate about it. Me, on the other hand. Well, I've never really been discipled myself, and Daniel and I are new at this marriage/healthy relationship thing ourselves, so I feel somewhat like I've stumbled through discipling Michelle this past year. I'm not really sure what God used, but one thing I know is that God's grace is sufficient in our weaknesses! Mine and Michelle's time together became more of a time of mutual discipling really. God has done so much in her in this past year and in her fervor for the Lord, in her longing for purity, in her desire for godliness, she's challenged me in our times together as well. We've become sweet friends over this past year and when Caleb proposed to her a few months ago, they asked us to be in their wedding party! Here are a few snapshots of their wedding...

And we stood with them last night as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, loving them and supporting them as they made vows to each other to love, honor, and cherish each other "as long as they both shall live..." Their ceremony was so sweet and worshipful. My favorite part was that they invited the congregation and wedding party to worship together as the ceremony began. It was a sweet, holy moment! We love you, Mr. and Mrs. Dulock!

a new dawn.

For those of you who have been following the life of the Audis, you probably know that since we began dating, we have prayed toward moving to Turkey with some friends of ours from our church. In our recent visit to Turkey, the Lord confirmed with great clarity, peace, and unity that moving to Turkey now is not His very best for us. So, with grateful hearts because of His faithfulness to answer our prayers seeking His will for our lives, we now look toward a new dawn. It rises over us now and we wait with great anticipation for what He will reveal to us as being His very best for us now. If you want more of the full story, you can leave a comment with an email address and we'll be happy to share more of the journey! My husband is such a talented writer and has already beautifully and artistically written up a report about how the Lord moved in us as we were in Turkey.

We covet your prayers as we venture into this new chapter He's writing in our lives, as we approach this new dawn that He has begun in us.

Many blessings.