and our exciting news is....

{picture via}

we are unbelievably grateful and thankful for this opportunity. 

as i mentioned in my last post, the Lord is incredibly good. 

He is. 

He just is. 

He know our dreams and desires, and works in mysterious ways to faithfully prepare and bless us when the time is right. 

with that being said, it has been my dream ever since college, when I learned of human trafficking, and specifically sex-trafficking, to work with and love women who have been abused in the most evil of ways. 

i remember the first time I heard about women being sold for their bodies,

like objects to be used. 

Disgust and outraged pumped within my veins,

an unabated fury sinking deep within my bones.  

the more i read, the more tears brimmed heavy within my soul. 

a weight that women, 

precious image-bearers of the Lord, 

were being stripped of their very dignity in ways far too graphic and flippant than one can imagine. 

via

i remembered a documentary i watched years ago while I was in college,

chronicling the multi-faceted ways women are tricked, coerced, kidnapped, sold, and forced to become enslaved and entrapped in a dark and evil pit of despair. 

and yet, i felt so far away,

so far removed,

so far unqualified to help. 

yes, I prayed, which is powerful,

oh so powerful. 

and I truly believe chains were broken as a result of my prayers. 

but I was not a counselor,

or a social worker,

or anything special really. 

i was just a girl with a heart that beat for the rhythms of the Kingdom. 

and so I remained faithful to the calling sweet Abba had on my life, here. 

I stepped into a job at ELI, where I spent 4 years working for a non-profit in Africa doing holistic development.

At ELI, God taught me a lot. 

About the world. 

About cross-cultural communication.

About laying foundations for sustainability and longevity in an organization. 

About empowering lives. 

And about structuring; creating systems and processes that help the overall organization run smoothly. 

and as you all know, this past Fall, i felt God gently moving me out of ELI. 

to read the story, see here. 

i didn't fully know why, but I felt His leading that it was to be more present towards my neighbors. 

but what happened next i could have never guessed nor prepared myself:

when Kevin and I went home for Christmas, some family friends asked to meet with us. 

During our time together, this couple asked us to pray about moving to Asia for five months this year to help partner with an aftercare home. This aftercare home houses women and girls that are rescued from sex-slavery. Many of these beautiful women have been tricked into thinking they would receive real jobs, then sold into prostitution. When they are rescued, they are sent to a home that will help rehabilitate them. 

Kevin and I  were asked to serve under the Nepali staff there, and help research and implement the best structure and care, so the home can run in the best way possible. 

The night Kevin and I found out about this opportunity, we laid in bed with smiles wide on our faces, dreaming and praying that God would go before us in this opportunity. 

and go before us HE did...in powerful ways....

- from the minute we heard of the opportunity, everyone we have shared about this with has absolutely confirmed and affirmed that the Lord put us in this position. Both sets of parents were excited and encouraged us to walk through the open door. 

- so many items on the job description were things God had been specifically preparing Kevin and I to do. 

- when we found out it was a possibility of going, we knew we needed a place to live. One night Kevin and I specifically prayed about housing, and the very next day we received an email about a couple who were moving out of their apartment from April- August of this year. Those were the EXACT dates we had planned to be there! Not only that, but this apartment was only 15 minutes walking from the aftercare home, fully furnished, and had a beautiful patio! I seriously could NOT believe how incredible God provided! 

Could I ever imagine that my college dream of working with girls coming out of sex-trafficking would come true like this? 

No. 

But then again, I serve a 

crazy

adventurous

epic

mysterious,

and wild

God. 

who's timing is right. 

who prepares us in just the right ways. 

who is a fulfiller of dreams. 

so I commit myself to that God

here's to YOU dreamer.

and here's to YOU dear Father, for fulfilling those desires. 

thank you so much for your support in this time. 

you readers bless my soul. 

if you think of it, please pray for us as we prepare.

many many thank you's from the bottom of my excited heart. 

love katie 

the hood...my home

I know I talk a lot about my neighborhood. 

a lot. 

So today I thought I'd share more about the journey in coming here. 

it didn't exactly just happen....it was a process! 

You see, my husband and I grew up in sunny california,

spending massive amounts of time at the beach, going to disneyland, eating mexican food, etc.

ie: a wee bit insulated

but a few years ago Kevin and I started asking ourselves a question,

"does our life and marriage matter?"

 I mean, yes, we knew our lives mattered to us and our families and friends.

But beyond that, was our life and marriage making the world a more beautiful place?

Our hearts craved a vision where our marriage was about more than just "us" and being comfy.

{don't get me wrong, I still love my fro-yo and bach same as the next girl}

But man oh man, it sure can be hard gaining perspective on the deeper things in life when you live in the midst of some of the richest zip codes in the US. 

Where driving a range rover is absolute top priority.

so we figured, as christians, we'd see what the heck Jesus did when he was on earth.

{i mean, JC's a pretty good place to start when you're looking for answers, right?}

and pretty much it was this...

he hung out with the poor, the prostitutes, the hurting and the broken.

and guess what? this scared us half to death...like no joke. 

last time we checked we didn't know any poor people or prostitutes. epic fail.

so we decided to get a lil' brave, 

and ask God to show us what this might look like smack dab in the middle of our city.

aaannndddd He did.

just two miles from where Kevin grew up was an immigrant neighborhood we'd never even noticed before.

and so with our knees knocking, we decided to move in, and it changed our life. 

that was the start of our marriage on mission.

my apartment was fully stocked with loads of cockroaches, 

and mold, 

and cracking cabinets, 

and did i mention cockroaches? 

i was so afraid,
like"what the heck did I just do?" kind of afraid.
but you know what, i knew this was God's will.

and it changed our lives. 

we started to know the people in our neighborhood,
most of them immigrant families from central america. 

they became our best friends. 

they taught us what it looks like to live in community- 

mostly, to just BE.

in the last 4 years,
Kevin and I have opened our home to anyone who needed love.
daily we have kids over who want to play or read or bake.
mostly they are saying "I just want someone to love me, to notice me"
and we get that incredible privilege!

we fail a lot,
 and sometimes lock our doors while the kids pound on it.
but mostly that front door is wide open.

we have led workshops on cooking and basketball,
we have crammed 60+ ppl into our apartment for a baby shower we hosted for our neighbors
and learned all about mexican baby shower games, haha!
I started a girls group for college aged girls doing crafts and games and just hang out.
we've discipled kids, and been hurt by them.

but the bottom line is we've tried to love like Jesus.
and it's rocked our world, hard.
we're not perfect,
but i'm learning that really we just need to be available.
because when we are open is when God brings people into your life!

it's been a joy.

love Katie  

Stepping Out Diaries- red shoes

so recently i have been wonderfully challenged.

to. step. out.

to posture myself in the desperate.

to truly need Him.

it all started a few weeks ago when Francis Chan spoke at a concert kevin and i went to.

Francis recalled the story in 1 Kings 18 when Elijah the prophet is on mt carmel

and pitted against elijah are 800 other prophets of false gods also on mt carmel

and they want to kill elijah and prove that their god is more powerful than elijah's God

elijah

800 false prophets

those are bad odds

elijah asks God to move, to show the people that HE is

THE ONE TRUE GOD

and bam

fire from heaven

things literally heat up

Francis became so fixated with the idea of God moving and showing himself

that he prayed and prayed that when he spoke, God would do something crazy to display His power

Francis wanted the earth to shake or people to feel God's power in crazy ways. 

and when it didn't happen like he wanted it to, he asked God "why not show yourself like you did to elijah and the prophets?" 

and simply, God spoke this...

"francis, i moved powerfully because elijah put himself in a place where he was desperate. he was going to be killed, the odds were against him. you speak at churches and concerts, no one is looking to kill you!! you see, i move when you step out. i move when you put yourself in desperate places" 

and so kevin and i, we began to realize that we want to be desperate for God to move. we don't want to be spectators in a church. we want to taste the kingdom of God and participate in the spontaneous work of the holy spirit! 

and so yes...last night it began. here is the story of red shoes. 

{right before we left for the service, my sweet neighbor J}

every third wednesday, our church has an organic service where we pray and worship and just listen. at the end of the service our pastor just felt like we needed to prayer walk around our church. he asked us to listen to the Lord to see if we felt anything in particular to pray for. 

and i heard RED SHOES. 

weird, right? 

so we go outside, and we're plodding around talking and chatting

and then

Colby spots a lady on the other side of the street wearing bright red shoes. 

awkwardly kev and i sprint across the street and start to follow her

but then when we were almost caught up, i looked at kev and said

"what the heck do i even do now? what do i say?" 

the whole time i'm thinking "i'm just going to scare this poor woman half to death"

"hi" was all i could manage. i figured that was a good way to start a conversation. 

turns out, i was right. 

so we start to chat. her eyes light up, and she's not as weirded out as we were anticipating

much to our delight (whew!)

in fact, she was excited. we stood there, the three of us at 9pm at night and chatted. 

her name is Klara. 

i asked her where she was walking to. she said "home". 

where is home? i ask. 

i live on Garnet. 

my heart skipped a beat. 

kevin and i live on Garnet. 

we are neighbors. 

red shoed Klara is our neighbor. 

we talked and laughed and kev and i pathetically tried to speak spanish.  

that was the other miracle of the night, let's just say kev and i are no-bueno when it comes to espanol. 

and then we exchanged numbers. we invited her to dinner, her and her family. 

so next week, 

red shoes is coming to dinner. 

and i KNOW Abba has something in store. 

ohhhh i'm SO excited because i know that this wasn't an accident! 

and now i get to step back and watch the holy spirit move. 

And so...i'm going to start these blog posts called the "Stepping Our Diaries" because how cool would it be if we all intentionally took risks to step out and watch the Holy Spirit move in our desperation? 

let's challenge ourselves to step out of comfort

and into a place of truly. utterly. needing. him.

where we feel awkward and unqualified. 

no more spectating in church. 

no more fluffy talk of kingdom living, when we are not living kingdom values.

risk. NEEDING him. prayers on knees bended. open hands. 

"use me" kind of talk. 

desperate. 

excited, yes. mmmm yes, it's going to be awesome. 

and you are a part of this adventure. 

let's share stories together. 

love Katie 

happy weekend! i'm taking kev on a surprise birthday adventure. can't wait to share more with you next week:) 

Our Unique Call

a few years ago I posted a scribbled note on my desk at work. words of Henri. I posted it because it called out to the deep human condition of confusion regarding calling. Mainly this...

What am I called to do?

I liked it, Henri's words, because it made me balanced. It spoke life into the seemingly little things that Abba calls BIG. And so I share it with you this gray Friday, in hopes that deep will call out to deep in your soul, and you will be encouraged by the simplicity of the small and big paradox of life.

Thank you dear Henri...

Our Unique Call

So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.

Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.

Let us be faithful to ask, faithful to live with God's strength, and faithful to be courageous to allow God to use our life to heal our world.

Yes. What a privilege.

...I am called to love God and love people....and I will do it each day, and if I fail, I will begin the next day...

Enjoy the weekend...i'm off to the symphony with Kev, as he surprised me with tickets to see Casablanca performed to live music!

Love Katie

love and good deeds

Tonight in the waiting room, I started to cry. Little pools of hope and conviction brimmed over hazel eyes. Stories of deep faith in the midst of deep darkness ignited the light burning within. Last summer, Kevin and I visited 19 Barteljorisstraat, Haarlem, the Netherlands- otherwise known as the house of Corrie Ten Boom. For hero Corrie, I shall save another blog post, for there is too much to say.

But tonight, I want to share a small pocket found deep within Corrie's story, that spilled the tears onto faded jeans. It was 1944, and the Ten Boom family had been found by Nazi gestapo to be helping Jews escape. Papa Ten Boom, a lover of God for 84 years, and his family of 8 were being seized and transported to a concentration camp.

At the last minute, the Nazi commander took pity on 84 year old Papa and said "Old man, if you promise to behave yourself from now on, we may leave you here". Papa, to the suprise of no one who knew him, looked at the agent and replied clearly "Young man, if you leave me here today, tomorrow I will open my door to anyone who needs help".

Sniffle, Sniffle, tear, tear, chills of courage ran down my spine. "I will open my door to anyone who needs help" And it cost him his life. And yet he gained everything.

Tonight when I shuffled laptop, purse, papers and one frazeled girl through the front door, I saw it. A small post-it note on the mirror, scribbled in his familiar handwriting, that read "Hebrews 10:23-24 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds".

Tonight I was spurred on by a great man of faith, who in the face of death, never gave up the cause of love and good deeds, even at the expense of his life. I want that faith, that conviction, that love, that compassion. I want my home to be a place where we NEVER turn anyone away who needs help (regardless of nationality, documentation or appearance).

Thank you Casper Ten Boom, and my beloved Kevin Cook, for reminding me that no matter how hard it may get, the mandate to spur one another on in love and good deeds remains our task at hand.

Be encouraged...

Love Katie