http://thejacobs.myadventures.org The Jacobs - On the Journey en-us Wed, 8 Oct 2008 05:37:37 GMT 30 http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=when-youre-just-available http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=when-youre-just-available There's something seriously wrong with me... I like Support Raising. I know... this is supposed to be the grueling hard, stressful time of being a missionary. Somehow I just can't conform my emotions to meet this expectation... I'm having fun! I love the fact that my number one priority right now is to be with people... to talk... to share... to laugh... to cry... to listen... and all with a purpose. Is the purpose for them to pledge $100 a month? Well... that would be nice... but no! The purpose is that the Body of Christ has come together, connected, and gone deeper than saying hello when the pastor tells you stand up and shake hands. There's something magical about a dining room table or a cup of coffee - that's where church happens!   I appreciate support raising most of all because it gives me a focus and a purpose to conversations. Again - money's not the purpose... but sharing God's Kingdom! Today was a great example of what happens when you walk out that purpose... &n Fri, 3 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=home-number-next http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=home-number-next It's been an incredible weekend. It was incredibly overwhelming to pack up all our stuff. It was incredibly tricky to fit it all in our little yellow car! It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to our first home. Our stop through Chattanooga to see our friends Shawn, Sarah, and Gabriel Summey was incredibly enjoyable. Our drive up north was incredibly long. Our hotel in Indianapolis was an incredibly needed stop on the way. And arriving at Corey's family's home was incredibly welcome. So begins our season of transition. We'll be here until the 16th of October, then it's back to Georgia to help run a training camp. Then back up here for about 10 days to finish up visiting family and friends up north. Then, by one of God's amazing blessings, some friends are taking us to the Bahamas for a vacation/last hoorah. After that we'll pack up our little yellow car again and journey to Texas, hopefully stopping to see some friends and supporters along the way. We'll be in Texas until Mon, 8 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=august-newsletter http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=august-newsletter Apologies to those of you who usually get our newsletter over email. I just learned this neat trick where you resize photos so that your document isn't ginormous. Too bad I learned about that AFTER I sent it. I apologize for the huge email and feel free to delete it!      A Great Reminder This could be the most difficulty I've ever had starting a newsletter. When I look back over the past month and all that God has done, how could I ever summarize everything? Instead of trying to put together a compact version of all that God has done, I've been updating our blog regularly... telling one story at a time. To read all these stories just check out the lefthand side of this page... scroll down to  Most Recent Posts and read all that has happened! I think more than anything this summer God gave us a great reminder that we are on the right track. The stresses of support raising and moving can sometimes seem to overshadow the call of God on our lives. However, Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=my-time-in-the-drplus-being-crushed-by-the-rock http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=my-time-in-the-drplus-being-crushed-by-the-rock   I was recently in the Dominican Republic again, this time leading a 10 day trip from July 25 till Aug 4. The youth group of 13, plus 3 adult leaders was from Long Island, New York. They were a blast to be with and responded very well to all the challenges that we had. I got to see a lot of my old friends from the DR (except my good friends the Shauls who were actually in Georgia the day I flew out). It was good to be back there and see the Lord's hand moving on the people that I had a short time to be with two years ago.     The longer story.--- Being crushed by "the rock" Going back to the Dominican Republic took more trust than I first assumed. When I was there back in September 2006 through May 2007, I lived some of the most challenging months of my life.  The culture was hard to adjust to, the comforts of lights and water that I had - even in Mexico! - were, for the most part, taken away. I had to adjust to a new group and a new st Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=check-out-this-new-opportunity http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=check-out-this-new-opportunity One of the highlights of every participant's experience... the highlight that sets AIM apart as a ministry... is our training camps. The more we recognize the importance of AIM camps, the greater the need to invest into a Training Center. Read below for all the news about the renvoations currently happening to make AIM's facilities available for equipping the next generation! International Training Center Update Goal: To construct a permanent facility for equipping leaders and participants in discipleship to "Follow God, Reach Your World" God continues to impress on us that we should invest in a training center. God is calling us to equip a generation and send them out into the world. The current configuration of our main facility in Gainesville, Georgia is not adequate to accommodate the healthy growth in numbers of participants and the increased frequency of training camps. We are sending and receiving teams throughout the year. Our new office addition, built in 2005 Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-true-leaders http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-true-leaders   The biggest privilege of this trip was to serve this team alongside two of the most amazing people. Corey and I, along with our good friend and now co-leader Ashley Hall, were like 3 puzzle pieces made to fit together. During Leader Training, it was stressed over and over again that you need to be unified, serving and loving each other, working out any conflicts so that you are always united in love. I have never seen this process work so well! We truly came together beyond our friendship, into family.   Corey and I had a great trip. God confirmed over and over again that we are heading in the perfect direction for us as a couple. When we are leading a team we both are operating in our gifts, finding fulfillment and purpose in our activities. Does that mean everything went perfectly? Absolutely not! We learned a lot about how to encourage each other, carve time out of the schedule to build into each other. We learned that we need to save energy for our time togeth Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-the-importance-of-play http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-the-importance-of-play By nature, I'm a "doer". I like lists. I like agendas. I like schedules. I like to be on time. I like to plan. I like to be in the know. In essence, I like a sense of control over what's happening. The problem comes when things can't be controlled. In the past, that feeling of "out of control" would absolutely send me into a frenzy. I couldn't handle it. Seth Barnes talks a lot about breaking our control addictions. I think I'm on the right path... at least most days.   A mission trip is one of the most effective ways of breaking our addiction to control. Take a group of teens, a lot of travel, a new culture, and more personalities than you can count, mix them together and just try to control what comes out! Doesn't happen. And the great thing is that a mission trip doesn't simply look to achieve a set of objectives. Instead, it's a walk with the Almighty Creator to discover His objectives and look to Him to make it happen.   As we sat in Leader Training before the Sat, 2 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-becoming-a-mom http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-becoming-a-mom Three years ago I would have very quickly and adamantly told you that I never wanted to get married and never wanted to have children. That was before World Race. For those 11 months, God put me in relationship with the man of my dreams and confirmed over and over again that He designed for us to be together. I would also tell you that one of the major themes of my World Race was learning about God's Mothering Heart. I could show you countless emails between my friend Carol and I about the children I was surrounded with and how God was teaching me to love them - not because I had to, but because I longed to see them receive the love they needed. It was a long process. I've always been pretty good with kids - a great babysitter for a few hours - as long as I could give them back when I was done. World Race created something different in me - a Mother's Heart.   Fastforward... here we are preparing to meet our team for this summer. As I'm praying for this group, before I've Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-its-that-simple http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-its-that-simple Every night of training camp, after the heat had died down and we'd washed off the Georgia Red Clay, we would come together to worship and listen to some amazing speakers. One night Don Rock, director of the Ambassador program, shared about The Emotional Bucket. He explained that the things that happen in our life, and our reaction to those things, fill up our emotional bucket. We get hurt - be it big or small - and we stuff it down inside of us, not wanting anyone to know the pain we experienced. Because of that hurt we begin to feel angry at the people who hurt us... then we feel guilty for the anger... then false guilt... then condemnation... the list goes on and on and on... and our bucket fills and fills and fills... and eventually spills. And the people who are around us begin to slip in the junk spilling out of our lives. Unless we let the Lord deal with the hurts that happened in our lives. Let the Lord empty out our hurts and our pains and fill us with His Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-the-facts http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=ireland-2008-the-facts   Who: 9 teenagers, 1 amazing co-leader, us, and a few great Irish additions What: A trip to reach out to communities in Ireland while discipling the particpants When: June 14 - July 14 Where: Gainesville, GA; North Dublin, Roscommon, and Carlow in Ireland Why: Because God has called us to go and make disciples of ALL nations - American teens and Irish children!   It all began when we met for the first time - Atlanta airport atrium. For the next week we survived training camp where we learned about who God is, who we REALLY are, and how God wants to work through us.   Then we flew to Dublin and met up with Conrad and Sonia Hicks and their churches north of Dublin. We hosted two Kids Clubs (vacation Bible schools) for two of the churches they oversee. Even before the trip began, each team member entered into prayer and planning for this time. We knew that coming to Ireland we couldn't just throw something together at the last minute - instead Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=not-just-what-i-need http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=not-just-what-i-need Forenote: My project for this week is to get pictures and stories from our month in Ireland. I sincerely apologize for slacking on this!!!   Corey left for the Dominican Republic today........ and I'm at home. His heart is on fire when he's leading teams, knowing that he's doing what he's called to do. I'm staying back this time to get some work done around the office and to get ready for my parents to visit at the beginning of the month. I'm excited for all that God has for him in the Dominican... but I am sad today. This will be the longest we've been apart since we've been married.   Last night we were with our small group. After they prayed over Corey, one of the couples took me aside and says "If you need anything at all you call us immediately. If you just get lonely, our spare bedroom is ours. Don't hesitate at all to call." Today in the office one of our friends said he would be on call as Mr. FixIt should anything need any fixing. As I left work today I tol Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=off-again http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=off-again Summer has come. And so has the running.   It feels like we just got back to Georgia a few days ago and I'm heading off again. I haven't even caught my breath yet, as soon as we got back I started working on the construction project at the AIM office. Tomorrow I fly. I will be facilitating a youth group trip in the Dominican Republic for ten days starting Saturday.  I am fighting the temptation to be nervous as I lost most of my health in the DR. The Lord has shown me that He can give me strength and help me obey Him no matter what is coming against me. This time I plan to eat smarter and hopefully I will come back as health as when I left. Please pray for: my health to stay intact and the Lord to block the enemies schemes of destruction/ For the team- for the Lord to do amazing works in their lives as they pour themselves out on to the locals./ For a response from those we come in contact with./For the lords leading in everything/ His presence to be felt by all Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=back-home http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=back-home We have arrived safe and sound, team intact, back to Atlanta! We're a bit tired and definitely need some showers and clean clothes... but mostly excited for all that God has done this month. Tonight we will debrief with all the Ambassador teams from this summer. Tomorrow we will debrief with all of the leaders, and then it's back home to Gainesville!   I intentionally put the question mark in our title. It feels absolutely amazing to be back in America with hot showers that we know how to work and beds with clean sheets! But at the same time, God absolutely confirmed His plan for us to live in Ireland. So then where is home? We definitely are feeling mixed emotions about being back... excited... and yet missing the place we know we are headed for.   Over the next week or so we plan to post the stories from our trip... stay tuned for God's exciting works over the past month! Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=last-week-in-ireland http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=last-week-in-ireland The team has arrived in Carlow for our last week of ministry! The hospitality has been overwhelming here! Carlow Bible Church has welcomed us with open arms and we are exciting to begin ministering around the town. Here's what is coming up:   Ashley, Colby, Hope, Charlotte, Lydia, Megan, and Christine will be working alongside the children's ministry in the church. Monday they will start holding a morning kids' club in one housing area and another kids' club in a second housing area in the afternoons. For 5 days they will be gathering children into the open fields and pouring Jesus' love into these children.   Laura, Corey, Melissa, Anna, and Emily along with more friends from OM Ireland and the local church will be doing street evangelism in the mornings and afternoons. We will be setting up booths and doing surveys with anyone and everyone who has time to talk. The great thing is that the local newspaper is interested in what we are doing and will be advertising for us Sat, 5 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=enjoyment http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=enjoyment Cheers from Ireland!   This will be pretty short... but wanted you to know that everything is going well in Ireland! We've been leading a Vacation Bible School for the past few days and have really enjoyed working with the local churches in Skerries and Sutton. Conrad and Sonia are the ministers for 3 of the churches in this area and amidst their busy schedule they have been a blessing to our team.   A few people are catching minor coughs and colds and sniffles. Corey and I are still healthy, but we would appreciate prayers for everyone's health to improve.   No promises on how often we will blog... but you can keep up with us through our trip updates blog - http://08ir0614amb1.myadventures.org. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=so-it-begins http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=so-it-begins And it has begun! For the past three days we have been in leader training, this time has prepared all of the leaders in every way. Though we may not feel capable of leading these teams of young people into everything we will experience, we are confident in the Lord who gives what we need when we the moment of need is at hand.    Tomorrow morning we start the REAL training camp when all of the participants get here! Laura and I are so excited for this time. We won't be back to update for a week or so. Please be praying for us and our team. Especially for health and for us to be open to what Jesus wants to do in our lives these next 6 days.  Love- Corey and Laura Here is a site to our teams blog. Click ME! Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=moving-on http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=moving-on How is Laura?I think my heart is good. It's a bit weird right now. Friday is my last day in this role with the World Race. For the past two and a half years my activities have been really centered on this program. I was talking with Corey last night and finally put into words how hard this really is. Most people in America work at a place and can't wait for God to move them into doing something they are passionate about. I actually work in a place that I love, with my best friends, doing something I am completely passionate about. Saying goodbye to this is really hard. I think I need the Grieving Session at Training Camp again!!! J   The reason I'm "weird" and not just "sad" though is because I'm simultaneously VERY excited. All of our setup has come together and I know (as much as you ever "know") what we're doing this summer. And I'm really excited about it. I've gotten to talk to quite a few of the students and I'm really excited to meet them. I'm looking f Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=secular-discrimination-against-religion-by-zachary-gappa http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=secular-discrimination-against-religion-by-zachary-gappa This is a post from my friend Zachary Gappa from the Center for a Just Society website. Please read an pass the link to others to read. We need to get involved in how our local communities are shaped. "When good men fail to act, evil will have its hold"Thanks to Zach for letting me post his words.April 25: "Secular" Discrimination Against Religion by Zachary Gappa Many people today are concerned about the "separation of church and state." More often than not, this means keeping religion out of the public sphere. They say the public sphere ought to be "secular," free from talk of religion lest someone be offended. Religious freedom is interpreted as the freedom not to hear another person's religious convictions. Unfortunately, this freedom of religion is freedom from religion. The Founders specifically guaranteed the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech by demanding that the government not make any laws to limit these freedoms. Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=an-ignited-passion http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=an-ignited-passion  I have to confess today... church this morning frustrated me. We started a new series called Ignite. Pastor Randall spoke about living a life where you are doing what you're made to do, not just existing. Most people seek after something to pay the bills... something to make ends meet... something they really don't want to do, but feel they must. He asked this question "What would you pour yourself out doing absolutely for free?" Most people not only live out a passion-less life... they don't even know what they would want to do! He challenged us to write out a one-sentence purpose statement this week - could you do it? I had a conversation with my friend Amy that was very similar. She mentioned Donald Miller's sermon Story. Miller basically asks this question - do you live a life that you would pay money to see in a theatre? Amy said it this way, quoting Miller - if my number one goal this year is to save enough money to buy a Volvo... that's not a very interesting story. But Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=the-kingdom-of-god-is-worth-as-much-to-you-as-you-allow-it-to-move-you http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=the-kingdom-of-god-is-worth-as-much-to-you-as-you-allow-it-to-move-you Since Laura and I came back from our visit to Ireland, I was almost sure that it was where we needed to be, but lingering questions attacked me like invisible bullets "Will we EVER raise all that money?" "What is the partnership doesn't work out and we can't go?" "Will God make this possible?" "Will He ever show us if this is what He wants us to do?" On the last Tuesday in March I met with Scott Borg (we rent from them) to help me process the options and help determine which direction Laura and I needed to take at this stage of our life. the Proverb "With many advisors a king does well, but with non he falls" is so true. I thank God for the people He has but Laura and I around. Back to the story. So Scott and I were outside shoot'n hoops and talking through all that I could remember from the time in Ireland and bring from my heart any doubts and desires. The sun was going down and a pause in the conversation was getting longer. Scott broke it "Lets pray". We Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=church-family-community http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=church-family-community I am intrigued this morning by 1 Timothy 5. At first, it just seems like this ridiculously exhaustive to do list that Paul is doling out to the church. Now, I'm a list person... I enjoy my yellow steno-pad with things I can mark off. But this is overwhelming even to me. But as I've learned to read the Bible, I've learned that though God does give us rules to live by, He's much more interested in the heart. So that led me to ask... God, what is your heart in this list of instructions? The title above 1 Timothy 5 says "Instructions for the church" and it most definitely is. "Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him..." "Honor widows..." "...provide for relatives..." But there are two overtones I'm sensing... 1) family, 2) community living. I don't know that I've ever fully grasped the importance of physical family in the Bible. It's easy for me to go out on the streets of Atlanta and feed a homeless man who's lost most of his mental capacity. I can sit with him for hours. But Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=slide-show-of-our-time-in-ireland http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=slide-show-of-our-time-in-ireland Heres a photo slide show that Laura put together. Again we want to thank all of you who gave to us financially that made this a possibility! Blessings and enjoy :) Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=home-safely http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=home-safely hello again faithful blog readers! We have returned safely and are jumping back into life. We're both a bit jet lagged and I'm a bit swamped at work. I pressed the "Receive" button on my email today and got 400 emails!!! Within the next week we plan to post pictures and videos from our trip. We also plan to meet with a few people and, with their wisdom, make the decision on whether or not we will be moving to Ireland! Stay tuned! Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=but-were-already-christians http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=but-were-already-christians When getting to know people in this country, one of the first questions you get asked is "Are you Protestant or Catholic?" In America, this is a question of religious denomination. What church do you attend? But that's not what people in Ireland are asking... they are asking about politics. It would be similar to being asked "Are you Democrat or Republican?" Except that you would need to add deep emotional attachments based on years of violence to that party alignment. So what is our answer to that question? "I'm a Bible Believing Jesus follower..." That just isn't understood here... You see in Ireland, if we told someone we were missionaries, they would look at us and say "Why are you here? We're already Christians..." In fact, Ireland is a Christian nation. To be Irish is to be aligned with the church. So why are we here? If everyone here is already involved in church, why would we be looking for an open door to do ministry here? Because this is the church of Ireland. A grand Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=we-have-arrived http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=we-have-arrived Just a quick note... we are here in our hotel in Dublin safe and sound. Had a pretty rough day of travelling which included Laura getting sick and Corey taking care of her causing neither to sleep... All is well and healthy now. Pray that we stay that way! Once we are a little more alive, we'll start exploring and pictures should come tonight! Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=day-1-the-photos http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=day-1-the-photos Well... we planned to stay up and spend all day sightseeing... but that didn't happen. We decided it would be okay to nap this morning as long as we were up and moving early still... So our afternoon was packed full as we followed a walking tour through the city... First things first... Lunch at a nearby pub. Then I made friends with some of the locals... Something tells me support raising might be successful with these new friends! Then we spotted this beautiful cathedral... which turned out to be Christ Church - one of the oldest buildings in Dublin... Little did we know just how beautiful it was!!! Though maybe a bit creepy in points... This cat got stuck while chasing this rat. They found their mummified bodies inside the organ! So what would you do with a mummified cat and rat? Put them in the museum of course! Strange... Next it was on to tour some of the local culture... The Jameson Distillery is one of the celebrated producers of Irish Whisky... We just Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=off-to-ireland-even-sooner http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=off-to-ireland-even-sooner So I go to purchase our plane tickets to go to Ireland and between the time that we received our itinerary and the time the travel agent got back with us... they added nearly $600 to the price... of each ticket! Needless to say... life got a little stressful. I couldn't find any plane tickets within our budget. Eventually my co-workers jumped in and helped me research flights and it came down to this... Leave on the regular schedule with the group... pay $1600 a ticket. Leave two days earlier... pay $800 a ticket. So... We're off to Ireland on WEDNESDAY!!!   We'll have two days in Dublin on our own. Then we'll meet the team on Saturday morning at the airport and travel with them to County Roscommon. We'll stay with them until Wednesday when we fly back home. We appreciate your prayers as we really want to hear God's voice and see if this is His open door or not. You can also pray for: Travel. We have multiple planes, multiple layovers. Pray that it all works smooth Fri, 7 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=living-the-journey-march-edition http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=living-the-journey-march-edition We mailed out our newsletters today, but for those of you who don't get the paper copy, thought you would enjoy reading our update! Off to Ireland Sooner than Expected!               It all started on a blustery winter day in well last month! It's no secret that we have a connection to Ireland and have been praying about what God's plan for us is concerning Ireland. Well, last month one of those possibilities was presented to us. Let's see if I can draw the pieces together for you             Two years ago Corey led a trip to Ireland where he partnered with another missions organization - Operation Mobilization - and the long-term ministry they have set up there. It was a great trip and great friendships were established. OM has recently purchased a beautiful bed & breakfast, Lacken House, to use as their base of operations. Check out http://www.ie.om.org/lacken.h Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=wonderful-birthdays http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=wonderful-birthdays Thanks to some generous birthday gifts from you guys, Corey and I both had wonderful birthdays! It's pretty fun to have our birthdays so close... not to mention we have at least 3 other co-workers who have birthdays around the same time! Enjoy the pictures from the recent sherehe's!!! (Sherehe: Swahili for: party, celebration. The newly formed club of co-workers who seem to be getting together in community for party purposes regularly) Corey surprised me by having a co-worker kidnap me and take me to a hair salon where I got my hair cut into this new, stylish do. Then my co-worker blindfolded me and took me to Corey where he surprised me with this beautiful yellow rose. We had just talked that morning about how Texas has it's own official rose, the yellow rose of Texas! (not to mention it's rose has it's own official song!) Then Corey took me out to eat at this great seafood restaurant called Seabones. As you can see...there wasn't much left! However... the restaurant was FREEZIN Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=whats-up-here-god http://thejacobs.myadventures.org/?filename=whats-up-here-god Yesterday, I came into the office to get myself organized before the craziness of the week started. Within the next 12 hours, I had no idea the craziness that would begin... First... another office staff person who was here as well came by and told me that he got an emergency email from a World Racer's family. After a bit of digging it turns out that Sarah Lapp, a September Racer who just arrived in Africa, needs to come home. Her mother has just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and within the course of a week, her symptoms spun out of control. The diagnosis looks pretty grim. So immediately we set into action... first in prayer for Sarah and her family, and second... getting in touch with Africa to get the news, with comfort, to Sarah and to begin plans for her to get home. Wow... every Racer's nightmare come true right in front of us... Then another office staffer... the wife of the first... came by. Turns out Ashley Musick... my co-worker, former teammate fr Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT