This will be my last post…going forward Katie and I will be joining forces and amalgamating our blogs into one source of Black awesomeness!  I hope you will continue to follow our exploits with even more vigour now that you will have twice as much to read.

Our new enterprise will encompass not only a blog but also a resource to find information on our upcoming ministry.  Please check out The NEW Black Board!

A post from Katie’s blog:

We are back…

in several different ways…

1. We are back from the busyness of Christmas, New Years’, and the Wedding. David and I kinda disappeared during the busy, yet fun, time with friends and family over the holidays and then our wedding. We were married on January 3, 2009 and are happily enjoying married life now! We have settled back into our life together in Whittier and are loving it. We have recently had some great conversations about SIM and our journey back into support raising in order to reach Niger!

2. Which leads me to…we are back from our period of silence in support raising. If you remember, about a year ago we asked our current supporters (you) to put their financial support on hold while we explore the great relationship that the Lord had given us. David and I met at the SIM orientation in the fall of 2007 and starting dating soon after that with the intentions of being married and serving overseas as missionaries together. So, at that time we were dating and then engaged and not actively raising support. Well, we are back!

We are so excited to begin support raising again and so excited with the prospect of being in French language school in September of 2009! We will be getting in contact with you all again as we begin to support raise to serve overseas. We highly encourage you, if you are led, to begin supporting us monthly again, starting now. We’ll be getting more information to you as well.

On a personal note: David has returned to his job, as a business analyst, after a break for Christmas and the wedding. I return to work this weekend, working in pediatrics at the hospital. We are praying for direction about the timing in which to cut back on our jobs and invest more time in preparation for the field (ie. studying French, visiting people to discuss supporting us, investing time in learning more about Islam). Yea!!

We are back!

Psalm 145

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

    1 I will extol You, my God, O King,
         And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
    2 Every day I will bless You,
         And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
    3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
         And His greatness is unsearchable.
    4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
         And shall declare Your mighty acts.
    5 On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
         And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
    6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
         And I will tell of Your greatness.
    7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
         And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
    8 The LORD is gracious and merciful;
         Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
    9 The LORD is good to all,
         And His mercies are over all His works.
    10 All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD,
         And Your godly ones shall bless You.
    11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
         And talk of Your power;
    12 To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
         And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
    13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
         And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
    14 The LORD sustains all who fall
         And raises up all who are bowed down.
    15 The eyes of all look to You,
         And You give them their food in due time.
    16 You open Your hand
         And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
    17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways
         And kind in all His deeds.
    18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
         To all who call upon Him in truth.
    19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
         He will also hear their cry and will save them.
    20 The LORD keeps all who love Him,
         But all the wicked He will destroy.
    21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
         And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

I was reading my Bible yesterday over lunch and read this amazing Psalm and I thought it was awesome and I wanted to pass it on.  Thanks be to God!

We here in the US recently celebrated Thanksgiving.  It is a great holiday, one of my faves, marked by copious amounts of delicious food and spending time with family and friends and (at least for Christians) reflecting and giving thanks for God’s blessings.

Like so many folks, I was thinking about all the many things I have to be thankful for and this year, especially with the beautiful growth of my relationship with Katie, I have some super extra special things I am praising God for.

I read an interesting article by John Piper last week that really gave me pause to think.  If my thankfulness to God goes only as far as WHAT God does for me and never extends to being thankful for WHO He is, then my thanks is rather shallow and my lack of appreciation for God is rather insulting.  God’s gifts to us are an outpouring of who He is.  He is holy, loving, merciful, kind, righteous, magnificent…so many glorious things.  While I need to certainly be thankful and thank God for what He does for me, I also, and more importantly, need to be thankful for who He is.  I must glorify and praise Him for that.

Anyway, that is just something I was convicted of this Thanksgiving and  my prayer for myself this coming year is that my praise and thanks to God will include my gratitude for the great and wonderful things He does for me as well my praise and thanks for who He is!

Although Katie and I are not big on cliché stuff, we do go with it sometimes as the mood strikes.  Case in point…the wedding slideshow offering a cornucopia of sweet and savoury photos of the bride and groom.  We both like those quite a bit so of course we wanted one for our wedding.  So my mom recently sent me some sweet pics of yours truly so I thought I would share a couple with you.

These photos make me laugh!  ha ha!

Superman jammies! Yeah!

Lovin the 80s

No, not the album by U2.  Last weekend, Katie and I did some sweet desert hiking in Joshua Tree National Park here in California.  J-Tree, as I affectionately call it, is awesome.  With 1,200 mi² of desert wilderness and only 1 road through it J-Tree is a jewel of untouched wilderness.

The park is best known for the Dr Seuss-like trees and being a Mecca for rock climbers seeking to go bouldering on the countless rocks in the park.  The Yucca brevifolia was named the Joshua Tree by Mormons travelling through the area in the 19^th century.  The uplifted limbs apparently reminded them of the Joshua of the Old Testament lifting his hands in prayer.

One thing I have loved since moving “Out West” is the amazing and rugged landscapes.  I love hiking and although the soft, ancient Appalachians are beautiful, the hikes and vistas of some of the places I have been in Colorado, California and the Southwest are absolutely breath-taking.  God is quite an artist!

In any event, the park is really awesome and well worth a visit if you happen to be in SoCal.  Here are a couple photos to give you the flavor!

Niger is home to a longstanding insurgency.  The Tuareg are a nomadic people who live all across West and North Africa.  In Niger, they live in the north on the edge of the Sahara desert where they have lived for centuries.  These people have rebelled against the government of Niger on several occasions in 1916-1917, 1961-1964, 1990-1995 and the current rebellion which began in February of 2007 and is still ongoing.  There are distinct nuances to each of these rebellions and I am no expert and have not read up on all the facts but it seems that the undercurrent of the problem is that the Tuaregs have felt and still feel marginalized and, in some ways, exploited by the government.

If you want to read some recent news articles relating to this topic, see below:
FACTBOX-Uprisings by Tuareg rebels in Mali and Niger
2 killed in Tuareg attack in Niger
Areva is ‘nobody’s enemy’ in Niger after Tuareg rebel threats

Slavery still exists.  In countries all over the world, today in 2008, people are bought and sold and spend their whole lives as slaves.  Their children are born into slavery.  In our own country, the Thirteenth Amendment legally protects Americans from slavery but in other countries, despite legal measures, it remains a reality.

Niger is one such country.  Although officially outlawed, there are estimated to be 40-50,000 slaves across Niger.  The government does little to curb or punish what has become a cultural practice for some people groups.

This week, in a landmark case, a Nigerien ex-slave won a victory in the West African (ECOWAS) court.  The court ruled in favour of Hadijatou Mani deciding that the government of Niger had failed to protect her from slavery.  Hopefully this will set a legal precedent that will enable the tens of thousands of slaves across West Africa to pursue their freedom.

Here are two articles if you want to find out more about the case and about the issue of slavery in Niger.
Niger ex-slave wins landmark case
Niger slavery: Background

As many of you know, it is Katie’s and my hope to serve the Lord in Niger, West Africa.  In talking with people, it has become obvious that few people have even heard of Niger…let alone know anything about it besides that it is a country in Africa.  So I would like to start sharing with you news stories, facts and other things so that you will begin to better know and understand the place Katie and I will be calling home!

To better help you find Niger-themed posts of my blog, search or click the “Niger” tag.

Here are some random snaps from trips to Santa Barbara and Big Bear Lake.

Santa Barbara pier

Mission Santa Barbara

Cool plant at the mission.  If you know what it is, let me know!

Santa Barbara pier

Big Bear Lake

Big Bear Lake

Big Bear Lake