oh, yeah – hi!

hi, remember us? oh, yeah – forgot we had a blog on wordpress! apologies to our readers (yes, all 1 or 2 of you). let’s see, “our” last post was in may, and lots has happened since then. lots has happened since 1 year ago actually, none of which has been documented on this blog. sowwy.

dom & i joined our friends in a vision to plant something in the city of portland: a church. dom officially came on the planting team as the “community pastor”! he fits the role so well. the dreaming & praying phase probably years back, but we really started gathering with others to pray fervently, hand-in-hand, and put dreams & vision on paper & action last year. in the last 12 months, we have seen God multiply, move, break, love… all kinds of awesome and difficult stuff… and we wouldn’t trade the journey for anything else. can’t wait to see what else is in store as we put faith & love into action!

our theophilus team has changed also. we released melissa (prayer warriorette), jane (outreach guru), and abe (interchurch networking master) to their respective journeys God was leading them to move onto a few months ago. we count ourselves extremely blessed to have been able to partner with them in reaching the youth, supporting the youth leaders in our community, and loving the city we live in.

but he gives and takes away: God provided galen, daren, and aaron as new members of our core leadership team! it’s been super fun getting to know them and they certainly add new perspective to our team. can’t wait to see what’s in store this next year.

as for mr. and mrs. kan – what a fun & quick year it has been so far. can’t believe it’s already november. as much as this year may have been challenging, this year has been very much about growth & change for us kans. some of you may know that i (christine) have struggled with depression and anxiety in the past couple of years. along with all the other changes that were taking place for us, we knew we couldn’t bear to do it alone. we finally decided to seek counseling in march, and although it was a difficult process… it was one of much healing, change in perspective, and “whew, i’m not crazy after all”. we’re not perfect, but i consider us blessed 1) to have had the opportunity to receive counseling and 2) to come to the realization that we couldn’t possibly walk through the journey alone.

love my community, love my jesus.

christine

transitioning

soon we will fulfill what we had originally intended for this blogsite.  we have officially entered a new season in our lives, and although this wasn’t the original vision for houseofkan @ wordpress, i (christine) have shared much of my own personal reflections &  interests amongst other cool things that i’ve stumbled upon that really have helped me learn more about jesus and community.

so, soon… we will go back to our original intent for this blog and share OUR life with you. you may hear less from me, but hopefully you’ll hear more ABOUT US.

stay tuned!

wrecked and liberated by the gospel

the true story of my King.

little things

Pomplamoose – Little Things

“Love is the little things… love changes everything.”

this is our dance

Though it goes unnoticed,
the Trinity provides, redeems, and breathes
life into our being everyday.
Far from being a distant and motionless
“timeless block,”
God reveals Himself as the one in whom
we live and move and have our being.
He has blessed us with a glimpse of the
benevolent inner-workings of Himself—
originating, reconciling, and completing—
all for the purpose of one day getting creation to sing
“Hosanna!” This is our dance.

Dancing the dance of life, and believing that he who began a good work in me will carry it onto completion!

a painfully beautiful process

soaking in the reality of life

and relinquishing control to Jesus…

2 years

Today, we celebrate 2 years of marriage — 2 years of adventure and life together, and there’s no other place I would rather have been than to be married to my husband.  Sure, I look back and think about what life would have been like the last few years if I hadn’t gotten engaged and married at 21. Who would I be?  What would I be doing? Would I be learning the same things I’ve been learning about Christ?  

All I know and can say is that right now, in this moment, I am in the midst of God’s grace and promises.  Who I am.. is who God has made me to be.  Where I am in life.. is where God has brought us in life.  And I am so privileged to have done it all/wrestle through life with someone whom I respect and love so much.  Can’t imagine it happening any differently! 

We celebrated yesterday since it was labor day and we both had the day off.  We started off our day just by relaxing and enjoying each others’ presence.  We went to Ikea to browse the showroom and dream about what we might like to see in our homes one day.  We enjoyed “supper” (happy hour) together at Jake’s before we walked to Fox Tower for a flick called “Paper Heart” — and what did the movie encapsulate?  Love.  What is Love?

Dominic helps me understand what Love is.  He helps me understand the Gospel better.  He inspires me to love Christ and others more.  He values me not only as his wife and companion, but he values me as a woman, and it brings me such joy to serve and love him.  

We had so much fun spending the entire day together.  Really, at the end of the day that’s what mattered — being together.  

Looking forward to more years of adventure and being in love with you.

spiritual

thought this was pretty interesting… 

[a snippet from rob bell's "everything is spiritual" dvd/talk] 
http://vodpod.com/watch/307795-rob-bell-everything-is-spiritual

abandon

To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on; to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender.

learning what it means to live in total abandon to Christ today…
Christine

radical

Bethany Dillon – You Are On Our Side

“The gospel is the dynamic for all heart-change, life-change, and social-change. Change won’t happen through ‘trying harder’ but only through encountering with the radical grace of God.” – Tim Keller