Back Home! What's Next?

Disclaimer: This post is very similar to an email we just sent out. Just thought it was worthy enough to make the blog as well, as we hit the two week mark of being back in America!

So you've probably heard these clichés before:
Time flies...
It seems like just yesterday...
You'll be back before you know it...

Time does indeed fly, and it seems like just yesterday we were packing up our house, selling a car and getting ready for our year overseas, and as we have been back for two weeks now, we are definitely back before we knew it! We used to think these clichés were silly, not anymore!
It has been a while since most of you have heard from us (sorry for that, "we were out of the country"...we still love saying that:-)) so here is a quick recap of our "year overseas" which we generally broke into two parts:

Part 1:

The first half of our year was what we considered our intentional ministry and humanitarian portion of the year as we partnered with the non-profit organization, EPI (Eagle Projects Int) and visited 3 of their overseas partners in Harare, Zimbabwe; Kisii, Kenya; and Kathmandu, Nepal. We were also very blessed to be able to visit some of our friends laboring for Christ in Nalchik, Russia.

And for an even quicker version of our first 6 months, check out this video we made!!! Click HERE to launch the YouTube video.

Part 2:

The second half of our year included our not-so-intentional ministry and humanitarian portion of the year, or we could call it our sightseeing portion. :-) We visited some beautiful countryside and met up with some great friends and even family as we explored Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany. We even had the pleasure to spend some time with an EPI partner in Cesena, Italy. For a look at some photo albums from Europe, click HERE.

But first check out this video we made of our 4 months in Europe, click HERE!! (It's hard to choose 106 photos out of 12,000, but we did our best)

And now for another cliché...

The real world...

What are we going to do next, as we are now back in the real world? Justin's day job will be back at EnCana as he is lucky enough to be able to get his job back and has already started working. Krista is trying to narrow down a long list of possible options for her time which could include working towards a counseling practice, volunteering in some capacity, and taking a few more Seminary classes. And for the rest of our time we are excited to share with you two recent developments that will allow us to continue traveling and working overseas!

We have recently become official staff with EPI! We are now working with EPI in Special Project Development. This will allow us to continue to travel and visit EPI's great partners to see how their ministry is developing and what their needs are. Check out our profile HERE.

One of our first opportunities with EPI is managing a project with our EPI partners in Nepal. We are very excited to continue our relationship with the awesome couple that is working in Nepal (you have probably heard us talking about them) and the need that we are hoping to help with, which is very close to our hearts. They are doing some amazing work with young girls that have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry and we have a way we think we can help, with your help as well, of course. But as this email is already long enough, we will be sending another email with more details! So stay tuned.

We feel very blessed to have had this opportunity, and we are super excited about the future! Thank you so much for your support, prayers and well wishes!

In Him,
Justin and Krista

All Good Things Must Come to an End

One of several amazing sunsets in Cinque Terre

Now, obviously this is a common saying, but to be honest, I don't like it. And part of me doesn't believe it (or more accurately, doesn't want to believe it), but like all age-old sayings, there is some truth to it. Change is inevitable, and a necessary part of life. It is change that helps is grow and become the people that God created us to be. So even something that seemed so good at the time, must end and other things must take it's place. Just like a beautiful sunset turns into peaceful night.

Our four months in Europe were absolutely amazing! We had such a great time with each other and loved seeing the in's and out's of God's creation. It was so GOOD. But in this case, obviously not sustainable, unless someone wants to give us millions :-). Therefore, this GOOD thing had to come to an end. We will forever cherish this time we had together (literally 24/7) and will remember all the amazing things we got the opportunity to do.

To wrap up our four months in Europe, we spent a week in Cinque Terre, Italy.

The adorable town of Vernazza in Cinque Terre, Italy (home for 3 nights)

This was one place that several people told us we HAD to see if we went to Europe. So with that in mind, we scheduled a whole week here at the end of our trip, sort of like a grand finale. And it did not dissapoint. Cinque Terre, or "five lands" is a grouping of five towns on the Italian Riviera. Cars are not allowed in the towns, so the only way to get from town to town is by train, boat, or foot. In addition, there is a National Park so there are lots of hiking trails connecting the towns and going all over the beautiful cliffs, hills, and vineyards. And finally, what makes it even cooler, it's in Italy, so you have Italian food and gelato!!

Hiking above the town of Monterosso

We had a great time hiking from town to town and above the towns through the vineyards. Our only recommendation if you plan on going to Cinque Terre in the future - prepare yourself for crowds and book in advance. We luckily had booked a month in advance, but even that was difficult, and while we were there, we did have to strategically find places where the crowds would not be. It is no longer a "hidden gem" if you will, but nonetheless, it is still gorgeous, fun, and definitely worth going to.

To take a better look at this BEAUTIFUL place click HERE! We took lots of photos and hopefully the captions show up as well.