[TEAMspinella] Excuses and plans, but first the straight scoop

Laura (the straight scoop): 

You haven't heard from us for a while....Steve continues his work with Team on some projects that involve video and conference calls with people in faraway places, as well as some research and writing. There are more projects "in the hopper" and we are waiting to see how they develop.  

As for me, in the absence of ministry trips, i have had the opportunity to spend more time with my international women friends here in Colorado Springs...hiking, eating, participating in events together. I need wisdom to know how to speak life-giving truth into their lives! Starting this week our home will be hosting a small group study....we are excited to listen respectfully to each other, share what matters most to each of us, and seek truth together!  

I have also been very much in the mode of seeking new wisdom for my own life at this stage!  On the one hand i find myself still busy as a homemaker.  My parents live around the corner and i want to spend time each week with them.  I always like to be available to my kids.  In late July I flew down to College Station to  help Sarah with her move from an apartment into a dormitory apartment on the A&M campus.  Wedding planning with Sarah also looms on the horizon. In early November we hope to host our niece from Spain who will be introducing to us her husband and very cute baby.  We also look forward to hosting two of our "Taiwan nieces" at Thanksgiving.  I often find myself stretched in many directions, and still wanting to fit in more.

One of the extra things i will be fitting in this month is a week-long course called "Developing a Discerning Heart" that is taught by a ministry called Entrust. I have been spending quite a bit of time over the past few weeks preparing the homework for this class, and am hoping for new insights for myself and the ability to better help others.

If you've actually read this far, thanks so much for caring! Please continue to remember us!  We love hearing news from all of you...and we especially love getting to see you!  Please let us know if you are in our area and have time for a visit.

Steve (musing): Thanks, Laura, for adding the "straight scoop" above after you read my musings below! 

Do you find that the longer you put something off, the more excuses you can think of to delay it?

I certainly do. I'm afraid on matters like this my mind is smarter than it is wise. When I got up over two hours ago (6 hours now, after breakfast, Laura's contribution, and another round of edits,) I told Laura I was going to write this update. That was just the latest two hours I've been able to put it off, there have been many before that. Can you remember a time when you found yourself smarter than you were wise?

My last international trip ended in May. Our last ministry trip ended in July. In between we were asked to step back from a ministry responsibility we'd been working on for over a year after a change in leadership in that area. I didn't like that, by the way :-). I'm sure that has made ministry updates harder to write.

In late August the person I report to (also named Steve!) came out to see Laura and I for a few days, and we put together some proposals, identified some priorities, walked in the mountains, and watched the sun rise in Garden of the Gods. Good stuff. Nothing quite ready for a great email update.

One thing excuses and plans have in common is that they both happen inside our heads. Real life can be more boring, more disappointing, more complicated, and more confusing. Because of my idealism and my great imagination, I often find reality more complicated, less glorious, and sometimes even less interesting. Yet it is between our head and our hands and feet that the practice of life takes place. 

My living father keeps calling me back to this practice. The 139th psalm weaves a picture of being known more intimately than it is possible to escape. "Where can I flee from his presence?" Do you ever ask that question, like me and that author? Asking that question is like chasing after the wind, as in the classic Jonah story.

We're still having good conversations with valuable people, some on skype or google hangout, more in the kitchen, Panera, room x at our local gathering place, or, preferably, on some hiking trail. One of the best recent times for me was backpacking with my son Joey in Lost Creek wilderness. We waited an extra day to start because of the rain and my cold virus, but it was a first for us together, and the first time I've gone backpacking in Colorado since age 19! Laura, meanwhile, walked more than twice as far with a group of her "international friends" from International Women's Connection. This has become a big part of our lives, including on "(Chinese) moon festival" and "(Korean) thanksgiving" this week, which we celebrated with crabs and poetry for the first time.

So thanks again for caring about us, and keeping us in your thoughts and intercession, ...just as we are!

Yours in the one who keeps us, Steve and Laura

PS On a personal note, we also have a building permit to finish our (unfinished) basement. We're hoping this will be another good tool for real life and ministry, but right now...it's just a plan! Regarding the horrific flooding that has been in the news, we are also deeply grieved by the losses, but personally we're okay.

Steve and Laura Spinella

street: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187, 800 343-3144
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>

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