Love Mercy. Seek Justice. Walk Humbly.

On the weekend we got to visit the church I called home for the years I lived in Seattle. Its an amazing church only a few years old. It seeks to meet the needs of this post modern generation as well as the community that surrounds them that seemingly have no where else to go. When Dave and I read their mission statement on the church bulletin it really struck us and we thought hey isn't this what its supposed to be about?
"Quest is the expression of a vision and dream of a church where truth is sought, mystery acknowledged, compassion and justice embodied, culture and arts engaged, creativity and innovation fostered, diversity and multiethnicity embraced, authenticity and community pursued, and sharing the love of Christ is the great cause."
Check out Quest

sigh

somehow this makes things lots better...

fRuStRaTiOn

i'm beginning to wonder what it all means. you know that feeling when you get so excited about something and you think oh thanks God you really are listening and then BAM - dissapointment. yeah that feeling. i know you all know it. lets be honest here it happens more than we would like.
so i had this groovy job interview set up for today - postpartum doula stuff. an awesome opportunity to get some training and work for the ministry of health here. i worked all day on a resume.... get home and listen to my messages....cancelled. yep the whole thing just like that. no more program, not enough interest. over just like that.
yeah yeah feed me the sappy christian line that it will all work out and i'll be ok. i know i know. but for now it really SUCKS!
its been tough lately trying to figure out what the future holds. dave wants to go to winkler, i want to stay here. we both want to see each other prosper in our dreams for our future but when they are happening in different places its hard. today i think i would give in to him if he asks me. ready to throw in the towel and i just kind of want to hang out with my mom and see lisa and hold william and maybe have my own baby.
i should probably go before i say more things i will regret later but hey this is what life is about keeping it real. i'm so tired of being fake and a happy shiny christian - the word of the day is vulnerability.

Sunny Seattle

Dave and I drove down to Seattle for the weekend and had a great time connecting with old friends. We spent time with Ben and Mel and Jaya the first night which was awesome. Sometimes you forget how much you love people until you are with them again and then you leave and you miss them even more.

We also got to see lots of other YWAMers which was tons of fun. Nic and Jana were out and it was great to see them. We got to meet Zara whom you saw pics of on my blog a few weeks ago. Sunday night all the girls went out for dinner to celebrate. I got to go lots of places I missed going too. It was fantastic.

We also got to hang out with my friend Zadok who is in this ridiculously good band called Mercir Check it out! It was awesome to see them play as I was there in the beginning when the band was just an idea. I felt so proud and they seriously rocked. Here are some pics from the show.
It was such a great weekend!

more cuties...

just thought it was time i posted another cutie... two actually. daves sister julia and our niece zoe joy!

we're off to seattle for the weekend to enjoy some time with friends. its nice to get away two weekends in a row! lucky us. hope everyone enjoys their weekend!!

second time just as good as the first....

Introducing Aiden Zachary Bryson. July 19th @ 3:31pm. 7lbs 8oz 51cm. Life - what a beautiful thing to be apart of. Oh the absolute breath taking experience of new life. It was an exhilarating time. Aiden's mum portrayed the essence of strength and beauty as she willed her baby to existance. I'm in awe of the honour I get every time I get to be with parents as they welcome their baby for the first time.

Seeing a new baby makes you sure that God is behind it all!

So go and be you and be a bearer of life today in whatever area that means for you! Live full!

Whistler

What a fabulous time we had in Whistler. It was so beautiful. Its amazing to be right in the mountains - magestic is the right word!
We did some walking, hanging out in the village, lots of enjoying the pool!
We had fun with friends and re-learned what it feels like to relax after being exhausted from the program.

It was such a good restful weekend but hey back to the grind!

Whistler

wow. my first time to whistler. its magnificent. the mountains and trees - everything is so lush. its been a great relaxing weekend so far. we came up here for the Mission Adventure staff retreat. people keep commenting on how wierd it is to just do nothing all day long. we are fore sure not used to that. anyways i hope to post more pictures when we get back to the city. i'll post more then.
enjoy your weekend!

The Eve Project

The strong and beautiful symbol of LIFE in Japanese. This is for my amazing friends Audrey and Rachel who are embarking on a journey! They left for Japan today where they are going to spend two months just pursuing their passions. Japan is Audrey's destiny and its so exciting to see how they got to this point. They have named their trip Eve's Project. Eve means life and they surely will be bringers of life wherever they go. Very exciting. I will miss them but am sure that God has them right where He wants them.
Its mostly all about the journey anyways.
Love ya Girls!

Beautiful Babies

It seems I know the most beautiful babies (or in Zara's case her parents)
What a lovely thing to watch Sophia grow... Purely God's gift!
I love Babies!
(L) Zara Kate Rupp - April 05
(R) Sophia Joanna Jubilee - 1 year old on August 27/05!! Time Flies

Firsts.......

I wanted to share my lovely first birth which I attended last Wednesday evening. This was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done. I loved it. It happened during the worst part of my day – yes we all heard about it, the day; the hour the poop was gushing out of the toilet downstairs in the office. My pager went off and I responded to find the Doula Co-coordinator on the other line. She had a woman whose water broke and wanted a Doula at the hospital. “Can you go?” she asks me. “Ha” I laughed “hey I’m dealing with human bodily functions anyways why not!” Scary. I got there at about 7pm and she was 3 cm and progressing quickly. She’s young and this was her second baby (which means they usually go quicker). What struck me was this woman’s beauty – she was radiant. I felt drawn to her in a strange peaceful way. Her body knew what it was doing and all she had to do was let her body lead her. It was a bit more complicated as she had a past where her last baby died in labour of unknown complications so she was being monitored quite closely; which meant the baby was being monitored and she was not moving around much. She was so overwhelmed and I imagine a bit fearful. I found she liked her arm stroked a certain way and didn’t want to be asked questions – just do it! That’s what I felt like my job was. Try it and hey if it doesn’t work she’ll tell you to stop and probably forget about it the next contraction.
The doctor was concerned at her babies dipping heart rate (every contraction) so they did some tests on the babies blood which came back great. The doctor came in at 9:30 and she was 9cm – whoa for those of you unaware that is huge – like we are talking usually hours and hours of labour to get to that point. So they call in the doctor and we go through all the instructions. “don’t push” “just breathe”. We do this for awhile. She tried to get up to go to the bathroom but feels a lot of burning down there so we get her back on the bed and the doctor comes in for a look. “ok time to push” Can I step in here and say INTENSE but so beautiful. She was working so hard for this baby. No medication, she threw the gas tube at the nurse when she tried to make her use it. Tough girl. Good girl. I kept eye contact with her and we breathed through each painful contraction.
So she gets all the way to pushing and there is a pretty thick anterior lip of the cervix - the babies’ heart rate drops quite low and she is bleeding a lot - and then its panic mode. I felt so bad for her - there were like 8 people in the room; they are making her move from side to side to excite the baby. The anesthesiologist comes in and its kind of amusing now thinking back, he has to ask her all these questions right – any loose teeth? Any back problems? The poor girl is just trying to get through her contractions. She says “What teeth”.
It’s quick after this because they whisk her away to surgery. The heavy bleeding was a strong indicator that her placenta was already detaching and with her past complications no one was ready to take chances.
About 45 minutes later we got to lay eyes on a beautiful dark eyed screaming baby boy who weighed in at 6lbs10oz.
What a beautiful way to spend an evening.

As I drove home that night I smiled and felt such peace. I felt honoured that I was able to see the beauty on her face as she chose life for this baby. Her strength and courage are why I want to be at birth. In my lack of enthusiasm and joy lately it was nice and I even caught a glimpse of God – arms full of babies, tears running down His face. He was happy too.

End Poverty - Do Something!

Go sign your name.
Its time to be proactive and end complacency!

www.live8live.com

Make Povery History

There are presently 1.8 billion people living in extreme poverty. These are people living on less than one dollar a day. Extreme poverty is described as “poverty that kills.”
About 30,000 children die every 24 hours from preventable causes and disease. This means that every three seconds, a child dies. (As an exercise, snap you fingers every three seconds for a couple of minutes and let the reality of what that means sink in.)

Consider this statement that carries heavy weight: “We are the first generation with the plan, the technology and the money to end world poverty. What we don’t have is the will.”

Did you know that one of the commitments made was that the richest nations of the world would contribute annually 0.7% of their Gross National Income to finance the development goals. So far, Canada has yet to meet half of that target. Actually, Canada currently gives only 0.3% of Gross National Income to foreign aid. That is only 1/3 of a penny for every dollar earned. The US has done no better. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have all exceeded their commitments.
Recently in Ottawa, finance minister Goodale met with Jeffrey Sachs and in conversation admitted that although Canada can certainly afford to honour its 0.7% GNI commitment, there simply isn’t the political will to do so.

That’s where we come in. This is where our vote matters. This is where the world begins to hear that preventable poverty is not only a moral outrage but a primary Christian concern as well.

This July 6-8 at the 2005 G8 Summit, hosted by the British government in Gleneagles, Tony Blair has promised to make the Millennium Development goals a primary topic. Before then, governments need to hear from their citizens that these are concerns we expect them to address.

There are many ways to do this, here are four:
1. The most important thing to do right now is to log on to the Make Poverty History and Micah Challenge websites listed below and register your name in support of the world’s poor. Governments take notice of people movements.

2.Start reading. The resources listed below are full of nuanced information to help us understand the complexity of poverty as well as the achievable solutions to an unacceptable situation.

3. Develop awareness among your friends and social groups, churches and e-community. Feel free to quote this letter, in part, or in its entirety. Encourage individuals to visit these sights to register their names. Governments do respond to these things.

4. Order white arm bands from www.makepovertyhistory site and give them to friends to wear for the next several months.

Here are some helpful websites - make sure you sign on to any petition offered:
www.makepovertyhistory.ca (Canadian) www.one.org (US)

www.micahchallenge.ca (Canadian) www.micahchallenge.org/USA (US)

www.mcc.org - This is the best site I’ve found for a quick educational overview of the Make Poverty History Campaign. Click on the link for the campaign and follow the side bar issues. You can also find a quick two person skit that can easily be performed at your Church on a Sunday morning as part of an awareness campaign.
www.bread.org This is home for the Bread For The World Institute, a Faith based group seeking justice for the hungry by engaging in research and education on policies related to hunger and development. Click on “who we are” on the sidebar, then click on “Receive our free 12 page booklet: What You Can Do to End Hunger.” This would be a great resource to pass on to friends and pastors.

www.millenniumcampaign.org This is the UN’s site dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals. At the site, click on “The Goals” at the top bar and read what follows. At the bottom you can select the goals individually for more detail.

Thanks for taking time to read this through. Besides your own personal giving to good charities, a few moments of your time to sign on to the various petitions at the above sites will send a powerful message to our governments about how we expect our nations to be compassionate world citizens. Please resist cynicism.
We simply need to speak out on behalf of those whose voice is not being heard.

homeless with nowhere to go...

hey all, yes its been awhile since i last posted. busy busy. we have about 200 kids here this week with Mission Adventures so its been endless days of cleaning, cooking and running around. i get to stay in the quiet office most days away from the craziness but being here is being surrounded by lonliness.
so with our office being quite vacant we have become somewhat of a hotspot for the homeless in our neighbourhood. our office is good that way - lots of overhangs and warm dry spots for people. on monday we had 7 people using our ywam hotel. its a hard line to walk as we want to be friends with the people hurting in our neighbourhood but its also not healthy to be ushuring in this mindset of being a hotel. they leave (after being asked a few times) lots of garbage, drug paraphanelia and human excrement which we have to clean up. its not so pleasant. so i am now the resident bad guy making arrangements for gates and locks and organizing the poor cleaning crews who really should have masks.
so thats a day in the life...
walking a fine line and loving it.

the cutest baby ever!!! 

home sweet home..

i know its been awhile since i posted.. we were away in the COLD east. visiting daves family and doing some work stuff. it was a good trip. but its so nice to be home. i forget sometimes how much i like my house and my bed and my stuff.
the weather is amazing in one week of being gone the buds are gone and its so GREEN. the sky is blue today and the sun is bright its a great day to be alive.
i must continue catching up on work just wanted everyone to know we are happy to be alive and happy to be serving where we are.
love ya
dave & heather

SUNSHINE!

wow its amazing how warm it got so quickly. i love it. isn't it funny how people seem so much more happy when its warm outside. everyone is greeting each other and smiling. not to mention wearing sunglasses which you don't do very often here in vancouver. its a great day!
the office is quiet today.
its gonna be a fabulous day.
love you all.

why does everyone think i know everything??

thats the question for today. it seems as if i answer probably 200 questions a day from where is the invoice for this?, to do you know what the phone number is there? to where is the toilet paper? My desk is piled with papers to remember a bazillion things. thats just today.
i feel sad that i miss people today. i miss my friends from home, i miss emily and the joy she brings to my life? i miss married couples to hang out with and i miss my mom and today i really miss my dad. i miss my neices and my nephew and i miss the security of where the money will come from to pay random bills.
but after saying all that i remember who Jesus is and all the amazing things He give us. In order to make disciples we must first be disciples. A disciple of Jesus is someone who hasd counted the cost of discipleship and is more willing to pay. Jesus sacrifice purchased our salvation so that we can be "living sacrifices" - sacrificing our time, talents and treasures for the cause of Christ.
AS WE HAVE REVELATION OF THE WORTHINESS OF JESUS, THE PRICE IS EASY TO PAY!
I love you.
Thanks for listening.

happy william! 

sophia!