In case you missed it, the key learning today was “velocity of money” which does not mean dropping gold bars from a plane.  Simply put it means banks print money and we should look down, way down, on anyone that puts a conservatory on their house.  Oh and Americans aren’t all that bad? Didn’t their philosophy of life get us in this mess in the first place?  Sending that shot out there since there are no Americans on the course (ah to be fair I would do it anyway).

If there was a second learning, ummmmm it was . . . . ummmmm, oh yeah . . . . Germany is taking over Europe using simple (really, simple?) economics to cause everyone to “hand them the keys to the house”.  That pretty much sums it up.

When Kara and I joined NLI we wanted to understand the core challenges that faces missions today.  After 5 years in missions these are the challenges I’ve identified along with my colleague Sheldon Armitage, innovation – recruitment – fundraising. I really believe the Innofund answers all three of these challenges.Essentially we will achieve three aims with the Innofund.

1. Innofund helps to generate new ministry ideas.
* We do this by encouraging small investments in new ideas. We give global workers the chance to test out ideas they have always wanted to try but haven’t had the resource to do.
2. Innofund is a main recruiting tool for future missions.
* With our emphasis on including young people in collaborative tasks, a whole generation are being exposed to missions.  Also by encouraging their financial investment these young people to catch the passion for missions in Eurasia.
3. Innofund is a new way to tap into 21st century fundraising
* Many people are now used to buying cheap apps for their smart phones. These apps still deliver great service but don’t cost a fortune. Innofund is designed for the “app store” reality of spending money. We give people an opportunity to make small investments that make a huge difference.

Yes it really is 2012! Here is a look back and a peek forward . . . .

2011- “It’s really over”

• Liam was born on February 9th, yeah that’s right it’s almost been a year since the little guy was born. What an absolute blessing he is in our lives. We were hesitant to have a second child but now we have no idea what we were thinking about as we contemplated stopping after Lauren. You’ll remember he has blue eyes and kept them in spite of his passport which says brown, Doug gambled on the outcome and was wrong (had to happen some day).
• Lauren got released from speech therapy, yeah that’s right she doesn’t need it anymore. We knew she was doing well but a few short weeks ago we received a letter saying just that. You’ll remember that the expert in her condition said that she ‘would never catch up in her development delays and may slip a little bit further behind in one or two of the areas.’ This has been a place where you have poured your prayers into and now we celebrate the result of answered prayer with you!
• Kara did what all wives do. Gave birth to a new kid, made sure the first one was learning everything she was supposed to, found us a new house to move into, put up with Doug for yet another year (I know most of you don’t get how she does it, but it is over 11 now we’re thinking it’s going to stick), and continued to be very involved at church with crafternoon, ladies life group, variety shows (see the awesome pic of her on facebook). All that and she continued to run her home party business as a Pampered Chef consultant.
• Doug took the plunge and applied for an MBA program at Ashridge Business School. Yes you all know the story by now but it’s worth reminding you, our prayer partners, of God’s faithfulness: invitation to the programme, a visa to stick in the country, a car dropped in our lap, and finances being sorted. All of this has been ‘easy’ and so it is easy to recognize God’s hand in all of it.
• NLI began to act upon the stirring of their collective heart to shift their focus slightly and open up the vision. Instead of a focus on training church leaders to plant traditional churches there is now a focus on building and mobilizing faith communities which will transform their wider communities. It is stories like this that have opened our hearts: ‘after delivering a truckload of clothes, food and supplies to an orphanage the driver is asked if he can also leave the pallets. He says no. He is asked again and he explains that he cannot. The third request is more a plea than a question and the driver has to ask why they need the pallets so badly. he is taken into a small work shop and told . . . we need the pallets to finish some caskets, 3 children have died this week and we are out of wood.’ You can see how experiences like that would shift a heart toward total transformation within a community that has much deeper issues than a simple lack of a corporate gathering once a week.

2012 – “Great Expectations”

• Liam expects to turn one. He hasn’t really said much else to be honest. We expect he will drive us nuts with his exploration and what we are calling ‘investigations’. It’s been exciting to watch a child hit ‘normal’ development milestones.
• Lauren expects to continue on her chosen career path to become a doctor. Yes that’s right a doctor. For whatever reason she is consistent in telling us that’s what she wants to be when she gets older. She hasn’t chosen a specialty yet but talks a lot about eyes and general practice.
• Doug & Kara expect that by September we will have a clear idea of where this year of transition is taking us. We fully expect that by the end of the year we will move . . . Canada? Bangladesh? Chile? London? . . . yeah we haven’t a clue.
• Missions in Europe, with NLI and PAOC, will continue to develop new strategies for including and releasing individuals into their God given destinies. We expect to be able to say a year from now that the statistics – like less than 1% evangelical Christians in many countries of Europe – are changing for the better. James 2:26 – “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

So Happy New Year to you and your family! We are so blessed to have had you standing with us and praying with us over this last year and throughout this next year. At the end of a church board meeting once a friend said “God never intended for us to do this (life) alone.” You have not left us alone and we have felt that over and over again in 2011. Thank you!

Blessings,
Doug, Kara, Lauren & Liam

The bends in the road and the people you are with determine most of the decisions that need to be made enroute to the picture so be careful relying on “strategy” as the cure all for answering the question “what do I do now”.

Anyway, moving day is July 1st, so this next fours weeks will be all about packing, clearing out and organizing.

For UK people who want to know, our new place is in the Furnace End estate, Alexander Road to be exact.  It’s not too far from the church.  There may be a pub or roundabout that I need to use to describe the location, but I haven’t figured that out yet!

If you are interested in helping us move, we would so appreciate any help available!  We will be well organized, and provide lunch and drinks to those that help us!

While examining a routine ultrasound, Flinn’s obstetrician had found three tumours in her daughter Katie’s thimble-sized heart. Though the tumours were non-cancerous, Flinn’s doctors warned her and her husband that they suspected Katie had tuberous sclerosis complex — a rare genetic disorder that causes non-malignant growths in most vital organs, and sometimes seizures, developmental delays and other diseases.

“We were pretty devastated,” says Flinn, a Barrhaven mother of two. “You realize at that point that the whole life you’ve planned out is going to take a totally different path than the one you thought.”

Four-and-a-half years later, Katie will be walking alongside her dad, Jasson, in this year’s Ottawa Race Weekend while Flinn runs the five-kilometre race along the Rideau Canal to raise awareness for tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). She and her team have raked in about $10,000 in donations — more than tripling their original goal of $3,000 — and Flinn is determined not to let Katie’s cause stop there. She has yet to set a new fundraising goal, but with corporate sponsors Giant Tiger, Tartan Homes, Tamarack Homes, Stantec and Novartis on her side, it seems that Flinn has already begun to break the silence that surrounds TSC.

Katie, a lively little girl whose flushed cheeks match her bright pink pyjamas, toddles over to listen as her mom lists the problems that have spawned since her initial TSC diagnosis, all of them requiring constant care from her devoted parents and the specialists who monitor her closely as she grows up. She has developed arrhythmia because of the tumours in her heart, a kidney disease has caused about 40 cysts to sprout on her kidneys and she takes medication to control the seizures she experienced regularly as an infant.

“It’s a lot of appointments, a lot of follow-ups and a lot of worry,” says Flinn, who sits on the board of directors for Tuberous Sclerosis Canada, a non-profit organization. “It kind of feels like a roller-coaster. You go along and everything will be OK and then there’ll be a problem. And then you’ll go along again and everything will be OK and then there’s another problem. You’re always waiting for the next one.”