stuff i think

Good evening, dear friends...

I write this by the light of the my iBook monitor, enjoying Miranda Stone in my headphones and a few moments of the only downtime I’ve had in at least a week. For a notorious introvert, it’s been a wild time...I’ll try and be brief, but it takes a little explaining! :)

Many of you know we recently committed to directing the Justice Internship and House of Prayer with Lou Engle in Washington, DC. Along with our friends, Paul and Cheryl Amabile, we are taking our missionary journey to the nation’s capitol, to a prayer room within eyesight of the Capitol rotunda to make governmental intercession on behalf of our nation, particularly surrounding the issue of the life of the unborn children.

We worked a booth for The Cause / Justice House of Prayer at the OneThing conference the last four days of ‘04, and on New Years Day we finished loading our truck and headed east. With a truck, an SUV, a van, four adults and nine children, we made our way to Cincinnati where we enjoyed a service at the Cincinnati House of Prayer. As always, it was good to be with friends. Thanks to CHOP for being such a home for us.

Our target was Camp Bennett in Brookeville, MD, where we are to base for two or three months until The Farm, a rented property closer to DC, is available. We were all tentative as we rolled in – not sure what our living conditions would be like. Never in our wildest imaginations did we expect this....after surveying every building on the campground (which features 2 emus and some very vicious looking goats), Kelsey and Cheryl announced the only place fit for raising children was the foyer of the gymnasium. Yes, the foyer.

As foyers goes, it is nice – maybe 20x40 with three very large plate glass windows (we quickly dubbed it The Fishbowl), a counter along one wall, and a 10x40 loft. After scrubbing it clean, we hauled in beds for our three children and their six, then another four for us adults. Yes, it looks like a barracks. From the outside, it looks like the front of the gym, causing a number of confusing situations for ball players who, thinking they were entering the gym, entered our living space instead. Lou Engle inadvertently walked in this afternoon and said “Hey! This is your HOUSE!” For the next while, he’s right. And in this fishbowl we all live - Randy, Kelsey, Jackson, Grayson, Zion, Paul, Cheryl, Andrea, Brooke, Isaac, Allison, Hannah and James. Coordinating bedtimes with kids ages 15 to 3 and one light switch has been an interesting activity!

Tomorrow we’re all heading into the city, where I’ll be able to send this email. Camp Bennett does have emus, but it doesn’t have email. Our kids are excited to see the Justice House of Prayer and Capitol Hill. We’re excited to get to work, make a few deposits and set up a post office box. The office is being staffed now by a few interns, but we expect 100+ to arrive in a week. We will house them temporarily at Camp Bennett with the rest of us, then move to the Farm at the end of February.

We look forward to teaching and leading the interns, along with standing on the steps of the Supreme Court in prayer for the unborn that are targeted for abortions. A few weeks ago one of our guys was there praying as he is every day when we has approached by a couple with tears in their eyes. They said “Thank you for what you’re doing” and pointed to their own beautiful five year old girl. The went on to say “Five years ago, we considered aborting her...and now she’s the richest thing we have in life.”

We love you all.

Life....

Randy & Kelsey