Maybe tomorrow I'll want to settle down...

On a random Sunday morning a few weeks ago I was killing time in front of the tv before church and an old show I used to watch when I was a kid came on. It might ring a bell for a few of you, after all The Littlest Hobo is some quality entertainment! After marveling at the incredible special effects and grooving along to the theme song I let the lyrics actually sink in and found that they are pretty relevant to life as I have known it for the past 10 years!

Maybe Tomorrow

There's a voice that keeps on calling me

Down the road, that's where I'll always be.

Every stop I make, I make a new friend,

Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again

Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down,

Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

Down this road that never seems to end,

Where new adventure lies just around the bend.

So if you want to join me for a while,

Just grab your hat, come travel light, that's hobo style.

Maybe tomorrow I'll want to settle down,

Until tomorrow, the whole world is my home.

I have lived in at least 10 different cities, with 42 different housemates, spent time in 11 different countries. I have not unpacked my own dishes for 3 years! The longest time I have had the same address since 2001 is 2 and a half years and the second longest is 10 months. And yet here I am, after only three months at my current address, planning yet another move!  I desire so much to settle down, and yet there is this restlessness inside me that keeps pushing me to keep moving...

A high school friend asked me not too long ago what my plans for the next little while were. After a fairly lengthy explanation, I ended the thought with, "but everything is pretty up in the air" to which she replied, "no offense, but that seems to be the norm with you!" and she is absolutely right! I am on "The Road Less Travelled By" to quote Robert Frost, so hopefully it will "make all the difference" as his poem suggests.

Laying down my ambitions, hopes, dreams and plans for the ones God has for me sometimes feels a lot like riding a rollercoaster. You wait forever to get to where you think it is you want to be, it's absolutely exhilarating for 2minutes and then you are left trying to figure out what to do next. I think the waiting in line might be over and I'm getting on the ride.

Right now laying all these things down and stepping out yet again has definitely taken me off the beaten path! I will be walking away from the short term contracts I have had for the past year in the North Okanagan and reconnecting with YWAM again.  I plan to move to Kelowna in the beginning of July where I will be working with a brand new YWAM ministry called Life Harvest Network.  I would love to send you to their website for more info, but it's so brand new that we don't have a website up and running yet.  We are still working on our mission statement, but essentially the vision includes a number of different things:

• Setting up and running a sustainably designed organic farm.  The food grown on the farm will be sold to support the base as much as possible and any excess profits being donated to human trafficking prevention organizations.  
• Working with WWOOFers (willing workers on organic farms) to help out with the farm work and also connect with people wanting to learn more about sustainable agriculture.  WWOOFers are typically travelers who are from another country who work for room and board for short periods of time.
• Connecting with the local community and encouraging YWAMers (past, present, and future) to pursue the things God has put on their hearts.  
• Hosting an OATS school (Organic Agri-nutritional Trainers School) set up by an organization called Organics for Orphans.  The school teaches people to train people how to grow and prepare nutritionally sound food and how this type of agriculture fits with a Biblical worldview.  People who complete this school are encouraged to use these skills to work in developing nations or other areas in need.  Check out their website for more information about the school they have been running in Kenya: http://www.organics4orphans.org/oats-school.php

For those of you who have been following my journey for the past few years, you know how sustainable agriculture education has become a huge passion of mine.  I have spent a few weekends on the farm already weeding in the garden, getting to know the staff (who I first met on my trip to Florida in 2010), and doing some graphic design for business cards and brochures.   Right now we are based out of a YWAMer's home (George a permanent backpacker who was at the base in Oxford when I did my DTS and actually came along for a part of our outreach to Cambodia and Bali), but this may change after September.  I will be living in the house for the summer and then will be making a decision about what living situation will be best for me.  I will be paying for room and board as well as staff fees for the summer months and will need to decide whether or not to pursue employment once the summer is over or to focus full time on the ministry.  I would like to explore some education opportunities perhaps with the local environmental education organization or maybe developing programming for childcare and community groups.  As I said everything is VERY new and REALLY up in the air!!

Please pray for new relationships in a new community (the most difficult thing for me in this transient lifestyle), wisdom about how long to commit to the ministry, the role and direction I will take as staff and/or student, decisions about employment and also future overseas ministries.  Please contact me if you have any questions...or any interest in getting involved in the ministry--we would love to have some more staff!

I know I have been promising an update you on how life has unfolded leading up to this opportunity and I hope to do this soon, but wanted to share this exciting news with you!