our first booth setup at White River CC for their “missions” Sunday on November 15th

Modeling our new t-shirts, which are reflective of the theme for the missions weekend

The Ried family at the National Missionary Convention in Peoria, IL.

Hanging out in Chicago with our friends Jimmy and Elizabeth and their sweet kids.

Jameson’s first time to the “Windy City” and to the Midwest.

Sweet Mercy Lou

Chicago was a bit cloudy every day we were there.

We’ve had such a great trip so far and we are going to be up in the Midwest for the next month so stay tuned…..

The Bennett Family

Derek and Oliver just hangin' out!

Enjoying the ride with Terri

After a great day with the Bennett's!

The Bennett Family was our first stop along the way in Hilton Head, SC.  We had a wonderful time sharing our lives with them and letting them do the same.  Their three kids are dear to our hearts and we enjoyed getting to know them more.  We love this family!

Our time in Atlanta and Nashville was cancelled, so we made a little detour through the mountains of Asheville, NC thanks to some of our supporters!  We hadn’t seen Fall yet this year since Florida doesn’t have any seasons, so the colors were unbelievable!

A little piece of history! (Biltmore Estate)

Oh Fall, how we miss thee

Ashley enjoying the day at the Biltmore

Our next stop was in Cincinnati and Dayton, OH.  We had such a wonderful time with our friends Matt, Ashley, and Heather whom we went to college with.  After helping Heather set up supplies for the children’s ministry, Derek’s birthday party was unforgettable when we jumped into piles of gym mats at the YMCA (the place that Heather’s church meets) followed by Buffalo Wild Wings!

Derek really enjoyed his birthday!

Ashley demonstrating her skills

Matt enjoying the mat

heather never gets to have this much fun in the ministry!

look what Ashley can do!

The adventures have only begun.  This week we are meeting with folks in the Indianapolis area followed by a week at the National Missionary Convention.  Stay tuned for more adventures from the Ried’s!

Ashley will be accepting a new role within the organization, working in CGO Operations. This role will allow her to be involved in the planning and structuring of several different departments and areas of the organization, as she works closely with the CGO Operations Director.

Derek will continue to work for the Short Term Ministries Division, and will most likely become the Director of Summer Internships in the spring. He will be planning and executing our Intern program, as well as pursuing a great deal of recruiting opportunities.

Both of these roles are desperately needing to be filled immediately.

As NMSI continues to grow (we’ve more than doubled in the last four years), it is imperative that we have office staff capable of giving support to our folks working on the field. We are willing and ready, but need more financial support before we can make the move to Ft. Myers. Will you help us?

We need you to consider joining our support team. Currently, we are bringing in roughly half of our support needs. We still need $2,300 more per month to be able to do this ministry. We are asking you to to consider giving $250, $100, $50 or even $20 per month, or feel free to give a one time donation. If you are currently supporting us, would you consider increasing your donations by even $10? We have folks giving spare change that they collect throughout the month. ANYTHING will help!! All donations are tax deductible and go through an organization, NMSI, that is nationally rated for financial integrity.

Our office building (from the front!)

The front desk (where the action happens)

Conference room (where we have devo's/staff meetings)

Our fabulous pub!! (publications-not a bar)

Our youth hope department! (training youth leaders worldwide)

Our interim CEO- JD

Short-term Division (the place Derek is working!)

Our wonderful CFO!

The people that keep the organization going-Finance Department!

you know IT (the IT department!)

This is Misty (she's demonstrating how to stay awake-Coffee!)

Well folks, this ends our tour here at Casa de New Mission Systems!  We hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay and don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses!

We also helped out at a week of VBS at The Bride (the church we ministered at for 2 years) during the middle of July.  To those of you who really know us, this

"Scuba Steve"

was a step out of our comfort zones!  Derek played a character for that week (not hard for him to do) named “Scuba Steve.”  The kids loved Scuba Steve and at the end of the week, the girls raised more money than the boys, so Scuba Steve got slimed.  Derek had a great time entertaining kids that week as Ashley taught the 1st and 2nd graders!  She was so good with the kids (even though sometimes she wanted to pull her hair out)!  They loved her and had a lot of fun with her!  All-in-all it was a great week and we enjoyed bringing kids to know who Christ is!

Here are some other pictures from our travels!

Teamwork (setting up 7 displays for our week of camp)

Our Nieces first birthday party (she can cry if she wants to)

Time with the Ried's at Turkey Run

Breakfast with mom!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and we’ll try and get some more up here soon!

Grace and Peace

We have continued on our journey to Ft. Myers, and have now found ourselves in Orlando.  It is a wonderful thing to be back in this place!!  We have moved back in to the SMAD house (see entry from May 2008), and we are being graciously hosted by Mike and Shana.  As we are here in O-town we will be meeting with people and churches, attempting to glean our last 50% of support.  Praise God that He has brought us this far!

We spent last Saturday evening praying at the church during Before the Throne.  What a blessing this time was!  The Bridge (formerly Southeast Christian Church) has some great stuff going on, and it has been wonderful making our way back to our “old stompin’ grounds.”  It is great to be able to see the good work that the Lord is doing in that place!

Although we moved two weeks ago, it seems like we’ve just arrived yesterday!  Since we’ve been here, we’ve been gone almost everyday!  So, yesterday we had a great date-day of hanging out and watching movies (the Harry Potter series- as we’d never seen them before, and we’re going to the midnight show tonight with our housemates!).  Praise God that He gives us opportunities to rest and relax, as well as be refreshed to go and do more support raising!  Tonight we are celebrating our fourth anniversary (which is really on the 16th), and are looking forward to working at VBS this week.

Yesterday, we also decided to return to Illinois for a week to work a week of camp (Jr. High II @ Prairie States) where we’ll be the missionaries!  So, we’ll be heading up north next Thursday and returning the following Monday!  If you’re in the area, perhaps we’ll see you!

We love you all and miss you (those of you up north!).  

Grace and Peace,

derek and ashley

Can you believe the end of May is already in view?  Wow, time really does fly!  We’ve been quite busy preparing for our big move to Orlando in less than 6 weeks.  This post will be fairly short in terms of text, but we’ve been promising pictures for quite sometime.  So, I thought today would be a perfect day to post a whole bunch of pictures that have summed up our last couple of months.  Enjoy!

Aunt Tonya and Ashley out for dinner!

The SMAD family portrait! Our housemates from Orlando came to visit!

Our friend, Beth, came from Illinois to hang out at Bazbeaux's Pizza in Indy

In front of a favorite store in Indy- Silver in the City

On one of our trips to Illinois- EARLY in the morning!! This is what we spend a lot of time doing- Driving!

Also in March our friends Elizabeth and Jameson come to visit!! Jameson loved hanging out with Derek- the feeling was mutual!!

Mother's Day Tea at the Ruby Pear in Noblesville

At our small group retreat, Jon taught Derek about healthful living!

Out of 6 couples at the retreat, we 3 were the only ones left by Sunday!

Our friends, the Hughes, are our small group leaders! They have been a huge blessing to us and we're so thankful to have spent time with them.

Thanks for taking the time to check out these pics!  We’ll be posting more on Facebook and putting some in our e-newsletter, so be sure to check ‘em out!  In order to make up for our missed we last week, we’ll go ahead a post again this week.

Grace and Peace.

After living in Florida for several years I had begun to take the sun for granted.  In Florida the sun comes out every day and it makes our dashboards crack (or perhaps that’s because we sometimes drive cheap cars…) and our skin burn (unless you’re Derek- then it just gives you a nice tan!).  Certainly the sun was not always appreciated.  But then we moved back to the Midwest… and we missed the sun greatly! 

For those of you who don’t understand what that means let me explain.  Now- this might be shocking for you Floridians, but here in Indiana and Illinois the sun spends a good deal of time (November-March) covered by clouds.  Not happy, fluffy clouds- not the kind that make you feel good.  Instead, they are dark, gray clouds that make everything seem dull and lifeless (probably because everything is dead).  I’m just going to be honest and confess that sometimes it makes you want to jump off a bridge!

But, alas!  The clouds have parted and the sun is here!  I sat OUTSIDE and drank coffee this morning.  People are smiling and happy, and everyone seems eager to talk about the beauty of being outside.  Indeed, this is going to be a wonderful day.

I don’t want to be cliche or cheesy, but I feel like we’ve been living in Narnia under the White Witch for a while, no longer enchanted by the frost or the snow.  In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it is not until Aslan comes and the White Witch is defeated, that the land can be restored in the beauty of spring.  I feel like singing, “Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead!”  

Praise God that He has defeated death, and winter is over!  Praise God that He has made all things new!  Praise God that though we were dead and lifeless, stuck in perpetual winter, we are now alive!  Praise God that in the same way that His creation is transformed by the sun, so also are we transformed by His Son- given life and hope!!  

Be blessed today- bask in the sunshine and remember the One who created the sunshine.

(Sunny) Grace and (Sunny) Peace.

The last post was a bit of a downer– we know this!    A couple  of weeks ago, just after the last post was written, I woke up with Proverbs 3:5-6 on my mind: “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all things acknowledge the Lord and He will make your paths straight.” In all honesty, I learned that passage when I was in seventh grade and I hadn’t thought about much since.  But, I woke up early with this passage on my mind.  It wouldn’t leave.  I told Derek about it, and we prayed.  We prayed that we would do just that.  

When the Israelites were wandering in the desert the Lord provided for them every step of the way.  Not only did they have the cloud of smoke and fire to follow; the Lord provided manna (which we don’t really know what it is…) and quail for them to eat.  The stipulation was that they would only be able to get enough for one day’s worth of food.  If they tried to store it up, it would go bad overnight.  They had to trust that the Lord would provide for them on a day-by-day schedule.

As we do this, we find that we are trusting in the Lord on a day-by-day schedule.  This demands that we “trust in the Lord with all (our) hearts.”  We have no other choice.  Some days, when we forget to “lean not on (our) own understanding” we don’t see the Lord’s provision.  There is not enough room for us to list every single thing that the Lord has provided for us.  We cannot even begin the list– it’s too much for words.

He is faithful.  He has met all of our needs.  As you joined us in the wilderness last time, please join us today in calling out God’s faithfulness and praising Him for knowing and meeting our needs.  

Grace and Peace

(I’m sorry that we missed the last blog two weeks ago.  Things were pretty busy, and to be honest, we were just working our way through the wilderness still.    We will be back on schedule with the bi-weekly update now.)

(Also, there should be more PICTURES coming sooooooon!)

It was almost one year ago that Derek and I embarked on this journey.  For those of you who don’t know our story, suffice it to say that we encountered an incredible evening at a Good Friday service of prayer, where God revealed a glimpse of His plan for us.  We left that prayer time, on our way to an amazing Communion dinner, convinced that we had made a decision that would be pleasing to God; a decision that would prove to change our entire lives.

Indeed the decision to leave, to go to a place we did not know, did change our lives. The plan was clear– we would support raise throughout Illinois and Indiana while I went to class and Derek went to work every day.  We would work really hard, and we would be back in Florida by January.

Funny how our plans don’t work out, eh?  We had it calculated well, and thought our plan was foolproof… but it wasn’t.  School and work quickly picked up, and although we still tried to support raise, our efforts were futile, and much of what needed to be done couldn’t for sheer lack of time or energy.

It’s been a funny trip along the way- difficult… hard… but, good.  Back in September, while trying to support raise and go to school, we found out I was pregnant (it wasn’t exactly shared widely, so don’t be surprised if you didn’t know, not too many people did…).  While that’s distracting in and of itself, since I had been through several miscarriages at that point, I was considered a “habitual,” and that required more doctor visits.  In the end, I had another miscarriage and we had some grieving to do.

Aside from dealing with health problems (and there were several!), we struggled to reconnect and we grieved the changes of our lives.  We slept in beds that weren’t (and aren’t) ours and graciously (and quite humbly) ate food that was provided by friends and family who have loved us and cared deeply for us.  Our hearts have ached for the security and safety of what we once knew, missing our church family, friends and even our dog, Henry.  

Through all of this we stayed strong.  Don’t get me wrong, we wept when we needed to, and certainly grieved and mourned that which needed to be.  But we remained resolute, completely set on the face that this is what God has called us to do, and never wavering.

I almost threw in the towel today…  Derek stayed up all night because of an aching tooth that was throbbing every time he simply laid his head down.  On top of feeling anxious about his tooth, I found myself getting angry at the situation.  Just last week we found out that we needed to raise more money from our start up in order to maintain our health insurance (which is desperately needed since I frequently end up in the hospital!), and along with that we found out that we needed to cover our start up costs before we can actually begin the moving process.  Derek needed a root canal and I was just plain mad.  I was exhausted from traveling, from moving, from asking, from hurting, and from working.  As I was sitting in the chair at the dentist, waiting for Derek to be relieved of pain, I found myself thinking about Orlando.  About my old job, our old church and our old life.  I began trying to figure out a way to get it all back, and I prayed desperately for God to hear me and answer! I almost threw in the towel today… but I didn’t!

I was reminded of the Israelites, after seeing God part the Red Sea for them, complaining about the mud on their shoes and crying about wanting to return to Egypt.  Ohhhh, don’t get me wrong– this is hard, and if you let yourself, you’d find something new to complain about every day.  Constantly I feel the temptation to “remind” God of what we’re dealing with, forgetting that He already knows because He’s leading us.  We’ve had clouds of smoke and fire to follow, and yet all we can focus on is our own lack of comfort!  We’re in the wilderness with the God who created it and knows it inside and out.

So tonight, or really this morning, my prayer will be that of Moses, as he led the Israelites through the wilderness.  First, it is a prayer of forgiveness- forgive me for losing sight of the Great Love and the Mighty One who has called us, forgetting what He has done right in our midst.  Second, it is a prayer for protection.  Moses begged God to stay with the Israelites, not to leave as God had threatened:  ”Do not let us take a step from this place without you going ahead of us; for if you do not go ahead of us how will others know that we are yours?”

If you’re in the wilderness, come walk with us.  

Grace and Peace