Confession and Recent Events

So I feel like I should confess to all of you......I had a pepsi yesterday :(

I had decided to give it up for a year and have done well so far, but yesterday was my downfall. I will not make excuses or explain why I did it, but I will say that I have not fallen off the horse entirely. Or if I did, I have climbed back on and plan to be faithful with the rest of my commitment!

Thanks for listening!

We have had a lot of activity around here recently. In February I turned 27 (how did I get into my late twenties so quickly). And the next week Mom and Dad Potter came to visit. Actually, they had work to do in the area, but we will take any excuse to have them around for a while.

About three weeks later Cami and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! There is a lot I could say, but I will sum it up with - marriage is fabulous and the most wonderful gift God has blessed me with. The weekend after our anniversary my dear friend Bri came to visit. We didn't do much exciting, but we didn't have to - oh the joy of good friends. It was so refreshing to share life with someone - to truly experience the beauty of knowing and being known. I love having Bri around and talking through life ponderings together, I swear my have such better thoughts: deeper, fuller, insightful thoughts when she is around. Thanks friend! You are a blessed gift from the Father!

(this is a lame picture, I know, but it is all I had from this visit.....packing the car to go to the airport)

And the day before Bri left Ro flew in! Ro got to stay with us for a week as well. She was doing some work in the area also, but we saved plenty of time for fun. I am trying to convince her that LA is the best place for her to live - all the connections and opportunities here - I think I make some valid points and I think I might be convincing her. We will see.Easter was also exciting, but I will write more in detail about that later.

Oneyeariversary!!!

For many it is not that big of a deal to have lived in the same home for a whole year --- but for us, it is quite an accomplishment. In the first 23 months of our marriage Cami and I lived in 5 different apartments in 3 different cities. Talk about transition! But here we are, having moved from our home in Portland just two years ago and actually staying in one place for 12 whole months.

I wonder how much longer the Lord will have us here....it feels fairly permanent, but so did Portland :)

A couple pictures (because they are always fun) of some of our students hanging out in the apartment with us.

Two Things We Love About Living in LA

Sorry we haven't posted in so long......rather than try to catch up, we are just going to skip to the current. So the things we love:

#1 Watching the US National Team beat other countries. On Father's day in 08 we watched them beat Barbados 8-0 in a World Cup Qualifier and a couple weeks ago we watched them beat Sweden 3-2 in a friendly match. Here are some pictures from the most recent game.




#2 Getting to camp on the beach in February!!! School is out this week so we went to the beach for three days. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderfully refreshing time.


But the days off had to end in the snow :) So after we packed up camp, we drove two hours into the mountains and went hiking.......that's my husband for you from the beach and bathing suits straight to backpacks, snow and mountains. It was an adventurous day!

Recent pictures

This past Saturday Ryan (on the left) and Phillip (right) allowed Cami and I to take them on an adventure. They are both graduates of the program - Phillip lives close enough to still attend DCA, but Ryan does not - so it was especially great to have him around. We took them boulder. It was fun to see them be boys and enjoy one another so much. They were inseparable when they were in the program! These are two boys that are a continually reminder that the Lord truly works through this ministry. Many times people still marvel at the change in them, especially Phillip. These two remind us that we truly are new creations in Christ.

After climbing we took them to Little Tokyo, for my beloved Japanese cuisine - Ramen. It is all homemade and they serve it in bowls the size of your head. Oh it is so heavenly.

After climbing Cami and I rushed off to our first quincenetta! What a fun cultural tradition. We only stayed for about an hour, but I heard today that the party was still going past midnight. The young lady that was honored is such a woman of integrity and a great joy to have around.

Sorry the pictures aren't great.

And finally a picture from our most recent dinner with students. These are a couple of the boys currently in the program. Together we made turkeyburgers, grilled squash and some fabulous cucumbers. It was great to hang out with these boys outside of school.

1 Thessalonians 1:3

I wish that there was an encouraging story to tell you, but it has actually been a rough time around here lately. Not that anything out of the ordinary has happened, we are just at that point in the development of many of our students. We have had several leave the program recently, either by graduating or simply giving up. The transition is always a difficult time. Although there are some students who really change for good, there are many who just skate their way through the program. We do the best we can to identify this pitfall, but we can only bring them to the living water, they must choose whether or not they are going to drink.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we had four students run away a couple months ago. Two returned, but one of them left again a few days later. I have kept in contact with the girl who left the program and spent last Thursday listening to her talk about her new life. While telling me that she is not doing bad (not making bad decisions) she also unveils that her and her dad are not speaking, that she thinks get drunk is fun and she hopes she wont get kicked out of school for always sleeping through it. And while talking with her I saw Sad Girl. She also has left her program, but what is worse is the fact that she is cutting again. Sad Girl tried to hide the evidence, but I still called her out on the fresh wounds all the way up her arms. It is so hard to see these ladies robbed of their joy. You can see it in their eyes. A hardness returns to their gaze. There is also a girl who just graduated the program but is still attending our school and I think the look in her eyes is the hardest to be confronted with. I pray that I can be compassionate toward her, but I find myself getting angry every time I look at her. Not that I am angry at her, my blood just boils as I see the enemy come and snatch the hope right out of these kids I love so much. I found myself saying, "I wish I didn't love people so much." But the reality is, I am very grateful the Lord allows me to share in a portion of His love for these kids. Every time my heart breaks I am tenderly reminded of His deep love.

There are a few who are so drastically different and sincere, they are a constant reminder that we are truly impacting lives. I just often wish we could see more of the harvesting. But not all are called to harvest. So I will continue to plant and trust the God who causes growth.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support.

An Update

Just wanted you all to know that Sad Girl is back in the program. I am not sure why they made the exception, but I am so happy they did - and she is too. We cannot talk to her yet, but everyone who has seen her said she is grinning from ear to ear (I wish you could all understand how much of a victory that is).

And Eli is safe. He met a girl on the bus and went home with her. Apparently he is living with her family in Canada somewhere. I know it seems crazy, but when you know your family doesn't want you, going home with someone who does is quite appealing. Although we were all upset that he was 'missing' for 10 days and there was a detective assigned to his missing persons case, it is nice to know he is okay. Eli just doesn't know what it is to have people actually care when he goes missing.

Prayer Request from Liberia

250,000 orphans in Liberia
30,000 under the age of five die each year
375 children were adopted between 2005-2007
The Government is about to pass a law that will stop adoption and orphan and strand the 800+ children in the care of adoption agencies

Friday - September 5 - is our chance to present our case to save the lives of thousands of children. The House of Representatives have drafted a new bill - due to be passed next Thursday. The adoption agencies have gone through the bill and changed a few major points that would essencially close adoption. Tomorrow (Friday) is our day to present our case to win them over to pass our bill.

4pm we will be hosting 14 members of the committee at the House of Representatives will come to our compound to see what we have to say.

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!

We are putting together a presentation to win them on adoption and show them clearly how this bill will stop adoptions and harm Liberian's children. This is our only chance to save the lives of these children. We NEED YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!


Pray for favor - the Lord turns the heart of kings. As a good friend reminded me - God hardened Pharoah's heart time and time again but when it was time he opened Pharoah's heart to show the power of the Almighty God. Pray that this is the opening of Pharoah's heart!

I love you all. Thank you for fighting this battle with me. I need you now. Liberian's children need you now. PLEASE PRAY!!!

Sherri