"I Remember You"

Greetings To All:

How in the ever-shrinking world are you? Is October treating you well? Here is has been unseasonably warm and dry. But, you won't hear anybody complaining about that. We have fired up (pun intended) our wood burner for the season. The base has received plenty of firewood to get us through this season and well into next. A camp south of here allowed us to clean up some of their wood that they were not going to use, and a local golf course was tearing out a treeline and let us take what we could handle. So, we certainly have been blessed with warmth in our homes this winter. How are we doing? Overall, we are doing well. Kathy has been fighting her yearly cold, sore throat, headache thing. This year she decided to share it with me. Here is a stock tip for you: invest in Proctor & Gamble because we will be supporting them with our purchase of Vitamin C and echinnacae. Thankfully our coldish things have not spread to the girls. (We still haven't gotten accustomed to the plural yet.) Desi is ready to crawl and get teeth any time now. Dakota is back in the classroom for a couple of hours a day and is loving it. She is turning into quite a little lady. Today she went down to a barn on base and looked at the new base chickens. She loved it! A couple on base is starting a mini farm to practice implementing and maintaining sustainable farming in order to help provide healthy food for the base and use it as a ministry tool for people interested in rural work overseas. The Discipleship Training School that is in session now has 28 students, the Foundations of Counseling in Ministry School has 11 students, and the Basic Leadership class has 9 students. The base is buzzing with people from all over the world. The Ropes Course has worked with over 5,300 people this year and is still going strong through October 31. And this leads me to our big news. . . .

After 13 years of starting and operating the YWAM Salem Ropes Course Jeff Nelson has decided to pass on operation of the course. He asked us to pray and consider it, and we did. We feel that this is what God has for us in this next season of our lives. Jeff is excited, and so are we. Jeff will be spending more time overseeing all of the YWAM International Ropes Courses, which includes scouting for new courses and continuous training with existing courses. What will our roles be? Everything. We will be in charge of all aspects of the Salem Ropes Course from scheduling to financing and everything in between. Kathy will be using her skill in the office be doing 99.9% of all correspondence in regards to scheduling and follow up. I will be using my skill to train our team, search for beneficial changes to the course, and ministering to the participants. Please keep us in your prayers for wisdom and grace during this time of leadership transition for us.

The title of this entry comes from something that has happened twice in the past week, so I thought I should share it with you. I was setting up some of our portable games at a local middle school this past week, and an employee (not a teacher) of the school unlocked a gate for us. After I told him who we were, he looked right at me and said,"I remember you." Again today one of our participants looked at me and said,"You worked with my group for my birthday party last year." After the first instance, I was taken back, and I began to think. After the second instance, I felt nervous. Why? Does that seem like a lot of pressure to you? After about a year, an encounter that lasted anywhere from 3 to 8 hours amidist flying in the air and doing some other crazy things, participants actually remember me. "What pressure?" you ask. Well, with such little contact, what impression was left? Was it one that makes them think of a Christian? Was it one that helps them to know that they are valuable? Was it one that makes them desire to know why they were treated with care and respect and love? Was it one that makes them want to step away from the negative things in their lives and actively and passionately pursue Truth? Did I represent the love of Jesus and The Father's Heart to them? I could come up with more questions, but you get the point. Before every group begins our course we tell them who YWAM is and what our main purpose is. So they know that we are pursuers of Jesus. And then, if they don't have any established concept of who Jesus is, the time they spend in our presence on the course is from what they will form an idea of who Jesus is. After each group leaves we pray for them and the time we spent with them. So far, I think that the impressions I've left with participants has been good. But, I also remember the "trying" days with the unfocused, hyperactive, broken middle schoolers. Did I show them grace, mercy, and love? God gives those to me when I get whiny and restless with what He has me doing. Should I not be the same to the "difficult" people. It sure is hard isn't it?

Moving on. . . . Break out the cool-weather clothes and grab a rake: autumn is here. Sit by a campfire or wood-burner and ponder the mysteries of life. Mull some cider or brew some coffee with a loved one. Celebrate this time of shedding of old and awaiting the promise of new life. Autumn is here.

Bless You,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desislava

Fall In The Air

Greetings To All:

How in the wide, yet ever-shrinking, world are you? Football, chilly weather, fleeces/flannels, soup, and campfires are only some of the things I enjoy about autumn. Can any one relate to any of those things? We are so thankful that even thought seasons (and many other things) may change, but the God we serve never does.

We are still going strong with groups on the course. Our team has shrunk for various reasons. So, even though the overall schedule has lightened, the load for each teammate still working has remained the same. Please pray for our family that long days would not only be bearable, but that we could find the blessing to receive and give in whatever we do. The child care situation on base has not changed yet. That is another prayer concern: leadership and parents could find a workable solution to the childcare dilema.

One thought that I had recently while working with a group on the course pertains to timing of situations. In two separate groups from the same team that Iwas working with I had them play a game of which the goal is to get everybody to find the bell and ring it. In both groups the last person to ring the bell hung their head and said,"Uh, I was the last one." In all of my experience with this game on this course I had never yet said what I was about to. "It doesn't matter. So what that you reached your goal at a different time than every one else. The point is that you started and finished." The group was a nursing program from a local university. The students were of all different ages. The youngest was probably straight from high school, and the oldest was probably in her late thirties. I could see the looks on the older one's faces change after I said this. I encouraged them not to berate themselves for not starting the program earlier in life. What mattered is that they were now on the right track.

Can you see where I'm going with this? If I took the time and effort to beat myself up for all of the absolutely stupid things I have done in my past, then I would lose focus on all of the good that is going on now. When we each are on our walk with Jesus will we waste time wondering,"Why didn't I start this sooner? I knew about Him, but I didn't do anything about it."? Or, will we focus on what He does for us everyday since we declared our love for and dependence on Him? I choose the latter. You?

I'm so thankful that you all play a part in enabling us to do what we do. How else are things on the home front? Desi should be getting her first teeth any time in the next week. At her last doctor's visit her head measured off the chart; we knew she was smart, but not off-the-chart smart. And she is rolling all over the place. Dakota had her first fair experience at the Oregon State Fair, where she stepped in a pile of cow poop with both feet. She is also doing very well at riding her bike. Even though it still has training wheels, she motors around the parking lot on it. She seems to be fast in whatever she does. Kathy is learning to knit, which she has wanted for a while now. Soon she will be making all kinds of things. She is also our travel chairperson, and she is scheduling a trip for us back to IN for Thanksgiving. So, we may get to spend some time with you in a couple of months.

We hope this update finds you doing well and what it is you are called to do. Enjoy the pictures, and don't forget to let us know how you are doing.

God's Blessings To You,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desislava

The Diapy Days of Summer

Greetings To All:

Happy August to you! Is yours as hot as ours? It may be. Isn't it funny how we can be acclimated to wherever we live? So far this summer has had some real scorcher days here. Yesterday I was out on the course all day with a group, and it was over 95 degrees. Thankfully our home is shaded for most of the afternoon, but it can still warm up (and we don't have AC.) The nights have been a welcomed cool down to end the days. So, what have you been up to? The Ropes Course has been keeping me busy, and Kathy has been finding ways to keep one high-energy girl and one baby entertained. One of our neighbors, and a ropes teammate, has two girls the age of ours, so Kathy has been watching the three yr. old a couple of mornings a week. Dakota loves to play with her. The other night the baby was in the hospital because of an unexplained high fever, so Sarah, the big sister, was over here for a sleep over. The next day I asked the dad if Sarah had fun. He said, "Sarah had fun. But she said that while she was trying to sleep Dakota kept talking to her." Why does that not surprise me? It's nice when Dakota has other people her age to play with. In September the Kid's Classroom on base will begin again, which means more regular contact with other children for Dakota. The base is still a buzz of students, but the most populous time of the year has passed.

Of the groups that I've worked with on the course have been short-term missions teams that come here for a week of training, and then they go to Haiti to help with the earthquake clean up/rebuilding for a week. Also we took some games up to McMinville to teach a national medical software company during their annual meeting. The team has been brainstorming new ideas for elements for the course that are new ways to bring the Message to the people that come here. Do you have any ideas? Oh, I'll post a picture or two of a small part of our course (as promised back in June.)

During the past couple of weeks on the course, one recurring thought for me has been: back to the basics. What does that look like for our spiritual lives? How important are the basics of anything? Is it possible to grow, mature, or reach goals while ignoring, forgetting, or disregarding fundamentals? When we are faced with a problem, however complicated it may be, we need to keep the basics in front of us. On the course whenever participants begin to wobble or shake while walking on cable or rope, if they concentrate on what is wobbling or shaking, then they usually fall. If they freak out at how high they can possibly climb, then they usually freeze wherever they are. They forget the basics. They forget that all they need to do is take one step at a time, and that the next one will be like the one before, only in an ever-so-slightly different location. If they can physically climb two feet into a tree, then they can go the other 89 ft. if they don't forget the basics (step and reach.) And then I get to wondering what the basic things in our lives look like. My best description so far is: truth. We can work our way through struggles if we keep truth in front of us. Is God good? YES. Does He love us? YES. Did He place pieces of Him inside of us when He created us? YES. Are we alone in this world? NO. When we lean on those (among others) truths, we can be more effective in bringing His Kingdom here to earth. If we ignore truth, at some point in life we will be confounded, frustrated, and ready to give up. As humans we quite often make problems worse be forgetting the basics.

Thank you for your prayers regarding Kathy's trip back to IN. She had smooth travel both ways. We now know the key to receiving unsolicited help during flights: a very cute baby. Kathy and Desi were welcomed back by two family members that missed them greatly. Since being back Desi has been starting to eat baby food; only peas and carrots so far. She is working on the whole eating without gulping thing. Dakota was introduce to the game of Duck, Duck, Goose recently. She loves to be the "ducker". We also made some new friends that were helping out on base for two month with Mission Adventures. They have a little girl named Holland (sp?) that is Dakota's age, and the two of them loved to play together. Aimee, the mother, had to be watched constantly due to threats of spending hours "just biting Desi's cheeks." Vanderveens, you will be missed until you come back.

Thank you for taking the time to keep up with us. Please email us and let us know how you are doing.

God Bless You Today,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desislava

Creation

Greetings To All:

How are you on this fine Oregon summer day? Summer is finally here. We had our share of rain and cool weather (we were still using our wood burner during the first half of this month) and now we can break out the shorts again. Along with the warm weather came a slew of people to the base for various schools. Our population has just about doubled. Changes have been made to accomodate all of the people: two seatings for lunch, fifth wheels brought in for housing, and (unofficial) water restrictions. To do our part, family has decided to save water by not washing our hands after we go to the bathroom. Just kidding. The child population has more than doubled, which makes for a busy playground. Dakota loves to go down there and jump on the trampoline; she is getting very good at doing flips (not joking). Desi loves to go down there and sit in her stroller or on any lap that is available.

Our life has been a bit busier than usual. Of course we are still adjusting to being a family of four, but that has gone relatively smooth. Kathy and Desi are off on a tour of IN. They've been gone since Tuesday and will return Monday. YAY! I was still able to do some work on the course elements. I would take Dakota with me and she would play on the nearby elements. She also got to have several tractor rides with me. Never in my life did I think I would be giving tractor rides to my daughter, but she loves it. As a matter of fact, I think that Dakota loves any moving object.

Another project that kept me busy for a while was a Ropes Course in Eugene, OR. A Baptist-affliated camp contacted us at the beginning of the year to see if we could build them a Low Ropes Course. So, we did. Just after Memorial Day our team went down and built for a total of three days. It was so fun to be a part of the entire process from conception and scouting their land to building and completion. We added a couple of brand new, never-before-seen elements to their course. I kept saying to my teammates,"It's a CHALLENGE Course, not an EASY Course." We actually got kind of jealous of what we built for them , so we came back and changed some of our things around. The creative freedom that the challenge course industry/experiential education industry allows is refreshing.

I am always thankful that God has placed certain aspects of His character and nature into each and every one of us. No two people are exactly alike. And when you think about all of the people that have existed since Adam, that is a lot of diversity in creation. What else should we expect from a limitless God? He has shown us how He loves to create and to be creative in doing so. And He wants us to do the same! I encourage you to find whatever it is that you have as a fun, expressive, and God-given talent to use and explore it. He put it there so you can use it. Whether it is quilting, woodwork, building houses, building furniture, painting, cooking, gardening, or scrapbooking, do it. Please. If you don't, you are cheating God out of what He has put into you by not living up to your fullest potential. I speak to myself as well. I love to be creative, and it wasn't until fairly recently in my life that I have been able to pinpoint that part of my character. And since I have, I have achieved a little better understanding of God and how He views His creations (us.)

There is some food for thought. If, after you have chewed on that, you would like some dessert, you might be able find Lynetter and Marcus and have some of their wedding cake. Today they got married! Congratulations and blessings to them!

Thanks for taking the time to keep up with us. Kathy has the camera with her, so I don't have any pictures of the new things on our course. But when she gets back, I'll try to post some with a future entry. Please pray for an uneventful flight back to OR for Kathy and Desi.

Blessings To You,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desi

4!!!!

Greetings To All:

As usual I will start this entry with apologies of not doing it sooner. Thank you for taking the time to keep up with us. Not a lot has happened since the last entry. One very important and meaningful thing did happen: Dakota Mei turned 4 years old! Yes, it seems like just yesterday she was learning to walk and talk, or should I say run and talk. I don't think she ever truly walked. As soon as she discovered that she could move about while on two feet, she was running. And she hasn't stopped since. I love her enthusiasm for life. My prayer is that she will continue to have that same enthusiasm for serving and following Jesus as she grows older. Also, Mother's Day was a couple of weeks ago. I want to say a special "Thank you" to Mom for being here while I was away in Germany last month. She is a real blessing whether here or in IN. I also want to give many thanks to Kathy for being the mother that she is to Dakota and Desi. It's always nice to walk in the door and see her with both girls on her lap. One would think that the world could not handle so much beauty in one place, but they prove that it can. Kathy is doing a wonderful job of being Mommy (all of you probably realize what all that title and job description involve.) Desi continues to drink milk and grow. She is almost an even thirteen pounds now. I love to jiggle her chubby cheeks. And, oh yes, she has found her thumb.

For Dakota's birthday we celebrated with friends on the base by having cake available for them after lunch on Monday. It was quite the preschool crowd. After cake and mandatory present opening we continued the celebration - Dakota Mei style. What would a Dakota party be without something fun and exciting? I set up one of our high elements and we gave rides to kids of all ages. There is a short video of Dakota going on the ride posted with this entry. She loves to be in the air. I wonder what experiences she will have in this year of her life. . . .

The course has been pretty busy and will continue to be so for the rest of the season. On top of that the entire base will be busy this whole summer. There will be three schools running, and between all of the students and staff, there will not be a single bed available on base. That's a lot of people. This morning at intercession we had no set topic. So we divided into small groups and prayed about whatever came to our hearts. It was shocking to hear at the end that about 80% of the groups were praying about this upcoming summer. The main points were about keeping open and clear communication between all schools and staff to prevent mass confusion. Also people were praying for the practical needs: help in the kitchen, toilets and water heaters working properly, and space. One personal prayer request that we have is regarding the classroom on base that Dakota and six other preschoolers have been attending during the week for the past year and a half. Without trying to explain the entire situation, all parents were told that there would not be any classroom time for those kids until September. That has been pretty disheartening for the families on base because all of us have a preschooler plus a newborn/infant. The classroom time for the preschoolers has been such a blessing for the moms especially because that freed them to have uninterrupted time with the babies. Please pray for/with us that something will change and that the classroom will be made available to us again before September. Dakota really benefited from the routine, structure, learning, and socializing that has been from the classroom.

So, for now our home is a busy one. Please feel free to write us with any words you receive while praying for us; those are very encouraging. Thank you for all of your support! I hope you enjoy the pictures and video.

In His Love,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desi

Zuruck

Greetings To All:

Ahh, it's so good to be home with my family! Thank you all for your prayers and support surrounding this trip I took to Germany; they were truly felt. I thought I would be over jetlag by now, but I'm up again at 4:30 am. I thought I was going to get to feed the baby, but she decided not to wake up yet. Desi is doing great and really growing. Dakota is as energetic as ever and is adjusting to Desi well. It is our prayer that the two of them will be lifelong friends. Sometimes it still sounds strange to say "the girls."

Well, after one large cloud of volcanic ash and mass chaos at the airports both subsided, I got to come home. Seeing the guys in Germany was great. They have a vision to see their course grow, which is quite an undertaking because they do not have so many trees or space. While Jeff and I were there we helped to build a Giant Swing and do some maintenance on their exsisting elements. Also, and unexpected surprise was our friends Jouni and Mari from Finnland were there. We had no idea that was going to happen. They were here in Salem for six weeks last summer and Kathy and I really got to know them. I tell you what, the world is shrinking so fast I can almost hear it. I did not make the trip to Latvia for the second week. Our initial flight on Saturday, April 17 was cancelled due to the ash cloud. And at that point the airlines didn't know when the flights would resume. I felt a check in my spirit that I shouldn't wander too far away from Berlin because of such uncertainty. Being too far away from my scheduled return flight to the states was not terribly enticing. Originally we had a flight scheduled from Berlin to Riga, Latvia, but that got cancelled. Buses and trains were booking full faster than we could call in. Finally Jeff found a train that wasn't full, but I didn't feel peace about being on that train. After seeking divine guidance in this matter, I felt I should stay in Germany, and not go on to Latvia. Jeff went on to Latvia. His return flight to the states was scheduled for more than a week after mine, so he had a much larger cushion of time for the cloud to dissipate. My heart was heavy, but I felt my decision was right. So, I stayed the entire time in Germany.

One thought in the forefront of my mind during this trip was that not sharing this trip with my family was disappointing. It was still a good experience, please don't misunderstand me. But there is something gained in spirit and heart when special things are shared with loved ones. I don't know what our future travel plans are as of yet. But whatever, whenever, where ever we go, I hope that it will be together.

Since the last blog update we have had some visitors: Marcus and Lynette, Barb, Rachel, and Mom. Thanks to all of them for the help they were for us as we adjust to life with Desi. I want to give another thank you to the people on our base here in Salem for helping Kathy during the first week I was gone. Also, to Kathy, for being so supportive of my going on this trip and my passion and enjoyment of this ministry. She did more than just "survive" while I was away. I am blessed to be married to such a wonderful wife.

Yes, that little husky helper turned up in my luggage again. This time he wanted to have a keepsake photo of his time in Dresden, Germany. We stayed there for a night before we moved on to Hainichen. It is a beautiful city.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Hopefully this jetlag will be gone soon. Enjoy the pics, and check back every now and then for future updates (I promise they will be better.)

God Bless You Today,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desi

Announcing: Baby Desi!

Greetings To All:

She is here! Baby Desi has finally joined us in the outside world. She was born on March 2, 2010 at 1:24 p.m. weighing in at 8 lbs 8 oz and measuring 20 inches long. And of course cute as cute can be. Kathy was wonderful throughout the delivery and is recovering strong. Desi has slept a lot and ate a lot and is doing great. Dakota has welcomed her warmly. Thank you to all who prayed for us that everything would go smooth. It did. I won't take too much of your time here; we wanted to post some much anticipated pictures for those who cannot see our new angel in person right now. Enjoy.

God's Blessings To You,

Carson, Kathleen, Dakota, Desi