I Know You...

There is this moment, right now, where I am sitting not too far from a girl who I recognize and realize, "Hey! Your family member recently helped Cwtrials in a big way... but I don't think you know who I am."

There is this moment, I run into it a lot around Manchester, when I see someone and think "Hey! I know who you are!" But I doubt they know me. It isn't an awkward stalker thing, I just have an elephant of a memory when it comes to faces... and it can be a little creepy. (I don't mean to be creepy)

A while ago now, we had a celebrity-type moment at Starbucks. Some young girls excitedly came up to Craig and I and recognized us from a Cwtrials event. Craig was "the guy who did cool bike things at youth group."

Another time, not too long ago, our neighbors brother came over to say hi while we were outside. He recognized us from a Cwtrials event a few towns over... from several months ago. He repeated everything he knew about us from our conversation after the event.

I read a blog once about "how to deal with being famous." The title/ topic sounded pretty arrogant to me. I'm not saying this in the next breath after talking about being recognized because we are famous. These encounters (ahem, including the girl sitting not too far from me right now) are reminders that I have influence, I am being watched. Especially when you slap a "Missionary" tag on me and here I am surrounded by all the friends, family and culture I have known my whole life. (aka all the people who have seen me fail in big and little ways over the years and the people who without-meaning-to watch/ judge me for what I am/not doing.)

These past 7 weeks have been a bit chaotic in our life, filled with many BIG life happenings. (To catch up, read here and here) This past week, we spent 4 days moving out of the place we called home for 2 1/2 years "in the city", to living at my parents house during this transition period while we wait to close on our house "in the country." I sometimes think I like change, but really I'm super awkward at handling it. This has been that week.

awkwardness evidence. 

In the midst of all our "personal" life happenings, we were (are) support raising and doing 7 Cwtrials events in 5 weeks. This has been an anticipated season for us. But really, no matter how much you prepare for something, the fatigue and emotions of it all sometimes just HIT YOU in the face. This has been my week. And this weekend we have a Cwtrials event that I have been most looking forward to and anticipating all summer. So today is my "girl, get yourself together, go out have your moment of time to get your head on, get prettied up, do something fun- ALONE" because one week is enough. Our world doesn't stop. I don't stop being a Wife, a Mom, an-every-other-label. I don't want to just get by day-to-day. I want to excel in those areas more than on the weekends.

And this isn't all for show. I want each day to be a moment when I am full so I can pour out, so my eyes can peer beyond me and this moment so I can pour out Christ. To pour Him out I need to be living in Him, to be refreshed by Him. Not just daily, but moment by moment. And man, it's not easy. So pray for me sometime okay? I want to be more eager to pray for others, to pray with others and lately, I'm just not.

My Husband Blogs (aka our summer newsletter)

Just in case you didn't know- my hubby started blogging. Honestly, I want to re-post everything he has written... just with more exclamation marks. Below is a copy + paste of our newsletter we emailed yesterday/ he posted on his blog. If you are interested in receiving our Cwtrials newsletters via e-mail, sign up at www.cwtrials.com 

Oh, and check out his blog www.cwtrials.blogspot.com It will rock your socks off! And also watch our latest video from the first few events this summer with some pretty kickn music by Compelled.

A Busy Schedule Serving Christ:

The last five weeks have been really busy doing outreach events.  It's been such a honor to serve Christ, share the Gospel, and work with some wonderful churches!  We have done SIX events already this year throughout Manchester and down to Rhode Island!  This week alone we've got four events, three down and one to go.  Continue to pray for all the people we have interacted with and that they would come to follow Christ!   The feedback from all our events is really positive and we are excited to learn from what we have done to better serve God and bring honor to His name.

Our Intern/Roadie:

This summer one of the recent high school graduates from our Church, Noah, has volunteered to be our roadie.  What an incredible blessing he has been.  Our setup and tear down time have been cut in half and all of it is so much easier with a bit of help.  Karissa and I have both been really impressed by Noah, his hard work, and desire to serve Christ.  He's an awesome guy, make sure to introduce yourself if you get a chance to stop by an event.

We need your help!

Please continue to pray for Cwtrials!  We greatly appreciate your prayers for us.

First off.  We would like to reimburse Dustin for his travel expenses when he donated us the Van and Trailer. (Read this amazing story in Craig's blog here)  This was  HUGE gift for us and and an incredible step of faith for Dustin and Katie.  This has completely changed what we are capable for doing for the better.  We still have another $1000 to raise to give to him for travel expenses considering he drove it from Minnesota and flew back on his own dime.  Please please help us with this!

Right now our greatest financial need continues to be completing our sound system by purchasing a wireless microphone system, speaker stands, second speaker, and some cables.  We need to raise an estimated $600 to cover these costs.  This is a very real and important need for us.  It's hard to share the Gospel of Christ while doing an interactive bike show if people can't hear you.  How amazing will it be when we're able to share Christ in a manner in which everyone in the audience can hear the Gospel clearly?  We have unfortunately been plagued by sound issues with using the sound system provided us and would like to make sure every time we share the Gospel people can hear it clearly without distraction from feedback, etc.

If you would like to help us financially you can do so online by clicking on our NAMB Fundraising page here.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support,
Craig and Karissa Wright 

In a Nutshell...

This has been a crazy few weeks for our family... in a good way. Crazy as in busy, lots of exciting things going on, some pretty big life happenings, lots of travel/ Cwtrials events... you know, the usual. ;)

So in a nutshell, here is a glimpse into our life.

June 29-July1 our little family packed up our big 15 passenger van filled with camping gear, a tent, a bike trailer for Abi and 4 bikes... for the 3 of us. It was a great memory making time filled with camp fire cooking, a Momma duck and her 6 ducklings following Abigail around and swimming with her and a beautiful peaceful view of the lake. (all pictures are currently on Craig's phone as our camera charger is lost)

Are they excited for camping for what!?

We especially planned this trip the weekend before things got REALLY cray-cray! (because a month of Abigail's surgery + 3 Cwtrials events + deciding to move from our apartment wasn't crazy enough...)

We came home Sunday, unloaded, cleaned and put away everything, and then brought a very large portion of our belongings to a storage unit, cleaned and prepped for moving July 23rd... because yes, July was going to be THAT busy we needed to get a 3 week head start.

Our week quickly filled up with wedding preparations and pre-wedding activities. Saturday was the BIG DAY for my oldest sister as she said "I do" to her now hubby! It was incredible to see dreams coming true and two people committing their lives to each other.

Laurel, Angela (bride & sister!), me at the Bachelorette party

Sunday, (July 8th) Abigail blessed us with sleeping in until just before we had to leave for church. After church, we came home, ate and headed out for event #1 of 4. This one was our very own church's block party/ Vacation Bible School kick off. Our church recently blended with another (Grace Haven Baptist Church + South Main Street Church = Grace Haven South Main Blended Church) and we voted that morning on our NEW name- FaithBridge Church located on the West Side of Manchester, NH.

photo courtesy of  http://abbeygal.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, Cwtrials was invited to a kickn party downtown to do a demo before a Christmas in July Movie night with the Manchester Ignite team consisting of about 5 local churches all partnering together in outreach events this week. It was incredible to be part of such unity among churches. A bunch of them even came to our church block party to volunteer. SO thankful!

Thursday, a Cwtrials event with Roka kids hosted downtown Manchester. This amazing outreach feeds kids dinner, shares the Gospel and has activities EVERY Thursday. It was such a joy to be part of their evening!

Now today is Friday, a morning filled with blueberry picking, an afternoon of RESTING these bones and bits of packing/ cleaning here and there tonight. Tomorrow is a big and long day at an event an hour north of here for most of the day. And you know what Sunday brings?  RESTING. Sabbath. Shabbat. Soaking in the beauty of the FULLness these past few weeks, resting, with wonder of the future as we pack up our home over the week and move out next weekend. We will be in a waiting period as we close on the house in Candia and savoring that time with my parents in Londonderry.

Today, this moment, I'm SO thankful for it all. For the busyness, for the summer fun and heat, for community and for this sweet place we call home for just another short week. I'm not anxious, but it is all overwhelming, in a good way. SO much to soak in and moments of rest spaced out to not burn-out. THANKFUL. The life we are living is such a JOY and I'm  thankful for my incredible hard working and talented husband who leads us, for his heart to serve Jesus and His family so well that he extends it to our community. He does it with such grace. SO thankful for our little Abigail and her sweet words yesterday "we go see Daddy ride bikycle and talk about Jesus." I'm soaking these things in this afternoon as I REST from yesterday, savor today and in preparation for tomorrow.

Peaches'n Cream

Last Wednesday Craig had the 4th of July off from work. He very often banks his holiday's to save them for Cwtrials events, etc. This time, he took it with strict instructions from me to REST! It was the day after getting in a 11pm from a Cwtrials event, in the midst of prepping for apartment showings, packing our home up and my sisters wedding all last week... the week before our busiest Cwtrials week (4 events in 7 days!) Sleep in and rest that biking/ speaking soul of yours!

On the same note- peaches were on sale that week so I had bought a bunch with hopes of finding fun recipes to bake with them. While everyone else seemed to be playing or partying on the 4th, I had my work cut out for me at the house. I needed a little fun that day and I wanted to surprise Craig with breakfast in bed, and not the usual pancakes or eggs, something FUN!

I then stumbled upon my new favorite dessert breakfast! Peaches'n Cream!

All credit goes to thevillagecook.com

Her exact recipe is here while my modified recipe is below.

Slice up 2 peaches.

Grease a loaf pan. (next time I will use a 9x9 pan to decrease cooking time)

In a bowl mix:

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon (if desired)

Now add:

1  egg

1/3 c veg. oil

1/3 c milk

Mix well and pour half of mixture into the pan. 

Top with a layer of peaches.

Pour the rest of the batter over it.

Top with a layer of peaches.

Now, in a bowl mix :

4 tbs softened cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 tbs sugar.

Drop dabs on top with peaches.

Bake at 350 35-40 minutes.

I actually tried layering the cream cheese mixture as well. It took a lot longer to cook and was difficult to tell if it was done due to the depth of the loaf pan and its cream cheese gooeyness. It DID turn out after about an hour of cooking and was DELISH! I will try a 9x9 or double and make a BIG cake out of it for a future get-together.