Team KoalaBunny's Adventures

This past weekend, we got the chance to attend the Women of Faith farewell tour as volunteers for World Vision.

Because this was the last Women of Faith conference (as the ministry is beginning to change focus), we were really happy to have the chance to be there together.
Yes, that's right-- we attended together... Phil was one of the handful of male volunteers in a stadium filled with ten thousand women. But because we were there together, it was still a wonderfully positive experience.

On Friday night, Glennon Doyle Melton spoke on being open and honest with one another-- although we don't agree with a lot of her viewpoints, her message still resonated with us that the church needs to be a place where we can be real with one another, rather than pretending that we have everything together. And although we got back late and were groggy by the time it ended, we were happy to see Nichole Nordeman live as she concluded the night.
On Saturday morning, Patsy Clairmont delivered a wonderful and simple message titled "Refuse, Replace, Repeat." We all have negative voices speaking in our heads-- we need to refuse them. But we can't just not think about them... and so, we need to replace them with the truth that God tells us about ourselves. And finally, we need to repeat this process time and time again because the negative voices need to be repeatedly silenced and replaced with God's voice.

Next, we heard a message from Marilyn Meberg that even though we may feel disconnected from God and the ones we love, this is never actually the case. She shared about how after her husband passed away, her son got married, and her adopted daughter found her birth parents, she felt alone and disconnected from everyone. But in the loneliness, God met her and showed her how she was never alone.

Thelma Wells spoke about leaving a legacy. She brought her daughter and granddaughter onto the stage with her and spoke about the power of investing in future generations.

Finally, Luci Swindoll shared about how she found purpose in her life. Ever since she was little, she knew that she never wanted to marry, but wanted to be a career women. But when her brothers, Orville and Chuck Swindoll, began rocking the world for Christ, she started feeling like she had settled short on God's plan for her life. But then God revealed to her that her calling was right where she was-- and she wrote a book about her decision to remain single, which was the beginning of a life-changing ministry.

We were really happy to have the chance to see the very last women of faith conference, especially since many of these great women of the faith are retiring from speaking.
Because these conferences are typically quite expensive, we wouldn't have been able to attend without being volunteers for World Vision. Even though money is quite tight for us in this stage of our lives, we're proud to continue sponsoring two children and one microloan through World Vision. If you're unfamiliar with World Vision, or if you have never given a lot about sponsoring a child, please check out the short video below.

Because it was Restaurant Week coincided with our 3-month anniversary, we decided to get dressed up all fancy and head over to XIX Restaurant.


The restaurant was, in fact, so fancy that they gave us super tiny portions. But it was really good. Fortunately, they also had a salad and desert bar, which was filled with tasty morsels... and we ate so much! We talked and ate... and really enjoyed each other's company in such a nice place :).

The restaurant was on the top story of the Hyatt in Center City,  so in addition to having delicious food to eat, we also had a great view to enjoy together.
Because this was such a great way to spend our 3-month anniversary together, we decided that we have to do something special every month to celebrate our monthly anniversaries. Although we won't be able to afford to return to a place like this until the next time Restaurant Week rolls around, we look forward to using our creativity to think up a cost-effective yet special way to spend next month's anniversary together :).

On Thursday, Philly had a night market -- rows and rows of food trucks filled with delicious food!

We got a spicy chicken kabob, which was definitely really spicy... but so incredibly flavorful! We decided on this vendor in particular because it was run by a ministry that purposefully hired homeless men to staff their booths.

In case you're wondering who the cute koala is... that's our newest roommate, Coca the Koala (who prefers to just to by Coca). Coca particularly enjoyed the beautiful sunset as we walked down the crowded street.
The kabob was really spicy... we tried to find some ice cream to cool our tongues... but to no avail. So, we returned home and continued our date at home, sharing delicious ice cream together.

We've found that simple dates like these are a lot of fun :).

We went to the hand-drawn noodle house the other day for a date and I think we were too hungry to take a photo of the delicious beef noodle soup. But our date after that was going with our church to mini-golf and then going to a Shakespeare play in the park.


Had to add Brown and Cony in there since they didn't get to go with us.