Will & Jen Klier

Joy is 15 months old today. 15 months and 1 day ago I had no true idea of what life would be like with my daughter. I didn’t know how much I would think about her, look at her, and run around after her trying to stop her from pulling out plugs and licking them.
She says several words, is known as a “climber” by all, and can even brush her own teeth. I love her. She is everything I love all rolled into one. She has her daddy’s temperment, her Aunt’s and Grandma’s red hair. My dad’s eyes, and my rosy cheeks and very white complexion. She is full of childlike faith and the joy of the Lord. She is free, unafraid, and curious. Joy is passionate and loved to giggle and laugh all day.
Joy is very very beautiful.
Excuse me while I go into her room and peer into her crib so I can stare at her while she sleeps.

Joy loves to say (no, scream really) Lobo! Lobo! all day. Lobo is the name of our palmeranian/chuhaha mix. I have no idea how to spell those two words. He’s a rescue dog from the SPCA, just too cute to pass up. At first he didn’t like Joy and would try to nip at her with his gums. He only has one tooth, so nipping is all he can do. We showed him right away that nipping WOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO OUR PRECIOUS BABY and he has since stopped doing that. Lobo now lets Joy pet him and pull on him and he only looks at me kind of annoyed trying to say’ could you please take her away from me?’. Joy adores him, is constantly looking for him around the condo and says his name loudly and sternly. I don’t know where she got that tone from…
Joy also likes to find his food and water and play in it. I guess I might be a bit annoyed if I were Lobo.

Last week we held an event every night of the week, in hopes of bringing in new college students to our community of DCF. Will passed out flyers, invited students all over campus and spent early morning til the wee hours of the next morning connecting with as many new students as possible.
It was great seeing our returning student leaders work hard, pray, and put on quality events night after night. See www.dcfdavis.org for info on each of those events. It was everything from a worship night to a comedy night with sports and lots and lots of food as well. Last night we thanked all of our leaders for a job well done and encouraged them to continue in prayer and outreach to our campus throughout this year.
I took Joy to several events and she seems to know what this is all about already. She was being especially cute and loving toward the new students, warming up to their attention and adoration right away! She got to stay up late a few nights and party hard so she wasn’t complaining.
It has taken both Joy and mommy a little longer to recover from those parties and events than anticipated but I think we’re back to ourselves now.

We welcomed well over 60 brand new students to our worship service on Friday and our returning students did an amazing job creating videos, media and music for the first service of the year. Will preached a passionate message about Jesus and finding that place of closeness with Him. So many students find everything else, but God in college, doing a lot of damage to themselves along the way. We are here to invite them to go deeper with Him, to know God and to make Him known.
100 students gathered with us Friday, that is 100 less at drunken Frat parties, 100 less alone and sad in their dorm rooms, 100 less on their own for the first time, with no supervision, trying to find something to entertain themselves with. Though we always wish it were thousands, these 100 people expand the love in our hearts and stretch our capacity to give and mentor each year. I realized this year that most of the students are 18 years old now. That is only 17 years older than Joy. Joy will be a freshman someday, it makes me look at them differently and love them more fervently.

We are excited for this year, and getting to share the love of Jesus with UC Davis. Our small group bible studies start all over campus this week, please pray with us for each of these gatherings to be all that God wants them to be.

I forgot to mention on our summer list of activities that we were invited to 8 weddings. That is a fun byproduct of being in relationship with so many people through all of these years. Almost all of the couples have been a part of campus ministry, and most met right here in Davis. We’ve attended 7 so far (two of which were at the same time on the same day) and had to miss just one. We’ve been invited to three more before the end of 07 and it looks like we can make it happen. Wow, what a year of love! and I think there is more on the way!!

What a summer! What do we do over the summer? A crazy and amazing variety of things!

We took a trip through three states to visit friends, family, and ministry partners.
We attended several BayArea conferences on “God’s summer of love” commemorating the Jesus Movement 40 years later and how Jesus is still on the move.
Joy learned to walk! She says 13 words, and she grew five more teeth!
We read books.
We visited with all returning students from overseas missions trips, several hours of storytelling and looking at pictures!
We planned out our student leadership and several main events for the upcoming school year.
We met with churches, alumni, and friends to invite them to join our financial support team. Will drove to truckee, petaluma, and all around the Bay area to meet up with people. I was able to join him locally, and my mom stayed with Joy when we met with some local pastors.
We went to the zoo with my mom.
We celebrated Joy’s first birthday!!!
We visited with many family members and friends.
We kept trying to sell Will’s Old Caddy.
We have officially killed our cell phones from dropping or overuse.
We went on jog/walks with Joy around the neighborhood.
Joy learned to climb the stairs (thanks Bradley )
We had three garage sales!
We swam in the pool and Joy loves it.
We survived tons of 100 degree plus weather.
We got the AC fixed on the van.
We went to the State Fair to watch Weird Al.

I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.but I think there was more..

We dreamt and prayed for our campus and ministry. Thank you for dreaming and praying with us.

September is here and that means the students are all coming back!!!

Tomorrow we leave for our annual Pre Fall Retreat. We are gathering with 40 students on ranch in Concord, Ca to pray, prepare our hearts and our outreach events for the opening weeks of school. Several brand new students that we haven’t even met yet are coming!! Well, Will met them briefly this summer at the University’s summer orientation. Will was able to serve at an info Faire that all the students are required to attend. There he met over 100 students and gathered their contact info to invite them to our Fall events. Several of them are joining us this weekend before school even starts!!

Please pray with us that we will bond together well, accomplish a ton, and most of all, worship and pray to Jesus with all our hearts.

Joy and her cousin Emil enjoy the Farmer’s Market at Davis:

Our dear friend Andrei wanted to see Joy take her first steps before he headed back to China. So with a little determination his wish came true:

Several of our students traveled abroad this summer on Missions trips. We had teams in both Brazil and Mozambique. A couple of students wrote amazing blogs about their experiences. Here’s their links:

Brazil

Mozambique

We are still on our trip….

I can’t believe Joy is one tomorrow. I bought her a Barbie today.