Yesterday I ignored time.  For my melancholy personality - the lover of planning, timing and schedules - this was an intentional act of friendship.

I have a dear "friend".  I call her my friend but I'm not sure there really is a title fitting for what I have with my Maria.  She is younger than I am so therefore I am a Mentor.  But, because of our similar experiences in life, we are somewhat like Kindred Spirits.  Yet, I've walked down paths ahead of her and there are times where I feel like a Mother.  And yet, because of our common bond in Jesus, when we talk of Him, there is a sense of being Sisters.  Despite what title I attribute to my Maria, she is mine.  Do you know what I mean?  Mine?  That sense of knowing deeply and being known by another person.

Because mentoring is a passion that has now become a life calling, I can't help but seek after younger women in whom I can pour out my life.  I started doing that with the three most important younger women in my life -  the three lovelies I get to call daughters.  That now extends into relationships that have grown into beautiful treasures in my life.  Maria is one of the gems in my treasure box.

Take time to develop relationships.  I know that life seasons often make it hard to really invest.  If you are a young Mom, bless your heart, your hands are full.  However, you are learning lessons and gaining wisdom in the middle of changing diapers and wiping butts that will impact a young Mom in the future.  Take time to call an older friend.  Breath.  Remember that you have precious treasures living in your home that you have been given the blessing of mentoring.  You get the chance to pour your life DNA into these little humans for whom God has big plans.

Older woman, look around you.  Who has been put in your circle of life?  I can almost guarantee that there is a younger woman who could use your advice, prayers, muffins, wisdom and perspective.  When I was a young woman, I prayed for years for someone to take me under her wing.  I so desired to be known by another woman.  Evenly, God answered my prayer but I had to go looking for it.  Be someones answer to prayer.  You've got time.  Invest.

Women need women.  Single.  Married.  Divorced.  Labels have little bearing when it comes to impacting another woman.  It takes time.  Start slow.  Grab a coffee and ask an open-ended question.  Be intentional.  Grab another coffee and share a current struggle.  I promise you it has the potential of turning into a day that you set the clock on hold and enjoy the beauty of friendship.

Humans don't make time - generally - for the things that elevate our souls and make us fit for life.  We do make time for meaningless Facebook posts, social media rants, news that depresses, chores that must be done, boxes that need ticked ... but seldom are intentional about caring for our souls.  Take time back.  Tell time where you want it to be invested.

I did that yesterday.  I have no regrets.  I'm planning on another day with my Maria.

Investing in a treasure box of relationships,
Christina

Q:  What do you do for a living?
A:  Mentor.

Silence.

Mentoring seems to be a mysterious cosmic transaction that we don't understand.  We either conjure images of an aged professor taking a youth under his wing or we put a suit and tie on a professional and allow them to write down secret things on legal notepads all the while listening to a talking patient with body horizontal on an IKEA couch.

Mentoring is a natural, one-on-one relationship.  You know, I know this really great website that can give you all you've ever wanted to know ... And MORE ... About mentoring:  http://www.fahrenheitmentoring.org/

At it's core, mentoring is about relationship.  As a young woman, I lost my Mom.  A young Mother myself, I needed someone older and wiser to come alongside me and "show me the ropes" so to speak.  Fortunately, God brought me several women who guided me, were intentional with me, loved on me where I was at, and valued me.  This is a picture of mentoring.

Once a week, I usually camp out at a cafe table, order my favorite coffee, and listen - a lot - to a friend of mine.  She is younger.  She is in a life transition that I have already passed.  She pours her heart out.  I get the privilege of hurting with her and helping her.  I get the honor of offering my past, my experiences, my journey with trusting God as a gift for her to unwrap and apply in her own life if she chooses.  This is a picture of mentoring.

My Chris can be found just about every evening checking his calendar to see what's on his docket for the next day.  On this particular day, he has gone to volunteer at a Salvation Army Men's facility where men who have had particular hardships can live life together.  He prepares breakfast.  He shares during a group study time.  He listens to their stories and struggles.  He shares a few of his own.  This is a picture of mentoring.

This morning, I read about John. John was born about 6 months B.C.   He knew his life's call - to prepare the way for a future leader who would change the world.  He shared his simple message with others.  These "others" recognized the leader John spoke of and began to follow him.  His name was Jesus.

Jesus, when asked by John's followers, who he was replied, "Come and see."  Come and see.  I love this!  This is the message of mentoring!  Come - take a risk to follow alongside another and see how to  live life.  Come - take a chance on sharing your heart with another and allowing vulnerability to build strength you never knew you had.  See - how trusting another can sharpen you as well as them.  See - that lives journey isn't meant to be traveled alone, but rather together with others who can pour into you, speak life into you, and see potential in you.

And the best part - anyone - anywhere can be a mentor and be mentored!

Q:  What do you do for a living?
A:  Mentor.
Q:  Can I do it?

The answer is always "Yes"!,
Christina

Recently it seems I am bombarded with great images of mentoring!  Just yesterday, another great picture presented itself to me ... in the form of a great bunch of humans who happen to call themselves teachers.



 All of my girls either have had or are having the privilege of attending the International Christian School of Vienna.  This is an unique community of internationals gathered under one educational roof that form a very special place.  Unless you've been there to experience the over 50 different cultures from all over the world ... it's a feeling reserved only for those who enter/attend/or call themselves alumni of the hallowed doors of ISCV.  Really ... it's a great place!


Yesterday parents prepared an appreciation luncheon as a small thank you to the teachers.  As these educators went through the serving line, I was once again reminded of the importance they each play.  They have the knowledge of a particular specialized subject:  Math, English, Computers, History, Geography, Bible.  Yet, because of the vision of this unique school, most of them carry with them the capacity to see their students as whole people and care for the mind, body, and soul of their students.  Yes, they want them to master addition but they also want them to master healthy life concepts that will allow them to be productive world citizens.  As Christians, they hold a worldview that seeks to equip these students to be productive spiritual citizens, too!


In it's simplest form, that's what mentoring is:  having knowledge in a specialized subject and caring for the whole person ... mind, body and spirit.

Not all teachers are mentors.  However, at ICSV, most of the mentors just happen to be teachers!!

thankful for ICSV,
christina

I love this photo for so many reasons.  What you can't see in this photo is what is guiding these two men.  The one on the left, my Chris, holds his cell phone - using an App to direct us to a new restaurant - while our friend E looks on.

Here's what is going on behind these two:

Fahrenheit.  For those of you who don't know, Fahrenheit is a non-profit mentoring agency that Chris and I founded last August (2014).  It was born out of a desire to see the spiritual climate of cultures changed one person at a time ... through mentoring!

One-on-one mentoring, business place mentoring, virtual mentoring ... this is what Fahrenheit is doing in Vienna and desires to do wherever God wants to move into!  To help spread the word about mentoring ... and specifically Fahrenheit in Austria, a dynamic duo came to shoot footage for a Promotional Video.

E and J came and plopped right smack down in the middle of our lives and happened to have a camera nearby ... at all times ... to catch clips of what goes on.  Of course, we "planned" interviews and some directed shots of friends ... but we also spent lots of time wandering the streets to get candid shots of life here in Vienna.

We are thrilled at how God uses talents of others.  E and J's vision and talent was/is a huge blessing!  We can't wait to see the finished product!  We had a ton of fun - times of great talks - lots and lots of coffee drinking - many laughs around the diner table - lots of giggles - and not enough time for Floh Market shopping!

Here are some visual images of our time together!!

E and J

Coffee was always in the agenda!

I know this is blurry, but these are a few of a fantastic group of people that we meet with every Sunday for House Church!

E and J ... and coffee!

On the UBahn ... with another friend, M who is going to be a Fahrenheit Intern!

Ubahn traveling ... me and Miss Libby!

E and Chris ... love this photo!

Schnitzel!!

J "on the job"!!

Making a little music with our friends!

When I was a young Mom, overwhelmed at times by the responsibility of raising my first little person God gave me ... I was given two gifts that impacted me for the rest of my life.  These two gifts were in the persons of two older women (probably the age I am now!).  They opened their hearts to me by loving on my Addison.

Anna Ruth was kind, patient and energetic ... qualities that I - as a first-time-Mom - were lacking.  She would scoop Addison up and love on her as if she had earned a Master's degree in nurturing and child rearing.  She helped me see Addison with new eyes.  She filled a gap that I was in great need of  ... and without knowing she wove magic around me that left me ... after all these years ... grateful for her presence in my life.

Promptly after we left our Oklahoma roots for the first time and made our way into the great wilderness called Tucson, Arizona ... our second gift emerged out of many months of prayer. Lydia entered the picture.  Lydia, full of fire and spunk, had grandchildren that all lived on the East coast.  Seeing our need for a surrogate family she "adopted" us as her own.  She filled a gap that I was in great need of ... and without knowing she wove magic around me that left me ... after all these years ... grateful for her presence in my life.

Now ... 20 years later ... despite still feeling like that young Mom, I am the "older woman" in a young woman's life.  Now I get to exhibit kindness, patience and energy ... not because I am so pious ... but because 20 years under the bridge gives you new perspective.  Baking cookies with a two-year-old, wiping a snotty nose and watching a temper tantrum are now seen through new lenses.  I have the advantage of experience to know this is just a season - a very fast-paced season - that will fade before my Young friend will even recognize it's gone.  Young Mom's are superhero's that need an occasional break from saving their corner of the world.  The beauty of mentoring gives the experienced a chance to redo what they wish they would have done ... and gives a Superhero the occasional nap!

chasing a two-year-old and loving every minute of it,
christina

You will never lighten any load until you feel the pressure in your own soul.  - Ravi Zacharias

For the last 5 years, my Chris and I have felt the pressure in our soul for Vienna, Austria.  It was more than apparent that God was making a way for us to use our talents and professional abilities in a full-time mentoring capacity.  Thus, Fahrenheit was birthed.

Fahrenheit is a non-profit organization.  It's goal is to use mentoring to change the spiritual climate of Vienna.  Life is often blemished by crisis, trials, and hardships.  However, everyday brings its own challenges, doesn't it?  It's a  delicate balancing act.  How do I balance my roles, maintain healthy relationships, and live in harmony as a person who is triunal:  mind, body and soul?  We believe Mentoring offers the answers.

Mentoring, by our definition, is having another person come alongside you in a one-on-one relationship to help guide you through life's challenges.  We've seen success stories.  We've been recipients of the benefits of mentoring.  Through mentoring, we believe in it's simplest form, we get the opportunity to be the hands, feet, and ears of Jesus Christ.  In mentoring, we extend the opportunity to help another grow whole in their relationship to Christ.

This is one of many entries in which I want to share the heartbeat of Fahrenheit.  First, it begins with our own beating and burden hearts for the souls of Vienna, Austria.  God has used His love for Vienna as our passion for our future!

In classic mentoring form:  What is your passion?  What is that "thing" that you feel in your own soul?

first among many entries,
christina

I recently had coffee with a young woman in the "decision" years.  You know, when you go to college, decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.  We meet regularly to talk ... over coffee.  We meet every week and every week we resume the conversation.  "How did this work?"  "What new thing did you discover?"  "What did you learn?"

My 20-year-old friend made a comment that keeps ping-ponging itself around in my head.  "I hate it when people say once you know Jesus your life will be great.  It's not great."  Truth spoken over coffee.  Life is not always great ... even with Jesus.

Sinks clog.  Parents gripe.  Cars crash.  Friends hurt.  Jobs get lost.  Feelings get stuffed.  Expectations go unmet.

I validated her point.  "The Church" often makes a blank statement that Jesus will make everything ... great.  In their enthusiasm to promote an inexplicable relationship, they exaggerate the truth.  Take one look at any real human that words have described in the pages of a book called the Bible and my point is made.  Old women were asked to bear children.  Old men were asked to confront kings.  Young men were told to fight.  Harlots asked to trust.  Thieves asked to give back.  Those are not great circumstances.

One look back in my 45 years on planet earth and I come short of truly "great" life experiences.  Instead, there is loosing a parent, a child, a job, a friend.  There is broken cars, limbs and dreams.  There are plenty of unpaid bills, unclaimed laundry and undone days.  The "great" is scattered sparsely among the mundane.

However ... and I love the word however ... especially when it's followed by lots of dot, dot, dots ... HOWEVER ... in the middle of "ungreat" there is something even greater!  My circumstances don't limit Jesus' presence in my life.  Right smack in the middle of ungreat there is One greater than great who shatters my reality with His unseen greatness!  Now that, my friend, is a lot of GREAT!

In my seasons of normal, mundane, hurt, pain, and ordinary ... I have the advantage of knowing that through my choice to surrender my life to One greater than myself ... my life is infused with hope, love, and peace.

Right now, I have no answers for my life.  I know that the One who plans my life has given me the agenda to simply rest, in the middle of unrest, unplanned and the unknown.  If I try to figure out things on my own I am strangely undone and wildly frantic.  Jesus, however, has given me peace.  This does not come from me.  This comes from the One who has earnestly taken what I've given Him ... my heart.  Because I know I can trust Him with my heart ... I am at peace.

Over coffee this week, I will continue to validate my friend.  No, dear girl, Jesus doesn't make things great.  Jesus does do great things in the middle of ordinary life.  In fact, He does better than great!

Sipping coffee,
christina

It seems that I spend most of my time these days telling stories.  As I continue to write my parting letters to my beloved Addison, I find myself wanting to tell her things that she may not know:  my high school graduation of one, my job as a tour guide, the time I almost got frostbite, how I felt when her Daddy (my Chris) asked me to marry him.  Stories.

I also have the privilege of being connected at heart level to some amazing young Austrian women.  One has found the love of her life and will marry next May.  One is a young Mom with a friend who needs help.  I don't have great wisdom to impart to my Austrian lovelies.  All I have is my ... stories.

Our stories are varied, aren't they?  I think that's why I love Facebook.  I can connect with those from my past, those who live far away, those who live down the street.  But the reason I want to connect is to hear their ... stories!

As I've shared my stories, I've shared things that aren't pretty.  That's what makes a story good. We can send our annual Christmas cards out with the highlights of what seems to be a perfect year but let's get real ... real life stories aren't always happy endings!  People get hurt, children rebel, cancer crashes into our lives, and depression stops us in our tracks.

Last night as we told our story ... (the love story that continues between one Christina Poe and one Chris Elledge ... to this young couple who plan on marrying next May) ... it described seasons of great joy followed by periods of unspeakable pain.  However, standing firmly on the premise that we were meant to be together, that our commitment to one another was one unshakable variable ... we moved forward.  We moved forward carrying these truths in our hands:  God loves us.  He is faithful and can be trusted.  It may have been hard.  It may have been so good we had to pinch ourselves.  Either way ... we've clung to these truths.

Stories.
What are your stories?
Who are you sharing them with?

After thinking about those I get to be a Mamma Bird to ... I got to thinking about those who have been a Mamma Bird to me.  I guess no matter how long we live on planet earth it just flat out feels good when another loves on us.

Early in my adulthood years, while still in college, an older woman scooped me up under her wings.  It wasn't anything formal but rather a "come alongside me"  attitude she freely bestowed upon me.  We taught a class together.  I learned from her the ease in which to impart great truths to others ... having the passion she spoke about be real and authentic deep in her innermost parts.  She occationally took me to a movie, she listened when I had a crisis, she modeled real life in the form of a real woman.  She was one of my first teachers.  Her name:  Ramona Romines.

Not long after that time, another older woman befriended me.  She showed me the art of being a partner, a best friend, a cheerleader and support for a husband.  She was herself.  She fit no mold.  She was honest.  She treated me as an equal.  She cared for the things in my life that I cared about.  She was objective.  She watched me fall in love with my Chris ... and supported me in unknown ways during our courtship. She talked about sex ... the first woman who ever broached the subject in non-hushed tones.  She gave me permission to be ... me.  Her name:  Freddi Booth.

Many years later in a foreign land called Tucson, Arizona, Rachel Hartman bumped into my life.  What seemed like a random association was a divine appointment from a loving God.  She, older and wiser, was the most authentic follower of Jesus I had possibly ever met.  She wasn't critical of others.  She didn't candy coat things.  She was honest.  She cared more for the reputation of God, His church and his followers than feeling good.  She didn't freak out when I started experiencing anxiety.  She showed me how crazy God was about me.  Watching her, then in her 70's, respond to God as if He were her "Daddy" taught me more about who God was than any seminary class I ever attended.

These are some of the women God has used to Mother me ... to be my Mamma Birds ... and to whom I am ever grateful.  Girls ... wherever you are ... thank you!

Today I met with a young women that I mentor.  She has become ... precious!  Because I am visual, I have this picture of me being a Momma bird ... and she has become a little baby bird that is best protected under my wing.  Under my wing, I can keep my eye on her, protect her, keep her warm, speak comfort and instruction to her, experience her joy and sadness, have her keep me company, and simply enjoy her presence.

Isn't that we all desire? Companionship? We were not meant to travel through this wild journey called life alone.  That's my opinion.  It's one I base on some principles I read in the Bible ... and some on simply how I've come to experience life. The sweetest moments in my life have been in the company of some one ... or some many ... who have dared to engage me in their lives.

It's not an easy thing to share a journey.  You've got to be real.  That's a scary thing.  You've got to show the parts that are often hidden from the masses.  You have to take the risk of loving and not knowing the full capacity in which you will be loved in return.

Today I realized that companionship is one way that God ... Creator of me ... shows me His deep love and affection.  I have learned to rely on God for all I need.  He's safe.  He can be trusted.  Other people are another story.  Because I've been burned, hurt and gave too much too soon, I am sometimes wary of full submersion in a relationship.  Yet, God uses people to communicate to me ... how crazy in love with me He is ... like a Momma bird ... enjoying my presence.

Today I'm gonna ponder a little on that ... and be grateful for the ones He's placed in my life to be my true companions.

Becoming an "older woman" is still weird for me.  I forget that when I chat cheerfully with students, in their 20's, they are not relating to me as their peer.   They are looking at me as an aunt, a mother, someone  ... older.  Ouch.

However, with age comes great freedom.  When I was in my 20's, I found it often hard to feel comfortable in my own skin.  I was still trying to figure out who I was and what my place in the world looked like.  I was seeking ... someone older ... to come alongside me and help guide me along life's highway.  I needed, I wanted, a mentor.

As God in His plan would have it, I am now that person ... that older someone who has been given a fine opportunity to come alongside younger women ... to help them along life's highway.  I'm a mentor.

What I love is that mentoring looks different everyday and with every girl.  I formally "mentor" two young women.  Then, I "informally" mentor several.  All come from different backgrounds, different economic status', different religious viewpoints.  My job is not to convince them that I have all the answers ... I don't (despite me wanting my children to think I do!).  My job is to help guide, to share life, to infuse my bits of experience from another standpoint, and to be a good mirror of what a loving Father God desires for these young women to know, to learn ... to be.  Some know this God of mine.  Some do not.  I've been given a wonderful purpose:  to increase their knowledge on a head and heart level of who they are and how much they are loved by their Creator.

This week, I hosted a cookie making class.  As we beat eggs, measured sugar, and burned the last batch ... I was able to share my love, my heart, my baking ability (or lack thereof since we burnt the last batch).  I was also able to share with them how the beauty of baking fits into the beauty of life.  Each ingredient we added to our dough, by itself, is just an individual component.  Yet, when added together, when beaten, chopped, and blended together with the other bits, mesh together to make a yummy result:  a cookie.

Let the beating begin!

Peanut butter Cookies in the oven

Chopping chocolate for chocolate chips

More chopping for more chocolate chips

A good friend always cleans up the dishes!

Without sounding all Forrest Gump ... life is like a cookie.  Life has ingredients that when added to the whole of our experience makes beautiful results.  When I look at the times in my life when there was beating or chopping (unpleasant things or circumstances) I tend to want to forget or dismiss those elements.  Yet, when lived side by side with the good times (the sugar, the vanilla) ... it all blends together into an experience that works ... if I let it ... together for my good.  The bitter, the sweet, the needed, the important ... they all work together to make a life that is planned for my good ... and to be shared.

We shared our cookies over tea and great conversation.  The baking soda no longer was bitter ... the sugar was not overwhelming.  All parts blended into one delicious cookie.  And when eaten together with a friend ... beautiful.

I’m dedicating this blog to a group of girls that shall remain nameless. If I mentioned their names, they would crawl into a hole, weep with embarrassment, nash their teeth in pain, turn every color of red imaginable, deny their own identities … in a word – die.

I don’t know why? They are all terrific young women! One of them, let’s call her Miss “D”, is a faithful reader of my blog and usually rates them on a scale from 1 to 10. She then reports her findings to “the girls” so they can read, too. She does this not only my blog but all blogs of all people she knows. We affectionately call her a blog stalker … and we love her for it!

I had the pleasure of spending a good portion of the day on Friday with these girls. As I prayed for each one of them this morning, God brought their little faces to my mind … and etched their little faces in my heart. My prayers were varied … for one to see the face of Jesus, for one to grow in her new found faith, for one to heal of family pain, for one to know she hears God, for one to have a good friend, for one to be a good friend, for one to grow further in her faith. All such different girls with different personalities – all so precious and dear to God.

Through “the girls” God reminded me again of my purpose in life. I am to proclaim faith, as Paul said in Titus 1:1, to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. I’m so thankful God has placed these young women in my life. Little do they know how I see them … already as women who will someday do the same … they will be the ones proclaiming faith to those God has chosen and teaching them the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. (Well I guess now the cat is out of the bag because I know Miss “D” is reading and she will rate and report to the “the girls”.)

So … let me speak directly to “the girls” … let me tell you all how much I love you … and see big things for you … because God loves you! AND, I’m glad you respect me now that you know I was a Theatre major in college!