ABOUT LIZ
Elizabeth (Liz) Ann DeZeeuw grew up in Arlington, TX.
(her Texan accent only comes out now and then)
If you were to ask me today to make a movie of her childhood,
this is what the script would call for:
on the set I would need dogs. lots of them. mostly big ones. for young Liz to play with. I would need a young actress to play her strong willed sister. Her mother would be played by a cute crafty school teacher, think Martha Stewart mixed with Zooey Deschanel (from New Girl.) Her Dad would take photos, and then more photos. He would also take little Liz and her sister to every Texan sporting event he could get tickets for. At this point in the movie, I would cut to little Liz in a Texas Ranger baseball cap eating cotton candy. (it is a really cute photo by the way.) The whole movie would have to be filled with tons of colors and sunshine. And when the credits start to roll and you start to get out of your theater seat to go home, up would pop a seance where Liz would get to meet a joey (the baby kangaroo type of joey) for the first time & make the most adorable squealing noise that it would make the whole audience laugh and fall in love with her even more.
One of the most impressive facts about Liz is that she has gone to Uganda and Zanzibar (both of which are remote, third world countries) by herself. On top of that, she's lived in Africa for 6 months. She has worked in youth ministry, taught Burmese refugees English for Catholic Charities, and been a coffee barista for eight years. When Liz meets my friends for the first time and has a 5 minute conversation with them, they usually tell me a couple days later how Liz is their new best friend. Recently I was told by a friend I have known for 2 years that she was only friends with me just to get to Liz.
Liz’s dream is to have a farm with gardens, chickens, goats, and lots & lots of dogs.
bio by chad
ABOUT CHAD
chad grew up in cocoa, florida.
growing up, chad tried a little bit of everything.
he did baseball, boyscouts, surfing, bmx biking, and dumpster diving.
(that last is in honor of you, david philips)
when chad was 18, he was inspired by the tv show 'travel the road'
which featured two friends traveling the world sharing Gods word & love.
after chad went on his first mission trip in 2003 to the dominican republic
and was able to get behind the camera & create his first video.
it was then chad's passion for media and story telling would develop.
chad returned to the dominican in 2004 & then started an annual trip
to zambia through overland missions as the media director for the summers
of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
In 2010, chad applied for an animation intern position at the non-profit, invisible children.
after getting the position, he relocated from cocoa to san diego, california.
[waving out the window to liz while flying over texas]
in the past two years, chad has challenged himself & grown as a skilled worker,
as well as accepted the job title as IC's lead animator.
when chad isn't hitting deadlines & sleeping under his desk, he likes to bike ride around the city with his friends, rock climb, visit national parks, discover new music & eat sushi deli.
bio by liz.
HOW WE MET
this is our first photo together.
(we weren't 'together' yet & it was on the border b/t zambia & namibia)
[ liz's story ]
in 2008, after raising support for months & finally arriving in zambia for my three months of advance mission training, i was super excited to explore the location that i would be calling home. after running around & taking it all in, i introduced/was introduced to a myriad of people who were either volunteers, former students still hanging out, staff, etc.
it was here in this frenzy of introductions that chad and i met. i'm pretty sure i said
'hi! my name is liz'
and he said 'hi, i'm chad. i'll be your communications teacher.'
in which i thought 'booooring.'
seriously, of all the courses i was excited about taking, like welding, gps navigation, survival guide, diesel mechanics, this dude teaches communications?
and that, right there, was my first impression of the dude i will marry.
later on in the first week, i was doing dishes in the kitchen & listening to music. chad came in & we just started a conversation about silly little things, our likes/dislikes, our favorite music to listen to, podcasts, movies, and we discovered that we both shared a quirky combination of similar tastes. at this point, i changed my mind that he wasn't so boring. and i found myself attracted to his beard. true story.
[ chad's story ]
coming soon?