Thursday, August 28, 2008

almost there!

well i'm sitting in the johannesburg airport... about to board the last flight to lusaka, zambia. the past 17 hours were pretty uneventful. my brother and i got to sit next to each other, me with an aisle and him with the window seat. it was nice cause we could use each other as pillows. :)

the last few hours i felt pretty nauseous but i seem to be getting over it. i'm just ready to get there! it's so exciting that i'm back here already. this is gonna be one exciting ride!

alright i need to keep this short. keep praying for the team and for our luggage to arrive safely.

later...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

i'm leaving... on a jet plane

well this is it. here i am again getting ready to leave everything i know for 3 months. this is becoming the story of my life. you'd think i'd be used to it by now. it's getting more familiar but it certainly doesn't make it any easier. i've been trying to mentally prepare myself for what's ahead but that's pretty much impossible. i know i need to take things one day at a time and continually put my trust in the lord, because that's where my help comes from. i think i read that somewhere... ;)

today was a really busy day for me as i had all kinds of office work to get finished. it turned out to be a really stressful day and i'm thankful that it's over. just get me on that plane!

tomorrow we're all going out to breakfast before we meet up at the church. i'm so excited about the people on our team who have never been there before. i can't wait to see them experience africa for the first time. it's gonna be so much fun.

alright i better finish packing up my carry on with as much stuff as possible... haha

hopefully the next time i post it will be from zambia!!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

triple dipping

today i went to 3 churches.   :)

it started off with my home church this morning. the pastors and elders were so gracious in allowing me to share some of my heart regarding africa and the upcoming trip. they prayed over stephen and i and just sent us off with their blessing. overall it was a great service and i'm so thankful for that body of believers. i know they will keep us lifted in prayer and lord knows we need that!

after church stephen and i had lunch with mom and dad which was nice. then we headed off to new community christian church in coatesville. it's steve wilson's church and they wanted to pray us off as well. let me tell you, i love that church! they are so full of life and joy and it was contagious. crispen and steve did a dual message and the words they spoke were straight from God's heart. then they invited the team up front to be prayed for and proceeded to wash our feet. the leaders of their church got down on their knees and washed our feet! all i could do was weep at the beauty of it and the goodness of God. i felt so humble. last year when we were in africa God told me to wash katie fourqurean's feet and out of obedience i did. i felt like the lord was passing a mantle onto me now in the form of the foot washing. it was almost surreal. 

as soon as that service ended we went over to providence church who was holding an outdoor church service. it was incredible as well! they had all kinds of people sharing their talents and 4 guys got baptized. it was a beautiful night of sharing what God has done in lives and hearts and so awesome to see. they also pulled us aside and prayed for our team. we are so blessed to have so many people excited about what we're doing!

tomorrow is my packing day... i'm getting down to the wire! i'm so ready to go!!!! yay!!!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

to grandmother's house we go

kate and i decided last night that we should take the 45 minute trip to go visit our grandmom and poppop. i knew i needed to see them before i left for africa and i'm glad it worked out. we took kate's little pup mac with us so he could meet them. they loved him, of course! we showed them recent pictures of everyone and filled them in on our adorable little nieces. grandmom proceeded to try and stuff us full of food, as usual. bless her heart. i know it's her way of showing some love so it's all good.

i brought my macbook and thought my grandmom would get a kick out of the effects in photo booth. she did. my poppop was a little weirded out i think. he took one look at his
 reflection in 'dent' and had to turn away. it was hilarious. we had a good time. i'm glad i got to see them before i left and i know they were too!

Friday, August 22, 2008

photo fun

cheeeeeeeeese!

the art of delaying

i have a terrible habit of procrastinating. i wait and push things off until the last minute and always end up stressing myself out. that can't be healthy! i've gotten so used to it though, that i hardly know how to not procrastinate. take for instance my upcoming 3 month africa trip. 4 days to go and i've sort of got my piles of stuff together that i need to pack. i'm still missing a ton of stuff, but i keep telling myself that i'll worry about it tomorrow. now it's the weekend and am i going to want to spend it packing? ummm no. so alas it will get put off until monday and i'll be running around like a mad woman trying to get everything together. i'm so predictable in that way. i think i need to seek the lord on that and try and figure out why i do this to myself.

i found this quote and i think it sums it up:

"if it weren't for the last minute, i wouldn't get anything done. -author unknown

poor guy probably put off signing his name to the quote and never got the credit. ;)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

i call on your name

last night on my way home from an africa team meeting i had a really scary encounter. i was driving out of coatesville and up ahead saw some police lights flashing in the other lane. i looked and i saw a guy walking in the other lane, away from a couple cops who were trying to get him to stop. he refused to stop and the cops had their guns drawn yelling at him. so the car in front of me decides to just stop and watch what's going on. by him stopping though he put me right in the center of their fight. they were literally feet from my car yelling with guns poised. i was freaking out and all i could do was call on jesus. i didn't know if the other guy had a gun and my mind started reeling with all the possibilities. i was screaming in my car for the guy in front of me to move. i knew i couldn't honk my horn at him because i didn't want to add to the disturbance already taking place outside my car. finally after what felt like forever the car in front of me decided to move on, releasing me to go as well. then the hand-shaking ensued as i realized just how freaked out i was. it might not sound like a big deal, but to me in that moment it was. i felt so trapped... i literally had nowhere i could go. it was awful!

needless to say i know jesus was with me and i'm glad it wasn't any worse than it was. it was much more excitement than i needed at 10 o'clock at night after a long day.

phew.

Monday, August 18, 2008

i will waste my life

many times i find myself so grateful for music and the emotions its able to stir in my heart. recently i've searched to find songs that expresss my heart when i can't find the words. today that song is "i will waste my life" by misty edwards.

i will waste my life
i'll be tested and tried
with no regrets inside of me
just to find i'm at your feet
just let me find i'm at your feet

i'll leave my father's house and i'll leave my mother
i'll leave all i have known and i'll have no other

i am in love with you there is no cost
i am in love with you there is no loss
i am in love with you i want to take your name
i am in love with you i want to cling to you jesus
just let me cling to you jesus

i'll say goodbye to my father my mother
i'll turn my back on every other lover and
i'll press on yes i'll press on

ahhhh yes. my thoughts exactly! i hope maybe someday i can be that person with a song that ministers to another heart. maybe? just one of those little dreams that right now is off to the side. i know God has his way of bringing us back full circle to the things he put in our hearts long ago. i mean, here i am getting ready to go to africa for 3 months and i knew this is what i was called to do since i was a kid. it's taken time to materialize, but i wouldn't have it any other way. God has this amazing way of preparing us and shaping us without us always knowing how or why or what for. kind of fun when you think about it. :)

so yes, i will waste my life. i will waste my life for the one i was created for, the one i have to trust with everything. there's no greater joy than giving it all up only to receive the greatest love i could ever know.


Sunday, August 17, 2008

weekend recap

well it was an exhausting weekend, but i wouldn't trade it for the world. i was blessed to spend time with people i love and considering i'm about to move to africa for 3 months, i'm soaking it in.

it all started on friday when i got to spend the morning with my sister-in-law kesh and my 2 adorable nieces. now that kyra is almost 2, i enjoy my time with her even more. she's so much fun these days and it's only going to get better. i'm sad that i won't get her sweet little kisses for 3 months!
on friday night my sister and i threw lyryn a little girl's dinner party to celebrate her birthday. we laughed and danced and sang and just enjoyed being together. i just love those girls!

it turned out to be a late night because we started listening to music we were obsessed with years ago. it was hilarious to see how many lyrics we still remembered. i couldn't believe all that information remained stowed away in some part of my brain!

saturday ended up being a very long day, but absolutely worth it. i hitched a ride down to dc with some friends to attend the call. it was an awesome time of praying and worshipping with 70,000 other believers. i'm so glad i went because i got to see some dear friends of mine from ywam... most of them i don't know when i'll get to see again so i'm grateful for the time we got.

today was a hustle bustle of activity with church and then a birthday party at lyryn's house. it was fun, but i was exhausted. i had planned on coming home and just relaxing but somehow between laundry and showering that hasn't exactly happened yet. oh well!

only 10 days until i leave! woohoo! 

Friday, August 15, 2008

happy birthday lyryn!

thanks for all the happy memories! here's to many more! i love you!

Friday, August 8, 2008

benefit concert recap

so i realize that i'm really behind on my blog. my lovely sister gently reminded me that it's been a few weeks since i've posted. i've had a lot going on lately with my preparations for africa, which included throwing a huge benefit concert last weekend.

the concert was amazing. after all the planning and preparing it was so great to see it all come together. we were fortunate enough to get the bridge band in for an hour long set. we also had a gospel choir from new community christian church perform and they had everyone on their feet. my dear zimbabwe brother, crispen, played us some traditional africa music on his drum including my favorite, "there's no one, there's no one like jesus." i just love that song!

i was blown away by the number of people who showed up to support us. it was so special having all those people come and be a part of what God is doing in zambia. in all we raised over $3500! yay!!! here's a picture of the bridge band performing...


the other thing i wanted to post is a picture of our awesome t-shirts that we were selling. my brother wit designed them and my other brother declan had them made for us. they turned out awesome. here's a pic of me showing it off...