May 28, 2008

Oh my goodness... I leave in 35 days. I've received my passport and visa from the embassy. I started introducing my immune system to Typhoid this week. This past weekend I had my last get-away weekend with my best friends. And I've officially started packing. I've also started an interesting cycle of emotions. One second I'm so full of excitement and nervous energy that I can't possibly sit still... the next second I'm sobbing thinking about leaving everyone behind... then I calm down, and feel at peace because I'm stepping forward on a path that I know God intended for me.

In more practical news, with my one time donations and promised monthly support I'm at about 71% of my fundraising goal!!! I can't tell you how incredible that feels. What a blessing to not have to worry or stress about that aspect right now! But not only that, this process has totally changed how I feel about raising support. I hated it at first. I felt feeble and somehow greedy asking for money. Instead, I now realize that it's not really about me at all. We're on this team, but it's God's team... not mine. I can see that this has enabled others to be a part of something WITH me. Everyone is fired up! It's fantastic! I'm so thankful for the tremendous support - financially, emotionally and spiritually.

For example, a few weeks ago my good friends Seth & Anya Meeks had a rummage sale for me. I was blown away by their willingness to put in so much time & effort just to help me, but Seth assured me that he wasn't doing it just for me, he was doing it for God. Right on!The weather was fairly miserable, and we didn't seem to get much traffic, but we raised just over $1,000. I was also really encouraged by the people who not only volunteered their stuff to sell, but their time to come and help out too!

This is the bunker we built to protect us from the wind & rain

Me - cuddled up, fighting the elements. Yay Wisconsin! Charlotte & I trying to stay warm!

Eric & Ezra

Charlotte - our walking advertisement. Yes, that's a lampshade on her head!

Thank you everyone! I really can't wait to see what God is up to... what He's going to do with my life. At this point I've given up trying to make any plans for my future. I've decided to see what kind of opportunities are going to come my way, be flexible, and let Him lead. It's a very scary notion for me to go forward like this, but awfully freeing too. LOVES!

"We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. It is not worrying, but rather trusting and abiding in the peace of God that will crush anything that Satan tries to do to us. If the Lord created the world out of chaos, He can easily deal with any problem that we have." ~ Rick Joyner