My Trip to Kazakhstan
With the Hadassah’s Hope organization, and a team from Real Life Fellowship, our home church in Corpus Christi, I will be leaving June 20th and traveling to Kazakhstan. The trip is June 20th to July 1st. and this page will serve as a diary and daily/weekly update to this awesome life changing opportunity that God has given! I am so excited about going and what God is allowing me to do in His name! As we get closer, I will update, and hopefully can stay in contact with everyone overseas if I can find a computer? Not sure about that yet!Pray for this mission trip, for the traveling, the organization organizing this and for the orphans and orphanages that we will reach. Most importantly, pray for God’s light to shine in a place of darkness and that He will use us in a mighty way, to reach those in a country where there are very few Christian opportunities.
God’s garage sale!
Last modified on 2008-06-03 16:27:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
I finally got over all of the humps of getting my passport signed and sent off for the visa app. I am still praying that everything will come back smoothly there. My very dear friends got together this past Saturday and had an awesome garage sale to raise money for the trip! There are so many people who helped by donating things, bringing things over to the house, staying that Saturday to help! I was absolutely astonished and amazed at how I could see God working through these wonderful ladies right in front of me! The weather was beautiful, the people just kept showing up and buying things, and when it was all said and done, we had made close to $600.00!!!!!
I started on Monday, culling through things at our house, Chris was off, so we went to the storage shed and pulled things from there. I met Michelle at the church Thursday morning. Katie had told her to let me go through the toy room upstairs and to practically take anything that I wanted. I don’t think we would have made near that amount had it not been for all of the toys that we had sold. It truly was a new mom’s dream come true to come to this sale and see so many toys in such great shape! Julie had a grill and a headboard she said she wanted to donate, and when I got to her house, she had so many bags of clothes and toys and kitchen things - way more than I had expected. Everyone had been bringing things to Jill’s house throughout the week - and when I got there on Thursday night, I was completely overwhelmed with the amount that we had to sell! God’s hand in this trip was starting to become more and more obvious!!!
So me and the kids spent the night with Jill on Friday so that I could get up at the crack of dawn and start pulling things out. Not much of it was marked with a price, not any of it was organized, and I regret not taking a picture of the jumbled mess that was in her double garage, but it was filled - wall to wall, covering the floor, stacks and boxes and bins and tubs - I didn’t even know where to begin, but Dan was up and already pulling things out, so when my alarm went off, I washed my face, changed clothes, got my shoes on, and started pulling things out too. Not long after he left for Beach to Bay, Jill was up and before we knew it we had our first customer - They spent a whopping $98.00 - bought most of the big items. We knew from the get go that this was going to be a good day! As the sun came up, I went to go get some coffee. Here are a few pictures:
This is everything that we started with:
This is only a few of the shoppers!
The girls, hard at work!
Whitley got a good nap in the pack and play!
Jill, Jan, Alicia, Charity
With Jenny (me!)
Believe it or not, this was all we had left! We took it to Goodwill.
Lord God, I want to thank you so much for all of the wonderful people that you ahve put in my life to make this garage sale possible. Without them, I would not be able to go on this trip and reach the orphans and people that I know you are going to put in my path. I pray that you bless them for the incredible amount of giving that they have done - whether in donating items or their time, each one of these precious people means so much more to me than I could ever express! Thank you so much for such wonderful friendships, and I pray that I can one day be there for them when they need something like they were here for me. Thank you God for this opportunity!
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Getting my Visa
Last modified on 2008-06-15 13:14:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
No, not the credit card, but I thought I had trouble getting my passport off in the mail. That seemed like a breeze until last Sunday when I went to get pictures for my visa. I knew that I needed pictures, so before I made the treck down to the post office for my passport, when I went to get pictures, I made sure to tell the lady who took them that I needed four pictures, not just two. Of course, when I went to get them and take them to the church so they could be overnighted with my passport, I could not find them. I searched everywhere to no avail. So, I gathered up our things as normal to get ready for church, grabbed my passport and stuck it in the pocket in my bible. I went to church as normal, taught my third graders, then went over to fill out the app for the visa. I still could not find the pictures, so I headed over to Wal-Greens to get them taken.
Low and behold, their picture machine was broken! So I went to the next Wal-Greens. Their picture machine worked, but I did not have any cash and I needed to get a few other things, diapers and formula, milk, etc. All totaled about $40.00. They would not take my check. So I had to go back, scrounge up a measley $8.00 for the pictures, go back to get the pictures, go back to the church, and it was finally over. I thought.
Monday, I called the bank to see why they would not take my check at the Wal-Greens. They informed me that the account balance was….. $888,888.88 in the negative!
Yikes! So of course, we had to go into the bank to find out what was going on. The week before, my husband had disputed a $116.00 charge that neither one of us had made, and apparently the bank officers decided to put a freeze on the account (that much in the negative) without calling and telling us in order to prevent any further fraudulent account activity. So, we removed the ‘freeze’ so that the other checks that we had written would not bounce, which they ended up doing anyway, because despite our request to remove the freeze, they did not. They did end up waiving the overdraft fees and they oh so graciously let us take out the money that we had in the account before the insanely negative amount that it was placed into…… ughurgggggharrrrggggg!!! So frustrating.
What I don’t understand is why they just did not call us on Saturday and let us know that they were going to do that. If I would have known that I could not write a check, then I would have made sure to go by the bank on Saturday and pull out the money before the freeze! Not finding out in the store, with no other way of getting money on a Sunday. (No, we don’t use credit cards or have one of those debit card things.) We used to have a debit card, and talk about in the negative - we had such a lack of communication because of how much my husband travels with his job. That could be a whole seperate post.
Anyway…. we got the pictures, we got the passport, and the application sent off. The next week, me and the kids decided that we would go up to Austin to suprise my middle sister and her husband who were coming in from Florida for the week. They were going to fly into Austin, where my grandmother, other sister, and aunt & uncle live, rent a car, visit with them and then drive on to Rockport, where my mom lives, then leave on Monday (yesterday) and drive the rental over to Corpus (45 minutes away) and fly back to Florida. So, we drove up to Austin. The kids did great. We arrived about 11:00pm, late, I know, at my youngest sister’s house. We left the next morning to go to Cabella’s so Nathan could spend his Christmas gift cards. Met my grandmother for lunch and then went on to the airport (I will make a seperate post on the family page about our trip.)
Anyway - after we got back into town from Austin, I got a message that my passport and application had been returned because my passport was not signed. I had no idea that passports needed to be signed???? How was I suppossed to know?? I started to really have major doubts about how smoothly this trip really was going! I drove over to our house from Rockport, about a 45 minute trip, got my passport from the fed-ex envelop, SIGNED IT, and then returned it to Hadassah’s Hope organization. So now we are just waiting to make sure that it all got there! So, that is the update for now. Waiting.
Oh, and I found my pictures. They were in the car the whole time.
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Get thee behind me satan… God is gonna win this one!
Last modified on 2008-07-11 16:52:08 GMT. 1 comment. Top.
As promised, it is my goal to journal and update everyone about details surrounding my upcoming trip to Kazakhstan. I will back up a week or so and start with the very small roadblocks that trick ol satan has tried to throw my way. You know you can certainly tell when it is God trying to test you or just the devil trying to thwart something awesome that God has in store. Both of these experiences were definately of the thwarting variety.
It starts with applying for my passport. Because I am not the world traveler, I have indeed been out of the country twice - once on a trip to Germany with a past boyfriend in college and second to the Bahamas on my honeymoon - even living close to Mexico, I haven’t been but maybe three times to Mexico (and since we live so close, I’m not really counting that as leaving the country) - I had to reapply for my passport since my old one is in the same place that socks go to when they disappear from the dryer. I needed to have it expedited so that we could get it in asap and then have my application for my visa sent off asap. Well, it started out great - I got the girls ready to go get my photos taken for both the passport and the visa. The picture taking went smoothly, it was the getting ready and getting out of the door that was literally hellish. I have never in the three years of my sweet daughters life seen her in such a tither. I knew that this whole process would take forever, taking pictures, waiting to get them, going to the post office, etc. So when I packed the bag, I put in snacks, juice toys, and anything a three year old could possibly want while being drug around town with a mom on a mission!
We woke up at the normal time this morning, got Nathan dressed and out of the door to school, had our breakfast, I made some phone calls, checked on the process and cost of having a passport expedited, the application, etc. The baby got her morning nap, when she got up, I started to get both of them ready. Gracyn did not want to eat lunch early - she threw her plate off of the table spilling the juice all over the outfit that I had changed her into. We changed outfits, then Whitley spit up all over her outfit, changed again. Gracyn then, I kid you not, while I was cleaning spit up off of the baby, wet her pants while watching Diego. Screaming and crying because she did not want to stop watching long enough to change…. again. Finally 11:30 rolls around and we are getting into the car.
We get the pictures, which went suprisingly smooth and then headed across town, a good 20minute drive to the main post office. When we arrive, it is nearing noon. Gracyn of course tells me 30 times how hungry she is from not having any lunch. And is not in any way, shape, or form to go stand in line at the post office. I remind her & offer her many varieties of the snacks that I packed - which on any given day she would scarf down like she never gets food. And of course, despite the fact that she had not had much food on this particular day due to the throwing episode at lunch, you would think that this would be a great day to keep her occupied with some great snacks.
You would think. You would not think that a child who had not eaten lunch would not want to throw them at a nice old lady waiting in line ahead of us at the post office. You would also not expect to watch your normally sweet three year old daughter dump a baggie of cheerios out onto the floor. I think things as I am using my folder that has my passport application in it as a dustpan in the entrance of the post office. Yes, people are trying to come in and I am struggling with a three year old demon, a bag that weighs as much as a bowling ball, a folder with all kinds of documents, and a six month old baby crying in her car seat.
I think I could hear satan laughing at me. Either that or it was the sound of pity from the people trying to get around me. When I am done cleaning up cheerios I apologize to the lady in line in front of me and I realize how long the line is. What in the world? What could everyone be at the post office at noon for? Then it hits me like a ton of bricks - I realize what day it is, and the laughter from the pit of hell gets a little louder…. it’s April 15th, tax deadline day. Everyone in line is there for taxes, I’m here for a passport.
We made it through the line, got my name on a list to wait and be called to a backroom so someone could sit and review the application, get my drivers license and my birth certificate…… wait! I sat at the desk and dug through the bag. I knew, I just knew that I had put it in the bag. I looked up at the lady and assured her that I knew I had brought it. I emptied my wallet, I started taking things out of the bag, diapers, snacks, chew toys, rattles, baggies, old receipts, I really am an organized person I tried to reassure her. I could hear a questioning voice, did I really get it? I tried to retrace my steps. The morning, the fits and throwing, packing the bag in the midst of changing wet pants and spit up on outfits, I knew I had gotten out, where did I put it? The kitchen island - yes, and then I put it in the folder, did I take the folder inside to get pictures? No, I left it in the car…. the car… maybe it fell out and is in the car. I am really regretting not getting a sitter for this little outing. I repack the diaper bag, get my keys and haul the kids back out to the car to look. Nope - not a trace. My options at this point - give up, go back and look at the photo place, go back and look at home. I hear God in my heart ask - how committed are you? Are you really going to let satan foil the plans I have for you? That alone gives me the strength to treck back into the post office and tell the lady - I’m going back to look for it. I will be back.
Mind you - it was about noon when we arrived. It is now about 1:30. We live 20 minutes away. And there is a small handwritten sign posted at the door “due to tax deadlines, we will stop processing passport applications at 2:00 today.” Of course you will. As I am hauling Gracyn and Whitley and the diaper bag and the folder back out to the car, I am doing the math in my head. 1:30 - 1:50 and that’s just home. Why don’t I just wait until tomorrow. After all, it is not going to go out until tomorrow - and then another thought came from God. Clear as day, I felt Him speak “Has it occurred to you to ask me for some help?” Oh, ooops. I’m sorry, I thought. Yes, please God, please help me do this. This trip is for you and your glory - I would like to get this passport out today and there is not a way possible on earth for me to get there and back inside of 30 minutes, there’s not time, they will be closed, you are going to have to pave the way.
“Trust me” I heard. Ok. I’m not even looking at the clock and I am at home searching, yep there it is, right there on the kitchen island. I grab it and am out of the door. I try not to speed on the way back, and try to think positive that even though it is now 2:15, that the same lady will be waiting. I want to sing and dance when she is. This lady, although she doesn’t realize is part of a plan much bigger than I can see or imagine now. I thanked her profusely for waiting and attempted to explain the mornings events. She only quietly sat and listened as she processed the application. I started to tell her about the trip that I wanted to go on and why - I took the oath, paid the fees, and as she handed me the receipt said “May you fly on wings of angels.” I stood there frozen. I don’t remember saying anything to her, other than trying to swallow the lump that was rising in my throat. I think I told heer thank you and gathered up my stuff and tried to head for the car. When I got the girls buckled and sat down in the front seat - I came unglued. I was a messed up mix of emotions, relief to have this step over & to be leaving the post office, praising God that she actually waited for me to come back, and a deep sense of confirmation yet shock at what she had said when she handed me my receipt - “may you fly on wings of angels.” As I drove off, tears were running down my face. These were the exact words that I had said to my father almost 8 years ago as he walked out of the door to board an airplane. His airplane crashed and that was the last thing I told him.
”For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
Father God, I know that this does not mean that I will be spared of hardship. Please remind me that if I follow Your perfect plan, that I can find a life of fulfillment. Lord I thank you for the lady at the post office who waited for me. I thank you that I miraculously received those words of confirmation. I thank you also Lord that I received my passport within a week! You are truly an awesome God. I pray that you use me in a mighty way - that you go ahead of me and pave the way to Kazakhstan. I also understand that just because you are going ahead of me, does not mean that the road will be smooth, but in realizing this, I ask you to provide me with the wisdom, hope, and tools that I need to handle whatever satan throws at me. I ask you to guide me and teach me how to lean on You, teach me how to hear your voice - and not to ignore it! Father, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to spread the good news about you!
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