Well hello there....

It's been a while since I've been back in the blog realm....I've been keeping up with everyone else's blogs but without a doubt slacking in my own. (**Warning this is a picture overload post**)

Truthfully I don't even know where to start, this summer has been really busy, I've spent a mass amount of hours on my wakeboard and even though I'm not very good it's still one of funnest activities there is!  I went on a road trip to Arkansas with Tana and Ashley to see Miranda Lambert and a two mini road trips to Houston with Hannah and Ryan to ride at WakeNation Houston!  I've had most of my family come through for a short visit at one point or another and I even had Jill and Tana come down for a weekend each.   Oh and I also took that one trip, you know to the other side of the world....how could I forget to mention that :)

I'll start with the trip to Romania!   This was a life changing experience that I will take with me forever.  My eyes were opened to ways of life that I had never seen, nor imagined.  We got to serve the people of Comani, Romania by doing home visits to pray for families and take them necessary food items to help them get by.  We handed out numerous New Testament Bibles in their language.  We also helped out with Kids Club, which is basically like our Vacation Bible School.  The biggest part of my week in Romania was spent at English club where I helped teach the youth of Comani basic English.  We were informed by our host family that if these kids didn’t learn English there would be no way for them to safely get out of the village or find a job to ensure a better way of life.  Every day was so exciting to watch the kids learn things.  

My team member Kevin put together this video and I just had to include it!
http://vimeo.com/98802704

After Romania, I had a 23 hour layover in London...I know I know, it sounds just awful right?!? I was able to hit all the major spots and my phone tracker said I walked over 22 miles that day.  (such a rough life)

That trip was most definitely the highlight of my summer!

Stay tuned for what else has been going on in my life in the posts to follow :) 

It's not up to me........and thats OK.

For the past two years I have been praying and very excited about going on this mission trip to Kenya.  I have felt the call to go and serve for years and every time I thought of it Africa seemed to be the place I landed on.  Well, circumstances / God's intervention made it where last summer I needed to post-pone the trip for a year and last week I got word that because of safety issues AIM (adventures in missions) needed to cancel the trip all together this year.  While I get that our safety is obviously very important, I can't say I wasn't bummed.  My friends and family, however, seem to be more relieved than bummed...I guess that's understandable...

I had to have a few heart to hearts with God and I'm learning, once again, that it's not up to me.  So I'd never put much though about where else I would ever want to go and serve.  If I'm being honest I never thought about anywhere but Africa, but that doesn't mean there aren't other places that I might be more useful.  I started researching other destinations and what all types of missions there were and one of the first ones I came across would be working at an orphanage helping to teach an English class and to help the children learn life skills.  I wanted to look at all of the other options, but this one kept creeping into my mind.  So I prayed about it, talked to my friends and family about it, and finally applied to see if I could even get in on the trip.  Well less than an hour after applying I got word that I was fully accepted!!  Can you guess where I'm going....

Yep, I'm headed to Romania June 7, 2014 - June 15, 2014.  And I think everyone is a little relieved that I won't be in such hostile territory....

 

It's a little bit of an adjustment mentally, but I am very excited that I still get to go and serve.  The type of missions I'll be doing is a perfect fit for me.  I love kids and I can't wait to go meet them!!  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!!