First stop... Dallas!

They've arrived in Dallas! Next flight to Miami (American Flt. #1976) is scheduled to depart at 8:55 am Central time.

Want to follow along? Go HERE.

Sending my baby to Haiti.

Several months ago, Kat sent out the following letter: 

Bonjou Fanmi ak Zanmi! (That’s “Hello Family and Friends!” in Creole!) 

I have some exciting news to share with you! I’m writing to let you know that I have received the honor of being selected to travel on a mission trip with seven members of my youth group. We will be traveling to the country of Haiti to work this June 11-19, 2012. We will arrive by plane in Port-Au-Prince and then take a very long bus ride to Dessalines. Once there, we will be assigned projects that include painting and repairs at a church in a small community outside Dessalines as well as volunteering at an orphanage and hospital. We will have the opportunity to play with the children and meet the people of the village. Most importantly, we will share the love of Jesus with them! 

I love volunteering my time and talents locally but I have always dreamed of traveling on a foreign mission trip. So this trip is very much a dream come true for me!...

Well, since that time the funds have been raised, a passable amount of Creole has been learned, the bags are packed and loaded, and she'll be on a 6 am flight tomorrow morning (Monday, 6/11) with the rest of the team.

Tomorrow, I'll post their schedule on the side bar of this blog.  Kat will be able to use her phone through mid-afternoon tomorrow until she boards her last flight from Miami to Port-Au-Prince.  I'll post Kat's texts for all to read if there's any real info in them.  (You know, other than "I just got a lemonade from the Wendy's in the food court!") 

Once they leave Miami, there will probably be 24 to 48 hours of "silence" until they are settled in at the mission compound outside of Dessalines.  If all goes as planned, we anticipate receiving a nightly email with a team update as well as a sentence or two from each of the youth.  However, power and technology can be spotty there so no news is considered good news.

Please pray for the team as they travel and minister.  Specifically, we would appreciate your prayers for safety, stamina, good health, and many opportunities to tell people about the love of Jesus.

Oh, and if you'd like to include prayers for the Mommy left here in the States... well, that would be okay, too!  I'm truly not worried. But I am a Mommy.

Merry Christmas!

 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.  (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.  And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.  He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

  And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
 
  That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.  Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,  but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
 
 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
 
 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.  After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.  All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,  but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.  The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (Luke 2, NLT)

Thankful... Day Eleven

Today, I am thankful for all the veterans who have served in our nation's armed forces.  You are owed a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. 

 

To my own family members... "Thank you!" Dad and Grandad!

 

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I am linking up with Dawn (another Dawn!) at the Goodlife for 30 Thankful Days.  What are you thankful for?  Feel free to link up and join us or leave your answer here in a comment!

 

 

Thankful... Days 7 and 8

Yesterday and today I am thankful for RAIN.  While it hasn't been enough to even begin to remedy the severe drought we're experiencing here in Central Texas, just the cloudy, dark days and the occasional rain drops splashing against my windows was enough to refresh these parched Texans and renew our hope for more.

More... please, Lord!

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I am linking up with Dawn (another Dawn!) at the Goodlife for 30 Thankful Days.  What are you thankful for?  Feel free to link up and join us or leave your answer here in a comment!

Thankful... Day Six

I am so thankful for worship music.  I almost always have a song "stuck" in my head.  It's not unusual for me to fall asleep with a song running through my mind and wake up the next morning with that same song still playing. God speaks to me through these songs of worship and praise.

Our ladies' Bible study group is currently doing Beth Moore's study "Here and Now, There and Then" on the book of Revelation.  Throughout this study I have often had Chris Tomlin's song "I Will Rise" pulsing through me as I've read the apostle John's words as he recorded the images and visions from God.  It's been the perfect sound track to this study!

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I am linking up with Dawn (another Dawn!) at the Goodlife for 30 Thankful Days.  What are you thankful for?  Feel free to link up and join us or leave your answer here in a comment!

Thankful - Days Four and Five

Well.

Three days into a 30-day commitment and I've already failed. So, to make up for it, I'll tell two things I'm thankful for.

First, I'm thankful for quiet days at home.  Yesterday was one of those days. Now, by quiet I don't mean that I sat around and listened to the hum of the appliances. It was still a busy day.  But, it was a busy day in the quiet solitude of my home. After a hectic few days away from the house, I'm always reminded that this social gal still craves the solitude of my own home to relax and recharge. 

Second, I am thankful for our community's school district.  Each year, Bud and I prayerfully reconsider schooling options for our children.  So far, we believe that we are in God's will in sending Kat to our local public school.  Is it perfect? Not by any means - no school is.  But it's a great district filled with administrators, faculty and parents who care about education and work hard to provide the best possible for our students.  Beyond the classroom, we are blessed to be in a district that is able to provide exceptional opportunities for the students to participate in sports and the arts.  I was especially reminded of my thankfulness as I watched Kat dance in our district-wide dance recital today.

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I am linking up with Dawn (another Dawn!) at the Goodlife for 30 Thankful Days.  What are you thankful for?  Feel free to link up and join us or leave your answer here in a comment!