Paul and I just spent a few days at his parents house because Paul was working at his dad's high school camp. I went to Wilmington for a day to see my cousin and sweet godson, Cole. My camera is already packed so I'll have to post pictures later. But can I just say I love that little guy so much?! I am SO excited that they live closer so we will be able to spend more time with him and watch his sweet little self grow up.
I had some last minute errands and laundry/packing to do when we got back yesterday but for the most part Paul and I were able to spend some good time together. I am going to miss him so much! Last year wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it was still very tough. I get to call him every other day or so but it's expensive so the phone calls are pretty short. Thankfully he will be very busy with his high school team while I am gone and I know our wonderful friends and family will make sure he is being fed.
I can't believe in a few hours I will be on my way to KENYA. It is a weird feeling. With it being my third time, I have been more relaxed about the preparations and I know what to expect. Plus, we've been a tad bit busy this summer so I really haven't had a lot of time to let it sink in that I am really going to Africa. It is still surreal, even for the third time. I feel blessed and honored that the Lord would call me to go on mission with him in such an amazing place. I wish I could make you understand just what it does for my heart the second I see the sweet faces of these precious Kenyan people.
We are meeting at the church at 1:30, leaving at 2:00 in hopes of being in Raleigh by 4:00. Our first flight is at 6:00. In the past we have flown from Greensboro to either DC or Chicago before flying to London, but this year we are flying straight there from Raleigh. It will take many hours off of the travel time and will help make it less exhausting. Last year we'd been gone from the church for 6 hours and hadn't made it out of Greensboro. Because our first flight was cancelled, we missed all the other ones and needless to say, it took us many, many hours to get there. 47 to be exact. Not that I was counting. So we are all hoping and praying for smooth and safe travels. We should be in Mombasa, where we will stop and sleep for one night, by about midnight Kenya time on Friday. We'll be in Malindi, where we will stay for the remainder of the time, by late afternoon on Saturday. Kenya is 7 hours ahead.
I am hoping to be able to update my blog a few times while I am gone but there are never any guarantees with internet there. Please be in prayer for our team. We need prayers for safety and good health and most importantly, for many people to draw closer to or come to know Jesus for the first time.
Kwaheri, y'all!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Is it too late for a weekend recap?
How is it Wednesday already? I am seeing a pattern of this whole "how is it already...". Seriously, every summer just seems to go faster than the one before.
We had a good weekend. Saturday there was a big cookout in the Forest Park community to wrap up Community Serve week. We got to see some of our precious kiddos from soccer camp. One in particular that I fell in love with and wanted to sneak home was no where to be found. It breaks my heart to think I may never see his sweet little face again.
Sunday our church had a recap service of Community Serve week. It was awesome to see pictures and hear testimonies of how God worked through the community and the people who served. God has given me a heart for Africa. I think about it all the time. I want to go there and serve every chance I get. But I was reminded while serving last week that my heart for missions cannot be limited to Kenya. For one, I clearly can't go there as often as I could go to Forest Park or nearby communities. Two, I realize that a lot of the very same needs that exist in Kenya are also 10 minutes down the street from my house. Thank you Lord for perspective.
Our precious friend Alexandra works at Calvary as the Director of Community Ministries. It is so encouraging for me to see how passionate she is for local missions. Our church family is so grateful for everything she does to head up Community Serve mission trip week as well as emphasis on serving our community throughout the entire year. Alex asked Paul and I if we would be willing to be interviewed about Community Serve at two of our church services on Sunday. I would definitely consider myself an extrovert, but getting up in front of a crowd (most of who I don't know) is something completely out of my comfort zone. But it wasn't about me and I felt like if we'd been asked to do this, God wanted to use us for some crazy reason. So we said yes. It wasn't quite as scary as I thought it might be, especially since I told our pastor to let Paul do most of the talking ;) Sunday our Bible Fellowship class had all planned to go to lunch. I had been looking so forward to going. But we had gone over to Calvary's west campus for their recap service too and it was almost 1:00 by the time we left so it was too late to make it to lunch. I'm not gonna lie-I pouted. I was super bummed. We were almost home and Paul decided he was determined to have lunch with some friends anyway. So we called Alex and her husband Ron (who had also just left west campus) and ended up meeting them for a late, last minute lunch. At 3:30 we finally decided we'd better get up and let the restaurant start getting ready for the dinner crowd. I am so thankful for the people like that in our lives...those who you have spent two and a half hours talking to without even knowing it's been that long.
Sunday evening we had my family over for dinner. Paul made his famous burgers and we enjoyed some much needed time with the fam. My mom and I won't see everybody again before we leave for Kenya and we will be gone on Matthew's 13th birthday.Where has the time gone? 13?!?! My sweet nephew is going to be a teenager!
Paul's dad has been here this week for Paul's high school soccer camp. Camp will be over tomorrow night and Paul and I are going to soak up Friday and Saturday of some just us time before heading to his parents on Sunday for his dad's camp next week. We will come home on Wednesday night and I leave Thursday morning. That does not bother my "type A" and "primary love language is quality time" personality at all. In all seriousness though, we knew when I committed to going back to Kenya that this is what it would look like and we will make the best of it. I want to have everything packed by tomorrow so I don't have to spend the weekend doing that. So on that note, it's off to work on getting 16 days worth of stuff into one checked bag and one carry-on.
Happy hump day y'all!
We had a good weekend. Saturday there was a big cookout in the Forest Park community to wrap up Community Serve week. We got to see some of our precious kiddos from soccer camp. One in particular that I fell in love with and wanted to sneak home was no where to be found. It breaks my heart to think I may never see his sweet little face again.
Sunday our church had a recap service of Community Serve week. It was awesome to see pictures and hear testimonies of how God worked through the community and the people who served. God has given me a heart for Africa. I think about it all the time. I want to go there and serve every chance I get. But I was reminded while serving last week that my heart for missions cannot be limited to Kenya. For one, I clearly can't go there as often as I could go to Forest Park or nearby communities. Two, I realize that a lot of the very same needs that exist in Kenya are also 10 minutes down the street from my house. Thank you Lord for perspective.
Our precious friend Alexandra works at Calvary as the Director of Community Ministries. It is so encouraging for me to see how passionate she is for local missions. Our church family is so grateful for everything she does to head up Community Serve mission trip week as well as emphasis on serving our community throughout the entire year. Alex asked Paul and I if we would be willing to be interviewed about Community Serve at two of our church services on Sunday. I would definitely consider myself an extrovert, but getting up in front of a crowd (most of who I don't know) is something completely out of my comfort zone. But it wasn't about me and I felt like if we'd been asked to do this, God wanted to use us for some crazy reason. So we said yes. It wasn't quite as scary as I thought it might be, especially since I told our pastor to let Paul do most of the talking ;) Sunday our Bible Fellowship class had all planned to go to lunch. I had been looking so forward to going. But we had gone over to Calvary's west campus for their recap service too and it was almost 1:00 by the time we left so it was too late to make it to lunch. I'm not gonna lie-I pouted. I was super bummed. We were almost home and Paul decided he was determined to have lunch with some friends anyway. So we called Alex and her husband Ron (who had also just left west campus) and ended up meeting them for a late, last minute lunch. At 3:30 we finally decided we'd better get up and let the restaurant start getting ready for the dinner crowd. I am so thankful for the people like that in our lives...those who you have spent two and a half hours talking to without even knowing it's been that long.
Sunday evening we had my family over for dinner. Paul made his famous burgers and we enjoyed some much needed time with the fam. My mom and I won't see everybody again before we leave for Kenya and we will be gone on Matthew's 13th birthday.
Paul's dad has been here this week for Paul's high school soccer camp. Camp will be over tomorrow night and Paul and I are going to soak up Friday and Saturday of some just us time before heading to his parents on Sunday for his dad's camp next week. We will come home on Wednesday night and I leave Thursday morning. That does not bother my "type A" and "primary love language is quality time" personality at all. In all seriousness though, we knew when I committed to going back to Kenya that this is what it would look like and we will make the best of it. I want to have everything packed by tomorrow so I don't have to spend the weekend doing that. So on that note, it's off to work on getting 16 days worth of stuff into one checked bag and one carry-on.
Happy hump day y'all!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
This and that
What a great but exhausting week it was for the Hicksters! We really enjoyed doing the soccer camp for Community Serve and Paul's soccer camp went really well too. We met some of the sweetest kids through the Community Serve camp and whether they knew how to show it or not, I know they were blessed by the camp and us just simply loving on them. I hope and pray those sweet children saw Jesus in us this week.
As awesome as the week was, it was the best feeling to sleep past 7:00 this morning and know we didn't have to spend 9 hours in the heat. Although the heat has temporarily been 86ed in our neck of the woods. It was only in the lower 70s yesterday and I actually had goose bumps when we first got out to soccer camp yesterday morning. As much as I love summer, it has been a nice surprise to have a little break from the heat.
We have our first Kenya meeting this afternoon. All but one person going has been before, so the preparations have been pretty laid back. I can't believe we leave in a week and a half. I'll be packing and getting everything ready this week. All of our team members have almost raised all of our funds for the cost of the trip. I am amazed and humbled by how generous people have been with their donations towards our trip. We have surely been so blessed by others in that regard. Thanks to God for providing our funds, we should be able to use almost all of the money we raised at our yard sale to use when we get to Kenya. Our original plan was to spend the money on buying Bibles for the people there (most all do not have a Bible and never will if it's not bought for them) but we have learned that the money will mostly be going to feed people instead. They have been in a terrible drought and their economy is worse than even we can imagine. One of the pastors told our leader that he and his wife have to choose between them eating dinner or their children because they don't have enough food for everyone. So without a second thought, they go to bed hungry so their children won't have to. That breaks my heart. We CANNOT imagine that. I can't think of one friend or family member who have ever thought they would have to skip dinner for weeks. Even through some of the financial hardships Paul and I have been through, it doesn't come close to comparing to that. Our money will be multiplied and will be able to go so far over there. I am so thankful God provided the way He did through our yard sale and other people so that we can feed these sweet people when we get to Kenya.
Paul's dad comes tomorrow to help coach his high school soccer camp this week. It will be another very exhausting week for the hubster. I am so proud of the hard worker he is for us. It will be my privilege to feed him and keep up with his sweaty laundry all week.
Enjoy the weekend y'all!
As awesome as the week was, it was the best feeling to sleep past 7:00 this morning and know we didn't have to spend 9 hours in the heat. Although the heat has temporarily been 86ed in our neck of the woods. It was only in the lower 70s yesterday and I actually had goose bumps when we first got out to soccer camp yesterday morning. As much as I love summer, it has been a nice surprise to have a little break from the heat.
We have our first Kenya meeting this afternoon. All but one person going has been before, so the preparations have been pretty laid back. I can't believe we leave in a week and a half. I'll be packing and getting everything ready this week. All of our team members have almost raised all of our funds for the cost of the trip. I am amazed and humbled by how generous people have been with their donations towards our trip. We have surely been so blessed by others in that regard. Thanks to God for providing our funds, we should be able to use almost all of the money we raised at our yard sale to use when we get to Kenya. Our original plan was to spend the money on buying Bibles for the people there (most all do not have a Bible and never will if it's not bought for them) but we have learned that the money will mostly be going to feed people instead. They have been in a terrible drought and their economy is worse than even we can imagine. One of the pastors told our leader that he and his wife have to choose between them eating dinner or their children because they don't have enough food for everyone. So without a second thought, they go to bed hungry so their children won't have to. That breaks my heart. We CANNOT imagine that. I can't think of one friend or family member who have ever thought they would have to skip dinner for weeks. Even through some of the financial hardships Paul and I have been through, it doesn't come close to comparing to that. Our money will be multiplied and will be able to go so far over there. I am so thankful God provided the way He did through our yard sale and other people so that we can feed these sweet people when we get to Kenya.
Paul's dad comes tomorrow to help coach his high school soccer camp this week. It will be another very exhausting week for the hubster. I am so proud of the hard worker he is for us. It will be my privilege to feed him and keep up with his sweaty laundry all week.
Enjoy the weekend y'all!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Catching up...again
Holy moly, where is my summer going?! It really just seems to be slipping away so fast. I leave for Kenya 2 weeks from tomorrow, which basically means summer is over for me at that point. School starts back just a few days after we get home.
I went to the beach for a few days last week. My friend Daphne's parents have a beach house at Ocean Isle and they were gracious to have me down to share the week with them. It rained quite a bit but we still had a very relaxing and fun time and got to work on our plans for Kenya-she and I will be teaching together.
We came back late Saturday night so that we wouldn't miss this little sweetheart's birthday party on Sunday.
Precious little Renna Margaret turned 2! They had a watermelon summer themed birthday party and it was so cute. Since her mommy and daddy own Ketchie Creek Bakery, I knew the cake would be nothing short of perfect.
Just look at one of the presents this sweet girl got....OH. MY. GOODNESS. Tiny Toms! You can imagine how loud I squealed when she opened these ;)
This week is super busy for the Hicksters. It's Community Serve week with our church. Community Serve is a week long mission trip in our local communities. One of the ways the community is served through the mission trip is by having a free week long soccer camp. The camp is open to any children in and around the community of Forest Park. Paul always works the soccer camp and I usually work in a school. This year I am also working at the soccer camp and it has been so much fun getting to serve together. I have no skills in soccer whatsoever, but I know as much as some of the children do and I am really good at potty and water breaks. We are out at the camp from 8:30 to about 12:00 and then back at it from about 5:00 to 9:00 for one of Paul's soccer camps. Paul is keeping me busy at his camp with registration, bloody knees and elbows and of course, more potty breaks. Oh, and forcing the children and adults to drink lots of water so nobody goes falling over on us. Y'all, I love summer but it has been HOT! In between camps I am tutoring and trying my best to keep up with lots of sweaty laundry. Needless to say, I am flat worn out!
Not really much house news to report. We had a showing on Friday and Saturday, which was very encouraging because we haven't had any activity since our soon-to-be-new-neighbor backed out on us. One person said the stairs were too steep and the other said the third bedroom was too small. Both of those are things we obviously can't change so that is a little discouraging. But we are still back to feeling ok about things and are praying and trusting in God's will and time.
Happy hump day y'all!
I went to the beach for a few days last week. My friend Daphne's parents have a beach house at Ocean Isle and they were gracious to have me down to share the week with them. It rained quite a bit but we still had a very relaxing and fun time and got to work on our plans for Kenya-she and I will be teaching together.
We came back late Saturday night so that we wouldn't miss this little sweetheart's birthday party on Sunday.
Precious little Renna Margaret turned 2! They had a watermelon summer themed birthday party and it was so cute. Since her mommy and daddy own Ketchie Creek Bakery, I knew the cake would be nothing short of perfect.
Just look at one of the presents this sweet girl got....OH. MY. GOODNESS. Tiny Toms! You can imagine how loud I squealed when she opened these ;)
This week is super busy for the Hicksters. It's Community Serve week with our church. Community Serve is a week long mission trip in our local communities. One of the ways the community is served through the mission trip is by having a free week long soccer camp. The camp is open to any children in and around the community of Forest Park. Paul always works the soccer camp and I usually work in a school. This year I am also working at the soccer camp and it has been so much fun getting to serve together. I have no skills in soccer whatsoever, but I know as much as some of the children do and I am really good at potty and water breaks. We are out at the camp from 8:30 to about 12:00 and then back at it from about 5:00 to 9:00 for one of Paul's soccer camps. Paul is keeping me busy at his camp with registration, bloody knees and elbows and of course, more potty breaks. Oh, and forcing the children and adults to drink lots of water so nobody goes falling over on us. Y'all, I love summer but it has been HOT! In between camps I am tutoring and trying my best to keep up with lots of sweaty laundry. Needless to say, I am flat worn out!
Not really much house news to report. We had a showing on Friday and Saturday, which was very encouraging because we haven't had any activity since our soon-to-be-new-neighbor backed out on us. One person said the stairs were too steep and the other said the third bedroom was too small. Both of those are things we obviously can't change so that is a little discouraging. But we are still back to feeling ok about things and are praying and trusting in God's will and time.
Happy hump day y'all!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Catching up
Monday evening we had a nice anniversary dinner at the Twin City Chop House. Paul had never been there and it had been over ten years since I had been. We split the filet and shared a coconut cake for dessert. It was delicious!
We left early Tuesday morning to head to Williamsburg where Paul's parents were vacationing. They have a timeshare there and go every year. We skipped Busch Gardens this time but we had a great time relaxing at the pool, wandering around Colonial Williamsburg and eating a lot of really good food.
Paul's brother Jonathan and his wife Laura were there until Wednesday so it was good seeing them even though it was only for a day. They live in northern Virginia and Jonathan coaches soccer too, so we don't get to see them much.
We got back yesterday afternoon, unpacked, took a power nap and headed out to see Katelyn and her band.
It's been months since we've seen them play because they have a lot of out of town shows now and we seem to always be gone when they play locally. They rocked it out as usual and even sang a Journey song for me and Paul. We stayed up way past our bedtime but thankfully Sophie let us sleep late this morning.
We don't have any good house news to report. Our realtor called the random guy who showed up at our house several times and he never returned her phone calls. I guess he was sent strictly as encouragement, and we are ok with that. For the most part, thanks to God's grace, I can say that our pity party days have ceased. As we try to wait patiently, I am back to enjoying having a super clean house and am ignoring the pile of boxes in the corner of the living room.
On a random note, I read Heaven is For Real the other day. I could write for an hour about the book alone, but I'll just say that it was a great book (and a very quick read) and I highly recommend it whether you are a Christian or not.
Does anyone else think it's crazy that it's already July?!?!
We left early Tuesday morning to head to Williamsburg where Paul's parents were vacationing. They have a timeshare there and go every year. We skipped Busch Gardens this time but we had a great time relaxing at the pool, wandering around Colonial Williamsburg and eating a lot of really good food.
Paul's brother Jonathan and his wife Laura were there until Wednesday so it was good seeing them even though it was only for a day. They live in northern Virginia and Jonathan coaches soccer too, so we don't get to see them much.
We got back yesterday afternoon, unpacked, took a power nap and headed out to see Katelyn and her band.
It's been months since we've seen them play because they have a lot of out of town shows now and we seem to always be gone when they play locally. They rocked it out as usual and even sang a Journey song for me and Paul. We stayed up way past our bedtime but thankfully Sophie let us sleep late this morning.
We don't have any good house news to report. Our realtor called the random guy who showed up at our house several times and he never returned her phone calls. I guess he was sent strictly as encouragement, and we are ok with that. For the most part, thanks to God's grace, I can say that our pity party days have ceased. As we try to wait patiently, I am back to enjoying having a super clean house and am ignoring the pile of boxes in the corner of the living room.
On a random note, I read Heaven is For Real the other day. I could write for an hour about the book alone, but I'll just say that it was a great book (and a very quick read) and I highly recommend it whether you are a Christian or not.
Does anyone else think it's crazy that it's already July?!?!
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