Merry Christmas Everyone!

A very Merry Christmas was had by all this year!  Roxy most definitely enjoyed it so I thought I'd share pictures of her highlights!  David and I spent the first half of this Christmas season with the Kartzinels at Donna and Jerry's house.  We had the whole crew there including John's fiance Hannah.  We spent a lot of quality time together catching up and enjoying each other's company around the Christmas tree.  We kicked off our family time together with watching The Hobbit which I must say was fabulous! The day before Christmas was also a blast as we went to the local gun range to fire off hand guns!  I've never fired a handgun before so it was very adventurous.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be either!  Over the week there was also lots of X-Box playing  with Halo and Call of Duty.  Christmas Eve we open all the family gifts and on Christmas morning Santa shows up with some very full stockings.  My favorite Christmas day activities are tied between decorating ginger bread houses together and the family game of nerf wars! The next few evenings we enjoyed watching some of the new DVD's the family got with Men In Black 3, Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spiderman.  David and I agreed it was a fantastic Christmas and a delightful time with family!

Now I'm off to North Carolina for the second half of Christmas with my family there!  I can't wait to see everyone and catch up on how life is going.  I also get to meet Maggie, my cousin Drew's baby for the first time and I know that will be a big high light!  I hope you and yours have also had a wonderful Christmas season!  Love you all lots!

Shoes for 30 Little Feet!

What are 30 little active feet at Beacon of Hope Orphanage always needing?

SHOES!!!

One way you can help out the kids at the orphanage I will be visiting in February is by donating shoes.  What kinds of shoes does Beacon of Hope need?  I'm glad you asked! We need kids shoes sizes 9-1.  Shoes can be new or used as long at they're in good shape.  The Philippines is in the tropics so flip flops, crocs, tennis shoes and other active closed toed shoes are perfect!  Due to location and kids activities we do not need dress shoes or cold weather shoes. 

Getting the shoes to me is where this gets fun depending on your location!

• Orange County Locals: You can drop them off at Kingsfield Church or contact me and I'll happily pick them up from you.
• Durham, NC and surrounding areas: You can give them to my parents or grandparents and we will arrange for their shipment to CA.  Also I will be visiting from Dec 29th-Jan 16th if your shoes are ready to go contact me and we'll arrange a pick up or drop off point!
• Other Locations: You can send them in the mail to my church with a note inside that it is for the Philippines trip.  Kingsfield Church 27111 Aliso Creek Rd Ste. 100 Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

Please make all donations by February 1st so I can prepare them for the trip to the their new little owners. Thanks in advance for all your help!

If you would like to make any monetary donations to help cover my trip costs you can do so securely online here.  On the donation site choose "Team member travel expenses" and put my name in the memo line.

Beacon of Hope

 

 Cynthia and Les with some of the kids!

I am so excited about the opportunity to be going to Beacon of Hope Orphanage in February!  I would love to tell you all a little bit about it and how it came to be.  Les and Cynthia are members of Kingsfield Church and lived in Laguna Beach, CA.  Cynthia is from the Philippines and immigrated to the US when she was 15.  The couple felt a burden for the children that were being abandoned or sold in her home country and were eventually led by the Lord to begin an orphanage in Cynthia's hometown of Manila.  Having no children of their own they began the orphanage out of Cynthia's mother's home starting with infants.  In the five years since the orphanage's beginning the Lord has blessed them tremendously and they now have 15 children all under the age of 6.  They have also moved operations to a compound outside of Manila in the countryside.  The social services in the country refer to their orphanage as Five Star!  They are for the most part self sustaining as they have their own rice field and a variety of farm animals that the children enjoy helping to take care of.  As the amount of children and work at the orphanage has grown so too has the need for extra hands!  Les and Cynthia have brought on several full time local care takers that live in "The Big House" (they do not use the term orphanage) and help with the children. 

One of the next big steps they would like to take at Beacon of Hope is to start an adoption program!  As you can probably imagine there is a lot of important paper work that goes into just the day to day operations of an orphanage not to mention an adoption program so Cynthia has gone back to school and is currently in a social work program to become the orphanage's full time social worker.  There are many details left to be put in place before an adoption program becomes reality so please be in prayer as they move towards this exciting next step!

Other Fun Facts!

• All the children speak English
• They keep chickens for fresh eggs
• They have three kid friendly dogs at the compound, one is a Les & Cynthia's lab brought from the US
• Much of the children's clothing is provided from from quality donations to our church thrift store in Laguna Beach
• The older children are tutored on site and are just beginning to start school

I hope that gives you all a little background on Beacon of Hope!  If you have any questions I would be more than happy to find answers for them!

If you feel lead to donate to this trip you can make a secure tax deductiable donation online here.  Please select team member travel expenses and add my name in the comment box. 
The children are also in need of shoes! If you would like to help provide them the guidelines are here.

Movies I'm Looking Forward To!

I don't know about you but the movies coming out this Christmas look fantastic!!!  The Hobbit goes without mentioning as one that will not be missed but these other two are on my list of must sees.

Have you guys seen the trailer for "The Impossible" yet?  It's one family's story from the massive 2005 tsunami.  For some reason that particular disaster impacted me deeply.  It happened when I was on break from my freshman year of college and I was just glued to the TV for days.  With all of the horrible things that happened that day I am glad to see they are making a movie with some hope in it that appears to honor the tragedy.  I look forward to seeing this one.

On a completely unrelated film, I am completely over the moon that they are doing the musical version of Les Mes on film.  If you have not seen the play do not go in expecting a musical version of Liam Neeson's role in this film a few years back.  In the play there is a much bigger focus on the love story between Cosette and Marius then on the redemption of Jean Valjean.  The score of this play is out of this world and I can not wait to hear at the theater!  This one I won't miss on the big screen!

Square Two....

Well last post I was a square one with no real clue as to what to do next now that I am basically recovered from my adrenal fatigue but not yet a mom.  The past few months I've been praying a lot, doing some research, and trying new things.  It turns out there are an incredible amount of amazing Christian organizations that are based out of south orange county!  For one, The International Princess Project that works to help victims of the sex trade is based in Irvine not far from David's office!  There are several ministries that reach out to the elderly and the Orange County rescue mission is one of the best in the entire country.  In short there are no shortage of good causes that need volunteers.  But I also learned an important lesson through adrenal fatigue and that is that if I am stretched too thin then nothing get's accomplished but failed promises.  So I've been praying and really paying attention to our small group study, "Experiencing God."  In the study Henry Blackabee makes it clear that God is at work all around us and we just have to pray, listen, and join God where He is at work!  So with lots of prayer I began looking for direction in our local church, Kingsfield.  God clearly put us here for a reason and there are lots of things God is doing to get involved with.

For starters I've become a volunteer in our children's ministry once a month and I get to help lead kids worship with lots of motions and after teaching time lead a small group with 2nd and 3rd graders!  I love our program and they do such a wonderful job teaching and inspiring these kids to follow Jesus.  Second I started volunteering on Fridays at our church thrift store located in downtown Laguna Beach.  It has been a hoot and I have enjoyed getting to know the characters that come in every Friday!  Most of the proceeds from the thrift store go to support an orphanage a couple from our church started 5 years ago in the Philippines called Beacon of Hope.  Which brings me to the third and most exciting thing God has given me a chance to do! Our church is sending a team to the Philippines to help out at the orphanage.  I wasn't sure my body could handle it but I prayed an God confirmed that this is where He wants me to be.  This is such a blessed season in my life where I can minister in ways I will not be able to during the young mom phase of life.  I am very excited to be going on the trip in February and it is all kind of surreal it has happened so fast.

More details to come!

Square One

Starting over...well I think I prefer to say starting at square one.  That's exactly where I am right now with regards to what I'm doing in my life.  It's a good place to be though the uncertainty of where square two is makes me feel a bit nervous.  Now that I'm recovered from adrenal fatigue I find that I am sitting at home most days and it just feels like I'm spinning my wheels. I've been praying for the past month about what to do next.  I want to be a Mom but I have no idea how long it will be until that desire becomes a reality.  Considering that in reality it may be some time before we actually start our family sitting at home and spinning my wheels until it happens does not seem like a wise idea.  So I'm back to square one.  I don't want to pursue a career because in the end I want to be a stay at home Mom. I need a position where people are not depending on me long term.  Working at a retail store also does not fit because I want to be around for David and those jobs typically entail working nights and weekends.  I need something with day time week day hours that is not long term. 

At first I was thinking in the direction of working administration for a non profit or something along those lines.  And then as I was sitting in Costco enjoying some frozen yogurt I saw this absolutely adorable elderly couple pushing a cart together.  They both looked like they were in their 90's and the man had a brace on his leg.  They were moving at a very slow pace and he was obviously in much pain.  I thought to myself people like that should have someone to help them!  I mean it's fantastic that they are still doing their shopping at Costco independently but on days when a person is in terrible pain someone should be available to help them.  So that gave me the desire to also see if there are opportunities locally for me to help any elderly people who need some simple assistance like shopping and cooking and conversation.  To that end I've made an appointment with our new pastor to see if he may know of anyone in the area who needs an extra hand.  Be praying that God shows me where he is at work and how I can join in! 

Life Without Limbs

On the first of September David and I had the incredible opportunity to hear Nick Vujicic speak at Saddleback Church. If you've never heard of Nick there is something very unique about him, he was born without any arms and legs.  His Dad is a pastor in Australia and he and his wife had just started their first church the year Nick was born.  There was no warning or medical explanation as to why he has no arms and legs.  He is very intelligent and eloquent and a few years back God called Nick to be a evangelist!  Today he is married, is the author of a best selling book, and most importantly has been given the opportunity to share the gospel with hundreds of thousands of people all over the world!  His ministry website is www.lifewithoutlimbs.org if your interested in checking it out further.

David and I were already planning to go hear Nick speak on Saturday night but that morning we also got the news that the baby we were hoping to adopt miscarried.  To say this day was difficult for both of us would be an understatement.  But God really never leaves us or forsakes us and had already provided a comforting message for us to hear that very evening.  Hearing Nick's inspiring message gave both David and I encouragement from the Lord.  Nick uses lots of memorized scripture throughout his talks (I mean he can't just flip through his notes on stage...he doesn't have arms to do that with!) and I was most encouraged by Jeremiah 29: 11-14a.  We always look at verse 11 but I think verses 12-14 complete the story.

¹¹ 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 hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity."

The Lord promises not only that He has plans for us to give us a hope and future but also that if we seek Him that we will find him!  How amazing is that! 

Nick also said a few other things I took notes on:

•  If God doesn't give you a miracle He will use you to be a miracle to someone else.
• If you are not content with Jesus with cancer then you won't be content with Jesus without cancer.  For me I translated that to If I'm not content with Jesus without kids then I won't be content with Jesus when I have kids.
• If God's not going to change a circumstance He'll pull you through it.
• If you put your happiness in temporary things you happiness will be temporary.
• I want purpose and peace not arms & legs. 
• B.U.S.Y = Being Under Satan's Yoke 

I hope you find these things encouraging.  Attached are two videos of Nick.  The one above is a beautiful short firm called the Butterfly Circus where Nick is the main character. The bottom one is Nick speaking.

Hello Everyone!

Hanging out at our favorite beach in Dana Point

It's been a long time in coming but I'm finally starting a blog!  I chose this title because it seems like God is constantly changing our plans and putting us on His path for our lives.  It feels like there is a constant detour sign from God whenever I make a plan or head in a certain direction.  But His plans are so much better than mine (seriously 26 year old vs. God of the universe) and I'm learning to trust the Lord completely for each step along the way.  I would like this blog to be a chronicle of the twists and turns God takes us on along this road of life.  This is mainly for my family to give you all more frequent updates about what is going on in our lives and to have what I'm hoping will be an online scrap book to browse through whenever you feel like it.  Also I'm hoping this blog will serve as a journal because I have given up on ever consistently writing one.  However, with the powers of the keyboard and spell check I just might get through a journal entry a week!  I plan to post on what's new in our lives, my latest projects, our travels, and eventually our growing family.  When I get more tech savvy I plan to put in videos as well.  I love you all and I hope you enjoy reading!