Hello 5 days

Well folks, there are 5 full days in my life, in the states, for the remainder of this interesting year of 2011.

There are a lot of things running through my head. For instance, will I see everyone I want to see and spend time with those I really need to get together with? That one is easily remedied. Then there's the thought of leaving family and missing the Holidays with them. That one is sad. Also I think about my return and the events to unfold in 2012. I will let those things just come though because there's no to stress.

Thinking in terms of the YWAM experience though? Well, I'm not that nervous. I dont especially like flying alone... but c'est la vie! I'll just make friends and sleep. I'm not fretting about the finances either. I now have $1100 left to raise so I'm encouraged by that! The Lord provides to His children doing His will, thank you Jesus for that! I don't really know what to expect about the base in Oxford, or the leaders, or the lectures. I think it's better to go into it with a few expectations as possible.

These are my goals for this adventure!
-Defining my-self. Valuing myself my feelings, my likes and dislikes and coming into myself.
-Completely having my identity in Christ. My fulfillment, my purpose and my goals being eternally centered and my security in Jesus my savior.
-Healing. I need to complete the processing of the traumatic life situations of the past 7 years. I realize I need to sort through Mom's sickness, her death, my relationship with her then and now, as well as my current family situation and the events that occurred after December 26th, 2004.

One of my favorite quotes is
" The happiest people in the world are those who do the most for others."
Booker T. Washington

I hope to become someone who lives her life serving others in Jesus' name.

This morning I was encouraged by a word from Oswald Chamber:

"The goal of the missionary is to do God's will, not to be 


useful or to win the lost. A missionary *is* useful and *does* 


win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will 


of his Lord."


My goal is to go and do the Lord's will and I believe deep down He wants me to achieve the


 goals I wrote above and find myself IN HIM. wooooooo!!!!! I'm so EXCITED!!!!


Love love love!

From NC to NZ

So even though the space between C and Z in the alphabet is 24 letters, the space between North Carolina and New Zealand is much, much, MUCH greater.

On Wednesday, September 28th I will be flying from Charlotte to LA then LA to Auckland, then Auckland to Christchurch, then by car to the final destination of Oxford New Zealand!

Today the Lord brought to me a wonderful new friend who will be my Communications Coordinator while I'm in NZ. Tempest is an answer to prayer even though I didn't know I was praying for her help! Being detailed oriented, she is a life saver to my preparations because my strengths do not necessarily lie in organization and taking care of the nitty gritty details. SO I am very thankful!

I wish I could be in three places at once. Or maybe 5. I wish I could be with my Cherokee Cove family  for the next two weeks because they are just that, my family.
I wish I could be in Johnson City with Lizzy, because she is my twin and there is few bonds much deeper than that of twins.
I wish I could be in Newport News, VA with Tanner and Beth babysitting Judson. They are so fun and funny and I loved sleeping on their couch last week - it's a super comfy couch:)
I wish I could be with my Aunt Libby all the time, and I also wish the flight to NZ went to Venice. Then I could travel again with my amazing Auntie and have a grand time. She is such a good friend.
I wish I could be in Boone with Jamie, Sarah, and a huge handful other wonderful friends and family.

This trip isn't going  to last forever... but still I am a little emotional about this big adventure and the people I will leave, but happily return to in February.

I dreamt last night about taking a down pillow and rolling it into a tight cylinder of 1/2 inch diameter. Then everyday I would easily stuff it into my backpack and grab it at night and woosh! it would unroll and fluff back up beautifully. The translation: I am also wishing I could take my big special pillow with me:)

Thank you everyone who has donated to me already! I really truly appreciate your support!
Thank you for praying for me as well!
I am so thankful for my support team at my church and in Boone. You all bless me!

The count down begins! 

UPDATE

Hey there friends!
This post is sweet and simple, and well, to the point.

Here is the update:
I have about $3500 - to stay in NZ for three months I need a total of $4410 - $1000 dollars to go! YAY!
Also I need $3320 for the outreach phase which is due is October 30th.

I am learning to surrender my thoughts and worries daily to Christ.
He will provide.

If you feel lead to donate mail checks to
126 Loblolly Lane Boone NC 28607
or PO Box 47, Oxford, North Canterbury 7443, New Zealand
or donate online at ywamoxford.org

Sitcom

My Sitcom life:

The past few months I have accumulated quite a collection of memorable moments. My sister in law told me they could make a hit sit com show of my weekly/daily comical encounters.

Let's see, oh there's a very memorable day at Cherokee Cove that will just make me miss that place even more once I leave.

Libby had rescued a baby skunk. It was so tiny! So cute... it's name was flower... I actually blogged about him (refer to Mr. Flower.) So, the day we had him in the office, we had made a little box with warm wash clothes and put him under a light. Later, we figured out that the light was use-less because it was an energy efficient bulb that doesn't give off any heat ha! Sam and Libby went to Boone for some errands, and  to get some baby skunk food. We were going to  start him on Pedi-life  or something, it has a lot of electrolytes. During the course of the morning he started squeaking! It was pitiful and my heart melted. I was trying to make him even more comfortable when all of a sudden the cry goes through the conference center that The Kitchen Health Inspector arrived! Panic! Everyone knows to get out of the kitchen and let the experienced adults take over the last minuet tweaks to ensure a passing grade. Oh sheesh, Stu yells up to me to get some files from last year, some official documents and to sit in on the review meeting and I flipped out (in my mind.) I had a squeaking baby skunk, which by the way is highly unsanitary, in the office so I hid him behind some filing cabinets and prayed he would wiggle free of his box and squeak up a storm. Stu didn't even realize that Mr.Flower was upstairs, and that was better for all of us. Once the Lady left I discussed with Dwayne the chances the poor thing had to live...and Stu immediately interjected and made it a for sure negative possibility that baby skunk would live to see the next days' sunshine. Once Sam got back we tried feeding it... but ultimately I sat back and laughed really hard because of course the day the Health Lady decides to show up I have to smuggle around a precious baby skunk to insure the Lady knows Cherokee Cove really is a sanitary camp. ha!

Hmm, another good story would be the end of the summer dinner reunion with my homeschooling friends.

Ok! So first off, I'm getting dressed talking to Sarah and Jamie... get all the pieces of my ensemble worked out and then go to put on my one pair of comfortable pumps that I actually look natural walking in. I realize then, that in the darkness of my closet I grabbed my left foot pump, and then one of my sisters left foot black pumps too. Awesome, I go running out the door, zoom back home with one shoe on one shoe off. That problem solved, we go to Psseghettis for dinner. I was starving so when my plate of pasta in herbs and olive oil came I dug in. Naturally, with spaghetti... you slurp up the noodles. I slurped and slurped away. I confess I was a little frustrated with the fact that most of my friends were dating beautiful, wonderful people and I was kind of jealous. I really just wanted to be claimed by someone, and to have someone pay for my meal happily, and to just be his. Hence the aggravated slurping. I go to the bathroom and look  in the mirror, and YES there are oil stains from my slurping and the noodles splashing the oil onto to new top. For the love! Whatever. I mopped for a minuet and joined the rest of the group. Once we left we decided to meet back up at Crave. We got there early, and they were setting up for some DJ. It was really quiet and a weird atmosphere since there were hardly any people there. Since they had some special DJ they were marking everyone under 21with and X on their hand. No biggy, I dont really care that everyone knows I can't legally drink, I've made it this long, I'll make it another night. Well.... Jamie and I sat at a booth and discussed life and fashion and personal  tastes and Justin and Jackson joined us and I was relaxed so I was lounging, resting my face on my hands, sitting comfortably. Ok, well we decided to cosmic bowling because Crave was a flop at that point. We get in the brightly lighted bowling ally and Jamie says  - what is that on your face?! Ummm what? We figured out I had rested my cheek on the permanate marker X and it had imprinted on my face! Oh sheesh! Nothing ever goes quite like expected haha. Again, I'm not purposefully trying to blunder everything...its  just natural. haha

Now, let me tell you about my night the other night. As Jamie as my witness, I don't typically try to terrorize pedestrians, and I'm a fairly safe driver.

It was raining... we were meeting Lizzy and Jackson at Sweet Frog, and it is always crowded in that parking lot. I'm easing around the shopping center strip and I stop to let someone back out. Jamie commented on some bumper stickers on a car to our right, and then said something about a gun  association.. I was a little confused, while trying to process what she said, and read some bumper stickers and I thought oh! i'll just pass this car and find another spot to pull into. Right as I let my foot off the brake this innocent game renting college guy hits the hood with his free hand and spins to the right side of the car. He had this look of panic, then relieve, and a half smile because of his close to death experience didn't kill him. Jamie screamed, I screamed, and stopped breathing and then held out my free hand towards the guy in apology, fervently repeating "I  AM SO SORRY!" Gosh we were freaked out. In my defense...my minimal defense that is, he was crossing the rode really close to my car instead of clearing it by at least 3 feet. Anyway! I was shaking and finally parked and couldn't breath and felt lower than a slug, and so Jamie and I ran through the rain to go find him in the Game stop store and apologized to his face. He really appreciated that, and was just fine... but I was so scared for him still. I told him to have a safe night and humbly scurried out of the store. I had to sit for a while and catch my breath! Poor guy! To this day I still get crap about identifying pedestrians and not terrorizing them. WHEW. That was bad. I guess its only comical because everything is ok now.

I have some really good unintentional play on words like:

"Ivan Poisy" which means Poison Ivey

"Heidiferrous - Ferrous is a strange middle name." No kathryn, that's a play on adventurous. ha!"

"You look demented!" You  mean deformed?

"I  love that artist Katie Hertwig!" Ummm, Katie Herzig?

"Aren't all puppies quadruplets?" 

There will be a follow up post. There will be necessary additions, I'm sure of it. :)
Peace out cub Scout.

So Stoked

         Does any one else notice that it is quickly approaching September which = beautiful leaves, warm sweaters, and the birth of new routines? New routines at least for students, and young adults embarking on jobs searches and like me, new adventures. I fall into thinking that time stands still and the happiness of summer and long, sun-filled days will last eternally. Maybe in heaven! But not right now. Not in Boone, not at Cherokee Cove, not even at the loving homes of close friends. Love is eternal, but not the earthly evenings. My bond with these friends and families is lovely. Christ unites us ultimately, and nothing  can separate our fellowship except short periods of time. In the end my Christian friends and family will always be with me, praising God for eternity side by side. YAY! This prospect fills me with joy and allows long distances and life times apart seem bearable. This reality though, that has begun to sink in, is also driving me to reach out and share more freely my faith, because I want all those  in my sphere of influence to fellowship with the Lord forever and ever and ever. Hence my YWAM commitment for 5 months.

        My new routine starts September 28th when I fly from Charlotte to LA, LA to Auckland, and Auckland to Christ Church, New Zealand. Although, I'm thinking my life won't really have routine until March 2012. From testimonies of other people who have been in YWAM and the mere nature of my outreach of backpacking through NZ, nothing will be too usual, too routine. The question arises in my mind then, because my Outreach will be primarily lead by the Holy Spirit to the right towns and peaks, trails and paths to where his children need encouraging and the lost need to be found, routine seems to hinder the leading of the 'divine appointments' if you will. Certain times in life, certain circumstance, require routine so that financial security is insured, and good stewardship of the Lord's provision is accomplished. However, I am excited the next adventure is not scheduled out, and that perhaps the next several years of my life won't be predictable. I don't see anything negative with either life style, except the smashing of the Holy Spirits prompts and the dulling of spiritual sensitivity by getting in a comfortable groove.

Those are just my musings, and I pray that I will remain steadfast in the word and tuned into the nudges of the Holy Spirit. I'm getting nervous though! Traveling so far away! Being all alone! New people, places, cultures WAH! Jesus is with me. I will not freak out! In fact, I will  channel the nervous excitement into positive self talk and memorizing scripture so that my mind doesn't get carried away with falsehoods and lies. AHH. I am so stoked. PRAY with me.

Howdy

So for everyone who is an avid "Add to the Beauty" reader:) I am still preparing for NZ and I am extremely sorrowful the blogging has been put on the back burning for a time.

But hurrah! It's over, the season is changing. It was like a joyous summer (metaphorically and literally) and now I feel like I'm moving into a beautiful, precious Spring time.Well, I'm anticipating a spring at least... it could be blizzard or blazing flamming hot summer. I'll keep you posted.

Over the past couple of weeks I have had lots of wonderful reunions!
I reunited with Rebecca:

That was a good time! After all these years we are still giggly... and Let's Be Honest, quite truthful and very open. (this will be, in a sense, very casual) (am i retarded? yes)(that just proves that he is so much like my cousin) PS becca, I saw your contra crush in boone town today:)

I also reunited with Jamie actually too... I forgot to mention that before but she is unexpectedly home already, and I am completely and totally blessed. Jesus is really loving on me by having her in Boone right now.

Another sweet reunion time was with pretty little sarah brown.... well, IS, present tense. It is still sweet , as always. Oh and don't forget - respect the stach yo

I got some Fam fam time too! I love sitting, or riding, or playing with Judson while talking and being with Tanner and Beth -and Beth is PREGO again!!!! Pray for her morning sickness, little Jr. is being a little upsetting for her womb.

Well thats all for now folks. THE END

I Kiwi NZ

SO! Everyone should be receiving support letters from  me with in the next week or so. If you do not, let me know/send me your address and I will gladly mail you my hand written and designed letter!

Well, in the mean time I have been brain storming different shirt ideas. You see, I was told to look into fund raising through selling personalized t-shirts and for Lizzy's friend, it worked reallly well. I thought, hey why not, I love cool shirts, so does every body else, let's try!

Then I started drawing out designs...and quite frankly every hand drawn doodle in my journal was just not working for me. I showed Jamie some of my scribbles and we googled popular New Zealand art etc. The ideas started flowing better and by the end of the evening she had down loaded a trial of Adobe Photo shop programs and kept my journal to stay inspired. Today she called me and had FOUR  designs ready for presentation - secretly I just know she will have some sort of career, maybe mini maybe major! in graphic design :) she is a-mazing!

Here are the final products... you'll just have to wait and see, and be invovled in my life,  to see which design is mass produced for t-shirts and postcards etc! woo!