recent stuff

Whew... It appears I have officially gone on and successfully maintained a blogging hiatus for some time now. Several posts a month turned into once per month which has turned in...to... every... so... little... once... in... a... while...

But I have good excuses! How's this for a life revelation: I am busy! (Who isn't, I know.) Turns out I am a busy, busy girl this year. I just started a new job March 1st working as part of the missions team at my church, Port City Community Church. What a blessing that has been! Combining my passions for writing/editing, missions, connecting with/helping people, all while being a part of the undeniable and amazing movement of God in this body — and the sheer awesomeness of this physical environment that is like Pleasantville for Christians — has been mind-blowing to say the least. It is totally a gift from God, one I sometimes doubt I could ever steward well enough. "Cool" cannot even begin to summarize the past couple months of helping prepare short-term missions, coordinating with our missions volunteers, helping organize the Perspectives course we are offering here in the fall, expressing missions at Port City through written word, the beginning stages of co-leading two short-term missions this year...

Speaking of, yes, you read it right. Not one (Guatemala), but two! I AM GOING BACK TO KENYA!!!

There is a wicked huge grin on my face even as I type.

And so we cycle back to the busy. Guatemala in three weeks, then two months 'til Kenya, then two months 'til the wedding. But seriously this is the best busy I could ever hope for. God is so good and has blessed my life tremendously this past year. He gets all the glory and praise! Trey and I are leading the Guatemala team together (and he is *possibly* going to Kenya). It is an enormous privilege that we share this passion for missions and get the opportunities to experience it together.

So, do you want to see our Kenya team of TWENTY-SEVEN???

It is quite a large group to be leading through Africa!  I catch myself praying for leadership ability when I have to remind myself that availability is even MORE important... that I can only position myself to let GOD work through me.

I pray also to maintain perspective through my daily reconciliation of missions and the wedding. While mine and Trey's relationship and upcoming union in Christ is entirely of the Lord and a beautiful, awesome thing that's meant to happen, the wedding itself (with its expenses and relative "extravagances") has often collided this year with the entirely different world that is missions. One night I am attending Missions Night here at church, watching a DVD on the Lost Boys of Sudan, and the next day I am trying on gorgeous gowns in an upscale boutique in Raleigh. One day I'm researching third-world countries and the next I am paying a hefty deposit for someone to tell our bridal party where to stand. My tagline has become, "It's OK to have a wedding." Not that I'm not excited!!! I have actually really enjoyed and loved the planning process immensely. It's just a stark contrast to another huge part of my life and quite a strange dichotomy to live through. I do know that God has purposefully placed me in this time, in this context, with these resources, and I have to continually trust Him in His sovereignty... as well as steward what I have been given. After all, we were "blessed to be a blessing"!

While I'm on a roll with the prayer requests... I also pray that while I'm on "this side" of these two short-term missions, the leadership role, that I would be able to cultivate a sincere heart of service and no just a mind set on accomplishing logistics. As I am sending reminder e-mails and meeting recaps and organizing applications and registering team members, etc., etc.... I want to spend even more time and energy praying for the people we are going to serve and being personally involved in these missions themselves, as someone on the team and not JUST as a leader. I hope that makes sense.

So that's kind of where I am right now. Lots going on, lots of challenges, even more excitement and blessings, and... not much blogging.  If anyone is even ever still reading this, God love you.

Peace and love 'til next time!!!