Peru Part 1-the journey there

What a week. The Lord is so sweet to us. Despite the fact we deserve the wrath of God, He instead showers us with His love and favor. You are too sweet, Lord.

So we arrived in Lima at midnight the first night only to wake up to a terrible earthquake that had hit Japan. (http://www.operationworld.org/japa) Watc

hing the news as houses and animals were caught up in a terrible amount of debris on TV, a warning issued along with it that a possible Tsunami could make its way to the South American Coast by 8pm that night. But in the Lord's sovereignty, it did not hit the coast of Lima hard by any means and only the beach itself was closed to disappointed surfers.

So with tsunami warnings out of our head we trekked 8 hours by van up over the Andes mountains East of Lima into the jungles of Peru. I'm told if we had gone a little further East we would of been caught up in the jungles of Brazil. Needless to say, an adventure like I'd never experience awaited us. and God just keeps getting bigger.

I'll tell more tomorrow :). But I feel there is so much to write about this story better come in pieces! But He sure did amazing things on this trip. Changed our hearts and hopefully broke them for a new people. Can't wait to tell you all more when I'm more awake and if not for your own interest, then at least a reminder to me at how strong the God I serve is.

thanks Benton

y'all miss me yet? gosh. it's been so long since i last wrote! thankfully though, i have not fallen off the face of the earth...

anyhow. just wanted to share a little bit about His faithfulness! Last Sunday I went to and spoke at a small town church in Benton, Alabama. You don't know where it is? I didn't either.... But amazingly the Spirit knew and showed up and showed out.

After sharing my story that night, and without asking, the 15 adult memebers in attendance, and possibly 15 children, took up a love offering. At the end they said, "here's some gas money".

wow, i thought. after a quick glance i read $127.00. amazing that 15 people gave that much. that's almost 10$ a person

crazy enough. i didn't read the check right. and low and behold 2 days later I saw the check again. I was a little off, as they had given me $1,270.00. WHAT?! incredible! and the awesome thing was that was the exact amount needed for both my Peru trip and a conference in Orlando that I planned to attend this next week. How incredible and sweet of the Lord! And how amazing that this church, this body, listened to the Spirit and gave obediently! Oh He is sooo soo good to me! What a sweet reminder of His provision for me financially even though what He did for me on the cross was always enough. Such a Mighty God we serve!

10 days and counting :)

can't wait to hold my little stinker nephew.

i certainly cannot write all that is on my heart tonight. it is late. and finally, after a long day, perhaps partly because i'm so tired, the tears have come. i knew they would. i knew it was only a matter of time. they almost spilt over today walking to work knowing what would face me.

no, no one died. so perhaps these tears are just me being a girl. but today was my last day of work. and now that i'm home, after a jog that i thought would help, i sit here at home crying. thanking Him for His favor this past year. Thanking Him for all that He's done and for my sweet athletes that I will miss so much.

Will I see them again? I don't know. I have no idea what the future holds for them or for me. I do know where I'll be when it's all said and done. And tonight I'm begging Him to let them be there too. I love those girls. So very very much.

dreams are weird. #2

so, it would seem, from my dreams, that i have some anxiety. but gosh i feel great. seriously i don't feel stressed at all...but check out these whacked out dreams.

#1 3 nights ago:

i had a dream i was getting married. and i totally didn't want to marry this guy. [and for the record i have no idea who the guy was]. anyways, i just knew it wasn't right and i was freaking out. i was in the fellowship hall of lakeview where i reception would be. which is hilarious in theory cause 1. i don't want to EVER have my reception there. i want to DANCE. and for some reason...well never mind. also i remember having this terrible dress on that had like a fish net waist. yeah. hideous. hahaha. i remember in my dream looking in this mirror and thinking, what the crap was i thinking?! i can't wear this! i can't marry this guy! and basically the whole dream was me agonizing over the fact that if i told him no that meant everyone inside the sanctuary and who helped set up and prepare would have so many questions! and feel like i used them and wasted their times. but this was a huge decision. in my dream i was freaking out cause it was either disappoint everyone and break it off. or just go through with it. i had and 8 minute football play clock counting down until i had to walk down the aisle. woke up as i was watching it tick and thinking of my monstrous dilemma.

dream #2: myself along with a few others were riding in our van...in Saudi...yeah have no idea why. but anyways, we get hijacked and kidnapped. they tie my hands up with robe and tie me to a tree once we at their base. and by "their" i have no idea who i'm referring too. i guess someone who was mad from all the stuff in the news about those peeps in FL. haha. so anyways, i'm tied to a tree while the others are tied a good distance away. while the guards are preoccupied trying to get a fire in the desert to start(yeah, weird, i know), i wiggle lose and with my heart racing and adrenaline going i get the others untied as we make a run for it to the closest vehicle and high tale it out of there. i remember driving cause the people with me were hysterical. i drove all the way to the closest border, which in my dream wasn't jordan, but iraq. (?). as soon as i crossed over i called my security guy and just started sobbing that i had just escaped from my kidnappers and trying to process what had happened then i woke up.

yeah. i gotta stop reading the news. but i LOVE THE NEWS. ah.

How many Jordanian firefighters does it take to screw on a lightbulb?

So today at work six firefighters from the huge firestation down the road today came to work. I always walk pass this station on the way to work, keeping my eyes away from the men guarding the station with their AK 47s even though I know more often than not they aren't loaded....but have decided never to test that theory.

Anyhow, today 6 of them came into work! At first I thought it was for the obvious reason, to check the fire detector. But, come to think of it, I've never seen a building in the Middle East ever have a fire detector so I should of known that was a stupid thought.

They actually came in to fix the boy's rings! Yeah totally random. But they brought in this HUGE ladder and as it only took one man to actually do the fixing, the others sat around and stared at all of us working. It took the whole 3 hours of practice...imagine that.

I took some pictures. Which I will post later. Because honestly, I need to go to bed to get up for work again tomorrow.

But thought it was kinda funny it took 6 guys to fix the thing.