Happy December 1! So it seems I am going to just move to a monthly post here. Sorry for being a slacker. The weather has been chilly and dampish here and most of the staff and kids have been sick at one point or another. Thanksgiving day blew in chilly but not damp
and it has remained on the cool side which is nice since we have Christmas lights up and the kids are talking gifts non stop (some things are universal like kids praying for Christmas gifts).
Update since the last post- no answer from my insurance on the MD appeal but the hospital has agreed to write off my bill if Insurance denies again. So I only have my surgeons bill and the anesthesiologist bill! So yeah on that!
The Auburn-opelika container arrived in record time and I am now a happy owner of a mattress and box springs from my parents for Christmas! I had to adjust the wood bedframe I have so it would fit but it is super tall so I am just going to have to break it down and put it on the floor. The day I got it I literally had to pull on the other side to climb up into it!
I feel like the princess and the pea. And we got a couch from Queenie! So we got rid of the termite eaten stinky loveseat. Now we just have the big one that is granny Honduran looking and dirty. Small things. So thankful.
Catherine and I don´t have a tree and she has always wanted a ¨roof of lights¨ so I worked on that with a few extra icicle lights I had and sacrificed my white lights from my room I use to read at night with while I have multicolored lights. She likes them so much they are on in the day and I haven´t seen the overhead lights on since I put them up. So Merry Christmas from duplex #2!
Now about the title of this post. I am hesitant to share all the details but I want to show you life for how it is for me so here goes….
A couple of weeks ago I was texting a friend and telling them I missed my #village back home and really wished that I could fly home for the 4 days I have free between teams Dec 11-15. The next day my friend started asking questions about my furlough account and other things. I told her to be honest I had $200 in the bank total. As I shared last month, my furlough account was exhausted while home for 3 months and paying for medical bills and things that cost money while in the US like gas for the car, food, and buying stuff for my girls. And the Lord provides enough just to get me through the month every time. So I did not have the money for a ticket home and was praying I would have enough for the bills in December.
I realized that day I would have to extend my visa. Because of a little misunderstanding with my bad spanish
So a couple of days later I get an email from my friend that had a flight itinerary attached. And as I looked at it I realized it is First Class! I have never flown First Class in my life! Much less as a missionary and an almost broke one at that. It is a tangible evidence of God´s mercy, grace, and love to me. I know He loves me even if I had to stay here or fly coach, or get in a raft and swim home. He loves me. But things like this….just too much goodness and not enough words to explain it.
The thing is that being here since September has been different. I knew I would be here until April. That´s 7 months straight. That seemed like a long time without seeing my family or village peeps. And October and November didn´t have many teams. I wasn´t very busy in the office and it was frustrating. I can´t explain how things are here for you to see how good but difficult it can be, I wish I could. So just to be able to leave for a few days, celebrate my little sisters 30th birthday with her and some preChristmas activities is just amazing.
So as I am sitting in my First Class window seat on the way to Atlanta next week and someone asks how I ended up there "God" will be the first thing out of my mouth.
The team that just left Last Saturday gave me a gift and a bracelet. It says "anticipate grace". They said that it means to anticipate it from the wearer and the wearer should anticipate it out of others (in their church…it´s a theme for their church right now). It was all just another reminder of Him and the themes He has placed in my life. I don´t think anyone on the team knows I have a grace Cross tattoo.
In the girls Volunteer Bible Study we have been studying Isaiah 9:6. Last night we talked about Eternal Father. It is just so good to spend time talking about who Christ is (especially in English). How He came to this world for us. A gift to save us. To intercede on our behalf. To defend us. To fight for us. And tomorrow to continue bragging on who He is as we live life. I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach and spend time with the girls who come.. I look forward to Prince Of Peace next week.
So tomorrow be assured there will be a tweet about First Class and the ridiculousness of who my Heavenly Father is. I hope to see some of you Thursday, Friday or Sunday!
Be His.
Karla and her son Isai at Thanksgiving. Karla is staff for the toddler house and asked me for a bubble gun for Isai for Christmas. I am going to hook him up with more than just a bubble gun! He loves bubbles but isn´t old enough to blow them himself.
Of of my girls that works in our kitchen doing her word search. My parents and their sunday school class and you guys (I used your money haha) bought about 130 and sent them down in the container. I gave every girl a book and a pen and when they finished their books they could trade them in. Some went through 3 before we ran out in like 2 weeks.
The girls are also loving GaGa Ball that the OK team put in last week. There are 2 pits one at the school playground and one in the front playground. The day after they played the first time one of my girls was in our yard and was placing shoes and flip flops in a circle and I said what is she doing? I figured out when the girls all got in the circle of shoes that they were playing GaGa but without the wall. Haha
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