Departure Rescheduled

On Wednesday morning, the day before my scheduled departure, I woke up feeling very dizzy and nauseous. My parents, sister & brother-in-law, and nephews had planned to spend the day with me and I was hoping to have a wonderful time just being with them one last time before saying goodbye. Well, I ended up spending the whole day in bed, throwing up off and on. Yuck. I was so sad that I couldn't play with my little nephews one last time or spend a few hours laughing and visiting with my family. :(

As I went to bed that night I was praying, "Lord Jesus, you know my physical limits and right now I am beyond being able to fly. Please restore my health and strength so I can fly out tomorrow morning, but if I am still this sick I will trust it is not your will for me to be on that plane."

At 3:00am I woke up, optimistic that I was recovered and able to drive off for the airport by 4am. However, within a few minutes I was back in bed throwing up again and thinking, "There's no way I can make it to the airplane carrying my carry-ons in this shape, much less make it through 24 hours of travel without being a total wreck." So we cancelled my flights. My fellow passengers have no idea what a blessing they just received! :)

After having lots of time to sleep, rest, and recover, I am now feeling much better. I am rescheduled to fly out Sunday morning and arrive in Ethiopia Monday night around 8:25pm. Although I will miss the first day of the language course, I trust this timing is the Lord's will and I am so very thankful to have some extra time to spend with my family before flying out (hopefully feeling strong and healthy!).

My next post should be an update from Ethiopia!!!

Leaving for Ethiopia!!!

God has done nothing short of an amazing work to bring me to this point! I am now fully funded and flying out to Ethiopia on Thursday!! Hallelujah!!! Thank you so very much to all of you friends and supporters who are praying for me or supporting me financially!! You are a blessing and I praise God for you!!

I leave Portland at 8:00am and arrive in Addis Ababa at 8:15ish Friday night via Washington D.C., Frankfurt, and Khartoum (Sudan). Ethiopia is 11 hours ahead of Oregon, so it'll be quite a change in time. An interesting tid-bit I learned from the Smiths is that Ethiopia follows a completely different calendar from the West. Therefore, I will also be stepping back in time in a sense, as it is currently the year 2001 in Ethiopia! What a strange change!! But only the first of many new changes to come!

The thought of saying goodbye to all of my friends and family this weekend and next week is a very sad one. Yet I rejoice at beginning the good work the Lord has ordained for me to do in Ethiopia!!! What an honor to be called to serve overseas. I pray each word and action will bring Him glory.

I am so anxious to see Shane, Allyson, Hannah, Mia, and Moses!!! I just learned that Allyson has malaria and Hannah is very sick. Please pray for this family! It is a blessing that I can get there right away to help take care of them all!! Please pray that I will arrive healthy and energized so I can give Shane a rest from caring for them.

You all are priceless to my ministry. Thank you for all of your prayers!!!

A Merry Christmas with My Family!

Christmas in Oregon was unusual this year - we had snow! It first snowed in mid-December, and once a storm began the Saturday before Christmas, the snow just keep building up until we had a gorgeous winter wonderland! We ended up with about 16" of snow! I just had to get outside and make a snow angel, build a snowman, and throw some snowballs!

My fun in the snow!

My older sister, three nephews, and I drove down to my folk's place the day before the storm rolled in, and my sister was unable to return home for several days. So we all hunkered down in the cozy, warm house and enjoyed spending the week together, excitedly looking forward to Christmas day when my brother-in-law would be off of work and my younger sister would arrive from Seattle on the train. Well, Praise the Lord she got in!! The trains were down for a few days, but started again the day before Christmas!

My Family on Christmas Day

My sister and nephews with their elegant snowman -complete with bushy eyebrows and hair!

Spending Christmas with my family this year was an absolute joy! I thank the Lord that he allowed me to be here with all of them for the holidays!!