Sister of Mine

In my sister, I am blessed. God's gifted me in both a blood relation and a friend. Katina and I have had many seasons in life. We grew up in the same bedroom. First we shared a bunk bed and then had separate futons. I remember going from frenemies to best friends in that bedroom. When we first moved in, our bedroom had red, yellow, green, blue, and white striped wall paper from it's previous male occupant. We left if for some time, then tore it all off and in our family's style didn't paint if for a very long time. Our parents surprised us one weekend and painted it for us while we were gone. We had decided on our colors: blue and purple, sponge painted. A compromise, as they were both our favorite colors. During the day we'd have our own personal dance parties in our room, grooving to tunes such as Funky Town, Brick House, and Lady Marmalade. Lying in our separate futons we'd talk all night. Sometimes we cuddled. Sometimes we were quiet and I'd hide under the covers with only my watch's push button light to illumine the pages of whatever book I was reading currently. She probably did something similar without me knowing it. (I'm SO glad we didn't have laptops at the time!)

When we moved into our Nanny's house we fought horribly for the first month. She and I have this joke that we only fight now in front of our family. Our brother says we're the worst roommates. (He just doesn't know.) We've learned a lot and grown even closer over the past 6 months. We joke that this has been great training ground for marriage someday.

My sister and I have had some great adventures together. In December of 2010 we had our first road trip together. We couldn't go too far, so we went to Phoenix, AZ about an 8 hour drive from where we live.

We had In-N-Out

The golden boomerang of the west has the yummiest of burgers.

And went hiking

trail head

Katina demonstrates that the rocks are funny

We like each other. 

And we look alike, too.

In three weeks my sister and I will be adventuring together in Belgium for three months. I'm so glad God gave her to me, and can't wait to go to the other side of the world with her! 

Stay tuned for posts from Genval, Belgium. 

Europe Calls My Name

One of the biggest life lessons I've been learning lately is that I have no control of my life. I really have no clue what the plan is. God lately has been throwing in some huge surprises. One such surprise is this---my sister and I are going to Europe together!

Katina and I are going to Belgium to be caregivers of a lovely woman who is a friend of a wonderful woman in the state where we grew up. Mrs. McKee read this post http://disappointed-hope.blogspot.com/2011/10/birthday-lamentations.html and thought of Katina and I to recommend to her friend as caregivers. Rebecca became a quadriplegic ten years ago after falling down the stairs during a woman's meeting in her home. You can read about her amazing journey and strong faith here, at her blog-- www.rebeccasjourney.com or purchase her book here: http://www.gabriellapress.com/gabriellapress.com/Falling_Into_His_Grace.html.

I personally can't wait to get to know her and see first hand her walk with Jesus. I long to see her example of how she trusts Him and hopes in Him in spite of her circumstances. I can't imagine having to constantly place trust in the people around you to care for you and ultimately in God, who watches over her night and day.

Honestly, this feels like a huge step of faith for both Katina and me. We'll be gone from our home for 3 months. We'll be leaving our home in someone else's hands. We'll be living with a different family for 3 months and serving them for 3 months. It sounds hard. It sounds like coming to the ends of ourselves. It sounds like a place of utmost joy in the midst of hardship. This won't be a European vacation. (Though we may get to travel a little bit. We'll have 1 day a week off and we'll get to travel if we'd like. Brussels is 30 minutes away and Paris is 3 hours away.) I'm not even sure what it will be. I do know that God has called us to this. I do know that He will provide for this trip and I know that He will move in our hearts in ways we may have never seen before.

It's my prayer now that the Father will be revealing more and more my selfishness, and build in my heart a greater desire to place others above myself and to see their wants and needs as above my own. This will help as I serve beautiful Rebecca and this will enable me to grow in my love for others for the rest of my life. It's my prayer that this trip makes me more like Jesus. :)

We'll be leaving March 3rd, the day after one of my best friends' wedding, arriving March 4th, and leaving Belgium June 4th. So we've got roughly 115 days before we leave.

Would you please pray for us?
-Pray that we would have wisdom as we prepare and that God would bring everything together in His timing.

-Pray that He would provide monetarily. We must pay for our airplane tickets there and back. Once we're there, we'll live in their home and our needs will be provided.

-Pray that our relationship would grow stronger (Katina's and mine). That we would make a better team than we are now. That we would learn how to serve one another and communicate well.

-Pray that we would be consistent and disciplined in things we'd like to do better before leaving.

-Pray that we would bless Rebecca. That we'd love her and learn so much from her and also learn to serve her well. Pray that we would be able somehow to encourage her in day to day life. I have a feeling we'll learn so much from her.

My friend Jordan has been over there several times already and is like part of the family to them. She'll be there the three months right before us, so we'll get to see her and she may get to train us! It'll be so good to see her! She's been such a great help. I've been able to talk through a lot of things with her, ask her many questions and gain her perspective on what it's like.

I really am so amazed that this is happening. I've recently been so shocked at the things that God has brought my way. Things that I could never dream up or think, yup, this is definitely what I had planned out for my life. I'm so thankful that I serve a God so much bigger than my daydreams. :)