Africa

My mind is really still processing all that is going on here in West Africa, and I know I will have many stories to tell, but I wanted to quickly post some pics now and let everyone know that God is at work!! It's exciting to see the difference even from 16 months ago! Continue to pray for hearts to be open and ready to receive the truth!

Selling Shirts

**********UPDATE---PICS POSTED BELOW!***********************

Hello all! Just wanted to let you know that we are selling shirts to raise money for our upcoming Africa Mission Trip. The shirts are available in dark pink/green, black/white, and red/white. The front of the shirt has an outline of Africa and says "Pray for Africa" and the back has Habakkuk 1:5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." (I'll post pics tomorrow) They are $12 each for adults and $10 each for kids. Let me know if you want one or some! Also, if you would like to help us out, please post this on your blogs! Thanks!

The layout on the shirt:

The scripture on the back of the shirt:



The image on the front of shirt:

It's been a while. . .

I keep telling myself I'm going to make a renewed commitment to blogging, not because I have fascinated readers out there just dying to hear about my life, but because as I look back over the blog, I am constantly reminded of God's faithfulness.

I was just thinking this week over the last year. A year ago this weekend, I was in San Francisco having a blast with some friends, then we came home to a wonderful church family retreat that was literally the calm before the storm (AKA Hurricane Ike). I have been in a such a reflective mood the last few days just thinking about all that has changed since last year and all that God has done. He continues to prove Himself faithful. And the best thing?. . .He isn't faithful to what I want, or think I need, at the moment. He is faithful to bring glory and honor to His name. One of the verses I memorized this year is Isaiah 55:8-9:"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,'declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" I had no idea how much God would use that verse in my life this year, but it has really become the theme of this past year. If you had asked me a year ago where I would be right now (physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually), let me just say, it wouldn't be where I am. But praise God that His ways are higher than mine! His faithfulness knows no end! He knows me better than I know myself. He has stretched me in ways over the last 12 months that I would've never believed. There have been joys, trials, sadness, gladness, hurt, and triumph, but through it all He remains the same!

On a much lighter note, let me fill you in on what's been going on with me. I have made an offer on a house in Highlands Woods (less than a mile from where I live now). I had to put a contingency in the contract to sell my house before we close. So, now the time crunch. . . I need to sell my house NOW! It's a great house, and I've even cried a time or two in the last month thinking about leaving it. But, the new house is exactly what I need. It is a perfect place to do ministry to teenagers here in Highlands, because it's on more land and has a swimming pool! It also has a garage, which I don't have here, so that will be nice. The best perk?...it has a separate building for my business. This past year has been so hectic that the business has been pushed to the back burner. I have recently changed the name (Little Squirt Boutique), and will be selling new gift items (mostly for babies). I have a website, but there isn't merchandise on it right now. I'm hoping to have it up and fully functioning by the end of the year, if not sooner. The website is: www.littlesquirtboutique.com. I know this business is a great way for me to minister to people and have another touch in the community. I know God will provide a way for me to have time for it. My job is to be a good steward of the time and resources He has given! I'm excited about the future! One other thing that's coming up is another mission trip to Africa. We'll be leaving October 15 and returning October 24. I'll be posting more about some fundraisers we'll be doing before the trip!

Sorry this is so long. . ..I'll try to update more frequently

New Pics

Here are the pictures of Isabella that my friend Shari took for her 3rd Birthday! These are just a few of 150+! We had so much fun!

Whew. . .a busy summer

Since my last post, I have been on our church's annual mission trip, tried to buy a new house, worked a ton of overtime, made a quick trip to Dallas for July 4th, spent a week a youth camp, and celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday! That made me tired just typing it! And, to think there was a trip to California planned in there that got cancelled! Man, I'm crazy! I'll give you a quick run-down and let you in on lessons learned along the way, even in the midst of this crazy-busy summer!

Mission Trip: We spent the week in Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island at a little church. The men were helping this church rebuild after Hurricane Ike. Many of the women and teenagers held Vacation Bible School for the children in the mornings. I was so blessed to be a part of the Beach Reach each afternoon as well as the Teen Hoopla in the evenings. It was such a blessing to see our students boldly proclaim Christ to the people on the beach and to lead out in worship as we ministered to the teenagers in this community. God is certainly at work in Jamaica Beach!

The "new" house: So, I spotted this house in Highlands that was in foreclosure and decided I wanted to take on the challenge! It would mean taking on a second mortgage, at least until I could sell my house, as well as, spending a lot of time and money on renovations. I was very excited and decided to make an offer right about the same time it went under contract with another buyer. So, here we are a month or so later, and I'm just waiting to see if that deal falls through so that I get another shot at the house. I know that God has a plan and if it's supposed to work out, it will. I now, however, have a new hobby of searching for good deals on real estate in Highlands!

My trip to Dallas: I realized at the last minute I had a few days off around July 4th and no plans, so I called Wanissa. When we got our calendars out and realized it would be September before we could see each other again, I loaded up the car, and headed to Dallas for a very quick trip. I had a blast shopping with Wanissa, and watching fireworks with Trey, Wanissa, Cooper, Ashley and KC! I miss my Dallas friends so much (just not enough to move up north)!

Youth Camp: I think Youth Camp has by far been the highlight of the summer. We went back to Journey Youth Camp in Spicewood, Texas. We took about 50 students and 8 adults. God moved in a BIG way and it's hard to even put it into words. We have been praying for several of our students who haven't yet trusted Jesus as their Savior. We continued to pray each morning and evening of camp, along with the camp leadership. We prayed by name for many of our students who we knew didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus. On Wednesday night of camp we were sitting in the evening worship service and there were so many distractions I couldn't even concentrate. I so knew that God was up to something big and Satan was doing everything in his power to distract students from hearing from Him. At one point, one of the students even lost his contact! My initial thought was "Seriously?!?" But, immediately I started praying that we would find it and that Satan would not win. I said out loud that Satan had no business there and he needed to leave us alone! As soon as I uttered the words, the impossible happened. . . they found the contact! I mean, we were in a completely dark room! At that point I knew we needed people to be praying with us for salvation. I stepped out of the worship center and texted about 20 people at home to pray. That night, I was so reminded of God's faithfulness to answer prayer! At the close of the service, we were given the opportunity to pray over each of our students. I was also able to witness a student that we've been praying for for at least 5 years finally give his life to Christ! More than ever, I was reminded of God's faithfulness even when things don't happen on the timetable that we would like! He is so good!!

Isabella's Birthday: I can't even believe Isabella is 3 years old! I made her 4 tutu's and matching shirts for her birthday and she loves them! I also surprised my sister with amazing pics of Bella (courtesy of our friend Shari). Isabella is truly turning into a little lady and she's such a joy! At her party, she hugged each person and told them thank you after she opened their gifts! So cute!

Still more to come: So, even though it's been a crazy summer thus far, I have even more planned. We have Summer Xtreme (youth VBS) going on at church this week, then Shahla and I are taking a few of the high-schoolers to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels this weekend. On Wednesday, Janell and I are heading to meet Alecia, Kyle, Bella, and the Kees in Orlando at Disney World! I'm so excited, since this is my first trip there in 23 years! The summer will then be topped off by Choir retreat and a couple of showers for Lacey. Then things might get back to "normal" (whatever that means!).

The one thing that has God has really shown me this summer is that I am exactly where He's called me! There is such peace in that even in the midst of chaos. I was overwhelmed by this fact one day at camp when the worship band was playing a video about orphans all over the world. I was weeping for these children, and more broadly for the lost nations that these children represent. I have to admit, my heart is for the nations. I want to be there. I want God to call me there. As I sat there and my heart ached wanting to be in a foreign land sharing His love, that still small voice said, "Kristi, I have called you to Highlands, Texas to minister to students, and I want to use you there. Use your heart for the nations to make a difference right where you are!" WOW! That was exactly what I needed to hear! God doesn't always call us where we "want" to be, but honestly, I can't imagine being anywhere else right now. He has called me to do life with students and my church family in Highlands, and to minister in my job. What an awesome responsibility and privilege!

Karen's Wedding

Last weekend brought a much-needed getaway to Colorado. Several months ago, when my friend Karen told me she was getting married in June in Colorado, I said, "I'll be there!" I love to travel, and this seemed like a great excuse to do so, not to mention I couldn't imagine missing Karen's wedding. So, I asked Rachel if she wanted to come along, and she, who is also always up for a trip, said, "Sure!" We were only able to go for the weekend, but it was so nice. I had only been to Colorado during the winter, and I have to say, I LOVE it in the summer! I already told my parents and sisters we have to go back for vacation soon!

We arrived in Denver late Friday night after my flight was delayed (sorry Rachel that you had to wait on me), had dinner and crashed at the hotel. When we got up Saturday morning we walked around Boulder, which is a nice town with a great little square with shopping and dining! We had lunch (where we confirmed the rule that you should never order Mexican food in a state besides Texas!), then headed up to the mountains to enjoy the great outdoors! I couldn't tell you how many times we said, "Look at that!" or "Wow!" or "That's amazing!" As I looked at the mountains, I was completely amazed at God's handiwork! And to think, the God that created all of that beauty desires an intimate relationship with me! Now, that's something to make me say, "Wow!"

The wedding was on Sunday, which also happened to be the groom's birthday! We packed up our things Sunday morning and made the 1 1/2 hour drive to Estes Park in the Rocky Mountain National Forest. The wedding was at the Historic Stanley Hotel and it was beautiful! I've only been to a handful of weddings that when you leave, you are thinking more about God than the the bride and groom. This was definitely one of those! I met Karen almost 15 years ago when she was my youth minister. She was a young college student and I was in high school. God definitely used Karen as a major part of my spiritual growth during my teenage years, and I now consider her a very dear friend. As I watched Karen walk down the aisle to her waiting groom, I was overwhelmed by God's faithfulness. His plans for her were greater than she could have ever imagined! He is so good! I'm so glad I was able to be there to celebrate this special day.

We had to rush away from the wedding because we had late evening flights back to Houston for me and Dallas for Rachel. Little did we know, we could have stayed at the wedding reception as long as we wanted because neither of us left the Denver airport till after 9:00 p.m. I arrived home at about 2:00 a.m. and got a few hours of sleep before heading to Galveston for our Summer Mission Trip. More details coming soon to the blog about that trip. . .

Where to start?. . .crazy trip to the airport :)

The last couple of weeks have been insanely busy! I always say that when summer comes around and all the students at church and my friends who are teachers are excited about the much needed down-time, my schedule really kicks into high gear. There are more activities, and I still have to somehow figure out how to get my hours in at work!

So, I would say the official summer "kick-off" was a late night(actually early morning) trip to the airport to see Lin off to China. Our church was so blessed to have several foreign exchange students from all over the world be apart of our church family this last school year. Lin stayed with my good friends, the Lamberts. Some of the teenagers decided we should surprise Lin at the airport the morning she left to go back to China. This required us getting up and heading that way at 2:30 a.m.!!!

So, we had our end of the year LIFEGroup parties and then about 10:00 p.m., ten students came over to our house to crash until we left. We watched TV, played games, acted silly and some of us tried to sleep. I have to mention that some people got a little rambunctious and my cell phone somehow landed in a cup of watered-down tea. It is working right now, but not quite as well as it used to, so if you can't get ahold of me, that is why! There are many theories as to who is to blame for this incident, but we'll just chalk it up to bad luck!

I had to borrow my sister's Suburban, and Shahla drove my car, and we loaded up with balloons and signs. I hadn't been to Bush Airport in a while, but there is definitely some serious construction going on, not to mention there are not many people working at 3:00 a.m.! We couldn't park at the international departure terminal because that garage wasn't open. So, we walked and rode the train through the airport for over an hour trying to locate the Lamberts and Lin. Keep in mind the lack of airport personnel, which meant we were on our own to figure out where Lin was. Also keep in mind that when hanging out with teenagers, there are at least as many opinions as there are people! Let's just say I was beyond frustrated at some points and thought, "There is probably some security people in a room watching us traipse through the airport and laughing their heads off!" At one point I look down this long corridor that has a definite down-slope, and a teenager who will remain nameless was log-rolling down it! That prompted me to say, "The next person who does something stupid will be sitting in the car until we are finished!", at which point the aforementioned teenager said with definite pride, "Did you just see me roll down that ramp?" I thought Shahla was going to fall down laughing when she told him, "That's why she just made the comment about doing something stupid!" At another point, as many opinions were flying around, I stopped everyone and asked, "How many of you have even stepped foot in this airport?" When only about 6 of them raised their hands, I said, "Good! That eliminates 4 opinions!" We had many laughs, and even more tears as we people-watched and bid farewell to our friend. It was certainly one last opportunity for us to show Christ's love to Lin!

Continue to pray for Lin as she gets settled in back at home in China. Over the last 10 months, we were able to share the Gospel with her, and see a definite struggle going on in her heart. She knows the decision she's faced with, but at this point, has not put her trust in Jesus. Satan is using lies to keep her from believing that there are Christians in China. Pray that strongholds will be broken and she will understand her desperate need for a Redeemer!



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