Guatemala!

I know I am a terrible blogger...but it is that time of year again...time for me to head off on another mission trip!  Tomorrow I am driving to Arkansas with 4 of my small group girls and then Wednesday we will finish our drive and arrive in Garden Valley, Texas.  We will have a few days of training then we will be off to Guatemala!  I can't wait.  I know God is going to do some great things and I can't wait to see how my girls end up changing and being used by God.  It will be awesome.  I hope to update a little here, but if not, you can check out our Facebook page: Global Expeditions Guatemala Z 2012.

If you want to send me encouraging messages, you can do that by clicking here and my trip is Guatemala Z.

Please be praying for our safety as we drive tomorrow and for our trip!

Princess Bri

The Bible says that our thoughts are not God's thoughts and our ways are not God's ways.  I know that my finite mind cannot comprehend the ways of God.  I don't know why God heals some people here on earth and others receive their healing when they go to heaven. 

A few years ago I had the privilege of coaching an adorable, sassy, sweet, princess named Brianna and her spunky, fun, athletic sister Tori in Upward Basketball.  My favorite moment of the season was in one of our last games when she scored her first basket, ever!  She was so proud of herself--and so were her parents, the team and her coach:) 

Their family became so important to me.  Fifteen months ago they found a tumor in her brain and since that time, Bri fought hard to beat it!  She endured radiation and chemo, hospital stays...much more than any child should have to.  Every time I visited, Bri would smile or laugh--she was still the same sassy, adorable, sweet princess Bri.  When she became unable to swallow or even speak, she still captured my heart.  I prayed so hard for her healing.  Our entire community rallied around their family and prayed for her healing...

Yesterday afternoon Bri finally got her healing, although not in the way I selfishly wanted.  She is now with her King--living like a real Princess!  She is no longer suffering and her body is made whole and perfect.  She will never struggle to communicate again.  She will never feel pain or frustration...ever again. 

Now I pray for comfort, peace and strength for everyone left behind to continue through life without Bri.  Pray for her parents- Steve and Angie, her sisters- Tori and Rachelle, her brother- Derek, her niece- Jaelynn and the rest of the family.  Pray for her classmates, friends, neighbors...everyone that will miss her.  She was a truly special girl and she brought our community together. 

Princess Bri is now with her King, and that is the joy that comes through the trials.

Brianna

Tori and her younger sister Brianna were on my basketball team 3 years ago.  It is hard to believe it has been that long, but they were in Kindergarten and 1st grade!

They found a tumor on Bri's brain stem a few days before Christmas, 2010.  She has been going through chemo and radiation and to the doctor's surprise, the tumor had been shrinking.  Many people have been praying for Bri and her family has drawn near to God.  There is beauty through the pain. 

Over the past months, there has been a calcium build up around the tumor and it has caused her to be unable to speak or swallow.  Bri is an intelligent little girl and it has been frustrating for her to not be able to communicate what she wants to tell people and it is hard for her family becuase they don't know what she needs/wants.  

On Tuesday, January 24th, Bri's 9th birthday, they went to the children's hospital to get the results from her recent MRI and were informed that there are 3 new tumors --a different kind of tumor than her other one--on the top of her brain and that the old tumor didn't change.  The doctor's haven't seen anything like this before either and aren't sure there are any treatment options that would be beneficial.

Our community and churches have been praying for God to miraculously heal Bri and I believe now is the time.  When the doctor's don't know what to do, God has still got it under control.  Please pray with me that Bri would be healed and the tumors would be gone. 

Isn't she beautiful:)

God Cares

I was driving back to Indiana from Ohio on Sunday night.  I left my mom's at around 3:30 that afternoon and it was rainy, cloudy, dreary...I'm sure you remember the nasty weather.  Anyways, as I was getting close to Columbus, I felt the urge to pray.  I prayed that God would give me safe travels, that I would not get in an accident and that I would make good time.  

When I was going South on 270 in Columbus right by the Easton exit I was driving in the left lane and there was a big pickup truck in the center lane. My exit was coming up so I was getting ready to merge into the center lane when all of the sudden this BIG white thing flew out of the truck and was coming towards me!  I quickly swerved back completely into the left lane and the thing hit the front passenger side of my car.  I was literally freaking out cause it made a loud bang.  My car continued running fine and my lights were working so I didn't pull off the road--and the truck didn't stop either.  I finally calmed down and continued my drive.  When I stopped to get gas 2 hours later, I forgot about checking out my car...so I didn't get to check it until I got home.  When I opened my passenger door, it made a loud crack!  It was too dark to really assess the damage, so it wasn't until Monday morning that I got to get a good look at it.  It hit at the edge of my fender--about 1 inch from my tire.  If it would have hit my tire, it would have busted it and I most likely would have gotten into a serious accident because I was driving about 65 MPH.  God protected me!  I also realized that if I would have been in the center lane or had not swerved back into the left lane, it most likely would have hit my windshield.  It made a large dent in my car, I can't imagine what would have happened to me if it had hit my windshield.  God protected me.  I was truly thankful that God put it on my heart to pray for His protection so He could answer that prayer.  

Another praise...I called my insurance agent on Monday morning and explained what happened and it is covered under my comprehensive insurance.  He instructed me about which body shop to take my car to and that the body shop would arrange for my rental car.  I took the car in Monday afternoon and the estimate was $711 and would take 3-4 days.  The best part is that I have a zero deductible and 80/20 rental insurance.  I don't have to pay anything for my car to get fixed and the rental car is costing me $6.18/day.  

This whole experience was a nice reminder that God is our protecter, provider and that He cares about what happens each day!  God is good!

South African Safari and Lion Park

While in South Africa, we had the opportunity to do two pretty fun things during our free time.  We got to go on a safari and to the Lion Park.  Since this was my second time in South Africa, it was also my second time visiting each of these places.   

While we were on our safari...

we were about 20 minutes in and we hadn't seen any animals--besides deer (impala, spring buck...) and who really cares about deer on a safari! Anyways, one of the students on my team decided to pray that we would see giraffe and no lie, as soon as we turned the corner there were three young giraffe standing there. 

We thought it was cool and continued on the way. We saw a rino WAY off in the distance (basically it looked like a rock...) anyways, someone else said lets pray to see one up close--so someone did and we all agreed. We met a truck carrying another group and our drivers stopped to talk--the driver said there weren't any animals this way and we would be wasting our time to go there. Our driver went anyway and we turned the corner and there was a

RINO and BABY! It was so awesome. Then we prayed for elephants and we had the same thing happen with another truck, but we turned the corner and

saw a big group of elephants! We did the same thing wtih Hippos and we saw hippos. The one of them prayed for lions. I was thinking, yeah right...we will not see lions--they said there were only 2 prides living there, so the odds of seeing them is SLIM. Well right before we got to the place we have our barbeque, we saw 2 lionnesses! It was so awesome--seeing how God answered even those simple prayers.  We also got to see zebra, a warthog and hyena!

About a week into the trip we went to a lion park where they have lots of lions and other animals that you can drive through their habitats. 

Our Experienced Driver

There are also some wild cubs that you can touch/take pictures with. Well...I was posing for a picture and there was a lion right beside me and...

 it BIT ME! I GOT BIT BY A LION! It hurt a little, but didn't really bleed, so that was good....but who can say they got bit by a lion cub in Africa?!?