It has been a full week so far. Memorial day was pretty relaxing, got to just chill with my family at the house and grill out before the rain hit. I watched Rylan and Elaina (see recently posted pictures on the left for visual) Tuesday and Wednesday while my sister was still in meetings at school. I love those times. We stayed in our pj's until almost lunch, read books, played wii. I also got to spend time reading the Bible with them which is so exciting to me. I love hearing their sharp, young minds comprehend new things about God. They challenge my faith with their fresh, simple perspective.
Wednesday night I joined a group from my church/school in Des Moines that is going to Portugal this summer on a missions trip to help out during our annual evangelistic camps. It was so exciting! Its something I have been dreaming about since I moved there almost 8 years ago. My worlds will collide in an incredible way, I get to minister with my Portuguese church and American church at the same time. I am more convinced every day that there really are no distinctions, its THE Church, universal Church, GOD's people coming together for one cause: Him. Anyways, I went to their meeting on Wednesday and I got to answer some questions and just give them an idea of what to expect. I didn't realize just how excited I was until I started talking about it. :)
Today has been fun with my sister! We met up with my grandma and aunt for lunch at Panera which is always precious time. After lunch my sister and I shopped for floor decorations for smith 7 next year and pretty much have everything together! It will take full shape in August but I'm really excited about how it looks so far. I'll write more about the theme of everything at a later date, this post is getting lengthy already.
For my prayer warriors, please pray for safe travel tomorrow down to KC. Chris and Jason and the kids are taking me down which is a huge blessing, and a little bit more sweet time with them too! I'll start orientation at Avant tomorrow afternoon and then fly out on Sunday for Spain. I'm excited but the nervousness is definitely starting to settle in. Pray for my attention to be wholly and only on God. The feelings of inadequacy rise often but I'm trying to remind myself that anything I accomplish this summer is no personal victory of mine but wholly the work of God.
I leave you with a picture of me and Elaina, my precious little Ladybug. I miss having her as my shadow when I'm away. :)
