My Ordination Story

If I am completely truthful, my ordination began as an accident 11 years ago. Actually, I should say, it began as an accident for me, but, looking back, I see God moving and working in ways that I was just completely unaware of.

I was 18 years old, a freshman at Spring Arbor University and studying Philosophy and Religion because I wanted to be a missionary. One day I got a phone call from my pastor at my home church. He told me that I had one step left to become a "Local Ministerial Candidate (LMC)." I needed to become a member of the Free Methodist Church (FMC). I didn't know it at the time, but a LMC is the first step/license in the ordination process. The pastor told me that if I became a member of the church I was eligible for a scholarship--a scholarship which paid about a fourth of my tuition. I went home, stood up in front of my church, became a member as fast as possible, then went back to school happy to have my scholarship--and gave little thought to the LMC license I had just received.

Here's the thing about becoming an LMC. I had done none of the work to get that license. A group of students at my church had been picked (based on who the pastor thought might go into ministry one day) to take a class with him to work towards pursuing this license. I was not part of this group of students. I did not take the class. I did not read the books. I had no clue what LMC even meant. The first I knew about it was when it was presented to me as an option to pay for my schooling. However, somehow (I now know it to be God's work) my name ended up on the list with the other students. 

Fast forward three years and I literally had done nothing further with this license or with the ordination process. The only time I thought about it was when I thought about my financial aid and saw that I was still receiving a scholarship because of it. During my senior year in college I began working at a Free Methodist church, and I was told that I might want to consider pursuing the next steps of ordination. There was a class coming up that was not offered as regular course-work, but that I could take on the weekends with other students who were pursuing ordination. I thought about it, then turned it down because I had a date the first weekend it started and I didn't want to miss it. (You can see how important this process was to me at the time.)

Another year went by and I graduated from school and continued working at the church. The class that was offered before was offered again and, for the first time, I thought perhaps since I was actually working in a church maybe I should look into taking this class and perhaps look into the ordination process.  I needed to call the Free Methodist headquarters and talk about where I was in the ordination process - since I did have my LMC. It was possible that after this class I would be eligible to receive my next license as a CMC.

When I called headquarters, I had a very interesting conversation with the ordination people. I had no file. They had zero record of me becoming an LMC, and, apparently, I should have been renewing my LMC license every year. How I had continued to receive that scholarship... to this day I have no idea (God). The office told me it was not a problem, though. They opened a new file for me and, just like that, I was back in the process.

This was truly the first time I began to wonder if God was up to something. I shouldn't have been put on the list in the first place. I shouldn't have received my LMC, thus I shouldn't have been offered the extra class. I shouldn't have ever received the scholarship, and I shouldn't have been able to just have a file - that probably never was. I seriously began to pray and ask God if perhaps he was behind this and leading me into ordained ministry. I recognized that it was something I never pursued, but, since God had led me this far with zero effort on my part, I figured that maybe I should start to make an effort and see what he would do with me.

I became a CMC (the second stage/license) that summer, but never got appointed to a church. The church I was working at had offered me a permanent position, but I turned it down because I felt God's call to seminary in California.

*Side Note* It is important for a CMC to be appointed to a church because they must serve three years before being considered for Elder/ordination.

Since I had started to believe that God was calling me forward in this ordination process, I was certain that I would be able to get a job in a FM church in California, and I even went so far as to meet with the Superintendent (the big boss) of the new conference I would be in. He told me that he would contact the churches in his area and recommend me to them.  I sent my resume to all of them and waited. I heard back from one.

This church was super excited about my resume and was super excited to interview me...until they found out I was a woman. They made no bones about it and told me that they wanted to hire a man and were no longer interested. My heart was broken. I loved the FM church. The FM believes in women in ministry and here I had actually made an effort to pursue this (perhaps) calling and the doors all shut the minute I did. I pursued work in other churches, but those doors all shut as well, and I ended up moving to California with no job and no idea of what I was going to do.

I didn't have a car, so I was dependent upon my bike to get me places. I didn't attend a FM church while in seminary because none were close enough to bike/walk to. I ended up working at a Vitamin Shoppe (which was a huge blessing and a place where I believe God absolutely wanted me) and I got further and further from the Free Methodist church. That first year I got my paper in the mail to renew my CMC license. I really struggled with it. I had tried to take the next steps and it didn't work out... so why bother continuing. Believing that maybe God was doing something I renewed my license and moved on. However, when the next year rolled around and my situation was the exact same and I had gotten even further from the FMC, I threw the paper away and quit the ordination process.

By this point I had met Kris, and we were engaged. He wanted to go into pastoral ministry, and I was hoping to work for a non-profit that would benefit the poor in some capacity. We were graduating from seminary and had no idea what denomination or church he would serve in or where I would work either. I told Kris about how much I loved the Free Methodist church because of their theology and their love for the poor, but that I didn't know if it was possible to go back to them. He was actually there the day I threw away my licensing paper.

We got married and began to look for jobs. Every.Single.Door.Shut. Every one. Except one day I found a job posted... of all places... at a Free Methodist church in New Jersey. They wanted somebody with cross-cultural experience and understanding (which is what my masters degree was in) and I quickly sent them my resume, called headquarters again, asked if I could have my file reinstated (which they did...) and began to pursue this opportunity. However, at this point, we had a new problem. Kris was the one who felt called to pastoral ministry; I had no clue what God wanted me to do. I was merely applying for this position because it was a job. Ultimately, this is why we chose not to take this opportunity.

I wasn't certain God had called me to be a pastor; Kris was certain God had called him to be one. If I took this job I would be a pastor, and he would have to go back to finance, which God had specifically called him away from. I turned the job down and we continued to see doors shut in our face. During this time we applied for tons and tons of jobs in churches. We applied to every denomination that accepted women in ministry, and we heard back from none of them. Every now and then I would check the Free Methodist website to see if they had listed any available jobs.

Finally, one day, a Free Methodist church in Oroville, California posted a job for a discipleship pastor. Literally from the moment we saw this position we felt like God was calling us to it. We both sent in our resumes to the church because we were so tired of not having jobs that we thought perhaps by two of us applying we could knock some other people out of  the running. It worked and the church hired Kris. We packed up our stuff and, that summer (2011), hit the road for California once more.

The closer we got to actually getting to Oroville, the more frustrated I became with my own calling. I felt really irritated about having been in the ordination process (at this point for 8 years) and feeling like nothing had been accomplished out of it. I thought God had led me on that road--I mean I got the first two licenses by barely lifting a finger, but whenever I put forth effort all the doors shut. Now I was simply the pastor's wife (which I never ever wanted to be), and I was unsure of what Oroville held for me.

Two weeks before we got to Oroville I was in a worship service and God clearly spoke to me. He said, "Randi, you are supposed to be a pastor." I was so shocked to hear from him and so shocked that he said what he said that I literally looked straight up at the ceiling and laughed (not good, not good) and said back, "How's that supposed to happen? Kris got the job. They told me there is no position at that church for me at this time. There is no money there to hire me and I am not going to go to a different church than my husband." Understandably, God did not answer me.

I didn't tell anybody about what God had said (not even Kris) until the night before we actually left for Oroville. A family friend came over to pray with us that night, and, as she prayed, she kept saying that we were a pastoral team and that we were both pastors. Kris and I aren't even sure that this woman believes in women in pastoral ministry. During the whole prayer I stared wide-eyed at her and felt like God was using her to confirm what he had told me two weeks earlier. After we got into bed that night, in the dark, I whispered to Kris that I felt like God was calling me to be a pastor, too.I told him about what had happened, but that I didn't know how it could be possible.

(I should pause to say that this was the first time in my life I felt like God actually called me to pastoral ministry. I had been called to a life of ministry previously, but I had never felt the call to actually be a pastor.)

About two weeks after we arrived in Oroville, our Senior Pastor called me into his office. He told me he felt like God had told him I was supposed to be a pastor, and he was wondering if I was willing to come on staff part-time as the youth pastor. I laughed (because once again, God does things how God wants to do things), and I told him God had been telling me the same thing.

Now, three years later, Kris and I have served our time, completed all the classes, passed all the interviews (provided we pass the last one tonight) and have been approved to be ordained.

To be honest, I am kinda shocked that it is actually happening. It has been a long and crazy road, but one that I know wholeheartedly God took me down. I am excited to follow God and take this next step, and I am excited to see what God does with me and Kris. I truly love the Free Methodist Church and I am so glad that God has brought us back to this denomination and to Foothill Community Church.

Pregnant Hypochondriac

(Written the day I actually got to see my baby for the first time.)
I've pretty much been a hypochondriac my entire life.

Headache, probably brain cancer...or an aneurysm
Stomach ache, most definitely cancer...maybe appendicitis
Fell down and hurt my leg, let's hope this doesn't spring a blood clot
Ribs hurt, broken... also most likely punctured a lung


So when I found out I was pregnant one particular movie scene began flashing through my mind. It's from Juno. All you hypochondriacs out there know what I'm about to say. The girl had just taken a pregnancy test (it was positive) and all the way home, as she rode her bike, she kept repeating to herself, "Let it be cancer. Let it be cancer. Let it be cancer." What??? A positive pregnancy test can mean cancer and not baby? Well just sign me up for my screening right now.

So, here I was holding my pregnancy test. Thinking to myself, "This is probably a baby, but maybe I just have cancer." I know that sounds horrible, that is the way my mind works. Anyway, apparently, you have to wait to see a doctor until you are far enough long that the little gummy bear will show up on a screen. (Probably a very good thing for me.) For me that was 4.5 weeks away. And even worse, I started getting really really sick. Morning sickness? What a joke. Try all darn day sickness that requires you be by a toilet or bucket 24/7 because if you even look at food you start hurling your guts out. I promise this did not help the hypochondria.

I really started to believe I was dying. I would sit on the couch and cry, oh my poor husband. "I'm sorry hunny. My last days weren't supposed to be like this. I pictured us at the end of my life dancing and singing and making lemonade while stars fell around us from heaven. Instead, I can't move, I can't think, I can't talk and I willingly want to die. Goodbye. Let me alone to die in peace. Also, can you hand me the TV remote and bucket."

Praise God for doctors, medicine and vacation... all which happened right around the same time. I still couldn't see the doctor, but they prescribed me a wonder drug that immediately gave me relief. Then I was able to lay around for 10 days and not feel guilty about it, which did wonders for my soul.

And finally, it was time to see the doc. I know some parents who get their first ultrasound and burst into tears. Some shout for joy. Some stare in disbelief. Truthfully, my only feeling was relief. Oh dear God, thank you that this baby is real. I was terrified the doctor was going to look at me and say, "I'm sorry, there is no baby, instead we realized you are terminally ill and have only two weeks left to live. It's a good thing you came in." But no, it's real and I got a picture to prove it. Best. Day. Ever.

Thailand... A Sweeping Overview

Are you ready to hear about Thailand?!? I'm finally over my jet lag and feel put together enough to share with you all how the trip went! 

This blog will have three parts: 

1. A summary of how the trip came together and went overall 

2. A short timeline of events and photos

3. Links to a video and the testimonies from the students on the trip

I hope you will enjoy it and I hope it moves you as much as it has moved me. To God be the glory! 

God really moved and it was evident that he was with us throughout entire journey of our trip. 

There was a lot of confusion when I first began planning the trip last July. We were actually supposed to go to Haiti, but plans fell through in November. There was a lot of scrambling...trying to figure out if God had something different planned. I had about given up, but then during a prayer time I felt prompted to ask about Thailand. I received an answer almost immediately stating that Headquarters thought Thailand would be a great fit for our team. Without having the team fully set, I booked tickets in late December. Any later and the ticket prices would have become unaffordable. 

Over the next 4.5 months our team raised $31,500. There was not a week that went by that money did not come in. I was constantly blown away by how God continued to bless our team. We had fundraisers that were rained out and when people heard this they donated close to $1,000. We had fundraisers that should not have done as well as they did. Our yard sale raised close to $3,000. We sold water and hot dogs during a festival,  held a city-wide raffle, sold chocolate covered strawberries and wrote letters. In just 4.5 months... God gave us exactly what we needed. Hardly anybody could believe that it had happened to fast. I felt certain that God was calling us to go and preparing the way. 

In late May, early June (right around annual conference) I found out that we would be running an English camp at a Buddhist school while in Thailand. I had never done an English camp before, nor had anybody else on my team. Most of the people on my team had never been out of the country.

Two weeks before we were to go, I found out that the camp would be longer than I had anticipated. One week before we went, I found out we would have 600 kids on a daily basis. I about lost my mind. I spent about a day crying and wondering how God could have actually wanted us to do this trip. The next morning I received an e-mail from a friend who had no idea what was going on. She said she felt like God had prompted her to pray for me and she felt led to tell me that it was a good thing that I facing something I could not handle on my own. She said that God did not want me to get out of whatever it was that I was facing, but that instead he wanted to show me, show our team, show our church that God was the one who was in charge and that God would be glorified through it. Again, she had no idea what was going on...she just said it was something that God put on her heart to pray for and to tell me.
After that, I had a great confidence in moving foward. 

Our church pulled together in one week and donated craft supplies (due to this new large number) and it exceeded what our need was. 

It was extremely evident that God was working in Thailand, using us in Thailand, moving in the Thai Pastors and blessing their ministry abundantly. We spent five days teaching English at the school and we only had about 150 students each day instead of the 600. Instead of all the students coming at once, they had one grade come each day of the week. Every day we told the students and the teachers that we were Christians and that we believed in Jesus. I had prepared a theme for the week of "American Holidays" and each day we taught the students about a different holiday to illustrate a different Bible story. We taught them about the holiday through flashcards, games and crafts and we taught them the Bible stories through story telling, games and flashcards. Every morning we taught the students a new holiday. On Christmas we shared the story of Jesus' birth. On Valentine's Day we talked about the Prodigal Son. On Thanksgiving we told them the story of Jesus healing the blind man. On Independence day we talked about Jesus calming the wind and the waves. In the afternoons, we taught about Easter and with every group we told the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

At this Buddhist school, kids were learning about Jesus for the very first time, talking about Jesus, singing about Jesus. Not only were the students participating, but the teachers started to get involved as well. One teacher, who we found out was a very strong Buddhist, ended up being the translator for the Bible story station. Everyday she was telling her students the story of Jesus' death and resurrection 3-4 times. The principle was so pleased with our work at the school that he invited our team to be part of a special ceremony which was a great honor. By the time we were done there were requests from 3 other schools to have our team or a team like ours come to their school and teach as well. 

One of the very best parts of the trip was that we had the ability to pray over every student in grades 2-6. Every day they would line up and ask for our autographs and our team members would pray for the students as we signed their papers. Imagine, a person who has never been prayed for receiving prayer for the very first time. 

I say this not to brag, but to say to God be the glory. From the beginning... our trip seemed impossible. A week before we went, our trip seemed impossible. We were not the most equipped and we were not the most prepared and we were not the most knowledgeable about the situation we were getting ourselves into. However, in our weakness, God was glorified. God made his presence known to around 800 Buddhist kids and there is a wide open door for the work to continue. 

I believe our students were deeply impacted by this trip and experience. I know that God is moving and working in their lives as much as he was in the students' lives at the school. 

Enjoy the pictures below! 

July 24th - We left bright and early and headed to the airport. We boarded our plane and flew for the next 20 hours until we reached Bangkok. Can I just say that international flights have come a LONG way from what they used to be back in the day. No more of this one movie per flight business. No, it is like Redbox! You can pick whatever movie you want to see, however many movies you want to see all flight long. Plus, each seat has a touch screen complete with T.V. shows, music, games plus all the movies. I don't even know why I bothered bringing a book. :-P

In the airport...the kids are making a "Glory Tunnel" for one of the team members who was not able to make it to our Sunday day of prayer before we left. 

Final Destination! 

Late July 25th we spent the night at a hotel and the next morning we traveled to our main location.

Our bedroom! 

July 27th the pastors wanted to take us to a zoo and aquarium...which was so fun! The main thing that stood out to me was that they felt the need to keep the guinea pigs locked up in a cage, but let the zebras roam free around the zoo grounds... 

You could get so close to the animals! Kris got his foot bit by a baby tiger!

Just hanging out with an orangutan... you know. 

Lock up those crazy guinea pigs! Let the Zebras roam free! 

Nothing like ending your day with a good sip of coconut milk. Apparently I was going for a romantic kind of photo and Kris was going for a "We're a gang and we're gonna beat you if you steal our coconut" kind of photo. 

July 28th we held a church service and spent time coloring a mural on the wall of one of the children's play rooms at the place we were staying.

Not the best picture...but you get the idea. 

July 29- August 2 we held our English camp at the school. We had close to 800 kids throughout the week, but thankfully only about 150 kids during each day. They divided the kids into groups based on their grades and this made way more manageable than what we had anticipated going in.

One of the grades at the school. 

All the kids wanted our autographs. We used it as a time to pray for each student who came to us. 

This kid wanted his stomach signed.... and Kris did it. 

The team teaching the kids the song "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy." 

The kids loved singing and dancing with us! 

At the end of the week they honored us by giving us a gift and thanking us for coming. We actually received invitations to come to three other schools while we were there. 

 August 3rd we headed back to Bangkok and visited the world's largest market and discovered the best mall I have ever been to in my life.

This mall was across the street from our hotel. 

August 4th we took the team to a place called Elephant World...which was amazing. We got to pet, feed, hang out with, make food for, sit on, swim with elephants.

Making elephant food! 

August 5th we toured the city of Bangkok, got caught in a thunderstorm, cut our tour short. Headed to a new hotel for the night.

Reclining Buddha 

August 6th we flew home. 

It was truly an amazing and incredible experience. 

If you would like, below you can watch a video of our trip that one of the girls on our team made. 

If you would like to hear the students, leaders and myself talk about the trip you can follow this link and hear our report from church this past Sunday! 

Thank you so much to all those who supported us on this adventure! 

Luke 5:5-6

Sometimes God is silent. There are times when I pray that I look around the room and wonder why it feels like my prayers are hitting the walls and bouncing back towards me. I wonder how long it will take for God to work, move or speak.

Sometimes when God speaks it is so soft that it is easy to miss. In those times, I have found that what it takes on my part is to simply trust that God is moving and take the next step...I put one foot in front of the other holding on to the fact that in the deepest of my heart I know I am doing all that I am doing because it is my aim to please God.

Sometimes when God speaks it is so loud it shocks me. I have yet to hear the audible voice of God (although my Grandfather has had this privilege), but I have had very specific times in my life when  I was extremely certain I heard God's voice and it was life changing.

1. When I was called into missions. 
2. When God told me to stop being afraid and to follow him. 
3. When God  told me that it was okay to live in the United States and that I would be doing different types of ministry throughout my life for him. 
4. When God told me to be a pastor. 

Then, there are times when God speaks to me about my every day life and situations. For me, He often provides a Scripture passage or a devotional passage on the exact day/time/prayer that I ask or need it. There are times I open up my devotional and the subject is on the very topic that was burdening my heart. There are times when I pray, wait for a verse reference to come into my mind, turn to it and it speaks immensely to the situation I happen to be going through at that exact time. There are times in my daily Bible reading when I am simply reading along and sometime will jump off the page and my spirit will prompt me to stop reading, sit and meditate on those words and God will often speak to me through them.

Last week was one of those times.
Planning the mission trip has been very challenging and very intense. There are moments when I want to sit down on the floor and cry and ask for the adult to come and take over now. There have been some unique challenges with my situation because the people I have been working with to plan the trip have changed three times in the last year. Since two of those people were brand new to their jobs and I am brand new to planning a trip there have been things that have been miss-communicated and in some cases missed.

A couple of weeks ago there were still things for our trip that were not settled that very much needed to be settled. I was a hot mess on Monday. I met with my prayer partner Monday afternoon and she prayed a lot and I cried a lot we prayed. (BTW, quick side note. I love having a prayer partner. I have found that I see more answered prayers out of my time with her than any other time. I would encourage everybody to get one!) On Tuesday night, I got into bed and read my daily Bible reading. I came to Luke 5:5-6 and it was as though God took a giant stamp and stamped the word "Thailand" right across the page. This is what the verse says...

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again." And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

Jesus is asking Simon (Peter) in this verse to go out and fish even though Simon has already been out fishing and caught nothing. As I read this, I felt exactly like Simon. I had worked so hard (not all night, but for a year) on the mission trip and was at a point of feeling like I had caught nothing. Yet, God was saying to me, go back out there, get up tomorrow and work on this again, I am going to do something amazing, your nets are going to be so full they tear. I was so certain that God had spoken to me through this verse. 

I love when I feel like God is promising something good to me! :D 

The next morning, I received a call from the head of the mission department for our entire denomination. She had spent her morning reading every single e-mail I had written (70 pages in a word document) and she realized that there were unresolved issues with my trip. BOOM. She spent the next half hour going over all my questions, giving me advice, providing me with resources and helping me work on the unresolved issues I was facing on Monday. It turns out that the lady I had been working with was out of town, her boss (probably because the lady I was working with was new) was checking her e-mails while she was gone. This boss saw one of my e-mails and called me. Apparently, after our conversation this boss contacted the big boss and sent a copy of all my e-mails and whammo it all worked out. The relief that came from this phone conversation left me with a joy that lasted all day. 

I imagine Simon Peter running around yelling, "We got fish! We got fish!" I spent my day running around yelling, "God answered my prayer! God answered my prayer!" I was/am so thankful that God had been with me every step of the way on this mission trip. I was reminded again that it is not my trip, but that God is truly the one in charge. For that, I am so glad! 

Happy face! 

Yard Sale Madness

This past week has been insane. INSANE. I feel like I say that most weeks and then it always seems like the next week is more insane than the last. That does not make me feel very good about the future. :)

Me, at the start of Friday morning. I never know what to do with my hands in pictures so I often opt for an awkward pose. :D 

But truly, this week has been more crazy than normal because a lot happened all at once. We lost a wonderful woman in our congregation due to surgery complications. It was completely unexpected and devastating. There was a very serious issue between two of my youth students that needed extra and immediate attention. We had youth group which runs every Wednesday night. One of our freshman girls said she felt called to give a message to the other students so I was working with her this past week (she really needed very little help though...she rocked it) to prepare for Wednesday. On top of all that, it was yard sale week. (This was a fundraiser for our teen mission trip.) By Tuesday, I had a pounding headache. At this point in my week, nothing had been resolved on any of the things I mentioned previously. The woman was in critical condition, nothing had been done on the situation between the youth, youth group hadn't happened OH and we were just coming off of Easter, which at a church is a HUGE ordeal. Okay. So Tuesday, before noon, my head felt like it was seriously going to explode. I never get headaches, so when they do happen I pay attention because I know it is usually a result of too much stress. I had done very little at this point to prepare for the yard sale sans FaceBooking the kids and asking them to sign up for shifts - which only a few replied to. Also, I had picked up some pricing stickers at the dollar store. That was it.

Noon on Tuesday rolls around and I felt like I was going to lose my mind. I had never had a yard sale in my life and now I was in charge of this one. I had no idea if people would drop stuff off, if people would come, if we would have enough people to work it. To top all that off, I knew my Wednesday was completely booked (seriously, 9:00 am - 9:00 pm booked) and being that Thursday (9:00 am) was our starting drop off time for the sale, I would have no time to get ready.

I reached my breaking point and got up from my desk, announced to the office that I was "taking a break" and went to the kitchen and ate 6 1 cookie. After that I went and sat on a bench in the sun and contemplated my life. Then, I got back up, went to my office, put my head on the desk and prayed, "Dear God, you have led the way, every step of the way. I trust that you will lead me in this. I trust that the yard sale will go fine. Show your power Lord."

Seriously, I immediately felt better.

Roll tape, and we get to Thursday morning. First answer to prayer, a family with two home schooled teenage boys, shows up first thing to stay all day and help Kris and me with the sorting. Yes, we worked all day, but everything was completely organized all day long. Second answer to prayer, tons of people dropped stuff off and we seriously looked like a thrift store.

This is one room of the yard sale. The room with the open door was also full of stuff and we had furniture lined up outside the front of the church and taking up the entire foyer. 

Third answer to prayer, one woman who dropped stuff off was a huge yard saler and decided just to stay all day with us and help us sort stuff and then she proceeded to come back all day Friday and Saturday to help run it. Fourth answer to prayer, a second woman who is great at yard sales, stops by to see how it was going and tells me that she will be back later in the evening to help us with the set-up and that she will come back on Friday and Saturday as well to help run it. The other teens all showed up at 5:00 and with all of us working, things were completely ready to go for the next day by a reasonable hour.

Friday morning comes and so the does the sixth answer to my prayers. A good friend of mine from small group, who works from home, shows up early in the morning and tells me she is going to stay all day and do whatever I need her to. Let me just say, this was sooo good because my brain was still not functioning and she handled the money box like a pro. (My brain was so fried I couldn't count out five $10 bills to make $50. I kept thinking five bills made $40. Yikes!) Seventh answer to prayer, a husband and wife in the church volunteered (they had volunteered much earlier, but I didn't know how awesome they were until this) and did everything from the heavy lifting and moving of all our furniture, to pricing everything. Seriously, when people asked me questions that I didn't have the answer to, I would direct them to this woman and say, "She knows all. Go ask her." Eighth answer to prayer, Kris and I had specifically prayed the night before that God would give us $2,000 from the yard sale (total profit from both days). In the first hour we made over $500. By the end of the first day, we had just over $1,900.

Saturday comes, ninth answer to prayer. All the students show up to help, along with another student who is not going on the mission trip, but wanted to lend a hand. Plus, all the other people who God had brought along in the two days before. Tenth answer to prayer, there was not one argument or bad attitude in the entire three day event. (We seriously prayed about this.) Everybody jumped in, everybody worked hard, everybody got along wonderfully and it was a great great team building experience for the kids. I wish I had a picture, but I forgot to get one. The majority of them took signs down to the road and danced around to get attention and bring people into the sale. Later in the afternoon, they discovered the costume box and dressed up as clowns, in grass skirts and with masquarade masks and did round two of advertising in character form. It was hilarious.

I did manage to snap this shot. I love these two teens! They found Target vests (and accessories)  in the hoards of clothes we had, wore them and walked around assisting people with their shopping needs. LOVE IT! 

Eleventh answer to prayer, for as much stuff as we had donated, there was a relatively small amount left at the end. We were able to clean up and take the remaining stuff to a thrift store in about an hour. Twelfth answer to prayer, in total, we made about $2,800. There was never a down time and there was a constant flow of people both days.

God is so good. 

Thank you to all the people who helped. Thank you God for making this yard sale a success. Thank you all of you who read my blog and can celebrate this joy with me. :D 

One last really cool thing. We have to raise a total of $31,500 to go on the mission trip in July. At this point, we are only about $3,500 away from our final total. In four months we have raised around $28,000. This is not only an answer to prayer, but a testament to how great our God is. He can truly do more than we could ask or imagine! 

Easter Days

Today was Easter. Whoop whoop. Honestly, I think today is the best day of the year. How could it not be? Jesus defeated death and has given us life forever. Without this, what would the meaning of life be? Where would the hope be?

Because of today, because of Jesus there is hope for the future, purpose for the present and power over the past. Can I just say that God wants a relationship with you. He died for you. He is crazy about you. YOU matter to him. I hope today, on the day he gave his life for you, you will choose him too!

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

“Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we spent the morning at church celebrating this awesome victory. Let me tell you, the music was rockin'. If I do say so myself, Kris killed it. :D Of course, God has completely blessed him and gifted him musically. Church was so packed that we were out of chairs at one point. Praise God! What a good problem to have! There was music, there was drama, there was a sermon, choir and of course, food. It really was just a joyous celebration day. 

Afterwards we swung by our good friends' house and hung out with them for a bit before heading over to another friend's house for Easter dinner. We then walked home in time to catch The Amazing Race and do a couple loads of laundry. What a goooood day. Hope you had a wonderful day as well! 

Happy Easter! He has risen! 

Passport: Part 2 - Jokes

So...Monday. I had a pretty bad start to my day. I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with trying to keep everything straight with the mission trip. I came home from work in the afternoon and began to spend time in prayer. The last thing I prayed about was my passport. It had been a couple of weeks since I sent all my information in and I received no phone call and received no news one way or the other. At the end of my prayer I felt like I should just step out in faith and go check the mailbox and believe that God was going to send me my passport that afternoon. I should say, I never check the mail (my hubs does it every night) and I don't even know what time our mail comes.

But, out the mailbox I went, thinking about how awesome it would be if my passport came. Trot, trot, trot, scrunch, scrunch scrunch (that is the gravel under my feet as I traveled across my driveway).
Popped open the mailbox and it was loaded with mail. I shuffled through it quickly and lo and behold... a large letter from the State Department! I was SOOO excited! I could feel the passport inside and the whole way back to the house I kept thinking about how cool God is. He knew my need even before I prayed, he prompted me to go and look in the box. I was dreaming about how I would blog about this moment and then...

I ripped open the letter, dumped out the contents, snatched up the passport and gasped when I realized it was just my old one sent back to me. I quickly scoured the date on it and sure enough, this was not what I needed. I grabbed the envelope and looked inside again, hoping and praying that somehow I had missed the new one. Nada. My heart began to sink and that's when I saw the slip of paper sitting on the counter that fell out of my State Department envelope. I picked it up, about to cry knowing that this letter was going to confirm my worst fear: I was denied.

It read:

"Your passport application has been

... APPROVED!" 

WHOOP WHOOP! Praise God! The rest of the letter informed me that it would be shipped separately. Talk about making your heart stop! Holla! I tore through the rest of the mail and praise God! it was there! I could only imagine God watching me and just laughing at the roller coaster of emotions I had experienced in a matter of minutes. God's got jokes, that's what's up.

I can now officially say that I am going on the trip and have a legal passport! Please, join me in my happy dance!