Hellos and Good-Byes

As many of you know, my grandparents on my mom's side have lived in Brazil, as missionaries, for the past 50+ years. Needless to say, I have lacked the opportunity to really get to know them over the course of my life. I have been blessed to know about the godly legacy the Lord has planted through them, but have only a select few times had the priveledge to get to know them personally. The last six months my aunt (who is from here and lives with another aunt) has been down in Brazil caring for my grandma, while my other aunt and my mom were up here taking care of my grandpa. My mom traveled with my grandpa down to Brazil about a month ago and left him there in preperation for the big move of both my grandparents up to Bend, OR... permanately....a little bit different from Brazil. The main reason they have been moved here is that thier health (especially my grandmas) has begun to decline. Health care is much better in the States than in Brazil and with my grandma having alzheimers and my grandpa not being in the jungle going shape he used to be, it was best to bring them here. I have been able to spend some time with them the last week they have been back. I will not lie when i say it has been challenging seeing my grandma in the condition she is but when i look close into her eyes I see the grandma I knew at a time and love! It is interestng seeing she and my grandpa interact...in her eyes, he is the only thing that matters and the only one in the room...she is fixated on her husband of 55 years! Even though she is not all with it, it is a pretty beautiful thing...even when she is hitting at him and yelling at him. Here are some pictures of us hanging out at my aunts' house:









With that Hello, i had to say a Good-bye this weekend. My great friend from Moody and her husband moved to Portland after they got married last year. Her parents have a house boat out a lake near me so it worked out for me to go out for a night and spend some time with her and her family! It was so great and relaxing! We ate a bunch, visited, played spoons, and even had enough time to get out on the SeaDoo...and then break it...oops! Supposidly it was not our fault, but i am starting to wonder why I seem to be around when everything breaks:)

Aubrey and her husband Luke, had some exciting news for me when i was visiting. They found out that Aubrey is pregnant!! They are so thrilled and so am I!! It's crazy to think that they will have a little bundle of joy when i get back from Africa!

Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Eleven Days and Counting...

I can hardly believe that I am leaving in 11 days!! I am so excited about leaving but am also sad to be leaving my family and friends! The past couple of weeks I have been trying to be so purposeful with my time and trying to make sure I spend serious quality time with everyone before I leave. My sister, her husband and their two kids were down for my niece's first birthday two weekends ago. It was such a blessing because my sister and the kids were able to stay in Bend for an extra week! I had so much fun spending time with them! I cannot believe how old the kids are getting and how much they are learning and growing--It is going to be so weird seeing them 9 months from now--they will practically be teenagers by then:)

I have had the absolute privelege to mentor/disciple two amazing young women for the past almost one year!! We have walked together in a lot of areas of life and they have seasoned my life in incredible ways. I will miss them! They graduated from high school this year so we have all kind of worked through transition seasons together, too. For a little going away, last hoorah, we were able to go up to a cabin on Mt. Hood this past weekend. It was so much fun. We did everything from roasting marshmallows to hot tubing to baking our own dinner to even a randomly spontaneous day trip to Portland. We literally rolled out of bed to see my sister and the kids off (they stayed with us one night) and while we were about to head back to the cabin we decided to just drive to Portland. It was such a great time!! Unfortunately, it was so spontaneous that we didn't have our cameras with us, which would have been fun to have to catch the moment. We ate at a Lebonese restaurant, which was a new one for the girls. Needless to say, it was a memorable time.

Here are some pictures of the weekend!















So, there is a mini update with lots of pictures for you enjoyment:) I will keep you posted as time gets closer. Please pray for wisdom as I seek to use my time in a wise way! Thank you!

Weekend O' Fun!

i had a very full and fun-filled weekend!! Saturday was one of my friend's wedding shower. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law threw it. It was a Tea Party Theme so she brought her husband's great-grandma's hats and we all got to wear them. It was a good time hanging out with my girls. Here are some pictures:







About a month ago some friends of mine from my church decided they wanted to throw a fundraiser for my trip to Africa! I knew it was going to be fun but I had no idea that it was going to be as fun as it was!! I had an absolute blast!! It was so great hanging out with friends and I just could not stop praising the Lord for putting these people in my life!! Not only are they incredibly generous with all their resources but they are all amazing emotional, and spiritual supports in all I do!! I am so thankful for the people God has put in my life!

My friends sacrificially provided a way for others to help support my trip...it truley was the gift that kept on giving!!

There was jewelery sales, make-up sales and waxing:) My mom and I made some African dishes I found online that was a huge hit!!

Seriously, though, it was way too much fun to be any kind of fundraiser!! Thank you everyone for being so generous and loving toward me!

Here are some pics of the fun event. Sorry some of the pictures are sideways...work with me...:

















So, last but not least, i wanted to let you all know that I recieved my departure date!! I am going to be leaving Bend JULY 10!! I know, it is crazy and just around the corner!! I will fill you all in more later, but I wanted to give you that update. I will only you give you guys a nugget at a time because I could be on this thing all night!!

Assignment Change

I wanted to give you all an update on what has been going on the past couple of weeks. Mainly, I wanted to share with you the news of my assignment change. It is actually a pretty amazing how the Lord has been working it out. I had been praying about having a roomate while I am In Kenya for a while now. I really felt like this was something I didn't want to do completely alone. Now, don't get me wrong, I know God is with me always and I was willing to be the only short-termer in this assignment, He just knows how much I longed to have a fellow short-termer to process with, etc. Well, to make this already long story short, the people from the headquarters in New York emailed me asking me if I would be willing to switch my assignment because there was a roomate possibility!! I was so excited!!! So, it looks like I will still be in Nairobi, Kenya but I will be ministering in an area called Kibera Slums. I am not sure at all what the specifics of my assignment will be or when I will be leaving but I know that my roomate is from Australia and is a nurse. She will be teaching clinics in the slums.

So, if you guys think of me, please pray for continued guidance in the Lord's place for me. I am thrilled becuase I know He is in complete and utter control and will put me where He knows I need to be! I am so thankful for His provision in a roomate!

I will keep you all up to date as I hope to stay up to date with y'all!

As I wait, I am trying to be very intentional about the time I am spending with my friends and family! A couple of weekends ago my great friend Rachel and I took a roadtrip up to Seattle to see my sister and we had an absolute blast! Here are a couple of our "Diva" pictures! I thank God daily for the gifts He has given to me in you all!! Thanks for the comments, too, they are always fun to get!