November!

Creative title, right? Haha!
Hey everyone! So...I haven't updated in like 3 weeks, and people keep reminding me. So this is me trying to be good and actually let y'all know what's been going on my life. However, I have many mucho school work assignments to complete in not many mucho much time....soooo, this will be a very brief update and I'll try to do a more informative one later =)

 Let us begin! Starting way back at the beginning of the month. We went on visitation to a place called Viñani. It is a very poor part of Tacna. The people who live there have very very little. Thatched walls, dirt floors, a tarp for a roof, and most just got running water this past year. Before that they would have to walk almost half a mile to get water to wash up, cook with, etc.

 Thanksgiving just passed. How many of us simply thanked God for our homes? For four solid walls & a roof? I know I didn't. I was too busy missing my family. Thankfully, the Lord got my focus right again throughout the day & reminded me just how much I had to be thankful for, but otherwise, I don't give thanks often enough for a warm bed or clean water. It's just things that I take for granted because I've never known any different.

 These kids were too cute! They sang us a song & said hello. Many were very shy though. Most of these children do not have a home or a family, so they stay at the orphanage full time, but several of them have parents who drop them off here while they go to work in Chile. The problem in Viñani is that when both of the parents work during the day in the summer, the kids are home from school by themselves. So many parents lock the doors of their homes while they go to work / the children are left there for 12-15hrs in any given day. With the weather so hot & dry, it is not uncommon for their to be house fires. The children would be locked inside with no way to escape. So the orphanage has opened its doors to parents who want a safe place for their children to spend the day while they are away.

 Amazing thought; God chose us to be His children. Before the foundation of the world, He chose you & me. He gave His only Son to make you a part of His family. I still don't understand it; His grace amazes me.

 LOVE these girls! The girl in the light pink is Claudia, and the crazy chica on the right is Michelle. They are SO much fun! I am very thankful I've had the opportunity to get to know them & I am going to miss them SOOOOO much!!!

 Abbey's back!!! Please continue to pray for her as she has been diagnosed (finally), but still does not have a concrete answer on how to treat her sickness. So thankful to have her & Mrs. Earnhart back though =)

 The other day we got a group of girls together for ice cream to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It was so much fun to be able to spend time with the girls from the church =)

 Well, my birthday was this past Sunday. It was a lot of fun! Many people wished me well, gave me kisses on the cheek and what-not. They also warned me about the tradition of smashing eggs & dumping flour on my head for my birthday, but it got to be night time & after all the church services, so I thought I was off the hook...I was mistaken.

 Mrs. Earnhart lulled me into a false sense of security & convinced me to come outside to get a picture with every one...first mistake. Hahaha! We got a picture all right! Lol! it was a lot of fun though, & definitely something I'll never forget!

....My bad

Once again, I have gone so long without posting that it would take a small book to catch you up on everything that has happened in the past week. My apologies. Haha! I will try to make it short =)

Last weekend was great! Fourth of July is the busiest time in Chetek; we go from a population of around 2 thousand to about 7 thousand overnight! Which isn't that many for a big city, but Chetek is tiny. One of those "blink & you'll miss it" kind of towns. Lol! I was able to spend a lot of time with friends & family & my niece also spent the weekend with us. It was a great time =) Here are some pics:

I got to take some pictures of Aubrianna while she was here. She is so photogenic!!

This one is my favorite; look at those baby-blues!! =)

Krystle's family serve as missionaries in South America, so she was excited to go to her first 4th of July in Wisconsin....However, it ended up literally raining on our parade. We still had a blast though! 

After we had lunch, Krystle dominated me on the Wii; that's us in front of our Mii's. Hehe! =)

I also got some pictures with my beautiful niece, Bri <3

I was trying to get her to wave, but she got distracted. Haha!

So the fourth was a lot of fun, but then it was back to work on Monday. During the last hour of swimming lessons, a little girl neglected to let us know that she had to go to the bathroom, & no, not just #1...#2!!! As if that wasn't bad enough, it wasn't solid. UGH!! Sorry, I don't mean to gross you out. Lol. So we had to close the pool down for two days; it was nice to have a day off, but still gross. 

Wednesday was great; we didn't have church that night, so I wen't over to the Somali apartments nearby with my friend Keri & her husband Paul. Keri & I had some fun "girly time" with a Somali woman named Rokiya, & her daughter Ubah while Paul played soccer with the guys. We did henna tattoos, which was really fun! They use the henna to dye their nails red instead of painting them, so Rokiya did mine. It didn't quite work though because I had on clear nail polish; the henna dyed my nails yellow & the red color bled to the skin around my nails!! hahaha! I looked like my fingernails were about to fall off from some weird disease. Lol. It should wear off within the next week or so though. =) Please pray for us & the women as we seek to build relationships & share the gospel. 

Thursday was another wonderful day. Something absolutely incredible happened! I got a phone call from the woman that is head of the scholarships & finances at Northland. Up until this week it didn't look like I would be able to afford to go back this semester. I still owed money from this past spring & I won't make enough this summer to make up the difference. I had an opportunity to go overseas to Dubai & teach English for 6 months so I wasn't too bummed about taking a year off of college, but I wanted to make sure it was God's will. I told God that I couldn't afford college this year & that if He wanted me back at Northland He needed to make it very clear to me. And God is faithful! I had around $9700 in scholarships & grants, but that still leaves a pretty big chunk left to come up with; the scholarship committee at Northland discussed it & they made me an offer. Without getting into all the details, I now owe $0  for this next year!! Praise the Lord!! Couldn't be more clear than that, huh? Thursday night I also got to go over to a friends house; she just got back from a 5 week missions trip across Europe, so it was a huge blessing to hear all about it & see the pictures =)

Friday after work I got to take some maternity pics of my sister, Rebecca. She is due any day now & I can't wait! (Neither can she, lol!) Here are some of my favorite pics:

   As you can see, she is gorgeous! So it was easy to get some great shots =)

Last, but definitely not least, today I had the privilege of going to a conference in Minneapolis with Paul & Keri. It was all about reaching Muslims for the gospel. It was a life changing day & I won't even try to cram it all in this post, but I promise I will talk more about it sometime this week. If you're curious though, you can check out the website here! I highly, HIGHLY recommend checking out Fouad Masri's ministry; it is incredible. 

Thanks for stopping in & catching up on all of my summer madness! I hope that you all have a great weekend =) 

John 1:1-5 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Spirit Week Pics ((finally!!))

Ok, ok. I admit it; I'm terrible at posting things when I say I will. So here's some of the pics from Spirit Week that I was going to put up ages ago. Lol! I do have a good excuse though. This week has been NUTS!!! Anyways, have fun browsing =)








Ashlee & I on Roman Day

Fighting over the bread they threw into the stands. Lol!

Our Chancellor (Doc O) judged the 'best toga' contest.

Yeah togas! Haha!

Some of my other gorgeous friends.

Classic films day. On the left-hand side is Hannah as Princess Lea in Star Wars. Next is Jacqueline from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Then Emilee & Ashlee weren't quite sure what movie they fit into. They still looked cute though! Lol!

Here we have our nuns. Haha!!

Little kid day!! Krystle said she used to be a tomboy. I was always just plain goofy.

Hahaha!I love Rachel's face here. She's on the far right. They all look so great!!

Jacqueline & I.

Emilee, myself, & Ashlee at the Northland v.s. Maranatha soccer game. It was so much fun!! But VERY cold. =)

It was such a fun week! I wish I had time to put up some more pics. There are a few more over on facebook if you feel like checking those out =) Thanks for stopping in. Have a wonderful day!!