Jesus Wept

So I took this Quiz because I'm a sucker for Quizzes:


http://www.playbuzz.com/hannahr10/what-is-your-life-verse?excludeGameIds=fa15b125-c1bf-4314-8376-ff86b4eb2a07_d60a2885-4846-455e-8ae5-9360a99e6530_1d047cb8-0fa3-46cf-907a-8acd002a3d09_736392f1-a1af-4f3c-b065-3a7ef9de14be_3e3f6aaf-29f6-4ccc-bd4a-856d570f2245_363d09e8-8f45-4328-ac5c-f23fe7918fe9_97236f9d-106e-4d92-8e68-d9535dec3d2a_6b4ecda4-5a76-48c6-9fed-d649eb40878e

Which Bible Verse really speaks to you and matches your personality?

LET'S PLAY!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Which place appeals to you the most?

x

Rivendell

Your Bed

New York City

Grand Canyon

Oxford

Promised Land

Africa

How would people describe you?

x

Secure

Life of the party.

Peaceful

Fashionable

A good listener

Hopeful

Well-spoken

Who do you relate to best?

x

Galadriel

Emma Watson

Richard Dawkins

Granny Puckett

Paul

The Rock

Aragorn

What is your biggest struggle?

x

Circumstances overwhelm you and you can't see how anything good could ever come out of it.

You just wish people would use common sense.

You don't feel secure.

You really just constantly crave some peace.

There just aren't enough hours in the day to fit in enough skydiving, bungee-jumping, and hang-gliding.

You spend too much time in the mirror.

Too many people to help, not enough time or leading.

What is your favorite book genre?

x

Textbooks

Self-help

Romance

Mystery

Religion

Adventure

Magazines

How do you spend your free time?

x

Reading.

Daydreaming about the future.

With closest friends.

Snowboarding!

Debating!

Shopping.

Bubble Bath,

Which picture appeals to you the most?

x

Calculating...

I wanted to know what my life verse was because when everything goes right/wrong in my life I cling to Jesus. This is what I got...

John 11:35

"Jesus wept" is the perfect passage for you because you are a compassionate and empathetic person. God has given you the ability to feel others pain. But that means you feel strongly, and sometimes it is quite a relief to remember that Jesus wept too.

I've been doing a lot of weeping these days. I've also said some really hurtful things to people whom I still feel like deserved it (Proof of my brokenness). God has given me the ability to feel others pain?! No kidding!

I wrote all of that ^^ up there weeks ago. I couldn't finish it because I didn't know what to say or how I wanted to say it. My heart has been tangled up in a mess of emotions the last few weeks. I've felt the highest of highs in combination with the lowest of lows. I've been dealing with an enormous amount of brokenness. My family has been trying to muddle through a mess and pick up broken pieces, while at the same time trying to be ever so careful to not cause more brokenness. 

Forgiveness has always been easy for me. Unless you're my Mom. Sorry Mom! She seems to get the brunt of my sometimes unforgiving ways. I think it's always hardest to forgive the people you love most in your life. This is probably why I've been such a mess lately. If you know my parents, you know what they are dealing with sucks. Sucks doesn't even seem to cover it. The truth is that I'm heart broken by the demise of their marriage. I'm heart broken by choices they each have made. I'm heart broken by the way WE have ALL conducted ourselves in the past few weeks. I'm heart broken for my siblings who are innocent in all of this. I'm heart broken that I feel like my dad has died. I feel so much loss. I'm also angry but let's save that one for another time. I'm allowed my process. 

The beauty in all of this is that God restores and heals. I trust that. I believe that. I know this to be true. I'm ready to allow God to restore what is broken in me. I believe in forgiveness. I believe that everyone deserves to know they are loved and cherished and that they are children of the King Jesus Christ. 

To wait or not to wait...The Great Debate!

I'm so annoyed that I've taken to my blog to get some thoughts and opinions on the topic of waiting to live together until marriage. I thought a Facebook status that was paragraphs long would just be annoying and ridiculous.

So here we go...

My Fiance is so annoyingly perfect. He's kind, he's respectful, he's responsible, he's hilarious, he's super handsome, he encourages me, he supports me, and best of all, he's so ridiculously patient and understanding of my crazy. Fantastic right? I play back the moment he proposed to me over and over again because it was such a beautiful and perfect moment. I know without a doubt that having him in my life is a blessing from God. When the wedding planning began, I already knew who I wanted to marry us.

I have a special relationship with a Pastor from our church. He has been there through my faith journey and knows me so well. I look up to him and respect him not only as a man of God but as a dad, a husband, and a friend. I knew that I wanted him to be the one to marry Travis and I.

At the moment, Travis and I don't live together. I always said I would wait until I was married or engaged to live with him. So here we are...so excited about this journey together, picking out stuff for the house, organizing, cleaning, shopping, and then the Marriage Covenant smacks me in the face.

Can I say that I agree and disagree and not be exiled from the church? I started this blog a few years ago because being a Christian is hard. It's a fulfilling journey but OMG...it's tough. This is what I consider tough. This journey isn't for the lukewarm or just the fan of Jesus.  I do my best to follow his word but I fall short all the time. I'm not one to make excuses and say "Oh well, God forgives!" I get what the scriptures say and I understand this covenant but can I stomp my feet and just say that "We're going to live together because I want to and because it's going to save me money and since we're paying for this wedding ourselves it just makes sense!!!" Yes...why yes I could. Although, I'm sure God just heard "blah blah excuse blah."  I'm stubborn. So stubborn. Thanks Mom. The stubborn person in me reads this as "You have to be perfect in order to get married and not sin. Like ever. Seriously. If you want the church to support you." I'm not trying to be disobedient but this is annoying. I cant pick and choose which of God's commands are easiest and most fun to follow but in this moment. I want to. Maybe that's why I'm so annoyed...because deep down I know that I'm wrong and that waiting to live together will greatly bless our marriage. So what are your thoughts? I'll be over here pouting. Let me know.

Kisses from Katie

I haven't blogged in awhile. Fail on my part!

I'm still planning on going to Ethiopia in November with Emily. I am very excited because Linda Giroux is hopping on board with me to help plan my trip back. Linda works at Lakeside as the Queen of Kidsfest but she also works for an organization called Fifty5Five. It is a Non Profit Christian missions organization designed to help children's teachers in the developing world share the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst children of every tribe, nation, people, and language. She's helping me organize mine and Emily's trip back to Ethiopia so that we can effectively put in place a Vacation Bible School program for the children of Acheber.

While I am ecstatic and eager to get back Ethiopia, I am also a little overwhelmed. When I went to Ethiopia last, I had Sean and Jaime pointing me in the right direction and giving me tasks to complete in order to go to Ethiopia. Now I'm the one that has to organize and designate tasks. I'm guilty of letting the devil plant a seed of doubt while he takes a vacation and I finish the sermon (Thanks Jaime and Andre!)

Through all of this chaos. I have Emily. Emily Selby is a wonderful friend and beautiful Daughter of a King. Months ago, she agreed to take this trip to Ethiopia with me because she also has a love for serving our Father and she loves to love children. She encouraged me to read "Kisses for Katie." I had read about Katie Davis before. She is living what I feel like is supposed to be my life. Quick background, Katie Davis is a young woman (younger than myself!) with a passion to serve. She currently lives in Uganda where she adopted 13 little girls and is the founder and director of Amazima, a ministry that reaches hundreds of other children in Uganda. What I love about Katie is how she always says YES to God. She gets nervous, she has doubts, she gets homesick, etc. but she ALWAYS says Yes. Although she now lives in Uganda, this trip was only intended to be a year long trip. God opened her eyes to the need in Uganda. Once he opens your eyes to something, how do you tell him no? If you don't do something...who will? Katie talks about Peter being the worst disciple ever and how she is Peter and I am Peter. I constantly make mistakes. God knows I will make a mess but his plan for me is great. So I need to go...and feed his sheep. Have no idea what I'm talking about? Read John 21!

As if that's not enough, Katie throws this at me (yes directly at me!) There are 143 million orphans, 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases, 8.5 million who work as child slaves, and 2.3 million who live with HIV which adds up to 164.8 million needy children (dagger in heart). At first glance, that looks like a big number. 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians. The truth is that if only 8% of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left. I DIE.

The beauty in all of this is that Katie isn't telling me anything that I don't already know. So what am I doing?! Writing support letters and planning fundraisers BECAUSE I'm going to Ethiopia to feed Gods sheep and to love on nuggets.

Thank you Emily for constantly harassing me to read this book. Thank you for your patience on this crazy journey of planning. I am so excited to continue on this journey and share it with all of you :) O and I promise to be better at blogging.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

Check out Fifty5Five & Katie Davis' blog!

http://fifty5five.moonfruit.com/

http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Micro Loans!

HAPPY SUNDAY!

It's been such a relaxing weekend :) I've been wanting to blog all weekend but I haven't really had any new and exciting Ethiopia updates. (Emily did go to Crossfit with me yesterday and she kicked butt! She's going to need all the endurance and strength she can get when we go to Ethiopia and have to hike up hills in Acheber! Mwahaha!)

Anyways...back on track...I check my Facebook and there it is! MICRO LOANS! When Jaime and I came back from Ethiopia the first time, making sure nuggets were clothed and taken care of was heavy on our hearts. Clothing them didn't seem to be enough though and we truly believed God was doing AMAZING things in Ethiopia. The villages we went to and the people we met truly touched our hearts. We wanted them to be able to create and sustain an economy that would provide for generations to come. Jaime being the Godly genius woman that she is dreamed up a Micro Loan process. With the support of EAVO and Abreham (he lives in Ethiopia and works for EAVO) we identified families that were in need and wrote up the contracts. Of course this process took some time but GOD MADE IT HAPPEN! 

Ayele has been really heavy on my heart lately. I pray for him and his family daily. I know that God will provide for him but I just miss him so much. I hate that he's growing up and I'm missing it. His family is one of the families that will be receiving a micro loan. He lives with his mom and older brother and sister. The one thing I loved about his mom is how much she provided not just for her own children but the children of Acheber in general. Here she is, a single parent and she was not only trying to feed me and my team but every other child that followed us. She loves her children so much that she's willing to give them up so that they could have a better life. Do you know how hard it was to not pack Ayele in my suitcase?! He's the cutest kid in the world! 

I'm excited about Micro Loans, I'm excited about the work that God is doing in Ethiopia, I am excited for the burden he has placed on my heart for Ethiopia, I am excited that I have the opportunity to stay connected to a community that I love so much. I am excited to be a part of a church family that supports the love I have for Ethiopia, I am excited for ENGAGE to see how God is using their gifts each week. Here are some pictures of a family signing the loan contract and getting their goats! Precious! Thank you Abrehamye (Fun Fact: ye=my, adding a "ye" to the end of someones name is saying "My Abreham." He calls me Krissye and I call him Abrehamye :) ) 

One of the families receiving their Goats aka a Micro Loan. LOVE YOU NUGGETS!

YES YES YES!

Holy cuteness! 

This is Abrehamye. Lover of nuggets and Jesus :)

Ayele's home. Andre & I with his family.

My boy!