More Financial Information

For those of you interested in giving financially, here's a more detailed look at the breakdown of my expenses. My "outgoing" expenses - $10,577 - are one-time gifts used to cover travel, medical, orientation school, etc. Check out the chart (click to enlarge):


My monthly support need is $1,821 per month. This is where the monthly giving comes in. Below is a pie graph with my actual numbers plugged in. Again, click to enlarge:

AIM has more information available here.

AIM has an online giving option and EFT - electronic funds transfer - available online. Check it out!

Salt of the Earth

This is my plug for Perspectives, a course on world missions, that is offered in many cities in the U.S. I took the class last year and learned so much about missions. You'd think growing up as an MK (kind of), I'd know it all, but it turns out I didn't! The class takes you through four "perspectives" on missions - Biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic. It was so interesting, seriously, and it changed the way I read my Bible.

The class meets once a week starting in January. There are different credit options as it can be used for undergrad or graduate-level credit. I actually didn't take it for credit since I am not in school and I'd say that is the way to go! That way no work is actually required, I just did the best I could to get through the reading before the next week (it was my first year teaching!). The book is great and a compilation of a lot of peoples' thoughts on missions - from Johns Stott to John Piper to Ralph Winter and a bunch of other guys I'd never heard of. The classes were taught by lots of different people, almost a different teacher every week - from professors to pastors to missionaries.

So, it was great. Look it up, pray about it. I know in Charlotte you could attend the first class without payment and make a decision. But you need to move fast, classes start in January! Look up classes near your town on www.perspectives.org.

Christmas Favorites 2007

Christmas is always wonderful. This year I had several 'favorites' that made it special.

1. Behold the Lamb concert. I went to the Behold the Lamb concert in Charlotte and absolutely loved it, bought the CD, and am now getting music from contributing artists. It's THAT life-changing. :) You can read more about it and listen to some songs on Andrew Peterson's website or, hilariously, on wikipedia!
2. Christmas cookies. Obviously this is a big part of the season - this year we had special buddies Luke, Cameryn, and Noelle come over to make cookies with us. And my mom discovered a new Peppermint Shortbread cookie that may be the best thing I've ever tasted. I can't find the recipe (it was in the paper) but maybe you could google it. It's amazing.
3. Christmas crafts. This year I conned my students into sewing . . . really, it's amazing, if you act excited (which I was) and build it up, the kids think it's the greatest thing ever. They literally cheered when I showed them my example! 5 minutes later, when the thread was all tangled and fingers pricked and teacher was flying around the room helping everyone at once, not so many cheers, but the end result was cute and I think we all learned about patience and perseverance.
4. Gift-giving. My roommates and I have "family Christmas" before we leave and the gifts were again so well-thought out and sweet. I just love these girls! And all of the secrecy and plotting and planning. My coworkers decided to do a pseudo-white elephant exchange and bring cookies and we had the most hilarious planning session ever. One of my fellow teachers is afraid of candles and will not light them in her house or buy them for others for fear she'll be responsible for burning their house down! Whonu?
5. Weary Travelers. This might not have been the highlight of Christmas, but it's kind of tradition, right? I bought this ridiculous ticket that took me from Charlotte to Louisville to O'Hare to OKC. Every single flight was delayed and I ended up sitting on the floor in Chicago for 4 hours with all the other glazed-over and exhausted passengers. There comes a point when "canceled" or "delayed" doesn't even raise a reaction from the crowd. At that point, it's just camaraderie and a mutual desire to just get where you need to be - before Christmas.
6. Being with my Family! The hours of travel just make Oklahoma more worth it!

Snow in Oklahoma!

I didn't think I'd see snow this year, but it's snowed twice in Oklahoma since I arrived! It's even snowing right now, a nice wet sticky snow that might last until tomorrow - tend to lose it pretty quickly here. It's so nice to be home, so relaxing, to the point I felt a little restless after about 2 hours of "resting." But I'm enjoying it thoroughly! And I'm hoping to get into the blogging spirit now that I have extra hours in my day. We'll see how that goes.

So I was out prancing around before church snapping pictures of the snow. I really do have more sense than this, I was just killing time waiting for the family.




Our snow people used to just get sand blown up on them when they were on our porch in Dubai. I think they like the view from our Oklahoma door a little better.

Christmas Sweaters

This weekend we had a little Christmas party at our house. A series of events led to an unexpected trip to Goodwill and a subsequent foraging of their holiday apparel. Not much to be had in the adult department, although we did swipe a great Santa shirt with tassels for his beard. In the children's department, however, we scored big time . . . the most hilarious part was definitely squirming into tiny sweaters and then hearing strangers say, "It fits!" "Fits" became a very relative term. Our party was great fun. The invitation promised Pin the Tail on Rudolph, Christmas cookie decorating, singing carols around the piano, Christmas karaoke, and a holiday version of the celebrities game, and we delivered on all of those! Plus I made a giant cheeseball.

New Christmas door decor

Caroling . . . the pianist was pretty lame.

No caption necessary.

My Favorite Surprise

Last week I got the best surprise of my life so far. . .

Friday night. We were enjoying a quiet evening in, had rented a Christmas movie, planning to just chill and get some rest. While we were waiting for the brownies to finish baking (to complete the perfect movie night!), some how Erin, Jenny, and I migrated down to the "piano room" to play some Christmas songs and sing along. About 10 minutes into the jamming, the front door opened and I heard Jenny say, "YES!" from behind me.

Screaming. Heart pounding. Mass chaos erupting around us. There in the doorway stood my Kelly and her husband, Justin. Kelly and I were roommates at Taylor for three years, housemates for our senior year, and then we moved to Charlotte together last year. This school year was the first time in five years we hadn't lived together. While I love Justin and everything, it's been a sad adjustment. Not to mention their honeymoon was two months long and halfway across the world so we had hardly talked since August.

So, there they stood, in my house, in Charlotte. In the midst of recovering from that fact, Kelly shouted . . . (this is my favorite part) "We're MOVING TO CHARLOTTE!"

They moved here. And only 2.3 miles down to road. 8 minutes with green lights, 11 minutes during rush hour. It's seriously the most amazing event ever. I've thanked God for her hundreds of times since 2002, and I thank Him again that we can live in the same city for my last 6 months in America.

Forever Immortalized . . .

This is a gem of a song. It's about my dog, by my brother. It's a few years old but somehow it never looses its charm. Enjoy! :)

Why Africa?

My first visit to Africa was technically before I was born, when my parents traveled to Kenya to visit my mom's sister and her family. It was that Christmas that my parents made the announcement that they were expecting their first baby, me! While I doubt that has anything to do with me going to Kenya now, 23 years later, it's still interesting.

I spent a big milestone in Nairobi, my first birthday. My aunt had just had my cousin Julie so my mom and I went to visit for three weeks to help out. I'm the blonde baby in these pictures, with the Maasai lady and with my older cousins.

Maybe it got in my blood or something, because in ninth grade, for some unexplainable reason, I was suddenly dying to go to Africa. A year later I went to Tanzania on a spring break trip and after that, I was hooked. I ranted and raved about my experiences working with Habitat for Humanity and the people I met and the places I saw, and the following year my whole family went to Tanzania to visit some missionary friends of ours and do the safari thing. Growing up in Dubai, I had the opportunity to visit some exotic places, but Africa was always first on my list and in my heart. Which explains why it was my choice for a semester abroad in college, back to Tanzania, this time for three months.

On each of those trips, God worked in my heart to draw me closer to His plan for my life. I saw missionaries working with various skills in different cultures with differing methods. For the first time, I learned a language I actually needed (and wanted!) to learn. I developed a fascination with nature and creation that I had never taken time to appreciate. Then there were the practical skills, like camping and using bucket showers and other 'facilities.' Not that I'm the nature woman or camping expert (ha!). But after all of that, how could I stay away? Each time I left, I knew it was just a matter of time before I came back. And this summer, I knew it was just a matter of time before I came back to live.

I know this is what God has for me - to use my skills as a teacher in Africa, teaching MK's. While I wasn't technically a missionary kid, I did grow up overseas and I always knew God would use those experiences somehow. Why not to teach other kids growing up away from their home culture? So, for these reasons, and many more that would take all night to write, I am confident of my calling to Africa. I can't wait to get there, and continue on a path that has been 23 years in the making.

Nairobi Giraffe Park, 1985 Nairobi Giraffe Park, 2007

A Partnership: How to Support Me

NUMBER ONE - PRAYER. I am off on this exciting new journey, and I know the Lord will teach me many new things. He gives us just what we need, when we need it. Pray that I will be diligent in my relationship with God so that I can serve Him with my best. Pray for my students and opportunities to interact with Kenyans. Pray for God to work in Africa. Let me know how I can pray for you. :)

The deal on financial support

God is good. Through the support of friends and family, I raised 100% of my outgoing and monthly needs in no time. Thank you. You should see my monthly pledges - I am at EXACTLY 100%! (Well, 33 cents over!) Praise God!

If you would like to give a one-time gift, you easily give online. Or, if you prefer, you can mail a check to AIM. Please don't write my name on the check, just write it to Africa Inland Mission and include my name on a sticky note. The address is:

Africa Inland Mission

PO Box 178

Pearl River, NY 10965

If you want to give a bit each month, you can sign up for automatic giving at this web address or download this pledge card and mail to the above address.

My monthly need is $1989. This great pie chart, available here, shows how each dollar is split in my account. Every gift you give through AIM is tax deductible and split as seen in the pie chart - toward retirement, social security, salary, etc. If you would like to give a personal gift - that is not tax deductible, but also not split into the said categories - write the check out to my name and send it to AIM. They will deposit it into my bank account for me.

That's the updated information on how to give financially. Thanks for all you've done. I wouldn't be here with out you!