Double Deuces in 10 days

So my birthday is nearing!!!! Ahh year number 22! I can't believe it. Well I'm blogging early because I need some ideas for my birthday. It's unfortunate that my birthday is always during winter break!!!!!! And I love my birthday, i love to be with friends and family, I love cake, and i love presents (gifts are my love language...). Sooo I'll be in Tulsa so I'll celebrate with family and high school friends. And then I'll celebrate in Joplin the 7th and 8th with people who are in Joplin. Oh and there is more. I'm going to St. Louis to celebrate with my good friend Korri. And then I thought well I need to celebrate when I get back to OCC for school. Looks like a month of parties for me! I'm pretty excited!!!!! woot woot!

(pretty sure this is a lame blog... but I'm snowed in with nothing else to do...)

Blizzardy Christmas Thoughts...

Christmas was a little different this year. With the Oklahoma Blizzard tradition blew out the window and Mom, Dad, and I were snowed in. We were able to make it to the Christmas Eve service where I was picked to read a Scripture for the service because I go to Bible college. The exact words from my pastor was, "Since you go to Bible school we wanted to show them that you can read Scripture" very encouraging... :). After the service (6:15) we headed home to pick up some dinner to take to Grandpa and Grandma's house. The streets were so bad that we hardly made it home and the annual Christmas Eve with the Grandparents was cancelled. We were also suppose to travel in the morning to Oklahoma City but that too was cancelled. I have travelled to Oklahoma City every year on Christmas... this was a bummer. Anyways, with these things in mind I was told to sleep in (who does that on Christmas) and that we would open presents around 5 when my brother Jacob and his wife came over. I waited all day long to open presents! Oh, and I didn't sleep in. I woke up at 8:00 bright eyed and ready to go!

Although my family and I were not able to follow tradition it was a very peaceful and wonderful Christmas day. I was able to think and relax and do my own thing. It was really nice. I was slightly bored but it really put my mind to rest and the focus wasn't on what am I getting, it was on family and Jesus... which is really what it should be about.

I was listening to Taylor Swift sing, "Silent Night" and I just love her version of it. It's beautiful. The song really fits into the Christmas season. Silent night, Christ our savior is born. Yesterday at the Eve service my pastor said, "Jesus came to bring light into the darkness, that's what CHristmas is about. It's about the light putting out the darkness." I loved how he said it. It really made me think, especially since the sanctuary was filled with candles. A beautiful reminder that God is the light of the world and that we, as his children should shine like stars in the heavens.

So shine on. Peace. Merry Christmas

Wordless Wednesday: Little Debbie

I heart technology...

Can i just say, My blog would be much cooler if I understood technology...

That is all for today :)

Have a lovely few days before Christmas!

Baby Mac

I would like to announce that we have a miracle in my family!!!

My brother and sister-in-law have had complications during their pregnancy and we've all been very nervous about the arrival of "baby mac". You see my sister-in-law is a carrier of Hunter's Disease and her sweet little brother Michael has this disease. I don't really understand what it does to you but basically your muscles deteriorate and your life span is shortened and you live mostly through your youth.

The nerve racking thing about the pregnancy is that if the baby is a boy he has a 50/50 chance of having Hunters disease and if the baby is a girl she will be a carrier.

Well I've been praying for this little baby, and I felt selfish when I was praying so eventually i asked the Holy Spirit to pray for me and I asked the Lord to deliver my brother and his wife a healthy baby.

At 6 o'clock tonight we met my brother and sister in law and they announced to us what "baby mac" is...

A GIRL!!!!! A healthy baby Girl!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord, for a healthy little niece.

I am so excited for this little one to come into the world. I think i'll probably be the coolest aunt ever. I'll teach her my shopping skills, my memorization techniques (because hopefully she'll find her way to Ozark...), and I'll teach her my best jokes :) .

Keep praying for a healthy pregnancy! Baby Mac enters the world the end of may/early june.

The Next Steps

My poor blog gets the shaft. I always update my facebook and twitter but I never update my blog. I'm going to try and keep my life updated on here more. Also, I find it therapeutic to write on this and share life with... well the world.

Firstly, I haven't announced this yet (on the blog) but I was accepted into John Brown's Graduate Program! I am so excited about this. I'm not sure how I'll pay for it yet but where there's a will there's a way!

I really thing grad school will help me with my future plans. I can't wait to one day be able to help support organizations like New Day and/or design programs similar to theirs! I'm also interested in adoption and helping with that so maybe the Masters in Business will help! I sure hope!

Speaking of New Day, I really miss all the kids and all of my Chinese friends and American friends too. I wish I could go back this summer and visit but it's so expensive. My heart is with those kids and people continue to ask me if I'm doing the right thing by not going back and as hard as it is to say I have this definite feeling inside that God has not called me to work at New Day right now. This has been a hard realization for me to come to but I know that God has something in store for me that I probably can't even wrap around my mind (right now).

Probably something so awesome like how God chose to send us a Savior in the form of a baby. I keep thinking about Jesus and how he was born and it's still hard for me to wrap my mind about how humble God's birth was. It's so crazy, it's true love. Oh Christmas! The true meaning is such a beautiful display of God's love. He is wonderful and his plans are... perfect.

Peace on Earth friends,

Kinsey

Wordless Wednesday: Timothy's Smile

Called

Tonight I was reading 1 corinthians when I came across chapter 1 vs 26, which reads, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called..." I stopped, underlined it and reflected back to my first CIY in Gunnison, Colorado. I don't really remember much about that CIY except that I had really been struggling with my faith in the Lord. I wasn't sure if my faith was my own, I didn't know if God existed, I struggled with depression and self confidence. But at this CIY I felt the tug of God on my heart to go into ministry. I remembered going home and telling my mom and she said, "think about it some more, sometimes those events are really emotional" I remember being so upset! (secretly I agree with mom...) So year after year I went to CIY. God really really spoke to me and I felt the tug of full time ministry and my junior year I dedicated my life to full time ministry and eventually ended up at Ozark.

Going back to this verse, "think of what you were when you were called" When I was first called I was 14 years old. I heard the call of God at 14. Does this not sound crazy to anyone else? I still think about the fact that God has called me, just an ordinary, sarcastic, weirdo girl! He has called me, to do the work of the Kingdom. For this I am grateful. The verse continues to say, "Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." I love that last sentence. GOD CHOSE THE WEAK!!!!!! How wonderful to think that God has chosen the weak, the ordinary.

Also, I like to think of my professors and pastors that I admire and I remember that they too were weak and they grew strong in the faith.

So what am I getting at? I'm not sure really... I just keep thinking, "Kinsey, be faithful in the little things and He will guide and use you for more than you can imagine." So I encourage you this week to look at when you were called, who you were, and I ask you to be faithful in the small things.

Oh and pray. God has definitely shown me the importance of prayer this week. He always answers prayer but usually I don't notice, but I'm noticing and it's a pretty amazing thing to check off the old prayer requests and put "praise"...

I leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa, "God did not call us to be successful but to be faithful"

Peace and Love,

Kinsey

Week 1: PDO

Hi Friends! I am greeting you from Indianapolis Indiana! PDO (Pre Departure Orientation) is going really well. My team, Amanda, Katie, and I are doing really well. We've bonded and I know that it's going to be a really great experience. We have connected well and Papa has really blessed me with an amazingly strong team. We leave tuesday super super early for our flight and will arrive in Beijing thursday. It's about 16 hours of travel time from Indianapolis to Newark to Beijing. All of us are very excited because none of us have been to main land China. I can't wait to write you and tell you about what I see and the village that i live in. I know that I am going to be challenged and that Papa is going to change my heart and work and use me to become better and more like him. Know that I am thinking of you daily. I am thankful for you and your support. Please remember that this is a creative access area and that you must be careful when you talk to me. Be aware of this. Thank you all so much!

Love,

Kinsey