Serving while Searching

This past weekend was a true test for us in many ways. We had the privilege of having a singing engagement at another local church. Anytime we have the opportunity to sing for another congregation, it's always a blessing to us. We love to sing and we love to serve the Lord with the gifts he has given us. However, as usual, there were many roadblocks and areas to stumble.

First, and foremost, we had very little time to practice and prepare for our engagement. This always stresses Randy out and me as well. For some odd reason, I was more stressed than normal this particular weekend. I had trouble sleeping Friday and Saturday nights leading up to our Sunday morning worship. It could have something to do with the fact that I was having difficulty remembering my part for a new song we were trying out on this congregation. Randy informed them all yesterday morning that they were our "Guinea pigs" for that one. Thankfully, the Lord was with us, we had time for a brief run through in the car before service, and things went pretty well all things considered. We've only been practicing it for about 2 weeks or so, and IT'S A CAPELLA with multiple key changes. Stressful!!! The service went well, the songs were well received and the people were so sweet, appreciative and kind to us.


Singing at Faith Fellowship Baptist



A big thank you to Mike and Angie Tyson and Brent and Pennie Terry for an awesome lunch following church, too. They make us feel very loved and special! Thanks guys!

A second, and probably biggest stress factor for me this past week has been the disappearance or non-appearance of Kelsie's passport. She used it in 2009 for her trip to Europe with the ETSU Chorale, but had not used it since. I ASSUMED it was in her room somewhere. Those who know us well will understand why it was assumed it was hiding there! :) Well, my sweet parents were here visiting with us for a few days. I asked my mom to see if she MIGHT be willing to help me look in the "room" for the passport. We spent several hours searching, cleaning, digging through drawers, bags, boxes, suitcases, closets, .....etc, etc., etc.,....you get the idea. All to NO avail. I even put my dad to looking through nightstand drawers, file cabinets. It was a family effort. We still fell short. No passport. It would be $100 to replace the passport plus the processing time.

I had been praying for God to help me KNOW where to look, help me find it Lord, direct my path so that I might know where else to look. Yesterday morning, Randy mentioned during our time of serving at Faith Fellowship Baptist that we were "searching" for a lost passport and for the congregation to pray for us for our trip.

I'm very pleased to report that God is faithful in all things. Even what seems to be the littlest detail, he is still faithful! I found the passport yesterday afternoon around 5:30. It was in the glove box of our Saturn. Apparently, I had the passport, and two birth certificates in an envelope to take to the safety deposit box and something came up and prevented me from going. So, for safe keeping, I placed the envelope in the glove compartment! it was a safe place, indeed. So safe, I completely forgot where I put it. But, thankfully, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is hidden from God.

Today, I'm GOING to the bank, getting that passport, my new passport, and some other important papers IN THE BOX!!!! Thank the Lord for His faithfulness!!!

We covet your prayers in our mission endeavor. Prayer needs specifically for this week:

• Kelsie's job situation-that God would continue to use her at Belk to be a shining light for him, that her boss will be understanding about the 16 days off she will need to go with us to Europe, and that her schedule will be that we can have some practice time.
• Travel while IN Europe....we are still weighing the pros/cons of train travel versus car rental. This includes price issues as well as logistical issues.
• Concert on April 10---pray that it will be successful, that people will come and support us.
• Pray for our fundraising efforts. We are debating sending letters as well as the fundraising concert event. 
• Peace, peace, peace, for me especially since we are taking all 3 children and the world is in turmoil all around Eastern Europe.
• A way to get the boys more involved in the planning and preparation so they feel more a part of the trip.

Thank you all for reading my long entry.....We covet your prayers and value our friends!
Kim

Mount up on - Plane Wings

It's official. 

Plane tickets are purchased.  We are now fully committed and Ready to Fly.

Ok, so maybe we aren't completely ready to Fly Away (at least to Europe) but this was a major milestone for us in a scary/exciting way.  Bought 5 tickets to Eastern Europe with a piece of plastic (technically with numbers, plastic is for show) and we're not looking back.  That almost sounds like one of those songs that what's-her-name sings ..... Battistelli (thank you google).

Getting our flights and dates set is really a relief and an answered prayer in many ways.  While I don't have a budget for the trip per se, I was expecting tickets to cost circa $7,500 or so and AAA was able to beat that significantly.  I was also struggling to fit all of our activities into a 14 day window.  Instead we now have 16 days due to ticket pricing.

A big shout out to Julie Taylor at AAA for her help yesterday.   JULIE TAYLOR!

On to the details.

We will be flying out of TRI on July 19th, arriving in Budapest on July 20th.

Our return flight leaves Budapest on August 4th.

So now all we have to do is work out a few not-so-minor details for the time between July 20th and August 4 - like how many days we'll be in Croatia versus Romania, how to cram 5 people and luggage into a small European car, or purchase train tickets, or how to get from the train station to our final destination, or what nights we need hotel rooms, developing evening ministry opportunities, what songs to learn, what songs to NOT learn ...

Did I say we need prayer?

The details can be overwhelming.  However, through it all (another song) we can see God's hand at work directing our plans and preparing the way for us.  That knowledge, above all else, is enough.

Planning, Planning, and more Planning

Last night Kim and I went over to the Tennents house to continue planning the mission trip with Ed and Ivonne Tennent. Can you say peach cobbler? Yep, I thought so.

Daniel really, really wanted to go with us to help plan. He's incredibly excited to be visiting his native country for the first time and wants to give back all he can to the kids in Romania. Being narrow-minded parents, however, we though homework and bed were a priority.

So we got there around 7 pm. An hour later (and several hundred calories) we dug into travel planning.

Our intent last night was to set travel dates and book tickets. From that perspective the night was a failure. But (ah, yes, the ever-present but) we did get many things accomplished. And one might argue that they were every bit as important as bookings and such. I must continually remind myself that God knows what we need, when we need it, and He will provide!

It was a pleasure to spend the evening with Ed and Ivonne. While acquainted to some extent, Kim and I haven't had the opportunity to really sit down and talk with the Tennents before last night. We got along fabulously (no, that's not the cobbler talking) and are even more excited about sharing a good part of our mission journey with them.

Did I say we're excited? Excited and nervous, nervous and excited.

Still planning ...