Meet the Girls

I'd like you to meet some of the key people in my life right now... Abby and Charis! If you have ever read Beverly Cleary's books about Ramona and Beezus you know a little bit about these girls. :-)

Abby is my Beezus. She is 12 years old and is very helpful and dependable. The fashionista of the family she is always dressed very stylishly. If I need help with my outfit I go to her. She can have a lot of fun also and her laugh is simply marvelous. Her dancing is superb and I have enjoyed watching her do so many times. I simply love being with this cool chick. I honestly don't know what I would do without my Abby.

Charis just like Ramona Quimby lives life with reckless abandon. This little one acts much older than her 7 years on account of being 4 years younger than her next sibling. She is quite funny and knows it too. The imagination this child has is limitless and gets her into some scrapes along the way as well. She makes friends easily and is playing with some child or another. She makes me laugh so often by just being her. I can easily say that life would be a whole lot duller without Charis.

So now you know a little bit about the little girls I am watching. I will put a post up about the boys as soon as I can get good pics of them (which if I'm not mistaken will prove to be a challenge)

One more thing... If any of you could spare a minute to pray for protection around the kids I know Aunt Sarah and Uncle Kevin would appreciate it. Every single day at least one of the kids has gotten hurt rather badly. One day Isaac fell out of a hammock that was pretty high up in a tree and hurt his arm; another day Charis twisted her knee; and yet another day a big piece of plastic fell on Abby's foot and cut it real bad and so on and so forth. The kids just need extra prayer protection right now and I know so many of you are praying for me and thought you wouldn't mind adding on the K kids. Thank you all who have been praying for my I appreciate it so much! Until next time,

Rachel

Around the Campus

The other day I walked around campus with Charis taking pictures and I thougt I'd share them with you all. Enjoy!!

This playground is right across from our room

Charis and a table right around the corner of our building


The campus pool, the kids have been swimming here almost every day (it's bigger than it looks)

The food court where we eat all of our meals


A tree fort that the kids love. It's pretty awesome

Charis in front of The Plaza of the Nations
The view from a parking lot. (yes that is the ocean!!!)


This is what happens when you're as big as Uncle Kevin and you lean back to catch a dodgeball... (yes the legs are broken off the back side of the chair!)

I hope to post again soon and introduce the kids to you all! Till then!!

Rachel

The Flight

Hey! Sorry about not posting since I got here I've been wiped! Jet lag is no fun let me tell you. I thought I'd do a post about the flights for now and then later do a post about Hawaii.

We left home Wednesday afternoon last week to meet the K's at the hotel as the plane left at 7:30 in the morning the next day. We got to the hotel around 4:30 just after the K's got there we exchanged hugs all around and got settled into our rooms. Mom, Dad and Ben were in 1 room, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Keven, Caleb, and Isaac were in another, and Beka, Abby, Charis, and I were in the last room. We spent the evening just hanging around talking, watching a movie, creating costumes from the top sheet on the hotel bed, and in Charis's case jumping on the beds.

Abby sitting in our hotel room just chillin

Charis on the bed having just jumped on it

The next morning we got up at o'dark thirty (10 till 4) to catch the 4:30 shuttle to the airport. We made it down there and the shuttle took us over to the airport. It was still dark and man was it cold. We got in line to check our bags. You should have seen the number of bags we brought. There were 2 for each of us and 7 of us traveling. It took us a while to check our bags and then it was time to say good bye to my family. I have to be honest it was harder than I thought it was going to be. My mom and sister and even my dad were crying and I was a little too. It wasn't till I we went through security that I felt completely OK. We then sat around our gate waiting for the time to load. We ate some breakfast and just chilled. The first flight was only around 3 hours so it wasn't too bad. Charis was my seatmate and the boys were behind us with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Kevin and Abby next to us.

The view from our window.

My little seatmate


The good lookin gang in the row next us

The boys behind us playing on their nooks

This poor man was so squished he couldn't put the laptop on the tray

We arrived in Texas and went into a room with seats so we could just gather information. The kids were charging their nooks and just running around. I looked and saw Charis doing this

I laughed and said something about how great it was to be 7. Charis said back to me "Rachel, you should be seven. Cause it's the life."
Yep, I'd say so.

We made it to our gate and the flight was delayed so we were sitting around. We went and bought some wraps and then boarded the plane for the long flight. It was a very, very, very long flight. I afraid I didn't take any pictures. Finally we made it too Honolulu, and took a short connecting flight to Kona. By this time it's like 2 in the morning our time. I was so exhausted. It was one of those times I felt like I was in a dream. It really didn't seem real I was in Hawaii. We were greeted by Aunt Sarah's parents and sister who are working in the same crossroad that they are. We made home and collapsed. We have been having a marvelous time and some time soon I will post about the campus and Hawaii in general.

Till then!

~ Rachel

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving and as I was sitting at the dinner table surrounded by my family and friends I was struck by how much I have to be thankful for...
An abundance of great food...

More desserts than you can shake a stick at.

The best company anyone could ask for.
The gift of laughter

and we laughed a lot that night

Yep I've got so much to be thankful for and I haven't even scratched the surface. But as I was thinking of all the things I have to be thankful for I was thinking of the children who have next to nothing to be thankful for.This is Alina. She is a bright, active 7 year old with a endless imagination. She's somewhat of a tomboy and prefers playing with cars than dolls. Now she may seem like an ordinary little girl but she's far from that; she's an orphan in Russia. Orphans in Russia live in orphanages where more likely than not the care is very bad.She is growing up without any love or proper care. When she turns 16 she will be sent out of the orphanage with nothing to support her. Her future is bleak. She truly has next to nothing to be thankful for. She is listed on a orphan advocacy site called Reeces Rainbows. I have signed up to be her prayer warrior. A prayer warrior prays for their child every day that a family will come and find her. Will you join me in praying that a family will find her quickly? Will you join me in asking our heavenly Father that next Thanksgiving she will truly have something to be thankful for? If you would like more information about her you can go to this link. http://reecesrainbow.org/11876/alina-b-15 Thank you all.
Rachel

Hawaii in a nutshell

Hi! I hope you are enjoying this crisp fall weather. This fall finds me rather busy getting ready for a huge adventure in my life. As most of you know I’m going to Hawaii!!! Of course not for a vacation but to be a volunteer at a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) Crossroads Discipleship Training School (CDTS).

My main job there will be as a nanny for very dear friends of ours from NY, the Keparutis’s. They have four great kids, ages 7 to 13 that are like cousins to me. Mr. & Mrs. Keparutis will be volunteer staff at the CDTS. We will be arriving one month before classes begin for training. The school itself will be from the beginning of January to the end of March.

For those of you not familiar with Crossroads it has a twelve-week lecture phase, taking place in Hawaii, and is followed by an eight-week field assignment. The Keparutis’s will be leading their group to Israel. The school’s focus is spiritual renewal and knowing God more intimately. I am going to be a nanny for the kids during the lecture phase and am praying about joining them in Israel.

I would really appreciate your prayers as I take this big step in my life. Some of the things you can pray for are:

- The flight out December 1st would go smoothly and safely

- As a homeschooler I’ve never been away from home much so would you please pray I won’t be too homesick.

- That I would be filled with love and patience as I care for the Keparutis kids.

- That God would use this Crossroads for His glory

- Wisdom for me as I pray about going to Israel with the Keparutis’ and the funding to pay for the trip if I do decide to go.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my plans. May God bless you this coming winter and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

10 days

It's 10 days before I leave for Hawaii. The fact that I'm using days to count down when I'm leaving, as opposed to weeks or months, makes that day seem incredibly close, that and the fact that I said good-bye to most of my friends last night. It will be completely different from the safe little life I know here. I have a feeling that my world will be getting a whole lot bigger very fast. I'm starting this blog to have an easy way to communicate to my friends back home; let them know what's going on and post pics of stuff around Hawaii. I can't think of a good way to close this post so I'm just going to close and write more tomorrow.