Prep for Kenya

Wow what a whirldwind of a week. Got everything done except cleaning the house. I did a little organizing but when I realized I couldn't find my passport I panicked.  I began crying and making funny noises like I normally do when I cry.  The dogs were trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head at that point. Was I supposed to go in the first place? What about all that money I raised?  Was Satan trying to mess with me?   I was so embarrassed. I looked everywhere. In the back of my mind I was thinking about the day I cleaned and had a lot of trash but I just knew it wasn't in there.

So I got desperate. I knifed the underneath of my couch...nothing.  I couldn't think of anywhere else to look.  That's when I prayed. God led me back to the trash.

Humbly, I sat on the floor, still crying.  With a new trash bag, I ripped open the old trash bag. I only had to take a couple things out and there I saw it. It was laying inside a box; untouched.  Then I cried even harder because I was reminded of how awesome God is.

We are now on our way. It's about a two hour drive to Lambert in STL.  We are flying from St. Louis to D.C. then to Zurich. The last stop will be Nairobi. A lot of flight time but still better than going to China!  It will be about 17-18 hours in the air. We will have a decent car trip to our final destination. I'm not 100% but it might be 2 hours.

So this is it!  My journey has begun. I am so anxious and nervous and scared but I know that God has a plan and I am giving it to Him.  I am giving Him the reigns.

Sooooo close...

So here it is; the Thursday before I leave for Kenya. I am stressed to the max and continuously forgetting things. Honestly, I cannot wait to be on that plane Mon so I can quit worrying about everything. Once I am boarded, then there is no turning back.

This week I have been trying to finish up all the shopping for the crafts. I have been partered with a young lady, named Ashley, to lead the kids in crafts.  We are planning to make mosaics, suncatchers, pennants, and crowns with the kids. Having a limited budget and making sure you have all the materials and enough of them can be pretty stressful. I am so excited to be doing this though, and am enjoying planning it out.

I still have a million things that I need to shop for personally and will be making a list today to shop for hopefully after work tonight.

Time has been the hardest part of getting ready. I have a highly demanding job as an ultrasound tech and we work until 5 which is usually when all the important offices close. I have been taking longer lunches trying to get paperwork and such mailed like my passport and taking days off to get vaccines. After work I am always involved in one or two ministries or bible studies a night. Yes...I keep myself busy for a reason.

On top of a normal work week, I have been helping the ultrasound dept at the hospital on the weekends since Feb. I have taken a lot of call but have made a lot of overtime and it paid some bills off as well as helped fund my trip.  I will be glad to be done with 7 day work weeks!

This week started with my cat having to have surgery. I noticed on Sunday that her ear was drooping and when I checked it it was very swollen.  After Googling it, I found that she more than likely had a hematoma from scratching or shaking her head. Now I will be honest, I haven't been home a whole lot but I never noticed her messing with her ears.  So I called the vet Mon and got her in Tues.  The vet said she needed to stay overnight and they would do surgery to drain her ear and that she had a bad case of ear mites.  I felt like a bad momma. Thank you to my mom for taking her for me.

Tuesday was another busy day at work but it was the afternoon that became hard. I had to miss singing with the band at Celebrate Recovery. I hate missing. I love doing it every week.  Instead, I did some shopping and while I was stressing out about what to do with this one craft I developed a migraine. It wasn't really bad until I got home. But before I could go home I had volunteered with my Life Group from church to go the the local retirement home and play Bingo with the residents. It was so much fun. I think we are doing it again in July. I hope I'm back for it.

After that I decided to go to find some jeans. I only have one pair now and it is wearing out now also.  I am really bad about clothing shopping. I don't like doing it!  I hate trying stuff on and I hate spending the money. But after I had to throw a pair in the scrap material and the other pair being too big, I decided I needed to get another pair. So I currently have 2 pairs of jeans. Woo hoo!

By the time I got home my head was pounding. I went to bed pretty early that night.

When I woke up Wed I thought the migraine would be gone but no, it remained.  It was full on and by the end of the day I was crying and holding my temples. But I couldn't stop. I had to go home and pay the neighbor boy for mowing and trimming my trees, let the dogs out and hold my baby girl who now looks like a robot kitty.

Sunday morning is our Patriotic Service and I have missed 2 weeks of choir practice so I couldn't miss it last night. I suffered through it and actually started to feel better until I was on my way home. My phone started blowing up with tornado warnings. Freaking out I raced to get home. Then when I got home I stayed outside watching it the whole time. Ha!  I can't just sit in my basement waiting for something to happen. I have to be seeing what is going on. 

After the huge swirly funnel cloud passed over my house I jumped in the car and ran to my sister's house where my mom is taking care of the kids while they are in China adopting my new niece Maeryn. My washer and dryer are not working correctly so I can't use them and have been doing laundry away from home for over a month now. It stinks. Hopefully when I get back from Kenya I can buy a set and get back to normal life. Lol

So back to today...my migraine is almost gone.  I have a couple things to buy for crafts and I need to shop for myself. At lunch I am gonna get my Hep A and Meningitis vaccines. I still need to get the specific cash needed for travel and I keep forgetting to take my typhoid pills. I'm not a good pill popper. Lol!  I still need to clean my house and make sure everything is secure there with my babies.

So little time and so much to do.  And I will NOT miss out on visiting with Maeryn when she comes home. So if I dont get everything done then so be it, right?  Ugh. I wish I could convince myself that.

He Can Work It Out

So I'm getting down to the crunch for my first deadline.  I still don't know how much I have in donations. I am trying my hardest to stop worrying and let God do His thing. Its my human nature getting in the way. The anxiety is about to kill me.

I really know in my heart that I am supposed to go on this trip. It's something that has been working in me since I moved down here. I love Lynwood and I love that they are so mission- minded.  It's more normal to go in mission trips than to not. LOL.

The first week I went to church here I was inspired and motivated. I knew I was gonna go one day but didn't know when.

As the time has gone by I have dug into the word and studied it.  I crave for more and more every day learning so much as I go. There is so much there that I was never taught.

I then decided to start attending a bible study on Jonah with an awesome group of women who were on fire for the Lord after finishing a 6 week bible study on James that took them 8 months to do.  I was so uplifted that first night. It was amazing. While getting into Jonah I realized that God was calling me to my own Nineveh. This was to go on a mission trip. I struggled with where to go and which mission I was supposed to do. I really wanted to do an ultrasound mission but couldn't find anything that I was comfortable with going alone. Then finally it hit me with this Kenya trip. I would be going with people that I know well and knew more about this mission and what they had done in the past.

Once the decision was made, I haven't even thought about other missions.  I was invited to dinner at a Josh and Tammy's. Josh is going this year and went last years as well. Kendra is another person going again this year that went last year. She and Josh spent most of the night sharing pictures and stories about their trip and telling me about all the people I will get to meet. When I left that night there was no doubt in my mind that I was going on this trip.

So here I am with my heart full and waiting for God to answer my prayers and transfer His money to my need. Hopefully I will hear something soon.

Thank you for your prayers.

Mission trip to Kenya

Dear Friends and Family,

Some of you already know that I am going on a mission trip to Kenya this July.  Mission work is something I have always wanted to do since high school.  I was never able to due to different reasons but I now know that I was not ready and God was not calling me to do so until now.  The last two years God has been speaking to my heart and the passion for mission work has increased greatly.  I tried to come up with excuses for not going.  It was when I started a bible study on Jonah with a great group of faithful women, that I realized that this was my Nineveh!  God wanted me to go to Kenya to teach these children about Him and show them the love they might not receive from others.  My heart is so full these days and I know that this is what He is calling me to do.

In order to go on this mission trip, I will need to raise money.  The cost of the trip will be $3,650.  We will be flying to Kenya on July 1, 2013 and will return July 14, 2013.  If you want to learn more about it or the ministry, please visit www.heartofhebride.org.

 

If you feel you are in a position to support me financially, know that the bulk of this amount ($2,200) is for my airfare and is due by April 1, 2013.  The remainder of the support is due May 31, 2013.  I would like your prayer support above all else as I prepare for the trip and while I am abroad.  

 

Here are some specific ways you can pray for the team and me:

            That we all will remain healthy until we travel and during our visit there

            For safe travel and safety while in Kenya

            That our hearts will be open and allow God to use us

 

If you would like to financially support this trip, you can mail a check to:

 

Heart of the Bride Ministries

P.O.Box 786

Niceville, Florida 32588

 

                                                                             

Checks should be made out to Heart of the Bride Ministries accompanied by a note designating the check to Catherine Chandonait for Kenya STM Mission Trip. You may also go to www.heartofthebride.org/donate-missiontrips to donate.  Here you will use my name as the team member and choose Kenya STM Mission Trip.  This must be done so that I receive the donation toward my trip.  All financial donations are tax deductible and you will receive a donation statement at the end of the year.

 

Thank you for your love and support in Christ,

 

Catherine Chandonait

 

"According to the IRS rules regarding tax deductable contributions, your gifts to support your name here are not given to an individual but to the ministry of Heart of the Bride, Inc.  The funds, therefore, are in the control of the Heart of the Bride Board of Directors.  Note, however, that Heart of the Bride Ministries will make every effort to honor your designated gift to support your name in her ministry commitment."

My Love For Food

I am in love with food. There isn't much that I won't eat. I eat when I am stressed or depressed and I eat when I am happy and content.  It's been an ongoing battle for me since I was just a little girl.

Most of my adult life I have been overweight and lately I am at my most unhealthy. I'm actually pretty scared about it. Things are happening to me that prove to me just how bad it is.

Last week I went for a walk with Rusty in the park and the next morning I was in so much pain. I thought I had fractured my foot. X-ray showed only inflammed and swollen tissue.

This week I am battling the edema in my legs. The pitting is gross. I am very sensitive to sodium. I'm also just feeling really tired and sick to my stomach.

I know what I need to do. I used to have a personal trainer. It's just getting started. I just really have No desire to do anything. I get home from work and I just want to sleep.The insanity has to stop!

I know that a lot of my issues are my depression.  It is constantly in control of my thoughts, actions and behaviors.  I thought I had finally found something that worked but the insurance rejected the prescription and I can't afford paying over $100 per month to continue on them.  I hope that going back to what I was taking before won't set me back any. I have been feeling better the last couple of weeks.

This is definitely something I should be giving to God. I know that he is in control and will guide me through but it's so hard letting go.

Please pray that I will find my strength in God and will overcome all of this. It is much appreciated.

Here are the the lyrics to a song that we sang at church Sunday and I truly believe He is my Healer.

You hold my every moment.
You calm my raging seas.
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease.

I trust in You.
I trust in You.

I believe You're my Healer.
I believe You are all I need.
I believe You're my Portion.
I believe You're more than enough for me.
Jesus You're all I need.

Nothing is impossible for You. Nothing is impossible for You. Nothing is impossible for You.
You hold my world in Your hands

One more blessing

I got a new car!!!!!!!!!  It's gently used but I love it. I have wanted a Scion Xb since they came out and now I finally have one.

I hadn't planned on buying one this close to buying my house but I really didn't have a choice.  The car I have been driving has had the check engine light on for well over a week now. The hydrolic pump is not working.  I don't have the money to replace it and there is a chance it is the one behind the transmission. That will cost a fortune.

The car really isn't mine. Mom and dad let me borrow it when my own car was totaled a year ago. Well I was gonna buy it from them but this will lead to a whole other story about me. Let's just say that I was way in debt and was trying to get myself back on my feet and in this house.  So since I couldn't afford to buy it from them and fix it I went on the car hunt.

God has truly blessed me this last year. I have a good job and I love the people I work with. I am actually appreciated there which I can't say I was at my old job. I have a house that is perfect for me and I love it. I now have an awesome car.  I have my babies back at home with me...my pets. And let's not forget that I live less than 10 min from my sister and her family. This is something I have wanted for several years.

I am so thankful that God doesn't forget about you when you become lost.  He leads you back to where you belong.  You just have to find him again and listen.

One day I will share my journey from the last two years but it will take a while to write and again I am up when I should be sleeping.

Here are some pics of my new ride.

Long Overdue

Wow! So, I totally had a lot happen since I wanted to start this blog.  Now I am officially starting.  I have a new computer and I have my Internet all set up.  It is really late right now so I won't be able to update you all with life but I plan to tomorrow night.  One major thing that has happened recently is the purchase of my house.  I love my 1940-built house.  So much character.  Dad has done a lot for me since I moved in a month ago and it looks great!  I'll post some pics once I get some taken.  I have before pics from the previous owner so everyone can see the difference.  The pics here are just of the front of the house.  Before the shutters were black and the front door was just a wood door.  Now the shutters, front door, garage door and side door and my back door are all kelly green which matches my living room walls.  Yes, when you see the pics of my house, you will realize how much I love green.  I have always loved green; different shades at different ages but it's always been green.  Well, I'm not a fan of hunter green but all other shades.  My taste is definitely different from the previous owners.  Course, the truth be known, they just didn't like the house and didn't do anything with it.  Anyway, since it is 3AM, I will be signing off until tomorrow night.  Can't wait to fill these pages with my thoughts, hopes, rants, raves and life events.  Hope you all enjoy!  God Bless!