Isaiah 42:16...I will make darkness into light before them...these are the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone.

A few months ago, my mom took my resume to Kazakhstan International School (KIS). She had asked if I wanted to apply there, and trying to keep allmy options open I thought it would be a good idea. I was not seriously thinking that I would really get the job or really move back there. A few weeks later I received an email from the school offering me a position there.

Meanwhile, I had gone for a few other interviews with different schools, even had a couple job offers, but through one thing or another things kept falling through or the Lord just didn't give me a peace about it. I remembered the job in KZ and so I started corresponding with a lady who works with the school and the principal. After asking millions of questions, and very prayerfully considering this position for about a month, I decided to take the job. However, I asked if I could only sign a one year contract. I got a reply saying that with a one year contract they would not pay for my airfare to get to Kazakhstan this summer and return to the States next summer. I had not realized this stipulation previously, and therefore asked for a little more time to think and pray about it. I spent a few days praying even more, and seeking even more counsel, and still felt like the Lord wanted me to be in KZ. I felt peace with signing a two year contract and seeing how year one played out. However, I got an email from the principal saying that she and her vice principal had been discussing it and praying about it, and felt that they didn't want to lose me over a plane ticket, and were willing to make an exception!!! WOW! If that was not a clear answer from God, I don't know what is!

So, I am moving to Kazakhstan! I do not have a departure date yet; we are waiting for my letter of invitation from the government. However, my prayer is that I can leave in the next three weeks.

I will be teaching 2nd grade. The school is paying for my housing costs so I will be living in an apartment with another teacher. I will be in the same city with my parents and brother, so I will get to see them frequently! I am so excited that the Lord has so graciously led me to this place. I have to admit, I didn't think I would ever be living in Kazakhstan again, but I know without any doubt that this is exactly where God wants me! I am looking forward to learning what it's like to be an adult overseas. I'm looking forward to teaching, to loving on kids who I can truly relate to, to being home, to seeing Michael play sports, to spending time with my parents again, to really having a place where I can invest my life, and to glorifying God in the center of His will!!!

Please be praying that I can get my visa and get to Kazakhstan in the next three weeks! AJ is there right now and I want to get some good time with just our family before she comes back to the US. Pray that my goodbyes would go well!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for God's direction to be made clear. He has, once again, fulfilled His promise in Isaiah 42:16! I am so excited to see all the He has in store!

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"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14

SMILE =+)

I know it's cheesy, but this song just makes me smile=+)

You´re better then the best
I´m lucky just to linger in your life
Cooler then the flip side of my pillow that´s right
Completely unaware
Nothing can compare to where you send me
Lets me know that it´s ok yeah it´s ok
And the moments when my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed
Sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

Even when you´re gone
Somehow you come along
Just like a flower poking through the sidewalk crack and just like that
You steal away the rain and just like that

Don´t know how I lived without you
Cuz everytime that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes
You make me smile
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed
sing like bird
Dizzy in my head
spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

A Day in DC

A few weeks ago I went on a trip to Virginia with Anna to visit Lauren Nest! While we were there, Anna and I made a little trip to Washington D.C. for the day. We spent the entire day walking around the Mall seeing, literally, all the memorials. We were having a great time. Our feet were killing us, but we had so much fun!

About 5:15 pm we start heading back to the parking garage to go meet Ronke for dinner. On our way back I get a phone call from my mom on the other side of the world asking if I could try to go to the KZ embassy to pick up my sister's passport. She thought it would be open until six, so of course I said we would try! We get back to the parking garage (which I wasn't totally confident we were allowed to park in). I, for some reason, looked at my tires and noticed the back, driver side tire to be significantly deflated. However, we did not have time to change the tire, we had to make it to that embassy before six. We got in the car, found our way out of the parking garage, paid the nice man way too much money for a parking space, and by 5:40, with full determination to get to that embassy I pull out of the garage and hit a very ill placed, bright yellow pole! The pole ripped the passenger side mirror completely off my car. The mirror was hanging on by a wire. We quickly roll the window down and pull the mirror inside the car, so at least it's not flapping around. So here we are....downtown Washington D.C., in the middle of rush hour traffic, with a flat tire, and the window rolled down with a mirror hanging on by a wire laying inside the car, trying to make it to an embassy by 6:00pm. When we are about 2 and 1/2 blocks away, the clock hits 5:52. There is no way I'm not going to give it all I have to get that passport. I grab my wallet jump out of the car and start running through downtown D.C. during rush hour. Oh...the closest I will come to a movie scene. Running down the sidewalk yelling "excuse me" to anyone in my way. I get to the embassy at 5:59....they were closed. Had been closed for an hour........but the story doesn't end there.....not hardly....

Meanwhile, Anna is driving around in my flat tired car trying to find a parking place to change the tire (in downtown DC during the middle of rush hour). She finds a place half way in a parking spot about a block and a half from where I am. However, my friend that we were meeting for dinner, Ronke, is coming to find us to help us out (obviously dinner is postponed). Ronke finds me and we go find Anna. Thankfully we were right next to an apartment complex. We backed the car into the little drive way and got ready to change the tire. Thankfully, again, I had experience in changing tires and was ready for action!!!!

However, just as I get the car jacked up, a homeless man comes by and takes over (apparently I was not doing it to his satisfaction). He changed my tire in record time, while Ronke went and borrowed duck tape from the concierge of the apartments to tape my mirror back on.

So....our day in DC ended with a donut tire on my car (with the help of a homeless man), a duck taped, passenger side mirror, and two very tired girls! But thankfully, during the incident, while there was a tear or two shed and some, perhaps, unnecessary remarks, I remembered the wise words of my mother, "If you can laugh about it later, you might as well laugh about it now."

...seek first the kingdom of God...

not being able to sleep is possibly one of the most frustrating feelings in the world! My thoughts don't seem to slow down lately. There is always so much on my mind. Searching and begging God for continued guidance on the next steps in my life really have consumed me. When that is not the point. The point of my petty existence is to bring Him glory!!! To KNOW Him and make Him known! I have to KNOW Him first! He does confirm and guide in His perfect timing! And i truly believe He is guiding me!

It's hard when I feel so confident about a decision one way and then I realize the realities of that decision. Some of those things are hard. Some of those sacrifices are very hard to make. It's not going to be comfortable. But more than all of that, I want to be in the center of His will. However, I was reminded last week that God's will is not just a tight rope that if we make a wrong a move, or take the slightest wrong step we fall out of His grace. NOT AT ALL!!!! His will is more like a valley. We are free to wander around and explore and enjoy the many blessings He gives us. And He does often give us an option. He gives us choices. The choices all being good options. In this case, I search out my heart, my status, my responsibilities that I have been entrusted with, and most importantly, I search out the desires of my heart. The desires that God has given me. Based on that, I choose. He has given me options so that I can be confident that whatever I chose will be what I am convinced of...it won't just be a "that-was-my-only-option" decision.

But in ALL of that, the FIRST thing I must do, is love my Lord. Rest in His embrace. Listen to His gentle words.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33