Packing Blues

I've decided that packing for a three month trip to the Bahamas is a nearly impossible task. Sigh. I don't know if I have everything I need or not.. I will prolly need things mailed down to me, along with another suit case... sigh. I hope not. Oh well, once we get down there none of that will matter I'm sure. I'm still excited and nothing can take that away!  I ask that you guys be praying for us! For what we do but for our group as well! That we stand united and not divided... I know that one of satan's main strategies is to divide the church... I pray for a unity in the Spirit that gives us the strength to work side by side for these two and a half months! Knowing just a little bit about my God, I know that He is not only more than capable, but He wants the exact same thing. I'm so glad that I can put my trust in Him. I love you all! I'll miss you!

Countdown

Today was our last Sunday before we leave... what a weird thought. It was fun though.. honoring Dave and Heather... I will miss them, although I hope it won't be too long before I see them again! I can't bear to let a whole year go by without seeing Reese!!! Anyway, another good day. Ha, everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited.. I think I'm putting off my excitement until I get there... right now there are a lot of things to finish and accomplish and do in the meantime. Nearly done packing... nearly... I hope I have everything that I need, I don't think I'm packing enough but I am just going to have to deal with it I guess.

Well we have prayer really early tomorrow, have to be at the church at 5:45am and I have to pick someone up beforehand. It's my last one! So sad, and so exciting. I'm about to start an entirely new chapter of my life. No new school year... more like a whole new...well chapter haha. I am so excited! I will miss you all! Those of you who my last time seeing for a while was today :)

To my 8th grade girls starting their first year of high school this year... God is with you! Every single day! Not one day goes by that He forgets or anything... no, you are on His mind every step of the way. Let me encourage you girls to focus on Him! Even a month into the school year when school work starts getting tough or getting into the new school is harder than you think... God has called you girls each by name, He has an AWESOME plan and purpose for your lives and He wants to use each of you in AMAZING ways! Trust Him! With all your hearts trust in Him, and in who He is, what He's done, in His promises and in the Hope that He gives us through His son Jesus Christ. I love you girls! So sorry I won't be there these first few months... but I'll be back, and I want to hear testimonies!

Christ's Kid

I am a daughter of the Most High King... He is awesome and He loves me!! Praise God that I walk in His protection and love. Today, Ali, my cousin and I decided to go visit Hurricane Ridge... I love the penninsula and wanted to see it one last time before we left on our trip. The way up was way relaxed, we are all just talking and having a good time, we turn on the road that takes you up to the ridge and start hitting the curvey roads. Well we didn't even make it to the ranger station when this car heading down the mountain starts to swerve. At first he just jerks slightly to the left and to the right... then it gets more violent and he is more like careening out of control... our relaxed atmosphere is nearly untouched as we all watch this occur in disbelief. Being the driver, I was trying to decide what to do. When it was clear that he was coming for us, I decided to try and pull to the side and get out of his way. No major stress, no increase in speed, no slamming on breaks, I simply pull to the side. The kid pulls a 280/360 in the road and comes up our side, hitting my door. The impact was a lot harder than it felt. No shattering glass, no airbag, no real movement inside the car. Just a bump.

I vaguely heard Tim telling me "alright, let's pull over"... so calm... everything was calm... I was calm... he was calm... Ali was calm. I stop my car, keeping my eye on my rearview mirror, not really sure what to think. A minute or two went by when Ali was finally like "Corinna, are you ok?!" ...I was fine. "I can't believe how calm you are!" she says... I couldn't either once she said that... It didn't really hit me about what had just happened until she asked after my well-being. I get out of the car and the kid does too... he yells "are you guys ok?!" "Yea! Are you ok?!" I yell back. He said he was fine and he had lost control of his steering... he too was in disbelief. He goes on telling us what happened and exclaiming about how he thought he would end up in the trees for sure. Praise God he did not, praise God we did not. Ali told me to take pictures so I was thankful I had my mom's camera and I did... the kid told us his name, said his dad was on his way.. we traded information.. worked everything out... Then we spent three hours up at Hurricane Ridge just basking in God's glory.

It wasn't until we were on our way home that in a moment of silence in our car, Ali, asleep in the back; I turn to Tim and I say "Do you realize that we should be dead right now?" And he just emphasizes his agreement... that impact should have knocked us into the trees. If I would have done ANYTHING else.. we would be seriously injured... If I would have stopped my car, he would have hit us dead on. We barely felt anything and the more we thought about it the more we realized that God's hand had to have been right there... It was amazing.. What an awesome God we serve! I am His daughter and He is watching my  back. I'm not leaving this earth until HE decides haha!! Praise God!!

ALSO!!! MARISSA!!! Now that things are for the most part settled I can say that Marissa is our new addition to our Bahamas trip and I am so excited and so blessed to have her as an added member!!

Here are pictures of skid marks from the other car, and the dent he left in my door!

Possible New Member

I won't say who... but we might have one more person coming.. and I really really really really really hope they can come because it would just be amazing!!! EEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Not Trusting God is a Silly Thing

As usually happens with trips like this, but probably more so in my case since I have a natural tendancy to overanalize... anxieties tend to arise. Thus was my situation much of today. I got really caught up in some worries about the trip and how I would face certain things. It was really cool because it only took a few simple words from a very good friend to simply sink in just a half hour later to help vanquish those squeamish feelings. She simply told me that God had a plan and that whatever His plan was, was awesome... I knew of course, but sometimes it just takes hearing it again... Later I just realized just how silly I was to be anxious. I know so well just how good God is, all the things He has done, all the things He can do. It was so funny because I would argue that I liked where I was I liked the way things were (argue with God)... and He just reminded me through those words that what He has in store is just so much better... I may have been content, but He doesn't want me to be; He wants to open my eyes to the things that He wants to do, He wants me to step out of what is comfortable for me and trust Him imlicitly. He wants to do more for me than I would ever ask Him to do... and not just for me, but as a testimony to who He is... and how can anybody not want that? Anyway, I then realized that not trusting God at that point... was a very silly thing. I am more than excited to see what He has in store and I fully want to walk down with an open heart and open ears that are constantly willing to do what He asks and go where He wants.

On a different note.... I have been.... the BIGGEST scatter brain these past couple days, saying the stupidest,  most embarrassing things... I've been the worst driver, I hit a post TWICE today! That was just not ok... I don't get it but I feel like all of a sudden my head has been screwed on the wrong way and I havn't been able to think straight since. I don't know what it is or when this all started but I don't like it. Today was the most embarrassing day I've had in a long time.

Anyway, I can't wait for this weekend!!

Packing

Packing is a lot harder than one would think... Bahamas for three months.. how much do you bring? I don't want to overpack but I don't want to underpack either... I've never been away for that long. So far about have my closet is trying to stuff itself into one suitcase. I will say that I am very proud of myself for packing so soon.. usually it's not till the night before... But I didn't want to risk forgetting anything.

It's still the beginning of the day so who knows what God has in store! I can't wait! :)

GOT MY PASSPORT!

They got it to me in 24 hours!! So exciting! God is just building onto the excitement for this trip every step that it takes to get to it. More and more I just get really excited to see what He has in store. To see how He wants to use us... Praise God for His goodness!

Still a lot of things to do in preparation for the trip and I have two previous events also taking place this weekend... they are both going to be fun as well, but adding onto my todo list.. Girl's night is on Saturday with the middle schoolers and I can't wait! I know God has good things in store, even for that day!

Bit of bad news.. I have yet ANOTHER cavity.. just found out today.. dentist says we'll take care of it when I get back but I am NOT looking forward to it! haha... it's just a little bummer, God still rocks my world!

Passport Day

Mom and I went downtown today to get my passport taken care of. Praise God it was super easy. After only about a 45 minute wait all together, we got a receipt and were told to go back tomorrow to pick it up! I was so thankful that all of that went just so smoothly. God is so good.

Then after that, mom and I had the oppurtunity to hang out downtown together.. it was exhausting on my part, I don't really have that much stamina, but she enjoyed it :) Working up a lot of excitement for this trip. I pray that God would continue to just move and teach me more about Him. I have a lot of things to get done yet... well more like things I would like to have done before I leave, but there is a very long list!

Otherwise, can't wait!

Trusting God

So this past week at summer camp, God provided me with an awesome opportunity to go on this trip to the Bahamas. In His goodness, He has revealed to me just how much His hand has been in this the entire time. It has truly been an awesome thing to see Him move and to see things fall into place and to have Him show me things that were already in place all for the sake of this trip. God really is a good God, and He really does have everything in His control; in the palm of His hand. My parents were the scariest thing for me to overcome with this trip... presenting it to them, handling their reaction, seeing if they would let me go. God is good. He has done a work in their hearts, as well as mine in our conversations; so that... not only has He gotten them onboard but He has taught the three of us more about Him in the meantime as well!

Now it all comes down to the passport, which I pray God would give me faith to believe that He will come through on this. He has placed these things on my heart, spoken these things into my life and now I am just waiting to see them come into fruition. Either way I hold this up with my hands open saying Lord, do what you will.

Praise God for who He is.