On our way

530am kci 

Dallas airport

10:18am. We have just been seated on the plane from Dallas to Seoul. All is well. We can feel the prayers and blessings of everyone. We have now been awake for 9 hours after sleeping about three hours. The drive and flight to Dallas we're pleasant and uneventful. Deb and I have chatted almost the entire way. We had a nice breakfast at tgi Fridays.  Getting ready to get some pillow time. We have been seated where we have some space and across from each other. 6834 miles to Seoul, 14 hours. 

There is quiet piano music playing  in the background and I noticed it is a hymn!  Jesus Jesus how I trust you....

Halfway through the 14 hour flight...

I have watched a movie, slept quite a bit curled up across two chairs, read my kindle, eaten dinner and now a snack, read my Bible, prayed, and did some prep for the upcoming volunteer training when we get home. I have no real idea what day and time it is but I think it is about. 630 pm at home. Doing well. God is good. 

4 hours 42 minutes to go. Watching a good movie. This is not unbearable but 14 hours is a long time. Pretty sure I have an eye infection. 

? Time? Seoul Korea airport.  We have no idea what time it is. We feel mostly rested and very well fed. Just looked around in some of the shops but the prices are super high. The shops are high end like Gucci.... The airport is beautiful. A procession of traditional dressed people went by with music playing followed by police. They had a sign that said Royal Family Walking. 

We stopped and listened to a youth string ensemble for a few minutes. 

We board soon for the six hour flight to Phnom Penh. Almost there!

We have arrived!  Customs visa immigration and a short tuk tuk ride and we are in our hotel room!

Prayed Up

We got commissioned this morning, then TRU prayed for us tonight.  Two days of work and TRU Connect group and off we go!

I love TRU church at our house!  

Are You Ready?

Are you ready to go with me to Cambodia?  Remember, you are going with me!  I will feel your prayers and blog with pictures so that you can experience it with me.  Not everyone can pick up and go but it takes a team to go on a trip.  I couldn't do it without the support of each of you.  At this moment, we leave in 3 days!

It is Saturday.  I am excited.  The nerves are going away as the details are getting taken care of.  Not really nerves, just a preoccupied mind.  I purposefully left this weekend free so I could pack and relax and get ready.  I say free, however, I am spending much of today with Adelle, helping her Mom fill out the fafsa, get commissioned at both services tomorrow, TRU Sunday school, a haircut, and TRU church here tomorrow night with 40 or so people:).  But I did spend last night snoozing on the couch in my grubby clothes after a great workout and had a good night sleep.  My to do list is steadily getting knocked out.

And the packing is almost done other than last minute things.

So get excited!  It'll be time to leave very soon!

This Week

Monday He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together.  

Tuesday Love does no harm to a neighbor.  I had a really hard day at work.  I did so much social work I was worn out before 10am.  Crying people, mean people, an angry parent who fried me in a meeting, a lecture from a psychiatrist.....  Super hard day.  Then a lovely meal and Bible study with TRU Connect family.  And a half inch of snow.

Wednesday morning I needed an attitude adjustment and God gave me Phil 4:8 Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  I reviewed all that is true and noble and right....in my life.  It really helped.  

On Wednesday night and Thursday morning I struggled with a huge lack of motivation and enthusiasm.  God said Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for The Lord, and not for human masters.... And my Bible study lesson was about God's plans and not our own.  Our plans will fail. It is God who does the work.  I really needed that for Homestead.

Thursday God also showed me that I am not as busy as I think I am.  I wanted to meet with Deb, needed to, but when I look at my calendar, I couldn't see when it could happen.  As soon as God showed me that, a clear and perfect time to meet opened up and we spent two hours together praying and talking about the trip and some tough Homestead stuff.  

On Friday morning God helped me get some perspective on some tough Homestead decisions.  I was my normal, peppy self.

I have been emptied and filled every day this week and was able to allow God to do so many great things for people through me.  I was able to model Christ in unique Diane fashion this week.  Thank you, Jesus.

Cambodia

We leave in 13 days!  It is really starting to hit me, we are doing this!

Prayer requests are for final preparations, packing, sustained health, Spiritual protection.

Deb and I met tonight to discuss some of the above.  We are excited and expectant about this trip.  We know that our hopes are to bless Angela and to encourage her, learn from her, pray for her and for the staff and the girls, carry her prayer requests back with us, bless her, but beyond that, God has not yet revealed to us.  But we trust Him and we know that this trip is His, He has orchestrated this and He will use us mightily in is to accomplish His purpose.  We know we will also be be changed.  We know that He will also bless everyone who is supporting us through their finances and prayers.

Excitement!  Yes, a little nervous too, but lots of trust and expectancy.

God is so Good

Two weeks ago I blogged about trusting God with all the many things going on in my life.  I included verses about casting anxiety on God.  I called the entry Good Stress and Prayer.

The next day at Sunday school, Pastor Dave talked to us about starting a revival in each of us.  He had us raise our hands, mostly, I think to get people out of our comfort zones.  He said it wasn't really about raising our hands, but about full surrender to God.  He went on to use a visual of a person who puts their hands partway up or putting only one hand up.  I started just sobbing as I realized that's me!   I trust God, but I hang onto the things that I am supposedly trusting Him for.  I was just wrecked.  How many times do I need to learn this lesson before I stop doing this?  That night, my TRU group laid hands on me and prayed for me.

The following Tuesday, as I was helping some TRU friends through a crisis and waiting for one to give him a ride, I read something in a Christian magazine that said to truly pray powerfully, we need to stop telling God how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our God is.  Wow, that really resonated with me.  Telling God how big problems are is exactly how I pray.

Last night as I did the lesson to prepare for our TRU connection group, I was reading about Moses.  The lesson said that God revealed His holiness, His power, His name, and His purpose to keep His promises to Moses.  Moses had to come to a place where he believed that God could do what He said He would do.  It said that God does extraordinary things through ordinary people because of their extraordinary relationship with Him.  All we need to do is be wholly consecrated to Him.  

This morning I looked up consecrated in the dictionary.  It means sacred, dedicated, honored, devoted, changed.  Yes, Lord, this is what I want to be.

My good stress list?  Almost completely answered.  Hannah is back in the states safely.  Leah and Scott and I agreed on a doable budget for the wedding.  And she got a teaching job for fall!  The Cambodia trip is fully funded ( and two somewhat stressful activities planned have been changed).  I had a wonderful trip to Key West with my Mom with both of us healthy and no bad weather and smooth travel both directions.  Adelle's mom got good news from her doctor.  Homestead group went well last week.  And we brought some warm weather back from Florida and it melted the snow!

I know that God causes revival in His people while preparing them to be used for great things.  I think that God is going to do huge things in TRU (He already is).  And in Cambodia.  I know if I stay consecrated to Him, I will experience no stress, and actually be filled with excitement for all He is going to do!

More Sunny Florida

Day two.  Slept peacefully until 7:30 or so then got up and fixed coffee and had quiet time on the patio in the cool morning air.  Mom got up and I went for a long walk around the island, both in the resort and by the private residences.  Of course, I was dreaming about moving down here.  Lol.  

Ate our breakfast of sweetbreads and fruit which they deliver to us in a basket each morning then get some sun by the pool.  Showered up then had our lunch leftovers out on the patio.  Love the weather which is about skin temp, cooler in the shade and in the mornings and evenings and warmer in the sun.  

Boarded the launch which takes about 5 minutes to get us over to key west then walked around quite a bit along Duval street, shopping as we went.  We even had some ice cream!  We then took a pedicab to the little organic grocery store where Leah's friend Maggie works but she wasn't there!  So we walked back, a long way, stopping at the local library for a sec.  

We decided to check into the aquarium which wasn't too expensive and thought it was fun.  We saw some cool manta fish, some sharks, some coral, etc.  

We took the launch back to the island and I spent the afternoon by the pool reading and sleeping and sunning which mom rested.

Then we gussied up and went back over to key west.  We walked and shopped and realized we weren't terribly far from the burger place we'd researched on the internet.  It was up higher right along the sidewalk so we people watched while we ate.  I loved it!  The burger was delish, also.

We came back to the island to out little cottage and turned in early and read.  

Today we had our breakfast outside again  and I couldn't resist getting a little more sun before we showered up and packed up. 

 Today we plan to go over to key west agin, shop, eat, then take off for the airport around two.  I should be back to Manhattan between 11 and 12 pm tonight.

What a wonderful, perfect little vacation to take in February!  I loved every moment of it.