Weekend birthday bash

August 6th marked my 20th birthday! To celebrate this milestone, I decided to not only celebrate my birthday on the day of my birth, but to go all out and celebrate all weekend long. And it ended up being the best birthday ever! 

Friday started the weekend off perfectly. I got to play hockey in the morning! No other way to celebrate if you ask me. Later that day I got to help Rami out at her church doing the games for VBS. My mom, Rianne, Anna and Emma came, too! We had a bonfire and hayrides after that. Great night!


On my birthday I got to go see the Bristol Renaissance Faire! So much fun. I'm hooked! I went with Rami and her brothers, Jason and Quin. We got to see some pretty epic shows there. Plus I got roasted nuts, which are possibly the most delicious thing on the whole dang planet. The fire whip guy, Adam Winrich, was probably my favorite show. Check him out! http://www.winrichwhips.com/ We also saw a bagpipe group called Tartanic. Loved them! Barely Balanced was right up there with Adam Winrich. They were very funny and did some crazy stuff. I now have 2 more trip to the Ren fair planned in the next two weeks. Don't judge.

Adam Winrich

The day after my birthday, we made a trip over to state fair. I was joined by Rianne, Rami, Aaron, Stephen, and my friend David from our TKD dojo. Crazy fun group! And you have to love Wisconsin. Where else do you find deep fried snickers, oroes, pb&j, beer (don't get your undies in a bundle, I didn't have any!) and BUTTER?! I think with the Ren fair and state fair, it's quite possible that I gained 10 pounds! So much tasty food.

Powered?

 

deep fried pb&j! thank you Jason for opening my eyes to this deliciousness on a stick

 

 And there ya have it, my weekend birthday bash! Tune in next time for my next great adventure!

Life is a funny thing

Ya know, just when you start to think you're in the right place with your plans, God gives a little smack in the behind to remind you that you're supposed to be following HIS plans. Well, I have been the recipient of a little smack in these past couple of months.

Remember that job at Menards that I was so excited to start? Yeah, that lasted a good 2 months. It was causing a lot of issues that were making my life at my other job, and at home, a nightmare. What I did leading up the job was bad. I ignored God. What pretty much went down was me saying, "God, I'm going to reject your plans and substitute my own." Dumbest thing EVER. I don't suggest doing that. So, to make a long story short, I suffered through the job and ended up quitting. Lesson learned. From now on there will be no "I want" and it will all be "God wants." Through this little fiasco, I learned to trust God a lot more with my, er His, plans for my life. By His grace, He has granted me with a peace that I've been waiting for for about 2 years now. It feels great! God is so good.

Aside from this fun little adventure, my life has been pretty good. I am now the proud owner of a car, whose name is Appa of course. My job at the golf course is going pretty good, including a raise. Yay! Next to that, I'm helping my dad and brother, Bill, coach the high school girls soccer team that Rianne is on. That keeps us pretty busy, but we have a great bunch of girls which makes it very enjoyable. When I'm not working or coaching, I'm either spending my time with my amazing family or hanging out at my second family's (Kausaliks) house.

One thing that I have really gotten into recently is getting into shape. I am working on changing my eating habits (lost 16 pounds already!), plus working out every day. So on top of losing fat I'm gaining muscle. It feels so good to be getting into shape! It has also been nice doing all of this with my friend Rami. As much as we want to die after doing our workout, Insanity, we keep pushing through. I have never been this determined to get into shape. I love it!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we had a guy, Duchene, from Haiti living with us. This morning we dropped him off at the airport to fly back home to his family in Haiti. I can't believe that he's gone! He was at our house for 5 months, becoming part of our family. We got to share so much with Duchene: Christmas, the birth of my niece, Liesl, a couple birthdays, Easter, and family. He was truly part of our family and he will be dearly missed. Please pray that he is able to settle back into life in Haiti and that he is able to stay healthy.


 ~Katie~

Missing those little ones!

It's been a little over a week now since we returned from China. Boy, do I miss those little nuggets over there! My life seems so empty now without little orphans to love on and with no projects to do around the buildings. I also miss my whole team so much! We came so far together and we all bonded so quickly. It's just not the same without them around. Since I never finished the day-by-day updates, I'll fill you in on the last couple of days.

Day 12: In the morning, we played with the babies. For lunch, we went to Subway...YUM. Once we all got our food, we headed to the Silk Market. Very cool place! I got most of my souvenirs and gifts there. I also got some Puma's for myself there...only $10! We probably stopped for some dinner on the way back to Hope, but I don't remember.

Day 13: August 14th. Last full day in China. We left in the morning to go see Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. There wasn't much time to stay there and look around, so we just walked through them. After that, we went to the Pearl Market. Very similar to the Silk Market, only a little smaller. Dinner followed where we had Peking duck. I surprisingly liked it! The last thing we did that night was go to an acrobat show. This was very cool! Since that was our last night, a few of us decided to try to stay up as last as possible...we made it to 2am. Not too bad.

Day 14: Departure day. This was a very sad day. We all said goodbye to the kids in the morning. I got especially attached to one little boy, so it was hard for me to say bye to him. At about 11, we headed to the airport. We had lunch at a restaurant in the airport, then got onto our plane. 13 hours later (but still the same day...figure that one out!), I saw my family!

I am so very thankful that God gave me this opportunity to serve Him and love in His place. He brought some great people into my life that I'm sure will remain my friends for a long time.


Showing hope -
~Katie~