A Horizon High School Play, A Little Sister, and A Crazy Last 2 Months November 21, 2008

So I know that at this point no one will actually read this because it has been so long since I have blogged, but I figure what the hey lets give this blogging thing a try again and see if I can actually be consistent this time.

It is because of my little sister’s play that I feel the need to blog again. Elise is a senior at Horizon High School and last night and tonight (go if you don’t have any plans) they are doing the play “A Christmas Carol”. See up to this point I have sorta forgotten that the Holidays are coming soon. It is so easy to get wrapped up in life that you just let it roll on by and never really take the time to refelect on what has actually happened. Leave it to Mr. Scruge through is “bah humbugs” to show you how important it is to take a little time to look at what has happened in your life and realize that sometimes you just need to say thanks for the blessings you have… especially when Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Here are a few things I have reflected on in the past few months:

• Trip to the orphanage “Home of Refuge” in Yuma, Venezuela. What an amazing trip. These kids been through more than I could ever imagine, yet the whole time I was there I could feel God working. Joy is the best way to describe this place. A joy that can only come from the Lord. Even with the passing of their beloved caretaker Nancy this past month, Rosa (Tony her husband runs the orphanage as well as another on in Hondorous) reminded us of our Fathers great love and the way he provides what we need. It is hard not to realize how blessed you truly are after visiting a place like the Home of Refuge. A part of my heart wil always be with the kids there. Please continue to pray for them when you think of it.
• Working at Starbucks. In a wierd way I am very thankful for my time at Starbucks. I was able to develop some pretty cool relationships and got a lot of free coffee. : ) Coming back from Venezuela and returning to Starbucks was a very tough transition for me, but God used it to show me how to fully rely on him and trust in his plans instead of my own and God’s plans were so much better than mine!
• GOALS, Inc. I have started a new job working at GOALS, Inc. We work with at-risk youth in the school discrict. I am specfically working as a program lead for the after school component with the 4th and 5th graders. They are incredible kids. For the first time in my life I love to go to work everyday. I work with a great staff and we all have the same goal to just be there for these kids when so many other people haven’t been. I think that I am coming to GOALS, Inc. at a time when God is going to launch them somewhere cool and I am so excited to be apart of that!
• I met a boy and a pretty amazing boy at that. Enough said there, those of you who have met him know he is pretty cool. I am excited what will happen here too! : )

Bottom line is when I graduated in May I had this idea of what my life would look like. Boy was I wrong, but I am so glad I was. Many of us probably know Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. and I have seen this verse play out in my life time and time again, but sometimes I forget to keep reading past verse 11 to verse 12 which I think is sometimes even more encouraging than verse 11. It says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen”. I think that is amazing! God not only has amazing plans for our lives that our so beyound our understanding, but he also says that we can call on him and he will listen. So sometimes we miss what God is doing, but he never leaves our side. Sometimes we totally get what God is doing and he still has never left our side. Anytime good or bad, we can call on our Lord and he will listen to our what we have to say. I am thankful for that! I am thankful for the way God has worked in my life! Don’t forget what God is doing in your life even if you may not fully understand it because God knows and he wants you to call on him because he is always listening!

Leesy, Leeso, Leesy Pot-Pie… Elise January 7, 2008

So it could be that no one even reads this anymore. I realize my last post was in October. (Sorry mom). But I am going to try to be better about my blogging ways in 2008. : )

 So I thought for my first post of the new year, I would tell you about my little sister, Elise. Tomorrow January 7th Elise will turn 17 years old. It is unbelievable to me that she is that old. In my eyes I think she will always be twelve. I do have to say though the older she gets our relationship continues to grow more than just sisters, but to great friends. I do remember however, that it was not always that way…

I was a little over 4 years old when Elise was born. The night she arrived I remember my mom telling me to go put my pajamas on. I of course didn’t want to go to bed so I was arguing with her asking for just 5 more minutes. After 5 more minutes and begging for 5 more, but being denied I finally and reluctantly went to my room and put my pajamas on. When I came out of my room my mom looked at me and said, “what are you doing, go get dressed we have to go to grandmas”. My mom’s water had broke and Elise was on her way.

Although I don’t exactly remember being that I was only 4 and Bethany only 2,  I imagine that Bethany and I were very excited and anxious for our baby sister to be born. She was a cutie patootie baby, she had big blue eyes and was bald until about three. Elise was born and the Kelly family was complete. Here are some memories I have of my baby sister…

- Althought growing up we called Elise Leesy because Bethany had a hard time say Elise, We affectionately refer to Elise ages 1 to about 6 as Elise the Beast. She was a little terror. There would be a number of times where Bethany and I would run up the stairs yelling, “mommy, mommy Leesy’s getting us”. and Elise would be running behind us pinching us, biting us, etc. My mom never understood why her to eldest daughters ran from their little sister in fear, but trust me she was scary. 

-Her first birthday party no one could find her and all of a sudden she came out from her room laughing hysterically and completely nude.

- She called her pacifier her, “papa” and she would lose it she would cry for her papa and when people would say there’s your dad sweetie and point to my father, she would scream “that’s not my papa”.

- The famous M & M story in which Elise stole my dad’s M&Ms in the middle of the night and whe she got caught shoved them all into her mouth and pretending like she didn’t doing anything as chocolate dripped down her mouth.

- One time when my grandma was watching us while are parents were out of town and Elise decided to eat my dad’s deodorant. I have no clue what was going through her 3 year old mind. 

- Making Elise be Commet the dog when we played Full House because my mom made Bethany and I include her and I was always DJ, Bethany was Michelle and we didn’t like Stephanie, so Elise had to be Commet.

- Again because my mom said we had to include her making Elise be Ursula the Sea Witch when we played Little Mermaid.

- When we got our dog Aussie she took it upon herself to ”train” her. She would put little puppy Aussie on her leash and walk her in backyard and scream “heel”! “Sit”!, etc. as long as she could. Maybe she was taking the built up aggression she had from her older sisters making her be Ursula and Commet the dog for so many years? : ) 

- As she got older finding a love for baking and backing pretty much the best banana bread ever, that her older sister Robbin loves to help her with… at least the eating part. :  )

- Going to Belize with her this past summer and watching her love on people and letting Jesus shine through her. It was amazing being able to share that experience with her! She boldly got out of her comfort zone and allowed God to use her. What is cooler than that? 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Elise! You are definitely not my baby sister anymore, but to me you will always be Leesy Lou! I love you! 

Back From Belize August 7, 2007

Well, before I get in to the amazingness of the trip, let me first put your biggest fear to rest. I am not dead. I know that you were worried after my last post, but I survived. And yes, I did go snorkeling, but I was right, I didn’t enjoy it at all. It went a little something like this….

“Who wants a life jacket”? Snorkeling boat guy asks.

“I do, in fact I think maybe just to be safe I should have two”. I respond. Boat guy laughs because he thinks I am joking. I strap my life jacket around my waist (you can’t get in the snorkeling position very well if it is around your neck) put on my flippers, goggles, snorkel and I am ready to go.  We count off into groups of 12 and of course I get put in group number 1. Without a second to think it is time for me to get in the water. My little sister Elise who was also on the trip jumps in first. After a few deep breaths I follow. Suddenly when I get into the water my sister is no where to be found. Did she drown? Is she a really fast swimmer and I forgot? Well neither were true. I look around and see her clinging to the ladder of the boat.

“Robbin, I don’t want to go. I am not going”! Elise says.

“What, of course you are going to go. Come on it will be fun, you will regret it if you don’t go. Look I am out here. We will go together. Come on you can do”. I say jumping into older sister mode. So we both set out away from the boat. Elise gets the hang of it instantly and begins dashing off after our snorkeling guide. I however am not enjoying myself quite as much. Every time I put my face in the water, my goggles fog up so not only do I not see anything under the water, but when I put my face up I can’t see anything around me either. As I am trying to de-fogg my goggles a wave comes and fills my snorkeling tube with water causing me to cough and get a not so great taste of salt water in my mouth. I have been at it about 5 mins. and decided that was all I needed. I put my arms up and did the distress wave as instructed so that a snorkeling guide could take me back to the boat. But just as I suspected everyone is busy snorkeling so no one sees me. I look and see my sister way out in front of me having the time of her life and decide, well good I got her out her, thats all that matters anyways and I begin the trek back to the boat. Let me tell you, it is hard to swim against the current, but I made it back and ate watermelon and pineapple with the boat crew until everyone returned from their snorkeling adventures. Some of you may think I regret quiting so soon, but I actually am quite proud of the 5 mins. I spent snorkeling. I now can say I’ve done it and no one can ever tell me I have to go again, because I’ve tried it once. : ) Oh, yeah and I am still freaked out by fish, they really are just a little creepy.

But now on to the important stuff. The trip was amazing and God worked in some big ways. Here are a few highlights:

Ministry:

• Vacation Bible School: Our main focus while we were down there was VBS and it was incredible. We were told to expect 20-30 kids the first day and we had 95 kids ranging from 2 years of age to about 16 years of age show up. By then end of the week we had 120 kids packed into the tiny one room church. It was amazing to see the church packed with kids singing praises to God and very loudly proclaiming Bible Points — God is real, God is with us, God is Strong, and God is Awesome– during our shouting wars.
• Church Services: We had the amazing opportunity of participating in their church services. Each student had the opportunity to share a devotion and testimony and did a great job. One of the most amazing parts of the trip was watching students get out of their comfort zone big time and allow God to use them. They were awesome!! Best church service highlight was Sunday night as we were worshiping the windows of the church were open and a gentle breezed filled the church as if it was God saying, “Thank you my Children”! There was some very good stuff going on.
• Visitations: We had the opportunity to do follow up visits with people that had made decisions at a revival conference the church had a month before we got out there. It was an incredible opportunity of encouragement and prayer. On one of the visitation days, one of our groups, met with a guy named Alvin and were able to share the gospel with him and one of the guys from our group even gave him his bible because Alvin did not have one. Alvin said he didn’t really believe in God and was much for church. But our group invited him to come to the Wed. night service at the church we were helping with. About 20 mins. into the service we looked back and there was Alvin standing by the door. It was very exciting to see him there and the students and church members greeted him and loved on him. If you think of it keep Alvin in your prayers that he will continue to be shown God’s love.
• Orphanage: Our first night in Belize we went to the orphanage. It was exciting to jump into ministry without wasting any time. The kids at this orphanage were starving for attention. We walked in the door and they instantly began to jump on us and cling to us. One little girl just wanted to hold my had the whole time we were there. We had a great time playing with them on their play ground area and then we were able to give them the gospel message and pass out bears that the children from Northern Hill’s VBS made for them. Each bear had a card with it that said it was made special for them by (insert Northern Hill Child’s name) and had the verse John 3:16 on it. The children at the orphanage were so excited to get the bears and hugged them tight. It was hard to say good bye to these precious children at the end of the day.
• Nursing Home: This visit was a tough one. All of the clients of the nursing home were there because they had no family left to take care of them. Many of them were very sad and lonely. It was amazing to see our students interact with them and pray for them. Everyone kept telling us that it was such a blessing for us to be there. I like to think that the couple hours we spent there help to give them a little hope. Many of our students shared the gospel message with them through their prayers. It is my hope and prayer that each one of them will have the opportunity to know where they are going when they die and they won’t have to be afraid of going there. Please keep them in your prayers. A few specific names are Maria and Ray.
• Construction: We did minimal construction, but were able to help pain a ceiling in the mission house of the church. Pastor Floyd, his wife Dahlia, and two daughters Abigail and Miracle hope to eventually move into this house so they can be closer to the church. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but they were so grateful to us for helping them start the process. Please keep them in your prayers as right now they pay $500/month to the government for the house they live in now. They live about a half an hour away from the church and gas prices in Belize our outrageously expensive, some places they are $10/gallon. Pastor Floyd just step out in faith and quit his second job to be a pastor full time. Currently he is making almost nothing, but praying for the Lord to provide. His passion was amazing and his faith astonished me. Please pray that God will continue to provide people and funds to finish their house.

Fun Times:

• Howler Monkey Tour: This was a lot of fun. We were taken on a guided tour through a howler monkey conservation to see these crazy apes. When they howl they sound like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. It is a pretty crazy sound to hear. Some of us were even able to feed them some bananas.
• Tour of Mayan Ruins: This was quite the site to see. The structures were amazing. We even got to climb one of the buildings. We could definitely feel the burn in our legs on that one.
• Caye (Key) Caulker: On our free day we went to Caye Caulker which is a small island on the Caribbean sea. It was beautiful!! We also had the opportunity to snorkel, which was more fun for some than others (as you have already heard): ) We stayed in a resort on the island and had plenty of free time to enjoy God’s creation. It was a great way to end our amazing trip.

Belize Bound… and we’re off! July 27, 2007

Tomorrow myself, 3 other adult sponsors and 11 high school students head to Belize for a mission trip. God has already done amazing things in preparing us to go. He showed up big time when we were raising funds and he has already begun to stretch us in ways we didn’t even think we could be stretched. I know that he has big things planned and I am super excited for the trip! We will be working with a thriving church down there and it is my hope that we are able to encourage and minister to them big time!! Beware because when I get back I just might blog a little more often then, oh lets see once a month, like I do now. I just might blog daily with hopefully incredible, glorifying God stories. : ) As you think of us this next week please keep us in your prayers.

 Here is what I am not excited for in Belize. On our free day at the end of the week we are suppose to go snorkeling. Some of you are probably thinking that is amazing! You are going to be in a beautiful country, with a beautiful clear ocean. How could you not be excited? Yeah, well I am not a big fan of the whole swimming thing and fish freak me out. Lets picture the scenario:

Robbin who is a terrible swimmer, she just flops around and pretends to swim hoping she doesn’t drown, is snorkeling. Suddenly a school of fish surround her, the other snorkelers are happy to see the beautiful colors and uniqueness of each fish and they are thinking to themselves, oooh, ahhh, pretty. Robbin on the other hand is freaking out, she tries to put her swimming skills to use to get away, but is in too much of a panic and can’t remember how to stroke with her arms and kick with her legs, and suddenly she begins to drown. Sure, there are other snorkelers in her group that could probably save her, but they are too busy looking at the fish to see their fellow snorkeler going under, so Robbin Drowns. 

  +      +     = 

See… not too good of a scenario is it? I am trying to figure out how I am going to get out of it, without being that wussy leader. The way I see it if God wanted me to swim with the fish, he would’ve made me one. But he decided to make me a human, so I think I will do just fine staying on the beach…

Will Robbin Go snorkeling or will she be the wussy leader? Find out next week when she returns from her trip…. if she returns… dun, dun, duuuuuuun!!