Tired...and Thankful.

I’ve been a “single mom” all week long. Johnny and David left last Sunday to drive our car to Los Angeles, and although I had an incredible time hanging out with people I love, I have to admit that I’m exhausted. Taking care of a toddler on your own is no small order. Therefore, I am excited to see my husband tomorrow for many reasons, but primarily I am excited to hand him his son and go take a nap. J (Just kidding babe!)

In other news…I’m sitting on mom’s couch in Indiana, I should be sleeping, but I’m not. Instead I just made macaroni and cheese. Yes… the processed, neon orange kind. I now feel sick to my stomach, I have to wake up in five hours, but alas I feel a blog coming on.

I fly to California tomorrow, with Ezra, to meet up with Johnny. We fly to Hawaii Tuesday, and get started settling in. Before I start posting pictures of Hawaii, and our new home and writing about all the stuff we’re doing, I wanted to give thanks to my Jesus for his faithfulness to us. The past several months have been a journey of faith and not once did we not feel God’s hand in it.

Thank you Jesus for calling us to Kona so clearly that we could not deny your voice.

Thank you for confirming that call to us through not one person, not two people, but through dozens and dozens of encounters, conversations, scriptures, and more.

Thank you for loving us and being gentle with us through this process, for allowing us and the Burd’s to see your plan unfolding for All Access and what we all needed in this time. Your gentleness is humbling and overwhelming.

Thank you for walking us through such an intense past two years, and allowing so much healing to come for me since our difficult pregnancy.

Thank you for my husband and my son who are the joy of my life. I don’t deserve them. I don’t know why I am so blessed. But I am so thankful to call them mine.

Thank you for providing for us financially in so many ways and for surprising us when we least expect it.

Thank you for giving us so many people to miss, because it means you gave us the gift of so many people to love!

Thank you for the support and love of our family and friends, we are abundantly blessed to have such a strong network of people who believe in us and pray for us and make it possible for us to be in ministry.

Thank you for our safety and our health.

Thank you for all of the little things you have done to make this season one of excitement and anticipation instead of fear and stress.

Thank you for loving us and for having a beautiful plan for our life. We desire only to follow your will and bring glory to your name.

So often we become overwhelmed with the stresses of life and the busyness of our days, we forget to be thankful for the small things. I don’t want to forget to notice these things, because it is so clear every single day, in our day to day life, that God adores us and is faithful to us. You don’t have to be moving 5.000 miles away from home for him to shower you with blessings, he adores you and delights in you and wants to give you more than you ever dreamed or imagined. But for him to be able to do that we must surrender our control.

This is a daily process for me, I am not even good at it yet, but the more and more that I try, the more I see how amazing our God is and it gives me courage to let go of my control just a little bit more. And that gives me more time and energy to put into being thankful.

Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

ready or not...

I’ve been struggling with what to write for a few days now.

I think it’s because this entire process is so surreal to me. Anyone who has picked up their entire life and moved to a new place, one they’ve never even visited, can probably understand.

This month has been a whirlwind and then yesterday we packed up our house, moved everything out, and our whole world changed.

But my poor brain is having a hard time computing everything.

I’m sitting on the Burd’s couch right now, hanging out with my friends, and I’m convinced (and Lola seems to be too…) that in a little bit I will get in my car and drive back to my pretty little house and go to sleep in our big king size bed.

But that is not going to happen.

Instead, we’re moving to Hawaii. Johnny leaves on Sunday to drive our car to California (we’re shipping it to Hawaii instead of having to find a car there) and I leave Tuesday to start my journey to meet him in LA before we fly to Kona.

This is our new reality.

Several times throughout the day I find myself trying to imagine what my life will look like a month from now, or two months from now. But I have no idea. And I’ve decided that’s just fine. Because my Jesus has asked me to surrender the life that I know and love for him, once again, and follow him on a new journey. And that means trusting that he has the very best for our family in mind, and I don’t need to know exactly what it’s going to be like. That’s the control freak in me. It’s okay for me to take it one day at a time, and allow God to surprise us with the beauty of a new journey.

I’m going to cry when I leave New York because I will miss so much that I can’t even begin to put it all into words.

And I think I might cry when we step off the plane in Hawaii because God asked us to do something, we listened, and has been so faithful to us every single step of the way.

If you know me at all, you know I’m a worrier and I struggle with taking risks because fear paralyzes me if I’m not careful. This move is one of the greatest risks Jesus has asked me to take in a very long time, and I am up for the challenge because of his strength, not my own.

I can’t wait to find out what our life in Hawaii will be like. I can’t wait to pour myself into a new ministry and serve in whatever way I am needed. I can’t wait to build relationships with the other staff and our students and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in and through this school.

Thank you Jesus for letting me be a part of your eternal plan, I am humbled and overwhelmed by your trust in me and I will continue to share your love and fight to bring people back to your heart. I know I don’t deserve this incredible life you have blessed me with but I will continue cherish every second.

What a beautiful God we serve.

there's no place like home...

First things first...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET EZRA BRAYDEN!!!! I love you baby boy!

Next, as you all know, God has been challenging us with this radical shift in our lives. And we are excited and overwhelmed and ready. But one thing that I have been struggling with is desperately wanting a place to call home that could be a special place of love, and safety, and comfort for our little family. We knew that we needed to live on the YWAM Campus in Kona for at least the first several months and we were okay with this, but that longing never left my heart.

Yesterday, on a whim, I logged on to a website that tells all of the Kona campus news, has classifieds, and off campus housing ads. The top ad was for a one bedroom condo, owned by one of the staff families who has outgrown the space, and immediately I was in love. This tiny space has been well cared for and renovated, and comes FULLY furnished, down to the dishes and silverware in the kitchen! It is also within our price range and available at the end of this month, which is when we will arrive in Kona. I called the landlord at 1am last night, which is only 7pm in Kona, and spoke with him. Through a series of emails today it turns out that...

WE HAVE A NEW HOME!!!!!!

We are so blessed and so excited! The condo is located across the street from the campus and is a 10 minute walk from town. We have such an excitement because this provides a retreat for us in the midst of ministry, we know how important family time is when you are in ministry and living on a YWAM campus with some 700 people around all the time can become overwhelming. We are so thankful for this opportunity and truly feel like God is creating a sense of home in our hearts towards Hawaii, before we even step foot on the big island!

God has been so faithful in this process, there is not one second that we have questioned that this is his plan for our lives. How exciting to know that God is taking us on this journey! How lucky we are to serve him with our lives!

Now we are just hurrying to get all of our final details in place so we can get to Kona and prepare for our students, we will have between 55-70 students in our Compassion DTS alone, and with all of the DTS's combined there will be some 300 students! I cannot wait!

My heart is so full and so excited.

Seriously. How cool is God?

-K