Movin' & Shakin'

Wow! What a crazy few days! I don't know where to start! God has been moving and shaking things up down here. He is proving that he is sovereign and his timing is perfect! He has allowed some amazing things to happen and I am anxious to see what is next! I would love to be able to give you all the details, but that will have to wait! Please continue to pray for direction and discernment.

Like I said, it has been crazy down here! We had a team from Lutheran Church of Hope (Joel & Angie's home church) here this last week! What a blessing they were! It was amazing to see how God used them in each of our lives in different ways. We got to go spend a few days with them at a resort. It was nice because it was over my birthday! I had a fabulous start to my 27th year. Sitting with the O'Dell's by the pool, being spoiled by my new friends and having a real day off! God is good!

Well, I am worn out! What an emotional roller coaster this last week has been! I need a good night's sleep! Going to bed at 8 pm is never too early here!! I know I have gotten behind at this blog and I am going to try my best to get back into the habit of writing on a regular basis!

Jhanelle's Funeral

October 16, 2010

What a day! We had Jhanelle's funeral today. This was my first experience at a Jamaican funeral. I wanted to go because of Jhanelle, but I also felt like I needed to go for Quest as well. I did not get to be at his funeral so it was good for me to be able to go and grieve for him as well. It was a beautiful service. Joel, Angie, Chad, and myself took Damille, Chavar, Shaquille, Lungpheng, and Dean with us. We were all surprised when we walked in and saw the size of

the casket. It was about 3 feet long and a beautiful pink. There were lots of people there to say goodbye to Jhanelle. People sang, read scripture and remembered Jhanelle's beautiful smile.

Our kids sang Jhanelle's favorite song, Jesus Loves Me. They did such a good job. Joel was asked to give a remembrance. Talk about emotional! I know that Angie and I were both losing it. He loved that little girl!! When the service was done, the pal bearers (Joel was one of them) carried her little tiny casket out of the church to the back where her grave was. It was a cement box partially in the ground. Jhanelle's aunt had painted the inside beautifully. It was pink and had some amazing pictures on the walls. Once they put the casketdown in, they covered the top with a sheet of plywood and began cementing the top. We stoodthere singing as they did it. Once they were done, we walked across the road to Jhanelle's moms house. They had a feast of food for everyone that had attended the funeral. We stayed and talked to Jhanelle's mom, Joy, for a while then headed back up to the Nest. Something pretty amazing happened during the service. The pastor presented the gospel and invited people to give their lives to Jesus. About 15 people stood wanted to accept Christ as their Savior, including Jhanelle's mom! It was amazing! So neat to see how God uses difficult circumstances in our lives to bring glory to himself! Because of one little girls death, 15 people now have eternal life! He is so good!

When we came back up to the Nest after the service, we came back to no power. So frustrating! We were going to have the kids watch a movie and eat popcorn for their incentive, but the TV doesn't work when we are running on the generator. So they played a few quiet games and then headed to bed. I went down to O'Dell's for a bit to hang out in the dark. I called Becky and talked to her for a while. It was so good to talk to her! I miss her so much! I also got totalk to Laura for a while. We are trying to make plans for Thanksgiving so we can see each other. I haven't seen her since last Christmas! I miss her!! Well, that's enough for now. In the morning we are heading to Bay Life again! I am excited! Then we are off to the beach! Hopefully it is a great beach day! We haven't had a Sunday beach day in too many weeks!

Another day...

October 12, 2010

Well, we went a full day with power on Monday (10/11). It was the first day since September 28th that we had a full 24 hour period with electricity. We were praying for 2 days in a row, but it didn't happen! The power flickered around 9:30 this morning and went out completely at about 7:45pm. It is still extremely disappointing when the power goes out, but I was very upset tonight because I had a load of laundry in the wash machine! The washer doesn't work when the power is out, even on the generator! Thankfully, I had put it in early enough that it was on the last rinse cycle so at least they were clean! I got to take my sopping wet clothes out of the machine and wring them out by hand into the bathtub. I know most Jamaican's do their laundry by hand because they do not have the luxury of a wash machine. I am learning to be thankful for the "little" things that we take so for granted at home.
Yesterday I stayed in bed almost all day. I have been fighting this sinus/upper respiratory junk for about 3 weeks. Joel gave me some antibiotics on Sunday night and after 2 full days on them, I am feeling much better. I had the strength, energy and patience (almost) to have school today with Dean and Ian. They were very well behaved! I bribed them today with a movie! They got all their work done and were on their best behavior for the majority of the day! It is getting better!! Then this afternoon while they were watching the movie, I got to spend some time planning for the rest of the week. It was a productive day. However, while they were watching the movie, I also got my calendar out to start looking at possible return dates and started having an anxiety attack. It was a rough one that lasted for several hours. Thankfully school was over and I could get away for a little bit. I came back to my room and hid out on my porch with my computer. I got to talk to a couple very good friends who encouraged me and helped me calm down. I have not had this high of anxiety in almost 2 years! Hopefully in these next couple weeks with Chad and Dina coming, I will be able to get some fresh perspective. Speaking of Chad and Dina, Grandpa Chad comes tomorrow! We are all pretty excited that he is coming. We won't tell him that though! :)

Sunday

October 10, 2010

Today we went to a new church. We attended Bay Life Baptist Church. It is a sister church of Hillview Baptist Chuch. I was able to attend a Sunday evening service at Hillview when I was here with our youth group in June 2009. It is pastored by a guy from the states. It was almost like being at church in the states. It was so nice! We took a pretty big group of kids and they were very prepared for us with a great "Junior Church" program. It was nice to be able to sit through a service without worrying about what the kids were doing. It was also nice having a pastor that I could understand the whole time. All of the other churches I have been to here have had Jamaican pastors and I have a hard time following them because they go back and forth between English and Patois and I end up missing most of it. Another nice thing was that it was only and hour and a half long service! Worship and everything! Other places it is closer to 3 hours and that is too long! I hope we can attend BLBC more often!
We came home right after church today because it was raining. No beach today. It was kinda nice though. I have not been feeling well at all so it was nice to come back and sleep for a few hours. Please continue to pray that whatever this is that I have will go away. It just keeps hanging on and I can't kick it! I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! We have power again at the Nest. Hopefully it lasts for a while. It has been such an emotional roller coaster with the power. I feel like every time it goes out I just want to cry! In fact, during church today right before the message, we were singing "Shout to the Lord" and all of the sudden the power went out. I lost it! I couldn't sing because of the tears. I know that their power had nothing to do with our power, but I was just overwhelmed by it. Thankfully it didn't effect the rest of the service and when we got back up to the Nest, we had power! God is good!! Even when we don't understand his ways or what he is doing, he is good! Sometimes we have to deliberately choose to believe that he is GOOD and have faith when we don't understand. Oswald Chambers said, "Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." I can honestly say that I have not understood God's ways very often in the last month, but I am choosing to have faith in his character and who he says he is. He says he will never leave me or forsake me. He has my steps planned and is guiding and leading me through them. He walks with me in the valleys. He is my help. He makes all things work together for my good. For HIS glory, not mine!

A new day...

October 9, 2010

It has been an emotional couple of days. I haven't had the energy physically or emotionally to write in a while. Things are looking better. This last week went pretty fast. The boys did okay in school, but I was very glad for Friday to come. I spent a lot of time talking with Angie this week. There were a couple days that were really REALLY tough! I don't remember what day it was, but Monday or Tuesday, I was ready to pack my bags and go home. I can't tell you exactly what was going on but I was done. I was exhausted from the previous week and didn't think I could do it any more. I began to question if this is where God really wanted me. I have received many emails and encouraging words from so many people that knew I was struggling. They have been such a blessing. I have decided to not make any major decisions until I have had time to rest and talk to some pretty important people in my life. I know that I will be in Jamaica until November 23 and I am praying for God to give me clean directions for the days, weeks and months beyond that.
After the rough week, I needed some time away from the Nest. I didn't get to go "away", but I did get to spend the afternoon and evening with the O'Dells. I am beyond blessed to have them and be included in their family. We had family night, made pizza, chocolate chip cookies and watched a movie. It was such a fun night. We laughed until our stomachs hurt and tears were running down our faces. I so needed that time with them. Sometimes when I am down at their house, I seriously forget that I am in Jamaica. It is our little "America" in Jamaica. I came back up to the Nest about 10 pm and spent a few minutes with Nurse Hedrem and Bornell. They are my 2 very favorite staffers here. They are double trouble and they know it! I love spending time with them. They think it is funny to talk to me in patois because I don't understand them. I try to listen but usually end up just standing there with a blank look on my face. Bornell will laugh at me because she knows I have no clue what she said. She will say to me, "Katy, you have lived here long enough. You should know!" I am catching more, but I still struggle to understand what they are saying most of the time! Well it is a beautiful Saturday here. I don't know what is going to happen today but I am going to enjoy the day and all that God has in store for me here in Jamaica!!

Feeling overwhelmed...

October 5, 2010

Well, we were without power for 7 days or 168 hours or 10,080 minutes take your pick. What ever one you choose, it was a LONG time! We were so thankful to get power back yesterday afternoon around 3 pm. We all jumped for joy! There were a few tears shed out of shear relief that we could return to "normal". We all pulled out our computers and tried to catch up on what had happened during the last week. We did laundry and anything else that we couldn't do this last week because of not having power. We all went to bed exhausted but very excited that the power had returned. I woke up around 2:30 am to the sound of the generator kicking on. I almost cried… NO POWER AGAIN!!! So we had 11 1/2 hours of power before it went out again. Not sure we can go another 7 days without power. I am not sure we can go 1 more day! We are all so worn out. As I am writing this, I am about ready to cry. I am so overwhelmed by everything right now. I read Romans 5:3-5 this morning knowing that I needed a good "rejoice in your sufferings" reminder. I know that suffering produces endurance, but I am not sure how much more we can endure. Lord, I know that your grace is sufficient and your power is made perfect in our weakness. We are weak and unable to stand unless you give us strength. Please give us strength to endure until we get power back.

Day 6 without power... We are exhausted!!

October 3, 2010

We are back at the Nest and STILL without power! We are on day 6 and getting pretty weary of being without it. The O'Dell's, Wiley's and I left the Nest yesterday afternoon and went to spend the day and night at Sunset Beach Resort. We were mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted! We needed a day to regroup and rest. They have "fixed" the John's Hall bridge enough that it is crossable. The roads are pretty bad. There were several pretty major landslides along the road down the mountain. The further down the mountain we went, the more flood damage we saw. Because of our place on the mountain, we had more wind damage and down in the Bay there was more damage from the amount of water from the storm. The city seems to be recovering pretty fast and most places have power back. It was very hard to come back up to the Nest today. Knowing that we would come to a house that still didn't have power was very tough! Back to school tomorrow. The kids have not had school since Tuesday so it will be interesting going back tomorrow! I feel like this is a ver disjointed update, but that is how my brain feels right now. Fried! Please continue to pray that we get power very soon! We need it to survive! PLEASE PRAY!!

Tropical Storm Nicole has put me a little behind

September 28, 2010 part 2

I am experiencing my first tropical storm! It is something else! I am not sure if it is actually a tropical storm or if it is still just a depression. It rained all day today but after dinner the wind started to really pick up! I don't know what the gusts are at, but I would guess around 50 mph. When we were getting ready to put the kids down tonight the girls came out and their room was soaked! The rain was coming down sideways and going right into their room! We had to move beds and Joel and Matt had to go find some sheets of plywood to cover up some windows. It is kinda crazy! Nurse Hedram was laughing at me because I was out trying to get some pictures. She said that is why tourists get hurt during storms because they don't know when to stay inside. She reminded me that I wasn't a tourist and I needed to stay inside. Thankfully we still have power. It has gone off a few times but has come right back on. Hopefully the worst of it will be over my morning! The kids are all hoping that school will be cancelled. It's kinda like being at home the night of a big snow storm. Hoping that it will be bad enough or the roads will be slick enough for them to cancel school. Kids are these same just about everywhere. They love having school cancelled! Well, I took some good cough medicine so hopefully I will sleep soundly and not be up coughing all night! I will try to keep everyone posted on the storm if we have internet.

September 29, 2010

So we are officially in the middle of Tropical Storm Nicole. We have been without power all day. Thankfully we have a generator. We had a very limited staff today. We all pitched in and got things done. We are all exhausted! I told Angie that Nurse Hedrem gets the "Trooper of the Week" award. She has been on for over 24 hours with 3 hours of sleep and has not complained one time. We truly do have an amazing staff here. It has been raining almost constantly since yesterday morning. The Island is under flood and mudslide warnings. The small bridge down at John's Hall, our only way into town, is completely gone. That could make things interesting for us. We cannot get staff, groceries, or anything else up or down the mountain.

September 30, 2010

Today was a crazy busy day! Yesterday was such an overwhelming day emotionally and physically. We were overwhelmed by the storm and all that came with that. Power outage, no staff, flooding, keeping kids busy and out of trouble, making sure that people were safe, keeping up with dishes, making dinner, putting kids to bed, etc. Somehow we made it through the day. We were emotionally drained as well. We found out yesterday morning that Jhanelle had passed away on Tuesday evening. Praise the Lord she was in the hospital and not here at The Nest when she entered eternity. With all the unknown about the storm and Jhanelle's passing, we were just done! I lost it and had to take some time away from everyone. I think that Jhanelle's passing is going to be what make's Quest's death real for me. I tear up just thinking about having to go through the whole funeral/burial process. I know it is good to process and it needs to be done, but with so many other things going on down here I feel like I can only handle one thing at a time! The storm caused all sorts of emotions as well. Feeling "stuck" and claustrophobic not being able to leave and just so many unknowns.
We woke up today to almost clear skies. Still a bit windy, but the ground looked as if it hadn't rained in several hours. It was still wet, but there was no standing water. The sun even appeared for a little bit! We found out that the Ministry of Education has cancelled school until further notice. So who knows when that will be. We have heard that Kingston has been just hammered by this storm even worse that we were. We were able to get some staff up for the day so it was nice to have it almost be "normal". We decided to do the big room switch today. Joel went down to identify Jhanelle's body and we wanted to have all her stuff moved and cleaned up before he got back. We didn't want him to have to deal with that after going to do the hospital stuff. We put the 4 younger girls, Yvonne, Zoe, Abby & Brittanya in the middle room, all the boys in the girls old room and Sue, Damille, Jodi and Shana Kay in the boys old room. It took us ALL DAY to clean out the rooms, move furniture and reset the rooms. I was completely exhausted! The girls did pretty well helping most of the day. I have been so impressed with Shana Kay lately. She has had a great attitude and has been working so hard. You ask her to do something and the is little to no complaining and most of the time she does it with a smile on her face! 180 degree turn around from last year at this time. Jodi, on the other hand, has been pretty hard to deal with lately. She is rude and mean to me almost constantly. I don't know what her deal is, but I have just about had it. I was very upset with her today. She had a horrible attitude while we were cleaning and getting ready to switch rooms. She wasn't doing anything and was just sitting watching. I looked at her and she gave me a nasty look. I saw that she had the necklace my mom gave her for her birthday on. I wanted to go rip it off of her. I feel like my mom has gone above and beyond to give stuff to Jodi. Sometimes I think my mom forgets that I am her kid that is living thousands of miles away from home and would like to be sent something every once and a while. So it really makes me mad when my mom has done all of that and Jodi treats me like crap. Well anyway, that's enough of that.
I am completely wiped out. I can hardly keep my eyes open. It has been an extremely long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, the storm will keep moving on and we can get back to normal around here. Whatever normals is.

October 1, 2010

HAPPY 33rd ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!!!!

Things are starting to return to "normal" around here. We had our regular staff back and even though things are still a little crazy i feel like the worst is behind us. We have an unbelievable about of laundry to get done, but other than that the storm seems to have blown over. I think we finally got everything switched around for the kids bedrooms. We were labeling and putting away the boys clothes today. It is so fun to see them loving their new room. Not much else happened today. I took a "nap" today I actually went and laid down in my bed for a couple hours, but I didn't sleep. Carly had one of her Christy Miller books and I read that the whole time. Those are my absolute favorite books!! Even though I know they are about a 15 year old girl, I get sucked in and I become Christy Miller. Probably not the best choice for me today. After I finished reading the book, I definitely entered the "Land of If Only". If only I had a boyfriend…. If only I knew what was going to happen in the next couple years… If only… If only… I kind of got into a funk for a little bit. Then I gave it all to God. I prayed that I would be able to focus on what he has for me here and now. I know that God has me here at this time and in this location for a very specific purpose. I also prayed for my "Todd" whoever that may be. I prayed that God would protect his heart, eyes and mind and that I would wait patiently for the day that we would meet. Easier said than done, but I know that, in God's timing, it will happen.
We ended the day the same way we have since Nicole started on Tuesday, with popcorn! It has been fun to just hang out in the evenings with the O'Dell and Wiley families. We all decided that on Sunday we are not taking any kids to church with us. I think we are going to try out a new church and then go to Margaritaville or something to have a break from the kids and the chaos! I am so looking forward to a break. I am ending my day watching "Nacho Libre"!! I honestly laugh so hard every time I watch this movie. I can still picture Mr. Brewer cracking himself up the first time I watched it in Oklahoma 3 years ago. Well, I am off to watch my movie! Good night all!