Away we go!!!!

Well, amazingly its time! We are all packed...quite the process as I am taking a bunch of stuff over for my friends!!!! TODAY IS THE DAY!!! Our flight leaves in five hours! CRAZY. We have two over night flights: tonight LAX to Amsterdam and then eight hours layover in Amsterdam tomorrow, then overnight and over New Years- to Nairobi, Kenya, then a short flight to Entebbe, Uganda where my friends will pick us up on January 1st, 2008!!!! Pray for our flights and safety and healthiness and our luggage to make it safely and entirely!!! So, the next blog will be from Uganda!! Bon Voyage to us!!! So excited!!!

Flying High!!!

For my b-day present from Sara, she got a guy from her church to take us flying for the morning!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I love airplanes.. especially the little ones! This one is similar to the one I took lessons in. We flew out of Long Beach airport and then up to Big Bear Mountain and landed for breakfast! Then took off and headed to the coast and flew past Oceanside and landed again in Long Beach. Sara had never been in a four seater plane and loved it, I told her its the best ever!!! Anyway... this will be my favorite b-day for a while! It was a beautiful day flying through the clouds!

Uganda Here We Come!!!

Its only 25 days till we leave for Uganda!!! We went and got all our shots today, a little sore, but good to go! And we bought our plane tickets...so its definitely official- we leave December 30th and fly from LA to Amsterdam than from Amsterdam to Kenya as it becomes 2008 (we can keep celebrating in each time zone!), then on to Entebbe, Uganda!!!! My friends live in Kabale at the very southern end of the country, right over the boarder is Rwanda. I was able to talk with my friend Renee in Uganda on the phone for like an hour and get a bunch of details figured out. So exciting! One new part of the plan is that after Sara leaves on the fifteenth of January, I will be spending about three weeks traveling to different cities in Northern and central Uganda with a lady who runs Children of Hope (similar to a world vision kind of thing but with a lot more discipleship focus too). One of the cities I will be in is Gulu, and some others. I'll then spend one of the weeks with them in Kampala helping them get ready for the kids to go back to school. Another new cool thing I worked out is that when I leave in March, I got my layover in Nairobi, Kenya to be for three days so I can visit with Shayla (good friend and former super Sunshine volunteer) she is in Kenya for nine months and will still be there!!!! I'm so excited to see her and what she's been up to in person! Another city we will be in for a few days at the very beginning of our trip is Jinja (the source of the Nile) -Sara and I are going to be the child care/ entertainment for six missionary kids while my friends and the other parents are in meetings at this resort they go to once a year. I think those are the main details that have been arranged so far and I'm sure there will be lots more surprises and adventures to come! I can't believe its so soon! Crazy!

Some Pictures!!

I got a Disney Season pass with my birthday money!! Sara had one and only lives fifteen minutes from Disneyland! We go like every monday! I got a special button for my birthday. I turned thirty and decided to do something kid like!


This is Sara and I on our way back from a few days up in the mountains at Big Bear. Her friend's family has a cabin and we joined them for a relaxing weekend after Thanksgiving and celebrated my B-day in the mountains & in the cold!



This is when my parents came out for a week at the end of October after they returned from their 8th annual missions trip to Mexico.


These are two of our neighbor kids and a very tiny cute turtle! The kids are in our art classes at the after school program and spend a lot of time coloring and chasing Jello at our house!

A sorta normal day in the LA life of Ann!

Well, I was thinking that I would give everyone a mini glimpse of my new day to day. A week day typically starts with Sara and I going for a walk around the neighborhood, returning to me making us coffee and watching the Rachael Ray TV cooking & etc. show and Sara going to work. Then I spend time with God reading the Bible and praying. I will then either go to the chiropractor or do some cleaning, errands, reading, playing with Sara's cat Jello using the laser light my mom brought that makes Jello run frantically all over the living room (much fun for both of us!) etc. Sara usually comes home to me making lunch (sometimes using new ideas from the previously watched Rachael Ray show, which she is liking very much! I'm like a stay at home sister.) After lunch I go to work with Sara and volunteer with whatever they need: mailings, planning the art classes, entering stuff, making copies, hanging pictures, etc. or research for Uganda. Then I either help lead the after school kids art classes or color/hang out with the neighbor kids. I also usually make dinner for Sara and I and maybe a few others that show up. The other day I decided to paint and stencil Sara's picnic table and benches and fix up her backyard. Then the evenings usually consist of babysitting or choir practice or reading somewhere or whatever else God may bring. Weekends tend to vary. Last Sunday we decided to start a new lunch event: people always go out after church together, but we decided to take turns cooking at different people's houses and started with us. I made stir-fry and pineapple/mango cake and Sara said to plan for around fifteen....but twenty five ended up coming, so I prayed for the food to multiply like the loaves and fish and we ended up with just enough for everyone! Well, this is kinda the basics so you can get an idea! I am working on buying our plane tickets to Entebbe and getting our shots figured out. Only alittle over a month till I leave for Uganda!!! On my way back in March I get to stop over in Nairobi, Kenya to visit my friend and long time volunteer at Sunshine, Shayla, who is there for nine months...so excited!! Well, that's all for now!

Headaches

A lot of people have asked how my health has been since arriving in a warmer climate. So, I thought I'd give you the latest in the Medical Adventures of Ann Christensen. Well, my head and neck have actually been worse again and often times hard to handle. My stomach has been good though! I think the main reason its been worse is possibly from leaving behind my weekly visits to the neck doctor in Chicago. Even though it hasn't ever really stayed in place or helped fully, it was taking the edge off of the pain and helping some of the other things. So last week Tuesday when I usually go to choir practice, my head was hurting a ton so I stayed home and Sara just went. (I was definitely having the symptoms!) It was really bad that night and I think Satan was really trying to discourage me, but God got me through a rough night with Psalm 86! She told them all why I wasn't there and they prayed for me and the choir director gave Sara a flyer for her Chiropractor for a free new patient visit with any needed x-rays, plus twenty-five dollars to go back a second time if it helped. Everyone here has been so caring and encouraging! So I decided to give it a shot. The Chiropractor goes to Sara's church. After I told him all of my health history (takes a while), he took x-rays and I went back the next day to see what he had to say and if there was any solution. He basically siad I was a mess! Which I knew! And a lot of it was similar to what the guy in Chicago came up with. But this guy added a few things and drew lots of pictures and explained a lot with big words, but it really made sense. He knows that I don't have insurance or much money, so he's going to see me three times a week for a couple weeks to begin with and only charge me $20 each time. After the first visit I felt less pressure in my head and neck! So I'm hoping that this will bring some relief! He says I definitely have chronic pain syndrom which leads to compounding problems since I've been dealing with all this for like fourteen years. But the good thing is that there is no arthritis or other lasting build up around the vertebrae! He seems very positive! Again this explains a lot of my problems. I'll keep you posted. Keep praying!!! Thank you to everyone who has prayed so faithfully for my health drama!!!

Sunny Days & Great Kids

I've been in CA for a week and a half now and today, finally made it to the ocean!!! Time has gone fast and I've been keeping somewhat busy. I joined the church's gospel choir with my sister and sang the first sunday with out even practicing! I am also helping my sister lead the 5 & 6th grade art class for the after school kids...much fun! I've gone to work with my sister and helped out with what ever is needed. I've also been doing a lot of reading and cooking. On Friday, I was really missing everyone in Chicago and feeling kinda crazy about the whole leaving everything thing and was cheered up by a call from Angelic( one of the girls in Chicago)!!! I was talking to her on the drive way of my sister's (my phone doesn't work well in her house) and then as we were finishing, some of the kids from the house a couple doors down were walking home from school and stopped to sit on the driveway with me and tell me about school and other stuff (they are a hispanic family with ten kids and come over all the time)! I'm glad that God knows what will cheer us up and brighten our day! I'm also liking the whole palm trees everywhere thing and all the sunshine.

Starting out with a bang!

As you know, I left Chicago on Friday with a grand farwell at the train station. Lots of tears and many people to miss! Well, after a two hour train ride I made it to Kenosha, WI and started to load myself up with my many bags (heavy backpack, small duffle bag, and three other small bags). As I was heading to the door to exit the train (kenosha is the last stop).....the doors shut!!! Me and another lady frantically looked around for anyone or anything to get the door opened....no luck. Then, the train started moving again. The lady started walking through the train cars with me trying to follow with all of my stuff (this is one reason why I like to travel light and everyone who knows me- knows I travel light!). The train finally stopped a few blocks from the station in the middle of the tracks and we found an emergency button that opened one of the doors. This meant that we had to JUMP off the train (and I was wearing cheap flip flops, not good adventure shoes!). The other lady took off and I looked around to make sure no trains were coming and had to throw the duffle bag off the train and then jumped off onto the tracks with everything else!!! I felt like I was in a movie! I walked along the tracks a bit then found some train worker stairs that I climbed down to street level and walked a few blocks with all of my stuff and found some grass and dropped everything and sat down under a tree! I couldn't believe what happened and had to tell someone!! After resting a while & making a few phone calls, I decided to load up again and make my way to the coffee shop a few more blocks away where I was to wait for my friend Jackie to pick me up after she was done at school. Thankfully the coffee shop over looked Lake Michigan and had a great deck to rest in the sun! So, it was quite a start to my new adventure and I was only two hours into it! I wonder what other adventures are around the corner!?!?

Getting Ready....

I'm to the counting down stage now! I've got my plane ticket to LA and am in the down sizing and packing mode!!! I can't believe how fast this summer has gone. Its strange to be planning last visits with people and especially at Sunshine where we are planning different events and I know I won't be here for them. Twelve years is a long time to wrap up. Every birthday I seem to reflect on the last year and think ahead to the new one, wondering what it will bring.....I definitely didn't see all this transition in my future so soon! In November I'll be turning 30 and will be living in LA with no car or real address and not sure what I'll be doing!!! And yet, I am very excited and am learning in many ways just how faithful God is and how strong He is when we aren't! He can surely take care if me, He's the Great God of the Universe who created and sustains everything for all of time! I have had some big challenges lately and am always encouraged and reminded by Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand!" Yeah God!!!

New Adventure

God has been so faithful to me over the years at Sunshine. I have been thinking back through the last nine years that I have been involved at Sunshine and seen how often God has provided, protected, and blessed me. There are so many people who God has used to touch my life in such unique ways. I want to thank each one of you for your role in my life and ministry!
While at Sunshine, people would always ask “how long I planned on staying”. And I always new so strongly that God had me here and that I would stay until He made it very clear otherwise. Over the last few months, God has brought together many confirmations that this is such a time, that He has something new for my future in ministry. I have been doing a study on the book of Daniel and how faithful he was to God and all the big things that God did in his life in response to his obedience and faith. This has gotten me thinking and praying about how fear can hold us back from stepping out in faith. I have been convinced that God wants me to step out in faith and follow Him to a new place. The place isn’t clear yet, but I know God wants to teach me some new lessons and stretch me in a way that He can’t do here. I’m sure you’re surprised by this, as was I. I keep thinking how big this is and yet God keeps reconfirming and encouraging me in the process. I love Sunshine and all my friends here and this will be a huge transition, as I have spent my whole adult life in Chicago and mostly at Sunshine.
So, the plan is to finish my time here at the end of September and embark on a “vision trip” of sorts to a few places that God has kept in the back of my head for a while. The first is to stay with my sister in LA for two months and check out her church there and see if there would be some type of role for me. Then travel to Uganda for two months and stay with some friends of mine who are missionaries and see if there would be a role for me there. After that, I’m not sure what’s next, maybe God has something for me that’s not ready yet. I will definitely keep everyone posted on what God is doing and the whole process till I know where I will be long term. Come October, I will still have travel expenses and a few ongoing bills if you feel led to continue supporting me directly. I may or may not need to raise support again depending on where God leads me. I still plan to be in ministry in a diverse setting, connected to the local church and in a warm climate!!! Please pray for me as I finish my time in Chicago and as I travel to each new place!

As I start on these journeys, I wanted to keep everyone updated and so I decided to start this blog!!! I hope you enjoy my crazy life and pray for me as I seek to follow God on this new adventure!!!