Before I go..

I feel like it would be incomplete for some reason not to write one more post before I take off. So here I am. I am so, so, so excited. :)

It is still hard for me to believe that we'll be leaving for the airport in just one hour. How crazy is that? How did we go from filling out applications, to fundraising and buying plane tickets, to shopping for needed items, to packing, to... to finally being ready to go? Where did the time go? How did this happen?

I'm all dressed in my trip shirt and such, bags packed and waiting. I still feel like I'm a little bit in a dreamlike state. I mean, WOAH! Is it really here already? I feel like I'm just waiting for someone to jump out and pinch me to wake up, to say, "Just a dream, Rachel - It was just a dream." But, no! It's really happening... and I am so excited.

As a random side note, I have decided I do not like late-night flights. Usually whenever I fly somewhere, we get a flight as early in the morning as possible, so it's like, wake up and then go straight to the airport. When it's late at night... well, its just ongoing waiting all. day. long. After I got home from church today, I have been just waiting, waiting, waiting - everything is ready to go, just counting down until it's time to go. I've been getting more and more anxious as it gets closer. ARGH! All of this waiting is driving me nuts. :)

My flight leaves tonight, so please be praying for safety and health, not only for myself, but for everyone on our team.  I'll try to update as much as I can while in Miami and Panama.

Again, thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. :)

Next stop - Miami, Florida!

I leave tomorrow...

It's true. I can hardly believe it myself, but time has gone by SO quickly! It feels like we are still weeks away, but slowly I am coming to understand that I leave in only a day and a half.

I am so excited. I am almost finished packing - my big suitcase is done, and my carry-on bag is nearly finished. Just a few more small things to add and I'm ready to go.

Now, on my list of things I like to do, packing is somewhere around #523. And packing everything you'll  need to spend three weeks in another country into one suitcase and one backpack - well, it's not an easy task. Thankfully, after much sorting, folding, shopping, and procrastinating, everything is packed away and even ORGANIZED!



Packing, packing...




... and DONE!

 Now that I'm finished packing, I am just getting more and more excited as I wait for the big day to arrive. I have done everything I can think of that needs to be finished before I leave, and I am so excited!



Please be praying for us as we head out in the next few days! All of our Leaders and LITs are arriving today to do some prep work and training before we get there, and all of the students should be in by Monday evening. Please be praying for safe travels and that everything would go smoothly and according to plan. Also, our team will be meeting together for the first time upon arrival in Miami, so be praying for team bonding and unity. While we're in Miami, we'll be training for two days to learn the entire drama, so pray for us to be able to pick it up quickly and perform it well. Last, but definitely not least, be praying for health, safety and that God would be preparing our hearts, minds and bodies for Panama. Pray that He would open the hearts of the Panamanians to hear the Gospel and respond to it.

God is going to do amazing things on this trip. Thank you SO much for your support and prayers - they mean the world to all of us going.

Time flies, doesn't it?

Eleven days from now, I will be in Miami, beginning training for our trip to Panama. I am incredibly excited!

Many, many things have happened since I last posted about the trip. 

I finished paying for the trip (Yay!) with help from Dad. (Thanks, Dad!).

Our packing list was sent out! Mine is nearly six pages this year, because I am going on the extended trip. We have been shopping a lot this month, picking everything up and making sure that I have everything I need. We received our costume assignments as well - I was assigned to bring the costume of a China Doll. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be the China doll in our drama - once we're in Miami, we'll have drama tryouts and our leaders will decide who should play which part, and we'll switch costumes after that.



T-shirts for our trip came in the mail. We'll be wearing these to travel to Miami, and again when we travel to Panama. They are a light green color... almost minty. It is hard to tell from the pictures. :)

Team lists were eagerly awaited, and finally arrived the beginning of this month. I am on Team 6! I have already contacted some people on our team, and everyone is great. I am excited to be able to meet everyone when we arrive in Miami.



Back of the shirt

I started packing yesterday, and I am a little overwhelmed with the idea of having to pack for three weeks. I am fairly sure that everything I need will fit in my suitcase, and I have been working out various ways to pack things for a few weeks now, so it should all work out eventually.

That's about it for updates right now. The rest of this week and all of next will be left to finish packing and finalizing little details. I am so excited to be going to Panama, and I can't wait to see all of what God is going to do while we are there.

I will try to update once or twice more before I leave, and I will definitely try to update while I am on the trip if I can.

Thank you, everyone reading this, for your support. You are so important to me, and I couldn't be going on this trip without you!



"Do you have a bowl?"

I sponsor a child through Compassion International, a little girl. Her name is Erika.

Last summer, I went on a missions trip to Ecuador with Susie Magazine and Big World Ventures and I had the opportunity to meet Erika. First, let me say that meeting her was one of the best things ever. It was such a special opportunity and I loved it. Second, since having met Erika, I think about her much more often than I did before. That's not to say that I didn't think about her at all during the time I sponsored her at first... it's just to say that at first, she was just a little kid in another country that I was helping. Unfortunately, it wasn't really like it was that big of a deal to me. I wrote her letters and I loved her little pictures she drew for me, but I just didn't really think about it all that much.

After I met her last summer, that changed. I think about her every day. She's not just a random little girl anymore. She has a face, and a laugh, and a personality and a smile, and a hug. She's real.

I was doing the dishes a few days ago, which isn't that uncommon. I mean, its not really something we think about, right? The dishes are there, we use them, we wash them, we dirty them again, and so on. Just a part of life. But as I was standing there in our kitchen, looking at the pile of dishes I was currently washing, I started thinking, "Man. We have so many dishes. What's up with that? How do we dirty these so quickly? I mean, really. It's such a chore. Things would be easier if we had less dishes. Or just used paper plates." And so on. But in the middle of that random chain of complaining thoughts running through my head, I remembered something. A story.

Last summer, when I met Erika, I brought a couple of gifts for her. A coloring book, some crayons, a stuffed bunny... just little things I thought she would like. And she did like them. But after we had played with them for awhile, and played on the swings and such on the little playground, she stopped, suddenly, seriously, and asked me a question. Some of you know that I do not speak Spanish well. Actually, I barely speak Spanish at all. I just smiled at her at first, and motioned to the slide again, thinking that's what she wanted, but she just repeated her question, her big, brown eyes staring up at me.

So I brought her over to a translator, and said, "I can't understand what she's asking. Can you help us?" Erika asked the translator, and the translator just smiled. "Oh." said the translator. "She wants to know if you have a bowl for her brother."

A bowl. A bowl?

"A bowl?" I asked.

"Yeah. For her brother."

"A bowl. Like... a cereal bowl?"

The translator just smiled again, and nodded. "Yes. Just like that - I'm guessing you don't have one with you, do you?"

I was a little taken aback by it. I slowly shook my head no. "No, I ... I .. no. I don't have one." The translator nodded and said something to Erika, who in turn nodded, and then grabbed my hand and ran back to the slide. I didn't think much about it the rest of the time I was with her, but later that night, as I was going to bed, it came back to me. She had asked for a bowl for her brother. A bowl. Why? Did they not have any dishes? Or maybe just not enough for everyone to have their own. Maybe she and her brother share a bowl. Maybe they all share just one bowl. I don't know. I'll probably never know.

How often do we take what we have for granted? I mean, she's just a little girl. When I was her age, if I could have asked someone for one gift, just one thing, it would never have crossed my mind to ask for a bowl, or anything of the sort. I probably would have asked for a dollhouse, or a new book, or something like that. And she had asked for a bowl. On top of that, not even a bowl for herself! A bowl for her brother.

And as I stood there in the kitchen, staring at the dishes, my perspective shifted. So many bowls. Cups. Plates. Forks, knives, spoons. Measuring cups. Mixing bowls. Plastic containers. Water bottles. All of these dishes piled up on the counter. And you know what? If I hadn't done the dishes that night, would we have had dishes to use the next morning? Yes, we would have. And probably even the morning after that. We probably have enough dishes to last us days without washing any, and they don't even have enough dishes for each person in the house to have their own.

We have so much excess, so much more than we need. And we view it as a hassle, just another chore to be done. We may grumble, complain, or we might just do the dishes and not even give it a second thought. But as I was standing there, washing these dishes, I changed my mind. Shouldn't we stop looking at them as a chore, and start viewing them as a blessing? All of this excess, this overflow, aren't they all blessings? The cups and plates and forks and spoons and the bowls.

Erika thanks me in her letters for sponsoring her, and she thanks me and tells me she is grateful for my help and that she is doing well in her lessons, and thank you for sending me letters, and thank you for the picture, and thank you, thank you, thank you. But sometimes I wonder - shouldn't I be the one doing the thanking?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Suprise Cookies

These cookies are so good. That is, if you like peanut butter and chocolate, which I believe is one of the best combinations there is. They are a little complicated, and take some time to make - not just a whip-it-up, throw-it-in-the-oven, kind of recipe, but they are well worth the extra time. Soft, chocolaty cookie on the outside, sweet, creamy peanut butter on the inside. Yum.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (I left this out, just because I almost never put salt in cookie recipes.)

1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus you'll need more at the end for rolling)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter (you'll need to divide this into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup powdered sugar


1. Preheat the oven to 375*F.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside.

3. In another bowl, beat together sugars, butter and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg, beating to combine. Stir in the flour mixture. Set this aside as well.

4. In a medium bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and 3/4 cup of peanut butter, until smooth.

5. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Pull off about a tablespoon of the chocolate cookie dough and flatten it with your hands. Take a little less than a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and place it in the center of the chocolate cookie dough. Wrap the cookie dough around the peanut butter center and press it closed. Roll the cookie into a ball, and roll the cookie in sugar.

6. Place the cookies on the baking sheet. (They will spread somewhat, so be sure to space them apart with room for spreading.) Flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass.

7. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool. I made about 25 cookies from one batch.

Like I said before, these cookies were delicious. In mine I substituted some of the cocoa powder for chocolate chips, and I liked having the chocolate chips in the dough. I used four tablespoons of cocoa powder and four tablespoons of semisweet chocolate chips. (If you do that, you also have to take out 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of butter).

Also, when I made these the first time, I had way too much of the peanut butter mixture for inside the cookies, and ended up dumping a bunch of it. Next time I make these, I'm going to try doing 1/2 cup of peanut butter with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

For a peanut-butter and chocolate lover, these are a must have. In fact, I think I might make a batch this afternoon. :)

*Disclaimer: I found the recipe and picture on Pinterest, linked from this blog.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

These cookies are similar to your average chocolate chip cookie, but they are just a little bit fluffier and have a bit of a different texture. The flavor is a little bit sweeter as well. Also, these cookies stay softer longer than a regular chocolate chip cookie would, which is great for me, because I love soft cookies. (Also, the cookie dough for these is delicious!)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 small package instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz)

2 eggs, room temperature

2 cups chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars, butter, vanilla extract, and vanilla pudding mix. Beat until creamy. Add eggs. Add the dry ingredients and still until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375*F for 8-10 minutes.

These would be great for a cookie exchange, or a party, or just a quick afternoon snack. This recipe made almost 50 cookies for me, and it took me less than an hour. They were so simple... but sometimes the simple things are the best.

"Success" Poem

Success is...

being strong in times of weakness,
having faith in times of hopelessness,
shining brightly in times of darkness,
persevering in times of struggle,
being patient in times of waiting,
being always loving, always forgiving, always trusting, always believing.

-Anonymous


and just for fun, I'm adding a couple of not-so-recent pictures I've taken.

In Nevada.

Nevada sunset.