Tomorrow, or you could say "tonight," ( we are leaving in the wee hours of the morning), we head to Port Morant, Jamaica. Am I ready? Am I every finished until the last second? NO. But, getting there. Surely by the time I fall into bed I will be ready. Then, pop right back up to head to the airport.

Am I nervous? Naw. Excited? yes. The only thing I hate is going thro the airport stuff, but praying that it will be easy. That the Bibles in the suitcase make it there. That all my hours of making embellishments and scriptures and paints and glue  will make it in without spilling over everything! "THEY" always say to think of the worst case scenario and if you go there, just go to Plan B. So what if the Bibles don't make it? What if all the paints spill out ini the suitcase? What if everything gets lost :? What then? Well, I will  just WING IT. I'l talk and talk and talk. But, maybe a better plan B would be to LISTEN. And observe. And zip these chatty lips of mine as I meet a whole group of new friends in the remote area of Port Morant.

As I prepare for the journey I  for SURE  cherish your prayers. That the mission will be for ME, not for the ones we are going to see. That MY eyes will be opened. That MY heart will be strangely warmed.That MY intentions would be honorable and for good. That I won't care a whit about whether or not they "learn" any techniques from ME but that I would learn humbleness and gentleness from THEM. Something I am certainly lacking many days.

So, I will come back after a few days and blow up the blog with pictures and words and emotions. Fair warning.

Blessings to all who visit my jumbled blog of raw emotions. For that is what God is encouraging me to do. BE REAL. BE HONEST. BE OPEN  to any and all things He has planned for this pilgrim girl. Yeah, I know it's not Thanksgiving. Pilgrim, get it? 

Goodbye, Mon. see you soon. 

Before I leave for Jamaica, I wanted to post a few pictures from last Easter Sunday! Had all the kids and grands here for lunch and I must say, it was a blast! Loud and lots of great food!

I hope to do better about posting (I ALWAYS say that, lol) but I definitely want to post pictures of my first mission trip to Jamaica. As most know, Terry has been going since the early 1990's , several times a year. They have built churches/ fixed plumbing/ poured concrete/ built church pews/ changed out roofs to name just  a few things!!! TWO reasons why I haven't gone before. One: I have 5 kids, lol. The first trip he took was when Katie was a baby in 1986, that time to the Dominican Republic, (I think) & I wanted to go then! But, realistically, no way I could do that!  Like who wants to keep 5 kids for a week ? haha. But  for many years Terry has been a faithful mission steward because he has the knowledge and skills from being a carpet guru (haha) , but really! And he is strong as an OX! (of course, hearing he gets up on roofs that can barely hold rainwater scares me to death! He won't be doing that with ME along ha). The other reason I haven't been is I'm not real great at building things! HA! Like, me with a hammer is an accident waiting to happen.  So, when Terry asked me to go (mainly this trip is to figure out what to do about the many children with special needs)  we are taking a friend with us who knows about special needs children and he said "I really want you to meet all my friends there!" Friends for 30 years he talks to on a regular basis and who love him and the team members so much. SOOOO,  I said "YES" I would tag along. And then, God hit me over the head with a 2 x 4. Of course! My passion and love is Bible Journaling, these days, and I have learned SO much in the past couple of years on techniques, etc. that I want to share. I've shared with some friends, I've taught a couple of classes . But, I really wanted to do more teaching and sharing. And I had the God desire to do just that. Just because these ladies live in a remote area and most live in very VERY modest homes ,(some shacks, sadly), I was worried that taking some Journaling Bibles and tons of supplies might overwhelm them. And wondered that if they can't put much food on the table, what good is having lots of paints/embellishments and pretty Bibles? Before I could even finish the sentence, God had provided the answer! Of course they need it. Just because they were born in poverty doesn't mean they don't desire some pretty and special things! Yes, we should provide food and decent shelter. yes, they need more clothes and shoes. yes, they need running water. And YES, they need LIVING WATER too. In the form of a Bible they can work in, read,  express their faith in and be proud of. I'm SO very excited that I can share what little knowledge I have with them. Please pray God will let me show them in a way they will understand. I have a feeling there is a LOT of creative genius there and of COURSE I will want to return to see those very Bibles full of artwork when I go back. On Friday a sweet friend , that I showed how to do some very basic Bible journaling , brought me over a "a little happy" she said. LITTLE? NO, it was a huge BOX filled with goodies for Jamaica. And a gift card and a beautiful hand crafted cross.  It really "sealed the deal" that God is pushing me more to take these Bibles and give some precious ladies something to hold in their hands on days when they feel desperate and to open and read about God's amazing grace. The gift is not the Bible journaling "class" , it's the Bible itself. And hopefully  a treasure for them to pass on to their families in a place where treasures are few and far between. To be a part of the bigger picture God is painting is humbling and amazing. I pray I can be that humble servant who will just be a tiny part in His work. Who knew when I ordered my first Journaling Bible that this would happen???? God did.

P.S. I have to , again, say all these pictures are out of order  (ugh!). Too hard to try and rearrange them, but you get the drift haha

Supplies I have been buying for a couple of months

From my own journaling Bible 

Goodies from Dodie!

gift from Kelley

This was in that beautifully wrapped present!

My own "stations of the cross"