I'm going to Peru! :)

Hi everyone- I wanted to wait to tell everyone until I had told the rest of my family, which I did this weekend. . . I am going to Peru at the end of August!!! :) I am leaving hopefully on August 28th and I will be returning in December. I am going to be working at an orphanage there. This is something that i have always felt led and called to do. It is such a passion in my heart to love those that no one else sees. I feel like orphanes often fit that description. I have wanted to work at an orphanage since I was little and now God has presented me with the opportunity to go. A woman that works out at Curves (where I work, by the way :) ) founded the orphanage, along with her husband, and I feel that it is definitley time for me to go . . . :)
I will be updating my blog much more often now that I have something exciting to talk about!!! Please be praying for me as I prepare for my journey- Since this is a volunteer/missionary trip, it is unpaid, so I will be trying to find the funds with which to travel. I know that God will provide, but sometimes I think, can't he provide with a big ol' check!! :)

On other news, my mom is going to Guatemala tomorrow to be with my sister and nephew. We still don't know exactly when they are coming home but we are hopeful that they will get out of PGN this week, so that they would be home in 3 weeks. I am so impressed with my sister and how she is handling all of this. Not only is she a new Mommy, but she is living in a foreign country, without her husband. Yet, she still has the ability to be happy and positive!!! What a blessing she is! :)
Oh, one other announcement (that most of you already know :) ) My brother's wife, Valerie, is pregnant!!! She is due in February. My mom and I got to go to Omaha yesterday for Valerie's doctor's appointment- we got to hear the heart beat!!!!! How exciting is this? Since my aunt/cousin (actually, she is my aunt, but she is only 4 years older than me so I usually refer to her as my cousin) is pregant also and due in December, this time next year, we will have 3 babies!!!! It is almost too exciting to imagine! :)
Love you all
janie

Long time, no post!

Hi everyone! I am just writing a quick note to let you know that I am still here and alive!! :) I got back from Guatemala 3 weeks ago and am back to work. I have been really busy these last few weeks, but it has been a good busy. I have been doing things with my family, friends, and my church. I am helping with VBS at my church this weekend. I am working with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders- it is friday night and all day saturday. . . Did I mention it is all outside and it will be around 100 degrees??!! :) I am excited but pray I don't melt into a puddle during the course of the day.
Last weekend my good friend Michal from college got married!!! She married Steve Smith who also went to our college, and it was wonderful! I got to hang out with Michal and other girls from college on Friday night and then my girls, Steph and Katie, were at the wedding! Steph came up to KC and stayed the night with me on Saturday night. We had such a great time and talked for hours. On Sunday she went to Church with me and we went out to lunch with my friend Jeni. I always feel like my friends from Kansas City should already know my friends from college because they all mean so much to me!
Anyway- that is what is new with me!! I will try to do better at writing messages!
Love, janie