Lily Grace Kinard

Lily Grace Kinard blessed us all coming into the world on her Grandpa Chuck's Birthday 18Aug10. She weighted 8lbs 9oz and was 21 inches long. I am so looking forward to the spoiling I am going to get to do as her Auntie! I am still in California, but as much as it is killing me it is probably best I wait to see her. My brother and sister in law are not getting much rest and he has to leave next week to go back to their home. I told the new mom I would fly back to the East coast with her which could be super interesting because I hear she has a set of lungs on her.

Thanks for the Many Blessings!

Today as I walked out of work I thought to myself Why do I always let the "you disappointed me speech" always get me down? Even when I have done everything in my power to not disappoint?
I was asking these questions in reference to my Job, where I had spent the last month working my butt off and I had no more to give. Yet even at the end of the day all that I had wasn't good enough. As I drove home I wondered how I would feel if I didn't realize even though I had disappointed someone at work I didn't let God down? Wow no wonder everyone is so depressed, because no matter how hard you work here on earth somebody is always going to want just a little more.
When I arrived home I received donations for my trip to Mexico, so I sat down right away and got the Thank you cards in the mail. Feeling overwhelmed with love and support with this trip I thought "I get it! This is what it is all about" I forgot all about that speech at work and remembered why I am here in the first place. Working is a means to an end, but serving God is the means to Eternity with him!
It was freeing and I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. Thanks for the encouraging words and prayers through out this process. Also for taking this journey along side me and seeing where it all leads!

Blogging for the sake of Blogging

As the smell of the fire stove has now left the afghan my mother knitted me out of my great-grandmother's yard summer has come to an end. I remember being a child and summer would last FOREVER until it would finally be time to go back to school and see your friends, only to want summer break again almost as fast a school started. Anymore I just feel like life is passing me by. I am not sure if that is something that happens with age or if it really is passing me by. There always seems to be another deadline, a to do list that never gets finished, or a trip you keep putting off taking.

With the anticipation of my Niece being born any day now if feel like that little kid who wishes that summer would come to an end. It seems as if we have been waiting on her arrival FOREVER, sometimes to the point I still think "is this really happening" On that note I can't even imagine what my brother is thinking....he probably weights about 140 LBS. right now. For those of you that don't know Kyle he is 6 foot 2, so it really isn't health for him....Then my mind races to another family member and then then next family member. At that point I have to stop myself and realize I will never be able to fix everything, life will go on, and at the end of the day it is the end of the day. God's plan has played out regardless of the fretting and/or worrying I have done through out the day. His plan is definitely bigger and better then I can ever imagine and the proof of that comes with Miss Lily Grace Kinard!!!

Do we need Social Media Detox?

This was a question I was asking myself when this Wednesday night a coworker/friend that needed help from me at work off hours, didn't have my cell phone and thought that he might be able to catch me on Facebook. It was then I had to ask myself if I spend too much of my time on Facebook, texting, emailing instead of engaging in life and the joy of Human to Human interaction and conversation?

This lead me to a conversation with a different coworker talking about "The top 10 ways you can tell if you are addicted to Facebook" So of course I did what everyone in today's society does I went and googled it. I was amazed people really live their lives through Social Media I was dumbfounded....check out this article! http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/23/ep.facebook.addict/index.html This seemed crazy to me!

Then I started to think about it... you are not really required to talk to anyone anymore if you don't feel like it. All conversations can happen electronically in fact there are times when I sit at work and IM with my coworker who is sitting right across from me. It made me kind of sad.

In a world were Social Media has made it possible to keep in contact with relatives and friends from long distances have we lost are ability to live interactive lives? This will make me think twice before I text, email, or Facebook. Maybe I should call, Skype, or even have a party...

My heart and I are headed back to Mexico

I just found out today that I will be going back to Monterrey Mexico November 20th-26th which is the first week of my sabbatical. I am going to work with some people in the next few weeks to see if it will be possible to set up something where people can donate to the trip and get a tax deduction. Please look for more information to follow. If you don't really care about a tax deduction you are able to mail a check to me or deposit directly into my account. Please contact me at Princessrk23@comcast.net for information on where to mail the checks.

All profit from my Scentsy sales from now until November will go towards my mission trip. Visit https://rashellkinard.scentsy.us/Home and place an order by clicking on the Monterrey Mexico Party. I will host one a month until I leave.

Also In September or October I will be hosting a "Buck a Beer" party at my house where you can get my special homebrew for a $1 or donation which ever you prefer. I need to make sure I have a large enough supply of beer to sponsor this party, but hope to have the date set in the next few weeks.

If you have other ideas for fund raising or would like to help in any of the events listed above please contact me. This will be the first of two trips that are planned for me. I will be also returning next summer with a group from PCC.

The money will go towards my plane tickets, back2back fees, and donations for the kids. I will be sending out of list of things to donate if you are more comfortable sending tangible items instead of cash.

I am so looking forward to this trip and thank you in advance for your support!!!

Easily Broken

Not in I am easily broken, but my body is :-)

Friday afternoon I had a sharp pain in my left shoulder at work. I really thought nothing of it until I was woke up 3 times during the night....so to put it in perspective I fell off the top bunk when I was a child and didn't wake up. So the fact that I was in enough pain to wake me up says something. I still thought I could put off going to the MD until Monday until my fingers started to go numb.

Off to the Doctor I go because everyone is freaking out....turns out the swelling in my shoulder is causing the numbness in my hand. Well at least it is my left hand, I now have pain meds, and if it isn't better at the end of the week I am headed back to the doctor.

Gotta love getting Old!!!

Mexico my Heart!!

Sorry about the delay in blogging about my Mexico trip...I caught a bug I can't seem to get rid of, but I am on the up and up. Everyone I talk to told me this trip would change my life and I didn't believe it until I actually lived it. It is one thing to SEE poverty it is a completely different situation when you put yourself in the middle of poverty! I told my brother yesterday I will probably never be able to vacation in Mexico again because of the fact that I am aware of what surrounds the tourist areas and the need that these people have. To the right are the people I traveled with got to know and became to love. We set out on a week long adventure to help children that have been left by there family and landed on a trip where we learned so much that I can't even be able to explain. Theses children taught me so much about happiness, love, and worth then I had learned in an entire lifetime. They just wanted to be loved....and around every corner my assumptions were proven wrong.

The first home we visited I fell in love with a little girl named Xiemna....she was full of life and all she wanted to do was eat play doe. We began our relationship with me telling her No...no bueno. I am sure this is something a little girl her age is not thrilled to hear. As the day progressed I spin her around we played chase and we made one of her friend who rarely smiles Gabe burst out in laughter. It was a life changing moment for me. A couple days later we got to go to an animal park with this home and I was kind of disappointed that that babies would not be going because that is where I had connected the most....God did his magic and the Babies came with us. Even though this little one was sick she had the time of her life. I have never seen a little one be so brave! It broke my heart each time I had to leave her at the end of the day she would cry and cry and all I wanted to do was bring her home with me.

The next day we went to a place called Rio3 it was a shanty village made up of swatters. We were taking a tour of the area and this little girl came up to me as we were walking and grabbed my hand...her name was Veronica and here she can be seen eating the food that we gave them that day. She was a precious little girl. The girls shown here in the red shirt spent the entire walk back playing with a balloon with me....she showed me how to keep myself cool and she giggled as she told me grande, grande...she wanted me to blow it up bigger. There were little houses a far as the eye could see and they had no indoor restrooms, but they were the happiest people I have ever met. There were two ladies who had lost their legs to poor circumstances and as we walked through their house I thought to myself "they must think this is a circus with the Americano's parading through their House." My perspective did a one eighty when the sister started to pray for us and tell us how thankful she was that we took time to visit their home....that we were their family and they love the fact that we took time out of our day to think of them. It was such an interesting perspective that I had never experienced before. Two days later their house along with most of the other houses were destroyed by Hurricane Alex. Even in the mist of all the damage and inconvenience they had those two women were still giving grace to God!!! They had so little, but it was an advantage for them. I think that too many times we as Americans feel so entitled to everything when the truth is we are spoiled rotten BRATS! We have every convenience known to man and yet we find reason to complain.

The next few days the rain came down as I have never seen it come down before. Our dorms were flooded, we were ankle deep in sewer water, sweeping the water out of the building as fast as we could, and no reason to believe that we would be leaving Mexico any time soon because the three bridges that we needed to cross in order to reach the airport were not available starting with the first on to get off the property. Ok I am getting a little ahead of myself....on Thursday night at Back2Back they had what they call "marketplace" it is a time to buy souvenirs. It is also a time that you can sponsor children from the children's home's. I had it in my mind that I was going to sponsor Ximena from Del Norte, but as I returned to the Dorms to grab a pen to fill out the paper work I found myself in a position where I had to stop and pray. I gave the decision to God and even though Ximena was not available I felt lead to another girl named Maria Luisa. She was from Casa Hogar Douglas which was one of the houses we had not visited, but I still felt lead to select her. I thought if I didn't step out in faith at this moment in time I would not do it when I returned to the states. Long story short I end up sponsoring both girls and Maria Luisa was actually at the house Imperial del Amor that we had visited during our trip and we had met. She is such a doll and I am looking forward to getting to know her better.

Needless to stay I am headed back to Mexico during my 6 week sabbatical I can't get enough of this place and what they are doing. I am also looking at returning next summer with a group to a little city outside Cancun Mexico next summer. Please continue to pray for the needs of this area as the hurricane has had a huge impact on the area. We were very blessed to get out when we did, but it was so hard to leave everyone in our "Great Escape" Viva Mexico!!!