Rose with a Mission

  Today my YWAM adventure begins! After 3 months of preparation I'm starting my adventure with Jesus. This last week was bittersweet. On Sunday my home church prayed for me and my time at YWAM. I am grateful for the love and support they have poured into me. It made their prayer for me all the sweeter. Then when we got home, we had a sibling birthday bash. Everyone voted they would rather celebrate early than to miss doing it with me. I have the best family. We had lots of presents, two cakes, and a lot of laughter. It was great and a time I will treasure.  Monday through Thursday I was busy running errands, packing, cleaning up my room, and hugging family. It's been an emotional and exciting time. Saying goodbye is tough, but the excitement of this new adventure carries me forward.  I spent Friday driving up to Lindale and spending time with my mom. She has been such a great support on this journey. I'm so thankful that we got to have some special time together before I ...

  I have some exciting news to share with you. The quilt is done!  Over a month of work, lots of team work, and a lot of sewing the quilt came together. It's so comfy and I can't wait to curl up in it.  With one week until my move in day, I've been saying a lot of goodbyes. I know that (Lord willing) I'll return, yet I know things won't be the same. My friends and family will grow as God shapes them to be more like His Son. While I won't be here to grow with them, I want them to know that I still love, support, and pray for them. Ultimately I know they are in the best hands possible.  Thank you for your prayers. The Lord has been walking with me through every step of conviction and transformation. As we have been walking, I'm seeing more of how He wants me to live. He's been faithful to sustain me and lead me. He brings clarity to help me remove sin, distractions, and weights in my life. For that I'm so grateful.  As I continue to prepare...

  This week I feel like I’ve been on an amusement park ride with life going by packed, fun and super-fast.   On Sunday I got a text from my boss asking me to sub for just one day. I was all too happy to come in and get more kid hugs. While the day was a bit crazy keeping up with kids, restocking cleaners, and trying to get back into work mode for the day, I was also thrilled to see my kids again. It felt great to cuddle little T when he was feeling sad. It was fun to have several of my kids see me and excitedly call out, “Miss Rose!” followed up by a sweet hug. I was a happy tired at the end of the day. Tuesday through Thursday was the 4 th Annual Siblings Retreat. When planning when to do siblings retreat, the vote was unanimous that they didn’t want to do it without me. I have the best siblings. We had so much fun playing games, eating M & M’s, taking a hike complete with dip in the river, talking and laughing together, and watching some fun movies together. It was ...

This week has been really good. Now that I'm in full time preparation for YWAM, I'm starting to tackle the things that need to get done before I leave. Things like cleaning out the closet (a scary task, but I wanted to leave it clean), sew a special quilt, continuing to gather items needed, write letters, and normal things like cleaning and Bible time. Despite all these projects, I didn't want to neglect the what's most important: relationships. This week the Lord has graciously given me a lot of time to pour into family and friends. I was able to enjoy the zoo with my family, take some long walks with my sister, have some good talks with Jesus, write a long letter to a friend whose on a mission of her own, have a good long phone call with a friend in Cali, text and voice message several good friends, as well as touch base with some old coworkers and share my new adventure with them. I love all the amazing people that God has put into my life and how they encourage and ...