country number 2

Amber and Clarence have moved to Nepal.

All those colors in the background is the city. It reminds me of an abandoned city but with lots of people. 

To see her face

This morning I was up and dressed and ready to start my morning run.
I heard a strange sound from my phone. I picked it up and there was my daughters face. Skype is amazing.

She says the team is getting a lot going great. She is a bit disappointed that their ministry seems to change almost daily. But she is loving the spice foods. And the non processed realness of the foods. 8 days left until they move on. Our chat was cut short when she lost internet.

How wonderful to see her face.

To hear her voice.

She looks so good!!!

So happy.

A note

I decided to wash the sheets on Ambers bed today. 

Look at the amazing note I found from her under the sheets!!!!

I wonder if there are more treasures?

Amber has been gone for three weeks now, I haven't heard from her for 11 days. I miss her, but I'm so thankful she is where she and God want her to be!!! 

Fundraiser

Amber is not fully funded for her World Race Trip.  She still needs approximately $1200.00

During the parent weekend they encouraged us as parents to not worry about the funds. This is a great way to allow the racers to rely on faith.

I already had two fundraisers set up for after Amber left, so I did NOT cancel them.

The first one was last night. Thirty One Bags.  The consultant is a dear friend of mine and she wanted to donate a portion of her commission to Amber's fund. And Ambers was with us too!!!

Flight to India

World Race update:

Amber's squad left Atlanta GA yesterday, and flew to JFK. After a short layover they boarded Air India for their 13 hour flight to New Dehli India. LONG flight!!!

I was doing "ok". Until I pulled up the flight aware app, and saw her plane leaving the 'safety' of the US and flying across the ocean. Tears of joy and pride, and sadness, and lonliness, and wonderment fell. And then I realized I was at work and had to get back to bagging candy.

Emergency Landing

I was laying in bed and as I was drifting off to sleep, my phone chimed that I had a message. AMBER!! What this was way to early, they don't land for another 4 hours, what happened? OH no, they crashed....she got sick..... so many thots flying around in my head. "Just check the message Debby!!"

They had an emergency stop in Oslo for a heart problem, (noone on her team)

The layover ended up being 5 more hours.They sat on the plane and extra 5 hours. 

They finally landed in New Dehli, but missed their connecting flight to Bangalore. SO.... they were put up in a gorgeous hotel for the night. Going from this to squattie potties. 

Tonight they fly from New Dehli to Bangalore.

How wonderful it is that God is in control. Even when things dont go our way, He is in control. and, even tho I feel in control I AM NOT!!

Here's Clarence the Elephant. Amber's best friend Maria gave her a miniature elephant to take with her on her journey. This is Clarence saying goodbye to Harold (Marias elephant)

Parent Launch Weekend

Earlier this summer the Racers were given a chance to invite parents to Launch Weekend.

This is the weekend all the Racers descend on Atlanta, take over a hotel, and have more training before taking off for their respective countries.

Not all Racers invite their parents. There are a variety of reasons.
1. The parents dont support the racers call to missions.
2. The parents arent christians and dont want to be a part of launch weekend.
3. The racer doesnt want them there.

Im so thankful Amber invited us to join her for the weekend.
The parents stayed in a separate hotel, several blocks from the racer hotel.

AIM packed the weekend full of parent seminars and information.

One lady stood out to me.
She sent a child many years ago on the race. She shared that at first she yearned for information/contact from her racer. She searched her phone and facebook and the blogs every day for a word from him.  It wasnt until she finally let go of knowing all the 'details', that she finally appreciated that the race is more than a just a missionary trip. This is about the kids finding what they believe, not just standing on what the parents believe. This is about growing as a person, a christian. Dealing with faults, failures. Questioning motives. SO much more than a missionary trip.

They also stressed that we need to let our racers go. Dont force contact while they are gone. Dont pressure them to skype home.  They will do it when they are ready.

Saturday night we (parents) joined the kids and had an amazing praise and worship service. Its so inspiring to see young kids worship the Lord!!

Sunday our seminars included alumni racers talking about their experiences, a short presentation by Seth Barnes, founder of AIM, and a question and answer session about the parent participation week they will offer around month 8.

Bracelets

I wanted something visual from Amber to carry with me every day to remind me to pray for her. (Like I would ever forget!!!!) She made me a bracelet and an anklet. The bracelet was her choice of colors, her favorites.










The anklet symbolizes three special people. The orange (leukemia) is for a dear friend, purple (seizures) for Amber, black (melanoma) for my husband.