Category: posted by Christina

Reflections on Samuel

1 Samuel 3:19 “The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground.”

Wow- what an incredible verse. I read this yesterday and I still haven’t gotten over it. I’m still trying to figure out what it means honestly. I keep thinking… what would it mean for none of His words to us to fall to the ground? How amazing would it be for us to take His words to heart (not head) and do what He says, transforming our lives. What would it mean for none of my words to fall to the ground, like Samuel? What would it mean for me to be so in tune with God’s Spirit that every word that comes out of my mouth makes him greater? What would it mean for us, as hearers of God’s Word, to take what he tells us and DO it.

During Jesus’ life- even at his trial, out of all the questions he was asked, he only answered two. In response to all their questions, he would only say that he was born to be a King, and that he was the Son of God. Jesus could see people’s hearts- and to what their genuine intentions were. At the trial, the intention of the people was to find fault in Him and find a reason for Him to die. He saw that these people had hard hearts to his gospel, and that they were not open to his life-giving words. Jesus also spoke in Parables, because it made his messages easier to remember, but they also communicated truth to believers but hid it from people with hard hearts.

In Matthew 13:15 Jesus says in regards to why He spoke in parables… For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

I fear that we say many empty words, have faith without works, knowledge without life-change. I fear that the Lord’s words fall to the ground with us as well- that we read our Bibles out of obligation and for a “nugget of truth” to get through the day. I pray that, like Samuel, we would truly understand what this life with Christ is about and DO it and that our words would reflect that. Let’s start with Acts 2:42-47 What would it look like if we actually changed our lives and were the church? What if we loved each other like this? Let these Words not fall to the ground, but let us be transformed by them, see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and understand with our hearts.

Christina

Posted on by Caroline 0

A week of tears

Hello long-lost friends! Christina here, your long lost other half of the foreign heart team. At least, I hope Caroline still considers me part of the team. I started a new journey about 4 1/2 months ago (quitting my job and getting a new one in youth ministry- ahh!) and it has changed my whole world. My life has turned upside down, and I wouldn’t want it to go back. But I do miss you all, and having time to talk to my dear sister every once and awhile…

Anyway- it’s been quite a week… kind of not in a good way. I’ve cried this week more times than I can count. Big, fat crocodile tears in the shower, in a meeting, and driving down the road. It’s just been one of those weeks. Started Sat. with some car troubles, but has continued into something that’s taken on a life of its own.

Honestly- I can’t remember a time that I have felt like this- so hopeless, so despondent, so free of true joy. I was trying to explain it to Tina on Tues. night and after awhile she just said- Christina, nothing you are saying is making sense. Are you sure you’re not being attacked? After trying to talk her out of this insane and frankly, offensive accusation for awhile, I realized she was right.

And why not? Why wouldn’t satan attack me with accusations of worthlessness, alone-ness, and sadness? Why wouldn’t satan whisper to me lies of discontentment, uneasiness, and distrust? Why wouldn’t he try and make me ineffective for God’s gospel and glory? When things at Valley Church are MOVING, when things are SHAKING up, when EXCITING things are happening, WHY WOULDN’T HE ATTACK THAT?

So I fight. For joy- for time with the Lord- for unity in our team.

Will you fight with me? Will you pray that God would continue to move mightily in Valley Church Student Ministries? Will you pray that satan’s attacks on our team would be useless? Would you pray that our staff retreat this weekend will sustain us and give us communication we desperately need? Would you pray that we would come back ready to fight for his kingdom?

Thank you, friends. I love you all.

Christina

Posted on by Caroline 2

Moonlight sledding, top ten lists and lots of coffee: snapshot into my week

Hello long lost friends!
I don’t have much time to write, but I thought I’d give you a quick snapshot into my week this week. We had an awesome moonlit sledding party…

I drank lots of coffee… between coffee dates with students, staff meetings, and the new coffee-shop like addition that was just added to my church, I have had to remind myself to drink water before working out because it’s mostly coffee flowing through these veins. Notice what’s in my hand…

And had a simply hilarious time with the rest of the student ministries staff. This is more the norm than the exception. Isn’t that great! I love how our offices are separated from the other church offices so we can be as loud and goofy as we want. Here’s one of the things that made me laugh out loud this week- my boss was working on this for Underground (Sunday School.)
Ahh, I love youth ministry. 🙂

Ten Christian Reality Shows that DIDN’T make it

10. Run and Not Grow Weary: contestants run continuously until all but one has grown weary

9. Catacomb Survivors: contestants fight rats, unending darkness, and slimy stuff as they try to outlast each other in a succession of big-city sewer systems

8. Crossover: contestants alter the lyrics of popular mainstream songs in an attempt to be the first to convince a Christian music station to play their Christianized song

7. American Idols: contestants take turns competing with modern-day prophets of Baal as they call down fire on alter sacrifices

6. Hour of Power: oh wait, that’s actual a reality show

5. BIG Brothers and Sisters: obese people from the same congregation use competing Christian weight-loss programs to see who can get in the best worship shape

4. So You Think You Can Pray?: contestants vie to see who can achieve the highest prayer-to-answer ratio

3. Big Name Pastor Apprentice: contestants try to win a spot on Joel Osteen’s pastoral staff by competing in preach-offs and book authoring deals

2. The Biggest Loser: contestants compete to see who can most thoroughly “lose their life” in order to “gain it”

1. The Courting Bachelor: male contestants compete to see who can convince Stacie Orrico’s parents to let him ‘court’ their daughter

Posted on by Caroline 1

Hugs to Honduras- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROLINE!

Happy Birthday, Dear Caroline!

This is your present from your dear sister, sending you happy birthdays from up North. From Iowa, to Kentucky, to Canada, people all over the world love you, sister, and we wish you the best of days today. You are so special, and we love and miss you!


From your cousin Heidi and honorary niece, Amaya in Lincoln, NE:
Caroline! I have so many memories with you! You have been such an encourgement in my life! I can remember layng in the hospital, being somewhat drugged, and seeing your beautiful face. I could NOT believe that you traveled two hours just to support me. Even though I was just laying there, Amay inside me still. You are so loyal and so caring for others. Today, you need to be selfish and take a “Caroline” day. It’s your Birthday! Have an AMAZING day Care! Know that Amaya an I love you and are praying for you! Happy Birthday!

From your cousin Anna at Truman State College in MO:
I love Caroline because she is hard-core! We have kayaked all the way
across clear lake and back because she is tough and likes to take on
challenges! Every time we kayak we have the best conversations because
Caroline is so personable, easy to talk to, and full of encouragement
and wisdom! I love her passion for missions and for serving others.

Anna and Jaime in Kentucky:
Caroline, remember the time we were at Impact in Des Moines. You, Me, Margee, and Crystal stayed in the same room. You woke up really early one morning and started singing “Naked Parade, Naked Parade!” at the top of your lungs. Margee thought it was funny and Crystal and I were so annoyed because you woke us up early! That was a really fun time! I miss you and hope you have a beautiful birthday.
Anna
Happy Birthday Caroline!! We love you!!

From Mitch and Karen in Canada:
Happy Birthday Caroline! We wish we could be with you to eat……whatever it is they eat in Honduras on birthdays! Well the Lord has you (and us) outside the good ‘ol US of A for His purpose and His glory. Our birthday prayer for you is that you continue to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and seek His will for your life day by day as you serve Him. Remember Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.” We love you as a daughter, and know that you are blessing others and being blessed as you serve the Lord in a foreign land. We look forward to a day when we can give you a big hug and talk about our adventures. Have a Groovy Birthday.
We Love You!! Mitch and Karen


From Jared, Tina, and Titus in Indianapolis:
Caroline…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We miss you and think about/pray for you often! So… we would love to think of a hilarious story to send your way, but instead we are going to be sentimental… thank goodness you aren’t Christina and can handle a little mushy stuff… haha. I hope you know by now that we absolutely adore you… you are honestly one of the most thoughtful, caring, loving, and selfless persons we know!!! You are always smiling and Jesus’ love is reflected so amazingly in you! You are like a little sister to us and we love you SO very much! We are planning on sending you something soon…. until then, have a marvelous birthday…
Love, Jared, Tina, and Titus

Crystal Becker in Des Moines, IA:
Happy Birthday Caroline!

I’ve been putting off writing a birthday note to you because I wanted to come up with some smart, memorable thing to say. But then I realized that you are the one who does that. You always have such insightful things to say. So I gave up trying to come up with something original… and I’m just going to speak from the heart.
You are a JOY Caroline Marie. Every time I see you that’s what I think. You bring joy to all those around you. It’s been such a joy for me to be able to know you the entire 24 years that you’ve been here at our temporary home. And I’ve seen God do such a might work in you throughout the years. You’ve always been the mature, insightful one… and I’ve been the dramatic and… well, the dramatic one. 🙂 And our bond is strong because of one little word: cousins. I’ve learned so many things from you over the years and I look forward to learning from you in the years to come. And I’m excited to share in all the joys that the Lord blesses us with.
Happy Birthday Care. I’ve included a picture of the Nichols cousins… and whenever I see it, it makes me smile. It’s my JOY to call you cousin and friend. And I take great joy praying for you daily.

I love you,
Crystal Minnie


From the Maakestad Family in Pella, IA
Dear Caroline,
How well I remember you as a toddler, with a china doll face and such a big heart. And you haven’t changed at all – you are still awesomely beautiful and so very caring that you are halfway around the world caring for kids. Please know that Aunt Sherry in Pella, Iowa, is very proud of you and I wish you a very blessed day on this your birthday. You are so precious and important, and you are loved by so many.

All our love,
Sherry, Mike, Hannah, Kirsten and Sara Jane

From Margee in Mexico:
I wish I had my pictures with me! There are so many photos and memories! One of my favorite pictures is of us lying in my bed when I had a very bad cold,drinking ice cream floats and being ridiculous. It always reminds me how much fun we had doing everything (which was usually nothing).
Happy Birthday!
Love, Margee

Aunt Jane in Atlantic, IA:
Caroline–
Sweet Caroline~! Just like the song–I hope you can sing your way through this day and remember that back in the USA there are alot of people that love you and are wishing you the VERY BEST on this your 24th birthday. Your testimony, your faith, and your ability to care and show that you care I’m sure are speaking VOLUMES as you are doing God’s work this year.
Hope you have a GREAT day and again, remember, we love you and miss you!
Aunt Jane

Mom and Dad in Lewis, IA:
Dear Caroline,
If you were here we would make a Caroline sandwich (like the picture) and hug you to death! But since you are in Honduras, you will have to get your new friends to do this for you and pretend it is from us!
We love you.
Mom and Dad
ps
If I could give you a birthday present in person, I would give you a flashlight to take on future adventures! ….and a Garmin…and some trail mix….and some hiking boots….and some Puma repellent!!!

From your friend, Amanda Hoye at Dordt College in Iowa:
Hi Caroline!
Just wanted to wish you happy birthday and say thank you for all you’ve done for me over the years. You’ve been such an amazing example for me and my sister! I am always surprised during camp to find that I get as much (or more) out of the speakers than the campers do! It was true this year, as always, and your message throughout the week reminded me how much I want to be involved in missions- even if it’s a mission to Atlantic, Iowa. Remember being my counselor, by any chance, at Bethany Camp about…oh, 5 years ago? I do, very well, because you were such an encouragement to me. All the late-night cabin talks…we were in the smaller lower room. I learned a lot that year, especially from you. You’re an incredible person, and I’ve been blessed by knowing you. I’m really excited to see where God continues to use you, because it’s going to be awesome! Happy birthday again, and I hope you enjoy your year!

In Christ,
Amanda H.

Grace from UC Davis, CA:

So when I thought of fun memories, I thought of our road-trip to “New
York.” And specifically, the “series of unfortunate events” that we
encountered when we decided to stop at Bob Evans…. dun dun dun! Between
you sliding off the road and almost hitting whatever that big thing
was, William losing his phone, and the crazy winter storm that we ventured
out into that was one of the craziest days I have ever experienced!
Happy Birthday Caroline! I love you!
Grace



Caroline,
Hope this makes you smile on your special day!
I am sure missing you on this day- wishing I could give you a big hug and an even bigger care package. But alas, I’m not on the ball enough to get a package ready a month ahead of time! So you can get excited for your gift that is to come, all these birthday greetings and more from the many people who love you, made into a hard bound book for you in Honduras. It’s called

Hugs to Honduras.

I love you, Sister!
Christina
PS- Maybe you should take a cue from when you were little and lost at the state fair- and some nice person brought you back to the fam b/c of a shirt that said your name. Might be nice for your next “lost” experience? A shirt with your name and where to return you to? 🙂

Posted on by Caroline 7

Interview with a Dreamer

We’re interviewing Kathleen today, of the Blog Cake Dreams, and one of Christina’s fave people in Des Moines. Welcome Kathleen!

What do you do?
I am a registered nurse at Blank Children’s Hospital. Right now I work in general pediatrics on the 7pm – 7am shift. Later this year, however, I’ll get certified to give chemotherapy and will work as a pediatric oncology nurse.

What are the coolest and weirdest things you’ve seen in your years in that career?
Oh gosh! There are so many cool things that happen at work. I am always amazed by families that pull together when their children are sick and get really involved in their children’s care. I see it a lot with kids who are in the hospital for a long time with car accidents. It’s neat to see a kid come in totally broken and then be able to walk out after all of the work everyone has done to make them better.

I have also seen a lot of weird things. One of the wierdest things was when my patient’s lips fell off…they got a little too dry and crusted together. When he opened his mouth the top lip stayed connected to the bottom one. Gross. I had no idea what to do. But with a lot of care, pain meds, and Vaseline, it got cleared up.


What are your hobbies outside of your career?
I have a lot of hobbies…usually I get really excited about something for a while and then move onto another thing. Currently I’m pretty into making cakes and learning French. Before that some of my hobbies were knitting, painting, playing guitar, and jewelry making. I still love to do all of those things too, but they’ve taken a backseat at the moment to cakes and French. Another one of my favorite things to do is photography! I love taking and looking at pictures.

I hear you date a genius/rock-star. Tell us about that.
I love it! Ryan and I have been friends for several years. We went to church retreats together in high school but were just acquaintances then. We’ve been closer friends for about 5 years, but when we were hanging out, I usually just talked with the girls and he talked with the guys. Last winter he was going to buy my favorite book and I got really excited about it. He thought it was pretty cool that I liked to read, so we started considering each other as dating possibilities.
As far as him being a genius/rock-start…it’s so true! I’ve never met anyone who was so nerdy yet so cool at the same time! Way to go Ryan!

How do you know the girls of Musings of foreign hearts?
I know the infamous Christina through Ruth Ann. I am in a girls’ Bible study that used to meet in Ames every week when Ruth Ann lived with Christina. She is probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and her stories always make me laugh! I have never met Caroline, but I do love reading about her adventures and hope to meet her if she ever comes to visit Christina.

Do you know what you are on the Meyers/ Briggs test? Does it hit the nail on the head? Explain.
I don’t know. Sad day. What do you think?

What is your favorite thing about fall or are you a fall-hater?
I must admit that I am half fall-lover and half fall-hater. I love the beautiful changing colors, the smell of outside, pumpkin patches, pies, etc. But I hate to think that winter is getting close. Some people just get cold if the temperature is below 80 degrees. I happen to be their leader.

Are you an obsessive blog-checker? What blogs do you check daily?
I have been addicted to blogging since 2004 (with about a 2 year lapse between late ’05- late ’07). On my blog there’s a list called “good people” of the blogs I faithfully check. Being nosy is one of my favorite things to do!

Tell us about your blog- Cake dreams!
Originally it was entitled “why dorms are bigger than vans” because I used to live in a van traveling the country conducting youth retreats. When I went to college and only lived with one girl in a dorm room compared to 9 other young adults in a van, I realized how much bigger of a space a dorm really was.

Cake dreams was the name I came up with after returning to the blogging world in 2007. I figured that I hadn’t lived in a dorm in 4 years so I should figure out a new title. At the time I was preparing for my roommate Kim’s wedding and she was going to make cupcakes for her wedding. So, at least weekly we would try a different cupcake recipe and practice decorating them. It was a lot of fun! So I decided that it was a good title for my blog and began pouring my little heart out once again.

I hear you are a hard-core Jesus- Lover. Tell us about how this affects your day-to-day life.
I do love Jesus! Being a Christian is the most important part of my life. I love knowing that God is with me every moment, helping me through hard times and celebrating with me during good times. At work or school or with friends I try to witness to His love. God is so good!

Posted on by Caroline 0

Garage sale- More trouble than its worth?

 

Every once in awhile, my sister likes to guest blog on musings. I don’t mind because, frankly, she’s attracts way more readers than I ever will! 

So, I had a garage sale this past week. A big, honking garage sale.
A garage sale that I thought would be great fun, that turned out to be… hard!

I had been planning for months for this garage sale. NOT. I decided to do it last week on a whim. Without consulting all my tried and true friends to see if they’d be around. Yes, there were many missteps in the garage sale process… But I was just so EXCITED! About getting money in my savings account! About stregthening my emergency fund (thanks, Dave Ramsey!) About getting rid of clutter I had lying around.

Low notes:
Well, I didn’t have enough time to devote to pricing.
I didn’t get many signs around the neigborhood.
I thought I could handle it all alone.
And it wasn’t the best weekend of my life.
Lessons learned.

High notes:
My grandparents showing up, like garage sale angels, and helping me out for a few hours by re-arranging the merchandise and sweet-talking customers into buying things.
2 friends who spent hours keeping me company- Zac and Sarah- you guys are awesome!
The 140ish dollars I made- going straight to savings!
The great opportunity it was for me to meet neigbors! Kind of awkward meeting your neigbors over your used clothes, but still nice!

Next time, I’m picking a weekend my mom can help, putting lots of posters up, and paying cute elderly folks (hehe) to sweet-talk. A recipe for success 🙂

Posted on by Caroline 0

Trip down Pumpkin-Spice Latte Memory Lane

Today was one of those yearly monumental days… the first day of fall latte weather. I just returned back to my desk with a Pumpkin-spiced coffee by my side. Makes me feel kind of happy and kind of sad – sad that summer is over and happy that beautiful fall is here. And this fall I’ll get to revel in football season in all it’s glory, as I can see the Valley football stadium out my office window 🙂 LOVE IT!

Anyway, walking back to the office feeling kind of pensive because of the sad feeling I always get by fall officially being here, and I remembered a blog that I wrote about this very topic about 2 years ago… for those of you that may remember, I wrote a little blog called NY Nanny diaries two years ago.

Below is a post from that popular little blog. Enjoy the trip down memory lane!
Pumpkin Spice Latte weather
Wow, it’s been awhile, huh? I’ve been thinking for a couple weeks now that I needed to update you all on my life, but then more, more, and more things kept happening that I needed to add! So today you all get the big ole royal update, I imagine it will take a couple of posts so I better get started. Alright, I’m seeing that my last post was on 9/28… well, 2-3 weeks ago, not bad.

SOOO in that last post, I wrote about how we were starting to interview nanny candidates and were flying a nanny out that could potentially send me packing in a matter of weeks.

Well, of course things turned out quite differently than what any of us thought was coming. The nanny candidate totally spazzed on us and blew off her interview. That’s right, people. She didn’t get on the plane- she didn’t use the ticket we got her, she canceled the hotel room we reserved for her, and she didn’t return our calls! I KNEW I had a bad feeling about her! The NERVE! So that was pretty crazy. Pretty stressful, but also good. Like, in that week scare that I thought I was going home in weeks, I realized how much I want to be here. How much more I want to do and experience and money I need to save. So it’s been a blessing, actually. Also I just had to get over the whole deal and stop stressing, because as we saw with this nutcase, apparently it’s going to be awhile before we find the perfect nanny replacement, since you have to sift through so many wierdos. 🙂
Also, something else happened since I wrote last.
Fall happened!

You know that day, when you go outside, kids in their tee-shirts, and you realize, woah, it got chilly! And you have to shuffle the kids back inside for more clothes. That’s the day fall happens. Up until then you can try and and convince yourself that if you really wanted to, you could still spend more time at the beach and stretch out the summer a bit longer, but then that day happens. Fall day, a little happy, a little sad. But mostly happy! I’ve just been throwing on more layers for the kids and me, and taking them on walks around the gorgeous New England landscape with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. How great is THAT? By the way, I know that one isn’t grammatically, supposed to capitalize the names of coffee drinks, but if you tasted it you’d know why it’s worthy of such grammatical liberties 🙂

I’m love love loving fall here. Driving the kids to school is even more fun, with all the trees turning beautiful colors all around. I just love the crisp fall wather, just love it. I feel like I’ve been given a gift, of still being here in NY, and I’m just loving it.
alright, part 1 done
christina

Can you imagine this happened 2 years ago?

Posted on by Caroline 0