Well...time to update everyone, as it has been five months since my last report, but that is less than 1/2 a year so no complaints ;)
Life has been moving full speed ahead but God has been/is at work! So prepare yourself for some crazy Osborn Opportunity stories, and heartfelt reflection, as I try and summarize these past five months.
August- As I mentioned in my last blog post I embraced the uncertainty and decided to stay in the Chicagoland area, instead of going home to teach in Minnesota. God honored my obedience and provided me with a job as a preschool teacher in Wilmette, Illinois! At first I was a little hesitant because as much as I love the little ones I had my heart set on teaching 2nd or 3rd grade and preschoolers are a lot of work, but I gave this worry to God and said, "You've opened this door for me to teach, but I'm relying on Your renewed strength to be able to work with these balls of energy every day!" I was hired the first week of September and those
little balls of energy are now the delight of my day- Monday through
Friday. I love each and every one of them...even the CRAZY energetic
ones whom test my patience daily.
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| No, I'm not log rolling my students- Just helping them learn how to do somersaults! | |
September-
I'm adjusting to this new life as a working adult. But it is pretty great getting to be with kids five days a week and learning with them by playing with them. Play truly is a child's work!
However, after God's provision of a job I was still looking for a place to live. My church family are huge blessings in my life and my college pastor and his wife graciously let me stay with them until God opened the door for me to move in with an elderly woman.
I had occasionally helped this 89 year old woman out during the summer (she'll be 90 next month!) when I nannied in Highland Park. I happened to mention that I was looking for a place to stay and a week later I moved in with her; free rent in exchange for helping her out with dinner at night and odds and ends on the weekend.
Truth be told that has been another full-time job in itself. But God has been teaching me A LOT about who I am and areas in my life that I need to trust God and not myself. I've been learning how to put others before myself and submitting to the mission God has called me to right now, which is at 1250 Park Ave. W. Apt. 434, Highland Park, IL 60035 :)
One encouraging Osborn Opportunity that has arisen from this experience is sharing the Gospel with my elderly roommate. She has a strong Jewish background but she reformed to Catholicism in her 70's. She still has many questions in regards to Christianity and we have had several intense discussions, but I've grown in stating and confirming what I truly believe as well as listening to another person's viewpoint. She said she respects my authenticity in that she sees me living out what I say I believe. That is encouraging. To God be the glory! And ger humor shines through in our discussions, like the other day when we were discussing evangelism and I "gently" insisted that it is our joyful duty in obeying God's call to proclaim the good news and "make disciples of every nation," to which she replied "Honey, you are one of God's best salesmen!"
I could go on and on about stories from this small apartment and the craziness that occurs inside, but I'll save those for another time.
October- Busy month full of work, a big conference for work (which I won a huge thing of modeling clay, since I was the youngest member of the group ;), work seminars, church events, and a surprise visit home for our early family Thanksgiving.
The conference I attended was helpful and reminded me how much I love learning. I am certainly a life long learner!
Early Thanksgiving at home was a blast, especially since only two of my family members knew I was coming home. I drove straight home to MN the day my family was celebrating Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family in New Brighton, MN. I arrived just in time for dinner, so I called my mom (while I was outside of the house) and she said how much they wished I could be there and she passed around the phone for people to say hi to me. That is when I walked through the front door and had one surprised mom! Of course she started bawling her eyes, typical mother reaction, and my dad couldn't see me, so he went running over to my mom to see what was wrong and then saw me too :) It was so great to spend Thanksgiving with my family and extended family! I am so thankful for the godly family God has given me. It is something I take for granted too often.
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| Josh was a great team captain! |
I also had the privilege of attending one of my brother's football games, which was FREEZING but totally worth it. The Princeton Tigers had an amazing season. They displayed true teamwork throughout the season and even made it to state. I was one proud sister of #23.
November- I can hardly remember November because it mostly consisted of my first solo parent teacher conferences. The week before I felt a little bit like the lady in the picture :) It was a crazy time but I survived and am blessed with parents who care about their children and are willing to partner with me to help their children grow.
***I was able to go home for a quieter Thanksgiving at the end of November and enjoyed quality time with just my family.***
December- The whirlwind month! The preschool I work at is close to a nursery called the "Chalet." Apparently they bring in two real reindeer each year around Christmas and they also have some special visits from Santa Clause, so we were able to take our classroom of kids to see the reindeer.
This month was jam packed with Osborn Opportunities!
#1. I was asked to join a mission team from my church to go to Bogotá, Colombia.
Does that name ring a bell from my last blog post? :) God had placed Bogotá on my heart last August and suddenly he rekindled that fire with the possibility of actually going to Bogotá. However...I found out I would have to get a week off of work and raise support within a month. There really should be no "however" because God provides, and He did provide me with a week off from work and all of my support came in! Praise be to God!
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| This is our eager team! *Ronnie didn't make it into this picture, but I'm sure we'll take another one in Colombia :) |
Hard to believe but our team leaves this Saturday- February 2, 2013 for Bogotá! Please pray for our team, but also for wisdom, as I look at committing to teach at this school (El Camino Academy) for two years. I will have the opportunity to observe in the 3rd grade classroom of one of my friends who teaches at the school, as well as teach a lesson. Exciting stuff!
#2. I had the special privilege of attending the Urbana Mission Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
I don't even know if I have words to express this experience, but I'll quick summarize a few highlights.
- I listened to some very passionate, convicting, and encouraging speakers; one being David Platt. And this semester I have the joy of leading a Bible study at Trinity International University, which discusses David's latest book "Radical," as well as the Biblical applications for our lives.
- Worshiping with 16,000 fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, in over 6 different languages was like a glimpse into Heaven. I have always enjoyed singing in different languages, but there was a special focus during the worship, which got my feet moving (even jumping!), my hands clapping, and my water bottle constantly full, as my throat was a little overwhelmed by all this intense singing :)
- Last, but certainly not least, I was able to connect with different mission agencies, connect with a Canadian couple I met the 1st day of the conference, and spend some reflective time in the prayer room. All of these served to strengthen my desire to do mission work, whether that is short term work, mid-term work (teaching at Bogotá for 2 years), or possibly even long-term...only God knows and I'm content at following Him one step at a time.
Misc....this month I was also able to spend time at home with my family, and a little with friends, which was a blessing I no longer take for granted. But I didn't quite have enough time at home to adventure out with dad for our annual Father-Daughter winter camping trip, which brings me to...
January-
Two weeks ago I quick flew home for the weekend to spend it winter camping with my DaddyO. Dad and I started braving the cold weather four years ago by cross-country skiing/winter-tent camping. Typical Osborn sty
le, this weekend it happened to be the coldest weekend of the winter so far, but that was no surprise for us, as we are prepared for below 0 weather.
There was more snow in Southern MN, so we headed to New London, MN to do our winter camping.
The State Park is called Sibley State Park, and they had some beautiful cross country ski trails...and some very hilly ones too!
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| My favorite winter-camper :) |
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| Nothing more that I love than being out in God's creation! |
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| Chilly but so worth it! |
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Ironic that most of our trails were marked with this symbol? Typical Osborn way of traveling...never take the easy route.
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| Tent sweet tent |
Really Rachel? A picture of an outhouse?
This is not just any outhouse...this was the protector of our food and peace of mind, as we unfortunately could hear the piercing howls of coyotes at night.
We camped in the primitive camping sight, which was about 3-4 miles from the rangers station, but it is used for small groups in the summer, so they had an outhouse which served as our storage shed from the curious and hungry critters.
*Pretty sure it would've been warmer sleeping in there than our tent, but we didn't resort to sleeping in the outhouse ;)*
The weather was all over the place while we camped. Friday it was beautiful and we had a blast skiing, setting up the tent, and playing cards until someone fell asleep on me and started snoring...wonder who that was?? ;)
However, the temperature dropped that night and Saturday the winds began to pick up. By the afternoon we had 30 mph gusts of wind, so dad came up with the idea of ski-wind-surfing on the frozen lake by our campsite, using the base tarp of our tent, and it worked!
The wind would pick up the tarp and send us sailing across the frozen lake! It worked the best when we both held the tarp and each held one end, but obviously we couldn't take a picture of that, so you'll just have to use your imagination.
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| My best "angry" face |
I will admit that I am highly competitive...not just a little competitive...a LOT! I'm pretty sure dad rigged the games we played together...or maybe it was the homemade-paper card deck we made, but it was not my weekend for winning card/dice games. But I still did manage to win one or two games :)
No, we did not bring a baby with us...
Dad had a smaller pack for our food, but this was the best way to carry it, since we had our big packs on our backs.
I got a big laugh out of dad's pack when we were unpacking/setting up the tent because out of my pack he pulled the sleeping bags, food, cooking equipment, and then when he started emptying his pack, out came 4 sleeping pads (which weigh nothing!) :) *Maybe he also had the tent in his pack...minor detail*
We did get to experience skiing in the dark...this time we didn't have to set up our tent in the dark, which was nice ;)
Dad has these fancy head lamps so they make it easy to see where you are going in the dark.
But the best part of skiing in the dark are the brilliant stars above you, which glitter against the pure black sky. It was also softly snowing, so it was basically a scene out of a movie...minus a nice cottage to go back to. The tent was no cottage.
Sunday morning it was well below zero, as you can see from my freezing face and the frozen things in our tent :)
Our breath crystallized everything in the tent! Pretty sure my toes were a little crystallized too ;)
Life just keeps on moving! Often times I wish I could stop. There was a piece of me in college that thought once I graduated, and started into the adult-working-world, I would be able to slow down a little. Yeah right!
Part of this comes from the responsibilities of this world, and my inability (struggle) of saying "no" to the many wonderful activities/tasks/etc...that surround me. Why do my 2 year olds have such an easy time with that word?!?! ;)
Thankfully God is outside of time and He continually pulls in my reigns and reminds me to take one day at a time. I love to know what's next, but that is not always for me to know right away. I've been reading George Washington Carver's biography this month, and I've been deeply encouraged by how his faith was so interwoven in his life, that science, education, and everything he did stemmed from his relationship with God. And he made sure everyone knew it was God! Even when the New York Times tried to tear him to pieces.
One of the pieces George wrote reminded me of where I'm at in my life right now; in moving forward with Bogotá and God's plans for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).
"God is going to reveal things to us that He never
revealed before--if we put our hand in His. Without
God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless."
(Heroes Of The Faith-p. 187)
Nothing in this mortal life is certain, except my relationship with the Triune God and His Word, which daily blows me away, humbles me, and sets me forward on the path of faithfulness. I do not know what my future holds, but I know who holds it and He is enough for me. As we sang in one of the songs at Urbana "Y es todo para ti!" -And it's all for You (God)!
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