well, here i am again.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I would plan another trip to Juarez this December. I had been thinking about planning one, but never really got around to actually saying I would go.

And now I'm here. I've got barely enough people to make a team. I've got the people, and all we need are the funds. (Which, to me is weird because I think most of the time the problem is that teams are short on people and not funds.)

Last year, we raised nearly all of the money we needed to get us to Juarez, build a house, and come back.

I'm going to be honest with you, we need at least $6600 to do this. Last year, we had donations from $5 to $400. And we needed every bit of that to help us accomplish our goal, which was to build a home for a family who made less than $300 a month and was living in a cardboard shack. We went, built, Christ was shared, and we were changed.

Please seriously consider supporting our team this year! Everything you donate goes to things from nails and shims to new doors and windows and enough lumber for the roof.

We are building the week after Christmas. Temps drop below 0 in Juarez in the winter and many people won't make it through to spring. Many homes look like this.....



Please consider giving up something this Christmas so that a family can have a warm home and the good news of Christ.

To those of you who have donated, THANK YOU so much! Together I believe we are being God's hands and feet, whether it's giving or going.

I installed this donate button and posted it on the left side of my blog. Click on it to donate online. If you'd rather send a check or would like to receive a fundraising letter with more information, email me at aubrie2@ksu.edu.

Thanks so much!

big dreams.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this, because honestly I don't want to seem braggy or pompous, but I wrote about Casas a few months ago and sent it in to Topeka, hoping that the word will be spread and maybe even just one person will be moved to do something.

I also wasn't sure if I should post this because I really don't know what God's gonna do with me after graduation. MY plan may end up being different than what he plans out for me...but here's what was on my heart.

Big Dream Gathering - Casas por Cristo

i am inspired.

this woman's faith inspires me. i tear up every time i watch this video and hear her story.

there are days...

Life's been crazy lately. Crazy good. I can say that over the last month I have been happier than I probably have been since I left Juarez last August. God has been working in my life in pretty silent ways lately, if that makes sense. I see Him every day and think about Him often. I have been very blessed this summer.

Last night I asked myself the same question I asked myself all summer last year. Why is it that I get to live here? Why do I get to eat three times a day and sleep in my own bed and turn on the AC? I have been very blessed this summer. I've been to Hawaii and Florida, and next week will leave for Seattle. I've spent time with friends and a pretty cool guy. I've worked so much that people at work have become like family (it seriously is gonna break my heart to leave that place when I graduate).

Lately I have been seeking out what I should do after I graduate. And you know what? I haven't really got a clue. I have ideas. I have hopes. But I am learning in life that you really can't plan much.

For the past few years I have had this dream that I could one day move to El Paso/Juarez and find a teaching position on the El Paso side. I want to open a school in Juarez, like a Saturday school, where people could come and learn English, math, or maybe things they could use to make a living.

I am coming to this place where Mexico isn't always on my mind anymore. There are days when I don't think about it. It scares me because I feel guilty and I feel like I'm going to forget about people who need help, who need Christ's love.

And then there are days when the sights, smells (pleasant and not-so-pleasant), tears, and laughs come flooding back in. I remember the faces of the people we built for and the voices of people who impacted my life. I remember the tears shed when three families' homes burned to the ground and we saw the $14,000 come in so that we could rebuild, and the feeling of I-wanna-rip-my-hair-out when it was week 10 and I was more exhausted than I've ever been. I remember the days teams would ask me questions I didn't have the answers to, but the house got built and Jesus was shared.

I miss the feeling of dirt under my nails, callused hands, of waking up and putting on a dusty, tar-stained old pair of jeans, of searching for bobby pins and only finding roofing nails, of late-night conversations about God and His heart and His dreams for this world, laying on top of the truck looking at the Juarez stars over the desert mountains.

I love that God is moving in my life and keeping his promises no matter where I am. I realize that I may not end up in Mexico, at least not right now. God promises that he has a plan for our lives. I have always put God in a box and tried to plan my own life, as if He isn't big enough to put me where he needs me. How can I expect to give Him my life if I'm constantly planning everything? So this year, I'm going to follow Him and maybe try not to plan so much.

Can I just say that I am pumped for this year?