Financial Worries – They Are Never What They Seem June 2012

JUNE 2012 BLOG                                                                                                                  

Financial Worries – They Are Never What They Seem

In our last travels we talked about all the work we were doing with the children of Kenya.  The work in developing sponsorship programs for our Operation Give Hope schools in Kenya. Visiting and helping with various projects at government schools in Kenya, building a library, donating pencils, pens, paper and desks, doing various speaking with the girls especially about focusing on their dreams and school and not on boys and how getting pregnant would affect their dreams.  We visited several orphanages and Children’s Homes in Mombasa, Kenya with Sue Huetera.  We also have been working with various woman’s and teen groups in Vipingo and Bomani helping to encourage them both spiritually and hopefully physically with money making opportunities. We left off our last journey working with a Kenyan lawyer and psychologist  in April  2012 with the kick off our adoption work in Kenya through Pilgrim’s Adoption Resource Center. Now let’s see where God takes us next!

RETURNING HOME APRIL 2012

Sue and I had committed to meeting weekly to pray for and discuss Kenya and what we could do for Kenya and possibly future trips.  We had invited people to join us but we only had one visitor, the first meeting. We enjoyed our time getting together. It was a perfect example of life being about relationship. Though we would talk about and pray for Kenya, we would talk more about our lives and encourage each other. A lot of changes were going on in Sue’s life with her business and stepping back a little bit from some of the daily work of her business and her relationship with God and trying to figure out where He was leading and I had various struggles with parenting and life in general and we were able to keep moving forward together even through some struggles. 

Upon arriving home we developed quite a list of things to do for the orphanages and the other places we had visited. We had a long, long list of items, most of which were quite simple and doable.  The hard part was getting all the stuff over to Kenya once we were able to collect the items. We looked into shipping, the smallest container possible over and it was going to run $5,500. That was not going to happen. That left us discouraged, but we kept pushing each other on. 

Also, on the list were things we knew we couldn’t do, certain computer work – web designing, etc. and we were brainstorming for people that would help us with that work. We were able to reach out to a few people with a few projects. That led to an idea. I started a website KenyaGiveHope.com. This is a place, where among other things, I have listed the projects so anyone around the world can take on a project and contribute to making a difference in the lives of kids in Kenya. We will also be listing checklist and things on how to host specific type events. For example, maybe you see the list and decide you want to host a run/walk but have never done anything like that. As we host events like that, we will post a checklist on how to organize a run/walk for others to follow in their home towns. 

After sharing our shipping struggles, Fox River Christian Church in Waukesha generously asked if we would like to have some space in a container they were shipping over to Kenya in late 2012 or early 2013. We jumped at the chance. God is good. Keep moving forward and He provides a way. That was so exciting so we started our quest for baby items to bless the baby orphanages we found in Mombasa.  Then we were able to get a specific “faith list” from Peter and Selpher  Mutua to work on as well as things they wouldn’t be able to buy or even know about in Kenya that the babies could use - exersaucers, bumbo chairs.   More on that later. 

NEW RELATIONSHIPS

During this time I had seen in the bulletin at Hales Corners Lutheran church that the Lutheran Woman’s Missionary League was having a planning meeting for the next year, looking for projects to do for the next year. I was very excited to see what this group does. So I went to the meeting. I got a chance to share a little about what I was doing in Kenya and then we planned all but one or two of the meetings for the next year. We will be packing and shipping boxes to the military in Iraq and other places. We will be doing donation boxes to take to various woman’s shelters around the area and other similar events. We had everything planned except for September and April. I had long since stopped thinking about how I could make this about Kenya and was general brainstorming ideas for those months when someone else in the group brought up the idea of having a speaker presentation event about Kenya. They ladies were excited and I loved the opportunity to get the Operation Give Hope name out to more people.

Then it was time to pray about what type of presentation to present. All my previous presentations had been specifically to illicit funds for the schools in Kenya. Right now I was working on raising money to build an adoption center in Kenya so I needed to come at the event with a new approach but didn’t know how to do that. After a few weeks or prayer the Kenyan Baby Shower event came into mind. We will host a baby shower to get items needed for the orphanages on the list we had and also raise awareness about what Operation Give Hope is doing and some travel stories from my various trips over the years. It was a whole new approach and I was excited to pull that together. This event was the big motivating factor to get me going on these books when I did.  A very small outline of the book was what I ended up using as the presentation for the event. 

ORGANIZING FOR NEXT TRIP

During this time also, we were finalizing our plans for the next trip to Kenya which was to be in June, 2012. I was going with Kenneth Kernen, a friend of a friend when I first met him. He attends Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Franklin, Wisconsin.  A friend of mine, Kristen who has done extensive work in Kenya had a friend that help fund raise for some mosquito netting a few years back when Kristen was here for three months.   He has had a deep passion for Kenya every since hearing about Kristen work in Kenya.  As Kristen was living in Kenya for one year, Ken and I had been meeting for several years to determine the best plan and timing for a trip.  He had a few things come in the way of other trips, loss of a job and other things, but he was finally able to make it this trip.  It has been an amazing journey.  Ken's dream would be for his church to sponsor a school in Kenya, similar to how Fox River is sponsoring schools.  He has a very, very small church but they seem like they might be ready to jump on board and help the people of Kenya.

So we were working on finalizing our plans of what we were going to do outside the Fox River trip we would hopped into once the group arrived.  Ken and I were going almost a week earlier than the rest of the group so we could check out so places he and his church might be able to plant a similar school to what Fox River was doing in Kenya. This was the first trip I had planned that involved taking someone other than a teenager along with me on the trip. Having to organize all the activities to do with the kids, the plane flights, the hotel and other finances, etc. That is quite a bit of work though definitely worth it to have people working alongside you right here in your neighborhood helping people Kenyan people around the world.

GETTING READY

Well, I am learning there is always a trip before the trip when I leave for Kenya.  In March 2012 it was a physical struggle with having at 103 degree fever 2 hours before leaving.  This time it was a financial worry, though I am learning more and more that financial struggles are not really about money, they are more about emotional and mental energy focused on financial struggle and less about the money.  Read on to learn what I mean!

So, it’s Monday, June 4.  We are scheduled to leave in a little over a week, on Wednesday June 13.   We had our last fund raiser this past weekend and we raised awareness and $500 or so, but after expenses for the meal, that left us with $1,200 still needing to surface and we are leaving in one week.  Strike 1.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention that my 16 year old, 2 month old driver, had an “incident” with my car that left the side impact airbags, yeah, the ones the come out of the inside roof of the car, deployed on my car that weekend too?  Oh yes, that and some other damage though no other cars or property were involved thankfully. That’s at least a $1,000 deductible as well as increases in car insurance which already increased with him being put on the policy.   Strike 2 and maybe 3.

Oh yes, and then got final grades for my son's report card.   He has been attending Milwaukee Lutheran this year, though has not enjoyed it, the school is great, but the kids are very different than he is use to growing up and spending all years in New Berlin and never having attended a parochial school.   The deal was if he got good grades – C’s or better in every class he could return to New Berlin schools next year.  Well, I knew he got a D in religion and after some discussions with some friends I was willing to overlook that grade in our deal as life is not about religion for God, it’s about relationship with God so I was set to go home to tell him he could return to Eisenhower next year which is FREE for me.  Then I go into my emails and see he got a D in English too.  God saying he belongs at that school again.   That would be $9,000 please!   Strike 3.

Then as we approach 4:00 p.m. on this beautiful Monday, the day care parents are coming to pick up their children which is always a very busy time.   Well, this particular day it was exceptionally exciting for me as two parents, one with two kids and one with one came in to inform me that they were moving or that their job had changed and my day care services would no longer be needed as it was too far out of the way for their new ventures.  They loved the service they were getting, but location was not working.  Strike 4.  I am more than out.  

Ok let’s get this straight – we’ve got over $11,000 in expenses that came through today and now my income is being cut by almost $1,600 per month all in one day?  And some of that is needed next week to leave on a trip that has been planned for over a year.   Can you say financial worry?

I’ve been through financial struggles before and I know God has pulled me out of them by his grace, but this is too much for me, this is too much for God. 

I was being pulled into the negative thoughts. How am I going to do this?  This is just too much.  After three days of constant stress and complaining to anyone that would listen, I woke up at midnight and felt the stress come awake immediately.  Then in that moment unconsciencously, the thought came to my mind that I am focusing way too much on ME and not enough on God.   If I step down from the middle of my life for a minute and let God take over and put these things into perspective and place my life will go back to being peaceful.  In that moment, that is exactly what I did. Gave it over to God to handle while I fell right back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning as a whole new me.   I was not stressed, I was not worried, I knew it was God’s problem to figure out and I could just sit back and listen and do what He told me to do.   So that’s what I did.  I got up and ran my three mile morning run.  Then I came home showered and did my 30 minutes of time with God in the morning.  Once I was done with that, God showed me exactly where I had the money for the rest of the trip to Kenya for next week.   It was sitting right there in my kitchen in some envelopes but I was so stressed I couldn’t even see that.   Ok – strike 1 God has it covered within hours.

Then later that day, I was reading, preparing my heart for Kenya and God reminded me that Colton had some money coming in the middle of the month.  That would be more than enough to cover the deductible for the car damage.  All I had to do was, step back, and let go of the mental and emotional energy I was expanding on the negative part of it and God could put the thoughts in my mind to solve the problem.  Strike 2 –God has it covered.  

The other two took a few more weeks to resolve, but none the less, God took care of it, one by one as I was open to seeing God’s working and being open to where God was showing me to get the money and sure enough everything fell right into place and there was not even any extra work involved.  All the funds were right there in front of me, but my mental and emotional strain over the situation blinded me to it.  When I let go and let God lead me, the funds showed up – almost like magic.  It’s unbelievable when I think about it, but it is so true.