Memorial Day

This is a picture of my Wonderful Dad. His name is Greg. He is a big tall man, with a soft heart. And i Love him lots. I was at my parents house this week and thought that i would take some photos.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Sometimes their are holidays that you are think, why is this even a Holiday. For instance: Boxing Day, St. Patricks Day. Any way i am glad that we have a memorial Day. I have 2 grandpa's. The one on the left is my mothers dad. His name is Kenneth Johnson and he served in WW2. I am very proud that he served his country. And made it possible for me to live a wonderful life. My other grandpa is named George Hanson and he died when i was in 5th grade. He also served in WW2. I am very proud of my grandpa's and the way the served. I love them both so much. So even though we are to be remembering the ones who have died during combat. We have to believe that the men living saw lots of their friends and loved ones die in combat. We need to thank them all.

chelsea

Anniverary Numero Dos

Today is our 2nd Anniversary. It has gone by so quick. I am so Happy that Andy is with me on this journey. I am so thankful to God that he is my partner. I love him more this day than the day that we got married.

Chelsea

Birthdays and Haircuts

Today is May 1st. Happy May Basket Day and Happy Birthday to my sweet sister Melissa Ann. She turns 21 today. I am so blessed to have her for a sissy. She makes me laugh and smile and knows me so well. It makes me sad for those in the world who do not have a sister to share their lives with.. i love you Melissa.

The top picture is of her and I eating together today at Cheesecake factory.. Yummo

I also got my hair chopped off short today. I have wanted to do this for awhile. I believe that I look a lot better with short hair than i do with long hair. But now i sort of feel like i look like Peter Pan or Tinkerbell... Any who are some pictures.

Name that State...

These are three pictures from three different states. Andy and I have been super busy this month. It has been a good busy, because we are now at 87 Percent of our monthly Budget. It is amazing..... Only because God is so good, can we be at this point..

So i thought that i would show you these pictures to show where we have been.. The Corn Palace is in South Dakota. We just drove by it. It did not really look that Amazing to be honest. Next is me on the Yellow Brick Road. That can only be found in the great state of KANSAS. To go visit a replica of Dorothy Gail's house you must visit Liberal, Kansas.. And lastly is my great Friend Erica Barthalow. That picture was taken in Iowa at the District Council. The Barthalows and their two children are going to be missionaries in India. It is awesome that they are going to do this, but also sad. I have really drawn close to her as a friend. She is one of the Best i have. So i will miss her alot.

Iowa, Arizona, South Dakota, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, these are the states that we have itinerated in so far. So this keeps us busy. But it is good to be busy.

chelsea

samoa cookies

Yummmmmoooooooooo!!!

I recieved 2 boxes of samoa cookies about 2 weeks ago. Samoa cookies are a type of Girl Scout Cookies. If you have never tried them, you my friend are missing out or you just have more self control than I. On Tuesday i was cleaning in the kitchen and realized that i ate the entire 2 BOXES of SAMOA cookies!!!! Andy had about 3.. So that makes me a HOG.

SO, i am thankful that these cookies are not out year around..

Cookies are my for sure WEAKNESS!!!! But what a delicious weakness to have..

Chelsea

Tales from a NURSE

Tommorow is the last Full- time Day of work for me. I will still continue to work, but only PRN. Which means, as needed. So i can sign up to work whenever... Hooray. This is because Andy and I will be traveling to different states for days to raise money to go to Mexico. And i want to be with him as we travel.....

I have really treasured my job. It is one of the most inspiring and hardest things i have done..

I have learned so much from being a Nurse. I truly believe that God created me to be a Nurse.....

I know that i love working with Children... I love how they can get better so quickly and that is amazing to see..

I love feeding and bathing new born babies.. I think it will help me so much when i become a mama...

i love seeing awesome parents who stay with their child and are very active with cares.

I am challenged to make good desicions, and am able to priortise well.

I know the differences between a lot of medicines and how to give them.

I truly have hidden these things in my heart. I am exicited to use them all in Mexico..

Know on the flip side..

I have also been in a lot of life and death situations, i believe that God has used those situations to help me see, what a gift life is..

I have worked with difficult families who were mean and rude to me. And i have grown.. God uses difficult people to help me realize that life isn't fair and that God is so Good. He loves no matter what and i am not God.. But, i am learning that teaching people and loving without anything in return, is so much eaiser said then done. But should always be my goal!!!

All in all, I am so thankful that God placed me where i was in the last 4 years..

I know that i will miss all of that..

but I am so exicted to see where God is going to use my SKILLS in the next couple of years..

signing of Chelsea Reed R.N.

If You're Going to San Francisco!

Here are some pictures of our recent vacation in California. We went with our good friends Bill and Mary Campbell. We had a great time in the Redwood Forest and in San Francisco. Chelsea was able to bless us with multiple versions of the songs "If your'e going to San Francisco" and "This land is your land"! It was awesome. Chelsea also found a friend along the way in an old antique shop! His name is Henry!

Neat People!

Hey, just wanted to post a picture of some really neat people we met a while back. We visited their church in Inwood, Iowa. They are the pastors there. We have had the chance to meet a lot of neat people like these two over the past 10 months of itineration. We are currently at 78 percent of our budget. Hey, God!

kung fu fighting

Here is some pictures of Valentines day and my Birthday... Look how i am able to use my awesome KUNG FU SKILLS, along with my NUN CHUCK Skills to take down the house....

It was a great birthday, i am now 23 years old. And am enjoying life.. We also spent the weekend at New Hope Assembly of God.. It was a Breath of Fresh Air to us during this Itineration Process...

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love "Sensai Chelsea" "ha ha"

Skeeterville

We had great time this last weekend in Kirksville, MO. Kirksville is about 45 minutes south of Ottumwa, IA. We stayed in the home of the Fredricks, pastors at the church. Great people!

On the way home we passed a town called "Skeeterville", no joke. I almost stopped and took a picture but we were kind of in a hurry. I did happen to take a couple other pictures though. It can get pretty boring on the road!

Good thing that Shelton's puts the NO SMOKING sign on their building! I saw that the one right off of I 35 burnt to a crisp last year. No kidding. Chelsea and I drove by it on our way to Springfield, MO. Two weeks later we drove back home and it was still smoking!

Shot Out!

Just wanted to post a shot out to my ball playing brother-in-law Joe. Chelsea and I got to go see one of his games last week. Let me tell you, I think he is headed for the NBA! Here is a picture of him sinking a free throw. Way to go, JOE!

whats new with us

Hi, friends! This is Andy. I decided to go ahead and post a blog. Can't let Chelsea have all the fun. We have been to some really fun churches in the past couple of weeks. We have shared with a few youth groups as well. That is always muy fun! Hope everything is going well with you. Pray for us to get our budget raised so that we can leave for Costa Rica in August! Here are some pics of some of the kids from the youth groups we have been to. Oh yeah, I had to include a pic of the king as well!

missions update

Last night we went to the youth group of Atlantic, Iowa. First off we visited this church on a Sunday morning last summer and it was awesome. The church had many people who had gone on Missions trips to Mexico and loved it. It made it so easy for us to talk about Mexico. Also my great grandma lived in Atlantic and she is also buried their. So we went and found her old house and her burial plot after we left.. It brought back lots of memories for me... So Andy had called and offered to speak at the Youth group and they said of course. So last night we went and it is just a church that you fall in love with. The people are truly loving and kind. The youth group has a male leader who has sort of taken over the Youth Pastor role and one women leader. That is it!!!!!!!

They had about 12-15 kids there, but we had a wonderful time.. It is just hard, i know at Berean we were so grateful for all the help we had. It was awesome, it just breaks your heart to go other places and see all the needs.. I must always remember though, that God sees those needs and i believe and pray that the right leaders would be rising up now, to go to that church and give of themselves.. If i could i would go to that church every Wednesday.. It was a good group....

Anyway i thought i would also write an update on how we are doing with raising funds......

On our Monthly Budget we are at about 60%, and on cash offering we are at 95%..

Praise God, this whole process, i have said that i am not going to worry, because God will make a way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe that 100%

Our goal is to leave at the end of August...... to go to Costa Rica..

love chelsea

today is his BirthDay

Today is Andy's 24th Birthday.. We had a nice time eating out with his family and tonight we are eating out again at OutBack Steak house... Yummo!
I am so glad that Andy is my husband. He is so encouraging and loving. I am so thankful that we are together. He is my Breath of Fresh Air...
Chelsea

My Present

Okay, Andy bought me my christmas present yesterday and last night he hid it somewhere in the house and he dared me to find it. So i went to our spare bedroom and went straight to his old t-shirt drawer and immediately he yells, don't look!
So then i say Hide it again. I leave the room and then return in 5 minutes and look exactly to the scanner because the usually quiet piece of machinery is now making a weird noise. I say hmmmm that is funny, could it be hidden in that???
Andy then yells NOOOOOOOOO don't look.


He then hides it one more time and one more time, i find it on the first try.

In the end, i would like to say.... andy is pretty simple to figure out some times. or maybe i am just pretty sneaky??? he is my husband and i love him sooo........

my brother and LUCY

okay i have now learned how to put pictures on our computer.
The HUGE one of me was a mistake,

This is a picture of my brother Joe and my parents dog Lucy.
Isn't she cute!!!

Guadalajara

Today Andy and I recieved a call from another Missionary and her Husband who are in Guadalajara.

How encouraging and excited it made me. She spoke on what it is like thier and what they have been doing and it made my heart leap..

Guadalajara is in Central Mexico. It is a city of 10 million people!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you imagine. Iowa only has 2 million people. Guadalajara has about 30 evangelical churches. So that is about 300,000 for one church....

Crazy,, Guadalajara has also about 2 million street children. Can you imagine that as well.

What a mission field. But right along with that Mission field is Iowa.

When Andy and i itenirate to different churches, we really emphasis that missions is a team thing.

Some are called to go, some to pray, some to give. It is not whether or not you are called. Because all are called to do something even if it is little.

Whether you pray for missionaries or give or go. All of us work together to further the kingdom of God.

I just thought that i would share.

sunrise, sunset

Today Andy and I traveled to Manchester, Iowa today. We had to leave really early because it was 2.5 hours away. So we left our apartment at 0600 am. WE traveled east, and i would like to say that it was the most GLORIOUS Sunrise that i had seen in quite some time. By 0630, they were beautiful shades of purple, green, orange and blue in the sky.

We got to Manchester at 0830, and really enjoyed being with the congregation and church members. Pastor Merlyn Farrand and his wife are doing an awesome work in Manchester.

We left around 3:00 p.m., and when we got home, i got to see the sunset. It made me think how awesome God is. He creates the sun and the stars, such wonderful Amazing things and how easily i take them for granted.


Anyway, i just thought that i would share.

Chelsea Jo