IHOP... no, not the pancake place

Kevin and I took what some might call a spiritual retreat to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City last week. I have family who is a part of the IHOP so it was a double treat. Kevin and I had such a blessed time with my Aunt and Uncle and their six children and we also got to spend a lot of time in prayer.

We embarked on this spiritual/family retreat to seek the Lord's will in our lives. Or really... just the next step we need to take with him. God is truly faithful. During our time there we were encouraged by my family and challenged by the Holy Spirit to give up all our "wants" and seek what our Savior wants and knows we need for our lives. Giving up your wants is a lot harder than you think. It is not just saying, "ok Lord, you can lead us, we are listening..." but I think it takes actually recognizing what we want and verbally giving each individual want over to Him. Possibly even writing them down so that we can look back on them and stray away from picking up those "wants" again and making our load heavier than God intends it to be. God will never give us more than we can handle... but have we ever thought about the fact that we have the free will to put things in our lives that make it harder.... WE, personally, put those loads on our backs that God never intended on putting there. His Grace and Mercy are sufficient though... He will work with us... give us a hand, a knee up, even though he REALLY wants us to get rid of those "wants". Amazing! What a gracious God we serve! What a silly person I am to think that I can handle what I "want".

Well anyway, we learned a lot, heard a lot from the Lord, and were overwhelmingly blessed while we were in Kansas City. We are now embarking on an open door that the Lord has provided for us. The Lord seems to be calling us to Texas. We know that if He wants something else He will change it. We are in His hands.

So, we are heading down to Texas this coming Wednesday where Kevin will have an interview with Point A Media on Thursday. I will be looking around for housing and jobs as he is interviewing and working with them on Friday. Please pray for guidance and clarity as we are following the lead the Lord has given us. Also please pray for safety as we drive down.

(pictures to come)

I pray that we all might learn what it means to daily lay our "wants" at his feet and truly open ourselves to what the Lord wants for us. Be blessed.

Our new/temporary home!

Our new home...

very small living quarters. Vegtables from my Greenville garden

our clothing/closet/storage/book shelf/ whatever else can fit!

still had to make it home

this bed is more comfortable than the one we were sleeping on before! haha

Visit from Drewby and Hunter!

Drew and Hunter came to visit Kevin and I in Greenville on their way back to Massachusetts from Colorado. I was so happy they got to stop by and meet our community of friends.


gotta love it! we had a great time!

Photo time!

So glad they came to visit. It was a blessed time with family. I needed it.

Living within your means...

To update everyone on the current happenings, Kevin lost his job three weeks ago and with me only having 15-20 hours per week at my job we knew some things would have to change. After much prayer and counsel we decided the best place for us was in a bigger town with more jobs, and near family (whom we have desired to be closer too in the past) and some place we didn’t have to pay rent. This place would be Springfield, MO. We are living in Kevin’s brother’s backyard in their camper! We are actually looking forward to this opportunity knowing that God is going to work in our lives and through our lives through this experience. For the past week we have been conquering the internet and family connections to find places to apply for work. Kevin has some great opportunities already and I am excited to have the possible opportunity to do some social work/non-profit work in the city.

Last night we moved into the camper behind Kevin's brother's place. It was hard. I was so exhausted and overwhelmed when I stepped inside. I think the hardest thing for us is that we are losing a bit of our independence as a married couple because we are living with someone else basically. We won't be able to do some of our hobbies like art and sewing because there really isn't any room. But even though it was a rough afternoon unloading and putting most of our life in storage, we slept well and comfortable.
We love sleeping outside/camping so that's good.

The words that keep coming to mind during these past few days have been Sacrafice and Covering. Sacrafice because we are having to give up a lot and we know it is for the best and for the Lord's will to be done. The word "covering" came to me last night... I feel as though all I want to do is be covered in God's word and love and to be in prayer all the time. I just want to be with God more each minute. He is our comfort!
I believe that God is going to do some awesome things in our lives.

Please continue to pray for strength for Kevin and I. Kevin's next interview with Dave Ramsey is Thursday at 4pm. My interview at the Autistic school is Wednesday from 9-11. Also pray for our fridge in the camper... it doesn't want to work...

Kate and Kevin Kirchner: A new Start

Well, as most of you may know... as of November 29th Kevin and I are now Mr. & Mrs. Kirchner!

It's crazy to think that we are actually husband and wife just because it sounds so grown up and we still feel so young. It is amazing to have the feeling of feeling so young but still feeling so sure that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. There are so many adventures ahead of Kevin and I and we are pumped about them. God is going to be with us through it all... the ebb and flow of married life, spiritual life, social life, etc.

Right now Kevin and I are living in a small farm house on one of the church member's land. The Lord's blessings have been so evident in our lives since we moved to Virginia. He continues to woo us with His faithfulness and mysterious whispers of our calling together as a married couple.

Kevin and I have some opportunities ahead of us that we would like to share with all of you so that you could be praying for us in a more specific way.

• Greenville College - 2 year contract as Web Developer - Kevin
• Koinonia Music Center (KMC) - Kevin and I have committed to be part of the leadership with Aaron Appleton and Saul Huber for the establishing of the program.
  
• We hope to be settled, helping and serving, and living in Uganda by the end of 2010 whether it be working for Food for the Hungry Go-Ed program and/or KMC
  

So there are our adventures to come! We believe the Lord is calling us full-time to Uganda so please pray for more specific direction and timing from the Lord for us.

Please also keep us in your prayers as we are going to be traveling a lot in the next month. Here is our itinerary:

• December 16: drive to Greenville and move into our new apartment on the 18th
• December 20-24: Springfield, MO for Christmas with Kevin's family
• December 24-Jan. 6: Fly to Boston, MA for Christmas with my family, stay with my brother, Dave, and sister-in-law, Sarah
• January 6- 9: Fly to Phoenix, AZ for FH Go-Ed Orientation
• January 9: Fly home to Greenville, IL
• January 12: Kevin begins his first day of work

We would appreciate all your prayers and encouragement during this time. Thank you already for all your love and support in so many different ways. We love you all.

May God's face shine upon you today.

K & K