New Blog!

Hey folks, Here is a new blog, please keep in touch and I'll check back on this one here and there!

http://katrinafrazee.blogspot.com/

Hope to hear from you soon!

Katrina

So long ago...

 I haven't written for a while. But regardless, I've been doing the same ole same ole... support raising. Although it's incredibly exhausting, it's also rewarding. I haven't hit my mark yet soooooo if you were looking for a good cause to attribute your bucks....rest assured I'm it. For those of you who don't really know what I'm doing yet. I'll be taking over the Chi Alpha short term missions teams that go out both foreign and domestic...I'll also be doing the expeditions magazine...as you can imagine the calendar is going to be booked in no time so it's imperative that I get that budget raised really quickly! So... you can focus your prayers in that direction!  After that I'll move to Springfield, MO and get to work! I'm ready to go as soon as the fundage gets there.

Right now I'm writing from Phoenix AZ...I'm here to spend a couple weeks with Lindsay and Luke and then they'll get married on the 27th...I fly back home early on the 28th. I'm here and I've really never seen Cactus trees like this... there also is no grass here... but regardless... it's 90 degrees and I just flew out of much chillier weather. So it's incredible here... The Hill abode is beautiful and they are really happy, it's sweet. So this is where I'll be for the next couple weeks and it's so great to be with friends.

Other new news...I got a kitten.  I haven't named her yet... but she is way cute.

Currently Listening Two Lefts Don't Make a Right.. But Three Do By Relient K College Kids see related

Back for a Month...

We'll I've been back in the states for about a month now and the strangest thing happened on Friday night. I was at "home" and felt a deep sadness in my spirit. I couldn't pin point it and then I realized that I was beginning to be homesick. I guess that's where I'm confused. Where is "home"? There are so many things that made Kyrgyzstan home...chialphastan...the students...the intense hunger for more of God that our students had. I miss it, I miss it, a lot.

With the same breath, I know where the Lord is taking me and what the next path is and I respect it immensely and look forward to it like nothing that I've ever looked forward to. But part of my heart will always remain in that distant central asian land where God is pouring out His blessing.

Aspects of culture shock that I've experienced since returning:

-Motion sickness for a month

-You can buy everything that you want in one place

-The food makes you feel heavy after you eat it.

-The phone rings a lot more in this country

-We are consumed with busy-ness in this country (the need to be busy, to look busy as if it reflects our level of importance.)

The good things... I've gotten to see my family (who are great) and my friends who are amazing...who had babies right before I left and now they are chasing toddlers. It's really a pretty beautiful sight.  In that same breath...to them, it's like I've been in a coma the last year and just now get a window into their lives... to me, I've been on a grand adventure that they will never truly understand. It's almost as if I've gone through the wardrobe into that parrallel land and came back to a life that hasn't moved since my departure. 

All you can really do about all of this is just smile...God knows. 

Good days!

I have now been in Central Asia for approximately 8 and a half months.  And I have come to discover the luxuries of American life. You know the little things that when you’re in America, it feels like it’s your right to have them rather than your privilege. Example. Last weekend we celebrated Cinco de Mayo and the menu item that we were incredibly excited about was that each of us got one packet of taco bell sauce! And it wasn’t sarcastic excitement…it was like a little kid on their birthday kind of excitement.  Most excellent. 

I have been visiting an orphanage in town twice a week and have come to love a sweet little girl named Vita. She’s 12 years old. Before spending time with these older kids, I just followed a classic stereotype. You know the one where you hear that folks who adopt want to get a baby rather than an older kid. Two of the girls that I teach English to have been adopted. Their parents are from the States and they are coming this week to unite a new family. I can see how difficult a new culture, language and much more could be for these children to adapt to but when you outweigh the privilege of being able to move to America and all the privileges that simply having an American passport hold. It’s going to be a treasure for these kids. The two girls are sisters…one is 8…the other 10. The parents that adopted them don’t have any other children. Yesterday, one of the girls showed me pictures that were sent to them of their new family. Looking over the pictures and thinking about the nerves of a new set of parents that are sitting on an airplane right now coming to get their new children totally touched my heart. Pray for this new family over the next few months as they overcome language barriers.

Two new team members arrived almost two weeks ago and they will stay for a year. Which is incredibly great and helps the sustainability of the work that is taking place here.  Some of our team went up to Almatty this weekend. We have a team from Texas that flies out today to join us here as co-laborers for the next two weeks. Very awesome!

My cast came off a couple weeks ago and my foot is feeling incredibly better now. I’ve been swimming in attempt rehab my foot and ankle. The Lord is blessing it. Baseball season will start here in a little under a month and we are gearing up for a great! Season! Should be Awesome.

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