October 2023

What a wild and crazy ride we’ve had since my last newsletter in June…..

I’ll try to manage a quick recap of everything that has been going on and catch everyone up to speed!

June events:

·        Shortly before I had finished typing up the last newsletter, I had the opportunity to speak at the Ladies Tea event at Mt. Eden Christian Church.  I was able to share some of our story and what we were doing with many ladies that may have never heard about our mission before.  Though I’m usually not a nervous or timid speaker, that one really had me in a tizzy!  As a little girl, I attended Mt. Eden Christian and had not seen many of those ladies since I was a child.  For whatever reason, that made me SO jittery!  Maybe it was the expectation of who I was and what I had become through the years since I had last seen them.  Maybe it was just going back to childhood memories and events.  Maybe it was because my kids and Garrick’s mom and our niece were there to listen to me speak for the first time.  Maybe it was the technical difficulties with my presentation before the evening and my fear of the inability to represent our mission properly.  Maybe it was all of this combined and Satan used it all to get in my head.  I know I stumbled on my words more than normal and probably rambled on a bit like I am now.  However, I had a conversation with God before I went on the stage and I just asked that he use my words to reach someone in the audience and that gave me the reassurance to just do what I’m good at – talk!!  I want to again send my gratitude to those ladies for listening to me, loving on me and my family, and especially to Darla Sayre for making it all possible!

·        I had another speaking event at Camp Calvary for both Primary Sleepover and First Chance kids in June. These are all kindergarten – third grade age kiddos and they are so much fun to talk to!  They really ask a lot of questions and love it when I bring stuff from Thailand and Burma to touch and feel.  They like to dress up in traditional Thai and Karen clothing and play with all the trinkets I bring them.  The boys especially like the machete, but that is obviously a very supervised show and tell item!  These guys are such a blessing to talk to and hang out with.  Some of the kids remembered me coming from the year before which was pretty neat.  I’d like to give a huge shout out to Matt and Felicia Spaulding who were the deans for that week of camp and asked me to come back for the second year as their mission for the week!

·        As a family, we also had a celebration of life for Garrick’s dad, Mike.  If you remember, he passed away in January after having been diagnosed with Glioblastoma the previous year.  After several months of planning and meals together around the dining room table, everything came together beautifully for the celebration.   It was as unique as Mike was and I’m sure he would have loved it.

July Events:

·        We spent July trying to get caught up on a lot of stuff around the house.  We had some building projects that we finished up, some downed tree branches and other yard work, etc.  There were also several things that we had “made do” with until Garrick was able to get home and take care of. 

·        I spent much of July planning our curriculum for school to start in August – I also realized this was my 14th year homeschooling the kids!  In turn, I realized I’m not so young anymore!!  Haha!  You would think after this many years that I’d have it all under control – I’ll admit that I do not.  Do I have a lot of experience?  Yes.  Can I tell you about tons of curriculum?  Yes.  Do I learn something new every year that I plan?  Yes, yes I do.  There is always room for learning new things – no matter what you are doing!  Can I do this alone?  Absolutely not – the last 14 years have taught me to pray for our schoolyear without ceasing.

·        I also spent several hours this month working on crochet projects for upcoming events and special order items that had been requested.

·        Vacation.  Sweet, glorious vacation!  We took off at the end of the month in our “new” old van that we bought for camping and road trips.  This was her maiden voyage and though there were lots of little things Garrick had repaired, we left out of town like a couple of naïve teenagers with the faith that the old girl was gonna’ get us back home 10 days later!!!   There were a couple of iffy moments, but she took us through seven states and a couple thousand miles and brought us all home safely.  However, I do have to throw in that she broke down just a few days after we returned home on a trip home from Louisville and thankfully, it was about a mile from the house!  Thank you, Jesus!

August Events:

·        The vacation actually carried over into the first week of August (and my birthday!).

·        Back to school!  We usually try to make a gradual start into school, but we just dove in headfirst this year with the idea that we will have time to take a couple of weeks off when we travel back to Asia.

·        August is also when I start to watch the prices of airfare pretty intently.  Sadly, all I see is the price increasing every time I look!  Waiting and praying for those prices drop so I can snag some tickets!

·        Garrick has been in communication with the organization we work with in Thailand and Burma about new ideas and developments in their programs and trying to decide where our next trip takes us.  Ruddy has already said he wants to go to the jungle.  Perry, based on our previous experience with “Foot Long” the famous Tokay Gecko, has already said she DOES NOT want to go to the jungle!  So, who knows!?

·        We ended August with a BANG, let me tell you!  What we thought was Garrick suffering from the flu, turned into a whole new thing that I pray we don’t have to go through again!  After about a week of crazy high fevers, chills, a blood pressure roller coaster, and insane hallucinations, I finally convinced (or rather, “not so gently” persuaded) Garrick that we needed to go to the emergency room.  So, after a grueling night of no answers, a ton of IV fluids and a false positive for Mononucleosis (you know, mono – that mostly affects YOUNG adults!), God intervened and gave us a doctor from Indonesia.  When he found out that we had been out of the country and Garrick had spent months living in the jungle, he really questioned the mono diagnosis.  Having been exposed to diseases uncommon here in the US, this doctor was leaning toward Malaria or Dengue Fever – both of which are found where we serve.  So, he admitted him for the night and ordered a Malaria test.  The next day, we were blessed to have a doctor from Nigeria who was very familiar with Malaria and was very concerned because she would not be able to get results of the test until several days later.  We left the hospital “against medical advice” because we needed to get him to an infectious disease doctor immediately.  Once we were at UK, things took a nosedive the next day and got pretty serious very quickly.  I won’t go into a lot of detail because it would be a whole book chapter in itself.  However, I will tell you first-hand, prayer is a very powerful thing, because that’s all I had to go on for a few hours.  And it wasn’t only my prayers, because I had to focus my energy on him and keeping him with me. Garrick had so many of you all praying on his behalf and continuing to pray when I was unable, and I cannot thank you enough.  I reached out to a few people and they took it from there.  You’ll have to get the details when one of us finally writes a book ….  or if you talk to us in person.  It was a harrowing ordeal that kept us in the hospital for the rest of the week.  Thank you to our kids for stepping up and taking care of each other and our friends and family for stepping up and taking care of them!  Thank you can never be enough! (Do you understand why we are called “Chaos Creek World Missions” now?  It is always chaos around here!)

September Events:

·        Oh … September.  Like a breath of fresh air after August!  Garrick is on the mend this month and just taking it easy.  What a scary time malaria was!  We are so thankful for his continued healing and for all your prayers! 

• For those who aren’t aware – I use crochet skills to help support the funding of our mission.  I also crochet stuffed animals and beanies and different things for the babies born in the jungle and also for different refugee camps and orphanages in Asia/Burma.  So, after crocheting my little fingers into arthritis, we attended the Ichthus Festival in Wilmore, KY this month.  Garrick had been as a middle schooler (a really long time ago!) and Ruddy nor I had never been.  It was so much fun!  We had a table set up with all the artists and their merch and were able to meet some really great people.  Most importantly, we were able to share with others what we do and fellowship together.  The weather was amazing for this event and we took our old van on another adventure and camped for the weekend!  I was told time and time again how small this festival was compared to years past!  I would love to see it build back up to what it once was – I think that would be amazing!  I love a good music festival, but one that is family friendly and Christ centered is really something unique!  Special thanks to Cheryl Lycan for working with us up to the very last few days before the festival.  We weren’t sure that we were going to be able to attend since Garrick was still on the mend, so she worked really hard to accommodate us!

• I also attended Camp Calvary’s Ladies Retreat this month and had another fantastic year.  I was able to see some of the same ladies from last year who remembered who I was and yet was able to meet some new faces as well!  Thank you again to Camp Calvary for allowing the opportunity to come back again and share our mission!

October Events (I’m FINALLY caught up to date!)

• So far this month, I only have one event confirmed in the books – and it will be October 17 at Fit Time for Women.  If you would like to come out and check things out, I will be there from 9am-2pm.  Perry works at this gym and the owner is very involved in the community and supporting different missions and events in Frankfort and surrounding area.  So, thank you to Dianna Geddes for making another event possible.  I pray that I am able to share our mission with some new people and that more doors are opened for us.

• There are some other exciting things happening this month though – it’s time to start planning our return trip.  Many have asked if we are taking a year off because Garrick was sick, but we have no plans to do that.  We will likely be heading back for a few months after the first of the year.  We are currently working on the details – I will update as we know more!

• I will also be getting my Etsy page finished up – you can check it out if you want – the store name is ChaosCreationsbyKJ.  There isn’t much to see right now because I’m slow at setting things up – but it is fall break for us this week, so I hope to get some of these things done that keep getting pushed to the back burner.  I have designated Perry as my media person, so hopefully she can get me on track!

• Another exciting thing happening this month – I am going to look at a retail space to rent.  I have had an idea for a store where all of the profits would go to our non-profit and help fund our trips to and from Asia.  I don’t want to share too much right now, because I am trying not to get my hopes up!  Starting this right now would mean that I have a business to open up and an international trip for 4 to plan in the midst of Thanksgiving and Christmas!   I’m praying for God’s discernment in this right now!

Thank you all so much for letting me ramble and still loving me even though I am a terrible slacker when it comes to updating our newsletter!  We could not make any of this happen without all of your and your support – both prayers and financial support! 

Also, it is nearing the end of the year and if you are looking ahead – don’t forget that we are registered with the IRS as a non-profit organization and any donations you send our way are tax deductible!!  We always maxed out our Charitable Donations before the end of the year when our business was at its peak and I know many of you do as well. 

Please feel free to get in touch with one of us if you have any questions or want to learn more about what we do!  If you would like us to share our mission work with a group or class (Sunday school, school group, etc.), please reach out to us!  We love to talk about what we do!

In His Service,

Kelly Jo Gay

Praises

·        Garrick’s health is on the mend

·        Speaking and events we’ve been able to be part of

·        Family time

Prayer Requests

·        2024 budget ($25,000 – minimal amount for family of 4 for airfare, housing, etc. for one year)

·        Team involvement – ways to get you guys involved and come visit us in Asia!

·        Spread the word of our mission – more speaking engagements

·        Consistent, monthly donors

·        Location for a 5K for a fundraiser

Needs/Donations for Etsy Products

·        Yarn (needing to de-stash?  I can pick up!!)

·        Gift cards to Michaels, Joanns, Wal-Mart, etc. (For yarn, etc)

·        Clothing – especially looking for vintage (think “Great Aunt Ruby’s clothes that you inherited!), but open to all because we can share anything we cannot use with local shelters

·        Retail space that is within our budget (less than $700/month)

·        Glass jars and containers (jars, canisters, etc. – preferably clear glass)