A new path... or the same path in a new light?

As Robby and I begin to get back into the flow of things here in Kentucky, I am still amazed how quickly things start falling into place as one begins to see more clearly the path God has for them.  Immanuel Baptist, here in Corbin, is going through "What on Earth am I here for?" by Rick Warren in our small groups.  And it make us both think deeply about just that, what journey-task does God have for us here on earth?


Robby and I know Dine Bikeyah and the Navajo are part of the journey-task, but how that is to play out, that is still the question.  But as spring of 2013 dawns over Kentucky, the Nickles have a journey of discovery before them...

~  Traveller Gal, out!

Returning to Kentucky...

Winds of change, do to lack of work here, do to lack of stable housing, do to tack of.... well so much.  We love our friends, we love my adopted family, we wish we could spend more time with my birth family... but right now we have to think of what is best for Robby and me, to get on our feet, and get heading back to Dine Bikeyah.  It might be a year, it might be two, but we will get back to Dine Bikeyah.  For now Kentucky is the next stop...

~  Traveller Gal, out!

Sitting in Kansas

Here I am sitting in Kansas, having been here for a while helping out my parents...  I am learning some things never change.  I will forever be there little girl, no matter how old I get and how much I stand on my own, or try to.  The other thing I am seeing is Wichita, is not good for me... but I am content know that, but dont know really what I am to do with it at this point, except keep working toward returning to Dine Bikeyah.

~  Traveller Gal, out!

The southwest in my blood...

My mom, aka my birth mom, was born in Colorado.  I was born in Western Kansas.  The western soul and the winds of the west flow in my very being.  After living a wee over 2 years in Dine Bikeyah, I can honestly say, you can take the woman out of the Southwest, but you cant take the Southwest out of the woman.  Homesickness for the West aches in my heart.  The slower, rancher pass of life, "Rez Time" if you would, beckons me.   Soon my heart,  you will at least have a visit.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Reflections

As I sit here, with cool weather coming upon us, reflecting on these past 9 years since I started blogging back in February, 2003, I am struck by the journeys I have been on.  I have been looking at a few of the keepsakes that are here with me: the glass bottle with dirt from Dine Bikeyah, the doll called "Gypsy" that Robby got me as a gift, the cedarwood flute I am learning to play, and the few photos about the room with friends and places from the journey.   These past 9 years have brought many people into my life: Skot and Rachel, Lia McCoo, Ceicly, Aaron, Dino, Randi, Ernestine, and so many, many more than I can list (or spell all the names of... ~_^)  And of course, it brought me Robby, too!

One of the biggest surprises and blessings has been my little sister, Chissy, and her son (my nephew), Ethan, entering my life.  Chrissy was a surprise to me on so many levels.  First that she was in my life, after not being for 24 years.  Now, I am shocked that we have become best of friends, the "forever friends" that sisters should be.  Tis not a bad shock, but a joy I never dared dream would be mine.  What a blessing it is to have Chrissy and Travis back in my life again!


So many things have changed over the past 9 years, but these three remain the same: my love for Celtic Christianity, my desire to journey and travel for God, and the calling (now clear) to Dine Bikeyah.

"May Iosa's peace rest with you all, and may you each find your journey-tasks!  Blessings! Amen."

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Cool Weather Begins...

Fall is starting to creep into our weather here.  It gets me thinking of cutting wood, but here in Kentucky we dont need to for the winter.  Wish we did...  I miss our wood burning fire place. In New Mexico I knew my place, what was expected of me...  Here I am at a loss, I am not the woman of the house... I am just the young woman living here.  Tis a strange feeling...

With work starting next week, our dreams are starting to seem in reach, but it will not be easy.  It will not happen in a day, a week, possibly in a year, but it is coming... As fall settles in and winter is just around the bend, that is the joy we hold on to... the hope of our calling which the Lord has given us...  that will keep us going through this time far from our beloved Dine' Bikeyah.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Who or What is Traveller Gal?

I have been calling this blog and myself "Traveller Gal" for some time, but I have never really done a post as to who or what Traveller Gal is about, and how or why I see myself as a Traveller Gal.  The term "traveller" comes from the travelling Irish tinkers who from old pre-Patrick Celtic times traveled doing tin and other thin metal repairs.  Gal come from me being a female.  But why call myself "Traveller Gal"?  At an early age of 7, I was called as a missionary.  By the age of 16, I knew it was to the Dine' people (Navajo).  At the age of 20, I began calling myself "Traveller Gal", not because I lived out on the road, but because like the Irish/Celtic Christian Missionary of old, I knew I was to not be settled in the same way other friends would be.  A missionary's life is often uncertain, and it take a long time to become "settled" in your new homeland.

Then at 24 nearly 25, Robby became a part of my journey.  As we sat and talked and shared the depths of our hearts, we realized, God had placed the same journey-task before us.  What is a journey-task you might ask?  It is the Celtic Christian way of explaining one's life calling.  It is called a journey, because this life is a journey, just like Christ said "There are two paths", on the way to Heaven, or if not saved Hell.

It is called a task, because ones calling is never easy.  It takes a high level of commitment, determination, and skill to keep going.  Sometimes it might even seem as though you "back trail", in returning to a location you use to be.  But as my Celtic Christian forefathers always put it, "If you have returned to a location, then God has something new there for you to learn, be quiet and listen to His leading."  For this reason, I do not mind the stop in Kentucky because I know God has something good for us, and it is a stop on the journey-task to Dine Bikeyah, the place God has called us both.

Thus as you see, the term Traveller Gal has much less to do with just travelling the open road, though that is fun and always exciting, than it does with this calling, this journey-task set before me.  May God bless all your journeys, and may each of you find your journey-task in life, for God has one for each and every one of us!

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Dreams and Hopes

When one dreams of a place, when one starts talking of hopes for the future, what do they look like?  I have often dreamed of land, children, missions, homesteading... all in Dine Bikeyah area.  But for many years it was just that, a dream.  I was not going to ask really for anyone to do that... Then, my beloved Robby, began to share his dreams for living out in Dine Bikeyah.  And he spoke to my heart...

He spoke of a homestead in the area of Dine Bikeyah, with sheeps, goats, a few cows, rabbits, chickens, gardens, and such.  A home with room for me to do some kinda hospitality/couch surfing ministry.  Barn with room enough for him to do a trade, maybe even horse shoeing.  And my heart awakens with dreams and with hope.... maybe there is more to fight for then even I knew...

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Journey Eastward Begins...

7:30 AM ~  So the journey begins.... as the shadow of the Turquoise Mountain passes from view and the wheels take us farther and farther from our beloved Dine Bikeyah.  My heart cries with a deep morning, I knew I would be homesick for home while I am gone.  Goodness, I was homesick for Dine Bikeyah for 10 years prior to moving out here, e'er since my parents and I passed threw when I was 16.  How could I not be now?

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10 AM ~ We have journeyed on passed Albuquerque.  Not sure how I feel about that, as we do travel to Albuquerque 2-3 times a year.  Now I am beyond the "safe zone" into "uncharted territories".  'Tis good to be out on the open road again, and my Traveller Gal side is at easy.  Yet my heart longs for a resting place, a refuge from the storms, a haven while on my earthly journey-task.  It dreams of a place to call "home sweet home".

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NOON ~ Just passed Santa Rosa, and it no longer looks like the Dine Bikeyah/Albuquerque country...  This trip has been good for me on many levels.  I have done muck "life laundry" as my dear friend, Mo, puts it.  As well, donating things to the thrift store in Thoreau means it continues doing good while we are gone.  Even better ALL 3 DOGS found new homes!!!  That is a deep relief to my soul.

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2:25 PM ~ Back on the road after filling up and eatting lunch at Sonic in Tucumcari.  I am sooo glad I got a short hair cut prior to this journey, or I would be dying in this nearly 100 F heat.  I grabbed a Lipton Green Tea, the Mango/Passion Fruit one, and was quickly refreshed.  I normally take a green tea tablet everyday to keep my past health issues from flaring up, and supplement with bottled tea as needed.  Today, with heat will be a two bottle day, for sure!

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Time Change: Central

4:00 PM ~ We are officially out of New Mexico.  Now the bitter reality has hit my heart....

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5:55 PM ~ Groom, TX home of the "World's Tallest Cross".   Got a good pic plus that of a rainbow crossing the highway, neither I was unable to do in 1999 on the "Southwest Vacation".  That trip, along with "Mission: Mexico" in 1998, and "East Coast Vacation" in 1995 is what birthed Traveller Gal in me... I think.   ^_^

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7:30 PM ~ At last, safely at the Shamrock Inn in the town of Shamrock, TX.  Storms are all around us with the possiblity of circling back, thus the pool is closed till at least tomorrow. Tis fun to be in a wee RT 66 Irish town for the night.   Twas nice to eat Taco Bell for a change as I have not had it in ages.  

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9:30 PM ~ Good Night, and may God guard your dreams!

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Moving...

Well, the open road and moving just when from being metaphorical to being reality. August 13th or 14th, we shall be hitting the road for Kentucky.  Where we will be living is in the country between the cities of London and Corbin, but the address says London, KY.  LOL, and no that is NOT London, England...  Tis a beautiful place, with family all around (my husband's), and prayerfully work for us...

I hate it more than I can say...If we could stay in New Mexico forever I would...As it stands, we plan on getting jobs in Kentucky, live there for a year or so... then return.  My heart is breaking to leave my beloved Dine Bikeyah for a time, and I would be going crazy were it not for the fact we will be returning... Returning to our Navajo family, to our home town of Thoreau...  To the youth we have poured our lives into...
 

So as we pack to travel, a peace rest in my heart... While this gypsy returns to the road, her heart remains behind in Dine Bikeyah...

Traveller Gal, out!

Basketball Camp 1

Wow, what a week.  Last Sunday through Wednesday we were swamped with children and teens for our church's (First Baptist Church of Thoreau) first summer basketball camp.  We had 13 salvation/re-dedications (plus a few more that we didn't get names), and 30-40 young people every day.

We had at first planned to just give them snacks, juice, and water, but the Lord provided for us in away that only He can get the credit for.  Every day we were able to feed these youth full meals, plus snacks with donations and food that was provided for us.  If any stomics left hungry, it was because they did not eat what they were given, not that the Lord did not provide!  PTL!

We were sad to see the team from Crossfire leave, but with more outreaches, including another basketball camp later in July, we have much to prepare for as the summer moves forward.

Keep Robby and me in prayer as we seek God as to how He wants us to serve even more.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Dine Bikeyah calling...

I was 16 years old the first time I heard the words, "I hear Dine Bikeyah calling..."  I was sitting on a chair in Wichita, KS watching Rich Mullin's musical, Canticle of the Plains.  Then I learned, "Dine Bikeyah is a real place, its the land of the people, the land of the Navajo."  Right there at the edge of my seat, I felt God whisper in my heart, "You've been asking were I am calling you, now you know."  Tears were running down my face.  I had gone just because I loved studying the life of St. Francis and enjoyed Rich's music, but never expected God to use it like He did.

Now I am 29, and I have been living in Dine Bikeyah for nearly 2 years.  I am still just a beginner in the beautiful Navajo language, and I live just off the rez in the town of Thoreau.  Yet my heart is pulled there deeply, especially when I have been gone for a while.  I get homesick when I leave Dine Bikeyah.  I have found my home among a people not my own.  I have found a place to stop wandering, in a land not my own, and I am home, at last.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

In Kansas...

Five weeks on the plains. 

I love my family, both birth and adopted.  I love our friends.  I love getting to see everyone and catching up on what has been happening for them and for us.  LOL, what I dont love is the "big city"  and the Kansas prairie.... I hate alergies.

It has been good to be off the field for so long, it let me know just how much Dine Bikeyah is really home.  I knew my health does not like Kansas in the summer, but I did not know that my body is just not built for the prairies.  Thank the Lord for creating green tea, it helps me SOO much!

But in all honesty, I have been learning alot about my faith and my calling while out here.  I have come to see myself not just as a teenager (even though I haven't been one for 9 years), but as a woman of 29 years.  I have realized my heart is in serving on the rez, and that in that my heart is for mentoring youth and children.  I have also realized my passion is for raising the awareness for the needs out on the missions field, especially on the reservations and reserves.  Even though I have been called for a long time, even though I have been ministering on the reservation for nearly 2 years, alot of things are becoming much clearer now than ever before.  Praise the Lord for that!

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Casa Rosa

Rob and I live in a little checkerboard community called Thoreau in northeastern New Mexico.  Surrounding us on most sides is the Navajo Reservation.  Thoreau is a typical rez community: small, not much to do, and alot of people to meet.

For us, we did not expect to move to Thoreau.  We were just looking for a place close to the rez where we could live near the missions field and maybe rent to own some land.  Little did we expect to find an older mobel home with an acre of land on a street called Rose.  The place is a fixer upper, but what missionary home isn't?

We have a nice living room/dining room, a kitchen, a den, Rob's office/man cave, my office, the guest bedroom, guest bathroom, and our master bed and bath.  We will have a pantry, after the leaky roof is fixed. ^_^

For me, Casa Rosa, while really to large for just us, is perfect for the work we do.  With mentoring, discipleship, and relational missions as our focuses, a large place like ours means plenty of room to have people over. 

Now we just have to get that leaky roof fixed!!! LOL!

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Journey to Flagstaff

Flagstaff

We have left for Flagstaff, AZ stopping off at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch to work for the last week of this summer of 2010! Flagstaff lies just beyond the southwestern boarder of the Navajo Rez, and was nested in the southwestern scared mountains of Dine Bikeyah called the San Francisco Peaks.  Here Robby and I are going to begin to get more training to aid us in our future ministry.

Flagstaff was an awesome city, a mix of Hippyishness with Old Westerness meeting in a modern college town, and though it is beautiful, and traditionally part of Dine Bikeyah, it still is not "Home".  After a year dwelling here we hope to return to Broken Arrow Bible Ranch for a summer, and hope to settle in sight of the southeastern sacrade mountain of Dine Bikeyah.

What does this journey hold for us next?  Little do I know, save He who created all of Heaven and Earth, tis He who charts our course and show us the path to walk,.. May we His servants but listen to His guidance, and follow His path.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Reflections on Chicago

Chicago:

Here I am age 25, having just gotten done with my first summer working in Dine Bikeyah at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch...  Now I am in a city far different from the Pinon Pine and Sage Brush covered desert which I am in love with.  Here I can hear the lone coyote howling his lonely watches through the night in the near by graveyard where he lives.   Here I can here the ambulance bring the injured the the hospital 3 blocks away all hours of the night from my 5th story window.  Here I can feel the breeze from the water of lake Michigan 8 blocks away.  Yet my heart had no peace.   I am as always a wander in a strange land, far from the place I call home.

Robby and I have realized that we would never truly be home till our feet were firmly planted in Dine Bikeyah.  The more we talked with friends, some who wish we could stay forever in Chicago, and some who have been to Dine Bikeyah, and encouraged us to follow our callings... the more we know we just have no peace in the city.  By the time our 14 months living in Chicagoland will be up, we will be restless and trapped by the buildings....already are just 4 months in.  Still I love the city... but forever Dine Bikeyah is home.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Bardic Circle

Why is it that sometimes we get bumbed off course for a short time, only to find it again in the strangest places?  That was what happened to me at "Bardic Circle" this past week.  The Grovers were hosting, and this weeks theme was Native drum circle.   Aaron was there for it of course, as were many other of our traveller friends.   As we began to get started sharing music, songs, and stories, my heart began to cry.  These past weeks while we have been here at JPUSA I had tried to put Dine Bikeyah from my mind.  It hurt too much, but now I realize there is no way to put it out of my mind or my heart.  Tis in there too deep.  This past summer engraved too deeply that Dine Bikeyah and the Dine' are my journey-task.


What now?  We are here in Chicago for until at least next August or September, and after that I have even less clue where we shall journey.  God you have to be in this, because I have no clue what you are up to here.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Journey To Chicago

Here we are in Chicago and my head is spinning.  It was a little over a month ago we were resting against our bags at the St. Louis old Union Station, waiting for our bus and the call came.  "We have a room and an opening for you in P12! Can you be here by weekend of the 8-12th?"  Umm...sure.  Thankfully we packed most of our stuff BEFORE leaving for camp, as that gave us 3 days to pack and head out.  After I got off the phone, Robby and I laughed.  So the journey continues....

As soon as we could get a van, we packed up.  There were only two seats, so we unfolded our dorm chairs behind the driver and passenger seat.  Thankfully Robby's dad is good enough driver, no one even looked twice.  So we arrived in Chicago, on a misty, hot, humid afternoon.  Our host family, Skot and Rachel, had been ill, but Skot did his best to help us get settled.  The room 505 is just a small studio with the shared kitchen down the hall, but it does have its own bathroom.  So after a quick paint job and a matrice pulled in, we were ready to go.  And go we did, Robby has a job as a janitor and I am overseeing the computer lab at the homeless shelter.  My favorite things: Unique Thrift Store and the Free Store!  Like that is really a big surprise.

So, we headed to Wildwood Lake and P12 began middle of September. It was a blast!  The second day I swam the lake from one beach to the other.  ^_^  The cool water and fishys nibbling at my toes was soooo refreshing.  The bible training was so good.  It was just wonderful to be preparing for what ever journey God has before us.

~ Traveller Gal, out!

Journey of Celts and Subcultures...

Of Celts and Subcultures

Since I was 8, and learned both my birth and adopted families are of Irish blood, I have been fascinated with all things remotely Celtic.  For nearly as long as I have studied the history and cultures of Native America, have I poured myself into the History of Celtic Ireland, and then the Celtic history of Europe.  By age 15, I had found Celtic Christian music, and fell in love with the music of artists such as Moya Brennana, Iona, Eden's Bridge, and the likes.  Then I began studying the lives of Patrick of Ireland, Brigid of Kildare, Columba of Iona, Aidin of Northubria, and many others... their lives began to encourage and shape my own.  Their faith in the Trinity grew mine, and their constrant striving to live simple lives, disciple others, and always show hospitality began to echo in my hearts desires.  Their callings began to melt into my own calling in, where ever I would be able to minister.

At 18 in New Orleans on my missions team, I met my first Christian subculture folks.  This got me thinking, was I also subculture?  I had never fit with the main stream cultures.... and among them I found a home.  The March I was 19, I began to dress like a subculture gal, though through time which one would morph.  This was before all the death and sorrow had flooded my life.  For the next 8 years, I would call the subculture community my home, and to this day many of those who still minister among the subcultures are counted among my family and friends.  Some say that time in my life I was side tracked from my true calling.  I would tend to disagree with that.  While ministering among the subcultures, I met my now husband, Robby.  While working among them, I learned to deal with the issues of putting our faith and lives in Jesus, above what is culturally the norm.  I learned how to divide the good from the bad in a culture, and to focus on the good while slaying the evil parts.  All of this I would need to know once I become a missionary.

As always, God knew what He was doing on my journey-task... where He was taking me, and where I was going... even if I could not see how each twist and turn, and some of the dark things which happened to me, of which I do not speak... would work together to get me ready for the future.

 
~ Traveller Gal, out!

Of Illness and Death...

The Years of Illness and Death

The fall I was 16, I became very ill.  I went to doctor after doctor, and while they could treat some of my issues, not all could they figure out.  Thyrioditis was what they said I had, but the medican was making it worse.  For nearly 2 years, except for a few good months where I got to do things like camp, I was stuck in bed or on the sofa.  Weakness and the fear of death were two of my compainions, and I was just 16 and then 17 years old.  By the May I was 18, the symtoms eased, and I thought I was well for good.  I went both to camp and then to my second missions trip, this time to New Orleans.  While my illness never laid me as low as it did those first two years, it kept haunting me.  Then finally at 21, I learned I had a immune disregulation, that most likely is a cousin to lupus, but not full blown lupus.  The doctor said, since I had such issues with the medicans over the years, to try taking a green tea capusal every day, drinking alot of green tea too, and then eating alot things like brocally and melons.  Not a bit of that hurt my feelings any.  During that whole time I had nearly given up on working in missions, except for short visits.... I thought it would kill me.

During this time, the summer to winter I was 19, death came visiting my door.  Not my own death as I had so long feared, but the death of many close to me.   It began with the death of a dear friend and mentor, Samuel Meadows, then continued as my uncle Bob (my dad's sister's husband) died, then my mom's cousin, who I called Uncle Phil, then a lady at church who's son I carried for in nursery, then my cousin Bobby-Jo (my dad's sister's daughter; same one who lost her husband).  The death of Samuel had shattered my world, as he had been a teacher, a mentor, and to me, in my strange ways, a father figure.  Then with the other deaths compounded upon it, I entered a fog.  For a time, sharing it with my beloved Elk Hound, Wolfy, aided me, but then she died from cancer during the middle of the human deaths, and I was alone....

While both of these events happend while I was still a teen and into my early twenties, they grew and shaped me in many ways into the woman I am today.   I could not be able to face much I do now, had I not gone through those things when I did. 

~ Traveller Gal, out!