These are the days of our lives...

Well, I absolutely can't believe it's already December. Reflectively and honestly... personally, it's been the hardest year of my life.  Yet, God is very loving and kind and walks with us day by day.  I was thinking the other day that the goal in life is to thrive, not survive. But there are seasons, where surviving is a huge success and you have to make a choice that says, my knees are dirty and in pain from crawling... but... I crawled and didn't quit and didn't look back.  Then moments like these when you do look back you can see God's hand at work.

Personally, life has been hard. But I've gotten to spend some priceless time with my mom and other members of my family that I may not have had dedicated to them otherwise. Professionally, this has been one of the most successful years in my ministry. We had a 1/3 increase in teams this year from last year sending 93 teams to 39 countries and the World Mission Summit 3 (www.twms3.com) is 20 days away and I can just feel God's passion to reach the nations mounting in my spirit. Although there is a huge pile of things to accomplish for the summit in the next 20 days, I feel honored to be able to work for the kingdom in such a blessed capacity, representing and being sent by many of you. Lifted up by your prayers and being propelled by the spirit of an amazing Holy Spirit. I have moments when I wonder how anyone could live without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit... and how in the world did I survive without it so long ago?  So glad I don't have to go a day without my comforter now.

As for the holidays, we had Thanksgiving here at the house and it was nice and a blessing to have a moment together where we were just thankful that we were together, because life is not easy and God gave us family.  For Christmas, my brother and his family will be coming up. Mom and I are excited. There is nothing like a Christmas where babies are involved... we have a gingerbread kit, christmas lights going up, a beautiful tree, all the christmas movies out, wrapping paper in random corners of the house, a beautiful nativity, a counter full of cookies and candies with more to come, an advent calendar with little chocolates that is taking all of my self control not to open all of the little doors, my friend Carolien send me tasty dutch teas that I can enjoy for the month, my friend heather sends me comical texts and statements that make my day, my friend Beth sends me text videos of baby Izzy that make my day, my friend Lindsay just welcomed a new baby boy right before Thanksgiving, my friend Lindsay --we still need to make time to melt crayons on a canvas, and.... it's December and 60 degrees outside. December is the only month that I'm interested in snow! I want to have a White Christmas and play in the snow, be cold and drink cocoa and the day after Christmas I'd like to wear shorts again :). Oh well, I appreciate a variety of seasons and the changes that come with them.

2013... what can I say... I'm glad it gets to start charged with the power charged from the Summit and being in community with my Chi Alpha Nation family. And may God use 2013 as a redemptive year of good things laced with blessings, I believe and hope.

Thank you to everyone who has endured life with us this year and throughout our lives. But especially this year. We miss dad a lot, but somehow, God is good and .... GOD IS STILL GOD and sovereign and loving... still amazing and knows what he's doing even when we don't!

After reading all of this, you can think of your own ways to pray for us.  You should know that, you are in my prayers as dear and loved friends. May Papa shine on you and help you to be thankful and joyful even in situations where you really don't feel like it.  You are loved and appreciated.

Joy in the little things...

Sometimes life is harder than you'd like to admit. Or perhaps it's just me... But there are amazing and great days and there are tough lets just make it to the end days.

Regardless, I was driving past Jungle Jim's and Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt today with a friend. And a big smile elated my face these are two things very right with the world. 1 the ability to purchase food from many countries with ease and enjoy a grocery store like its Disney world. 2 cake batter frozen yogurt heaped high with strawberries and blueberries tastes so good.

There are a million little things and life that make life more enjoyable. Sometimes it's just right to take some guilt free time to enjoy them especially if they are hot apple cider, hot cocoa, s'mores, walks on a beautiful fall day, a good flight, frozen yogurt, tasty treats, the company of good friends or whatever comes to heart. Sometimes you just have to take joy in the little things.

Giving

AG launched a new website for giving and its so much better than the previous one!

https://giving.ag.org/Give/Details/700001-276199?MinistryName=Katrina%20Frazee&Page=1

On the road again

It's been a great week of missions meetings in Springfield and then a nice weekend in Tucson with friends. Heading back to Ohio to implement the vision!
We serve a great God who longs to love on us and to see us at our best. If we take the time to remember that we can press forward to new places.

Chasing Life

Ever feel like you are chasing your life? That things are going so quickly that you can barely keep up let alone implement strategy into your life? That is what my year has felt like. Which makes me thank that in what I do I plan for the year the fall before so that the super important details are fulfilled. I never could have imagined that this year would be as complex and difficult as its been, nor would I want to. This years details were planned last fall and Gods details were planned years ago. So glad that God knows what He is doing. Work wise things have been on target and have gone well this year actually way better than I would have imagined. But in my head I have felt behind all year, like I'm chasing my life and it's just going on without me. I know that's not true, but if you went by feelings, that's how I feel.
I'm glad my fall planning season is coming it allows me the time and focus to direct some strategic prayer and practice into the heart of what I do for myself, Jesus and the kingdom. Time to step in front of my feelings and tasks and give some direction and priority assessment. Time to say thank you and love you. Time to look at 2013 and ask the Lord personal questions about what that will look like... Spiritual questions about about what Papa would like to do... And emotional questions on how I can grow and continue to accelerate personally and spiritually. I love autumn. Did I mention jeans, hoodies, cider, hot cocoa, football, brisk air and beautiful trees.

Exhaustion Has Set IN!

The summer is coming to a close and campuses are launching their Chi Alpha meetings across the United States and World. God is on the move! And I am EXHAUSTED! :)  I'm working on catching up my newsletter, blog, prayer cards, etc.  And then to close up shop on summer teams paperwork and launch into the planning season for next year... and in December we have The World Mission Summit 3!  Click for TWMS site! and I can't wait to see what God has in store!!

Stay Tuned!!!

It's a big year! It's a big year and thanks to your prayers and support, God is moving the Chi Alpha groups across the nation to reach out both stateside and overseas!  We are currently at 79 teams heading out so far where last year by the end of the year we had 65 teams total.  God is moving his people to be Fishers of Men/Women! Please be in prayer for our teams specifically from now through the end of the summer. They need prayer for their travel, divine appointments and that their choices and opportunities are strategic and God-led! In June, we'll be doing our 4th year of Infusion!!  This is a great conference focused on chi alpha college students being exposed to the fullness of the mission and what the AG has at their fingertips, but if you have someone from your church who is interested in missions or developing a heart for going, giving, sending, praying and welcoming. This might be a great conference to come to!  Send me an email if you are interested. After tomorrow, the discounted price goes up!! http://chialpha.com/Student-Events/infusion.html This summer, I am taking our largest national team so far to Western Alaska. A group of 20 with a heart to change the destination of an inconveniently lost generation. We'll be there about 2 weeks, and SO MUCH happens in two weeks. This is the third year to go to Western Alaska, this is strategically chosen destination and 5 year commitment. Please pray for us as this is a more rugged kingdom expedition. We will need it. Following the Alaska team, I'll be meeting up with at team in Tucson, AZ for a second year of doing Mega Sports Camp. This population is from from a poor urban area, laced with Sudanese, Mexicans, and other hearts and minds that Jesus longs to pursue deeply. Please be in prayer for us as we are there! In December this year! Plan to join us in Ft. Worth, TX for The World Mission Summit 3!!!! All are welcome, come and enhance your heart for linking deep into the heart of God!! http://chialpha.com/Student-Events/world-missions-summit.html Personally, I'm hanging in there. We still miss my dad and always will so we are making adjustments and crying often, but God is a great God. If you could be in prayer for both my mother and I, she goes for a second round of radio frequency in her neck. Pray that it works and her physical as well as emotional pain is healed. Also, if you could pray for me, I am getting the first of two epidurals in my lower back on Tuesday. Pray that the inflammation is relieved and that I will have no pain during the summer expeditions that the Lord has called and equipped me to lead.  I don't know what I would do without you. Thank you so much for not only being supporters or friends but for being family. Thank you. You're prayers are coveted. Also, as I begin the extreme travel season, you may not receive a newsletter until the end of July. If so, rest assured that God is moving and I CANNOT wait to tell you the testimonies of God's heart and ACTION to extend Himself to His people through your hearts, prayers and sending action. You are loved. Yours for the world, Katrina Rev. Katrina Frazee, M.Ed. Student Mission Mobilization National Chi Alpha Expeditions

How's it going Katrina?

A question I find myself being asked continually. Although the normal answer is "fine or good, how are you?" The real answer is simply a silence too awkward to explain.

It's hard. That's really all. I don't have a bitterness or a hatred to talk through. I'm not angry with the Lord. And I feel like there are certain parts of what has happened certain questions...like the classic why? Or the questions people use to separate themselves from the Lord like why do bad things happen to good people. And although my heart aches and my tears flow every single day. There are certain things that I have chosen to put into the "It's not my business" category. It's none of my business why God chose to take my dad at this particular tragic instance. It's Gods business. Although this sounds harsh this mindset is helping me keep a sovereign God where He is supposed to be reigning and sovereign and it's keeping me in a place in my heart where I'm not second guessing a loving God. My God is good and He is faithful and most of all merciful and loving. He knows what He's doing and why and how it all works together for good. He is God. Don't get me wrong we've had our conversations regarding my loss and selfishness specifically. And all I can say about what I've heard from Him is that I can trust that He knows what He's doing even when I don't. I can walk safe in knowing that He is good and merciful and will even guide the blind and broken hearted.

How am I? I am not God. I am daily humbled. I am walking stone by stone across a foggy creekbed knowing that my God is gracious and will wipe my tears and will reveal each stone at the perfect moment. I will step in each time as its meant to be. In this season, God is very much doing a healing work in my heart and in my moms heart. We miss him every single day and probably always will.

You are loved and your prayers are coveted.

February 2012

This has been one of the most exhausting, heart braking and debilitating months of my life.

If there isn't a mountain of paperwork then there is a meeting, a call or a visitor and suddenly you look up at the clock and it's time for bed and the next thing you know the month is nearly over. There are moments of fuzzy tired thoughts and others of complete clarity, strategy & purpose. And somehow, I still expect to hear the garage door at any minute and Dad to just walk through the door.

Somehow in the midst of it all I am excited more than before to see Heaven someday should the Lord tarry.

I'm also clinging to things we had in common, the love of small planes, using power tools and playing music. Makes me feel a tiny bit closer than the moment before.

To top it off I'm making a move to be closer to my mom for a while. This is a good choice for the moment but to add onto the stresses that February has brought also yields to packing and a move soon. I think I need a good rest.

God is still God, He is still good. He still works things together for the good of those who love the lord. He still has plans and hopes for us that lead to a grand future. He is still there. He still has everything under control. Everything.

I also have a billion selfish thoughts that I'm going to choose to not give voice to. Everything we go renders decisions that shape our character.

But really, I just miss him.

Dan Frazee Sr. - I sure will miss you!

Daniel Boyd Frazee Sr.

11/2/1955 - 1/31/2012

We are here today to celebrate the life of Daniel Boyd Frazee Sr. or you may know him as “Danny” “Dan” or “Worshipful Brother Dan”. 

He is survived by:

He has an amazing wife, Brenda K Frazee.

Two children, Myself or “Katie” Frazee, Daniel Boyd Frazee II or  “Danny”  (Kathrin) & 

Three grandchildren- Danielle, JD or Justin Daniel, Livia

A step mom – Fran Frazee

A sister & Brother in law – Mikl & Rob Gabbard

Neice & Nephew –Sammy & Mattman

And all of you…

Daddy was very unique and incredibly onry. The biggest kid anyone ever knew and he loved every minute of it. Anyone who knew him either loved him to death or hated him immediately. There was never a middle ground. The words expressed today will never truly tell his story.

When my dad was little he talked about how neat it was that he grew up in Bethel and wondered around to all the shops and stores. That everyone knew him personally even as a small child, looked out for him & gave him treats and snacks calling him Danny Boy. He loved that. Looking back at his teenage years he still laughed when he thought about how he’d overturned Mr. Childer’s desk one day at school and now he buys guns off of him at the pawnshop. He established quite a reputation as youth and shared his stories with us our whole life.

He was skilled at every trade and could fix anything.  If it weren’t working right he put every bit of his energy into learning how to fix it and then did.  His primary trade in his youth was being an electrician and whether you know it or not, if you live nearby he probably wired your house.  He probably also showed you a film at the drive inn when you were younger.

When we were growing up, his most favorite days were spent with his family.  He loved rolls from Texas Road House, watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Christmas, any western, and his favorite movies included Wild America, Easy Riders & True Grit. He loved watching the Bengal & playing with his pets all 6 of which he recued from various situation.

He loved spending man time with Danny…coon hunting, deer hunting, riding quads, riding motorcycles, it didn’t matter as long as Danny was there to hand him tools & play the world was a great place to be. When he went into the Army Dad was so proud & so scared. 

For me, some of our best days were spent laughing and cracking jokes, car rides, pranks, errands, new adventures, inventions and helping him work with the animals.  He would tell people that I am nothing more than a female version of him with a filter on my mouth.  He and I always talked and dreamed about getting a plane and flying together. Last year, his friend Rick took him up and he got a chance to live out that dream and fly. He was a natural. Since then, he’s been selling off the toys he doesn’t use so we could get a plane. I had the privilege of being Daddy’s little girl and I will miss everything about him.  Especially when one of us were leaving to go somewhere he’d look at me and say, “You’re my girl!” with his eye brows raised and an anticipating smile and I would always say, “you’re my DAD!” and we’d both laugh and go on.

The Friday before the accident, Carmen took dad to see the Arena to see Urban Cowboys and he loved every minute of it sitting on the edge of his seat clapping his hands with every trick and stunt.

He was an eight year old with a license, toys, a reputation & always a gun. He and Mom loved every minute of it. They worked hard and played hard… hunting, boating, tinkering, woodcarving, riding, living and laughing. Dad called mom about every 20 minutes to tell her what was happening or what he just did to whom.

Getting to know his grandchildren has been one of his deepest desires and joys.

The last six years, he has been a mason and being a mason became one of his primary identies. We even have a mason symbol that he pressure washed on the side walk in front of our house.  He became a Mason, then a Shriner, then an Eastern Star, then a Scottish Rite and one of his most enjoyable extensions of the Mason’s was the Widows Sons Mason motorcycle club.  Just last month he said with his deep loud laugh, “when I die I should will my ashes to the lodge so they have to take care of my ass forever…knowing I was looking over them.”  He always had something to say about the Masons.

Most of you will miss his jokes, his pranks, his stories, his parade floats, or when he had commentary about something and tried to whisper it but you couldn’t help but hear it all the way across the room and laugh with him. No matter what he did to you … you could never stay mad at him because he was so busy laughing at you that you couldn’t help but laugh too. He always gave people way more chances than anyone ever really deserves. And boy are we going to miss him.

Something that wouldn’t serve you justice if I didn’t share was the simple conversation I had with my dad on Saturday.  He’d just come excited from picking up Jimmy’s new bike and when he calmed down he sat down and took off his shirt and said, “Hey Katie, see this G” pointing to the letter on his chest.  He smiled with a warm and sincere smile and said “that stands for God.”  And at that moment I knew that he owned his relationship with God. Before that it was always more of a group or corporate feel but at that moment it was personal.  It wasn’t flashy or showy; it didn’t fit into a structure or a box.  It was his relationship with God showing through in a simple, humble way.

I have 4 things I want to leave you with tonight that honor my father.

The first is to reconcile your families and put the pettiness behind you.  It’s just not worth it, you might not get a tomorrow to reconcile. I thought for sure that I had at least 10 more years with my dad but you just don’t know from day to day if you or someone else will be around tomorrow.

The second is to honor your elders and to take care of those who need taken care of regardless of who they are. That was on Dad’s heart especially the last couple years.

And the third, even what the mason’s said during their service. “What good is this if not a good time for reflection.” This is a good time to figure out where your relationship is with God. You don’t know if you get a tomorrow or a next 30 seconds. So if you aren’t 100% that you are going to heaven this is a REALLY good time to figure it out. For Dad he’d talked about God corporately and attached to the masons but on Saturday when pointed at his chest he owned it, the relationship with God was his and I know right now He’d want you to be taking the time to figure it out.

And the fourth live your life and laugh often. I couldn’t help but smile the other night thinking back over my daddy’s life but… he was killed in a car wreck as a teenager and he survived, his boat exploded and he survived, he was shot and drove away, he was in a ton of fights, a million other things happened to him… and really… It took a fully loaded cement truck to take him out.

Daddy, I’ll miss you being Mcgyver. I’m going to miss watching you polish your bike and smile as you ride off.  I’ll really really miss listening to you playing your guitars, harmonicas, banjo, mandolin, ukulele & fiddle for us every night before bed.  You were the best dad in the whole world and I can’t wait to see you again. Have fun up there, we’ll see you soon. I’m glad you got to go out with your boots on.

(Prayer)

G

I loved my daddy. He was the most important person in the world to me and if you were around me long enough I just spent time talking about mom and Dad and the funny things that happened every single day. There was no such thing as a dull moment. And the only thing I couldn't handle the thought of was losing him.

But on Saturday night, with a loving and sincere expression that caught my attention he took his shirt off and pointed at the G he'd had tattooed on his chest and smiled and said "This G stands for God." and knowing his heart at that moment warmed my heart.

A persons relationship with God cannot be fit into a box or an outline or a this is how you do it... It's an intimate place of the heart that may never surface the same way twice. And for my dad, that was how he let me know we were on the same page with the Lord.

God is sovereign and I will see him again. Being with God is a matter of the heart... I'm glad he's with Him.

But I feel incredibly broken, my daddy, my playmate, my jokester, my laugher, my hero, my protector is gone. And I still need him...

So broken.

Broken

Thank you for your out pouring prayers and kindness. We are devastated. My parents aren't among the wealthy and if you'd like to help, I know my mom could use it. If you would like to help pay for some of the costs please make your check payable to Brenda Frazee
And mail it to:
Brenda Frazee
323 East Plane Street
Bethel, Ohio 45106

We are so broken that I don't know what else to say or ask for. My phone is on the charger so if you've been calling and not getting an answer, that is why.

A New Month

This month has been laced with challenges, joys, prayer & focus. I brought in the new year with my family having to miss the South East SALT due to having tonsillitis. A couple days later I coughed really hard and it threw my back out. Today is January 17th and I'm just now beginning to experience relief. However in the midst of these challenges the Lord has focused my thoughts, heart and to do lists. This is going to be a great year in the Lord. We've already had a couple of teams travel this year and the sweet spirit of the Lord has infiltrated their desire to take uncomfortable steps for the kingdom. Next week I'll be heading to Springfield to strategize for the kingdom through XA missions and working to figure out exactly how much I need to raise to meet my budget. If you'd like to support my work, I can offer you a tax deductible receipt for your giving.

Thank you for your prayers. As I get back on my feet, you'll see me a little more. Be loved, be blessed!