Coffee with Jesus

OK, this video is so funny (and a bit convicting...). Click on the link and enjoy!

Friday Flashback

Easter 2000. We sure had a crazy life back then. Good thing it's calm and boring now. Wait a minute! How did things go from crazy to crazier?! It's a different kind of crazy now, of course. I look at these pictures and feel both relieved to be past it, and so sad that I will never get to see my kids like this again...my boys in matching vests, my baby girl so cute I could just eat her! Ah, how I do miss those days...

sweet baby girl

3 amigos

Would you just look at those eyes! (go ahead, click on his picture and be amazed!)

Brotherly love

Hangin' with Uncle Rich

One crazy zoo!

fender benders, finales, and friends

Our days have been so full. So much seems to transpire from one day to another, and suddenly I realize another month has slipped away, and yet another month is threatening to do the same. I am fully aware that this is life, though, and am attempting to live it fully in the midst of all the stuff going on around us. This is sometimes more than a challenge, one I often fail at miserably, but I am committed to continuing in the battle.

In an attempt to fill you in on recent days...

Last Wednesday, N called on the cell phone, saying, "Mom, we've been in an accident." Now, I don't know about you, but I was trained very early on to NEVER start a conversation in that fashion. ALWAYS begin with, "Mom, everyone is fine, but we've been in an accident." After a moment of panic, I realized that everyone, indeed, was fine, but there had, indeed, been an accident. The long and the short of it is...Bob made a left hand turn and was broad-sided by an oncoming car. While the details indicate it wasn't really his fault, by law he is at fault, thus he received a ticket and a seriously banged up car. We are still waiting to hear the final numbers. Apparently, because of the nature of this particular accident, there is a possibility that the car will be totaled, but we are still waiting on details. Thankfully, our insurance company is paying for a rental car, so the inconvenience is minimal.

After months of rehearsals and long nights, our little drama queen presented (with the help of a large crew and cast) her very first musical production. Granted, she had no lines and no true spotlight moments, but it was clear to all who went that she was the shining star of the night! Opening night was on Easter, and after one performance being canceled due to snow, the grand finale was last night. I do believe a star has been born, as she can't stop talking about how much she loves theater and can't wait to do another production. townsperson

(that's her...on the far right. See how amazingly she plays a sleeping child!)

Not to be type-cast as only a townsperson, she went on to be an amazing angel...

Dear friends of ours from church finally came home on Thursday after spending 5 weeks in Swaziland (2 of those weeks N and I were with them) on a crazy adoption journey. It has been an amazing road to watch them walk, and we have been so blessed to be a part of it in some small way. I was part of the welcoming committee as they stepped foot on home soil with their two new little ones, finally joining their family of 8 for the first time. My heart overflows even now as I remember this incredible reunion. God has so much in store for little Isaiah and Laila!

While we were in Swaziland last week, twin girls were brought to the AIM offices with severe burns. The following is the account from Marcia Borg...this is only one story of thousands in Swaziland. In the midst of devastation, God is at work.

How good it is to know that God can be taken at His word. And in this land of pain and suffering His word is desperately needed. In a place where life seems so unfair God knows and loves His children and He is taking care of them.

Two beautiful three year old twin girls were brought to the AIM office in Manzini by a gogo last week. It seems they had been left alone near a pot of boiling water and they each had severe burns to their leg and one to her backside. Our faithful missionary Kriek and I raced outside to assess the situation.

These little girls are tough. With second and (mostly) third degree burns they did not cry. They were half clothed and wrapped in heavy winter blankets in the heat of the 90 something degree day. We quickly sent them to the clinic with a couple of our Swazi discipleship team leaders Musa and Ncobile and some rand to pay the bill. They were cared for and taken home that afternoon.

In the U.S. they would have been admitted with IV fluids, kept in a clean environment, given great nutrition for healing, antibiotics, pain meds, and sterile dressing changes.

Kriek and I are going out to their Thulwane carepoint every other day to clean their precious little legs, one foot, a backside, and change the dressings. Their flesh is exposed nearly all of the way down their lower legs and on the top of one foot and in between the toes. We sit with them and smile and talk with hugs and kisses and prayers.

The Lord provides through medical supplies that have been left from previous teams. We have the perfect ingredients for wound cleaning and dressing. And as these two continue to run in the dirt and swat at the flies on their legs the Lord has kept the innermost dressings and wound clean in a miraculous way.

Would you please pray with me that the Lord would heal these wounds and that He would also reach inside of them to bind up their broken hearts?

Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God...

He heals the brokenhearted,

And binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:1,3

home sweet home

We made it home, and are attempting to recover from jetlag. I have awoken between 4:30 and 5 every morning, wide awake. There's not much to do but give up and get up.

We left Swaziland at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning (Swazi time) and arrived home around noon on Tuesday (Colorado time). That was a total of 36 hours of travel, about 23 of those hours were actually in the air. It's an awful flight (20 hours from Johannesburg, SA to Washington, DC, with a one hour stop in Dakar, in which you can't leave your seat). Thankfully, the movies were working on the way home (wouldn't work on the way there), so we passed the time watching movie upon movie. The goal was to stay awake the 9 hours to Dakar, then upon taking off again, pop a Lunesta and sleep as much as possible the rest of the flight. I did get about 6 hours of sleep, on and off, but Nate didn't sleep much. He was a mess when we got home, and slept most of the day and into the night. He woke at 4 a.m. yesterday, and when I got up at 4:30 today, he was already awake.

As miserable as the flight is, I would do it again tomorrow (well, maybe next week), if I could go back with my family. I was very happy to come home to be with my family again, but heartbroken to leave Swaziland and its people. This trip, I was able to spend more time getting to know many of the Swazis on a personal level, hearing about their lives, telling them about my own. I was confronted with how alike we are. It is easy to see so many differences on the surface level, but when you reach the heart of another person, it is evident that we are no different. Not really. We are all wounded. We are all afraid. We all have hopes. We all have such joy. We all have such sorrow. My Swazi friends just happen to live in a place where the hopelessness can feel insurmountable. They have many, many more things stacked against them. But hope remains.

I was also able to see more of the intricacies of missionary life there. I saw how much Jumbo and Kriek sacrifice. I saw how much there was to do with so few people to do it all. I saw some of the struggles of working within a culture that is not your own. The frustrations of trying to accomplish things within a country with so little accountability. And I saw how rewarding it is to see little successes along the way.

I got to know Scott and Marcia Borg from Adventures in Missions. They joined us in Swaziland from their home in Atlanta. I was so blessed by spending time with them. They are both the type of people that I just want to sit and soak in. Soak in their wisdom, their encouragement, their spirits of peace. I learned a lot from just listening to them. Thank you, Scott and Marcia, for what you do. Thank you for the example you are. Thank you for fighting the good fight with love and grace.

I will end with a few pictures from the trip. I hope to post more in the coming days, but for now, here is a little sample. And to those that supported us financially and prayerfully, THANK YOU. We truly would not have been able to go without you, and I am so grateful.

This little one was at the orphanage. She has no mommy or daddy. She is alone amongst 16 other children in filthy conditions. She melted my heart.

I was so very proud of Nate and all his hard work. The kids loved him and he loved playing with them.

The preschoolers during a VBS lesson. They are placing sad face stickers onto the cross, representing giving their sins to Jesus.

The men meeting with the Chief to discuss the possibility of building a high school on his land.

Bongiwe

Birthday party! Here, the kids are playing with a giant parachute.

A man at the Manzini market carves Micah's name into a mask. This man had an amazing spirit, and we all made sure we bought from him.

The entire team, on our last night together.