This thanksgiving I feel like I have a lot more to be thankful for than I've had in the past. Or maybe I'm just more aware of the blessings. Either way, I'm grateful, so very grateful.
A week ago today I got back to America. Saturday I got back home to Austin. Since then I've been spending time with family and friends. They warned us about reverse culture shock and the difficulty we would have being back home. As much as I miss my HIZ family, my babies, the singing, the people there, and just the simplicity of life I've found joy in being back in America. God puts us where He wants us and we get to choose what to do with it. We can jump in feet first and make the most of it or we can let change and difficult circumstances bring us down and hold us back. God has blessed me with an easy transition back to real life here in America.
Since I've been home I've been watching Facebook blow up with the news of Samantha Bahl. I went to camp with Samantha for years and although we were never really friends just her presence was enough to make an impact on my life. She was always smiling, she was full of the light of God, she was positive and encouraging and just excited about life no matter what it threw at her. Even when she battled cancer for 2 years she didn't lose any of those qualities that drew people to her. Yesterday she was finally freed from all the pain that she's dealt with for 2 years and she went home to celebrate with our Father.
Last night my family got in and my house was automatically filled with 18395053 people. At least that's how it seemed! We took up half the attendance at church, we ate enough food to feed an army, and we were loud enough to keep the city of Austin awake all night! But we had more fun and shared more love than seems possible. And that's only the first of 4 days of thanksgiving celebration!
All that to say that now I'm laying here in my bed with my sweet little cousin Madison, waiting for the family that's covering every square inch of my house to wake up, and not being able to stop thinking about how blessed I am, how grateful I am, and how humbled I am to have a God that loves me this much.
This thanksgiving...
Im thankful for the fact that Im awake, breathing, and able to spend the day with people that I love. Today isn't promised for any of us. God took Samantha home before today. But for me He's given the gift of another day in this world. I'm not going to take it for granted.
I'm thankful for a God that loves me despite all my mistakes. I'm thankful for his grace and mercy. Im thankful for his power. I'm thankful for his patience, his understanding, and his love. I'm thankful that he loves me not because of anything I do, but just because.
I'm thankful for the opportunity God gave me to live in Africa for the past 3 months. I'm thankful for my babies there. I'm thankful for the work God is doing there. I'm thankful for the things He showed me and taught me while I was there. I'm thankful for the 29 best people I know that I got to share the experience with. I'm thankful for the joy, simplicity, service and faith that shines out from the lives of the Africans.
Because of that experience I'm thankful for the lack of poverty and disease in America. I'm thankful for the abundance of food that will be on our table for lunch. I'm thankful for clean food and water, dirt and water that dont give you parasites, and mosquitos that aren't full of malaria. I'm thankful for good health care and access to any medicines that we need. I'm thankful for a peaceful government. I'm thankful for our country's foundation of faith. I'm thankful for opportunities that we are able to have that a lot of people around the world don't have. I'm thankful for Gods blessings here even though it doesn't make sense why He gave us more than we could ever use when people are dying from the lack of necessities.
Being back home I'm thankful for my parents and brother and sister. I'm thankful for a house that I can call home, even if I have 10 other homes around the world. I'm thankful for lifelong friends and the ability to go separate ways in life but still come back to each other like nothing ever changed. I'm thankful for my church family. I'm thankful for my school that shaped me from the time I was able to walk up until I left for college, and the fact that I can still walk in there and feel at home. I'm thankful for ACU and Harding. I'm even thankful for the difficult decision I have of which school to go to now because that means I'm blessed enough to have 2 schools that I can call family. I'm thankful for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Im thankful for the love, the laughter, the hugs, and the sincere joy that pours out every time we're around each other. And I'm thankful for the loud, crazy, busy, and overwhelming 3 days we're about to spend together!
Today I'm thinking about my babies and my Zambian friends that I wish I could be celebrating Thanksgiving with. But I'm also grateful that God put me here with my family to remind me of everything I have to thank him for and to celebrate with. I'm blessed. I'm grateful. I'm thankful. I'm loved by a God that showers me with blessings even when I don't deserve it.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Not the Final Bye-bye
November 17 blog
Well we made it back to America! The past few weeks have been busy and crazy. Full of lots of adventures, lots of traveling, and lots of fun! It's been hard though. Our last week at Namwianga was full of lots of goodbyes. We had a big lunch to honor all of our workers...our house cleaners, the people who wash our clothes, our cooks, nightguards, teachers, etc. They truly are servants. Everyday I was filled with joy because of their smiles and "mabuka buti" greetings. All the girls had a devo with our college tutors and friends. There were about 50 girls in the Mann house that night and it was an incredible night of worship. Nothing compares to singing with the zambians. I've said that a thousand times but it's just so true. That's what heavens going to be like and I can't wait! One of the college girls taught us a song that night that said "We have to say goodbye, but not the final bye bye. We hope to be together in heaven someday." That's going to be the greatest reunion ever! Brenda, Ndeleki, and Ruth have become great friends and have taught me so much. I took Brenda and Ndeleki to the havens with me one day to see my babies and it was so fun! Now I have someone there to check on them for me! Our last night at Namwianga was full of a lot of goodbyes but the hardest was saying goodbye to Webster and Justin, our nightguards. Webster is seriously the most joyful and loving person I know. And he's a great Godly man and example for us. That night he prayed over us and I've never felt anything more powerful. Our last morning at Namwianga, November 2, was a rough one...the girls woke up for the sunrise and had a little devo before walking to the havens one last time. Saying bye to my babies was the hardest thing I've ever done. I love Cathy and Matt so so much and I didnt want to put them down. I didnt want to let go. I just wanted to stare at their precious faces forever. But I had to trust God that he was going to continue watching over them. He loves them more than I do. God only meant for me to be in their lives for a short time and now I have to trust that God's going to love them and I know he has great plans for them.
After leaving Namwianga we started 2 weeks of travel, travel, travel! America makes 6 countries in the past 2 weeks! We went to South Africa for a night before flying to Tanzania. In Tanzania we visited the Mwanza mission team and got to see the work that they were doing there. Another culture, another language. I think I know how to greet in about 10 African languages now! The team was great though and really welcomed us into their homes and churches and just showed us the goods and bads of mission work. In Tanzania we spent about 3 days safariing in the Serengeti! It was beautiful and incredible and we got to see a male lion! I was sick one day and had to stay at the lodge but let me tell you, if you have to be stuck somewhere for a day then a 5 star safari lodge in the Serengeti is the place to do it! Whitney stayed with me and we had a great day just hanging out and relaxing! After the safari we got on a plane and flew to kenya! While we were there we got to see where our teachers, the Tankersleys, used to live. We saw churches that they had planted and schools they had worked with. We had a great adventure one day with muddy roads. Its been raining in Kenya for 2 weeks straight and that causes dirt roads to become rivers. Sure enough, our bus got stuck one day and we were there for about 7 hours. By the end of the day we were covered in mud, cold, and hungry. We made it back to the hotel at 11 that night and had some sandwiches for dinner. It was quite an adventure though. During those 7 hours we met lots of people...played with the neighbor kids, talked to people our age, and had lots of help from kind strangers. The next say we got stuck in the mud again going to church but this time we got it out quickly and walked the rest of the way. TIA. I've never been so grateful for the Tarmac roads. After a few nights in Kenya we drove across the border to Uganda. This was a really quick trip but we spent a lot of the time in town shopping and at the Source Cafe. The source of the Nile river is in Jinja, Uganda so we got to take a boat ride to see that. It was so neat and a really good trip!
We used literally every type of transportation in Africa...walking, cars, buses, tractors, even a trailer on the back of a motorcycle. We used every type of bathroom in Africa...the street, the Serengeti, a corn field, someones yard, nasty latrines. I think we've experienced almost everything possible. And we've crammed it into just a short time. I can't believe our trip is already over!
Wednesday morning at 4 o'clock we left our hotel in Uganda, drove to the airport and flew to Johannesburg where we had a 12 hour layover. At 10:45 Wednesday night we finally flew out of Jo-burg and began our 18 hour flight to DC! Our flight was late so we had less than an our to go through customs, recheck our bags, and literally sprint through the airport. It was a miracle that we made our flight. Now we're in Chicago and about to fly to Memphis! We'll drive to Harding tonight and be there for a couple days! Then home this weekend. That's a quick overview of the crazy last few weeks. There's so many thoughts going through my head. It's been a great great trip! Keep praying for our team as we finish traveling and debrief for a couple days before splitting up and going home.
Well we made it back to America! The past few weeks have been busy and crazy. Full of lots of adventures, lots of traveling, and lots of fun! It's been hard though. Our last week at Namwianga was full of lots of goodbyes. We had a big lunch to honor all of our workers...our house cleaners, the people who wash our clothes, our cooks, nightguards, teachers, etc. They truly are servants. Everyday I was filled with joy because of their smiles and "mabuka buti" greetings. All the girls had a devo with our college tutors and friends. There were about 50 girls in the Mann house that night and it was an incredible night of worship. Nothing compares to singing with the zambians. I've said that a thousand times but it's just so true. That's what heavens going to be like and I can't wait! One of the college girls taught us a song that night that said "We have to say goodbye, but not the final bye bye. We hope to be together in heaven someday." That's going to be the greatest reunion ever! Brenda, Ndeleki, and Ruth have become great friends and have taught me so much. I took Brenda and Ndeleki to the havens with me one day to see my babies and it was so fun! Now I have someone there to check on them for me! Our last night at Namwianga was full of a lot of goodbyes but the hardest was saying goodbye to Webster and Justin, our nightguards. Webster is seriously the most joyful and loving person I know. And he's a great Godly man and example for us. That night he prayed over us and I've never felt anything more powerful. Our last morning at Namwianga, November 2, was a rough one...the girls woke up for the sunrise and had a little devo before walking to the havens one last time. Saying bye to my babies was the hardest thing I've ever done. I love Cathy and Matt so so much and I didnt want to put them down. I didnt want to let go. I just wanted to stare at their precious faces forever. But I had to trust God that he was going to continue watching over them. He loves them more than I do. God only meant for me to be in their lives for a short time and now I have to trust that God's going to love them and I know he has great plans for them.
After leaving Namwianga we started 2 weeks of travel, travel, travel! America makes 6 countries in the past 2 weeks! We went to South Africa for a night before flying to Tanzania. In Tanzania we visited the Mwanza mission team and got to see the work that they were doing there. Another culture, another language. I think I know how to greet in about 10 African languages now! The team was great though and really welcomed us into their homes and churches and just showed us the goods and bads of mission work. In Tanzania we spent about 3 days safariing in the Serengeti! It was beautiful and incredible and we got to see a male lion! I was sick one day and had to stay at the lodge but let me tell you, if you have to be stuck somewhere for a day then a 5 star safari lodge in the Serengeti is the place to do it! Whitney stayed with me and we had a great day just hanging out and relaxing! After the safari we got on a plane and flew to kenya! While we were there we got to see where our teachers, the Tankersleys, used to live. We saw churches that they had planted and schools they had worked with. We had a great adventure one day with muddy roads. Its been raining in Kenya for 2 weeks straight and that causes dirt roads to become rivers. Sure enough, our bus got stuck one day and we were there for about 7 hours. By the end of the day we were covered in mud, cold, and hungry. We made it back to the hotel at 11 that night and had some sandwiches for dinner. It was quite an adventure though. During those 7 hours we met lots of people...played with the neighbor kids, talked to people our age, and had lots of help from kind strangers. The next say we got stuck in the mud again going to church but this time we got it out quickly and walked the rest of the way. TIA. I've never been so grateful for the Tarmac roads. After a few nights in Kenya we drove across the border to Uganda. This was a really quick trip but we spent a lot of the time in town shopping and at the Source Cafe. The source of the Nile river is in Jinja, Uganda so we got to take a boat ride to see that. It was so neat and a really good trip!
We used literally every type of transportation in Africa...walking, cars, buses, tractors, even a trailer on the back of a motorcycle. We used every type of bathroom in Africa...the street, the Serengeti, a corn field, someones yard, nasty latrines. I think we've experienced almost everything possible. And we've crammed it into just a short time. I can't believe our trip is already over!
Wednesday morning at 4 o'clock we left our hotel in Uganda, drove to the airport and flew to Johannesburg where we had a 12 hour layover. At 10:45 Wednesday night we finally flew out of Jo-burg and began our 18 hour flight to DC! Our flight was late so we had less than an our to go through customs, recheck our bags, and literally sprint through the airport. It was a miracle that we made our flight. Now we're in Chicago and about to fly to Memphis! We'll drive to Harding tonight and be there for a couple days! Then home this weekend. That's a quick overview of the crazy last few weeks. There's so many thoughts going through my head. It's been a great great trip! Keep praying for our team as we finish traveling and debrief for a couple days before splitting up and going home.
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