"I'm Coming Home, Coming Home..."

I have thought long and hard about all the lessons I have learned here, and it is completely overwhelming.  The Lord has taught and showed me so much during these past five weeks that its hard to express it in a blog post.  And with my verbal-processing mind would not do it justice if I told you myself.  So I decided to stall and tell you just a few updates on what I have been doing and then I’ll get serious :)

I got to see another precious angel got adopted this past week!  Sipho [See-pOH] is off to Holland with a young couple.  So far he is the only child!  Which will be really good for him because he needs that one-on-one attention... He is one of the fussy ones of the bunch.  But it was really amazing to get to see another child leave!  I saw the pictures of when he was meeting his family, he was so happy the whole time they were holding him!

There are so many babies in the small babies (the little ones up to about 2 months).  We have almost reached our limit!  But as those kiddos grow in the next couple months, they will move on up to big babies.  Which is going to be good because another three of our big babies are leaving on the 18^th!  Sibusiso [See-boo-SEE-so], Adaliah [Add-a-LAY-a], and Sanele [Sa-NE-lay].  So very exciting :)

Side note: Hope the pronunciation keys helped!  Haha probs not.  I just added them in for fun.

Three of the other volunteers and I got to go to the Lion Park this weekend!  It was absolutely amazing. We got to hold little lion cubs, feed giraffes with their huge tongues, and drive through where all the big lions/cheetahs where.  Some got super close to our car!  Others hopped in the truck in front of us...  It was a lot of fun though.  I decided that I would like a lion cub for a pet.  It would be best if it never grew up though, just stayed about 15 pounds.  My next Christmas present maybe?

The other day one of my good friends here found out that her roommate from home suddenly passed away.  It was so sad to hear- my heart completely broke for her.  All the pain from when Eric passed away came back to me because I knew that was the same kind of pain she was feeling.  I got to write her a note about a lot that I learned through that period of my life and how this is the beginning of a long journey for her.  It was really amazing to be able to talk to her about how God is in control of storms and He knows how much stronger she will be at the end of it.  He allows storms like that to happen when He knows you are mature enough to persevere.  And throughout that time, its okay to be confused and have questions and be really angry at God!  Just go to Him with all of those emotions.  He will not be disappointed with you feeling that way, He is mourning right there next to you.  Its crazy how our Lord uses our stories and struggles to reach out to others who are going through that same thing.  It leaves me completely amazed that I am able to honestly say that it is worth the pain that I felt during the year Eric passed away to be able to be there for others who have lost someone close to them.

On a lighter note, Auntie Maggie has officially taken me under her wing for the past couple weeks!  I have gotten to hang out with her many many times while helping her pick up donations from other areas, drop things off at the other baby house, and do some office work at the toddler house.  I was able to go to her apartment and see where she lived this past week!  It was so much fun to get to meet her two girls and her husband.  One night she took Melissa and me to the mall together and eat dinner.  There is a food called pap (pronounced pop) here that is a staple food that they eat all the time.  It looks like mashed potatoes but taste like grits; they usually eat it with their hands with a variety of different things, like stew, chicken, or alone with sauce.  Welp, thats what me and melissa ended up eating with her this night!  At the beginning of the meal she announced, “if you really want to enjoy a meal, you must put away your fork and knife.  It has to be eaten only with the hands.”  So thats exactly what we did.  It was so much fun!  We ate chicken, pop, and gravy (which was more of a mild tomato salsa- its not the thanksgiving turkey gravy that you are thinking of).  It was delicious!  The more mess I was making of my hands the better it got.  It was so freeing- it felt like walking barefoot in the cool grass on a warm summer day.  If you catch me eating all my meals with my hands when I get home, now you know where that stemmed from!

This is me and Maggie! :)

There are so many fires here!  Its absolutely crazy.  Instead of cutting the grass on the side of the streets, they burn it.  It is especially weird since its winter and that is their dry season!  A few nights ago there was a huge fire right outside of our house.  Some fires are controlled, some are not- thankfully this one was controlled!  There is a constant cloud of smoke here though.  When you are in a place where you can see far in the distance, you always see the horizon lined with a gray smoke ring.  Its crazy.

So down to bidness...  As you can hopefully tell from all of my posts, I have learned so very much during my time here!  Such a range of things, but the one overarching theme that I have grasped is the fatherly love our Saviour has.  He has showed me this by letting me experience only a small fraction of that love for these kids.  I have completely fallen in love with them.  I want to know exactly where they are each going to go in life!  I wish I could just keep a secret camera on them at all times so I can always keep tabs on them.  They are amazing kids, they have so much more to offer me than I have to offer them.  Since I have been here, I have had so many dreams about them, I think about them all the time, and I have to see them even on my days off.  When I go out for the day, I want to make sure the timing works so that I can see them for as much of the day as I can.  It seems as though I cannot kiss them enough.  The little smiles and giggles they give after I plant a smooch on their cheek gives me motivation to keep it up, especially with Lerato and Shepperd.  Recently I have been able to put Shepperd down for each nap.  As I lay him down to bed, all I want to do is smile at him, sing him a lullaby, and rub his tummy until he falls asleep.  Waking him up is even better because he always gives the biggest giggle squeal!  He just stares straight into my eyes and smiles for five minutes straight.  When I do his little exercises with him, he laughs the whole time.  I have the best video of his giggle squeal- and its guaranteed that I will listen to that at least 3 times a day for about a year.  When a few of them were sick, the best times were when I got to sit with them on my lap and just sing song after song for them.  If the only time I could sing was singing worship songs to these babies, I would be completely satisfied.  I loved singing Amazing Grace, The More I Seek You, and God of this City.  I’ll admit, my other favorite was “Blackbird” because I love the line- “Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly.”  I don’t think I will ever be able to forget each child I have met here.  They have made a lasting imprint on my heart.  Thinking about leaving them tonight and not being able to ever see their face again... Shoot.  You guys have no idea how hard this will be for me.  I want to be able to be a part of their life!  For a while I was mad at God because I was thinking “how in the heck are you going to let me feel this strongly for these kids when in the end I’ll have to just up and leave them?!”  But He really let me know that the reason I was able to love these kids so much was so show the glimpse of how He feels for each of His children.  He loves each and every one of us so very much, He wants the best for us!  When we cry and mourn, He cries right along with us.  It breaks His heart when He sees us doing something He knows will only lead to heartache and pain.  He loves us each so very much that whatever we do, when we run to Him, He always forgives us and picks us back up.  He comforts us, heals us, and gives us unending grace.  He hates the sin in us and the brokenness that is the root of the unhappiness in our lives.  But most of all, He just loves us, and His love is much more than the love we experience on this Earth.

I have really enjoyed my time here!  But unfortunately, the trip is coming to an end.  I will leave this place tonight forever changed by the lessons I have learned here and the love that I have experienced with the kids.  Our God is a good God so I know He will comfort me during my adjustment back home (2 Cor 1).  But it will be hard to leave them in a few hours, knowing I will never see them again!

This really has been an amazing experience though.  Please email me or call me if you have any questions about it!  Trust me, I would love to talk about it.

If you guys would like to check out their website its: http://www.holeinthewall.org.za/.  They have more information about Door of Hope and also a place you can donate if you would like!

His,

Kelley

Kraft.kelley@gmail.com




This is the giggle squeal I'm talking about when I wake him up!  You can't see the picture really, but you can hear his cute little laugh.

Wrapping up!

I wanted to give you an update on what I have been doing the past few days!  I know I just posted a considerable amount of updates not long ago (remember the update sampler?), but I just have a few more to add...

I got to go to the zoo on Friday!!  We saw elephants, tigers, flamingos, lions, alligators, giraffes, hippos, and such.  It was just Melissa, Katlyn, and me that got to go.  The girl who has been taking us to church on Sundays, Janine, was able to take us there and drop us off.  Janine is awesome, we met her when she was dropping off donations at the house a few weeks ago.  She is about 27 and is a lawyer, she is the sweetest girl around!  It has been her mission to get us out, actually see South Africa, and meet “authentic” South Africans.  She took us to Boma the other night and to see the Nelson Mandella bridge as well!  (Its famous in Jo’burg.)  Hopefully we will get to see a lot more of her this week!  Aka I leave in less than a week!  Gosh...

A real live elephantttt!! :) 

Me and Melissa with the amazingly huge giraffe.

This is Janine!  Ah I'm going to miss this girl.

Seriously I felt so loved the other day.  I got three letters from Molly, Meredith, and my Aunt Margie (okay- 3 M’s) and a package from my roommate Catherine!  You guys are the best, you have no idea how excited I got!  Mail is so much fun.  I read them all out loud to everyone, hope you don’t mind.  And Catherine- I read the whole travel guide and I have been listening to the CD a lot!  I make the kids listen to it and dance with me every now and then as well :)  The other volunteers have gotten some really embarrassing videos of me trying to african dance with the kids with your music blasting.  But it has made some great memories!

In the past week, I have gone to two very african restaurants.  One was called Boma, it was a buffet so it was great to try a whole ton of random african foods!  I ate some stuff you guys would think its pretty sick.  I don’t have the courage to share what it was with you... The other restaurant was called Moyo, it was so fun!  It was on this amazing lake and had the cutest decorations!  They also go around and paint everyone’s faces with just a little african-looking design, usually including dots and flowers.  (That's me and Sarah on the left)  I loved it though!  The food at both of the places was amazing.  It was really fun to hang out with the volunteers, especially Katlyn and Melissa because Katlyn left on Sunday!  Super sad.

Also, we had a mid-winter Christmas this past weekend!  Since Christmas in South Africa is always so hot since its in the middle of summer, they always love mid-winter Christmas because then its cold for them and they can eat the typical Christmas meal they see in movies.  All the volunteers made a treat- we made cinnamon rolls!- and then we went to one of their houses to eat, mingle, and then watch ELF!  (of COURSE!)  It is the best holiday movie ever!  Gosh I loved it so much.  Too bad I left my amazing Christmas sweater at home and I didn’t have any holiday gear to dress up in!  It was a lot of fun though :)

Merry Christmas!

Me and Rahel all bundled up!


I have worked the past three days, I’m off today and tomorrow, and then I only work Friday and I’m done!!  I was supposed to work Saturday as well but we are going to get to go to the lion park, so I got off.  But I can’t believe my time with these kids is coming to an end.  I am in 100% denial.  I won’t be able to leave them!  Especially little Shaddy and Sheppy.  I love each one of these kids so much!  I have learned so much about them, they are all such beautiful children.  I wish they left me during my trip instead of me leaving them next week because I so badly want them each to have a loving family aSAP.  I will have to write a post in the next few days (or maybe on Monday) about all that I have learned and more about the kids.  I’m going to wait though because I know I am going to cry and I don’t feel like crying now.

Sooooo, I’m going to wrap this one up then.  Ah!  I only have one post left in South Africa until I am headed home!  Goodness gracious.

But thanks again for reading my post and thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers for me throughout this trip!

Mucho love,

Kelley

 P.S. In my past three days of work I changed 72 nappies.  Yep, I’m now a diaper changing PRO.

Bits of Wisdom

As you have read from my other posts, I have learned an incredible amount while I have been here.  I have also been humbled by how blessed I am, even being so undeserving.  I have had a chance to talk to a lot of the aunties about their life stories.  I have not run into any that have been less than amazing.  

One auntie that I have gotten to talk to for many hours told me about her childhood.  She lived with her mom and dad during the apartheid, she was about 8 at that time.  She was telling me about how she remembered always having dinner at 4:30pm so they could finish before it got dark outside.  At night they would never turn on any lights because they were afraid someone might know a black family lived there and come busting in.  She lived in so much fear that she hid in her wardrobe and slept in there many nights.  Her father was a taxi driver for a living.  He was a very good man and she looked up to him so much.  Her favorite time was when they would sit talking before bedtime and he poured knowledge and wisdom into her.  One night he was driving two men, who he later found out were thieves.  They shot him, put his body on the street, and stole his car.  Her mother passed away not long after “from a broken heart.”  Her and her younger brother were left orphaned before she even reached 20.  She was telling me that she still lives everyday in fear.  How she treats her husband and her own kids is based on the deep root of her past.

This is only one of the many heart wrenching stories I have heard.  It has made me realize that I take so much in my life for granted- the wonderful and supportive family, the financial stability, the amazing friends, the ability to go to school, and much more.  These are all things that God has blessed me with that I need to be thanking Him for as I walk through every day.  Listening to her story made me think of the fear that I lived in for so long, even though it is very different from the fear she experiences.  The fear of being stuck in sin.  For so long I wanted desperately to live my life solely for Christ but I kept in my habitual sin.  It was my daily life that was full of things that were not pleasing to the Lord.  I feared hell, I feared the consequences of friendships if I turned to Christ, I feared Satan's schemes, I feared the Lord could never love me because of all my dirt.  As I mentioned in the previous post, I heard a sermon on Romans 6-7 in church last Sunday.  In this passage, Paul is talking to the Romans about being stuck in sin.  He says in chapter 7, verses 15 through 20: 

“I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not to, but what I hate I do... It is no longer myself who do it, but it is sin living in me... For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing.”

This is the cry of all of those who have habits of sin; those who want to be living for Christ but cannot figure out how to dispose of the sin in their lives; those who have addictions; those who want to be purified but don’t know how to or where to even start.  Those people exactly like me.

I think it is perfectly stated in Ezekiel 36:25-26 when the Lord declares, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  And when this happens you can “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus... For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”  (Romans 5:12 & 14) It does not say that you turn your back to sin but rather you are dead to sin.  This comes from the power of Christ.  He cleanses you from all the sin that you are stuck in.  He cleanses you and sprinkles living water on you- even in the driest parts of your being.  He quenches any thirst that you have so that you may only turn to Him, not back to your sin.  How amazing, right?!  This is the freedom that I have found.  The auntie’s story reminded me how the chains of fear (and sin) are so detrimental to your relationship with the Lord, but the chains make you appreciate the freedom you find in the grace of God.

It still leaves me in awe how the Lord speaks through other Christians (and even non-christians) and uses them to teach me so much and open my eyes to things I have been blind to.  Our God is a sovereign God, He is a good God.  Amen?!

Update Sampler!

Can you believe that picture?  Its Shaddy “reading” about the abandoned babies in Johannesburg, when he is one that contributes to those statistics.  Its a little cut off because it was too big, I'll try to fix it later, but you get the point.  I did not even expect to get this picture!  I was sitting beside him to take a picture of another baby in the swing, but I looked over his shoulder and got to take this one seconds before he ripped it in half...  Crazy picture.

For church yesterday morning I got to go to Berea Baptist Church!  That is the church that founded Door of Hope so it was really nice to see.  Its in a really dodgy part of town so we all had to keep together or guys on the street will “snatch us right up.”  It was a really great service though.  Also, it was baby dedication day!  There were two babies from the house that I work in and 12 from the other house.  I got to be there to dedicate Aphile, who happens to be the cutest little guy ever (confession: I say that about all of them...).  It was really moving to stand up there with this precious little 3 month old as they pray over him and his future.  The church service was amazing though- lots of dancing and amens involved.  Afterward we got to see the drop box where the babies can be placed if the mother would like it to be anonymous!  It is just a box in the wall that has a sensor underneath it so it goes off when a baby is placed in it.  It is not used as frequently anymore but it still gets used every now and then!  There was a boy that was placed in it 3 days ago.  This is him eating, he is now only 6 days old but he was a premie so he is super tiny.

And this is me with the drop box!

Melissa, Katlyn, and I have a friend Janine that has been taking us to church Sunday nights as well.  She so very sweet, she’s determined to bring us to do things to see Jo’burg instead of forever being in the house.  We now have a list of things we need to do before we leave and also a list of everything we need to eat before we leave.  Last night the church service last night was so good!  It was one of those times where God made so many parallels that it makes you just want to sit there forever and take it all in.  They started with reading part of Psalm 119, which I have been going through since I got here.  Then they moved on to a lesson in Romans 6-7 that I have been needing to hear for the past 8 months.  It was so good!  Not to mention the pastor was the cutest man ever, I wanted him to be my grandfather.  And I’ll let you in on a little secret: after church we went to McDonalds.  I’m sorry, I just had such a guilty conscious about it that I had to be honest with you all and admit it.

I got to see my first adoption take place!  On the home front its not very exciting.  The worker from Door of Hope just picks him up... but its exciting to know that he will be meeting his parents today!  His name is Luke but he is such a cutie.  I was bummed though because he is so very close to taking his first steps, I thought it would happen before he got adopted.  But they moved the adoption date up so I guess I won’t be able to witness him walking.  He got adopted locally which is really good that he gets to stay in South Africa.  Please be praying for Luke and his adjustment to his new family!  Also, pray for his family to be able to love him like their own child and point Luke towards Christ throughout his life.  Very exciting stuff :)  

Want to hear an amazing story?  Okay.  So this family has been looking to adopt because one of their children is terminally ill.  The parents decided to let their little girl choose the name of the child they would be adopting.  They didn’t know any names, but they got matched with this baby and saw a picture.  When the woman from Door of Hope called and asked the father if hey had made a decision on Luke, he got silent.  She said, “Are you still there?  Are you okay?” and he said quietly, “I’m still here...  Its just that we let our daughter name the child we would be adopting and she decided to name him Luka.”  Talk about a God moment...

I get chills every time I think about that story.  God’s presence here is very real and very obvious, it is so encouraging.

I have been having the absolute weirdest dreams since I have been here.  One night I dreamt I was 214 pounds!  My sister Amy was trying to convince my mom to make me go to “sweat camp,” the equivalent of fat camp.  They made me wear those horrible shoes that make you burn more calories while you walk (but don’t worry, they got them for me in hot pink so they looked good).  Another dream was that my sister Christy and I both had surgeries on our mouths but to clean our bodies out before the surgery we each had to drink a huge thing of dish soap.  The last dream I had was I was the hair dresser for all of the kids and I had to cut all their hair.  Let’s just say that hair cutting was not my forte...  Crazy crazy dreams though!  At home I usually never remember my dreams.  P.S. don’t go and try to interpret my dreams, thank you.

A lot of the kids went to the clinic the other day to get immunizations.  They go to a public, government run clinic so it is not very clean but they don’t have to pay anything so it’s nice.  They bundle them all up to go since it is “so very cold” here.  (The aunties think its cold if its anything under about 75 degrees.  Auntie Judith is forever running around and fetching me my shoes to put on because she doesn’t want me to catch a cold.)  To the right is a picture of me and the aunties getting the kids ready to go!  I'm holding Shep, with his cute little hat on!

Yesterday the kids got to go outside to play!  They were quite shell shocked because a lot of them hadn’t been outside in a very long time.  We try to bring the kids out every now and then though because its good for them to be out in the sun!  Especially in the winter when the sun is not frying hot.  Its crazy to think about how much they are inside those four walls.  Unless they are going to the clinic, its too hard to try to organize an outing so they usually just play in the family room.

Shep holding my ring :)

...

Side note: I got a new roommate this week!  Her name is Arena, she is awesomeee.  She is from Holland and will be staying for two weeks.  She is bunking right on top of me!  I wanted to show you guys a picture of her but unfortunately she is super sick so it wasn’t good timing for a photo shoot.  Poor thing got here and then 4 days later has a horrible flu.  Hopefully it does not get passed around...

Here are some other pictures I wanted to show you guys:

The official welcoming comittee :)

Have you gotten the picture yet?  I am obsessed with their onsies.

The funny donated t-shirts I talked about earlier...

Me and Nadene :)

The post this time is pretty random and all over the place (hence why the title is “update sampler”- its a little of everything).  But I didn’t want to leave anything out!

Thats all for now, folks.  Until next time :)

His,

Kelley

[Insert witty title name here]

Sorry, I just can't think of a title name... so make up your own!  Be creative!  The sky's the limit.

Welpppp, lets see.  What updates do I have for you guys?!

To start off- I am healthy and well!  Haven’t gotten sick!  Some of the kids have had fevers from teething gone bad.  But thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that being spread to me. 

Since it is winter here, the days are beautiful.  They are about mid 60s but really sunny, it feels so good!  Nights get super chilly but its okay because I have seven blankets on my bed to keep me warm :) There are incredible sunsets every night!  Gosh I love them so much.  Since there are never any clouds, the stars are super bright at night too.  Its weird that it gets dark so early since at home its the opposite, I am starting to get used to it though.  In the beginning I would just go to bed at 7pm every night but I am getting better!  I promise I am not some huge party pooper!  Well, at least not all the time...  Don’t go and ask my roommate about it.

Here is a picture of my room!  Well, my half of it.  And yes- those are my crocs under my bed 

that I wear ALL THE TIME!  What are you going to do about it?!  The kids love them.

I got to go downtown and see Johannesburg!  It was awesome.  It’s a pretty rough city though.  Auntie Maggie was telling me that you have to be super careful about parking because if you leave your car unattended for too long, it will be gone (even if you lock it).  I guess they are super quick about stealing cars.  And of course right after she tells me this, I forget to lock my door when we went in to get lunch somewhere.  She just about died when we came back and she found out my door was unlocked.  Nice job Kelley, good way to get on the auntie’s good side...  When we were downtown, I also got to see Baby House 2 (I’m in Baby House 1)!!  It was crazy to see 12 different little babies there.  It amazes me how many orphans there are in this area.  The house was super big and really nice though!  I’m glad I got to see it.  Maggie was saying how the house is really really old though and has so much work that needs to be done to it.  Right now they don’t have the money to fix it so they are trying to figure out what to do.  A lot of Christian organizations here go to the states to fundraise for their causes!  Because South Africans don’t give money to causes they personally don’t know since there are too many sketchy organizations around.  So they might try to do that, but they aren’t sure.

As I have mentioned before, the amount of donations they receive blow my mind!  A few days ago a company called Macro donated thousands of dollars worth of food, diapers, and even a washing machine!  I could not believe they just dropped all of that off for free.  They also get donations once a week from a top-quality food store, Woolworths, for the foods that are about to pass the sell by date.  The aunties absolutely love it.  It is really encouraging to see the support from the community that they have.  They would not be able to get by without each of the donations that the community and supporting companies give.

Last night was Rahel’s birthday (that is me and her on the right), one of the other volunteers!  She invited Melissa, Katlyn, and me to go to birthday dinner with everyone.  In the beginning we were not sure if we should go because of feeling unwelcome in the group earlier, but we talked to Rahel about it and she insisted that we come.  We went to Monte Casino, it was ballerrrrr!  Its basically this whole set up inside that makes it seem like its an outside street.  It looks like a little Italian town, it was so cute.  I will post pictures below of it.  We went to a delicious restaurant and then walked down the “street” to the gelato place.  It was super good!  We had so much fun.  I know there are probably places like that in the states, but I’ve never been to one!  I loved it.

Yeppp, this was inside.  You were tricked, weren't you?

This is a super cheesy one of Melissa, me and Katlyn!

I got a moped... mom and dad- you don't mind, right?

Melissa, me, and Jess (the volunteer coordinator) showing off our muscles :)

I have one amazing mom at home, but here all the aunties insist that they are all my mother figure here.  They are hilarious.  Auntie Veronica (or Auntie V) and Auntie Celestine (or Auntie Cele) both work with me in the big babies.  Auntie Margaret is super sweet as well, she works in with the small babies.  And Auntie Judith cleans the house, and she is completely crazy.  I love them all so much!  They always have good advice if you ask them anything!  Or even if you don’t ask them and you don’t really want it, they'll still give you their opinion...  They make sure we rest on our tea breaks (aka the babies’ nap time), stay out of the sun because they are certain thats why white people get pimples, eat enough cake when one gets donated but don’t eat enough to get fat, and that we are safe if we ever go out anywhere.  So mom- don’t worry, they got me covered.

Here are two cute pictures of some of the kids:

This is Lerato!  I went out of the room to get the other kids up from their naps and when I came back, he rolled himself up in the blanket!!  So cute.  He is the laziest baby, can't even crawl, barely ever rolls over, but yet he rolls himself right up in this blanket.  So funny!

This is Sanele and Adaliah.  We always joke around how they are a cute old couple because they always act like it.  Right before this picture, she was laying her head in his lap and he was playing with her hair while they were both laughing.  It was awesome.

Thats about all I have for today!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures :)

Thank you all so much for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!  I have seen so many prayers answered here, it is obvious that I have a lot of support from home.  Hopefully reading this blog has given you a taste of what I have been doing!  I have many more stories I’ll have to share in person as well.

Until next time, my bloggies :) Mucho love yo.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day Daddy :) I’m glad I got to talk to you yesterday!

P.S.S. Katlyn and I got dropped off at the mall to hang out here for a while.  We are not getting picked up for six more hours.  But HOUSTON we have a problem!  I have got to use the restroom, or “toilet”, except come to find out that there is a water shortage in the building and there are no bathrooms open in this whole place!  What?!  How does that happen?  So... yeah.  This is an issue.

Testing 1, 2, 3

We have a child here named Shadrack (who has starred in some of my pictures in previous posts) who has been really sick recently.  He has new molars coming in the back and they put him in complete pain.  We took him to the doctor yesterday to check everything out because he’s had a fever of 102 degrees.  Ends up that he also has tonsillitis on top of his teething discomfort.  The poor child cries and cries because of the overwhelming soreness.  He does not understand why it hurts, he just feels the pain.  He is focused on the here and now.  After he went to the doctor, he now has medicine to help him feel better- one to fight the infection in his tonsils and one for the pain.  Unfortunately, because of the agony when swallowing, he hates having his medicine.  He is too little to realize that this medicine is what will heal him and make him feel better!  It will be painful to swallow the medicine but it is worth the recovery.  So even though he screams and cries, we still give him the medicine because we know it is what he needs to heal.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how applicable this lesson is to my life.  Some trials in our life cause so much hurt and pain.  We do not understand why they are happening or why we are feeling the way that we are.  All we know is here and now, it hurts.  I didn’t expect to be learning this lesson here, but our God works in crazy ways!     When God teaches us lessons, they are usually not pain free.  But he sees the tooth coming in and knows that it will be worth the pain and discomfort.  He knows that we are going to be stronger coming out of the trial and we will be closer to Him than we were going into it.

“Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything... Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:2-4,12

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9