I like to write when I 'm all emotional like this! :-)...

...but I'm so emotional I might end up being too personal which those of you who know me know I am totally capable of!!! :-) so I'll post some pics of my favorite girl in the whole world, Dudu...

Isn't she just soooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, still so cute!!!:-)
This is one of the reasons why I love this girl; she so reminds me of myself. There's me so excited to be with her and she's totally looking away!! Kind of like me and Jesus sometimes...

Ok, looks like we're improving on the relationship, she will at least now look into the camera, well she's facing forward!! :-)
Here she is with some friends, sitll so cute!!!!!! :-) I love this little girl so so so much!!!

A fun night and an ncriminating picture of Daran :-)

Some of you might now of my secret (well not really secret) desire to be famous one day (I will use my fame for good& adopt a lot of children:-)). Well, I have been teaching this girl, Nqobi, guitar (actually we’ve only had one lesson so far! J…and we started like a month ago!!) Here’s me and Nqobi:

She works for this company that is doing the admin for the Entrepreneur of The Year Awards. Last night was the launch dinner, and Nqobi had asked me if I would like to perform at the dinner and how much I charge to which I thought, “charge???” (about a week ago) So I asked Daran (cause he seemed like businessmanJ) what he thought I should charge. He gave me a number to call (well actually I got the number from Teresa, Daran’s wifeJ) and was also nice enough to correct my mispronunciation of the word, ‘entrepreneur’. J Here’s a pic of Daran:

So anyway, I was eventually asked to write a song for the event which I first performed for my friends Jacci, Natalie, Gabby, Joelle, Danielle, and Nathaniel who were all so encouraging and said they loved it. Some of you now that one of my love languages is word of affirmation so their very encouraging words totally helped pump me up& take away some of my nervousness…”Thanks, friends!!!”

I was still kind of nervous about this whole thing. It was my first ‘real’ public performance (not at church) by myself. The event was by invitation only and I couldn’t have my lovely friends come and make funny faces at me while I performed! J So, I started asking people to pray. At first I just did it cause that’s what you do, but then I started realizing just how much of a difference prayer makes (thank you Frank Perretti for writing, “Piercing The Darkness!! J) I asked some awesome people to pray for me and they did and the performance was a blast. I had do much fun doing it, and got lots of compliments( filling up my love tank J) Thank you amazing friends for your prayers, thank you Jesus for loving me so!!!!!...so even though I love to perform and have performed before I was always get stage fright. My heart starts to beat really fast and I feel like if I don’t BREATHE I’ll faint. I felt this way before my performance last night, but then I started to well first of all, breathe J, but I also just started saying(under my breathe so as not to creep out everyone at my table)’ Peace of Jesus’ over and over again. He gave me peace and like I already said I had so much fun. So, again, thanks for praying friends!!!!

Ok, pics from the night

This is me practicing in the living room a few minutes before I had to leave.

This is me and the best little sister ever who totally helped pack my purse before I had to leave. I love you Tamara!!!

This is me and Khosi, I think was her name, one of the models. I had been sitting by myself playing sudoku( I know I’m a nerd J, and finally decided to stop being a loser so I chatted with the girls who were doing the modeling for the evening.

More modelsJ

I sent the following sms to Becca concerning the beginning of my evening.”…I’ve taken a picture with a strange man, had a strange man compliment my dress, & taken pics with some models” :-)

The room:

The banner:

Me J in my favorite dress ever for two reasons: 1. it’s pretty cute! And 2. I totally bought on sale for R40(less than $10). I love a good bargain!!!!! J

Me and this poet guy who was like, “Hey can you play while I recite my poem?” J

Yay for a fun night!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uhhh nothing's coming to me...

An amazing past couple of weeks as God continues to show His goodness. I have so many blogs I need to write!! Getting settled back into the office after lots non office stuff the past couple weeks so I don't really have time which irks me because I want so much to share all the crazy wonderful events of the past few week...in time...

I love You, Lord, You are my first love, the best ever!!!!!!!!

random pic:
my lovely friends from Zimbabwe dressed in Swazi traditional attire (just a reminder that Zimbabweans are pretty cool with Zambians as the only people cooler than them :-))

Tantrum??

Well, I have a choice to make right now: I could choose to throw a tantrum concerning a situation about which I am upset or I could talk about all of the amazing things God has been doing the past few days. I pick b! J

So God started by doing some serious stripping for a while. The past two weeks or so was all about stripping and removing layers and breaking and all those really hard lessons, but it was so so so( I cannot say enough sos!!! J) worth it. The past four or so days, God has been doing some covering, some clothing, some remolding. He tells us to take off the sinful nature so we can put on righteousness. We ‘take off’ not so we can be exposed and vulnerable, but so that He can cover us with the only thing that can truly keep us safe- Himself…One thing this has reminded me of is the fact that there is so much growing to be done, so much more to learn, the cool thing is that the Teacher is also my Father!!!...less of me, more of Him, less striving more loving, less ‘rules’, more love…maturity…

We had the team from Children’s Cup/Healing Place here for a few days. I loved getting to spend some time with them, and hearing them share their hearts, and realizing that I really can dance!!! J. It kind of made me homesick, though, for the motherland- Zambia L…I am so planning a trip to Zambia (through Zimbabwe of course!!! :-))…

We have been doing Mission of Mercy training for the new MoM Community Field Reps. It’s been pretty hectic, but so great to think about how much more help we will have!! I will post pics and stuff on that soon. Ok, off to bed…

Oh yeah, random picture, oh and I absolutely love and am thankful for my family, and I feel really emotional right now which is why I should got bed so off to bed I go …

Seriously, its' so about time!!! :-)

Some amazing people...

This is Tanele and her two little brothers. She is about 7 years old. She carries her baby brother on her back all day!! She also wears a huge smile on her face all day!!
This is Lindo. She is so so cute!!! She's writing, well trying :-), to write a letter to her sponsor...
These are Lindo's feet. She walked barefoot to the care point in the rain so she could write a letter to her sponsor...



This is Gugulethu sawing wood with her little baby on her back. Her name means 'our treasure'.She really is a treasure. Gugulethu lost her baby a little while back...



This is Lindiwe(on the left). She is one of the most amazing people I know. She is a teacher at our largest care point and serves over 300 children everyday with all her heart not so men can see and reward her( a lot of people don't see or take her for granted) but out of a heart filled with His love and joy!!!


There are several other things I could be doing with my life right now. There are many days when I have questions, doubts about where I am and what my life is 'supposed to' look like. Today, though, right now, I feel privileged to be in a place where I can rub shoulders with the likes of Tanele, Lindo, Gugulethu, and Lindiwe. I am blessed to call them friends and even learn a thing or two from them about what it means to love Jesus and to be loved by Him!!!

la la la :-)

“From one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ‘We are His offspring.’ “

Acts 17:26-28

Some of you know how I often struggle with wondering where I belong? I just feel that I don't fit in, anywhere!!! Each time we've gone to Zambia(where I'm originally from) I've been told I speak Nyanja (my Zambian vernacular) with an accent, and that I'm now 'Swazi'. And yet in Swaziland I have constant reminders that I am not Swazi -from people's 'innocent' comments to stupid government offices(don't even get me started on that!!!! :-)). I have a lot of American friends( my brothers constantly make fun of me for being a 'Bush lover', again that's a topic for another day... :-)), and I love them to death and am so thankful for them. They joke about me being half-American, but I'm not( I am pretty much banned from applying for an American visa until 2010!! but let's not get into that!!!!!!!)...I have questioned God often- Why did you bring me to live in a foreign country? (I didn't choose to live here; my parents brought me here when I was too young to have any say!), and why did you keep me here?I want to be Zambian, but I didn't grow up there, I don't live there, and my parents never took us to visit often enough for me to 'keep in touch' with all that's going on there...I am in Swaziland...there are several benefits to being a 'foreigner'. I am such a better person because of it an I love that, but I still have asked God why I cant' just be in a place with people like me, a place where I 'belong'?

I read that verse above just now, and He answered me. Why? So that you would seek me. I know God has ordained every day of my life, in my head, I know, but just now, He spoke to my heart- everything concerning me, every decision He has made concerning my life, He has made because He loves me and He wants nothing more than for me to love Him back!!! i am a Zambian living in Swaziland with a lot of American friends :-) because He wants me to seek Him, to want Him; He is pursuing me, again, I am worth pursuing!!! He is good!!! I am in awe....

Adventures are generally more interesting than fairy tales. They introduce us to travelers; pilgrims rather than princes and princesses- real life men and women, boys and girls. We meet people to who we can relate- people just like us. They fight battles and don’t always win. They’re not always strong or pretty. They don’t always live happily ever after. They cry real tears; they feel very real pain. These are not heroes lifted high above so we can admire them from afar; they are our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, our friends. We don’t look from afar and wish we could be like them. We stand beside them; walk with them through their joys and sorrows; learn from their successes and mistakes. After we have been with them a while, we realize that we are changed for the better. We realize that we have been inspired, not by ‘great and mighty’ deeds, but by ‘little’ acts of kindness and timely words of wisdom and are better now that when the adventure begun.

I love fairy tales. I have a copy of the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. :-) I have indulged in a good amount of chick flicks!! But there are few things I love more than taking the journey with Sam and Frodo all the way from the peaceful, safe Shire through dangerous and strange places all the way to Mordo, the most evil place. Something stirs inside of me when Frodo, at the end of the Fellowship of The Ring says to Sam, “I’m glad you’re with me, Sam.” Something in me comes alive as I watch Boromir (who just previously failed the ‘test’ and gave in the evil of the ring) fight with all his might to save two little hobbits (his friends) and is killed as a result. I watch with excitement and expectancy as Erwin chooses mortality so that she can be with the one she loves (even though she is uncertain of what their future holds). And I breathe out, greatly relieved as Sam and Frodo sit on a rock in Mordor, the ring destroyed the battle won, but not without much sacrifice- tears shed, blood spilled, real pain, very real heartache!!!

There are many times when I want life to be fairy tale. I want to magically ‘fix’ everything that’s broken. I want to make is so we all ‘live happily ever after’. I want it so that there is no pain no sacrifice and not just for my sake, but especially for the sake of those I love and care about, some really close to me, others not so close, but close enough that I care. I am slowly learning that pain, sacrifice, and tears are not fun, but they are the stuff that adventures are made up of, and that’s what life is- an adventure. From Genesis to Revelation, we read about the adventure called life. God is not a hero, above beyond reach; no! He is right beside us, experiencing life with us. He doesn’t have to, He chooses to because He loves us. He says to us,

“My lover spoke and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
The season of singing has come…
Arise, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.’”
Song of Songs 2:10-13

Yes, God is a romantic!!! He pursues us, yes, we are worth pursuing, so worth pursuing!!!!