“Sizulfunde” : We’re coming to learn

I’ve only been away a little more than 2 weeks, but I feel like I have so many things to tell you! Wish we all had time for a play-by-play (and that I could hear yours too!), but, for now, I’ll just tell you a few stories and maybe show off a few photos.


Maybe we should start with a few new skills I’ve picked up since you last saw me. I’m quickly approaching pro-status at the following things:
- catching frogs in our room
- throwing bricks into big, mystery holes
- eating mangos… and immediately flossing mango “hair’ out of my teeth… in the dark
- singing a song about Jonah and the whale in Swazi
- losing at every single card game I play
-  pretending to love instant coffee (with chicory, Rhonda!)

Get ready for this, America!

Our first week of DTS (Discipleship Training School) has been awesome! We spend mornings and often evenings in lecture learning about worldview, with our afternoons blocked off for community outreach and work duties. Mine, Shayla’s and Lizzie’s work duty is called “Hospitality”… but you might call it janitorial duty. Lots of sweeping, toilet paper-stocking and whatever needs to get done around base to make it ready for visitors and make it a nice place to live for teams and staff.

This week, we were so excited and ready to get in the community for our first scheduled community outreach, participating in a feeding program for orphans and vulnerable children… but God had other plans. It’s summer here – which also happens to be rainy season- and, boy-oh-boy did it rain! The roads quickly turned to small rivers and the lightning was striking too close for comfort, so we decided not to go. We lost power around 2pm and the water went out by 4pm. If we learned anything that day, it was how to laugh together. We used the daylight to read and write, and then made the best out of cards in the dark until we decided to get all 15 of us – plus a few extras – to crowd around Shayla’s laptop to watch the Swan Princess. So what if we hadn’t showered and we were in close quarters with no fans… we’re family now. And, you’ll be happy to know, the movie and our first big S African stormy night both had happy endings. Although we didn’t have water until the next day, the power came on just as we were going to bed so we had a fan in our room!

Our worldview discussions have been incredible as well. We’ve been discussing what it means to have a Biblical worldview. For me, it’s been a week of mobilizing or setting my heart on action! We’ve been looking at big concepts – like violence and famine and discussing how to address the root of the person and the culture’s worldview, or beliefs, rather than just the fruit, or the action.

We’ve been talking about what Truth is and that a Biblical worldview means seeing the Kingdom of God in real ways on earth – relying on both our spirituality and the resources we’ve been given. We can’t just ship in a ton of food to starving communities in Africa and think it will “fix” them. Nor can we just stay comfortably where we are and hope and pray that God will send food. We can pray for strategy, Truth and resources to know how to steward our resources and the gifts we’ve been given to provide education about agriculture or whatever we are led to do.

I’ve been thinking about that balance regarding where I am right now. Spending mornings in prayer times, worship and lecture about all kinds of holy stuff and afternoons in community outreach – doesn’t get much more spiritual than that, huh?

Well, today for community outreach time, the boys went to a community worship event and the girls had a whole different kind of outreach. One of the founding missionary families at Ten Thousand Homes is moving out of their off-base home at the end of the month in hopes that their new home on-base will be finished in time. We are all trying to help. Today our duty was moving bricks, wheel-barreling bricks over hills, rocks and other mysterious landscapes, and finally chunking bricks with all that we had into a big hole we couldn’t even see. (Please don’t ask me why.) A bunch of girls pretending we couldn’t see the mystery bugs… only makes sense to occupy ourselves by tossing bricks into the abyss while we talked about ice cream flavors. (I threw in a request to make cookie-in-a-skillet.)

You KNOW how much I would have loved to be worshipping and squeezing on some sweet lil’ babies this afternoon, but I felt honored and so happy to be sweating and cutting up my arms and fingers for Jesus. It was a perfect reminder of what we’ve been discussing all week – living a Kingdom life in all that we do. Jesus washed feet, cooked breakfast… and I’m pretty sure He would have chunked a brick (with far better accuracy than us).

Bringing glory to God doesn’t have a prescription; it has an attitude and a relationship.

I do hope to send more sweet African children pictures soon – but for now, I’m expanding my worldview and learning more and more about who God is. Yeeee-hawwww!

Last Friday, we had an AWESOME day at Kruger Park on a safari and swimming at the pool. Check these out!

Where in the world...

Is anyone out there still trying to figure out what exactly I’m doing here and where exactly I am?


Coooome on… Tell the truth.

It’s taken me a week here to get a little bit of an idea.

My team and I have spent our first full week here together adjusting, learning the who’s and what’s, having a little fun together and preparing for an adventure ahead.

We’ve all been sick and are hoping that’s out of our systems now! Please keep our health in your prayers – this is tick season and we’ve already made one trip to the hospital with tick bite fever. (Lizzie is doing fine now, and we are all smiling today as we get ready for church in the community.)

I would like to fill in the gaps and questions you might have about exactly where I am and what I am doing – after all, with your prayers, encouragement, financial support, and by following along, this is your trip too.

I am participating in a Discipleship Training School (DTS) focused on compassion through a huge missions organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). In DTS, our team of 15 will be in a training program for the first 3 months. Speakers will come in from who-knows-where to spend a week at a time with us and deliver lectures. We will have at least one time each week to participate in intercessory prayer, which means praying on behalf of others and seeking to understand the heart of God for a person’s life. We will participate in community outreach 2 - 4 times a week. (That’s the part that we are all soooo ready to get started… and the part that makes the cutest pictures.) Community outreach means we go work alongside community leaders in three communities where Ten Thousand Homes is supporting community leaders that are working with orphans and vulnerable children. We will participate in feeding programs and spend some time loving on those sweet babies. We begin our community outreach tomorrow, and I look forward to telling you more. We made quick visits to the communities this week and got to talk to and play with some of the kids. (My favorite moments in Africa, by far.)

After three months of DTS, our team will depart together for two months of outreach. We don’t know where we will go yet (our leaders are making some final decisions), but conditions will probably not be as “posh” as our current standard of living. We will spend those two months fully invested in ministry – overflowing the compassion of Christ unto others. The outreach program will end on June 6.

I am staying at YWAM’s base, a place called Ten Thousand Homes in a town called White River in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. (We are about 20 minutes from Kruger Park – pictures of that coming soon – and close to both the Swaziland and Mozambique borders.

The work that Ten Thousand Homes does and the way they approach ministry had a huge impact on my decision to come and the interactions I had in preparing to come here. I will be working with Ten Thousand Homes during community outreach and Bay Area Community Church will come in August to serve here. I know this is already long, but, please people, stay tuned. This is good stuff.

Ten Thousand Homes believes in ordinary people creating a movement to provide, protect and restore orphans and vulnerable children. The hands-on part is primarily building community care centers to provide safety, refuge, care, cleanliness and discipleship. In extreme cases, they build homes for orphaned children. The vision started with the number 10,000. When they first got started, about 3 years ago, Ten Thousand Homes worked with another organization to build 3 homes. They built 3 more last year. One is being built now by a team of DTS students from Orlando that came here for their outreach, and there is funding for 2 more. (Bring it on, BACC!)

During an orientation meeting this week, I got a big dose of perspective shift. (The first of many, I’m sure.) So often Americans come in and think they’ve got to come “fix” a problem or “take care” of Africans who don’t have the means they do. Micheal, one of the American founders of Ten Thousand Homes, said this week that he believes Americans will not be the ones to change the orphan crisis. There will be a movement of African people – African orphans will change the crisis. He believes it’s our job to come alongside them, to go with God, and support His work to make the difference. Ten Thousand Homes is inviting churches and ordinary people all over the world to get involved.

God uses the people you least expect – the least of these. We come over with so many skills, and these skills are important and should be used for God’s glory. But we should come with the right perspective. We aren’t here to make change. We are here to be a part of the change God is doing.

God has been teaching me that the way He created me was to look for people’s inherent worth, value and beauty – and then to CELEBRATE it! Rejoice and sharpen the giftings in each other so that we will be encouraged to use our giftings and to maximize them. How could there be an uncared for orphan anywhere in the world if we were all using the gifts we were given for the glory of God? He wants to protect, care for and delight in His children.

I am seeking to catch a glimpse of the hope for Africa, and am honored to get to encourage and walk alongside Africans on the path to restoration. I am looking for hope. Giving hope. We all need hope. And hope creates change.

“But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

God Loves to Play

It was our first day of DTS today – starting out bright and early with a time of worship.


I came ready to sing praise to God and wondering what kind of songs we would hear. It was something totally different than I expected.

“Worship is going to be a little different today.”

I’d worshiped there before so everything would be different for me. But this was really different. For worship today, we made up crazy animal sounds and motions and played an extremely silly game until we had tears in our eyes from laughing. I was the sickest sounding giraffe you’ve ever heard, and was sitting between a crazy pig and an itchy monkey. What a way to start a relationship off!

In our worship time, we talked about relationships – how they are built and strengthened by laughter and silliness. By playing! Healthy and loving relationships begin with talking, sharing, laughing and learning about a person as we learn to trust and commit to them… and then touch.

Worship is an extremely intimate part of our relationship with God. Sometimes we feel as though He is walking with us and talking with us during our daily life – and He is. But when we enter a time of worship, we begin a time of intimacy and connection. Like touch.

So, today for worship, we played. And we talked about how God likes to play. God enjoys being in the silly moments and in the laughter. I am so thankful for today and for the times of connection I had with my teammates through laughter and celebrating cultures together.

I hope that you will play and laugh with the people you love most today – and enjoy God’s presence in those happy moments. He loves it!

And He loves you.

Settling in...

Cool, starry evenings and bright, sunshiny days. Birds chirping. Green rolling hills as far as you can see. South Africa and the YWAM Kruger Park base are absolutely breathtaking.


I still can’t believe I am actually here, yet it feels like I’ve always been here. I don’t know how everything works and have absolutely no idea what to expect – but here I am, so excited about each and every day.

We had time to rest and relax before activities today, Sunday. Resting here is so different from resting in America – no cell phones, TV, extremely limited internet and lots of quiet, sitting and walking. I spent some time this weekend writing out the story of vision, support, struggles and love as I prepared to come to South Africa. It was so good to reflect and remember on the ways my Home has blessed me and been in every detail.

It’s easy to feel uncomfortable and start to wonder where your place is in the midst of transition or when starting something new. Traveling across the world and waiting on something you don’t know much about with people you don’t know anything about definitely fits into that category! What seemed to be so clearly directed in the states with all of you standing behind me to cheer me on suddenly didn’t seem as clear here anymore. And being jet-lagged didn’t help much either.

Taking time to remember each step that God ordained so perfectly has encouraged me, filled me up and reminded me of the ways He works – mysteriously, powerfully, beautifully and in perfect timing. I celebrated the miracles, gifts and love again while sitting on a HUGE rock with an incredible view. Thank you again!

Another thing that helped was remembering that right now, I believe God has me in the role of a mobilizer- being a voice to you at home for the Kingdom of God in international missions. A big part of my passion is to stay connected with you to share this experience with you so that you can learn with me and that our hearts can be transformed together. I felt so much peace when I started praying for y’all. (And I am determined not to give up the word y’all no matter how many people make fun of me! South Africans looked at me today and said, “WHAT did you say?”)

I prayed for Bay Area Community Church – the leaders, the Kingdom heart, the missions prayer group, those who’ve supported me, and the upcoming Africa missions team. I prayed for Mona and V, my family, my Alvin community and my friends. And I felt Home.

I’m excited to share the details and stories with you, and to develop deeper and deeper relationships with my teammates, leaders and community members here as things get started soon. Please pray for us to have open communication. We have to pay for internet by data here and it consumes a great deal of data to load pictures and videos. It’s very important to me to share with you the sights and sounds too, so I will speak to my team leaders to get their input on the wisest way to share. Thank you for praying!

All of my teammates have finally arrived! We went to a brii (BBQ) today to get to know each other and the staff. My DTS (Discipleship Training School) team is comprised of 15 people – 10 girls from Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington, Switzerland, South Africa and Canada, and 5 guys from North Carolina, South Africa and Switzerland. The girls are all in one room with 5 sets of bunk beds, 1 bathroom and not much else. Oh, except for the HUGE frog I just caught under my bed. We are going to get close fast. I can’t wait.
I’ve been very thankful to have time to settle in slowly and adjust to what’s around – we are still all feeling overwhelmed, a little jet-lagged and trying to get to know all 15 people alongside another team of 30 that is staying here for the next 3 weeks. DTS starts early tomorrow morning and we can’t wait!!

I’m definitely still settling in and could use your prayers as I adjust to fully embrace each moment and each student in DTS for their gifts and the ways God works through them. Also, I am the first in our room to get the real Africa initiation and was up all night throwing up with no sleep whatsoever. I was able to eat dinner tonight and, as bedtime approaches, am feeling very sick again. My bunkmate, Elisabet from Switzerland, is a nurse and she’s been constantly filtering and testing the drinking water for bacteria. After 10 tries, she gives up and we pray. Our stomachs have a lot of adjusting to do. Hopefully quickly! Please pray for mine and my roommates’ health as we adjust to new food, new water and a new environment.

Tomorrow it’s official! Can’t wait to tell you more! Thank you for your prayers!

If you would like to send mail (and of course you would), my address is:

Kacy Chaffin
P.O. Box 4450
White River, Mpumulanga
South Africa 1240

Check out the beatiful view! Can't wait for you to get here BACC!

A hot afternoon walk with teammates, Mongo (S AFrica), Michael (N Carolina) and Brittany (TX)

Verrrrry windy ride to the brii with Pinkie (S Africa)

Hoooneeeyyyyy, I'm HOOOOME!

Hello Everyone!

Writing you... from AFRICA! :) Just wanted to let y'all know we made it safely. It's summer here and everything is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to write more and send pictures!

Thank you for your prayers!

Love you!

Are we in Vegas?? No... it's DUBAI!

I love a good story. I sometimes even love when ridiculous things happen just because I know it will make for a good story.

And we started in the parking lot at IAH in Houston with the stories! I am so thankful to have had my Other-Mother and best freinds take me to the airport... without them to laugh and cry with, things could've gotten ugly!

After getting lost in and repeatedly dropping my over-weight luggage in the crazy parking lot (with an infant), Morgan looked around and said... "This is our own personal hell."

I'm pretty sure the next time I dropped all the luggage was from laughing. And we were ready to take on anything from that point.

We managed to find the right counter and it was a dang good thing we were early...

Turns out there's a BRAND NEW rule in J-burg, South Africa that you have to have a visa if you stay over 90 days, and you CANNOT have a one-way ticket. In case you were wondering, no, I do not have a visa and, no, I did not have a return ticket. Of course.

I think I met every Emirates employee in Houston - and LOVED them all. We did some shuffling, strapping, phone calling, laughing, and decided the best plan was for me to purchase a ticket to leave S Africa before the 90 days expired. There will be a  penalty, but I will just move the date on my ticket to the date when I will actually return back and purchase a ticket from Dubai to Houston.

See Dad, I AM coming back! I already have 1/2 a ticket!

THE ticket. Me, the girls, and my new $700 piece of paper.

Me, Mama Waters, and Baby Lucas with the Golden Ticket

Thank you SO much to my supporters! Your faithfulness and obedience made what could have been a REAL crisis into another testament to God's faithfulness and provision. Booyeah.

It's been quite a journey. I have been amazed by Emirates Airline's incredible staff, so helpful to the clueless American girls with no visas. The flight was great and the free hotel stay and dinner was even better! Dubai is fabulous. So many sparkly things and incredible diversity. And the coffee... MUAH!

We're ready for the next leg of our flight - 8 hours to J-burg and then another 2 to Nelspruit.

Please pray for us - that there would be no complications in J-burg and we will arrive safely. We are having a great time together and spirits are high!

Oh- and also pray for the little African boy is throwing up next to me right now. Pretty sure we'll be on the same plane. Excellent.

It's Africa Day!

Today is the day. It's really here...

I'M GOING TO AFRICA!

Today I will take a walk with NaNa, have lunch with some of my dearest and longest friends, and then begin a new chapter right there at the Emirates Airlines gate when I meet my teammate Brittany! So thankful to have travel buddies - Rebekah will meet us at the gate after she gets off her flight from Dallas. We will find each other by backpack color and then, surely, begin to build what will be lifelong, travel-across-the-world friendships. And then hopefully put our 3 hours in the airport to good use with my new video camera.

I wanted to fill you in on my travel details so you can join me in prayer for safety, health, rest and maybe a little sanity! Every step of the way has been made possible by your prayers... especially packing!

I will arrive at IAH in Houston at 3:30 this afternoon to board an Emirates flight that departs at 6:25pm (Texas time). After a 14 hour flight, we will have a 9 hour layover in Dubai, and then begin again with an 8 hour flight to Johannesburg. I will arrive at Nelspruit airport, a short flight away from J-burg, at 8:20am (Texas time), or 4:20pm S African time.

I will be in White River, South Africa at YWAM's base, Ten Thousand Homes for the first 3 months to participate in a Compassion Discipleship Training School. During this time, please pray that my heart is filled with and led by the compassion of Christ. Our team will pray together to decide where to go in Africa for our 2 month outreach after that time.

Thank you for your prayers. I love you.

Pazookies and Prayers

I'm so full.

Full of your love and encouragement. And of pazookie's and any other binge-worthy food that can be justified in the company of good people with the magic words, "I'm Going to Africa!"

Goodness in a "party platter".

And five minutes later...

I believe Jesus fills us up, or prepares us, as He sends us out. How would we know how to give love if we haven't received it? How would we know what Home is if we've never rested there?
 
Even as I've said goodbye after goodbye, I've marveled at the ways that each moment has been so unique - how there are so many ways to love and be loved. There have been prayers, lists, dance parties, things that involve an incredible amount of calories, hugs (so many good hugs), emergency chapstick runs- for the kind with pomegranate oil, phone calls, a poncho, a beautiful church send-off, text messages, and so many heartfelt considerations. I know that I am not going alone.
 
I feel like I've got the best seat though: the one by the window... in a plane.. going to Africa! But this trip is completely ours, and I am grateful for the ways you allowed God to use you for His work.



For the past year and a half or so, I've had an alarm set on my phone. Everyday at 10:02am it flashes a reminder, "Send Workers".

It's a command and a prayer from Luke 10:2. In chapter 9, Jesus prepared his disciples. He gave them power and authority to overcome evil and to heal, and then he taught them how to be disciples. In chapter 10, He is raising up even more men to go out as disciples and he tells them how to pray in Luke 10:2:

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

As I've prayed that God would send workers to His harvest daily, I've sought ways that I could become His worker from right where I was that day, whether it was in line at the coffee shop with strangers or meeting with old friends. My heart continued to increase so that I was praying for the heart of every believer to rise up to work for the harvest. I've found hope in the vision of what it would be like for all of us, every single believer to pray, to really pray every day that God would send workers, send us, to His harvest.

In the past months, as my family, friends and church have jumped on board as workers for the Kingdom. In a very short time, we've raised enough money to send me for 7 months, to build a home for 3-5 orphaned children to grow up with a family, and have our hearts set on raising more and traveling to Africa. Even more than that, a spark has been lit within us and we are dreaming Kingdom-sized dreams. Hopefully we're also noticing how contagious it is.

Even casual encounters can be a worker. God's love is exhilirating. Rachel from Wells Fargo called me this week just to make sure I had everything I needed to go. Joe from the Egg and I is making a special trip to the library just to subscribe to my blog. All of us want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And we all need someone to encourage us to do that amidst this loud and distracting society.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

We serve such a captivating God. People want to know Him.

Jesus Stays at The Hilton

Thank you for praying with me for a time to retreat to be with Jesus!

And THANK YOU to The Hilton Galveston and to Shelley for the incredible welcome, outsanding service and genuine care. I had a wonderful 2-night stay at The Hilton! A room to myself with a king-sized bed with a view of the ocean. What a gift! The Hilton Galveston was so accomodating - I hope you can visit there one day!

Check out my room and view!

YES. I. DID.

On my 48-hour retreat, God began to reveal to me and remind me how BIG He is. We hear it in church, we read it in the Bible, and there are quite a few songs about it in the "Mountain Music" playlist in my iPod. But we live in a society built in compartments and departments. Even our places of worship are categorized by religions, denominations, degrees of charisma and doctrinal policies. I don't think any of these things are bad. We're human. We have to create some kind of structure to make things work. We won't have the big picture, or understand the whole enchilada, until we go Home to our Father, so... while we're here, we make a way for us to live together as peacefully as we know how.

We manage life.

The one thing we cannot manage, cannot even begin to wrap our wee-little earthly minds around is God's unstoppable and everlasting Glory. Can I get a WHEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAA!??! I don't even know what that sound was.... that's how good it is!

We grow up learning how to manage and how to compartmentalize to make things work. It's almost natural to try to file God's Holy-Awesome-Gotta-Getcha-Some-Of-That Goodness too. But it doesn't fit!

I was reminded on my retreat how hard-wired I am to limit, file, and compartmentalize. And that I'm about to fly to the other side of the world. (in approximately 73 hours) There's a good chance that, when I get there, none of my pre-made and probably color-coded file folders will fit the experience and the way God looks, loves, sculpts, shines and is there.

So I praised Who He Is. I sat with Him and delighted in Him. And, oh my, He IS indeed delightful.

I prayed to maintain an open heart, one that doesn't limit or compartmentalize Who God Is.

I prayed to have a heart of compassion that is available to love Him, seek Him and serve Him competely. With all that I am. All the time.

He gave me the word FREEDOM.

He reminded me that, by His blood, we are free. Free from death and free from playing in a works-based, sin-counting game we would never win - Just by accepting His grace. And that freedom that comes from accepting Jesus begins a lifetime of freedom that I think gets better and better as we let it.

It's a freedom that leads to an abounding ability to love and be loved and to know and be known. We've been given a free pass for a love that only gets bigger and better. It's up to us to stop limiting it.

It's like Jell-O. There's always room.

and THEN...

... He Said It Was Good.
You will NOT believe what kind of day I've had! I felt like God was showering me with blessings as prayers were answered and plans fell into place.

I met with my pastors, Steven Yoes and Seth Saldivar to discuss details of my departure and the church's short-term mission trip to Ten Thousand Homes in South Africa this August. I was overwhelmed by their support and care, as usual! I'm so excited to worship with and be ministered to by my church Home, Bay Area Community Church, this Sunday- my last week before I go! If you live near League City, Texas, please come visit at 10am. We meet at Creekside Intermediate in front of Clear Springs High School.

And THEN... I went to the church office to talk finances.
Can I get a drumroll please?

As of about 3pm on Jan 5th, 2010, we had raised $11,561 for my pesonal trip, travel and ministry work.
We also raised an additional $3903 for bricks! That's 1301 bricks! That's more than a house!

My church has set a goal to build 5 houses and we are well on our way!

And THEN....
I called Emirates airline about my 9 hour layover in Dubai. They signed me up to recieve a complementary shuttle, hotel stay, dinner and breakfast!

And THEN....
I continued my mission for a personal retreat. I was asking the finest hotels in Galveston for a two-night stay but only had $100 to offer... which is less than 1 night. I told them about my upcoming mission trip and my need to retreat with Jesus. I also offered to put pictures of my room up and encourage my blogging community to support the business supporting me. I didn't have a lot of luck in the beginning, but Shelly at the Hilton told me I could have any room I wanted for even cheaper than I asked... and then invited me to check in early! What a gift from God! Look for pictures soon! I am pleased to announce that I will be off-the-map for the next 2 days, sitting at the feet of my Savior.

And THEN...
Seriously, there's more. This is how GOOD God is... in a micro-teensy-fractional kinda way. The community of families I grew up with and in at the Alvin First United Methodist Church hosted a community dinner for me to eat together, laugh together, pass some awesome baby boys around and to love on each other. Pam Waters, formally titled, "My Other Mother" hosted us with her usual and indescribable love and hospitatlity.

The whole gang was there! The Collins, The Carters, The Goergans, The Jarrells, Pam, Gandy and Laurie. Lonnie even called in from Iraq to join in the fun! They brought all my favorites: Big Red (I drank at least 4 glasses) and Blue Bell Banana Pudding Ice Cream (we won't publish how much of that I had). And THEN they gave me the sweetest card, a community collection of brick money and closed off the evening praying over me and the most hilarious self-timer photo session of all times. :) They are truly my Home. I felt like they had raised me up and were sending me out.

I TOLD YOU it was a good day! I can't wait to slip away tomorrow to rest, prepare and pray. Please pray that this time will be time for spiritual nourishment, intimacy with Jesus and that my health will be retored in all aspects. (Got hit with a nasty sinus or allergy somethin' today)

As always, thank you for your prayers. I love you and am delighted that you are following along on my adventure!  Pictures from the weeks of quality time are coming!

Overloaded with Overflow

Attention: My paper chain is travel-friendly now.

It's so small, it fits in my purse! (Which of course means I take it everywhere I go.)

There are only 9 links left representing 9 days till I depart for South Africa!

I must confess that I am on overload right now and would be grateful for your prayers on this last 9-day stretch! I'm resisting the idea of even thinking about packing with every fiber of my being. It's driving NaNa crazy!
The past few weeks have been filled with coffee dates, silly pictures and extra squeezy hugs. Just how I like it. I am so so filled with the love and encoruagement of the incredible people God has put in my life. I have so often said in passing this week that I feel unprepared mentally and emotionally for this trip - But now that I'm sitting here, I'm realizing that God is up to His usual "MY-plans-are-better-than-your-plans" sneak attack. He has filled me up to overflow with authentic love and being wholly loved and deeply known.

I could use your prayers now for a time for peace and rest. I have been so busy visiting and planning, that I don't think I've spent a moment to be still in weeks. I am praying for provision for a 2-night personal retreat in Galveston this week to rest and be with Jesus. Once I get to Africa, I will probably have no or very limited personal space and time. Please join me in prayer for time to hear God, worship God and rest deeply in His love.

And NOW... let's watch a slideshow! (Are you as excited as I am that I learned how to embed a slideshow?)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to my longtime family-friend, Tammy Pennington, for supporting this mission, coming to the Mystery Dinner Theater and for taking pictures for us to remember what a marvelous and mysterious  night that was!

Thank you everyone for taking this trip on as your own. Your prayers and financial support make this trip yours. God has walked with us every step of the way. I hope I can sit with you (even if it's via blogspot) to reflect on how He's blessed this process and time of preparation as I prepare to travel.

I have so many things I want to share on this blog before I go. I'm going to try to post small things often in this next week and a half so please subscribe and stay tuned!