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The Start of the Longest Week of my Life: Day 1
Before leaving for my very short trip to Swaziland, I prayed that God would make this the longest week of my life. It has been three full days and it already feels like a week has passed with everything that has been packed in so far! Yebo Jesu! I left for Swazi on a Thursday
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Wholly Broken
Wholly Broken People often wonder if I left my heart in Swazi, why don’t I go get it? Why don’t I move there? Why don’t I live there if I miss it that much? Sometimes I don’t know the answer to that; many times I wish I did live in Swazi; sometimes I think about
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Patience Pays Off
Patience is more than a virtue…it’s like money in a bank. After leaving “home” (Swazi) to come “home” (Wisconsin), I couldn’t bare the thought of not seeing my children for an entire year, especially when my baby girl is going to grow up way too fast in a simple twelve months! So, I fervently tried
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Simply YOU is Enough
“Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her.” -Esther 2:15 One of the best birthday gifts I recently received was a letter from my dear friend Rachael. In her letter she shared some insight she recently gained while reading through the book of Esther. She writes, “It’s a simple
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My Teacher is a 16 Year Old
Isn’t it amazing that the people we think we’re teaching or helping are usually the ones changing, reforming, and refining us? 16 year old Ayanda never ceases to amaze me. She is wise beyond years, tender beyond her tears, and firm in the face of fears. I have learned more from Ayanda in the past
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In my Absence is His Presence
A few years ago, I wrote a poem as my mission prayer for Swazi: Not my Love to Give I have learned what it is to love deeply from the heart. But I have learned that it is not my love to give; it’s Yours. So, let me love so boldly, believe so fiercely, fight so selflessly, hurt so
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Where is Home?
It’s only been eight days since I’ve left Swazi, and it already feels like months! It somehow gets harder and harder to leave each time I go. For my fourth “transition” back to American culture, you’d think by now I’d be accustomed to the dramatic changes; however, there are some parts of culture that still
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Our Plans are not His Plans (for a Reason)
From the beginning of this trip I’ve been trying to figure out plans for Tenele to move out of Mangwaneni. She was the first to approach me and tell me she wanted to leave. After my initial surprise, I began going through all the options I could think of as to where Tenele could stay.
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You Can’t Leave Me
The other day when Tenele was over, she came into the kitchen with me as I prepared some pologny (a Swazi meat) sandwhiches for the kids. Out of nowhere she blurts, “Mama, you can’t leave.” We had briefly talked about how soon I am leaving, that I only have a little time left here. I
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Gomer’s Girls
During our first meeting with Fr. Larry about the girls home (see a separate blog entry about details on the girls home), we explained Hosea’s Heart and where the name came from. He commented that we should name the house Gomer’s House (after the woman named Gomer, whom the Lord had instructed the prophet Hosea
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Because I Love You
Eish! So much has happened, it’s hard to know where to start! Some highlights of this last packed week… Ayanda’s birthday! Last year while I was here, I got to celebrate Pununu’s, Johannes’, and Tenele’s birthdays but missed Ayanda’s, so it was a blessing to be here with her to celebrate! Hanna and Alex made
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Living in a Miracle
The general theme of my last year here with Tenele was “one step forward, two steps back” so I naturally expected to see that again this trip. I knew the initial joyous meetings with Tenele would soon turn into sad ones as she was bound to retreat as in the year before. Every time I
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I Am Who I Am
For our evening devotions, we have been going through a book called, “Lord, I Want to Know You.” It goes through all the names of God and how his characters are revealed in Scripture. It’s been very engaging and empowering for us to learn to know our God more intimately. In light of the study,
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Tears of Change
After first meeting Tenele, she insisted that I meet this friend of hers who had taken her to church a few weeks back. A man named Sandile, excitedly came over to talk with me about Tenele, so Tenele left the two of us alone to chat. Sandile was amazed at what Tenele had told him
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The Two Day Travel
In any other situation, a nine hour layover in Chicago would have been absolutely agonizing; however, thanks to Lindsay’s dad, we were blessed with time to hang out in the Admirals Club until we boarded our plane for London at 9:00 p.m. that night. An eight hour plane ride put us safely on European grounds
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The Swazi Adventures Continue with Hosea’s Heart
The day I have been waiting for all year is now here, and it’s so hard to believe it’s real! I can’t fathom how much work the Lord has done in just the last year of my life! After my prayers and frustrations of wanting people to team with me to help these young women
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Hosea’s Heart, Inc.
I just realized I never actually posted about the biggest excitement of the year: Hosea’s Heart, Inc! An official non-profit organization to empower the abused and at-risk women in Swaziland, Africa! Chris Owen, co-founder or the organization and age old friend, worked hard behind the scenes all year long to help me legalize the non-profit.
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Hush Little Baby
February 25th, 2012… nearly 8 months after leaving Tenele and my children behind, I had the blessing of hearing my childrens’ voices over Skype (not video, but I’ll take what I can get)! I had been trying to get a hold of my children in Swazi for a long, long time, but I couldn’t get
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Baby Mary-Kate
On Wednesday, November 30th 2011, an absolutely beautiful baby girl entered the world, thus making me a “gogo” (grandmother). Ryan sent word that my Tenele-Bell had given birth to a stunning baby girl. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! I called him early in the morning after receiving a text message that
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Who’s Face is on the Dollar?
It’s been quite the whirlwind of emotions and events since I’ve stepped back onto home soil. Now back for a little over two months, you’d think I’d be in routine and settled back into culture. But that’s the thing about a missions trip like this, we aren’t meant to “settle back” but to push forward.
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