Blogging Friends...are awesome.

I'd like you all to meet my amazing blog friend, Joanna. She is about to head to Uganda and so I just thought I'd post about her so you all can be praying for her.

#1. We've never actually met, but we've started a friendship through blogs and facebook

#2 She is adorable.

#3 She has an amazing heart of faith and compassion.

#4 I totally admire her courage.

#5 She is only 16 and is moving to Uganda for 3 months.

#6 She will be working in a Baby Cottage where she has never actually been but which I visited now two summers ago.

#7 She is leaving in 8 days!!!!!!!!!!!!

So head on over to Joanna's blog to follow this amazing girl's story!

King's Mountain Camp

My school begins each year with a week of camp. Every student and many of the teachers come. Its tradition. Its rare. Its powerful. Its wonderful. The Senior class leads the camp, surprising the students with the theme of the week and preparing all of the activities. Since 6th grade I've watched the incredible leadership of the upperclassmen and this past week was such an amazing culmination of the 7 year long journey as my classmates and I finally lead the student body at King's Mountain Camp.
This is the huddle of returning alumni praying over the senior class on the last night as we signed the honor code.

The Seniors then prayed over each class indiviually as they were called up to sign. I pretty much cried the whole time, especial while praying over Joseph's and then Lela Grace's classes.

This is my class. 16 girls and 7 guys. Goodness I love them. We look kind of crazy b/c we had all just gotten out of our Cowboy and Indian costumes (hence the face paint).

We traditionally kick off the week with a flour war. Call us crazy. You'll be right. I still have flour in my hair. :)

The entire student body grades 5-12 after the flour and water balloon war. They are absolutely disgusting and I don't think there is a group of people I love more anywhere.

I learned so much this week. God has really been healing my heart and its been incredible.

The summer between my sophomore and junior year I visited New Hope Uganda (my friend Elle went with me, she is up there in the blue v neck and the 2 long brown braids). While there I went into some missionaries' house. I can't really describe it, but their ministry and situation was/is almost exactly what I have dreamed of and hope for. I only met the mother of the family for about an hour but I told her that I was basically looking at what I hoped to live one day and it as so encouraging yada yada yada.

She didn't let me ramble very long. She stopped me and looked me in the eye and asked me how old I was. When I told her I was 16 she exhorted me to live where I was. To not get to caught up in what I hoped for one day, but to cherish the time now. The entire interchange took maybe 5 minutes, and I've never seen or heard from her again. But her wisdom stuck with me. She was right.

See, for several years I had let my future calling define me almost completely. I talked and talked about how I would go to Africa one day and about what my life was going to look like.
Here is the thing: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water that yeilds its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." ~Psalm 1:1-3~ I believe that I am just as called to be in this school, in this place, in this time as I am to adopt children, or be a mother, or minister in Africa, or anything else. I believe that my calling as a daughter, as student, a sister, and a member of my church are in one sense more important at this time than the more impressive or more specific callings for the future, because only the Lord knows the number of my days.

I believe that more often than not, God calls us to BE something, rather than to DO something, and that the things we do are simply outworkings of who we are.

I so often let the things I do or the things I want to do define me. But if you think about it, God does not need our work. He doesn't need our most wonderful works. He doesn't. In fact, He doesn't even ask for them. What He asks for is us. Is me. My heart, my life, my dreams, my thoughts, my praise, my love, my all. I am primarily called to be His child, where I am planted. And the more I scramble to do 'stuff' the more wonderful opportunities I miss. I am so grateful for the words of wisdom spoken to me by the missionary in Uganda, because there are so many things I almost missed.

Look around where you are. God is doing something incredible in your midst. Is it possible to work out your calling even where you stand, instead of waiting for some moment when it will hit you like a bolt of lightning.

Lightning doesn't last long.

But the Word of the Lord stands forever.

And the funny thing is, the less we focus on doing, the more we see what God has done.

We have no idea...

...the way that God is going to use and bridge relationships in our lives.

Uganda:

was pretty much amazing.

But one of the most amazing things about it I didn't expect in the least. During our week there we visited a little baby cottage called Amani. I had the great priviledge of meeting a sweet little girl there named Josephine. My friend Elle told me that little Josie Love, as she was to be called, was being adopted by another family that lives right in our town! Josie's adoption story is amazing, and I followed her family's blog during the process because I couldn't believe how awesome it was that even though I had never met the family, (and still haven't) God had introduced me to Josie Love half way around the world! Anyway, Josie's big sister, Grace, just wrote an amazing guest post on her mom's blog about what life has been like for her family since Josie has been home. I encourage everyone to go read it at: http://joiningthejourney.blogspot.com/ , and remember that God's plan is so infinetly much bigger and more beautiful than the little peice that we can fit inside our brains.

Welcome

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for visiting. I don't have a super clear vision of what this blog is going to look like so far, but I am excited to have a place to record this time in my life.

A little bit about me:

More than anything, I am loved by my Savior, who I seek to glorify with all of my life. His faithfulness is unfailing and His mercies are new every morning. I am very blessed with a amazing family who loves me and accepts me. I am the oldest of five children with two younger brothers and two younger sisters (Joseph 13; Lela Grace 10; Michael 3; Julia 3). Michael and Julia are twins and they came home to our family from Ethiopia when they were 6 months old. I have attended the most amazing classical Chrstian school in the world since my sixth grade year and am blessed by the my teachers, friends, and education there every single day. My family and I are renewed every Sunday at a beautiful little church in my town that is associated with my school, so we get to fellowship with many of the same families in both places. Finally, and the biggest reason for me starting this blog to begin with: When I was 11 years old, my mom and I traveled to South Africa and Kenya on a mission trip. Since then, the Lord has slowly but surely called me to serve His children in Eastern Africa. When I was almost 13 Michael and Julia came home and since then I have had a tried to use every oppurtunity to spread African Adoption/Orphan awarness in my community.
My desire for almost 5 years was to return to Africa, and this past summer God fufilled that dream as I spent a week in Ethiopia and a week in Uganda on a mission trip visiting orphans. It was definetly a learning trip for me, and I know I'll be going back one day. I hope to live there either full time or at least for a while whenever God directs.

"To whom much is Given, much is expected."

The Lord has definetly blessed me immeasurably, even though many things aren't perfect and evey day there is something new to wrestle with and to learn from. But more than what God has given me, I am blessed by who He is. Lord help me to keep that in front of me at all times, and to not get caught up in what is going on around me and loose sight of who You are.

ps. I am somewhat modeling this blog after another girl's who I met in the blog world who also has a heart for orphans. Reading her blog (http://guatemolly1.blogspot.com/) encourages me all the time. It is also somewhat modeled after the first blog I ever followed, a friend of mine's from church (http://raechelmyers.blogspot.com/).