I miss Africa.

 I've never seen so many beautiful smiles :)

 They love to learn!

 This is my buddy Caleb, the sweetest and most beautiful boy I could ever imagine. I won't hold it against him that he's wearing an Obama shirt ;)

I love babies!!!!

I've always loved to travel. There's something so magical to me about being in a new place, surrounded by people and sights I've never witnessed before. I've had the privilege of being able to visit so many incredible places and make precious memories. I've been on mission trips to Guatemala with my grandparents' compassion ministry, and seeing the severe poverty prepared me for my recent journey to Uganda this last May. Even though I've had mission trip experience, nothing could have prepared me for not only the intense poverty and suffering I witnessed in Africa, but also the abundance of joy, hope, and kindness I witnessed. From the moment my team arrived in Entebbe, we were shown such hospitality and generosity that we immediately felt at home. Today I'm missing the red dirt that caked my shoes and the bottom of my long skirts I had to wear. I'm missing the bumpy, frightening van rides, our hut and mosquito nets, and the food. More than anything, I miss the people. I miss their absolutely beautiful, black faces, and their luminous smiles. I miss the way the children chased after us in their bare feet, begging for their picture to be taken. I miss hearing their life stories, and how they persevered through trial after trial. Their English was slow, enunciated, and quiet. It was like a soothing murmur against our loud, jumbled American voices. I miss hearing their laughs as tried to speak their language. I miss the way the people worshiped God with humility and reckless abandon. We heard stories of children dying, parents dying, siblings dying, whether from war, HIV, or any other number of tragedies. Still, these people had the faith to move mountains. I love this place and these people more than I can explain. I went to Africa to serve and to give my all to be a blessing to the people I encountered. I immediately felt overwhelmed when I arrived, because I found myself being served and blessed beyond what I could comprehend. I hope one day God brings me back :)

Goin' to the chapel...

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is the first one that popped up in the google search bar, which kind of disappoints me because I feel like that means it's overused. Oh well. Today I read this in my Shakespeare class, and it seemed so fitting since my best friend is getting married this weekend. Weddings are a beautiful mess. I'll just say it. They are wonderful celebrations, but I don't think there could be a wedding without some chaos. I guess it's fitting for life! I'm so happy for her, and I'm so thankful to get to be part of their special day, and though this sonnet may be a cliche wedding blessing, any chance to get to quote a little Shakespeare makes me feel good!

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Love Does.

I read this book over the summer, and as is the tradition in my family, passed it along. My mom first read it, loved it, and proceeded to buy 4 more copies- one for each person in my family. Usually if my mom does this I say to her, "mom, as a fellow book-lover and collector I understand what you're doing, but you're killing more trees!" She would respond by telling me she was supporting a great author (who, in this case, gives the proceeds to Africa) and that everyone in our family simply had to have this book on their shelves. This is one of those books. There's plenty of Christian books out there that talk about love in action, but this book is witty, funny, heart-wrenching, and beautifully refreshing. Bob Goff gets back to the basics, while still being forward-thinking. He relates every story in his life- even the most obscure and minute ones, into an analogy of God's love. Each chapter begins with "I used to think..." showing how his life has transformed all because of Christ, and how he lives each day to show others this great gift. My favorite of these statements, perhaps, was this: "I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes." As I was reading this book and all the great things Bob has done to glorify God, I kept thinking to myself how Bob was special. One of the greatest tragedies of human life is the feeling of being so insignificant, when Jesus Christ died for all of us, and would have died for even just one of us. Bob said yes, Joan of Arc said yes, Mother Theresa said yes, I can say yes, and so can you. This book changed my life. READ IT.

"What I've learned the more time I've spent following Jesus is that God delights in answering our impossible prayers. The kind of prayers made in a dark cell by someone holding unwashed hands. Prayers asking for the things we couldn't possibly think could happen for us or someone else. Ones we might even feel a little bad saying, as if it's just asking God for too much. But what we need most is to return to Him, to return to our lives."

"I've learned that God sometimes allows us to find ourselves in a place where we want something so bad that we can't see past it. Sometimes we can't even see God because of it. When we want something that bad, it's easy to mistake what we truly need for the thing we really want. When this sort of thing happens, and it seems to happen to everyone, I've found it's because what God has for us is obscured from view, just around another bend in the road."

"Because of our love for each other, I understand just a little more how God has pursued me in creative and whimsical ways, ways that initially did not get my attention. Nevertheless, He wouldn't stop. That's what love does--it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything."