blankets.

Before heading to Swaziland we had the awesome opportunity to sew together blankets for each of the kids :) :) It was so much fun and we had multiple sewing parties with our friends in the communities. It was so cool to all join together and sew these for people at the time we didn't even know. We hadn't quite finished them by the time we left for Swazi and after experiencing how cold it gets there at night and how little the children had we were extremely motivated to finish them all. We spent our free time in our tents sewing together the last few and then on Thursday before we left we surprised everyone and presented them with a blanket and note from us :) :) It was such an incredible and magical time to do that for them and to see their smiles as they came up one by one to receive their blankets :) :) It was so awesome to do something to tangible for them. To sew and knit and create this thing that will keep them warm from nights to come :) I loved so much every minute of it!  click HERE to see a video I put together about it! 

dinner time in Swaziland

My all time favorite time while in Swaziland was dinner time. It was the time of the night when every one came together, crammed into one room, all 13 of them plus the 10 of us.. sitting on the floor, children on our laps.. a single candle or oil lamp lighting the room. Elizabeth would bring the food in, the older daughters would help to dish everyone a serving. It would be silent other than the scrapping of everyones forks against their plates. I look around at the dark little heads.. a rim of light creeping over them, a smile comes to my face at the beauty in this moment. I loved so much those times of fellowship. The closeness. A chance to cuddle up inside, get away from the cold night and enjoy a meal together as a family. After dinner we would take time to pray all together then say our goodnights to the children. This family has something special. The way they operate, and function. The understand HOME. They understand FAMILY. It was such a special thing to witness and to be a part of every night..

Golden light

Swaziland Part 1

excerpt from my journal..

tuesday. may 10 2011

...I'm sitting in front of a warm wood stove, looking out into the bitter chill of the morning, a small boy sitting next to me peering over my shoulder curious at the strange looking words i am writing. The sun is rising, starting to warm up the dew and defrost the morning. Its so hard to even begin to explain how extremely thankful I am to be here with this family. Everything about yesterday was so beautiful.. it was something you had to feel, taste, smell and see. It will be a struggle to try and confine it to the simple words I write on this page...

And yet here I am trying to again confine it to these words I type. I've been putting of blogging about our time is Swaziland because I don't even know where to being. How to explain the beauty that we experienced in those five days. Some of my most favorite times thus far in Africa took place this week :)

 Monday morning we loaded up and drove 2 hours to the border than another hour to Petros and Elizabeths house, our hosts. They run an amazing ministry called Road to Hope ( click here to view pdf) They have taken in 7 of their orphaned nieces and nephews along with the 6 children they already have. The drive there was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.. the rolling hills and then the flat plains of tall grass and cows grazing, the scattered housed and shacks marked the landscape. When we arrived the sun was starting to set. We were on the top of a hill and could see soo far all over the land below. The sun brought an orange glow to everything as we walked along a makeshift fence, through the tall grass to their house. It was such a beautiful moment. The African evening light is some of the most beautiful light ever. We had the blessing of staying in tents next to their house in the frame of a home they are building. We had originally planned on staying up the hill in a church but they ended up not having enough space. We realized later that was Gods doing :) We would never have had the opportunity to build the bond we did with this family if we hadn't stayed to close.. sharing in meal times, playing with the children late into the night, waking up at 6 and then praying over the kids before they walked to school. 

Petros and Elizabeth explained their vision to us, their hearts for the orphan crisis and their desire to take in more children and expand into a functioning ministry. Swaziland has the highest HIV rates in all of Africa which is the main cause of  so many orphans. We spent the week just living life with them and building relationship with them. Ten Thousand Homes, the organization I was with in South Africa, is hoping to parter with Petros and Elizabeth more in the future. While we were there we help Petros with the garden weeding and digging up and creating new garden beds. We helped to hike and get fire wood and then saw it into smaller pieces, we hung out with the kids and helped to cook some meals. The one morning me and Sarah help Petros and Elizabeth wash all the children's clothes. There were piles and piles of clothes that all need hand washed. It was such a sweet time and a memory I will never forget. I was so humbled and blessed to be able to sit down with them and scrub each of these precious children's clothes, and be able to talk more one on one with Petros and hear his testimony and things God has brought him through in his life. He says looking back he can see now why God had him go through those hard times and why certain things happened to him to have him now end up on this side on the country with a new found love and faith in Jesus Christ and a vision for hope in the lives of orphans. 

One of my favorite memories was our first night there, it was one of my favorite nights. They have no electricity so once the sun goes down only a single candle lights the rooms. We were all outside and had the kids sitting on our laps, the sun lowered and it started getting pretty cold. Some of the children had gone inside and came out with blankets to wrap us all in. We sat their cuddled in blanket with the kids, gazing at the vastness of sky above us, the stars shinning so bright and the village lights sparkling in the towns below. The girl I was holding is name Setsabile. She is 7 but has such passion and spunk. I love her so much and we became buddies over the week :) As we were sitting there we asked them to sing us a song. She starting singing out in her language and her brothers and sisters joined in in perfect harmony and rhythm and time and everything. It was the most beautiful sound ever and they wouldn't stop, they went from song to song. You could tell they were worship songs and to sit there surrounded by these little kids worshipping out to God in song in a totally different language but with such love and passion was a moment I could never fully describe, a moment I will never forget, a moment that showed Gods amazing beauty and love for us. We had so much fun marveling in the amazing wonder of our Lord, so blessed in the places he has placed me. I am so grateful for moments and times such as these.

  

Another sweet memory was walking to school with the children. They wake up around 6 every morning to get ready and head to school around 7:00. The walk.. or maybe I should say HIKE.. is an hour long, through the woods, across the fields, over the mountains. It was so neat to experience that with them. A walk that they do every morning, some with holes in their shoes or carrying heavy backpacks of books. Petros and Elizabeth pray for safety over their children after they leave for school every morning and it was powerful to participate in that and then powerful to do the walk and see the chances of danger that could come to them. 

I  will forever remember the many wonderful memories and times spent with this beautiful family in the rural outskirts of Swaziland. I hope to continue to support and pray for Petros and Elizabeth and their vision and ministry Road to Hope.

shes my friend.. we're pretty cool ;)

Kruger National Park

This past weekend.. 4:30 in the morning.. we loaded up three cars to head to Kruger National Park, cameras and snacks in hand and with high hopes of seeing elephants, leopards, giraffes and maybe even a lion ;) The drive there was filled with much anticipation and expectation believing and praying that we would see some pretty crazy things :) I watched the pinks and oranges of the sunrise slowly peak over the horizon as the beauty around us began to light up. We pulled in, checked in, got our maps and we were off! The park is three times the size of Switzerland and takes about 17 hours to cross the entire thing. Its a massive region filled with animals, buffalo grass, waterholes, and rest-stops. We decided to split up and go our own way so we could cover more land. It felt like a giant treasure hunt :) You have your map and you just drive looking for animals. Our eyes were glued to the windows searching amongst the buffalo grass for any movement.. my dear teammate sarah hooked us up with some African tunes on her Ipod to provide a lovely soundtrack for the day..and our driver, my teammate Melissa, was certain that we could see the big cats haha.. I don't think she would leave until she did :) 

We first spotted Impalas which were EVERYWHERE and they were exciting but then they just became annoying because the grass would rustle, getting you all excited, just to see yet another Impala jump out haha. Some of the main roads you could drive were paved and others were dirt roads taking you back into waterholes or through the trees and across rivers. I think my two most exciting parts of the day were seeing a lion and elephant. At first I could care less wether I left seeing a lion but it was probably one of the coolest things ever :D :D We were driving down the road and saw a pile of of cars, knowing there must be a pretty cool animal spotted. We maneuvered our car into the group and asked some kids in front of us with binoculars what they saw. They said there was a female, male and lion cubs!! We freaked out and stretched ourselves as far out the window as we could. We saw the cubs little ears sticking up through the grass and playfully fighting each other. The Lioness then stood up and looked us right in the eyes. It was the coolest thing she was so fierce haha. The car in front of us had a better view of the male.. or as I like to call him.. Mufasa ;) and they wanted to see the female better, so we switched spots with their car. You could see his mane sticking up a little but everyone was waiting for when he would stand up. Then the moment came. Oh my goodness I can't even express how cool it was. He was so huge! and he just sat up starred us down for a few seconds.. our cameras clicking away.. and then he got up and walked back into the wilderness. It was the COOLEST thing ever! I was shaking in excitement afterwards :) :) My pictures turned out crappy but the memory was more worth it :) My second favorite thing was seeing the elephants! They are so massive and so powerful yet so chill. Seeing the herds walking through the tall grass down along the river was so beautiful. One time we got pretty close to one and I pushed my self out the window, sitting on the door trying to capture his magnificent beauty. All the while thinking any minute he could come and charge at me haha.

God's beauty reigned over that place that day. His creativity in the perfectly stripped zebras, his strength and power in the lions. The country holds incredible amounts of beauty. My friend Dawn said it well, we are so amazed and in awe by the magestic beauty being portrayed in these powerful wild animals. How much more more do we, being created in the same family as them, in the same image as Him, have that ability in US. But..do we portray that kind of beauty. Does the spirit and image of God manifest in us in such a way that people cant help but notice and see it. 

  


Our car spotted countless animals that day including rhinos, 
monkeys, a baboon, elephants, lions, impalas, Pumba warthogs, wildebeest, zebras, hippos, water buffalo, turtles and a croc or alligator. The other cars saw some neat things that we didn't get to see like leopards, cheetahs, giraffes :) We talked to people here who have been to the park many times and never spotted lions. I think between the three of our cars God blessed us and we were able to find lots of sweet animals :) We all enjoyed the day so much and left the park watching the South African sun slowly sink behind the horizon leaving a beautiful glow over the plains. 

Jesus you are so good :) your creation, astounding...

Mbonisweni Home Stays

For two nights this week we all had the opportunity to do a house stay in the homes of families from Mbonisweni community. We split up into groups of two, I went with Katja, a Swiss girl who is a volunteer on base. We got to our host families house around 5 tuesday night and stayed till 8 am thursday. It was such a neat experience to live life with them. Our family consisted of a mother and 4 children. The youngest boy and girl still lived at home, their middle son lives with their grandpa taking care of him (he was just in an accident) and their oldest son lives with his grandma. The father of the children passed away this past fall. He was a police man, she told me, and she must wear black until June to show she is in mourning. We sat on her bed as she crouched down to pull a stack of photos out of the dresser. They were of her and him in high school, him in his uniform, their children, their family. It was so precious to look through and I wondered if it was hard for her to see photos of him. 

Do you miss him? I asked. 

Yes, she said. Sometimes the children still ask me 

where is daddy, when is he coming back.

She said he died of a sickness he had for awhile.. I didn't ask more but I wondered if it was AIDS. So many of the deaths in this community are from AIDS. There are single and double parent orphans everywhere. Its so sad to see how few men are around. The family structure God designed is being destroyed and the women and grandmas are what is holding the community together. So few families have fathers. So many boys have no one to look up to. 

Their house was very simple, they had few personal possessions. There is one bedroom where the mom and youngest sleep and then a garage/kitchen/storage room and then another bed room. Half the house was half done, she said they were building but ran out of money and then their father passed away.

We ate together, mostly in silence because of language barrier, and she gave us silverware which was so sweet because culture is they eat with their hands, which they did, but she put forks and spoons on our plates haha. 

The simplicity in the way they live was beautiful, and at the same time the poverty broke your heart. After dinner me and Katja took the children outside and we danced under the stars to the music being played in surrounding houses :) Us and the two kids all cuddled in one bed taking funny pictures with my flashlight and before we knew is little 6yr old Sipelele was fast asleep curled up against me :) The first night we were there we shared the bed with his sister Precious, and then the second night she slept on the floor and I fell asleep with a sweet little boy cuddled up with me. It was so humbling to be able to just walk in and be apart of their family, to cook and eat with them, to fall asleep two in bed with a little one curled up in between. 

I feel so connected to these children now, they are my brother and sister and the next day when I saw and recognized them at the feeding I scooped up Sipelele and gave him a huge hug. He stayed by my side the rest of the day :) mmhm I love it so much. these families are so precious, so sweet, and yet the reality of the orphans, the poverty, then sickness, the AIDS is so great. Its sometimes hard for me to comprehend it, to really understand what a large majority or these children go through. From talking to John, one of the TTH leaders, so much goes on in the community of Mbonisweni. House burnings, circumcision camps, witchcraft, all this darkness we can't necessarily see. But so much GOOD is happening to. TTH is making such a huge impact there. There is discipleship happening, and the christian youth of the village are now impacting the lives of so many orphans. Homes are being built.. both literal and internal. Homes of protection and love and acceptant being built into the hearts of these children. Its so neat to hear John talk about what all is happening in this community. We can only join in prayer that it will continue to flourish and God will completely restore anything that has been lost or taken from them. That heavens peace and perfect justice will reign here.

Soccer Game

Here are some shots from a soccer game we played weeks ago with some of the kids in the community. Although I am extremely out of shape and have no soccer skills what-so-ever haha it was still tons of fun :) :)