Up With The Birds

   It is kind of funny that this is the second blog that I wrote that has a little something to do with Coldplay. Psssshhh, you say I'm obsessed with them? Nonsense. :)

   Haha. So anyway.

   Up With The Birds is my favorite song on the new Coldplay album my daddy bought in South Africa last week. It doesn't have any deep meaning or anything that I'm going to write about, it just has something to do with my crazy night last night.

   I literally was up with the birds.

   Not what I would have chosen, but obviously God had a plan...as usual (:

   I was up all night with our puppy, Becker and his sister Lula Belle who is staying with us over Christmas. Unfortunately, Lula Belle brings out the worst in Becker, since she is completely insane. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love them both to death, but she is sort of obnoxious...sort of. :)

   So, Becker and Lula Belle had had a wonderful evening romping around the livingroom and kitchen and had pretty much tuckered themselves out by about 8:00. They slept soundly for awhile, which gave me hope of a quiet night for yours truly.

   Ha. 

   Quiet, indeed.

   Not.

   This little evening nap restored their energy for a fun-filled night of wrestling, pooping on the livingroom floor, and puppies on and off of my bed.

   Not such a great night to get a good old ten hours. I was wide awake on and off from about 2 am to 5:30.

   But, like I said, God had a plan.

   Just as I was about to crawl into my bed and collapse, maybe get a good three hours or so, God put on my heart that I should spend some time in the word.

   Earlier that evening, in our Angus Buchan (The guy from the book/movie Faith Like Potatoes) dinner bible study, we had talked about how important it is to spend time in the word in the morning, to start our day with the Lord. That's really hard for me, because I am not a morning person. :) But, the Lord told me this morning that I should read some. So I did. I was up anyway.

   At first I closed my eyes and asked God to tell me where he wanted me to read from, but I didn't hear anything, so I opened my bible and flipped to a random spot. I opened to the first page of Jeremiah.

   I sat outside on our porch, watched the sunrise (though there wasn't much of one, since the sun was behind the clouds) and read through about chapter 7 in Jeremiah.

   But what I believe God really wanted to show me was in the first chapter.

   Here are the verses I underlined and believe God was speaking to me through:
  

   “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
   before you were born I set you apart;
   I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” ~vs. 1

   Now, this could've been interpreted as my call for this season in Swaziland, with my family for these two years, but I believe God has been calling me to a different sort of mission, one that goes beyond my time in my parents' house, and that will extend into my adult years.

   I believe God eventually wants me to start my adult life in South Africa or Swaziland.

   I don't know exactly what that means, and it is an extremely scary thought, but listen to verses 7-8 and 17

^"But the LORD said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am too young.’

You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,”

declares the LORD." ~vs. 7-8

" “Get yourself ready!

Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.

Do not be terrified by them,

or I will terrify you before them.” " ~vs. 17





  Hallelujah! I don't have to be afraid because God is with me and will rescue me!

  This is one of the first times where I have felt God really, directly speaking to me, and it is so amazing. I am so excited for whatever God has for me, and you can imagine how glad I am I decided to stay awake and read the word, how glad I am for God's prompting to do that.

 

   And, it's amazing, because, it's possible that our puppy Becker will be part of the reason I move back to Africa as an adult.

   And, if so, there's only one thing I need to say to end this blog.

  

   Thanks puppy(:

                  

                    If you'd like to listen to this wonderful song I speak of, follow the link below:

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhLJfw3t5hE

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

   I don't know about y'all, but, in my opinion, there is absolutely no one more pleasant to listen to than Chris Martin of Coldplay. He has the most amazing voice, and I literally could listen to him all day.

   Don't worry, this entire blog won't be me ranting about my celebrity crush.(: No, this blog is a little deeper than that(:

  Coldplay ties into my blog in that, at the moment, I am listening to 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas', which Chris Martin is singing.

   Those of you who read my last blog know that at that point, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. Sad because I wasn't going to be able to spend my very favorite time of year with some of my very favorite people.

   Since then, I have been extremely blessed by our wonderful Father.

   Oh yes people, you absolutely can't out-give God, which I am reminded of by my daddy a lot (my earthly daddy..to be clear =] ) but had not really accepted until I saw some of the tangible examples of it in my own life.

  The point of the saying, or whatever, is that, even if we give a little bit, whether it be our time, ourselves, our posessions, God will always deliver. Even if we think that giving something like our money will debilitate us, he will give us what we need. Our God is Jehovah Jirah, the God who provides.

   Like I said, there have been many times this week especially where this has been evident. I have only in the last couple days sat back and reflected on the specific moments where it has been portrayed, but there have been many instances.

   For example, the camping trip I went on this past week with our South African Grandmas and Grandpa. We went to Badplaas, South Africa and spent and amazing 8 days swimming in the waterpark that was part of the resort we camped at, enjoying the sun, and just resting and relaxing. It was such a gift to be able to spend some time away and get to know Elsabe, Waldemor and Celma, the amazingly wonderful people that brought us, better.

   Another example is the R20,000 (about $2500!!) we received toward our crazy truck from an anonymous donor at our church. Our Land Cruiser has had so many problems and we have put so much money into it and this is truly a blessing from the Lord.

   Thirdly, there's our new puppy, Becker. He is so beautiful. He is bringing a joy to our family that comes when someone else is added to the family (even if he is a furry friend =] )

   I know there are so many more individual gifts that God has given me and our family, but these are the three large ones that I have reflected on. I don't think I will ever lose the joy and excitement that Christmas brings, no matter the circumstance, my age, our even what country I'm in.

   Ok Chris, I will have a merry little Christmas.

There's So Much To Be Thankful For

I love Christmas. I absolutely LOVE it. I always have. The music and the decorations and the snow. All of it just makes me happy.

I’ve been trying my hardest to conform my Christmas this year to something exactly like what we would do in the States. I’ve been listening to Christmas music nonstop.(I’m actually listening to Josh Groban belt out ‘Silent Night’ right now =] ) I’m decorating my room with lights and ornaments. I’ve been convincing myself it should be freezing at night and wrapping up in my blankets, no matter how hot it really is. But no matter how much I do, I’m still not home. I’m not with the friends and family I love, watching the snow fall outside, curling up next to Grandma and Grandpa’s woodstove.

I guess maybe I have to stop trying to make this Christmas like an American one and just accept that it’s not and be ok with that, enjoying the excitement of spending Christmas in Africa. And I was doing really good with that for awhile. I was so excited to swim on Christmas and have a braii (South African BBQ ). Things we in Michigan never would do on Christmas. But today it sort of came flooding out. I was looking at my pictures from last Christmas and thinking about how wonderful it would be to go out and be in the snow.
Maybe all this time I thought I was fine, that I would be ok just having a wonderful Christmas with my wonderful family in a completely different (yet wonderful =]) place, maybe all this time I was just pushing down what I was really feeling. And, don’t get me wrong, I love this place, I love it more than anything. More than anything in the world. It’s amazing, and so hard emotionally, because lately God has been really speaking to me about a possible longer-term call for me here. Like, maybe after college or whatever he wants me to move here and start a family and live my life here. He was actually putting South Africa on my heart.

And it’s crazy, because I’ve been having this amazing peace about that, about living here. Like, it’s just been getting stronger and stronger and now it almost feels like a call, rather than just a feeling. I think more about South Africa because I don’t know how well I would do on my own. Swaziland is so isolated and there really isn’t anyone down here. I think if I did end up coming here, it would have to be if more people were living down here as well by then.
It seems far into the future that I’m thinking, about living here and starting my life here, but really, in less than five years I’m going to be an adult, starting college and seriously considering what I want to do with my life. And this seems pretty likely.

It doesn’t make sense, but it sort of scares me that I’m at peace with the idea of living here. Like I said, doesn’t make sense. Maybe I’m more scared of the call I think maybe God has put on my heart, I’m not really sure.

So what I’m getting to is that I’ve been feeling that call a lot lately, or what I think is a call, and feeling almost no opposition to the idea in my spirit. But when I look at pictures from home, and think about how extremely excited about going home I am after only being here nearly a year, I wonder if I could really do it.

This blog doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending, a resolution I’ve found in my spirit, because I haven’t found any resolution yet. I was feeling homesick and needed to get it out on paper, or in writing…whatever[=.

Thankfully, I have many things to look forward to right now that I know will get my mind off of feeling homesick, and I’m praying about it. Please pray for me too… I love all of you who are reading this….I miss you. I wish I could be there spending Christmas with you, but for now, I’ll enjoy my top-of-an-aloe-plant Christmas tree, and swimming on Christmas day, and camping for the holidays in summer weather..etc. I really am blessed, it’s just hard to see that when all you can think about are the faces of family you won’t get to see during Christmas, and the flakes of snow falling to the ground, and the fire. It’s a melancholy sort of feeling.

And it must be God, in his gentle, daddy way, that made me to be listening to ‘There’s So Much To Be Thankful For’ right at this moment. There is, there really is. I guess all it took was a blog, some Josh Groban, and some love from our good, good God, because I already feel a lot better.
　
Merry Christmas everyone.
　
There’s so much to be thankful for.