Reflections from 2011

Ok, so we've already established that I'm a tardy blogger. :) Even though I know I'm a month "too late" in blog-reflecting on this new year that we are already in.... (I mean, it's already the Superbowl this weekend! But better late than never, right?)...I still wanted to reflect and look back on 2011...and all the many AMAZING blessings I have to thank God for! I tried to choose just 11 pictures from 2011 that capture the memories, the stories, the people I met. But I could only narrow it down to 15! And that was even too difficult.

Some of these pictures only represent a smigden of a larger experience or on-going challenge, or a beautiful story. 2011 was exciting for sure! It was an adventure...that took me around the globe, and back home to my most favorite people. It was also a rocky year. I messed up and accepted and gave forgiveness to some of my most favorite people. I loved and laughed and traveled, and learned....oh, I learned! I dreamed. I still worked too hard. I was challenged by new friends and put in roles I didn't know what to do, but God helped equip me!

I rang in 2011 with my favorite brother, celebrating here in Rwanda, after the coolest Christmas both of us will ever have. I had wonderful visits from Heather and Greg and Joe, and Chris, from K-nap! I met a life-long friend, Mary Elise, who was years younger than me, but much wiser. :) 2011 took me to the shores of Lake Tanganyika, swimming with the hippos in Bujumbura with two great friends, and to the top of the most active volcano in the world in the DRC.  I was challenged by some new friendships, and understood what audacious forgiveness really looks like. 

This past year, I saw friends and students being transformed by the love of Christ, even though they didn't recognize it at first! I am still seeing the transformation in many of them, and others as they are shining their light now for Christ! I was blessed with the coolest group of Sunday School children, and enjoyed listening to their praises in kinyarwanda each week. Exercising and getting "FIT" with my sweet girls in the afternoons continues to be a highlight of mine that I look forward to each day! I cried with joy when Marico and Mario and others were adopted from Home of Hope, and I saw them be united with their forever families! Kang-Hee Lee and his precious family continue to change my life with their stories of faith and trusting in God, even when it's difficult to do so. They have taught me what it means to really PRAY!

2011 brought awesome trips to Puerto Rico to explore and visit my sister, and also an amazing layover in Greece, taking in all the ancient ruins and having some much-needed alone time, before making the trek back to the States. During the summer I got to take the girls to Great Escape camp for the third summer in a row, a total highlight of the summer! I love romping around in the North Carolina mountains, my favorite place. Even got to make a quick stop by Merrie-Woode and reunite with some of my favorite people on this planet. I spent many lazy summer days splashing with Aiden in Baker's Creek or in the backyard, and just marveling at how a 2 year old views the world. He is literally my best friend! It was such a rich summer...I was fortunate to spend a wonderful week in Florida with one of my very best friends, Leslie, and her great family, and also a visit from cousin Julie from camp, and her 3 year old little girl. I reunited with Ethan down there and we spent a great afternoon with our aunt and uncle. And of course, I got to spend a fabulous long weekend with my foster family...the Walkers and Hulseys, and my friend of a lifetime, Jordan. Dang, it was a good year! :) He really filled me with joy in His presence....eternal pleasures at His right hand! (Psalm 16:11) 

I hiked around with the gorillas, and started the new school year with a classroom full of fresh, fun faces from all over the world. ...with so many new friendships and relationships this past year....with people who have totally blessed me with their generosity and honesty and their presence.... and others I've been in a position to bless. Meeting and hearing the stories of the women from Tubahumurize co-op, and my sweet ladies at the market, Josephine, and Felicita, and Grace, and others...they give me HOPE. ENCOURAGEMENT. JOY! I think about their stories when I'm having one of "those days," and I immediately am reminded of God's goodness in my life. And how thankful I am to know these ladies and share my life with them. It was such a wonderful gift to me to be able to share their work and their handicrafts with my friends back home in North Carolina over Christmas. With all of your support, we were able to raise $1,200 to give back to these sweet servants of God, and their everyday ministries. Praise Him! And thanks to all of you!

Lord, thank you for seeing us through 2011 and for your hand on our lives! Help me, in 2012, to walk closer with you, to learn more about you, to desire you more, to want to love you more and love your people more. With you as my guide!

I love you all!

Em

Yay for February...a new season!

Well folks, I admit, I'm officially an awful blogger. It's not my intentions to be...and it's certainly not in my heart to let you all down with no updates from over here in the Motherland, but all I can say is I will do my best in 2012 to be better at communicating! I guess it does get hard trying to balance real life, and write about it too! I know to many of you, the life I'm living over here seems either wonderful and glorious, or hard and frustrating...and either way, you are eager to hear stories and see pictures, because it's a different life than you are living. But really, it's not! It's real life here that I do. It's my home...and the place I teach and love children, and serve our Maker. Yes, there are glorious, wonderful days. And yes, there are hard, frustrating days just the same! But I guess since I am so comfortable with this life now...I sometimes forget to tell you about it! Not that I have a lack of stories to tell! Too many, actually! Right now, I'm at that point...(and all of you who know me know how I'm like this..) where I have tooo many stories to tell..and I don't even know where to begin, so it's paralyzed me in the blogging world...and I haven't written about ANY of them! But I'm just going to start! And do my best to get back into writing! Thank you for your encouragement! :)

Every year that I've spent abroad, the month of January seems to be the most difficult! Either I've been sick, homesick for my other home, or just in a funk. And this January was no different! I know for some people, January is a month of new beginnings and a new birth and the anticipation of a new year. But for some reason, it's never been this way for me. It's been like the "hump" month to just endure and get over. I know that sounds horrible. Maybe you have a month or a "season" like this too....where you are enduring more than enjoying. Or surviving more than thriving. I think Jesus understands us when we have seasons like this. I know He does! The verse I have clung to recently is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." It's so easy and natural to thank Him for the overtly good gifts in our life. But this verse reminds me to thank Him for the hard ones too....the gifts and blessings in disguise that are painful to bear now and to receive. Give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is His will for you! It gives me hope! And what a nice surprise it was this week when I woke up and it was January no more! Yay for February! A month of celebrating LOVE, and Happy Birthday to my two beautiful sisters!

I promise I will start writing more frequently....but just to give you a brief update...I just spent a WONDERFUL 3 weeks in North Carolina for Christmas!! It was the first Christmas I had been back in a few years, and the first one all four of us had been together in while! So that made it extra-super special! It went by fast, and I was so fortunate to spend so much time with family. I totally surprised my mom by just showing up on her doorstep, and Ellie put one of those big Christmas bags over me...the ones that you use to wrap a bike...and then she rang the doorbell. Wow, you should have heard my mom screaming when she lifted the bag! She had no idea! It was GREAT! She said she thought I looked like a rocking chair under there, or something weird like that! It was so much fun to surprise her! And of course, I cherished every moment with little Aiden (who's not so little anymore!!). We saw Santa, sang, laughed, played in the leaves, and made memories. Christmas Eve at Grandma's was so special, and just the same as I always know it to be...the same sounds, smells, tastes....except of course I missed Pa hanging out by the crackling fire. On New Years, I had the privilege of speaking about Rwanda at Rocky Creek Presbyterian Church, my dad's new church, in South Carolina. They are the neatest, sweetest folks! I am so thankful for their generosity in allowing me to be there and make this long journey home! They are so kind! It was a wonderful day to be with them, and the best way to start a new year and new year of my life too!

More to come...and pictures too!

All who are thirsty!

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep

Come Lord Jesus come

Come Lord Jesus come
Holy Spirit come
As deep cries out to deep

Rwanda's future with coffee

Many Rwandans are farmers, and they depend on growing tea and coffee for their daily income. Check out this great article about how organizations like Technoserve and the Gates Foundation have worked to help these farmers produce better quality coffee, increase their profits, and transform many lives. The guy on the left is Paul, who heads up Technoserve here. And James is on the right, from Florence, SC...he heads up Rwanda Trading Company, a coffee factory here in Kigali.

http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2011/11/rwandas-future-could-depend-upon-a-really-good-cup-of-coffee/

Give Thanks!

I know I'm about a week and a half too late in wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving...but I'm thankful, nonetheless! :) I'm thankful for all of you, my family and friends, who sustain me with love and prayers each day! I hope you had a wonderful time of giving thanks and being with each other. I certainly had a celebratory thanksgiving here in Kigali! I got together with 30 friends, from many different countries, and we celebrated life, celebrated community, celebrated all the ways in which we are blessed, and celebrated our time together that God has given us. We all managed to recreate some of our favorite dishes, and we feasted on Rwandan turkey, potatoes, yams, a host of fresh veggies, apple pie and pumpkin pie, and much more! I managed to make a sweet potato casserole dish, with the white cassavas here. It tasted the same, except it was white, not orange! And making pumpkin pie from scratch is not something I want to do again! What an effort! :) But the end result was tasty! Heck, I'm thankful for my time in Rwanda for teaching me how to cook a couple of things! Ha! We feasted and prayed, and had a big ol' time sitting by the fire and watching the Packers game livestreamed on Skype, courtesy of Matt and Tim. For a second there, I forgot what country I was in! It was a joyful night!

With friends, Clay and Hadley

Watching the Packers game on the wall of Clay's house! :)

I am thankful to live in a safe country, to have a wonderful job that I love, and students that I adore. I'm thankful for a community of friends from all over the world who I come together to worship with, laugh with, and live with. I'm thankful for my family here, and my family in North Carolina, and all over the globe. I am blessed beyond belief! I'm thankful for opportunities to share about the grace and love of Christ with nonbelievers every day. I'm thankful to have encouragers and supporters and prayer partners near and far. I'm thankful for a loving God who keeps no records of our wrongs, but continues to pour out His mercy and grace on us, so that we can be free and share it with others! I'm thankful for my health. I'm thankful everyday when I wake up and find He has given me another day to live! I'm thankful for email and technology and cameras and snail mail from my Mom. :) I'm thankful that Rwanda now has Oreos, Ritz crackers and strawberries! And Pringles too! :) I'm thankful for time to rest and time to heal. I'm thankful for all the many people that God has brought into my life this year, and chosen us for each other. I'm thankful that in Christ, we are free! I'm thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit. In a nation where there are those who are suffering in different ways, just like in all nations, I'm thankful for the gift of life that comes in the form of food, and clean water and medicine, but most importantly, it comes with knowing and loving Jesus Christ!

On this Thanksgiving (or 10 days later...) I give thanks for all of you! See you soon!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever." ~Psalm 107:1

Tubahumurize

Tubahumurize translates to "let us console them" in the kinyarwandan language. These amazing women are a part of a women's co-op, founded by genocide survivor, Jeanne Mwiriliza. All the women are survivors of domestic violence, and their stories are vast and heartbreaking. But they have hope! Jeanne first started Tubahumurize as a group therapy session, allowing women to talk about their experiences with one another. They shared stories of genocide rapes and unwanted pregnancies, and contracting the HIV virus during the genocide. As they shared with each other, more ladies began to come and share, and they realized that talking and consoling one another was a part of their healing. Now, these ladies continue to share stories with each other, but Jeanne has also provided professionsal trauma and AIDS counseling for them, and counseling for their children as well. She has provided training about income-generating activites, and cooperative management, and provided bank accounts and micro-credit loans for them. She has even set up a treadmill at the modest concrete home for these women, and they work together to sew beautiful quilts, bags, scarves, and other exquisite Rwandan crafts. I was so excited to have these special ladies sew a beautiful African quilt for me, something I will hold dear to me forever! I told them I loved blue, and many, many bright colors, and thy did the rest! I was so pleasantly surprised, and excited to be able to help these wonderful ladies! You can check out their website here: www.rwandanwomencan.org

I'm hoping to have a small "bazaar" when I'm home this Christmas, and showcase many of their items for sale! Stay tuned!

Jeanne and her family

My finished quilt! It's reversible!

On the Potter's Wheel...

"Yet, you, Lord, are our Father, We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." ~Isaiah 64:8

Last Sunday, I was so blessed by the guest speaker at our church. Nancy Harbron, the "Peaceful Potter," is an American who has visited Uganda and Rwanda many times, sharing her gifts and talents as a potter, and intertwining them with the story of our Master Potter.

With wisdom, humor, and compassion, Nancy spoke of becoming a finished vessel, ready to serve God in our own unique way. Just as each pot or vase is uniquely designed for a set purpose, she reminded us to celebrate the unrepeatable individuality that God has created for each of us. As His children, we are individually loved, called, and set apart for unique service and a unique purpose, all in order to glorify our Master and Creator!

She talked about how God molds us and shapes us, but first He has to beat the lumps of clay out of us to make us smooth. Sometimes His hands feel rough, but it is all for our good, to make us into the unique and beautiful pot that he has designed us as. We are His vessels on the wheel, and He continues to chip away the lumps and bumps, and purify us on the wheel. Then, we are fired under mighty heat and strength, but He is with us.

It was so interesting when she showed us two pots....both very similar pots, but one had a beautiful glaze, and one lookd super dull. And the only difference between the two pots was that the beautiful one was fired only 15 degrees hotter than the other one. That's it....15 degrees hotter, but for the same amount of time. It was a reminder to thank God for "the heat" that He brings in our lives; to thank Him for the good and the not-so-good. For both experiences are from Him, as He molds and shapes us. It was also a reminder to stretch myself and grow and seek out new faith challenges, instead of being comfortable in my faith. Comfort is not always best. I don't know about you, but for me, it's been the times of challenges and struggles where my faith has grown the most, and I come out of those struggles with a more defined picture of who God is and how He works in my life. That's when I'm able to hear his voice more clearly. I'm so thankful for the way He is constantly molding and shaping me, and using others to teach me. I'm so glad He's not finished yet! :) Nancy's website is: www.peacefulpottery.com

"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand." ~Jeremiah 18: 1-6