tuesday photo drop?

its been a while...i want to write a blog post right now telling of the REALLY fun stories from my last few weeks, but my sleepy eyes just won't stay open and my head is cloudy (which always happens past 10 pm). so hear are some pics so long (south african phrase meaning: in the meantime).

enjoy :)


preach it brotha.


i can NOT get enough of this sweet face. but don't let the angel face fool you...she is a fire ball.


JOY. i love these boys.


the two newest members on our VC team...vovo and lily! :)


sleeping beauty.

lion king

i had such a glorious african moment a few weeks ago...

i was sitting in masi with a friend when my phone rang (of course my ringtone is"circle of life" from the lion king). much to my surprise my friend, vovo, began translating the song...IT IS IN XHOSA/ZULU, the very language i am learning here! lets just say i was FREAKING out. we decided we must watch it asap.

that friday vovo & i, with two of our zimbabwean friends, gathered in a room in masi and watched the lion king. so much was rising up in my heart as i sat with these beautiful african people that have become dear friends to me, watching this movie that stirred in my heart as a child an intrigue to know the vibrant continent of africa. glorious.



i love africa.

siyabulela kakhulu!

translation: we are SO thankful!

one of our favorite things to do these days at kids club is our "thankfulness wall." every week the kids think of the best thing that happened to them that week/something they are thankful for. they then come to the board and draw a picture or write that thing.

thankfulness fills our lives to overflowing!

what are you thankful for today?

new tradition?

i follow a blog in which every friday she does a "friday photo dump." i have a ton of pics on my phone, so i have decided to join in on the photo dump this week. hmm maybe it will become a tradition, but not sure how faithful i am at taking pics. we'll see! so here is my THURSDAY PHONE DUMP and a glimpse into my life this week...

He's a miracle God.

"My God can do it, yes, He can do it. He’s a pillar of fire, consuming fire. We can never understand him, He’s a miracle God!”

i love this song. it is a liberian song that we sing at all nations a lot. i love the picture it paints of God...the mighty, fierce, miracle God!

i experienced a miracle the other day...

last thursday my friend and i were driving back from the airport from dropping our other friend off. as we were driving down the highway my engine (of my car i just bought) started cutting out! thankfully, we were slowed down right by an exit. so we got off and literally coasted downhill into a gas station! the manager of the station checked all the levels and a said my car was fine. so i started my car and it turned on...oh my so here we go again. we get back on the road and few minutes later, it cuts out again. this time in traffic. i get the engine going long enough to turn a corner and get up onto a curb. OH MY! we are in cape town and it is about 6 o’clock. what are we to do. my friend gets the hood open. so there we are standing on the side of the road, staring at the engine as i am fanning it...maybe the engine is overheated? oh dear! i make eye contact with a man driving the opposite way. he motions to ask if we need help. umm sure?? he comes to help (sent by God!) and, lo and behold, his daughter has the same car as me and he works on it all the time! he begins doing a full diagnostic for about 20 minutes. he can find NOTHING wrong with it..but the engine continues to not work. i felt so annoyed at this point, because i knew in my heart that this is a stupid attack of the enemy. so as i am sitting in my car, i started praying-- binding the schemes of the enemy and releasing heaven over my car! a little while later, the man gets excited and asks me to try turning the car on one more time. i do and IT WORKS! perfectly. he showed me that the choke was a bit sticky and hadn’t gone back into place completely and so was letting in just a bit of air. it was just a tiny little piece in the engine and he pushed it into place and voila! a perfect engine with NOTHING wrong! oh thank you Papa God! i began thanking this man profusely!



as we began driving down the highway in my perfectly running car, i became overwhelmed...i have nothing to fear! my Father is the miracle God! there is nothing he can’t do! he is VICTORIOUS over the schemes of the evil one and he loves to deliver his children! turn to Him, press into his victory, trust him with a steadfast heart! what joy as we drove all the way home- my car filled with the presence of the Lord, victorious shouting, songs of thankfulness and hearts filled with joy and laughter!

i am so thankful for His miracles! and how much he loves me.

second chances.

maybe you have already heard this story, but it continues to melt my heart. this is a story about a boy and a God whose specialty is redemption. a story about a boy who the world had forgotten, but whose God was pursuing with lovingkindness. this is a story about Mandla*, a 14 year old boy who has seen the worst of life. growing up in poverty, fending for himself most his life because of a neglectful mother, experiencing the murder of his older brother, living on the streets with gansters... he has seen more than my eyes will ever see and more than my heart could bear.

last year when Mandla ran away and began living with the gansters we had to drop him from the Vulnerable Children program (in which i was his mentor) because his family had no contact with him and we had no way of locating him. but we did not give up on Mandla. we continued to pray for him and believe for a complete miracle in his life! in August we began to really contend and ask the Lord to restore him to his family. in September we found out that he had returned home and was living with his mother and sisters! since then we have seen such a change in Mandla. his neighbors have been telling us that he is no longer going out with his gangster friends and that he is very helpful around the property he lives.

he came to us and told us that he wants to go back to school! but when his mother went to register him they would not accept him because he had been expelled two years ago for drug use at school. we began speaking with the administrators, advocating for Mandla and testifying that he is truly changing and that we will support him. the administrators decided to admit him to school! we took Mandla to purchase a school uniform and supplies, and he began school the next day! It was such a beautiful experience to see him prepare to go back to school. i was so overwhelmed with thankfulness watching him pick out school supplies, proudly carry his full sack of new clothes for school and have so much fun just pushing around the shopping cart through the mall. i was so overwhelmed by it all and so thankful to be able to be a voice for the voiceless.

so a week after getting back into school, i received a phone call from Mandla’s school. he was in the principal's office and they needed me to come to the school. oh dear. he had skipped school and smoked marijuana. oh Lord! after spending several hours being sent to speak to practically every person in that school, Mandla was given a second chance! this child needs much, much more than being put back into a classroom with a nice uniform. he needs support, healing, love, time. so i began to ask the Lord for a plan. since then i have been spending a lot of time with him; i have pursued him like crazy. and he is melting. i see it. his sweet heart is emerging from behind all the hardness of life. he just needs to be loved, to know he is worth something, that he is seen and cared for. my friend, lucas (a local who is a part of All Nations), and i met with Mandla the other day to ask him how we can support him. he told us that he gets into trouble because he is bored and his neighbors are always drunk and influencing him. we started throwing out ideas: soccer team, helping us with kids clubs, starting a bible study with his friends. he was eating it up. he wanted all of it. he wants to be freed from his old life...he just needs people to walk with him.

i am thankful. i am thankful that this is the Jesus i follow. the One who meets the broken where they are, restoring them with his lovingkindness, and picking them up time and time again.

his love shatters our darkness and heals our hearts and draws us to life with him.

i am so in love with this Jesus! and so expectant for the miraculous in Mandla's life.

*name changed