The painting in my bedroom that I love... One of the little girls we have thinks that it's a painting of her because it's what her granny's house looked like.
My Bathroom
My Bedroom/Bathroom
My Bedroom
Here I am, another month passed, and no idea where it's gone!!! Yesterday, we had a breakfast for all of our house parents trying to convey what Americans were doing for Thanksgiving on the same day on the other side of the globe... I tried to articulate what I was most thankful for this year in general terms, knowing that if I got too specific, I'd be crying into a microphone!
So, in the slightly safer realm of a blog (where you can't tell whether I'm crying or not!) I'll name just a few of the ways in which I am probably more aware of how thankful I am this year than I have ever been...
* Sabana - though having this baby come into my life and then leave just 5 months later was heartbreaking, he showed me a vision of God that I had never seen before, and can't imagine having learned any other way. I wouldn't trade a moment that I spent with him, and am so thankful that God shared His child with me.
* South Africa - God so clearly led me to South Africa this year. I have not been homesick for a single moment (I've missed people I love, but never have wished to be anywhere else). I am so confident of the fact that this is where God has for me to be now, and am so thankful for that clarity and trust.
* Friendships & Family - those that I've shared life with for years, and those that are new or have grown since coming to Africa. God has made it so evident that He has placed specific people in my life with such specific purpose.
* Miracles - maybe I just never noticed them before, but I really have seen absolute miracles in the lives of the children of South Africa. So often, there is no justifiable reason that they should have survived, and yet they have not only survived, but thrived. One example over the past month was a 12 year old girl who arrived. Our team noticed that from her shoulders to her hips, her tourso was basically shaped like a barrel. She was taken to a G.I. specialist who discovered (no idea HOW ON EARTH no one had done anything before) that she actually was born with no anus. So 12 YEARS of waste had been building inside of this little girl, to the point that her intestines had been pushed up against her heart and lungs. She went into emergency surgery where it took the doctors 3 HOURS to clear out her abdomen and resize her colon (which had become the size of a small trash can). There is no explanation, aside from God, for how she could have survived this long. Beth and I took turns sleeping at the hospital with her for the days following her operation, and she is now so proud to show off her flat tummy! It had been at the point where she wasn't even able to sit up or walk properly, and now, for the first time she's been to the movies (to see "High School Musical 3") and is able to really play with all of the other kids! She has a colostomy while her colon and intestines heal, and then will have another operation in 6 months to have a proper opening made. Like I said... I am thankful for miracles! (One night in the hospital with her, she told me about what it was like for her when her mom passed away 2 years ago... her mom had been sick for a long time, and as a 10 year old, she went to buy milk and came home to find her mom... the detail with which she recounts the story is heeartbreaking. Closing her mom's eyes for her, calling an ambulence to come take her body, trying to lift her by herself... and then telling her 6 year old sister and suddenly becoming the adult in the family...)
So... to put it mildly, I am blessed and I am thankful.
I also wanted to put up a few pictures of my cottage so that you guys have an idea of where I come home to every night :o) It still needs some details (like the photos I need to frame and hang above the couch) but it's getting there :o)
