3 Years, Praise God!

We've made it to 3 years. It may not sound like much, but Dan and I feel so encouraged by this. After a rough engagement and first year, Dan and I are beginning to actually build trust and grow in our marriage. God has been so faithful in gently showing us our sin and changing us over these last 3 years. Elijah has been huge part of this. Serving in Malawi has also played a huge part. On the day of our wedding, our lives were forever united, but being in Africa has helped us to see how God will use our union for His Kingdom. We are so thankful for God's goodness to us, for giving us companionship in each other and for supplying the love and the grace that we need in marriage.

From Wedding

My dear friend Piper did the photography.

'You say it's your birthday..."

Elijah must have known it is my birthday today. Why else would he have let me sleep in until 7am??? It was wonderful. Another wonderful thing I woke up to was a bunch of little "I love you" and "Happy Birthday" notes all over the kitchen. My boys are so good to me! I also received a few "happy birthday" emails and a wonderful post dedicated to me by my dearest friend Jessica which made me cry! So far, it's been a great birthday, and it's only 8:15am!




Yup, It's my birthday today! I am 25 and officially beginning my journey towards old age. For some reason, I think of being 25 as a huge thing. No longer in my early 20's, I now look at those youngsters as if they are another species altogether and no longer a group of people I can identify with. I find myself conversing and connecting with people in their 30's, people with kids and grandkids, people who could easily be my parents. And the funny thing is that I enjoy is much more than staying out late being young and rebellious.
Obviously, I have changed. When I think about the past 5 years of my life, I can;t help but wonder how I got here. I am married with a son working in Malawi Africa. If you have told me this would be my life 5 years ago, I would have laughed. God gets all the glory. I cannot help but think about his unending faithfulness to me, bringing me out of my former life and giving me new life. Not only a renewed soul in Christ, but literally a new life here on earth. I am so thankful for all that I have and all that God i smaking me to be: hopefully a woman following Him wherever He leads.
So many things have changed in the past 5 years that I almost get sentimental about it (y'all know me...I rarely am sentimental about anything). But none of the changes God has done is a shock to Him. He has been in control the entire way. He has always had a plan for my life. I look forward to many more changes to come, that is if Christ doesn't come back first, and I do pray that He does.

Going back home

Pictures from our first Malawi trip in September 2005






















Pictures from August 2007-March 2008



















As you can see, Malawi is a beautiful place with beautiful people. When I am here, my heart aches to be back in Africa. I first felt the pains when we came back from our trip in 2005. Something in me changed, and I could not ignore it. In a lot of ways, Africa feels like home the most, because I always ache to be there. Dan and I talked a lot about going back, but not until after school and seminary, which would have been more than 5 years down the road.

We are so thankful that the Lord has called us back to Africa and so soon. He has truly used this last year to show us the need for theological training in Africa, and has shown us how we might be used in the future to join with the African church in growing her and sustaining her. We are just thrilled to be going back for one more year before we continue our education and look into pursuing missions long term. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. It has been an amazing past few years being apart of the work God is doing in Africa. You have definitely all been apart of that, too!