quick note.

I just got dropped off by our big bus that we took to the zoo today!
The older kids, and all the lovely staff at Ekisa took a field trip too the zoo today, and it was a perfect way to spend the day.
But now i'm sitting here at a hotel, waiting for my ride.
Filled with emotions.
Filled with memories.
Filled with laughter, tears, and much anticipation.
Man.... the things my heart have been flooded with these past months!
How much my heart has grown!
It's pretty crazy......
I'm leaving with so many emotions but the one that is most pressing is contentment.
These past four months have been on my mind for some time now!
And now that it has come to completion, i see that none of it was really what i planned. or what I even expected.

But ALL of it was so so good.
Hard at times.
Sad at times.
But good.
So, so, good.

Because when i can see even a glimpse of the big picture, I am seeing what He is doing in my heart to carry me on further into His unending story.
Seeing how He is working in me, growing me into more of what He calls of His children.
And I see, I see that God is active and present in the whole big wide world.
Everywhere.
Love that. :)

Update to come soon!
America, here I come.
Ha, this should be fun!

Praying that I will never use geography or location as a reason or excuse to "serve or love him better"
Whether I'm in Winder, Georgia or Jinja, Uganda, Africa.....
May my heart to serve and love be consistent.



And wherever we are, may we be ALL there.

Well Well Well..........

Well my time is quickly quickly coming to a pause here in Uganda. I will be heading home on Sunday night to be home for a while with my wonderful family and friends!
I am so excited and heart broken at the same time. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to these kids and to all of the beautiful people I have met here. I hate goodbyes and everything about them.
But the awesome thing is that I can tell them all with confidence that I will be back soon!
For those of you who don't know I have been offered the position as adoption coordinator for Ekisa.
After I go home for awhile to hang out, love on people, and raise funds, I will be heading back to Uganda!
I came here just praying for direction...seeking what God would have for me next.
I truly had a blank sheet in front of me, praying about what would be written next in my book. But amidst this, just trying to live and be right where I'm at.
Then one morning after I just felt a press on my heart to come back here and serve, I was asked to come back and coordinate their adoptions.
Humbled.
Blown-away.
Excited.
Scared.
Well, those words just don't do my emotions justice :)
But through lots of prayer and seeking, I am so sure that this is what the Lord has for me next. He allotted this time for me to be in Uganda serving and helping getting these children home to forever families.
I can't even describe the joy that's in my heart for being able to be a part of these children's lives.
Yeah, it's humbling.
SO with that said, I would like to ask for prayers.
Prayers of comfort as I leave a place that I have grown to love and people who now feel like family.
Prayers of safety and clarity as I travel. And for the people I come into contact with, airports are FULL of people who just need some love or evidence that joy exists.
Prayers that the funds will be brought in when I'm home.
Prayers over this house! And for these children and everyone running the house.

I've met some beautiful people while I've been here. People who are now forever friends, sisters and brothers.
I've been able to witness some stunning redemption.
I've been able to see Jesus work and soften hearts towards His voice.
I've seen joy,
hurt,
I've felt the sting of death,
and seen the joy of new life.
I've changed endless diapers,
had endless kisses,
and lost endless sleep.
I've danced a lot and now forever will have the song Waka Waka stuck in my head.
I've learned how to inject medicine through IVs and had to fight for a little life at a hospital alone, learning what true dependency on Christ looks like.
I've been in charge of a house of 16 kids.
I've seen the beauty of friends lives that are completely surrendered to the will of the Father in their lives.
I've grown up and learned a lot.
Been wrecked of my own ignorance,
and been overwhelmed by unending grace.
I've learned some native dancing, and been inspired to sing loudly all of the time with joy in my heart!
I've bunjee jumped.
I've seen and felt the Holy Spirit move and prompt heart, my own included.
I've experienced the stunning stars, sunrises, and clouds that Africa has to offer.
I've ridden motorcycles for the past months as my mode of transportation.
I've bunked in a room with six other girls.
I've prayed hard like I've never prayed before, learning more and more what it means to cry out.
I've been peed on lots and spit up on.....lots.
I've gone to a Ugandan aerobics class.
I've laughed a lot.
Cried a lot.
And learned a whole lot.

So at the end of this time, my first time in Uganda, I'm just overwhelmed and blown away.
Blown away by all I've had to learn.
Jesus knew my heart needed a little working on.
And just overwhelmed by the beauty of God ALL OVER the world.
He is not bound by oceans or state lines.
He just is. All around.
The world is a whole lot bigger than the little we see around us on a daily basis.
And it's just pretty cool, a huge blessing in fact, to get a glimpse of other parts of the world.

God. Is. Big.

So I will end this post until further posts when I return home with a saying I've said quite a lot, lately.
Well, TIA.
This. Is. Africa.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
Acts 17

Come thou fount.....

"Come, Thou fount of every blessing."


Whatever you give me, Lord, or choose to teach me may i always consider it an overabundance of Your blessing. May i always choose to see that you are a fountain of blessing, pouring out your love to the world. 
Even in the hard days or the seemingly mundane, may i focus wholeheartedly on You as my constant fountain and overflowing blessing.


"Tune my heart to sing Thy grace."


Thank you for shaping my heart in these past months, being away from the world. Thank you for tuning it daily to see your grace in a deeper way each day. Continue to tune my heart so that it may always be singing of your grace. May my life, words, actions, and every breath be a testament to your grace that I am even alive. May i sing of how it is your grace --only by your grace -- that i even get to serve a mighty Creator such as You. Tune my heart, Father. Thank you for taking the time in these past months to wreck me, shape me, and tune me more towards you.


"bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
prone to leave the God I love; 
here's my heart, O take and seal it, 
seal it for thy courts above." 

Prone to wander, Lord i feel it. I have wandered. I have messed up. I have questioned. I have gotten too caught up in myself and emotions.
Lord, I wander...I do.
But Lord, you catch me.
Your relentless in Your pursuit for our hearts.
And daily, Lord, captivate me. Take hold of my heart.
Take it.
Seal it.
Seal it only for you.


This song has been my outpouring lately, during my time in Africa. And while these initial four months here in Uganda are coming to a close, I'm finding myself overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed by how much I have learned.
And overwhelmed by how much Jesus has shaped me and molded me.
I have wrested in my time here -- wrestled a lot with things going on in my heart.
Some things personal, and some things that i have been opened to see here.
But oh goodness, how I have learned.
I have learned so much more about grace and the over-pouring of grace on my heart DAILY!
It's not something to be grasped only once, it actually will never fully be grasped...
But to acknowledge that everything surmounts to God's grace on our lives and to His glory, well that makes me stop dead in my tracks.
Daily to wake up and acknowledge that on my life, that it truly is not my own.
But seeing the beauty of it being beyond my own, because me....my heart wonders,
my emotions take over,
my humanness fails me,
my crazy impulsiveness gets in the way.
But in these months being away from the world that i have grown up being so familiar and comfortable with,
I have learned so deeply what it looks like to let the very Spirit of our Lord lead and transform our lives, my life.
And i won't always get it right.
But i know that God is constant.
He is here with me.
He is bigger and better and behind every single breath that i will ever breathe!
And He wants joy for His people.
He desires unity with us.
And He truly did come to give life, and to give life to the fullest.
But when we let Him take over our hearts, our eyes, and every moment of our life....
He will show us what true abundant life really means.

And for this, i am grateful.
As these four months are coming to a close and i am getting ready to go home for a little while, I am humbled.
Humbled that the Lord totally changed my ideas, plans, or expectations.
He chose to deal with me in places He knew He needed to deal with.
He chose to have grace.
Grace on a wretch like me,
so that my life may be a small offering to show His glory.
Today,
I'm beyond grateful.
Humbled.
And joyful.
Joyful for Hope.
And thankful that there is always things to learn.
And always things to seek out.
And always things to learn to SEE.
Today and every moment, may we all choose to see His grace.
See it in ALL.

This is my prayer.


Much much love :)