pre-trip jitters

before I re-post everything else, I wanted to post my Swaziland journals and pics and such...

This time I was excited but at the same time, extremely nervous about going by myself again. I had really been praying hard that I would be able to bring someone with me this time, to share in the experience and to just have a familiar face in an unfamiliar place. I had a few prospects, but nothing ever came through[but like always, God had everything already planned for me :) ]. I was just praying that my trip over would not be like last time.

For those of you who weren't lucky enough to hear the story last year, on the flight to South Africa I got sick on the plane 5 times....yes, 5 times. It was a miserable flight. I just remember after #5 looking in the mirror in the bathroom and my face was so pale and I was so weak...Luckily the woman next to me was on the trip and she graciously let me have the aisle....
but the story doesn't end there. 20 hours later we land and the woman beside me said, "You don't look so good, are you going to make it? do you need a wheel chair?" What a wonderful first impression of me. I refused and drug my luggage to the bus, took the first seat I came to and was ready to embark on a 3 hour bus ride.

After about 40 mins I felt sick again and made my way to the bathroom at the back of the bus... which was just a little worse than a portajon...where I proceded to, you guessed it, get sick again. By this time the exhaustion and frustration kicked in and I then sat down on the gross step in the bathroom..., put my head in my hands...and just started to cry and cry and cry...All I could think of was I'm stranded on another continent with a group of people I don't know...and I just want to die. I then closed my eyes and seriously prayed that God would somehow sling me through the window in the back of the bus, some lion would come eat me, they would find my bones and ship them home to my family...and the rest of the people could go serve. I waited for a few minutes and when it didn't happen I composed myself the best I could and went back to my seat. I spent the following night sleeping on the bathroom floor with the ants because the bed just seemed too far away. And for the rest of the trip, I became known as sick girl. Then I came home and spent 4 days in the hospital with the plague that no one ever could figure out ( I think they should name it after me or at least give it some really cool Siswati name!).

With that being said, I think it's perfectly normal to have some fear going in to this whole trip.

I almost forgot!
Welcome to the world little Tanner Jessen! (I'm going to call him TJ!)

He was born on June 26th while I was in Africa. I was hoping that he would arrive on Saturday after I got home, but at least I got to see the pictures via email! I can't wait to get rid of this cold so I can meet him and hold him!

I can't believe that Ryan is a daddy now!

back to reality..

I made it home from Swaziland. I'm exhausted but so thankful for another opportunity to serve in Africa! I don't know why, but this time has been harder to adjust. I picked up a little bit of a cold from some of the kids, but hopefully I won't end up with the plague like last year. Maybe that's why it has been harder, or maybe that I'm so full of emotions and things running through my head that I can't seem to rest. It was such an awesome trip. I can't wait to share my stories and pictures when the right time comes...after I've had a chance to reflect and take everything in..

Here are some pictures from one of my cameras. I'm praying that my memory card with ooooh 600ish of my favorite pictures from my trip will magically start working so I can upload them, if not...I'm pretty sure I will cry.

I loved Zachariah and his big smile :)

Little Titus was so content eating his orange...I couldn't resist giving him mine too. Some of the pre-schoolers

more to come soon! :)

Sweeeet 16 and garden fun

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Michelle's 16th birthday with a pool party. She's the 'baby' of the cousins. It is hard to believe she is that old. I still remember when she was born and how tiny she was. It has been fun watching her grow up, especially over the past few years.

After we ate and opened presents, we walked over and spent some time in PawPaw's garden.

Happy Sweet 16 Michelley!!

Mandy and I spent about 5 minutes fixing and lighting all the candles inside...and we spent 5 more minutes re-lighting them after they all blew out when we stepped outside.

Mandy was extra photogenic
Sis and Michelle found a lil friend

MawMaw and PawPaw are such cute lil gardeners!

Bobby was in his element...if you look closely you can see the piece of grass hanging out of his mouth

Not too shabby...

:)

Family festivities

The past couple of weekends have been pretty packed with family festivites...(Michael's grad party, Mandy's wedding shower, Elizabeth's baby shower, and Michelle's birthday party) It has been the first time that I have actually gotten to relax and enjoy the time without having to rush off to somewhere else or worry about stuff with school.

The girls in front of the yummy food:

The bride to be:

Chanda made the cute cake for Elizabeth's shower:
July 7: Mandy's wedding, and Elizabeth's due date. If only you could have seen Mandy's face when we all found out on Christmas Eve..it was pretty funny. I'm pretty sure that baby boy TJC will make his grand entrance any day now. I can't wait to meet him :)