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Rwanda Preparation Update

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and offering financial support for our trip! I have gotten several requests for updates...so here we go!

• Clay and I are officially vaccinated! Yes, the rumors are true. The injections made me woozy and I was forced to lie on the floor in the nurse's office with my feet elevated while she siphoned Coke down my throat. Awesome.
  
  
• We met as a whole team for the first time on August 11. It was a great time of getting to know the others going, and hearing their hearts for Rwanda/Africa/the orphan/missions. God has assembled an incredible team for this trip, and I am looking forward to the relationships that will be cultivated through this experience.
  
  
• God has blessed us through many of you with nearly $2000 in funds! Our current balance is approximately $3000. If you feel led to help join our team of Senders by supporting us financially or in prayer, please email/call/Facebook message me or Clay and we'll get you the info. We praise God for His provision thus far, and trust Him as He continues to make a way for us to serve Him abroad.

Again, we covet your prayers in this time as we prepare for this ministry. We are excited to see how God uses us in the lives of the Rwandans, and how God transforms us in the process. To God be the glory!



Africa New Life Ministries logo and photo from www.africanewlife.org

We're going to RWANDA!

More details to come soon. But the short of is we are going on a trip to Rwanda over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm looking forward to being back in Africa, serving alongside my husband, and spending time with friends and families from Regents outside of school.

Mulungu ni wambweno (God is good! - that Nyanga...I guess I'll need to learn some Kinyarwanda...they are from the Bantu family, but not closely related!)

http://africanewlife.org/

Called

Seriously praying about Africa.

1. Listen to the sermon from 5/16 here ---> Radical Missiology

2. Check out the 100 People Network here ---> 100 People Network

So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

I love the Book of Hebrews. We are wrapping it up in Bible tomorrow, but the last few weeks have been some of the best Bible discussions we've had all year.

In case you have never been introduced to, or it's just been a while since you've spent some time with them, I'd like to encourage you to spend some time getting to know the folks in Hebrews 11. Go ahead and follow through with chapter 12.

Thank you God that my pleasing you is not dependent on my impossible perfection. Thank you for promising to increase my faith if I will only ask. Thank you for giving me just the measure of faith and grace needed to endure through each new circumstance. Thank you for loving me enough to discipline me - even though discipline is not fun, I know it is to make me look more like Christ.

NASA 2010

How is it possible that NASA is over already? The trip was amazing, and I am so thankful for the community I work with. We had a few minor bumps along the way (docents who knew nothing about anything, a bus driver that was as nice as could be but a brick shy of a load, and rough winds that canceled our harbor tour), but in all the Lord blessed us with a great week with our kids and some of their parents.

I love this trip because it gives us all a chance to develop relationships with families we don't work with on a regular basis. We also get to interact with our kids on a different level than everyday classroom time allows. I really enjoyed all of the moments that I had with my kids - especially one-on-one time. I wish I wasn't such a weenie and had ridden Pharaoh's Fury with my class...sorry boys, but I just can't do it!

One of my favorite moments this whole school year happened last night around 9:30. My team and I were sitting in the lounge of the hotel sharing stories from the day (laughing so deliriously at some of Kyle's impersonations we were crying) when one of my kids came over. He asked something about ice cream that I misinterpreted as him asking for permission to get ice cream. I gave the standard answer (that if I said once I said 100 times on this trip) "Ask your chaperone." That's when J clarified...no, he wasn't asking permission for ice cream. He had already bought a pint and wanted to know if I wanted any. Precious. I went over to the breakfast bar and visited with him as he scooped me some bites into a bowl. After he scooped my portion, he asked if Brenda wanted some. And went on down the line until all the teachers (6 total) had been offered a bowl. He then took what little was left in the pint and went on his way to bed.

My patience tends to run thin too quickly sometimes, and I really don't really deserve little moments like that. But maybe that's exactly why God gives them to me. To remind me to slow down and and recognize the sweetness He has surrounded me with.

And in other news I am SO happy to be home with my husband!

Count your blessings; Name them one by one

I really don't think I can manage to count all of my blessings. When I do actively name them off I find myself in an increasingly good mood. Naming the blessings inevitably leads to memories and warm-fuzzy thoughts about the blessings (who are mostly people).

So seriously. You may think it's cheesy, but today I challenge you to count your blessings. A brief look at my list may help you get started (these are just the broad categories...when I'm counting I list every person individually)...

• My relationship with Jesus (if you don't know Him, I'd love to introduce you)
• My husband (see photo)
• Our family
• Our friends
• My job
• Our church family
• Our home
• Clay's job
• Living in Austin
• The Families who share their children with me
• The Children themselves
• My Education
• TEXAS
• My Health
• Our animals
• Our cars are both paid for
• Oh the list goes on!!!

Malaria

The last time I was in Lusaka I went to a bookstore at Manda Hill. I picked up a book written by a German guy back in the '30s and I was taken with a quote on the back. The gist of it was Africa is like malaria - it gets in your blood and you are forever infected by the land and her people.

To continue the simile, this week I had a relapse. I can't get Africa off my mind or out of my heart. I spent time poring over blogs of friends of friends who are there, reading up on missions organizations that work specifically in sub-Saharan Africa, talking to a friend who is preparing to head to Lusaka long-term, and thinking about how/when I will get back.

I don't know what the Lord's plans are. I have learned not to try to out-think Him, or guess at what His will is. He will reveal His perfect plan, in His perfect time. I am praying that I will be attentive to His direction.

Until then....

Kids crowding outside the bus in George Compound, Lusaka, Zambia

George Compound, Lusaka, Zambia

In Mtendere, Lusaka, Zambia with my Jonas and his sister at their school (Jesus Army)

On the road in Lusaka

Grocery Mtendere/Kalingalinga areas of Lusaka

If God is Love, and we are God's children...

Last week I spoke at the Valentine's chapel for the 1st-2nd graders. I didn't feel inspired to talk about one of the many legends of St. Valentine, and I wasn't particularly thrilled with all I read about the fact that it is yet another Roman holiday that was "Christianized". Week before last, God began planting seeds of what He wanted today's focus to be. Sometime last spring I really became taken with the description of LOVE in 1 Corinthians 13. I think this passage is so familiar that we have become desensitized to its message, but there is some pretty amazing stuff in it. Setting aside the fact that if you read it in context, it is actually referring to how you use your gifts, today I just want to focus on the definition of love. I did not move this into essay form...it's just the notes I wrote for chapel.

Here we go.

1 John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

There is a fun holiday coming up next week. I bet you can all tell me what it is. Valentine’s Day is a day of celebrating friends and family and eating lots of chocolate. It is a holiday to celebrate love. But I don’t want to talk today about Valentine’s has to say about love. The Bible has a lot to say about Love, and one of the most important things it says to me is found in 1 John 4:7-8. Let’s work backwards in these verses to see exactly what they say about love, and what they teach us about our part in love.

Verse 8 tells us that God is love. Verse 7 tells us that everyone who loves is born of God…that means we are His children. Think about your parents. Each of us has characteristics or traits from our parents. I get my brown curly hair from my mom, and my brown eyes from my dad. We don’t just have physical traits from our parents, but also personality traits. I have my dad’s sense of humor, and my mom’s aversion to conflict.

So if we are God’s children, that means we are going to have characteristics of God. The Bible tells us lots of ways that God made man in His likeness, but today we are focusing on the characteristics of love. If we are God’s children, then we must love each other and others.

But what does this really look like? What does it mean to have God’s characteristics of love? Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. I know you all know it, but we are going to read through it a special way today.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Now, what did we learn about love and God from 1 John 4? That’s right! We learned that God IS love. So let’s reread these verses and replace God’s name everywhere we see love:

GOD is patient, GOD is kind. GOD does not envy, GOD does not boast, GOD is not proud. GOD is not rude, GOD is not self-seeking, GOD is not easily angered, GOD keeps no record of wrongs. GOD does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. GOD always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Ok, so we are starting to get a pretty good idea of what it looks like to be God’s children, right? If we are God’s children then we are going to exhibit or show these characteristics. Let’s look at a few of them a little more closely.

Does anyone know what it means to be patient? It means to go through troubles calmly and think carefully before making decisions. When we have patience with others we are usually showing respect.

What about the 2nd characteristic listed? I know all of you in here are kind to your friends and your family. But how often do you go out of your way to be kind to someone you don’t know, or maybe someone who you may not be friends with?

Let’s look at what it means to be proud, self-seeking, and boastful. All of those things go together…and the Bible tells us that LOVE and therefore GOD are none of these things. So we should try to avoid them too. When we are proud, self-seeking or boastful it basically means that we think more of ourselves than of others and even of God. We can forget that God gave us the talents and abilities to do things, and ignore people in our lives who help us. To be proud and boastful means we want all the attention on us and to get credit for everything. The Bible tells us that instead of focusing on ourselves, we should consider others more important than ourselves, and that we should remember that everything comes from God…not anything we have done.

We just talked about a lot of characteristics or traits of God’s love. I’m going to tell you a short story and I want you to see what characteristics you hear either right or wrong:

Mrs. Smith’s class was in the middle of practicing their math drills. They were all going really fast around the room, until she got to Timmy. Timmy had a hard time in math and it took him a long time to answer. The class waited a few seconds and when Timmy didn’t answer, Denise started waving her hand in the air saying “Ooo ooo ooo!!” She knew the answer and wanted Mrs. Smith to give her a chance to show everyone that she was smarter than Timmy.

In that story was Denise showing Timmy patience? Do you think she was being self-seeking and boastful wanting to show the whole class that she knew the answer and Timmy didn’t?

The next 2 characteristics are 2 of the reasons I am most thankful to God and why I love him so much. 1 Corinthians says love (or GOD) doesn’t get mad easily and doesn’t keep score. I know sometimes I get mad about little things, but this scripture tells me that I should be patient and stay calm. It also tells me that I should forgive others and not hold things they have done to me against them. When people are mean to us or say hurtful things it is often hard to forget. But God wants us to have love instead of bitter feelings towards each other.

We don’t have time today to talk about the remaining characteristics of Love and God that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians. But I hope you’ll spend time with your teachers and your parents talking about ways you can show Love like God has shown us love.

2009 in Review

January - Clay and I celebrated our one year anniversary with dinner at Trattoria Lisina.
February - I learned to dissect a lamb's heart.
March - Spring Break!
April - Clay turned 28, and celebrated 4 years. I got to spend 3 days in Houston with my kiddos looking at rockets and playing laser tag. Clay's parents came to Austin for the Easter service at the Stone.
May - I survived my first year of teaching! Lots of lessons learned, and plenty to plan and consider over the summer.
June - I began nannying for one of my favorite families in the world! We had a great summer! Lots of time at the pool, and some trips to Fiesta Texas and Schlitterbahn with Clay.
July - Clay and I made our first trip together...and it was the first time either of us had visited New York City. We stayed with a good friend, David, and got to continue the marriage celebration of the Andreanos.
August - ENGAGED! As I geared up for the 2009-2010 school year, Clay asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I love him! I began my second year of teaching...what a difference a year makes! First year teachers -- hang in there!
September-October - A huge blur! So many showers, parties, and good times with friends and family. Lots of planning sessions, and crazy-making conversations!
November - Clay and I became husband and wife on November 22!! God is good! We spend Thanksgiving with his family, and Casey went with us to the A&M v UT football game...it was a good night to be a Longhorn!
December - We are learning to live life together. Clay is an amazing husband who takes better care of me than I could have ever hoped. We had a wonderful holiday with our families and are looking forward to 2010!

Alden

Please pray for Alden Malachowski. She is a student at my school who was diagnosed with Leukemia in May 2008. She relapsed this summer, and after a transplant (for which we praise God) her body had been continually bombarded with infection. The current prognosis is not great, but we serve the God Who knew her name before the foundation of the world was laid. The God Who created every cell that makes up her body. The God Who healed lepers, the blind, and the lame. The God Who healed the Centurion's servant without ever seeing him. The God Who healed a woman who simply had the faith to touch his robe. The God who raised a widow's son, a little girl and His best friend from the dead. The God who has defeated death for us that we may live with Him eternally. I know that He will one day call Alden home to be with Him, for that is where her heart is and that is Who her trust is in. But I am asking you to join with us to pray that that call is in the distant future after a lifetime of living for Him.

Please intercede in faith, for the complete healing of Alden, and that the name of the Lord will be glorified and that many will come to know Him through her testimony.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/aldenmalachowski

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Mr. & Mrs. Dixon

Miss to Mrs.

in just 9 days! How is it possible that it is already here? Less than 2 weeks from tonight I will be sitting with my husband in our living room. Unreal.

One week from tomorrow will be my last day as Miss Clow :-) I wonder how well my kids will make the transition?

e3 Partners & Zambia

In the last month I have been introduced to e3 Partners through a friend at church. She works for them full time, and talked to the Africa Network at The Stone back in September. e3 focuses on church planting, and building up the local church by equipping pastors and local ministers.

e3 sends trips all over the world, and to my pleasure, they work in Zambia! I am considering a trip with a church here in Austin (Covenant Presbyterian) and one with a church in Alabama. I have no idea if this will come to fruition or not, but I am VERY excited to have Zambia and Africa on my radar again!

Oh, and if you are not familiar with the I am Second campaign, check out this website. It is an extension of e3 that has celebrities share their faith in short videos. One of my favorites is of former Korn singer, Brian Welch. Other celebs include Mike Huckabee, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, & Stephen Baldwin, and many more!

Engaged!

Well, this post is more than a month late, but in my defense it has been an insane month!

Clay and I got engaged on August 15, 2009! We are getting married on November 22 here in Austin, and we are so excited to begin our life together!

I'm going to post a few pictures on here, but you can read more about the engagement on our Knot site.

Intro to NYC

We arrived safely in NYC last night. As soon as he picked us up, David announced I was going to have to play kickball because his team didn't have enough girls. Rain may have eluded Austin for months, but that is not the case here. The clay field was more of a mud pit. We had a blast! If you know me at all, you know I am NOT athletic in the best circumstances....slippery, sticky mud does not enhance those skills. I did make contact both times at bat (but could not run fast enough to get to first!), and I caught a pop fly! Whoo hoo!

After the game we went to Turtle Bay with the rest of the league. About 11 we headed to Times Square. I loved being out in the city at night!

Today David took us on a walking tour of Manhattan...and oh my goodness do the ankles, calves and feet hurt! We started the morning at Chambers (for those of you who know and care), made our way past Ground Zero (which I did not view so don't look for photos), and on down to Battery Park. From there we walked back up to Houston Street. On the way we hit Trinity Church, China Town and Little Italy, and ate lunch at a random seafood place down near Brooklyn Bridge.

We finally made it back to the apartment around 6pm at which time someone managed to spill the soy sauce in David's fridge, which I volunteered to clean up since I wasn't heading out with the guys again.

And that is where we are now. I'm on the couching updating the masses on our travels watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, while the guys are buying David's Summer II textbooks and grocery shopping. We're heading to a humus place for dinner...I'm not sure what that entails, but you can be sure there will be pictures!

New York Bound

Clay & I leave for NYC in a little more than a week. I am now officially accepting suggestions for tours and attractions. I am already aware of when/where/how to find show tickets, but I am in need of suggestions for other things to do. I am so unfamiliar with the city I haven't a clue where to start.

Very, very excited!!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Sending birthday wishes to several loved ones with whom I share a birthday, and to a few who weren't quite cool enough to be born on June 16, but were close enough to straddle it. Happy birthday too all the Gems! Love you all :-)

Almost Made the 16th - June 15th Birthdays

Kyle Ambrose (Ok, I THINK yours is the 15th...I know it's only a day apart from Karis & I...)

Amanda Allen (friend in Clay's circle and new Stoner)

Jason Comer (old school Crusade)

The Coolest Kids - June 16 Birthdays

John Shivers Clow (my cousin)

Chrissy Alexander (Stoner friend)

Madeline Nagel (one of my senior cheerleaders!)

Kelly Pickette (one of my JV cheerleaders last year)

me (Duh)

Juuust Missed the 16th - June 17th Birthday

Karis Kendall (Queen of Mulungushi Village)

Missed it by several days, but it's June Teenth and Worth a Mention - June 19th Birthday

Paige Stevenson Cates (Head Cheerleader 1996-1997)

I am loving...

...summertime! I am so thankful for a break from school and time to hang out with the family I am nannying for! We saw UP in 3D today...very cute and I wanted to cry.  Staying out of the sun today since the boys and I both got some burnage yesterday.  Tomorrow I start housesitting for a week...God has been so good to me this summer with the opportunities for extra income.  I will be able to pay cash for all of my NYC trip, and also get ahead on my loan repayments.  YAY!

Who's in the mood for a personality test?

There is a very, very tall coconut tree and there are 4 animals,

a Lion, a Chimpanzee, a Giraffe, and a Squirrel


They decide to compete to see who is the fastest to get a banana off the tree. 



Who do you guess will win? 



Your answer will reflect your personality. 

So think carefully . . . 
Try and answer within 30 seconds. Got your answer?

Now scroll down to see the analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If your answer is:

Lion = you're dull. 
Chimpanzee = you're dense. 
Giraffe = you're a complete moron. 
Squirrel = you're hopeless.

 

A COCONUT TREE DOESN'T HAVE BANANAS. 



Obviously you're stressed and overworked. 
You should take some time off and relax

Oh yeah. That just happened!