April 13, 2010 is the last time I posted a blog entry on this site. Obviously A LOT has gone on in my life since that point in time. However, a super quick snapshot looks like this… I moved to Colorado Springs in May 2010, I started and completed a Masters in Elementary Education throughout the rest of 2010 and half of 2011, I got a job teaching fourth grade at a school that I love that started in August of 2011, I teach kindergarten and lead a middle school small group at a church that I love, I ran two marathons, my roommate and I host Community Dinner (an amazing time of doing life and breaking bread) every Thursday night as a way of staying connected with the community the Lord has blessed and encouraged us with, and FINALLY over New
Year’s 2011-12 I left the country to serve in the beautiful country of PERU!
It has been almost two years since I left the U.S. to serve on the international mission field, yet every single day of those two years the dream and vision the Lord has given me for my life has remained the same: To start and run a full-functioning school and orphanage in a third world country, with the constant capability of hosting short term teams. There are days when this dream seems only a dim light at the end of a VERY DARK hallway; yet there are other days I am so in love with the crazy fourth graders right in front of me that I am filled to the brim to be right where I am. I wrote this poem about midway through our time in Peru as the Lord (as ALWAYS) used some of his beautiful children to speak directly to my heart:
A couple of plane rides and a boat ride down the river
The same boat ride that in the end causes a bottom lip quiver
A home in the jungle overflowing with caramel boys
A land filled mostly with a constant joyous noise
Whether rain or shine, the smiles abound
A family of brothers so much fun to be around
On the surface alone, You are SURE to fall in LOVE
As you join in their laughter at each tease and shove
But as you look deep into their eyes you’ll begin to see more
These beautiful caramel bodies are sons of the LORD
Though their life circumstance may seem to me unfair
Of their specific situation the Lord is certainly aware
He has not forgotten a single hair on their head
He has made sure to provide them with three meals and a bed
Who am I to wonder or ask the questions of why?
The Lord has got each boy under His close and watchful eye
The same boat ride that in the end causes a bottom lip quiver
A home in the jungle overflowing with caramel boys
A land filled mostly with a constant joyous noise
Whether rain or shine, the smiles abound
A family of brothers so much fun to be around
On the surface alone, You are SURE to fall in LOVE
As you join in their laughter at each tease and shove
But as you look deep into their eyes you’ll begin to see more
These beautiful caramel bodies are sons of the LORD
Though their life circumstance may seem to me unfair
Of their specific situation the Lord is certainly aware
He has not forgotten a single hair on their head
He has made sure to provide them with three meals and a bed
Who am I to wonder or ask the questions of why?
The Lord has got each boy under His close and watchful eye
Protecting and guiding in His great and glorious planBringing glory to His kingdom as only He truly can
For reasons a plenty He chose here and He chose now
To allow these beautiful brown bodies to continue to show me HOW
How to trust, how to love, how to run wild and free
How to act and live as a daughter of the Most High King
How to believe in a promise that takes time to fulfill
How to bask in His grace through I am waiting still
With each glistening white teeth-filled smile
The Lord nods and assures, “Yes, you’ve heard me right child…
Love the one right in front of you every single day
For my promise to you is not so very far away
But remember it is MY dream, MY vision, and MY time
And I will bring you along when I’m ready for you to join the ride…”
My heart is reassured and alive I feel again
Confidently, I will continue to LOVE and WAIT right where I AM!
