Thankful List, Swazi Style

The above photo is of Kirby and Josh with their 'morning-hair' in Africa, also being gangster, which is something Kirby commonly does. She looks so sweet and innocent, but underneath, there is a true homie.

THANKFUL LIST, SWAZI-STYLE:
1. Arriving safely in Swaziland – beds, showers, and a refrigerator!
2. Skyping at 4am with Kari, Jeff, and Elijah
3. Messages from Avis, Case, Sammy
4. Writing postcards
5. Skyping with the family on Easter
6. Cucumber, tomato, and onion with plain yogurt, salt and pepper
7. Sweet, delicious, crunchy buttered corn-on-the-cob
8. Cool weather in Swaziland
9. Packing 14 people into that tiny van plus all of our packs, from South Africa to Swazi
10. Cooking!
11. Worship night with Lizzie's iPod music and Team Commissioned
12. Watching Kirby do workout videos
13. Serving Lao from Holland a nice cup of coffee
14. Playing guitar with Josh, recording 'Green Eyes' by Coldplay
15. Painting Nogwanda's toenails on the playground
16. 'Sewing' lessons with Monica – sewing my ripped sleeping bag back together
17. Morning devotions with the ministry partners
18. Dutch Blitz!
19. Watching Josh, Josh, and Timothy play 'Twister'
20. French toast with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup
21. Cleaning… the kitchen, bathroom… there's something therapeutic about it
22. Learning new songs, fingerpicking, and barre chords with Josh
23. Having a walking date with Alyssa to the railroad tracks
24. An all-night of prayer with Lizzie and Karen
25. The creepy knocking sound on the door at 3am which turned out to be an itchy cow… (that story might need to be explained later)
26. Church service at 11am (sleeping in = winning!)
27. Bekah doing the dishes for our team
28. My prayer buddy, Karen
29. Chili-cinnamon sauteed apples
30. Reading 'Journey of Hope,' the book about Africa
31. John 15 – and learning what it means to abide in Christ
32. Cooking apple and cheese paninis, with a towel on my shoulder
33. Meeting all the children at Mbutfu
34. Seeing the children pray with their eyes closed and hands folded
35. Monica coming out during one of our songs with a puppet
36. Planning Bible lessons for the kids with Pilo, Nombali, and Nelly
37. Josh coming in to our room at 11pm yelling, "Hop Scotch Tournament outside!" like a crazy auctioneer… (too much coffee)
38. Blessing the family whose house was burned down
39. Cold Coca-Cola
40. Getting the art paints out, painting Lizzie a present
41. Holding and playing with adorable children
42. Talking with Smanga about Swaziland, politics, the U.S. and the president
43. Squirting Lizzie with waterguns for her 'baptism' birthday
44. Holding the cute little girl who ended up having a poopy butt…yuck.
45. Waking up early to spend time with Jesus
46. Rain falling on the steel roof… mmm love the sound of it.
47. Hoeing the garden and experiencing my 'green thumb'
48. Sewing the sleeves back on my Emil's Place gray tee shirt (love that thing)
49. The fiasco of getting groceries in Africa (funny story, you'll have to ask me)
50. Learning to say 'thank you' in Siswat… 'Neeyabonga'
51. Holding babies and kissing owees
52. Women wrapping babies on their backs using chitenga wraps
53. Going for runs with Laura, Jaclyn, and Hannah
54. Fasting from sugar… day one = done!
55. Creating – dreaming, sewing, writing, sketching…
56. Giving my sailor blue skirt to Jaclyn and seeing how much she loves it
57. The sweet kids at Mbutfu carepoint – seeing their faces light up when I told them they did a good job on their craft 'sun.'
58. Calling grandmas 'go-gos'
59. Laughing and joking with Smanga, one of our contacts, about being an 'old man'
60. Grocery shopping like it's a game show – for the whole team – in Africa…