firstfruits of all your crops.

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! This past Friday a 7 person team from Graafschap CRC arrived at Beautiful Gate. They all seem like pretty cool people and its great to see their love and enthusiasm for Beautiful Gate.

This past Wednesday another child was able to meet his new mother for the first time. The exciting part for us is it is the first Michigan adoption from Beautiful Gate (I think...).The boy and mother have been waiting for about 2 years to meet each other! There was some complications along the way that slowed the process down a lot! Its also been hard on the boy because he is old enough to know what is going on and he would get confused when kids would come to Beautiful Gate after him but leave before him. The day before his mom was planned to come his house mothers let him know what was going to happening so he would be prepared. So, that day in school the boy told his teachers, "I will not be tomorrow, I go on a airo-plane to America!" Too precious. Seeing him on Wednesday interacting with his new mother and seeing the smile on his face brought me so much joy. The not so fun part of the day was seeing the boy's best friend at play group sitting by himself crying because he missed his friend. It broke my heart. There was nothing I could say or do to make him feel better, he just wanted his friend. By Friday he seemed back to his old self but I am sure he still misses him at times. This morning in church the boy and his new mother and sister walked into our church and sat in the row in front of us. He still had that big grin on his face. It was also to see how much him and his mother had already bonded. He turned around and gave us hugs and high fives and it brought tears to my eyes seeing him sitting on the lap of his mother whispering to her during church. This is the start of a whole new life for this boy. I am stoked that I get to see him one more time at the adoption ceremony before he leaves for Michigan. I know I probably talk a lot about kids leaving and getting adopted but its just probable the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced and I just love it.

Yesterday(Saturday) we took the team to Templhof. This was my second time going but this time they had lion cubs that we could hold! Here are a few pictures...

 This is Donna, the Australian volunteer I am sure I have talked about before :)

 still trying to convince my mom to let me take one home :)

 A boy and his Lion cub

JESUS RAYS!!

Oh hey, here is some more cool news. I am officially staying at BGate until the first week of March! I am sure this is what the Lord wants me to do but it is also hard thinking about being away from home during the holidays. That is when I am very thankful for skype :) Thanks for all of your prayers and support. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me over the next 5 months! I have also been applying for college lately....which just feels strange. I am still unsure of what the Lord wants me to with my life but I figure it is best to have some options open when I get home.

Here are some more things I have just been loving lately: I love that the weather is warming up. I love knowing 90% of the kids' names that go to play group. I love seeing little brown fingers giving my a thumbs up and brown eyes peeking through the shades when I am walking home at night. I love worshiping with my brothers and sisters in Christ on Sunday mornings. I love seeing the look on the parents' faces when they meet their child for the first time. I love working out with Anita in the afternoon (never thought I would say that :). I love this song: We Are by Kari Jobe and this song: Tell the World by Lecrae. I love getting to know the neighbor kids. I love laughing at just about anything with the Geurinks. I love little God moments that pop up throughout my day that remind me how much God loves me and these children. I love playing Euchre with the Geurinks and other missionaries. I love sitting and reading the Bible on my back step on a sunny day. I love that the staff have become my good friends. I LOVE THE LORD AND I LOVE LESOTHO.

I have found this verse to be a great reminder for me:

"Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and you vats will brim over with new wine" -Proverbs 3:9-10

Giving the Lord my best, every time seems impossible to me at times. "But God I am tired...but God I am afraid....but God I will just do it tomorrow....but God that is only for super Christians, not for me....but God I will only give you the best in this part of my life, not that part." I have found it is a whole lot easier to make excuses then to actually do what the Bible tells us. Whenever I read a verse like this that challenges me and makes me check myself to see if I am really living it out I think back to Battle Creek Bible Club summer camp where we memorized the verse, "Do not merely listen to the word....do what it says." (James 1:22)
DO WHAT IT SAYS. Plain and simple, there it is. Just do what it says. Why do I always make it more complicated than it has to be? Just do what it says....

My aunt, uncle, and cousin are all in Uganda/Kenya right now on a 2 week mission trip so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great :)

peace and love.