this day.

This day. No words to express its full beauty, but I will try to give you a little glimpse.

It started in a sunflower field. Literally. Prancing and dancing and snapping photos through a sunflower field on the side of the road in South Africa. Goofing around with the Geurink kids and trying to find THE perfect sunflower. I decided when I go home I am just going to dig up my whole backyard and fill it with sunflowers. I am sure the rents will be all for that. :)

Only a few minutes later I was sipping a cold homemade berry juice. A cool breeze on my arms and two women I love sitting on either side of me. Chatting, sipping, laughing. A final Living Life trip that was absolutely perfect.

Back at Beautiful Gate we had a goodbye ceremony for, my friend, Jenny. 5 times she has been to Lesotho now. I hope to be able say the same thing one day. Tears shed, scripture read, and cake was fed. Not looking forward to saying goodbye to my English friend tomorrow, but also happy to know she will be back.

After the ceremony we find out there is a police officer in the office. This officer fetched a child out of a latrine and brought her to Beautiful Gate. He happened to remember it was her birthday today. Him and his wife brought her 2 dresses and a doll as a gift. You would have thought it was their own child. "She is getting so big and she looks so healthy, she must be getting enough food", says the man with a smile on his face. Its the best feeling in the world knowing our children are loved and not just by our staff and volunteers.

Fools. Us Americans, made ourselves look like fools. Bryan realized he had Jenny's camera and we couldn't resist leaving a few surprise photos for her. Running around campus, seeing how many strange faces we can make, and laughing like there is no tomorrow. Seeing Jenny's reaction later that night was priceless.

(why do I make faces like this???)

Throwing kids around during play group. That always seems to be a highlight. Hearing the kids yell, "Ausi Paige!!" as they run up to greet me. Its not a normal afternoon at play group unless I have at least 5 kids crawling all over me. One is doing my hair, one is pinching my nose, one is showing me a trick, another just wants a cuddle. And I just love it.

Healing rain. The sun was still out yet the rain was pouring. Giving us a much needed chill after an extremely hot day. Dancing (literally) through the rain like its been years since the last down pour. Some BG kids join the fun and we even drag a house mother out too. Running, laughing, and screaming with the kids. Those moments were priceless. It was one of those times where I just wanted to freeze time.

"Holy Uncreated One..." A time of worship with the guitar and my gifted roomie, Terp. Watching the sunset, praising our Lord. He is the one who brought us all together. He is the one who brought us here.

Thank you Jesus for this unforgettable day.

peace and love.

you give and take away.

As I see the three caskets lowered into the ground there is one thing running through my head.....These caskets are too small. As I watch the Bo'Ntate bury the caskets I lift my eyes to the sky and thank Jesus for preparing a place for them with Him in heaven. The ceremony was beautiful. The hundreds of birds flying overhead were majestic. And, the Lord was present. There are not many more words to describe this morning.

After a morning of tears, we were able to rejoice when 2 new children were brought to BG. Seeing the house mothers meeting the new children for the first time is priceless. Its like they are seeing their own child that they haven't seen in a long time.

"You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name!"

just a quick thought for now.

peace and love.

thank you Jesus!

Here are a few events of the past week:

-Celebrating Faith's birthday at Templhof with lion cubs

-Riding in the back of a truck with 3 dead pigs

-My parents meeting "my boy" via skype 

-3 hospital runs

I guess I don't really feel like expanding on any of those things so I will just share with you what has been on my heart. 

Thankfulness.

My heart is overflowing with thankfulness. I am so incredibly thankful for this amazing opportunity. I am thankful for Beautiful Gate and the passion of the people here. I am thankful for the house mothers and how they have become like my own mothers. I am thankful for all the other volunteers that I have been able to meet. I am thankful for every single one of the kids here and all of their adorable little personalities. I am thankful for all the adoptive parents I have had the privilege of meeting. I am thankful for the joy of the Lord that is contagious on this campus.

 Sometimes I think....why me? There are so many more people that I know that would be better at this kind of thing. I guess I just feel unworthy sometimes. Going through all my pictures and seeing all the amazing experiences I have had is overwhelming. I have had the chance to do things many people won't ever get the chance to do. I have had the chance to meet people that have changed my life. When I think about that, I come back to thankfulness. The Lord deserves all the praise and the glory! Here is a verse that I have fallen in love with recently:

"Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.""

-Hebrews 12:28-29

I just realized I never told you guys something. My dad is coming to visit me! I know, I am super excited. He is doing in work trip in South Africa for a week and then he is coming to visit me for a few days. He is arriving here on March 1 and we will fly home together on the 5th. I am so excited to be able to show someone I love Beautiful Gate and be able to get a glimpse into what my life was like for the past 8 months. Please keep him in your prayers as it will be his first time in Africa and first time driving on the wrong side of the road. 

Here are a few pictures from the week:

sweeeeeet. the car doesn't feel like working today

look a tortoise!

me and my roomie.....and a lion

my house mother

Mercy! Watch out for that cactus! 

going for a hike

riding in the back of the truck with 3 dead pigs

hey terp!

Jenny sitting on the pigs

yum

its like they knew it was Valentines Day!

Jenny and I

peace and love.

watch this!

Here is a link to a video of me and Terp teaching our staff the "tap the cup" trick. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRT3hPIVe4c

take time to be holy.

Okay blog, I have a confession. I have been avoiding you. It has been a very tough week at BG and if you follow any of the other BG volunteer's blogs you probably already know the whole situation. I am not quite sure what to say about the whole thing so bear with me through this blog post.  Soooo, I guess I will start with the facts. 3 Beautiful Gate children went to be with Jesus between Friday and Monday. They were all under a year old and they all passed for different reasons. I have only been to 2 funerals before that I remember and they were both when I was very young. So, it has been a while since I have had someone close to me pass away. It took a couple days for it all to sink in for me, but going in the houses this week and not seeing their faces makes it all too real. It is also strange to think that the last death BG had was in the middle of 2011 and now all of the sudden there is 3 in a row. The staff are hurting, but it is encouraging to still see the smiles on their faces through everything. The Lord is still good and it is in HIM that we place our trust. On Saturday morning, the day after the first child passed away, a few of us volunteers went to the hospital to visit the 3 children in the hospital. We were going to encourage our staff there and to pray over the kids. That morning I woke up that morning really struggling emotionally with everything that was going on while also being anxious about going home in a month. As we were walking through the halls of the hospital we were stopped by a man behind us who asked us why we were at the hospital and if we were Christians. We told him we were Christians and we were visiting a few of the orphans from Beautiful Gate. He all the sudden said, "Oh, you are doing such good things, let us sing a song for you!" He then picked a song and turn to his daughter to give her the starting pitch. They sang the song in perfect harmony and it brought me to tears. Here is the song they sang to us:

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.

By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;

Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.

I walked away from that moment in awe of the Lord's presence in such an unlikely place. I kept thinking to myself, "God knows, God knew I needed that encouragement this morning." My attitude and feelings towards that day completely changed. Instead of having a mind full of anxieties and doubts, my mind sang, "Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus!"

"But I will sing about Your strength.

In the morning I will sing about Your love.

You are my defender, my place of safety in times of trouble"

-Psalm 59:16

I am filled with so many emotions going into my last month at BG. I am thankful that the Lord called me here and I got to meet so many amazing people and children. I am curious to see what the future holds. I am sad that I have to say goodbye to my children and friends. I am excited to see my family again. I am missing the children that recently went to be with Jesus. I am hopeful that I would be able to return to BG one day.

Please keep BG in your prayers as we have the funerals next week for the children who passed away. Thank you so much!

peace and love.