There is a team from San Diego here and they are awesome.  We have really been enjoying our time with them.  The leaders name is Morgan and so our daughter just adores being around her.  They are going to be leaving on Tuesday so we dont have much time left with them.

 

Yesterday we were able to be a part of one of their projects.  They had a clothing exchange where the children brought an item of clothing they were willing to trade for a new one.  The kids all lined up and got ready.  I will try and load the pictures here or on facebook sometime tomorrow.  It was really great to see Morgan and Leah participate with donating their clothes.  They had a hard time understanding why we were going to leave most of our clothes when we were in the states.  But now that they were able to give to their friends and did so from their hears with joy both benefit in the situation.   It is a great picture of how we might not understand why God wants us to do something but when are hearts and eyes are opened we understand his purpose. 

 

Another great aspect about this clothing drive is that the team is taking the clothes from the children back to the states and a clothing company makes patches from the material onto shirts.  The company sells the tshirts online and the money will come back to help Swaziland.  I will put their website on our page soon for those interested.

 

We ended up driving most of the day seeing a big part of the country.  The girls were going crazy for the first half of the trip but did better on our way home. We went to the Swaziland Candle Factory.  Interesting enough we met the daughters owner the first night of our stay at the guest house.  we did not find this out until after our trip otherwise we would have tried to see her.  The girls really enjoyed spending the evening with her while she was here in Nsoko.

 

Well it is getting late and even though I dont sleep well here I am going to try and rest my head.

 

Please pray:

 

- our health which has been great so far

 

- safety with travel

 

- our relationships here at the guesthouse and the center

 

- for the children  here pretty much living on their own

Since we have arrived things around here have been slow which has been very helpful in us getting adjusted.  For those of you who know our family- well we tend to get up around 7am every morning.  Those skylights in the girls room are great but as soon as the light hits there room they are up.  Well here we all sleep in the same room with no windows and lets just say things have drastically changed.  We wake up at 9:30 one day as late as 10:45...crazy!  Since we are waking up so late and still going to bed before 8 pm the girls will not take naps.  That is something we are going to work on this week.  Things should start to get busier this week.

 

Construction projects begin tomorrow and I will be able to work in the clinic again.  There is also another team that arrived from San Diego who are awesome.  They have a lot of cool projects going on and I am excited to see where I can help.

 

God has been so good to us while we are here and I have been reminded of his provision in our life.  It is hard to express and put into words the things we see here on a daily basis but I am moved beyond words.  There are so many needs and few things we can do as a family.  I have been praying that God would open up doors to show others his love for them. 

 

 We are staying in a very nice place and have housekeepers.  It is really hard for me to sit back and let her do all the work.  I try and tell her our beds are clean and that she does not need to change the sheets  everyday.  I told her I dont change my sheets at home everyday and embarressed to say that it does not even get done weekly.  Anyway Saturday we went shopping for groceries and came back with a good amount of food.  She shared with me that she works 7 days a week had 2 sets of twins and a baby who is 11 months.  The Lord really impressed upon my heart to share some of our food with her.  She was so grateful and told me the Lord bless you.  I felt like what I gave her was not even enough and she was asking that the Lord bless me!  I am praying that the purpose in our staying here is to show her the love of Christ. 

 

Well to all those who read this lengthy post thanks for sticking through it.  I usually dont have much to share.  I posted some pictures on facebook and was having trouble putting them here.  So if you are not my friend become my friend so you can see the pictures.

 

Love to all of you back home and know that we are missing you!

Sara

We have arrived in Swaziland, almost did not make it.  When we arrived at the airport they could not find Allie's ticket or record  in the system.  The flight was ready to take off in 15 minutes when they finally decided to tell us that we needed to purchase another ticket.  We even had reciept that we purchased the ticket but since they could not find her in the system they said either buy the ticket or you can't get on this flight.  So we really had no choice and have to attempt to get our refund when we come back.  Traveling can really be stressful. 

Through all the stress I was reminded that God is in control and will work out all the details.  And we did end up making the flights and really had no other problems along the way.  We are exhausted and still  in need of some rest.

 

Thanks to all those who are praying for us.  I am going to post pictures some time tomorrow.

 

 

Here is  a list of items we could bring with us to Swaziland:

 

 

If you would like to donate any of the above items let me know and we can work out a way to meet.

 

This project has been a big undertaking.  It can be complicated trying to get a family of 5 vaccines for our trip.  I have been at the doctors office multiple times myself and talked with my doctor over the phone to try and work out all the details.  It is almost complete for Morgan and myself but John and Leah are still needing a few more things.  I have my worries with little Allie, she cant recieve all the vaccines so they told me I am going to need to be careful with her drinking and eating over there.  Please pray for her especially that God would protect her little body from getting sick. 

 

 

Our plans for the summer are to travel to Swaziland from July 12th-August 19th.  We have been praying about where to go and for the Lord's leading.  This is the location where we feel God may be leading long term some time in the future. 

 

In the process of getting ready we had to renew mine and Morgan's passport and get one for Allie.  That was not so hard and everything came back really quickly. 

 

Now we need to make sure we all have our vaccines.  I went to the doctor today to get a physical for school in the fall and talked with the doctor about what we will need to have before we leave.  The girls are not excited about having to get shots.  Leah keeps telling me that she is going to cry.  I am sure she will do just fine.   

 

While we are there I hope to spend time in the clinic on base.  John is going to be working on projects at the base.  The girls will propbably be making new friends and enjoying their new surroundings. 

 

We are very excited and look forward to sharing our experience with all who follow our blog. I will try and do better and keeping this updated.  It is just not my thing!

 

I still have one year to finish in nursing school.  My semester starts August 23 so I will have little time to get ready.  So you can be praying for me that the transition will not be as hard as I am expecting.  And if it is difficult that I will trust that God is in control and will help me through it.