Uganda...Tomorrow.

Thank you SO much for all of your prayers and support! I am so excited and can not believe that we are leaving tomorrow! We will be posting on these two blogs while we are away:

http://etaala.org/blog

http://howwillyouchange.com

Thank you so much for your encouragement! I feel so well prayed for and I am so thankful for you all. Please continue to pray for us and check the blogs for updates!

Kerennie and Me.

Lady: "Is she your daughter?"

Me: "No, she's my little sister."

Lady:"OH, ok. I could tell yall were related. You look a lot alike. you have the same eyes and mouth!"

Me: "Oh really? That's so awesome! Thanks so much!"

Lady: "Yep. Same eyes and mouth."

I decided that telling her Keren was adopted from Africa wasn't necessary. I wish I had Keren's eyes and mouth though. fo reals.

--------------------------------------------- Jeremiah's quote of the day:

"Ellie please take this and do not give it to Keziah...She tried...to kill me with it." (insert crazy eyebrow face here.)

Needless to say, I took the plastic orange away. :)

--------------------------------------------

I'm going to miss these precious boogers SO bad while I'm in Uganda!! Just four more days!

It's not often that you share a bunkbed with someone in Africa and run into them at a party in America.

(Eyob, far left and Josiah is second to last on the right with the sippy cup.) Sweet miracles of adoption. Both these little boys started out their lives in Ethiopia and now it turns out that God has brought them to the same area, of the same state, on the other side of the world. Amazing. Josiah has been talking about this all week now. His "Ee-tyo-pya fwend" is in America just like him. Our God is the God who heals. He sent his son to set the captives free and bind up even the tiniest broken hearts. This little boy's heart is being healed over and over again and it's so lovely to see.

I leave for Uganda...In less than two weeks.

My team and I leave for Uganda on May 26^th! Less than two weeks from now!

The time has flown by and I have watched the Lord provide in miraculous ways for this trip. The way he brought all of the team together as well as all of the resources- it’s been an incredible faith journey already and we haven’t even left for Uganda yet! I just wanted to thank you all from the deepest parts of my heart for your generous gifts and your willingness to be a part of this exciting journey that God has me on right now. You have all blessed and encouraged me SO much with your prayers, generosity, and sweet words of encouragement.

I can not express my thanks enough! Your gifts have been instrumental in the following things that we will be doing in Uganda:

We will be giving out much needed mosquito nets, holding hygiene clinics to train people how to clean their water jugs and prepare them for NEW CLEAN WATER!

We will be dedicating a new well that will be providing clean water for hundreds of people, we will be holding fun filled game days in orphanages, we will also be volunteering in a baby orphanage, building a structure for the local Church to meet in and much more!

We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we embark on this journey. Prayer Requests:

· That we would have the complete unity as a team that only comes with Christ.

· The Lord would use us to impact those we meet in Uganda for HIS kingdom.

· For willingness in each of us to be used by God, no matter the cost.

· The Lord would work mightily in each team member’s heart and life.

· That we would show each and every precious orphan we meet that they are loved and valued by us... But most importantly, by their Creator.

· For health while we are there.

· For our families at home.

· Please pray that this two week trip wouldn’t just be a two week trip- please pray that it changes MANY lives with an eternal impact, the lives of those in Uganda, those on the team and even the families and friends of the team members when they return. May the Lord work wonders!

Thank you SO much for your part in this! I love you all!

I would love for you all to follow us on our trip blog and see what the Lord is doing over the two weeks that we will be there. You have all been such a huge part of getting us to Uganda, I’d love for you to be able to see some of the impact of your gifts!

www.etaala.org/blog

P.S. You can also pray that I will acquire an African Accent and magically turn brown. Muchas Gracias.

Prommy-Prom-Prom

Soo..Prom was amazing. Our theme was Vincent Van Gogh's "A Starry Night". Our table cloths were navy blue silk with giant yellow twinkling center pieces. (cool shaped vases with yellow easter grass in yellow- food- coloring- dyed- water, and waterproof tea-lights. I wish i had a picture because I just made them sound pretttyyy weird. they were fantastic in real life, I promise.)

Some of my VERY best friends in the whole wide world! (By the way, Heather-the girl in the amazing, frilly, blue dress at the far right- she MADE her dress! Fantastic, right?)

First of all, we had it at The Sutherland which is a BEAUTIFUL venue. We had gorgeous white tents with chandeliers and twinkling lights all around. The food was fantastic, as was the DJ, and we ate and danced for hours. Not only did we have great time dancing and indulging, but we raised over $200 towards scholarships for Kolfe boys to go to school! We got to skype with Solomon from prom, raise awareness for orphans, give an Ethiopian boy a chance to brighten his future through education AND got to sing Happy Birthday to Solomon!

He's 19 now! Please pray that He will get the best belated birthday present ever...an approved visa to come to the United States. His visa is on it's way to Ethiopia...hopefully he'll have an appointment with the Embassy in the next two weeks where they will decide to approve him to come or not. We're praying for him to be home by early June! Hopefully I'll have more pictures to post soon. :)

WE LEAVE FOR UGANDA IN TWO WEEKS!

Best Prom ever? I think yes.

Prom is this Friday and it is going to be the greatest prom ever. Why? Because the prom committee came up with the best idea that anyone ever came up with.

They said "Hmmm. Why not turn prom into an orphan awareness event/fundraiser?" So that's what they did. This is why they are my friends. Partially because of their amazing hearts for Jesus, partially because they love orphans and partially just because they are cool.

I'll be sure to give an update sometime this weekend on it's amazing-ness. P.S. We leave for Uganda three weeks from today. Excited? You can bet your britches I am.

"She will be like Beyonce."

An odd man on a mountain in Ethiopia predicted about Keren { who was 9 months old and humming away} that "She weellll be like Beyonce!" as he looked up into the sky inspirationally. Maybe he didn't do that actually but it was pretty close to that. How does a mountain man in Ethiopia know who Beyonce is? Don't ask me. Shortly after that a man came running up the hillside with a machine gun yelling about some bees that were coming. (no. they really were. in a swarm.) It was all quite hilarious.

Anyways. Today at three years old, she was humming in her carseat and i think to myself... "Hmmm. That sounds an awful lot like Single Ladies. I turn around and she's doing the wave with her arms, shaking her tush as best as she can while strapped in a seat, and singing "Doo doo doo...doo doo doo doo. la la keena rara! la la keena rara!" She was pretty on key too, not gonna lie. Lord have mercy. I'll just be certain that when she's the next Jesus loving Beyonce, she actually wears clothes.

Sparring Gear and Spiritual Gear

The world makes us all feel a bit lame at times, doesn't it?

The world screams at us everyday how lame we are for choosing to follow Jesus. How much we're missing out on, how we will never be as cool as them, or have as much fun as them. How we'll never have "freedom" like they have. {If only they knew of the true freedom and tremendous grace in Christ!}

Well. Believe it or not... :) I've listened to these cries before and even allowed them to get me down a time or two.. or seven. The well meant pitying remarks about how I must have to do a lot to help out with all my brothers and sisters. {Why shouldn't I? I prayed for siblings my whole life until i got a boat load of them!}

The not- so- well-meant remarks about how stupid it is that I won't date. {I don't believe in flinging my heart at every boy with nice hair that walks by. I believe God has a better plan that I'm just gonna wait for.}

The "wow, you must have zero friends because you don't go to public school like everyone else." {ha.} They go on and on and on and on and on and on and on...

I'm so glad that Jesus isn't a sugar coater. He doesn't make following Him out to be a fun happy clappy deal all the time. He promises that in this world we will have troubles. But He has overcome the world. He promises that there will be people who can't stand what we stand for. He gives the strength to endure.

Within the next two weeks I'm supposed to start sparring in Taekwondo. I will be learning how beat up and get beat up. {Hopefully more of the first than the latter.} Have you ever worn sparring gear? It feels pretty awkward at times and it really just looks hilarious. It. looks. ridiculous. Not even kidding. See above picture.

Back to sparring though... This is going to happen. I have been told again and again about this and they are preparing me and the others in my class for what is going to happen. We all have gear and it is our responsibility to use our gear wisely and put it on properly. We are going to be punched at, kicked at, etc.{with rules and guidelines, but still.} If I decide not to put on my helmet because it looks hilarious and someone might laugh at me, {pretty likely} I'm gonna be in a heap of trouble. {probably a heap on the ground.}

Our instructors have gone through all of the necessary precautions to train us and to provide us with everything we need in order to stay as un-injured as possible. If I just decide to skip all the classes and lose parts of my gear and expect to show up and spar successfully, without detrimental injuries and actually win...I'm just ridiculous.

It's basically the same with our walks with the Lord, he has prepared us in His word for what is expected of us. How to handle situations and glorify God in the process. He teaches us how to be in this world and not of this world, how to fight for His glory and win. He instructs us on how to put on our armor. "10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

I'm over trying to please the world. I'm sick of trying not to be ridiculous. I want to be ridiculous in the eyes of the world if that is how I'm going to be successful in serving the Lord and furthering His Kingdom. If that's how I'll win the fight for Him. Even though that comes with ridicule.

I'm sick of looking at "everybody else" and trying to be like them. The world is just full of "everybody else". My life isn't mine. My life was bought with a price, my life was bought by the perfect blood of Jesus which was the only cure for cleansing my sin-stained heart. He loved me so much that He underwent looking ridiculous. Being mocked...for me. Being killed...for me. And because of His great love, He did so willingly. He endured ridicule... because of me. He gave me a new life. A beautiful life full of hope and peace and joy and freedom. If others decide that my loving Him and living for him in return isn't "cool"...well then, "cool" is for the birds. Because of Jesus I can endure the ridicule and count it as joy and a privilege to be suffering for His sake. If taking up my cross and following Jesus with every part of my life and wearing my "spiritual armor" looks hilarious, or even stupid to some, I'm so not sorry. You can laugh.

I'm renewing my mind with my Master's words and teachings. I'm taking captive every thought and making it obedient unto Christ. I'm going to keep running and hoping in My King. He's already won and through Him, I can win as well. Funny looking and all.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. " James 1:1-5

Sisters, sisters, sisters.

Changes, changes, everywhere.

Well. If you know me, you probably know that I can sleep anywhere. Literally. You probably know that I am the hardest sleeper ever. You probably know that story about the time I {apparently} punched my camp counselor in the face in my sleep as she was attempting to wake me up in the morning.

{You may not have known that actually...}

Anyways. I have realized that I have way more things to do than I have time for so I am going to be a morning person now. I've decided... and so far it's working pretty well. My alarm only went off for an hour today before I heard it.

I have also decided to start cooking. I LOVE cooking and I just found out! I have been making some super deliciously healthy meals and everyone has been eating them! { which is always a good sign.}

I have decided to become a health nut. I like it. I've cut out processed food and all junk and I haven't had any headaches in 2 weeks.

I have decided to start training for a 5k. Which is also working out pretty nicely so far! I'm hoping to start running some Running Hope races in the future!

So, there you have it. I've told the world about my new years resolutions {in April} so it's officially official. I have to get up early.

We should be hearing about Solomon's TOEFL exam any day now! Then we wait for an embassy appointment where Lord willing, he will be getting his student visa to come to America! Please keep praying for him. Pray that the embassy would find favor with him and grant him his visa. {Or "Sol-mun's Beesah" in the words of Kerennie.}