Love It!

I just love, love, love, love, love it when the Holy Spirit does something so amazing that proves His unmistakable presence in our lives!!  I live for those moments!

My alarm was set for 7 a.m. this morning, but after tossing and turning for probably 20 minutes, I decided to go ahead and get up at 6:50 a.m. instead.  Lately I've been feeling very convicted about my priorities because in my sleepy state in the mornings, the first thing I typically turn to is either the computer, the news on TV, or the laundry pile, and then depending on how my morning goes, my quiet time with God doesn't always happen as ideally as it should.  Distractions come, and either my time is cut short, is not as meaningful, or just doesn't end up happening.  He's been working on my conscience on that issue for a while, and it's been getting better, but life still happens, and I'm still far from perfect.

Well, this morning I just had a very strong feeling that I was SUPPOSED to check Facebook right away.  Knowing what God's been doing with me, I really tried hard to suppress what I figured was Satan's ploy with my head, but somehow it felt different, and the feeling just couldn't be shaken.

When I opened up Facebook, this status update from the Zambia page was staring me in the face:

"Prayers needed!!!  Our young people are doing something AMAZING at 2 p.m. here in Zambia (7 a.m. Central time).  We will be doing a MAJOR ministry site. We have been going hut to hut inviting the locals to come to a large soccer field. Just yesterday the local 'black doctor' gave his life to Christ.  Him and his son have said ...that they were going to use their tractor to 'bus' people in." 

Is God just so amazing or what???  I love hearing about what all He is doing in and through this team of people!  And if I hadn't followed the Holy Spirit's prompting, I may not have known to pray right at that moment!  I LOVE it!!

And then I must confess:  I went ahead and looked through the next batch of pictures that her leaders posted, and right towards the end was this one of my baby girl:

That's the closest thing I've seen of her in 6 and a half weeks, and it just makes this mama wanna cry and give her a hug and a big kiss on those cheeks!!  The comment below the picture explains that part of their core values is to be authentic, and they were making masks to demonstrate how important it is to be real instead of wearing masks.

So after that I went to my favorite "prayer chair" to pray and finished my devotions by reading a passage in Romans.  In light of many things going on in my life right now, it spoke to me in so many different ways.  I love it when God's word just jumps off the page at me!!  It's a little long, but it's just too good not to share with you!  

"And so, dear Christian friends, I (Paul) plead with you to give your bodies to God.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice -- the kind He will accept.  When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask?  Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. 

"As God's messenger, I give each of you this warning:  Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you.  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.  We are all parts of His one body, and each of us has different work to do.  And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

"God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you.  If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching.  If your gift is to encourage others, do it!  If you have have money, share it generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. 

"Don't just pretend that you love others.  Really love them.  Hate what is wrong.  Stand on the side of the good.  Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.  Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

"Be glad for all God is planning for you.  Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.  When God's children are in need, be the one to help them out.  And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night. 

"If people persecute you because you are a Christian, don't curse them; pray that God will bless them.  When others are happy, be happy with them.  If they are sad, share their sorrow.  Live in harmony with each other.  Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people.  And don't think you know it all! 

"Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.  Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.  Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. 

"Dear friends, never avenge yourselves.  Leave that to God.  For it is written, 'I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,' says the Lord.  Instead do what the Scriptures say:  'If your enemies are hungry, feed them.  If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.'  Don't let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."  Romans 12:1-21, NLT

Whew!  My mind is still whirling from all the thoughts in that passage!  Then God finished off my July 29 reading by showing me these verses:

"Future generations will also serve Him.  Our children will hear about the wonders of the Lord.  His righteous acts will be told to those yet unborn.  They will hear about everything He has done."  Psalm 22:30-31, NLT

Haley's not only HEARING about the wonders of the Lord; she's seeing them firsthand!!  We've seen reports of healings, salvations, and miracles going on in Zambia.  I just can't help but wonder what all Haley is experiencing at this very moment!  And just think about the stories she'll be able to tell her children someday!  Praise God!

(And did I mention that Haley comes home ONE WEEK FROM TODAY?!?)

A Little Bit Homesick

When Harris and I got married 25 and a half years ago, we were blessed to have all eight of our Christian grandparents at our wedding, and over the years we've been blessed to be surrounded by many wonderful relatives and have enjoyed lots of great family memories.  All of our grandparents were very special people, and we very much miss those who have gone on to Heaven. 

Harris still has one grandma who has lived in the Alzheimer's unit longer than anyone else there, and then I have one set of grandparents who are still living in their own home.  My 93-year-old grandpa still spends much of his days working out in any one of his three gardens, and my grandma, who will be 90 in January, spends her days welcoming spontaneous visitors and somehow always has a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies ready to serve and never makes anyone feel as though she has more important things to do than visit.  I want to be just like them. 

Eighteen years ago when I was six months pregnant with Haley, someone in this particular family decided to have a family campout.  You see, my grandpa and grandma had 12 kids, and it was becoming harder and harder to find a time to get them all together, and setting aside four nights to camp together seemed like a really good idea to someone.  For some families that might not work, but little did we know then that that idea would become not only a tradition but the glue that would help this growing family stick together.

There are a lot of us.  I'm the oldest of 41 grandkids, and there are 64 great-grandkids with 3 more due to arrive this fall.  That doesn't even include a few stepkids or all of the spouses!  The tradition has become more and more special as the years go by, and many who live out of state use this opportunity every year to come and see Grandpa and Grandma.  Even second and third cousins actually know and love each other, and it has been awesome to see all those relationships develop over the years. 

Haley knew that her trip to Africa meant she would not be able to attend the 18th Annual De Boef Family Campout 2010, and it saddened her greatly.  The only salve for the wound was the fact that her second cousin Grant, who was born the weekend of our very first campout, was going to be at boot camp all summer, and he wouldn't be there either.  If they had to miss a campout, at least they were going to miss the same one.  Their silly and goofy presence was missed by many this year, and Haley's already been informed by one of her other cousins that she is allowed only one more absence in her lifetime, so she'd better use it wisely! 

While I was visiting with my mom and one of my aunts on Friday morning, my cell phone rang.  You'd think by now that when I look at my phone and see a strange number with more digits than normal, it would click that it's Haley, but it still didn't.  As usual, it took us a little bit of time to connect because there is lag time every time either of us says something, and it's just hard to be patient when your adrenaline is up and you know you're finally connecting.  Every other time that Haley has called, her spirits have been really good, but this time she was crying.  Just as she spilled out the fact that she was homesick, we lost the call as I moved closer to the door in an effort to get better reception.  Thankfully she called back relatively quickly, and we were able to talk for just a couple more minutes.  She shared through her tears that the last couple days had been really hard and that she was very homesick, and my heart just took a dive right there on the spot.  My natural instinct was just to cry right with her, but a strong confident approach towards the whole thing was much more important at that moment in time.  Evidently my messages hadn't been getting through to her lately, so when I mentioned the fact that I was sitting in Aunt Willene's camper, I'll never forget the agonizing words that came out of her mouth:

"You're at the De Boef Campout???" 

Oh, how I cringed when I knew that wouldn't help her situation.  All I could do was assure her that she was very missed and loved and that people were praying for her.  She shared with us that her team had won a contest which allowed them each an extra 6 minutes of phone time and that she would be able to call home again the next day for 7 minutes.  Since she shared that all she really wanted was a movie with her dad, I encouraged her to call his cell phone the next day instead of mine. 

"But what if it's in the middle of the night???"

Who cares!!!  We'll take her call whenever she wants to call! 

We went to bed that night with Harris's phone fully charged and in bed with us, but her phone call didn't come till 1 p.m. the next day.  Harris was at his folks' house at the time, so I wasn't able to be a part of it, but he said she sounded much better.  When I asked him what she said, he said, "I knew you would ask me that."  He finally understood what I've been trying to articulate all along.  The few phone calls that we've had come so unexpectedly, and when you finally get through the first moments of actually connecting, your head and heart are working so hard at trying to figure out what is most important to talk about that before you know it, her time is up, you hang up, and you realize that nothing of real significance is talked about, you can hardly even remember what was said, and all you can do is breathe a sigh of relief that she's okay and be thankful to have heard her voice.  It's just one of the oddest things, and now he's able to understand that feeling as well. 

The rest of the campout was just not quite the same for me.  It was just as awesome as usual to connect with everyone, but my heart was with her, and it was just weird to not have her there with us.  Normally I'm one of the ones who can't get enough of the campfire setting late into the night, but Saturday night I just wanted to crawl into bed early.  It didn't help that I was supposed to be giving a message on Sunday morning at our family church service and still had no clear idea of what I was going to say.  Two weeks prior, God laid it on my heart that I was to do some of the speaking this year, but He sure wasn't giving me any clear indication of what He wanted me to say.  All I could do was crawl into bed and just pray that He would reveal it to me by 9:30 in the morning. 

When I woke up and grabbed my Bible, He finally gave me some verses that triggered my message, and all I could do was pray that He would speak through me and that all the things on my heart would come out in such a way that would be meaningful to someone and glorifying to God.  This De Boef family had done such a great job of supporting Haley in so many ways, and my heart was so full of thanksgiving towards them.  I wanted them to know that but also to encourage them to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in this season of their lives.  Some of them may be called to go and be used of God in missions work.  Some of them may be called to send just like they had done with Haley.  Some of them may not even be aware that God is calling them into a deeper relationship with Him.  Some of them may be called to receive others around them into their lives and be given the opportunity to minister to them. 

"When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Now glory be to God!  By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May He be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen."  Ephesians 3:14-21

My grandma also shared a message with the little kids, and I just have to share this picture with you.  She captured their attention so well, and it was such a special moment for all of us, young and old alike!  Just envision a whole lot more attendees off to the side!

Then when it was our family's time to share, my brother encouraged all the young men to get up and sing "Faith of Our Fathers" with him.  What a wonderful thing to see and hear!

When we got home on Monday, there were a few pictures from Zambia on Facebook, and it was so good to see Haley in some of them, so I'll close by sharing them with you! 

Sugar cane maybe?  We don't know for sure!  We just know that we'll be really glad to feed her some American food when she arrives home ...

NEXT WEEK!!!!!

(We're all just a little bit excited around here to be able to say that!)

Mail from South Africa!

Now this is something I don't normally see in my mailbox!!!

I came home on Monday and found this sweet little envelope on the counter, already opened, with five colorful little sheets of paper with Haley's handwriting all over them!  Fun mail!!!  Evidently they found out two days before they were going to leave South Africa that they could send a letter for 8 rand, which is a little more than a dollar, so someone must have shared their paper and envelopes with her.  Each of us now has a special handwritten note from Haley full of little tidbits of info and sprinkled with lots of love.  We were so encouraged by how her spirit is overflowing with joy.  She is truly where God wants her to be this summer.  She's not sure yet that this is her calling in life, but for this season right now, God is using her and working in her and growing her spiritually. 

Here are a few snippets:

"It's crazy to think that so many here have never heard the name even of Jesus."

"As for Zambia, I'm excited!  I'm super pumped to see how God is going to use me!  I'm so glad I stayed because I know that if I would have gone home with the A-trippers, I wouldn't have been satisfied at all!"

"When I think about everything and look under the African stars, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be, and it is amazing to finally be used as God's hands and feet!"

"I've had so many different experiences with different people, and you'll be happy to know that I only have about 18 children to adopt so far!  These kids, snotty as their faces may be, are stinkin' (literally) adorable!"  

"I did see some rhinos the other morning across the road which was kinda crazy and scary because there was only a very, very small fence and a road between us!"  

Two weeks from today she'll be home, and we'll be able to hear all these stories from her in person! 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for her!  We do serve an amazing God!

Sunday Morning News!

mommy!!! i miss you!!!! zambia is good... sorry for wakin you up so early. i so hope all is well with the fam... i can't wait to be home and in the loop! afrika is great but i be missin america and movies with my father! i can't wait for that day in the airport to see all your smiling mugs again:) we are ruffin it f...or sure, i haven't showered in a week, and the dirty work is starting tomorrow! fred came but all is well for now! we have got a countdown going for home... it's been a bit rough for the ctrippers but we're all there for each other! it's been great having them as fam here... i be loving you tons!! idk when i'll get to write again but pppplease send me notes! im loving them! tell father and mi chico chiquito hello! love love love!

In other notes that were posted, we learned that they had attended a great service that morning and then headed to a mall that is an hour and 15 minutes away for lunch at Subway, a grocery store, and an internet cafe. I'm very thankful for a little more communication!

Some pictures were posted too!!! I'll share a few of them with you:

Supposedly the line of rocks is called the "lady line."  We are assuming that the girls' tents are behind that line.

This is the kitchen!

Do you see Haley?

Look for her on the right in a black coat and blue scarf!

Haley Called!!!

Note to self: Write Haley a message and explain how to maximize three minutes on the phone.

When the home phone rang at 4:50 a.m. this morning, I was hardly coherent, but thankfully it didn't take long for me to realize it was our Haley on the other end of the line! She seemed distracted and was really focused on the fact that she only had three minutes on the phone. I think one of those minutes was spent telling me that repeatedly! When she calls, I just want her to talk incessantly so that I can get as many details as possible and hear her heart, but in this little blip of time that we got to talk, a limited amount of information was given. They are happy to be in Zambia, the food is much better there, and their bathroom facilities are slightly better than a hole in the ground. She was able to take a bucket shower and wash her hair at least. They haven't done any ministry there yet, but she is loving it and doing great.

That's about it, but hey, I'll take it! I'm thankful this morning for the opportunity to hear her voice and know that she is doing well!

Bye-Bye, Charlene! Haley, Hello Zambia!

When we agreed to hosting a French student for a month this summer and Haley going to Africa for two months, never in my wildest dreams did I envision the ironies that would unfold and the strange things that would happen over the course of our summer and make me think so much. For starters, the fact that Haley left one day and Charlene came the next was just weird to me. We never signed up for that particular timeline, but we are convinced that God orchestrated the whole thing to help distract us. We have been so busy, and our neglected home and garden are proof!

Just to give you a few examples:

All in a matter of just a few days, we took Charlene to a state park near Bellevue, Iowa, introduced her to a family game called "Horse-Horse" while driving around the countryside, had her ride a horse for the first time, and then put her in a parade on the 3rd of July. She'd never even seen a parade and was so excited to spend the 4th of July in America! The very next day, Jessie, the four-year-old daughter of one of Kelsey's youth group leaders, was watching a parade in Bellevue with her mom when all of a sudden a couple of horses got spooked and ran several blocks through the parade route with a carriage behind them, and Jessie became one of the many injured people. We learned of this the next morning while in Pella, and as we were driving down the street there, we spotted a couple from our church here in Bettendorf, so we pulled over the van and chatted a bit with them about the accident, and she read me a text about the power of prayer in this little girl's life. She said "love you" before leaving the van and waving good-bye, and I don't even know this gal all that well! It really struck me because Charlene had frequently been commenting on how friendly everyone is here and had been blown away by the greeting time at our church on Sunday mornings. All of these circumstances were interesting to explain to her. Thankfully Jessie is improving, but prayers for her and her family are welcomed.

Kelsey lost a ring one day that was special to her, and normally when something like that happens, we'll eventually just stop and pray over the situation, and the lost item is found. Because Charlene was in our presence and praying was such a new concept to her, I chickened out and opted not to pray collectively with the kids. The ring has not been found, and there has been conviction going on in my heart whenever I think about it. Such a simple thing but such an opportunity that I missed. Then this week it was posted on Facebook that a lady from our old church was missing, and for two days I watched people collectively love on this family and pray over the situation, felt the agony in my heart of what they must be going through, and then praised the Lord with them when she was found! Prayer is truly an amazing thing!

Last Sunday morning I was writing some thank yous for Haley, and just a few hours later, I found out that one of the couples that I was writing to was making a visit to Harris's dad, whose cancer is getting the best of him. While they were all visiting, Heath and his girlfriend, Jenny, stopped in for a visit with Grandpa while they were in Pella, and thirty seconds after they decided to exit the room, Jenny got a phone call that her grandpa had just passed away. The timing and irony of the whole situation was very weird for both of them.

Early on in our month, we learned that one of the main reasons that Haley's group didn't get to leave the Paris airport and see the Eiffel Tower was because it's illegal to proselytize (recruit to one's faith) in France, and with a group of eager missionaries headed to Africa, the leaders didn't want to lose anyone to a jail cell in France. Soon after that I learned from someone else that one of the reasons for this is because the Muslims in Africa have made a point of budging their way into France. Charlene shared in a separate conversation that people in France are fearful to display their own country's flag because they are then accused of being racist.

Keep all of that in mind, and then consider that just a couple days before Haley left and Charlene came, Kelsey came home from a week of church camp where they learned about being bold in their faith and witnessing to the nations. All of this head and heart knowledge caused this Christian family to pray for a lot of wisdom in knowing how to best share our faith with Charlene in spite of the language and cultural barriers. It's interesting to note that out of all the topics for Charlene to experience in her visits to youth group with Kelsey, purity is the one that opened the door for much conversation between the two of them. Kelsey has encouraged her to maintain it, knowing full well that she will face much scrutiny amongst her peers who haven't. Charlene is intrigued by the concept of following Christ but is unsure how to carry out all the new things she has been learning in a culture where that's not the norm.

She has successfully worked her way deep into our hearts. When the subject originally came up of hosting a foreign exchange student, I'll admit that Harris and I were hesitant for a while. For me, I had heard a few stories about the challenges that can occur, and I just wasn't sure that I was ready to try it, but in all honesty, we couldn't have asked for a more wonderful experience. Charlene was the most pleasant, kind, fun, adaptable, content, and enjoyable person to have around. She ate anything we put in front of her, never suggested a hint of disgust or disappointment over anything we offered to feed or do with her, smiled and laughed and cracked jokes all the time, kept her room neat and clean, was quick to pitch in with chores, made a couple French meals for us, and had great hygiene! That became a little joke amongst us because she was amused that in our hosting handbook, we were warned that that could be an issue! The kids were all scheming in how we could help her miss her flight. She seemed genuinely sad to leave, but we assured her that she is welcome to come back anytime. She left a precious handwritten note for each of us, and we sent her home loaded with American memorabilia, a devotional, and a CD with the song "Glory to God" on it. The last-minute packing scenario wasn't quite as traumatic as Haley's was, but let's just say that we did successfully get the peanut butter in her bag! ;-) Haley was supposed to take peanut butter to Africa but couldn't get it in; Charlene opted to take peanut butter and maple syrup but left behind many of her toiletry items in order to do so!

Pray for her, would you? We've planted many seeds in her life, and now we're left to trust God that those seeds have fallen on fertile soil, that He will water and grow them, and that He will surround her with a support system back home that we aren't even aware of yet. She has definitely become a special part of our family, and it's really strange to think about the fact that she and Haley don't even know each other!



We sent Charlene home on the hottest day (heat index of 115!) we've had to date this summer. Too bad she had to wear some of her heavier clothing in order to keep her bag's weight limit under 50 pounds!




On the very same day that she was flying back to France, Haley was flying from South Africa to Zambia! How ironic is that! We haven't heard from her personally yet, but this morning there were a couple pictures on Facebook that I wish I could repost, but until I get permission, I'd better not do so. Just picture her with her fleece jacket and winter scarf draped around her neck! The weather is a little different there!

They will be roughing it in tents outside the orphanage for the next month with no real bathroom facilities, and they will be cooking over open fires. We went into this being told that our communication with her would probably be less while in Zambia than in South Africa, but her leader posted on Facebook that they are an hour away from internet and phones, so they should be able to post something every few days, which would be much more than what we've had so far! I won't hold my breath and will just be thankful for whatever we get. One of her leaders also posted a note to me that she had sat by Haley on the bus and that Haley was doing well physically. That was such a blessing to hear this morning! She'll be home three weeks from today, and we can hardly wait to see her!

In other news this week, we learned that there has been a terrorist bombing in Uganda, which is the country Beth was in last summer and where the girls first planned to go this summer. We're thankful they are not there!

Over the weekend we found ourselves sharing a traumatic story about Kelsey falling out of a grocery cart and hitting her head really hard when she was a baby, and then hours later we found out that my cousin's little boy Justin had fallen off a ladder and ended up with a skull fracture that required major surgery Saturday night. Praise the Lord He's doing well now!

Then I woke up this morning to a Facebook post from a gal asking for prayer for the Pella lifeguards who are processing the finding of two bodies at the bottom of the pool last evening. God bless all these victims of terrible tragedies! I had just had a conversation yesterday with a young gal who was telling me that she wanted to be a lifeguard because, in her mind, it was such an easy job ~ just walk around all summer and get a tan. Yes, it might appear to be easy until the unthinkable happens. Haley works as a lifeguard, so all these things just keep going through my mind!

It's all just too weird, isn't it? I'm not sure I have a moral to my story today. I just had to document this chain of events. The produce filling my kitchen and other messes around my house are calling my name. We've had a whole lot of fun this past month, but it's time for me to get to work!

Glory to God!

Our 4th of July weekend started off by introducing Charlene to one of Kelsey's very favorite activities:

Before coming to America, Charlene had never been on a horse, a motorcycle, or a four-wheeler, but she has been a trooper in trying them all. She'd also never seen a parade, but we actually got her involved IN a parade! Our loyalties were a little split because my dad works for Pella Motors ...




... and Harris's dad owns Pella Motorworks.






As a bunch of us were sitting around in my sister-in-law's kitchen waiting for the parade to start, my cell phone rang. It was a strange number, but that never stops me from answering, so I threw out my usual "Hello," only to be greeted by my daughter's voice on the other end of the line!!! "Haley? Is this really Haley?" I could hardly believe my ears! I quickly pushed the speakerphone button so everyone else could hear her voice too, and we were able to enjoy a few precious moments of conversation. Her first question was, "How is Grandpa?" and at the end I handed over the phone to Keaton so she could wish him a happy birthday, which is one of the main reasons she chose to call when she did.


In between, we learned several things:

* The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have become the highlight of her day when it comes to food. Sometimes they eat things that aren't real great, but at least they're warm.

* She had literally been praying for pancakes, and her teammates had been "mocking" her because they were all quite positive that those would not be on the menu, but she was quite impressed when pancakes were served and she could share the power of prayer with them! They had caramel on them, which was a new twist, but all was well in Haley's tummy!

* It's been very cold in South Africa, and there's nowhere to go to get warm, but it does get hot during the daytime.

* She'd showered three times in the two weeks she'd been there. "Only some of the girls are brave enough to get fully undressed and take showers." I'm not sure if that's because the water is cold, there are bugs, people could be watching, or what. She didn't elaborate.

* She has fallen in love with several of the children and wishes she could pack certain ones up and bring them home with her, especially six of them in particular.

* She absolutely loves her teammates, and they have become really close.

* Her limited clothing selection is getting really old and boring but, in her words, "Oh, well."

* She's never seen a country more proud of their flag, but she figured it was partially because of the World Cup going on there at the time.

* She had borrowed someone's cell phone to make the call and wasn't sure that she'd be able to call again. Evidently when the public phone lines went down, the Africans turned to cell phones instead, so now there are no public phones where she is at. Her times on the computer are so short because internet access is very expensive, and they have only been able to do that because of the generosity of their project director.

* She shared with me that my "20" messages per week compared to some others' "3" messages per week was a little much, so I could lay off just a bit in how much I write! It was a little too embarrassing! Oops!

* She hadn't personally witnessed any miracles yet, nor any demonic activity (praise God for that!!), but the people there were so appreciative and receptive to their help. Their ministry efforts going shack to shack seemed a little ineffective to some of her team, but she loves seeing the expressions on their faces when they offer to help the people.

It was so incredibly good to hear her voice and the excitement in it! She said that she had been a little bit homesick the night before, but she opened up five or six of the letters that we had sent with her, and a couple of them had her laughing, which was very good medicine. We didn't talk about her physical health at all, but I guess no news is good news. After we finished talking, I just had to find a quiet spot to soak it all in and thank the Lord for how He'd been working in her and through her and for her seemingly really good spirits.

Back to life here ...

Another thing that Charlene has never experienced is church or anything to do with God. Obviously that's a pretty major part of our lives, so she's been inundated with it by being placed in our family. Kelsey's been taking her to youth group, and one of the songs she picked up on is "Glory to God." I even heard her humming it one day! Kelsey explained to her on our way to church Sunday morning in Pella that it wasn't likely that she would hear that song, but I'll never forget seeing her hand shoot up in the air and point to the screen when she saw those words! Definitely a God thing was occurring, and I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I watched her sing along with a smile on her face. It's been a bit challenging to know how to best convey our faith with her, so we just keep praying for wisdom and the right words and are trusting that God will grow the seeds we are planting in her life.

The gloomy skies prevented us from some water activities the rest of the day, but we thoroughly enjoyed some time with my family where we celebrated Keaton's and Larissa's birthdays!


Once we got home Monday night, it was time to regroup with everything around the house, and then we moved into serious office mode for the next three days because of our scheduled annual audit on Thursday. Friday we were thrilled to welcome a cousin of mine and her family for lunch and a nice visit, and after they left, we took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend by pulling out the camper and let Charlene experience another favorite Westerkamp activity! What a glorious weekend of relaxation!


While we were hanging out yesterday afternoon, I picked up Harris's phone and navigated my way into Facebook where I was elated to find a nice long message from Haley!!! There is no way I can describe it to you, so once again, I'm just going to share it in true Haley style. Enjoy . . .

Mommy, mommy, mommy!!! i miss you so much i could cry right now! i need a hug and from father i need a stair hug! this is the first time in a while i can contact home! i am loving c-gap... some downtime was very very needed! all i really wanna do is watch a movie with dad but other than that i am doing great! we actually had a "movie-night" where we watched national treasure which was freakin amazing! God has been doing some amazing things here in my heart... so much is changing and i can't wait to be home but off to zambia first! i am psyched and so ready to minister to those lost and broken children! i have become so much more bold! it was so hard to say see ya to the a-trippers... watching them drive off in a bus on their way home was much harder than i thought it would be! however... all of us c-trippers would agree that we are so not ready to go home. we all know that God has not used us to the fullest extent and he has so much more to do in everyone of our lives! i have made a ton of friends and have become so close with them! it is awesome to have about 12 sisters all going through the same boat right now! literally... we have become such close brothers and sisters idk how we shall all depart. the b-trippers will come on tuesday night and then next wed we will fly out to zambia. i have embraced fully the idea of not showering... i have done little laundry... and i smell a bit but we are in AFRICA so who stinkin cares!?! haha none of us do... i'm not so sure i am ready to fully rough it but it's coming quick! please continue to write notes... i never meant for you to not write! how is gpa doing? how is charlene? i miss you all and love you so much! i wish i were telling you all of this on the phone but prolly i will not have the chance. i am however loving not having the phone and internet and car all the time! such distractions! i read esther this morning which was awesome... haha i ended up taking all of my words back about that movie you made us watch... umm a night with the king? yea i would have been lost if not for that movie! lol i figured you would enjoy knowing that! 1 corinthians is also an amazing book! woot woot! i am so loving the hour everyday we get in the word!!! just not the fact that it is at 645 in the morn. i'm thinking that it's God's way of getting me ready for swimming... ugh! lol jk im excited to get home and jump back into everything!!! i love you oh so very much! and i don't want to stop talking but to avoid spending all of my rand i gotta get off!!!!!!!!! i miss you!!!!!!!! i love you!!!!!!!! do you miss me? do you love me? haha are you missing that series of questions every night??? lol jk i'll be back soon enough!!! tell everyone hello!! especially dad, heath, kelserz, and chico chiquito!!! byes:) sorry this was so long!

Glory to God!!! To Him be all the praise!!!

In some wonderful quiet time this morning ...

... HE gave me these words in HIS message to me, and I can't help but leave you with these tonight.

Prayers for Safety, Please!

Yesterday I was finally on my way to the office when Kelsey called and said, "Mom, Haley's on Facebook!" Since I wasn't too far from home, I quickly pulled over so that I could decide whether to keep on driving or head back home with the hopes of having a conversation, but in that short little blip of time, Haley managed to post a couple quick things, and then Kelsey said she was off again. It all felt like such a tease! But I comforted myself with the fact that, yes, she's alive and well, and if that's all we can get, then we'll just have to be grateful for that. She showed us her sense of humor and commented that God does answer prayer; He had provided pancakes one morning for breakfast!! Pancakes are one of her favorite foods, so she knew we'd love to hear it. She did say to keep the messages coming, so it was encouraging to know that the daily messages I've been sending her about life back at home must be getting through to her.

As encouraging as all that was, I was equally disturbed by a comment another mom made on the South Africa Facebook page. Her daughter had called home (a rare cell phone maybe?) and informed her that where they are ministering, the gospel has not been presented very much, and there is a lot of black magic, witch doctors, and spiritual oppression. Beth had told us back in December already that she had seen evidences of miracles AND demonic activity when she was in Uganda last summer, so those things have lurked in the back of my mind for months. Hearing this news yesterday has been weighing on my heart, and I'm asking you to pray with me for a hedge of protection to surround this team. God gave me this verse this morning, and I am clinging to it: "The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe." Proverbs 18:10

Not only is my daughter in Africa and surrounded by such things, but Harris, Heath, Vance, and Karson left last night for a four-wheeling trip in the mountains in Tennessee with a bunch of other Primericans. They need a huge amount of prayer for safety and protection too! The rest of us girls and Keaton are headed to Pella for a weekend full of family fun, 4th of July activities, and Keaton's birthday! He could have gone with the guys like he did two years ago, but he faced a very tough decision and opted to go with us.

Thank you, Lord, for the freedom we have to enjoy so many fun things!