I have just 8 short days left in my beloved Africa.  My heart loves this place and these people so dearly.   I keep joking with the kids that I'm going to have to bring them all home with me in my suitcase.  These kids make me happy to be alive.  They have taught me how to laugh even through the pain that comes with this life.  They have showed me what it is to worship and praise God even through the storms.  They have helped to strengthen my heart and yet make it so much more tender and broken before the Lord.   They showed me how to carry water on my head, how to make chapatti, and ugali.   I have danced with them, laughed with them, and cried with them.  They have captured my heart and leaving them in just about a week will be one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. 

Its been such a strange thing to be in a place that is so very different from your culture and yet to feel that this place is more like home then where you were raised.   I have been reminded again that my heart for Africa is not something that just popped into my head as a little girl.  It is His desire for my life that He has made my desire as well.   I was praying or rather crying out to the Lord the other day because my heart was so heavy with the thought of leaving and I felt Him whisper to my soul...I know the plans I have for you,...plans for peace and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.   I was questioning plans that He had very clearly put before me.  Even though I would much rather stay here then go home and start college that is what He has put before me to do now.  His plans are so much bigger and greater than anything we could ever imagine.  So I am holding on to this word from Jeremiah, I know the plans I have for you.  He knows what He's doing, He knows best.