Now what?

I don’t know if anyone is still looking for a post or not but i have had a few requests, so i thought i would write a couple of lines.  first of all, thank you, thank you!  you all were so wonderful and i felt so proud to be over in africa spreading God’s love only because of everyone’s support!  But now that i have had a week to kind of sit back and relax, the dust is settling and i am starting to see things more clearly. 

 Wow, God was so busy over there.  He seemed like He was raring to go and couldn’t wait to put me to work, and work He did.  The girls, mama, sister, even the babies all took me to the airport.  They all just sat on my luggage and we had at least sixteen people in the car and then another car full as well.   They all stood around us as we left and sang a song ‘never give up, you must never give up’.  They sang it is xhosa.  We all cried (as well as the onlookers) and then off we went. 

My fondest memories of course are those of the kids at Oceans and of ‘my village’ that i have become so protective over.  I can hear all the children’s voices, their footsteps between the house and the garage, the slamming of the garage door that never couldn’t be closed quietly, phumalni’s voice saying ‘can we go to sassol’ (a near by gas station that became our daily escape), sister’s face that always greeted me in the morning’s on my way to get coffee and i can still hear that rooster!!  I am so moved and affected by my trip to africa that i can not quite become comfortable at home yet.

 i almost don’t feel like i am in the right place just yet. I am giving that time and chalking some of it up to drama.  The kids have called me every day (with a phone card i left for them) but have only managed to reach me a couple of times and each time i got to speak to everyone including sister.  THey all wanted to know what i was doing, when i was coming back and how the boys are doing.  Life here is so different and i will be making some changes.  I will not allow such waste to be going on in my house anymore.  no more drinks at the gas station when home is just a half a mile down the road.  I am considering not having such an enormous car (but i do appreciate it’s reliability) and i am looking for what my purpose is now. 

I want to go back to Ocean’s in Oct. when the next group goes to build a church at ‘my village’ but i don’t know if that will be possible or not.  i guess we will see what God wants.  final thoughts… my memories of africa will always be peppered with the comments from all of you, the support and of course the love from every direction i turned.  my heart is filled with tiny thumbprints and pockets of laughter that will always be recognized… like a familiar childhood smell.  I will never forget the eyes that i got to look into every day, the lips i got to kiss every morning and fingers i felt running through my hair several times a day.  Thank you Oceans, thank you God, thank you danny and thank you children….. i will always love you.  i will always miss you.

signing off,

jennifer, joseph and james