pronounced: fai-yay

Me (referring to the cramped third row seat he always chose first): "Feye, let me sit in the back next time. My legs are shorter."

Feye: "This is my seat. The leader's seat is always in the back."

Feye Tola: director of the Child Developement Program, Food for the Hungry, Ethiopia

a little broken

so close

Picture of my life the night before Ethiopia:

• Prom-people-watching at the Plaza Starbucks with Morgan. One group with a crown and cape clad gentleman just walked in. Congratulations, you will forever have popularity bragging rights.
• Still need to finish and turn in a Film paper
• (Mostly) packed
• I found out that I can get 3 internships credits through UMKC for this trip, thus freeing up my summer from sitting in class. Glorious.
• So far no malaria pill nightmares
• I think God is going to tell me big things, reveal mysteries, and show up in power as we go.
• I can't wait to spend time with my team. I think so highly of every one of them.
• I probably won't sleep tonight.

Goodbye friends! Please pray for us!

currently listening to Brooke Fraser

p.s: If I can blog in Africa then I will, but I'm not going to push for any computer time while I'm there.

4 more days

Dad: "How ya doin', Bessy?"

Me: "Good. I just bought an insurance policy for my camera so I don't have to worry about ruining it in Africa."

Dad: "Watch out for baboons."

Me: "Huh?"

Dad: "When I lived in Nigeria in the 80's I had your uncle's Pentax camera with me when a heavy swarm of flies flew in. I put the camera on a tree stump and ran for cover. After the flies had blown away, a herd of baboons that were chasing the flies ran through. One of 'em grabbed my camera and took off into the jungle with it. Never saw it again. So watch out for baboons."

Me: "Sure thing, Dad."

not lost

I announced to my parents that I was moving to Kansas City by myself a week before Christmas, 2006. That year, my mom gave me a pair of diamond earrings right before I left, which made me feel a little more like the grown-up I was trying to be.

This morning I dug through my jewelry box and found them. Standing in front of my dresser, guided by the mirror, I put one in my ear. Then promptly dropped the other one. I never saw it hit the floor.

Dang...

This earring isn't big, by any means. But it's the most extravagant thing I own, and my mom gave it to me. I really needed to find it, and I really had no idea where it was. I bent down on the floor to search for it, and instead found a thick layer of dust and clutter. This is gross. My diamond earring is somewhere in this dirty mess.

And then it suddenly hit me that I was kind of like that earring and God was kind of like its owner, pursuing and crawling through a lot of crud, trying to get to me and wipe me clean and restore me to a safe place where I can shine.

That was a sweet little revelation, but I still couldn't find my earring. It was not under my dresser, or under my bed. Not anywhere.

Jesus, where'd it go?! How do I find it?

Then I heard him quote a line from one of his stories in my head "When a woman has ten coins and loses one, does she not light a lamp and sweep the floor until she finds it?" (Luke 15:8)

So I turned the light on and got the broom. I moved the bed, nothing. Moved the dresser, nothing but dust and hair and trash that I swept up and threw away.

What's the deal. I swept. Can't find it. Do you just not want me to have it anymore? Mom's gonna kill me.

And then I looked down at my dresser, saw that one of the drawers was open a tiny bit, opened it all the way, and found my earring resting on top of a pair of jeans.

YES!.....YES!!

I smiled to myself and as I matched one ear to the other, I heard Jon singing one of his songs in my head:

You've searched the whole earth to tell me what I'm worth

To tell me what I'm worth to you

You say that I am a diamond in your hand

A diamond in your hand for you

Lord I am blown away that you would even speak my name

To tell me I'm the treasure of your heart

After all the things I've done to you

Coming close and then pulling away from you

You've proved just what a faithful God you are

Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness

Thank you Jesus for your love

What I learned at school today:

"From the substitution instance of a propositional function with respect to the name of any arbitrarily selected individual, one can validly infer the universal quantification of that propositional function."
--my logic textbook.

Just kidding. I have no idea what that means. I'll figure it out before the test.

I hope.

it's time

Dear my fountain,
It's time for you to come alive again.