How do you sum up a year like this?

I don’t even know where to start! In some ways, I feel like a teenage boy who grew 8 inches in one year and nothing fits anymore. I’ve seen so much that I’ve never seen before. I’ve done so many things that I’ve never done before and some that I didn’t think I could do. I’ve changed some of my ideas about myself, my family, my country, the world and God. So how exactly do I summarize all this?

I’ll start with my ideas about God. I have encountered him as bigger than ever by seeing, firsthand, more of his incredible creation. The awesome grandeur of the Rift Valley and Mt. Kenya, the beauty of calla lilies that grow wild here, the humor and even absurdity of some animals like the marabou stork and the wart hog! I’ve understood more of God’s fathomless love, care and faithfulness by meeting people who have a fraction of what I have in tangible things but twice what I have in faith in their heavenly Father, and who are not disappointed. I’ve experienced more of his forgiveness and grace which is new every morning when I come to Him with a worn out, complaining spirit and find He doesn’t turn me away, but rather supplies me with what I need from His abundance by allowing me to see others as He sees them and then pouring His own love into me.

The world has become a lot smaller to me this year. Smaller and more personal. I know people that I can visit in Canada, England, Holland, Belgium, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, South Korea and Congo (not to mention almost all of the 50 states). People dying from famine here in Kenya have names and families. I’ve met people who care for refugees in southern Sudan at the risk of their own lives. I know people who live without running water or electricity, by choice, in order to serve others. Yes, it’s much, much more personal.

I see America as so incredibly blessed, and yet so ignorant of the fact. I was ignorant before this year. America has so much more than other countries. I was gratified to hear a Brit say she thought Americans were very generous. Then I had a Kenyan friend that I buy baskets from give me a basket and teach me about true generosity. This was a woman who is the sole supporter of her family of 7 children. A woman who’s 4th born had been out of school for lack of funds (about $15 was all that was needed, but she had trouble coming up with that). Despite her need she gave me a gift to bless me because she knows that there are worse things than being poor. It is far worse to be selfish.

My family both immediate and extended has become dearer to me. Scarcely hearing the voice of my sister, father, nieces, and in-laws this past year has made me realize more fully the treasure they are to me. They love, encourage, give balance and perspective, hold me accountable and are just plain fun. I’ve seen my husband and my children change and grow in ways that wouldn’t have happened had we not come to Africa this past year. My boys have shouldered more responsibilities, borne inconvenience, and had a lot less “stuff” without complaint and even with a great spirit of adventure. My husband has grown in his gift of encouragement, his heart has been broken, in love, by the orphans and disadvantaged children here, and he has become more and more the one who not only completes me, but also helps me be more than I dreamed I could be. (And he recently whisked me off for a 2-day getaway in the highlands of Kenya, which will refresh us for years to come just by remembering it.)

And as for myself, God told me halfway through this year that I should get out of the box I had created for myself. As I’ve attempted to do that I’ve discovered that I can do a lot more than I thought I could! I feel like a kid in some ways-the whole world lays ahead of me full of boundless opportunities and adventures! Whatever God has in mind for my family and I-we can all say with our whole hearts, “YES!”

So, the next step of the adventure leads us back to America, back to Grapevine, but not back to the same old thing. Whatever God has for us there will be new and fresh and exciting. We look forward to continuing to share with all of you, our friends and family, all that is yet to come!

Thanks for sharing in this year with us. Thank you for your emails, cards & letters, gifts, toys for the kids, prayers, financial support, and most of all your love and friendship. We pray that God will bless you with a relationship with Himself, just as He has us. Jesus summed it up well when he said, “And this is eternal life, to know the Father, and Christ Jesus whom He has sent.” (John 17:3)

Love to each of you,

Nancy