Return to Me {Thoughtful Thursday}

As promised, here is my Thoughtful Thursday post for the month of February.

This morning as I was doing my devotional I realized just how far we can "feel" from God sometimes. I'm sure most (if not all) of you can relate. It's easy sometimes to think that a certain place or person or job will somehow have the power to bring you back to that moment when you felt closest to God. We try in all our human efforts to get that "feeling" back. We connect certain emotions or actions to our closeness with God. But, as my devotional says, these things don't grant us access to God. The CROSS grants us access to God.

So this morning I ask that we - in all our brokenness, in all our mess, in all our ugliness, in all our lacking - return to Him. Return to Him with all our hearts. The cross of Jesus is the path by which we return to our holy, gracious God (from She Reads Truth). There's no need to cover up our brokenness - the blood of Jesus is our covering.


"Return to Me" - Jeremiah 24:7

Happy #33 Jacob!

For Jacob's birthday this year (Jan 17th) we went on a camping trip to Botswana with some of our closest friends. It's only about a 5-6 hour drive including crossing the border on somewhat of a scary looking "ferry" boat. It's pretty much the cheapest kind of fun you can have around these parts. And fun it was! His birthday happened to fall on the same day as the presidential elections so it was great timing for us to be out of the city. It can get a little chaotic around Lusaka during elections so we probably wouldn't have even left our home for his birthday if we had stayed here.

Botswana is an amazing country! I absolutely love it there. They have a thriving economy mainly due to tourism - these days (& while gaining independence they didn't take control right away). I'm not here to give you a historical account of the country though.

Look at these awesome pics from our trip to Kasane, Elephant Sands and Kubu Island! They have done such a wonderful job of protecting the wildlife. You can literally see tons & tons of animals while driving down main "highways". The wildlife in Africa is something I will never tire of seeing.

Our car coming off of the lovely ferry boat as we entered Botswana. At the border 4 countries all meet (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia).

Don't worry. We weren't in any danger.

Elephant on the side of the road. We also saw giraffe, zebra & wild dog driving down the main road!

Proof we did actually camp :)

Salt pans at Kubu Island (natural island of salt pans with hundreds of Baobab trees)

We woke up to these pretty guys (aka Pumba) next to our campsite in Kasane

I love giraffe

Baboons anyone?

Literally hundreds of elephants

I think it's safe to say Jacob had a wonderful birthday!

Love,
Libby

Also, if you're wondering why my recent posts are not about village visits, farm animals, etc. it's because it's rainy season here so we are in full "administration" mode gearing up for our annual trip back to the states in March. No travel for us during rainy season. You should all come visit one day and you can see why! We will be home early March through beginning of June so if you know of any churches, schools, businesses etc. that might be interested in hearing more about Water 282 while we are home please let us know!!! 

Brrr...We Are Not in Zambia Anymore!

On our way back to Zambia we spent two days with Jacob's mom and stepdad in Washington, DC before we flew out. We had so much fun exploring DC, but it was quite cold! When we left Zambia it was the middle of summer here so we were ready for some cooler weather. Most of you know how HOT I get so you can imagine life here - for me - without central AC in constant 100 degree African weather ;). Let's just say I don't blow dry my hair too often over here. All this said, I was ready to welcome the coldest of temps when we got back to the states....but DC winter is quite a different story than AL!

We woke up to roughly 3 inches of snow and the temps continued to drop to around 10 degrees while we were there. It was so beautiful though, and we enjoyed every second of it (even when I was griping at my husband for making me take pics while standing in freezing cold slush)! 

Enjoy these pics from our trip:

View from our hotel when we woke up

Washington Monument

Standing at the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument behind me

This is us right after my griping about having to stand in cold slush to take a pic...turned out to be one of my fav photos of us ever taken.

Thanks to the Sheffield's for a very fun trip to DC before heading back home! It was a great way to end our trip to the states for Christmas. 

Also, if you're wondering why my recent posts are not about village visits, farm animals, etc. it's because it's rainy season here so we are in full "administration" mode gearing up for our annual trip back to the states in March. No travel for us during rainy season. You should all come visit one day and you can see why! We will be home early March through beginning of June so if you know of any churches, schools, businesses etc. that might be interested in hearing more about Water 282 while we are home please let us know!!! 

Love,

Libby