Ideas for print finishes, presentations and fundraising shows were popping into my head even while we were in Africa.  One idea was to transfer images onto textured canvas.  Here are 4 canvases that I experimented with as gifts for four of my friends who threw me a baby shower.  I shot these with my point and shoot camera, so the quality isn't the best for viewing, but you can at least get the idea.  As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to do some experimentation onto fabric, hides and maybe even some wood panels.  The possibilities are endless, but to see what media works best with the images to get the feel that I want, lots of testing and experimentation will be done!  Prayerfully I will be able to show a group of work in a gallery setting and raise money for MOH (Ministry of Hope... scroll down a couple of blog posts to read about MOH).  Even a little bit of money can go a LONG way in Africa.  I do have some other ideas for fundraising for Ryan's seminary costs and living expenses... that will be another post!

Our sweet baby boy entered this world on April 27th!  He is "wonderfully made" and we thank the Lord for him every day!  Luken was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.  Here are some of the photographs I took of him over his first two weeks:

Our mission team worked at four of their feeding centers (I will be making posts about each center).  Their centers were very simple... spacious, open buildings with two enclosed rooms at one end and a roof spanning the entire structure.  The floors were concrete.  The enclosed rooms were used for an office for the head overseer  as well as for serving food or storage.  Our team delivered a VBS story and craft to the orphans, presented a hygiene clinic teaching them how to brush their teeth and wash their hands with soap and water, offered a medical clinic, and read scriptures and prayed with the older kids. Also at one village, we built a chicken house... more details to come later.  I had an idea in my mind that we would most likely be seeing many orphans and very sick people.  But it didn't really sink in until I saw ALL the orphans sitting side by side listening eagerly to the Gospel being presented and ALL the sick people lining up to see our doctor and nurse.  Sometimes issues don't hit home until you SEE them with your own eyes.  We had heard about it, read about it, saw it on the news... but in this case, seeing with our own eyes made it real.  It has impacted Ryan and I forever.

MOH provides the only meal for most of the orphans three times a week. Their meal consists of Nsima, which is just like our cream of wheat except their's is made of ground corn. It contains absolutely no nutritional value at all- it is merely a hunger filler.  The centers now have maize mills, complete with a generator, to grind the corn at a much faster rate than would by hand.  Also, the orphans are fed some type of bean and green, which are grown in their gardens.  MOH introduced gardens at the centers to help the villages become more self-sufficient. And it is working!!  Ladies from the surrounding villages cook and serve the food, but at one center, the kids were serving each other!  And helping each other rinse their hands with water before eating, as well as washing the plates off (with water only) after the meal. Even at their young age, the kids are being taught to serve others!  

We also visited one of MOH's crisis nurseries.  These nurseries provide a refuge for infants who are orphaned or abandoned.  There were about 15 babies- from infants up to age one- at the nursery we visited. They were being loved, fed, clothed and cuddled.  At the age of one, the workers try to locate an extended family member who will care for the child, or they try to find a loving family to adopt. One of the workers told us that they had found baby Moses in a basket by the river.  Another baby was found in a plastic bag.  His umbilical cord was still attached.  It was a miracle he survived.  All the babies were HIV positive, but because of the antiretroviral medication they were providing for the children, none of them had AIDS. The good Lord is providing these precious babies with their needs, and more importantly, with love.  We got to rock and hold the babies, and even feed some.  Our time there went by way too fast.  It was hard to leave.

The Lord had us do His work there- and though we presented the Gospel, though we helped to meet their physical and medical and spiritual needs, just being there- spending time with them, playing and running and kicking their homemade soccer ball back and forth with them was such a blessing to all of us who went. Holding their hands... and showing them the Love of Christ!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12: 30-31

The very first time we visited our church, Christ Presbyterian Church, I remember our pastor talking about the upcoming mission trip the church was planning to Malawi, Africa.  I was instantly covered in chills.  I didn't know why... he had just mentioned a couple of sentences about the trip and then made note that if anyone was interested, a meeting was directly after the service in the library.  This was our first visit in a new church.  We didn't know anyone.  But I wanted so badly to go to that meeting.  I didn't know it at the time, but God was calling me!  My participation in the trip didn't happen that year.  But it did happen the next.  God kept bringing us back to CPC, we became very active with all the activities and serving... and we joined.  And then, the announcement was made one Sunday morning.  The missions committee was planning another trip to Malawi!  I became covered in chills AGAIN!  I remember looking at Ryan and telling him that I had to go.  I just HAD to go.  He said I was crazy and it was too far away and I would have to be away from our kids for 2 weeks, and it is dangerous in Africa...... and on and on.  I prayed about it, and eventually God softened Ryan, and then Ryan felt that calling to go too!  We committed to going, even though we didn't have any money to pay for the trip.  We knew one thing- God called us to go- and that's all that mattered.  We had faith that the Lord would take care of everything else.  He would have to, or there would be no way for us to go.  We prayed fervently, sent out support letters, and we saw the Lord work in ways that brought us to our knees.  He brought in 99% of the enormous amount of funds that we needed to go.  The measly check that we wrote was all that we could afford, but of course God knew that.  He has bank accounts everywhere, and he pulled from here and from there to get us where He wanted us to go.  Our Lord is so good and faithful and He showed me that if He calls, He'll work  out all the details.  Just trust in Him!  And so we found ourselves boarding the first of many planes to get us to Africa last June, full of all kinds of emotions... already missing our kids, excited about sharing the Gospel, scared from not knowing exactly what to expect when we get there... but so thankful for God calling us to go and humbled at how He provided for us to even be able to go. 

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  This is my command:  Love each other" John 15: 16-17