Photo A Day

 

 

{pure joy}

Photo A Day

 

{had Madame Joyce over for dinner tonight, wonderful friend and wonderful woman of God}

Photo A Day

 

 

 

{the girls in their sunglasses from Grandma Lana}

 

Photo A Day

 

 

 

My favorite lunch. Rice and beans with avocado.

{those who know me at all, know how shocking this is!}

Photo A Day

{Mondays are grocery day. It takes our entire morning to get everything we need for the week.}

 

 

{inside the big market where we get all of our produce/rice/beans}

 

 

 

 

{Harper hanging out with the boys. The carts they are sitting on will be packed full of produce that they wheel around all day and sell.}

 

{ew. We don't eat meat a ton anymore}

 

 

 

 

{Harper with Rosie. Her fruit stand is near our house. Kind of equivalent to a gas station, where we run if we need something quickly.}

Church {in the village} & {hiking and swimming @} Lake Chala

 

 

Picture{s} a day!

                       {{ Harper Praise and Sophee helping Mommy make banana muffins.}}

                    {{the kids came with us this week to the juvenile prison for ministry}}

               {{Em and Soph praying with Mercy before going into the juvenile prison}}

Stopping for the ONE

I am totally THAT Mom! I have an obsession with kissing, hugging, and cuddling my babies. I love that my seven year old son still asks for cuddle time! I love being a Mommy. While I may not always excel at it, being a Mommy is one of THE greatest joys in my life. I will admit that I baby my children more than I should, and dote on them probably more than I should. So it has been quite the culture shock for me, moving to a country {or even continent!} where that is not the norm whatsoever. A place where every where you look, there is an orphan. I have cried so many nights as I put my babies to bed, and just watch them sleep peacefully, thinking of all the children in our town that will be going to bed without a Mommy giving them kisses goodnight, or a Daddy praying night time prayers with them. Remember that I am THAT Mom while reading my story from today.

One of our main ministries is working with New Life Foundation here. New Life Foundation is an amazing ministry/school about ten minutes from our home. We feel so blessed to be able to partner with them and all they are doing in Tanzania. About 70% of the children in this facility are considered orphans. They are truly some of the sweetest children I have ever met in my life. We love going out and doing ministry out there, but also just love going out on Saturdays and playing with the kids, loving on them. The first day we were there a couple of the girls were brave enough to come up and talk to me and the kids while Brian was inside working with the seventh grade students. They were so shy, but it was great getting to know them, and they loved playing with the kids. As we were getting ready to leave that first day I naturally hugged the girls goodbye {touch is one of my love languages}. I could tell they weren't expecting it, but they sort of hugged me back in shock. {Hugging, as far as I can tell, isn't super common here}. Well we have been back many times since that first time {we go out to New Life to do ministry about 4-5 times a week} and it has been so fun to see the progression of my relationship with these girls. Just last Sunday at church one of the girls ran up to me and gave me a big hug, which surprised even me, but blessed me SO much! I see my relationship with them deepening and trust beginning to form.

Today we headed out to New Life, and as soon as we got their I saw one of my favorite girls {gasp! yes I have a couple girls that are very special to me :)}sitting down near us. I could tell something was wrong right away, because she usually comes running to our car as soon as she sees us. I walked over to her and could tell she had been crying. I asked her if something was wrong, and she said no. I knew that wasn't true, but also know the culture and that she more than likely wouldn't tell me, so just sat there with her in silence. Brian announced that it was time to start drama practice and she was in the first group. I came into the room about five minutes after they had started, and she was crying again, trying so hard to hide it. I asked her if she wanted to go talk outside, and she said yes. So we went outside and I asked her what was wrong. She had an awful headache she said. I asked her if I could pray for her, and we spent some time with me praying for her. She said she had already taken some medicine but it hadn't helped at all. She was in so much pain, she couldn't quit crying, so I just held her. Tears flooded my eyes, and I felt Holy Spirit so strongly. This is why I am here, to hold this girl in pain who has no Mommy to hold her right now. to show her the love that her Heavenly Father has for her. I cannot tell you how honored I felt in that moment, that I was the one getting to hold Haika. We sat outside for a little bit longer, and I asked her if she wanted to stay out or go back to the drama. She had really been looking forward to doing the drama, so we headed back. I can't help but get emotional as I type this thinking of her going to bed tonight, not feeling good, alone. I think of Kayden and how if he had a headache I would be snuggling with him, doing whatever I could to make him feel better. I love how Heidi Baker puts it, that we are to stop for the one. That it all I can do here, and this afternoon Haika was the one. These kids we are working with are literally changing my life. I feel so blessed.

I know it sounds kind of silly, but I see now that me being a doting mommy is part of the calling on my life, and I love it.

Well, I have not been keeping up with this blog like I had hoped or planned. :) It makes me laugh now when I was so ambitious and said I wanted to try to blog every day for our first year here, and now I am feel accomplished if it is once a month!! Here are a couple of updates on what is going on in our lives over here in TZ.

The older three kids are on summer break for the next few weeks. They will be attending Hope International School again starting in the fall. Brian and I prayed a lot about doing home school next year, or sending them back to Hope, and feel so much peace about them going back to Hope. It was a step of faith for us, seeing as we have not raised any of the funds needed for them for school next year, but we are trusting God to provide all of our needs. The kids are so thrilled to be going back to Hope, and can't wait to see all of their friends and teachers again. Brian will be serving as the campus pastor again next year, and will also be serving on the school board. We are looking forward to an amazing year!

Having the kids home for summer break has been a big change of schedule for us. It is not like America here, where you have multiple options of things to do with your children. We have one playground here, and that is about it. I have never been more thankful for a creative husband, who is very gifted at thinking up new and creative games and such to keep the kids entertained. It is actually not even warm enough to go swimming here right now! We are so surprised at how cold it gets here during our "winter". When it is in the low 70's here, it is freezing for us! It is funny to us how acclimated we have become already! :)

One of our main ministries here is working with New Life Foundation. We go out there usually five days a week. On Tuesday and Thursdays Brian will work with the kids teaching them dramas that they will be performing on the streets, in the juvenile prison, at local churches, and things like that. On Wednesday Brian teaches on the Holy Spirit to grades 5th, 6th, and 7th. On Fridays we are out there bright and early at 7:30 so that Brian can lead chapel for all the students there, which is somewhere around 450 kids. On Saturdays we love to just go and play with them and work on building our relationships with the kids. They are some of the sweetest kids I have ever met in my life. They love our kids and spoil them. It was amazing to me when we were there one day last week, and I felt the Lord bring to my mind when I had {multiple times since being here} cried out to Him that I just wanted my kids to be loved on like they were at home. Looking around I realized that these kids are doing that to my kids. I know my kids feel so loved by them, and it just overwhelmed me in that moment, these kids that we are ministering to, are ministering to my heart each time we are with them.

This last Sunday, church was led by the youth. The kids did a great job presenting a drama, and sang some song with motions as well. The seventh graders performed the drama they had been working on so hard with Brian, and did a wonderful job! We were so proud of them!!

 

We are absolutely LOVING being in our new house! It is amazing to me to watch it become not just a house, but really our home. It is such a safe haven here. People ask us all the time how we are doing and how we are adjusting. I cannot believe we have been here five months now! Time has really flown by! The kids for the most part are really enjoying it here. On occasion they will really miss family at home, or get upset not understanding things, like why they can't just go to the store to get a baby doll they are really wanting. They are learning amazing life lessons though, and Brian and I honestly could not be any more proud of them. I {Mandee} am adjusting much better as well. I still miss home like crazy, and still struggle a lot with dying to my flesh here daily. I am relying on God to show me what it really looks like to "consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" I am learning so much during this season of my life. It is honestly a pretty painful time of learning, but I love that as Christians we truly have hope through all things!! I have joy in knowing that I am being made stronger daily.

 

We cherish all of your kind emails, words of encouragement, and prayers for our family! If you would be interested in joining our monthly support team, please send me an email at mandeeloudermilk@yahoo.com

We are so thankful for all of our supporters, we literally could not be here without you. We are humbled month after month getting our reports, and seeing people sowing financially into our family and the work we are doing here. We love you all!!!