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Dear Home,             I will be back soon. I know we’ve been apart for three months, but I’m coming back in just a few days. I look forward to familiar hugs, a comfortable mattress, and my favorite snacks. I really have missed them all, but I must let you know that I haven’t missed a lot. [be grateful I’m coming back]             Expecting to miss every ounce of familiarity you have has left me dumbfounded as I have found a new normal: new tastes, new smells, new hugs, new friends, and new family. This nation and its people have captured my heart. The children of Sarah’s Covenant Homes are simply immaculate, so loving and rewarding to work with; the staff and other volunteers live selfless lives…

Every afternoon when I finish up my one-on-ones , the girls and I go play on the roof. A time where we run, play and over all laugh (a lot). As we started to play on the roof this afternoon at Joy Home, the water holder started to overflow all over the roof and rather then tell the girls to stay out of it, I encouraged them to play in it. Thus began a water fight and dance competition! We kicked, splashed and jumped in and out of the water. Then the girls chased me around a good bit trying to tickle me and drag me through the water. We then had our dance compition-of course I judged and they showed me their best moves. I couldn’t deem a winner thought because they all did such an amazing job (they’re all true dancers at heart). To top off this perfect time, we skipped and danced more in…

    The first wave of screaming nannies shuffles in at 6 am. Bare feet scrape the floor and the startling clang of kitchenware crashing onto the floor wakes me from sleep. Not long after their indiscreet arrival, the tangy scent of curry permeates throughout my room from the cracks in the door. I pull back the rose-printed curtain from the window above my bed, only to reveal the same chaos that occurs every morning. Women, both young and old, scatter across the room in sarees and punjabis. They giggle as they scoop rice into their mouths, banter to each other in Telegu, and bark humorously at the watch man as he holds out a plate to receive his breakfast. Puddles of brown curry dot the floor and steam floats in hazy clouds over the rice cookers. Soft morning light drips over t…

I have had a lot of questions about what ministry looks like here in India. So for a small taste, let us walk through my noon-1pm everyday, where I spend the hour with Jasmine from Courage Home:                                                            I transition Jasmine from preschool          We pass our friends as we begin our to one-on-one time with a fun activity.       journey to the bookshelf. At the namely, dancing or spinning on a            &nbs…

Depression (noun): 1.) feelings of severe despondency and dejection. As a female I am not a stranger to having feelings I can’t explain. Emotions often creep up on me and swallow me. Not that I’d like to attribute emotional unstability to a particular gender, but ladies, I think you understand what I mean. When confronted with something I don’t understand I get frustrated. I let my circumstances dictate how I handle everything else. This past week I was low. We’re talking past rock bottom, sediment low. I stayed in bed as long as possible in the morning. I was quiet. I snapped at my sisters. Sassitude was oozing out of my pores. And I didn’t know why. I could give excuses for days, there were plenty of reasons for me to be sad. But not one of them rationalized the way I was handling wha…

“I am the God of the heavens and the earth, and everything in between. I am the God that stood inside and outside of time; I am the God of creation. I am the God of your ancestors: I am the God of Isaac, of Jacob, of Abraham. I am more than a great teacher; I am more than a great moral example. I am more than a man who has been sent by God to give a message of hope and reconciliation. I am in the flesh: the perfect picture of who God truly is. If you want a picture of the end that will give you hope for the beginning, you look to the person of Jesus Christ.” Hope is something I have struggled attaining this year, but this truth that Jesus Christ is the hope for the beginning holds so much promise. I have been shown in the past two months that each and every day is a new beg…

After the alarm has been snoozed 5 times too many, I wake up in a puddle of my sweat. My hair looks like I’ve lived in a cave the past two years. I put on my kurta along with my mis-matched wrinkly leggings that smell of baby spit and curry that I perhaps didn’t eat. I can hear the sweet babies that are crying upstairs and the ladies in the kitchen as they drop what seems like the fifth pot since 5 AM. It’s these moments at 9:30 in the morning that I think about quitting the most. My mind seems to take my flesh captive and lies to me about all the bad things that are going to happen during preschool. Don’t get out of bed today. Do you hear how much they’re crying? Someone’s totally gonna poop on you today. And yes… She’s gonna bite you. T…

I sit, more often than not, on cold cement. It usually starts the same: head bowed, hands clasped, eyes shut lightly. I came to India with such a child-like faith. Shy and mild, too timid to really even lift my eyes. But here, in India, I’ve grown. So I sit on cold cement. Eventually my clasped hands seperate, and come to rest palm up on my knees. I rock slightly, back and forth, and then tip my head back. I lift my face to the heavens. I used to think that you weren’t praying right if your head wasn’t touching your knees. Or if your hands weren’t clasped just so. Or if your eyes weren’t shut the whole time. I’ve come to realize that doesn’t matter. My heart, my sincerity, that’s what matters. Prayer is my solace now. I run to that place where I can communicate solely with the Lord. …

          The way God works is a mystery to me. He brings us to places to break us and re-make us. We can never understand His way of doing it but rather walk with Him and trust where He goes. I’m learning this process in life, but even more here in India.                 Coming to India in my mind (which is never right when God is in control) looked like I would come to India to serve the kids of these houses and serve the foster moms and it was going to be great. I would be selfless and God would teach me a bunch of things like that, but I was wrong and God had in place a much bigger plan.  The first part of my trip I was at a training camp, where I got to meet my team, but…

I’ve been asked so many times: why India? It’s not an easy question to answer for me. Looking back on it I understand that I was stuck at home. That I didn’t know what to do with this stagnant life I had built around myself. And so I looked for something to do that I thought would make me deserve to be happy. I also looked for a trip where I would leave as soon as possible and would be gone for a while. In my search I found AIM and I found India. I hardly knew what I was doing here. I stepped onto the streets of Hyderabad and looked around, recognizing how wide my eyes had grown, how weak my legs felt. Even though I didn’t have a plan, God did. Trust. Obey. Chosen. These are only some of the words that I’ve come to understand fully. I’ve started to listen to the voice of God and I’m…