they are here!

One day, you will both realize how much you are loved. That realization will spur a life driven to love others as much as you have been loved. That will be a beautiful day.

Much love,
Emily Elizabeth (or Auntie Em, if you will)

a week of expecting

This week is a very important (and exciting!) week for two very important people in my life. By the end of it, I will have TWO NEW BABIES in my life!...and they both are BABY GIRLS!

One will be my BFFB (best friend forever's baby) and will have two of the most awesome people on the planet as her parents...I am SO excited for Anna + Stu as their family grows just a little bigger. Anna has refused to tell anyone her little one's name before she is born (and I have attempted to guess this name will all of my might...and come up with every other name BUT the one they chose....or so they say), so needless to say...WE ARE READY TO MEET BABY GIRL SANDERS!

Anna also posted this very sweet comment on my Facebook:

If you were in the USA right now, I'd INSIST that you spend all next week with me. I love you and I miss you and even though we can't be together, don't you think for a second that you aren't gonna be a BIG part of our sweet baby girls life!!

I would say that she knows her best friend pretty well...because I really needed that comment...I feel like I am missing so much not being there!

The other is my only roommate in college's baby...so I guess Allie can be either Roomie Jr. or Squirt Jr. (Laurie...you can decide :)) Laurie and I have talked about what our children will look/be like for a very long time...so the day of truth is just around the corner and I look forward to watching this precious little one grow up...to be, hopefully, just like her mother :)

Here are some goodies I made Allie Girl:

I know you both are past your due dates or are ready to pop (or both)...but I am praying and thinking about you and your baby girls every moment of everyday until they make their entrance into the world. You are both going to be amazing mammas...and I know that because God is the love of your lives and the center of your worlds. These little girls are going to be brought up with true love, and that makes my heart happy.

Much love,
Emily Elizabeth

random tidbits

Sometimes some thing happens and I just want to stop time, take a picture, and post it on my blog. Here are some of those moments:

1. I love this picture

My coworker, Sheila, took it today when we visited Azizi Life's artisan group Zamuka. See more about our trip here.

2. We were taking this picture on Tuesday, during Sheila's one year Azizi Life anniversary celebration, and instead of saying "cheese" like Americans do, we said, "salade"...which is salad....and it made my heart happy.

Sheila, Tom, me and Jeannine (Christi is taking the pic...but she made everything on the table. It was soooo good)

3. I looked out of the window at work on Monday and saw tiny orange dots on a hill across the way. After watching them move around the hill for a while, I realized that they were prisoners working outside. I took a picture, but it did not come out very well...but if you look closely at the long building in the picture, you can see a huddle of orange dots...it must have been lunchtime.

Just some little things I wanted to share with my lovelies.

Much love,
Emily Elizabeth

family is where the heart is

When I was growing up, I was very lucky to have most of my family within a 3 hour drive. But as I have gotten older, the little clump of home markers has expanded just a bit. Not to mention, that when I got married, the population in Arkansas quadrupled :)

Etsy

I would enjoy this...to show all the different places my heart is. 

Much love,

Emily Elizabeth

azizi life giveaway!

Come one, Come all! And tell your friends! 

Thanks friends!

Much love,

Emily Elizabeth

a fragrant offering

{Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God}

-Ephesians 5:1-2

Christi shared this verse during devotions with the artisans on Wednesday. We even did an exercise to help us memorize it...in Ikenyrwanda. Let's just say that it was not a successful exercise for a native English speaker, such as myself. The artisans, however, did a great job and proved that their memories are sharp!

The most meaningful part of the devotion was when the artisans began to share how they can be a "fragrant offering and sacrifice" to God. As some of the women began to share, I was reminded of several Spiritual Formation sessions we had at Eastern about culture clashing with Christianity.

A woman shared that one way we could offer sacrifices to God is sacrificing what our culture says is acceptable for what we know is acceptable in God's eyes. She shared that when someone in her family is sick, or even herself, and they had been to the doctor and not gotten better, that her friends or neighbors would tell her to take them to the witch doctor. 

This is just the kind of conflict we had discussed time and time again in our Spiritual Formation sessions. I had prepared for this discord to show its nasty face.

But what I had not prepared for is this woman's response to the conflict. She basically said that when we choose Christ's way over our culture, we are offering a sacrifice. We may be talked about by our neighbors or criticized by other family members for going against the "norm", but God will recognize our faithfulness as a fragrant offering.

I began to think about how many places in my life where my culture clashes with Christ. There are so many times when I have let culture win, and it wasn't even as serious as someone being sick. So if I could sum up what I learned from this beautiful, wise artisan, it is this:

Choosing Christ's truth over the cultural norm is honored by my Father as a fragrant offering.

Simple as that. Yet, not so simple at all.

Much love,

Emily Elizabeth

things I dream of in Africa

I bet you wonder, especially if you have never lived outside of the states, what it would be like being away from home for so long.

Well, I will not keep you guessing about my thoughts any longer! Here is my Pinterest board where I document my most reoccurring thoughts...check it out!

http://pinterest.com/emizz/things-i-dream-of-in-africa/

Much love,
Emily Elizabeth