leaving on a jetplane

yesterday, 8 of our friends from coatesville, pa (near philadelphia) departed their familiar surroundings and entered an airplane, on their way to a small zambian village called kaombe.

this village, this village is my love and my enemy. it is my nightmare and my dream-but mostly my dream. i cannot think about this village without being honest and saying that it was such a struggle to live there. sometimes i look back and wonder how in the world God sustained me through 2 years in the middle of that isolated village. but then i remember how big God is and that He can do anything through any one of us, as long as we are willing. and that i was.

despite it's difficulty, which gives my village it's spicy flavor, my village has a place in my heart that will never become vacant. this village is so dear to my heart.

i spent from april 2006-january 2008 (2 years) in this village. i lived in a hut with bugs and rats, drank water from a stream, spoke the Bemba tribal language, used candles to light up the night, excreted in a hole, woke up with the roosters crow at 5am and went to sleep with the sun at 7pm every day and night. i rode on oxcarts, bikes, hitched with 20 wheelers to nearby towns, ate a mushy substance called nshima with beans, leaves, and other dull flavored foods daily with my hands. i was surrounded by people who's skin was as dark as the night, some of whom's hearts could light up the night sky. these villagers were wild. they tried to steal from me, loved me, hated me, loved me, cheated me, loved me, called me names, loved me, were jealous of me for my money, white skin, and americana. i had not anticipated this at all. i pictured suffering people, dying of AIDS, when i thought of africa. people who my heart wept for, and i could not help but loving . not these feisty little buggers who wanted to rip me off all the time and called me "white girl." despite the craziness, i tried to love them through it all. i never imagined myself fighting to love people who live in such dire circumstances.

despite my complaints, it was the most amazing experience of my life thus far(only second to falling in love and getting engaged to marcus). i became friends with people who i know i will never forget and never loose contact with. people who i still talk on the phone with weekly (from the village). i was taught so many beautiful life lessons. i was taught patience, self confidence, boldness, assertiveness, love in a new way.

i was able to offer a few small things to my village too: i taught health to villagers- forming village health teachers that went on to educate their villages, formed an Anti-AIDS club with over 90 youth, helped women to use the arts as an income generating activity, and got to turn a run down bar into a community center called The Mango Tree. The Mango Tree gives jobs to 4 Zambians. It also allows people to grab a snack at the cafe, read books at the library (over 3,000 books), hosts many village club meetings, (including Bible studies, farming clubs, womens groups), is home to the village pre-school, has a soccer team, and allows a space for villagers to teach eachother, for example, fish pond building classes. It is a phenomal center and continues to grow.

The Mango Tree was built with the help of a nonprofit that sprang up after we built it, called "Hope Beyond Borders." "Hope Beyond Borders" is made up of folks from coatesville who are dedicated to helping urban and African poverty.

It is their intent to go back to my Zambian village, Kaombe every year. And tommorow they will return to the village one year later, after their initial trip in September 2007. They will hold lots of art, pastoral, AIDS, drug/alcohol classes at the Mango Tree. They are also giving a micro-economic loan of a minibus to the center. This minibus will generate tons more jobs for more Zambian villagers. It is going to be amazing.

Please pray for our friends in Zambia, and also the Zambians. shalom!

check out:
www.hopebeyondborders.org - hope beyond borders
http://www.dawnwalsh.com/photo/KAO%20FLASH/index.html - photos of kaombe village by dawn walsh

stepping into the 9-5

tommorow i start my first 9-5 job, after having been lacking a 9-5 job for over almost 3 years now. after living in africa for so long as my own boss and creator of my work schedule, i have gotten so used to living out of the 9-5.

i think this job will be a great transition for me. i will be nurturing, loving, raising, and guiding a 4 month old baby named kaiden. i will be able to rest, rejuvenate, and focus on loving one person. after living in a crisis every hour of my life in zambia for over 2 years, and focusing on helping hundreds, i know this environment is just what my soul demands.

pray for me if you think of it.

a photo recap of 3 months in san diego

since marcus and i have been in san diego together, it has been a little over 3 months. here are some photos from our adventures in san diego together.

meet marcus and katie

we are marcus and katie.
this is our story. our life.

we have known eachother for almost 7 years now. we first met through mutual friends and our churches based out of philadelphia area. we got engaged on november 16, 2006 in the middle of a zambian village called kaombe. katie had been living there as a health teacher since january 2006. we had been praying all our lives for a husband and a wife like each other. we knew that we were meant to be married.

after over 2 years apart, on and off, with katie in africa and marcus in america, katie has finally returned from living and working in zambian villages. she moved to san diego 3 months ago (end of may 2008), to be with marcus. marcus moved out to san diego, from philadelphia, in october 2007 to work full-time with a uganda aid organization called "invisible children."

together, we are seeing their hearts weaved together in God's love. we are finally on the same continent. we are blessed beyond imagination to finally be together, share our lives, and ourselves with one another. in attempts to share and create, we are using this online journal to capture our feelings, explorations, adventures, and love. we are using it as a way to creatively express the beauty of our love to our friends, families, and remind ourselves. we hope it will become a sort of time capsule, to look back upon, and be reminded of how blessed we are. we hope that this journal somehow encourages you in whatever way you need to be encouraged: creatively, spiritually, relationally...

thank you for being a part of our lives. we are truly blessed.

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we will start the journal by posting a series of photos of marcus and katie taken on august 21, 2008. while sitting on the couch in marcus's house, katie snapped away. a bright white light colors the series of chronological snap shots. katie is still learning how to take photos, but after schooling herself according to marcus's photography books, she convinces herself that she will have the art down. (though it might be a while before she has time to devote to this art.) for now, marcus will have to be the photographer- he is much better at this. he even used to have his own dark room where he developed his own photos.




earlier in the day, we had some wonderful guests. marcus's parents arrived from philadelphia to spend the week with us in san diego. we took them to seaport village, a beautiful area on the sea in san diego, near hillcrest and little italy. we walked through a tiny coastal village, ate at a restaurant on the ocean, while watching sailboats pass by in a vast blue sea. we walked and walked, and came upon some old world war II memorials. we posed in a tribute to bob hope statue:




let us always have this much fun together.