A Celebration of Life: Reflections of Thankfulness

Happy Independence Day America and Happy Liberation Day Rwanda! 

I’m enjoying the public holiday here in Rwanda, with a cup of coffee on the veranda as I write my blog. My house has been such a gift, to have a place of rest. From my seat I can enjoy the small garden, and a large Acacia tree. (my newest notion is that every good African home should have an Acacia tree) Little orange chested birds with white stripes down their brown backs, peck at the ground collecting worms. I’m grateful for the slow morning and day off from working at KICS to collect my thoughts and spend some time in reflection. 

The last week has been a very enjoyable one, with a trip out of town to Gisenyi, celebrating my birthday, other highlights include my theater/art class meeting twice this week! I have started to develop a core of young woman, each creative, and eager to jump into new things. This week we did allot of improve that sparked their creativity, leading them to create a skit/short improvised play on a Rwandan cultural myth; “that woman shouldn’t whistle because they will attract snakes”. There work was so deliberate, and specific, that I laughed uncontrollably at their humor and characterization. 

The Lord has also blessed me with the opportunity to join other young woman on Tuesday mornings to be taught by Mimi Wilson, (author of Holy Habits). This time has energized me, reminding me of basic principles of Holy living and challenging me to develop new habits. Mimi begins our time together by setting the table for brunch, as she instructs us on hospitality, tricks and tips: reminding us of the opportunity to bless people through hospitality and how to create and appreciate beauty. “Start collecting things for your future home, and don’t just think about the practicality of objects, but get them for their beauty. Beauty feeds the soul.” We make center pieces and set the table, and as we pour the tea and pass around whatever this weeks delicious baked good is, she begins her lesson. The past two weeks the focus has been on thankfulness, and worship. She has challenged us each to start a thankfulness journal. Mimi reminds me that our God is an eternal God, His perspective is then an eternal one: He isn’t bound by time. This encourages me, in my weaknesses. I have tried many times to start better prayer/spiritual routines. However I’m finding allot of comfort right now in God’s eternal grace. As I am starting a new habit of writing things I’m thankful for, my prayer is “Lord please remind me of things I have forgotten to thank you for.”  

This helped me to have one of the best birthdays ever this year. In years past I have often had the “birthday blues”. Like most summer birthdays can contest, summers are a time where friends are traveling, or missionary families like my own are moving or going through transition. In that way my birthday has often been celebrated in new places, with only my family, or very new friends or complete strangers. My 13th birthday was celebrated a couple weeks after we moved to Rwanda, my dad invited everyone he knew to my party. That meant allot of gifts, however it was strange not knowing hardly anyone as my own party. Other birthdays have been spent in the US on furloughs, where my mom began the tradition of taking me out for cheese cake. With each birthday it was often I time I would reflect on the losses in my life, the changes, mostly negative; the friends that I was not with, the old home I had left etc. However my family would usually go beyond the call of duty to make me feel special, last year my birthday was spent in Wheaton were a storm wiped out our power. We ended up celebrating with a bonfire and smors . 

(Blessed to celebrate my birthday with Stephanie and Nicole)

(Enjoyed a wonderful meal together) 

So as I woke up on June 30th the eve of my birthday, I began to feel my birthday blues approaching. I started to miss my family terribly. I began thinking selfish thoughts, and idealized past times in my life. That evening I had a movie night and sleep over at Keli’s house. She even baked me a chocolate cake. As I went to bed, I pulled out my thankfulness journal, and received a hard punch in the stomach. My whole life I had been viewing birthdays in the most narcissistic way, or using it as a time to asses all the hard parts of my life instead of what a birthday actual is - A CELEBRATION OF LIFE! And to celebrate means to give THANKS. I wrote and wrote things that I was thankful for, “Thank you for 21 years of life, a life so full of love, of people who loved me, friends and family, thank you for letting me spend 17ish of those years in Africa. Thank you for the cultures that have shaped me. Thank you for the resources and provision for each year, thank you for never letting me be in want of food, shelter and education. Thank you for blessing me beyond my immediate needs, to provide me with a beautiful life. Thank you for the trials too, for the refuge I found in you. Thank you for each

day to breath in your creation as your specially and uniquely designed created one.” I was overwhelmed by the goodness and faithfulness of our God. I slept soundly and awoke to a beautiful day, my birthday. My outlook had changed. Instead of comparing and focusing on the losses of 21 years, I focused on the gains. As a result I had a beautiful day, from some time at the spa, to afternoon spent at the pool with other missionary families, and finally a dinner with two of my class mates that I graduated with. My birthday became a testament of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Even now after writing all this a wave rolls over me. I can not express how extensive His goodness is. I hope this can be an encouragement for each one of you who reads this. I’m grateful for Mimi and others in my life that point me towards this posture of thankfulness. It’s funny because I would not characterize my life before this point as an ungrateful one, many times have I counted my blessing. However, rarely did I allow it to seep into my worship transforming the way I approach each day. I look up from my computer again on my garden and the tree. Again I remind myself of where I am, of how I got here. "Praise be to God, All my inner most being praise his Holy name." 

And now some pictures... 

(As we are leaving Kigali, for a one night trip to Gisenyi)

(People People Everywhere)

(Climbing our way to Gisenyi, we look back at Kigali shrinking behind the hills)

(Jaimie (ROC Missionary) was my companion on this journey. We spent the night with her friends, free lodging allowed us to splurge on meals at this Hotel and us their beach)

(The most unique paddle boats I have every seen)

(Land of A Thousand Hills) 

(Young Woman the future of Rwanda!)

(Old Men, "Mzee" who teach us about our past) 

(Glimpses of Rural life from the road)

(A goat, a boy and a "football" goal)

(Playing at the beach, land in the distance is Goma, Congo) 

(Shops, painted advertising for phone companies)

( A walk along Lake Kivu)