Two Letters And A Poem

3.1.13 Post Script

Scrolling through these                           
"5 Years Ago Posts" 
is lighting a soul fire ... Seriously, maybe God gave us words and pictures as Time Travel.  The machine has already been invented!
  It does surprise me though, 5 years later and you still can't  drag and drop blogger photos.

From Julee Ann's Journey Apr '08

Winds of change are blowin'

‘Cross the desert of my soul.

Things that used to taunt me

I surrender my control.

Gentle rain of healing

Bitter tears are swept away,

Truth reveals a wasted life

Too long if just a day!

Substantial snow now melting

Cannot hide my moldy blight.

Felt like someone came to,

                                       Help me shovel in the night.

The storm was my own making

Selfish plans I now subdue.

My head believed the truth

My heart took longer, to.

Transgressions oozed throughout

My self-built feeble maze.

There were sunny days, no doubt,

But I took all the praise.

Life’s seasons slowly turning

Old soul begins to crack.

Heart’s operation has begun

My crusty core attack.

Branches strong, fruit galore

I bow down you reign supreme.

Make me like the robust tree

Along the quiet stream.

Embers glowing burst to flame

Wade into the living water

Breath like wind from heaven

Gone the Prodigal daughter.

I choose to repent and turn

His will, I'll do my part

He calls me from the cold, and

Writes His story on my heart.

HEY MOMMA!
We're HERE!  It's still not real.  We walked down the stairs to baggage claim and saw a crowd of people with signs on the other side of the glass. We saw one red sign bouncing around in a sea of white ones that read: hh Babies home! Laizer saw us and was jumping around and blowing kisses! We got our stuff and ran out to greet her. The first thing she told us was that this was all God's plan and timing because the peace agreement has been signed while we were on our way over, Praise HIM! Then we arrived at hh and took a little tour...most of the babies were sleeping (tucked away in their cribs covered with mosquito nets) But a few mischevious ones were awake and excited. We walked down a little hall where we saw a door cracked open and a tiny little face staring back at us from his crib. We peeked in the room and met a few of the toddlers who didn't want to sleep. One of them (my favorite already) name is Steven and he's a little spitfire! he was running around his crib like it was on fire! We left the hh and met our  family and got situated at our homestay. The first thing we did when we got to our home was circle around the living room and thanked God for our safe arrival, and prayed for our stay here. They are incredible.
Today we were picked up by Wally and he took us to the market. Then we headed back to the valley and stoped to take pictures of the view.......they will NEVER do it justice.......you'll just have to come here sometime and see it with your own eyes! We just got back from a tour around the campus and tonight we will eat  in the village and have a "real" African meal.
We will try to call you on amy's card tonight but if you get this before that could you email us back with the phone numbers for both Mars Hill or that new church we go to and Crossroads. And we're wondering if you signed amy up with the embassy and if not, could you still do it?
We love you and we are so Happy to finally be in AFRICA ! Tell dad we love him and EVERYONE else!

Talk to you soon! Yours girls

Dear Mom and Dad, Tone Balogne, Ben, Annie, Friends, Family, and Random Blog Readers,

Yesterday, Dad you would have crapped your pants. We videoed some stuff and can't wait to show you when we get back. Wally took us to Crescent Island to "walk with the animals" They haven't had much business since all the violence so they were happy to have some people around. We were the only people on the WHOLE Island. We saw Hippos, and impala, and wildebeast, and zebras and gazelles, and GIRAFFES! Even a baby giraffe. Melissa got the closest to the giraffe...about 8 feet! We got sun burned even with sunscreen :) But it was worth it. The Island is gorgeous...just what you think Africa would look like. Big Acacia trees and everything.

Today was even better than yesterday. We got up this morning to go to the Maasai tribe where Wally preaches every first Sunday of the month. This is the most primal living I have ever seen! When we pulled up the little children ran up to the car and were so excited to see us (Melissa convinced me to leave the bag of beanies at hh and I was a little ticked!) They held our hands and asked us to take pictures of them (which I gladly did!!!!) They were already worshipping when we got there and the worship service continued for another 3 hours! They had all the age groups sing a song and dance. Then Melissa and Amy sang Amazing Grace and at the end, the rest of the people sang alleluia to the tune of Amazing Grace. I videoed that so don't worry!! Melissa forgot the extra tape so we had to tape over some of our airport shannanigans (I am about to hurt her!) Not really....Then some women got up and gave testimonies in their own language then the pastor spoke for a little bit and then Wally spoke. Oh yeah we had to get up and greet them and give them greetings from our families and churches. They said to send our families and churches love and prayers and they asked us not to forget about them! I about died. 

Then after the service (it was frickin hot by the way) we had hot rice and potatoes in Simon (the pastors) mother's hut. His wife served us. It was so hot and so filling that we could barely shove it in. Then they served us steaming hot chai. Just what you want when you are sweating to death! They laughed at us for wanting cold things. Simon (the translator..there were two Simon's) said he hated ice cream when Wally had them over once. He said "how can you people eat cold things?" And we were wondering how they could eat hot things on a day like today! 

Then it was time to say goodbye but we had to cram about 6 more people in the car to drive them places so they didn't have to walk 10 miles! The roads are crazy here! Wally said he's had to change his tires ten times! We road up the mountain like a chevy commercial...only he said American cars barely last a week here! 

Ok I hope that was a good update. I miss you guys so much. I love you Tone and hope you are having a good week! It feels like it's been 3 weeks already not three days! Wally and Donna have a dog named Buckeye (yeah Dad Wally keeps ragging on you by the way!) and she makes me miss Franklin a lot! Love you all Melissa is asleep so I will say hi from her! 

Love Jen