ok so... where y'all been?

i've been blog-free for over a month now. however, the addiction persists. it's really a crazy thing how it feels not to post for so long. weird. it's not a principle thing or anything that's a big deal, simply a matter of having too much to talk about but so much catching up to do with work at the same time.





africa was really great. i so wanna do a big ol' post telling everyone everything that happened. here's some highlights at least:

• average number of hours of sleep each night i got while in africa: 4.37


• number of pairs of jeans i tore a hole in on the upper inseam while attempting to play soccer with children's cup carepoint kids at nkobe: 1.00


• percentage of elevate guys that can dig a ditch faster and better than me: 100%


• number of elevate girls who barfed on this trip: 2.00


• number of fish eyes katie can eat at a time: 1.00


• percentage of departures that jarred was first in the car for: 93.47%


• number of times i heard jarred remind me what he didn't want to have happen to him: 4.6 per day


• number of paper tickets disposed of early: 2.00


• number of life-saving acrobatic water tower dives barton executed successfully: 1.00


• number of times i laughed watching the elevate team playing with the nkobe carepoint kids: 1,043


• number of times i thanked God for being able to be on this trip: 1,043


• number of times i had to say "we need more taxis" to the one taxi driver who showed up at our hotel in johannesburg to pick up all 14 of us with our 32 bags to take us to the airport at 4:30am: 53 (i think)


• number of texts i received from vicki while going down the runway taking off in washington d.c. on our way to africa - informing me about the progress of my oldest son jd's first time pitching a baseball game and winding up with a no-hitter: 4.00 (yay jd)


• number of takes it took isaac and charles to shoot their video without laughing: 5.00


• number of people attending the launch service at hpc's new campus at nkobe meeting in the terry melancon chapel: 612+


• number of those people who were children: 400+


• number of chickens katherine and blake successfully pieced in the same time span as the african ladies cut 25: 1.25


• number of cloves of garlic natalie ate while we peeled garlic the night before the launch service: 11.00 (totalling 44.31 antioxidants)





• number of kids brandon can pick up at the same time: 23 per arm


• number of bottles of water drank during the workdays at nkobe: 250+


• number of kids chasing our vehicles down the road by the carepoint as we left who were wearing oversized purple and orange hpc vbs shirts: i couldn't count - it was too much fun just hollering and waving


• number of photographs taken on jarred's digital camera: over 2,000


• percentage of our missionaries and elevate students on this trip i was totally proud of: 100%


• percentage of those of you who prayed and helped to send the team and who pray for and support these missionaries who should feel proud of what God allowed you to be a part of: 100%

ok. now can you see why i can't possibly actually try to catch up the whole story?

it's good to be back, though. back in the USA and back on the blog.

but this picture makes me really wanna do all i can to help keep the work going in africa. ben posted it on his blog after our trip.


the little boy from nkobe i'm sitting next to has the most contagious laugh when you tickle him...