{This} Close to Tanzania!

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The last step for my upcoming trip to Tanzania with Compassion International is in place. Today, my trip guide arrived, along with my passport and visa for Tanzania. My plane tickets are now officially packed and I am finishing up a few loose ends before the plane takes off on Friday ~ with me on it!

Each day that brings me closer to traveling makes it a little more ‘real’, but at the same time, almost surreal.

I am beyond excited to be a part of this blogging team with some other amazing people. Even if I don’t always externally show it, know that internally I am shouting.

Meanwhile, I am breaking in new shoes so that I don’t need to pack boxes of Band-Aids and the kids are drawing pictures to share with the little boy, David, that we now sponsor in Tanzania. I can hardly believe that at some point next week, I will be able to physically hold that little boy, play with him, hopefully meet his family, and SEE the difference that partnering with Compassion International can make.

THAT alone is just an overwhelming thought.

I’ll be sharing bits and pieces here and linking you to more pictures and my heart thoughts as I go along. Thank you all SO much for your encouragement and prayers. They are known and felt!!

And…if you don’t already, pray and consider sponsoring a child through Compassion {from Tanzania or anywhere!}.

 

Community

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The theme this week for 5 Minute Friday is “Community”.

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I used to snicker when I hear that people met ‘online’ and wonder how in the world a relationship could really develop with someone that you hadn’t met in person. Wouldn’t it be scary to actually get together? In my mind, it was just people posing as someone they were not, and real relationships were just a joke.

Then I started blogging and some of these online personalities became REAL to me. More than anything I wanted to wrap my arms around some of the sweet ladies that were quickly becoming more than just an online presence to me.

One brave day, I drove into the inner city of Philadelphia to meet one of these ladies who is now one of my DEAREST friends. Since then, I have met numerous others that I am beyond blessed to call friends. Ladies I know that I can pick up a phone and call in a heartbeat. Drop an email or send a text.

No more snickering. I am blessed to be a part of a different type of community.

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Five Minute Fridays is hosted by The Gypsy Mama and is a meme where we write for only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. Join in here…

The Whirlwind

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The last few weeks have gone by in what seems like a flash. Birthday parties for a new 11 year old girl. Camping. The whirlwind we call life.

At the end of last week I sat down to look at all that is coming up in the next few weeks and about had a panic attack. This weekend I will be speaking at the 2 to 1 Conference and after my return home it is only a few short days that I have to unpack and then REpack for my trip to Africa.

 

GULP.

I’m furiously making lists. Trying to remember all that I need to pack. Planning meals for the family. Making sure I remember all that needs to be done in the upcoming weeks.

In the meantime, we’re wrapping up our school year this week {BIG CHEERS} and we were enjoying the weather before it got so chilly!!

But that’s life ~ a whirlwind of activity lately!

Calling Shotgun!

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Until this past weekend, the radio controls were all mine. Well, for the most part. There may be mutiny based on what CD was playing, but ultimately I was still in control of the front seat area.

And then a certain someone hit 80 pounds and is now crying ‘Shotgun!’…much to her delight and the dismay of her siblings who are nowhere near the 80 pound mark.

She doesn’t look at all excited on her first trip in the front seat, does she? Other than doing the happy dance for a few minutes, she immediately took control over the radio.

When, oh when did she grow up so fast?

 

My Spring Reading List

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It’s a bit late in being posted, but somehow the Spring Reading Thing Challenge managed to sneak by me and I missed making my list. That doesn’t mean that I stopped reading ~ I just didn’t feel like sitting down to put a concrete list together until last night.

Although I don’t have a set list of books that I would like to read, I do know that it always helps me to have goals to print off and keep handy during the coming months to see how I’m doing. In May I have some nice long plane rides for my trip to Tanzania with Compassion International, so I have a feeling my Kindle and I will becoming rather cozy during that time. Here’s my general ‘to read’ list for this spring:

In {real} paperback format

         

- The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer

~ Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

~ Six Ways Keep the “Good” in Your Boy by Dannah Gresh

~ Good and Angry by Scott Turansky

Via My Kindle

I have a ton of ‘fun’ books that I’ve downloaded via my Free Kindle Books list, and I’d like to read 10 of them this spring.

With the Kids

The kids and I have been reading the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins together and we are almost finished with the last book in the series.  I’m avidly looking for a new series to start reading with them when this one is done ~ any suggestions?

That’s it for my list overall ~ plus any fun books that show up for review. Do you have any books that you want to read soon?