I am without Jodi and Emi this week as I am leading a Children's Hope Chest  group from Birmingham, AL. Life without my girls are just a bit less colorful as you can imagine... I had no idea how my life would change with Emi joining our family here in Swaziland. It is such a blessing to see life through her eyes, to understand for the first time ever unconditional love and to not think about jumping in front of a charging lion to save her. She makes a part of my heart blossom that I didn't know was there and just calls forth love from deep within me. Emi is indeed Gracious and Beautiful! So is her mom!

 

My highlight was a home visit this afternoon where we took a food package to a family home of some of the kids from the Care Point. It consists of a bag of maize meal, beans, candles, matches, cooking oil, salt, soap, soup powder canned meat, sardines, cookies, coffee, sugar and tea. Home visits ALWAYS puts life in perspective for me. I met an 18 old girl, Thembile, with her baby girl of one month old, Mabaso, wrapped in a sheet. I just keep comparing Emi's life to hers and how this baby is absolutely fine without all the stuff we believe is vital to make life possible. She has no wipe warmer, or bum cream or hypo-allergenic formula or sterilizer and orthodontic pacifier or baby soap or Huggies #3 and so on and so forth. I am a blessed man with so much to be thankful for.

I enjoy what I do in Africa and love Swaziland and its people. I am thankful tonight for God's grace on my life, my beautiful family and thankful for YOU. Don't you love that we are making a difference together?

Be blessed.

Marius