Jana's Faith: June 2014

sunday afternoon

17.6.14

some days don't go as planned, they get turned around and shaken up just because that's the way life is. and you have two options, you can:

1// mourn the could have beens and live life in what could have happened

2// you can buck up, and look for the joy in the things that come through the interruptions, and look for the things that God can teach you through them

you can laugh and smile at the abounding joy on kids' faces at playing duck-duck-goose for the first time, even with the sun beating down on your back in the mid-day heat

running around on a dusty field with kids yelling in different languages, playing ultimate frisbee with a wiffle ball, becomes your sunday afternoon instead of trying to rest up for the week ahead

the two girls that follow you around, always two steps behind, try to hold back a grin, but it quickly bursts forth when you turn and meet their shining eyes

…and while you are "sacrificing" your day someone is 20 feet in the air in a palm tree, cutting down

frons. and all around you men and boys are plowing the hard, dry earth with a plow that makes something from little house on the prairie look high tech and a team of stubborn oxen.

top that off with a baobab that could house the coolest treehouse in all history...

and a little girl in a little yellow dress and the sound of 40 children dancing and singing pouring out from a mud-brick church, and i would say that, even though unplanned and not quite what you had in mind for the day, it was a pretty great way to spend a sunday afternoon. as for me, i've learned to stop looking at the interruptions as interruptions and start looking for what the Lord wants to teach me through them, it's amazing to see how the Lord can change our hearts about anything, if we are willing to let him…

lately

lately… | 3 |

13.6.14

+using silly selfies taken a couple weeks ago because i have nothing else...
+puking my guts out while trying to watch a movie
+worrying about our sick puppy
+doing loads and loads of school
+thinking about how weird it is that i'm going to be a junior this year
+loving having powered creamer in my coffee (thanks grandma!) instead of powdered milk.
or the shelf milk that tastes like plastic (it's not good)
+procrastinating (still) about starting to do vlogs
+practicing music with my brother, we don't sound too bad, if i do say so myself...
+ deciding to finally figure out how to use photoshop to it's full potential
+trying to tackle my 3 bazillion to-do lists
+painfully neglecting instagram
+desperately needing new music
+trying to wrap my mind around it being june already… we're halfway through the year y'all!!
+brainstorming ways to decorate my room with what i have
+loving the fact that rainy season is almost here, praise God!
+trying to find new things to photograph, you can only take pics of the same tree so many times
+going mascara-free out of sheet laziness
+reading the lost books series by ted dekker

levi

meet levi

11.6.14

overload of puppy pictures, but oh my word, he is the sweetest thing ever.
levi is the sweetest and i thought of his name, so…

France

d-day | remembering a cold day in december (a few days late)

9.6.14

so one time my wonderful aunt and uncle visited us for christmas before we left france.

and they wanted to visit normandy, so we packed up on christmas eve at the crack of dawn and drove for a while, in a tiny french car.
after a pitstop at a french gas station, which is an interesting thing, and arming ourselves with oreos and chocolate milk, we were ready to face the bitter weather.

i have to say that there is something incredibly sobering about standing out on that beach and thinking about all the lives that were lost, fighting for what they believed in.

when you walk over the hill and turn the corner to see the cemetery, your heart just skips a beat.

thousands and thousands of crosses, row and row after row.

"to these we owe the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live"

after seeing normandy, i don't think i can ever think or look at the things that happened there quite the same as i did before.

---------------

by the way, i do have a little bit of an excuse for this being a couple days late, internet was making flowing molasses look like lighting and i was incredibly busy, so yeah…

but it feels amazing to be able to post good, nice pics about something, even if it has nothing to do with burkina or where i am now.

it's kinda crazy to think about how many places i have been in just the past 7 months...

Africa

au village

7.6.14

9 women, 2 dark & 7 light, with the mission of serving Christ.

1 flat tire.

5 hours of driving.
1 very hard jump-seat (one of the very few times that i wished i was only 5 feet tall).

1 long day teaching others of Christ.

25 women learning to care for their families.

1 out of the innumerable villages.

small steps, little by little, piece by piece.

expanding the kingdom of Christ.

i have discovered that even when it's melt-your-face-off hot, it's never too hot to hold a baby. especially when it's a doll with her eyebrows and eyeliner done...

this little guy reminded me so much of one of my little cousin.

he would walk up to me, talking baby-babble in Jula and look at me expectantly to answer.

when i didn't, he would babble on, clearly frustrated that i wasn't responding.

so i tried French, which got me no where.

leaving me wishing i knew more Jula and him confused as to why i couldn't understand him...

even when it's 106, we drink hot tea.

why? well because it's just the way it's done.

tô (pronounced toe), fish sauce and sauce made from the leaves of a baobab.

a meal lovingly prepared for hours that morning.

offering the best that they had to their guests.

(baobab leaves, when cooked, offer the consistency of, well i can't think of anything like it actually. but let's just say slime, really slimy slime.)