My Uncle Don's homecoming...

Tonight I was privileged to be with my Uncle Don at his hospital bedside when he slipped away from this life peacefully into eternity with Jesus. After almost two weeks of struggle since his heart attack, our family is at peace in knowing he is now in the sweet presence of Jesus. While we will deeply miss his presence with us here, we can only imagine what it must be like for him tonight! We celebrate and cherish all the love and memories we have shared! Here are just a few special pictures from the last year!

Family picture taken just this past Christmas - Uncle Don is in the middle in the denim shirt. We are so thankful and blessed we took this pictures just a few months ago!

Uncle Don attended my farewell service at Grace just last January 2006.

Uncle Don and I last February before all my travels began.

cape town pics...

David Chronic, Noah, and I on top of Table Mountain! We barely made it up, since the cable car was closed most of the week due to heavy wind. We ended up with a beautiful day before they headed back to Romania and Sierra Leone.

Table Mountain with the "table cloth" clouds that roll in almost every day!

With Anele in Khayelitsha township. Anele is on the left, another friend of his on the right wanted to be in the picture too.

Great memories with Noah!

Noah with Desmond Tutu! Honest, it is him! We didn't have our cameras with us, so someone took a picture with their camera phone.

Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island.

sierra leone pics

I had a great two weeks with Cami, Faye, Noah, and the Sierra Leone community back in January!

Cami, Faye, and I at the beach in Freetown. I admire and respect these two women a ton!

The Kroo Bay kidos at the Saturday Bible Club.

Celebrating Cami's birthday in January!

The Sierra Leonean Servant Team on our day retreat with God!

london pics

After my time in Sierra Leone in January, I spent a few days in London "on my way" South Africa.

I had dinner with Linda and Martin, Anita Biedebach's sister and brother. Not pictured are Linda's husband Grant and their two children. It was a fun visit and Martin provided some great hospitality at his place!

I had fun catching up with Deanna Hayes and her two girls over coffee (John was travelling). I first met John and Deanna and the ministry InnerCHANGE when I served with them in Long Beach in a Cambodian community 15 years ago. An important step and experience in my journey!

Just me in London...

the archbishop!

Just a quick post about an unexpected surprise last night! David Chronic, Noah, and I were invited by some of the people at the Warehouse to attend a musical/play about the Truth and Reconciliation Committee here in South Africa following the apartheid regime. It was called Truth in Translation. It was amazing! What was even more amazing was Archbishop Desmond Tutu attended as well! Archbishop Tutu coordinated and led the way for this process of forgiveness 12 plus years ago. Before the play started he and his wife were in the lobby of the theater. There was this buzz and it took us awhile to realize just who was in our midst.

Noah has been carrying his camera around with him most of the time since he has been here. But, none of us took a camera last night. The first thing Noah said was "Oh no, we didn't bring our cameras!" Anyway, one of the women from Warehouse is Anglican and has sat on some committees with the Archbishop. She was kind enough to make an introduction! Another woman attending the play with us had her camera, so she took a picture of Noah with Archbishop Tutu and will email it to us! A highlight for both Noah and David and I! I'll post the picture when I get it!

It must have been amazing for the actors to perform this play with Desmond Tutu in the second row. (We were in the first row and he was sitting not too far down behind us!)

It was a great night! Reminded me a bit of our unexpected meeting of Mother Theresa in Kolkata back in 1996.