can we shop there?

Hey people! It’s TJ.

Well, seeing as marlee has already told you about our humorous, difficult and amazing time at the Promise Land I’ll stick with the since we’ve returned stuff. This is mostly just little stories. I’ll break it up for you so you can read it in bits if you want.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

First of all, WE’RE ALL HEALTHY! I know some people have been worried and we thank you for your concern but we’re totally fine. God’s hand has been on us through malaria, sketchy water, and every other danger. We’re trying to be wise and we ask Camille before we eat anything or do anything questionable. And she’s an American. Like she lived in California…and brings teams of American teenagers to Uganda every summer for Teen Missions…she knows. We definitely appreciate your prayers though, keep those coming. “When You call us to the fire/ You will not withdraw Your hand/ We’ll gaze into the flame and look for you” (If You Say Go, World Mandate)

I don’t know if Marlee told you about CRO (Children Restoration Organization) but a lot of our favorite kids at boot camp came from there. The organization takes street kids and tries to help them out, disciple them, and restore them with their family. There is a base in Jinja and so today we’re going to go talk to them and see if we can help out with them there some before we leave for Kampala.

A TYPICAL DAY IN AFRICA

Speaking of leaving….sad days. We really do feel like this is home now. We call it home. We cook…it’s wonderful. A typical day at the Teen Missions Compound (since we got back from the Promise Land):

6:00 am- alarm goes off. Mckenzie wakes up and pushes snooze

6:15 am- alarm goes off. Mckenzie gets up and brushes her teeth

6:20 am- Mckenzie wakes up the other two

6:30 am- we meet Isaac in the garden for some intense digging, with our awesome ghetto hoes…ok, well actually today it was more like 7:30...we overslept

8:30 am-we get food and water for the rabbits and see if any of them have died….

9:00 am-we start breakfast…and when I say breakfast, I mean the breakfast of champions, the breakfast worthy of three teenage boys…and we eat it all….breakfast tacos (scrambled eggs, spiced potatoes, nali nali sauce, all on a chipati), pineapple, tomatoes, toast, sausage, milk, orange juice, mango juice, peach juice, and passion fruit….things are looking up folks

10:00 am-we do the dishes and listen to music in the kitchen

Ok from here til dinner you never know what might go down. We paint signs, we help Isaac out with the office, we go to town, we do laundry, we do laundry, we do laundry we collect eggs…you know. Stuff.

6:00 pm-it time to head back to the rabbit’s hutch for round two

7:00 pm-dinner time with Camille and Isaac. This has come to be one of my favorite time everyday. Camille has been eating with us and I’ve loved getting to know her better. Plus there’s Isaac with his never ending supply of wisdom and funny phrases. We laugh so hard. I don’t even remember what about. But we do. The topic last night was the Bakka village and cow stomach…it’s a great time

9:00 pm-TJ’s internal clock decides it’s time for bed so we wash the dishes, say goodnight, and head for our room for some more laughs, read some scripture and by about 10ish we’re out.

Pretty exciting. :]

BIG ISAAC

Oh. News! Isaac, not the Isaac we do everything with, Big Isaac. The one who loves cows…He’s engaged…AHHHH!

Isaac: mhhhmm Mckenz. How are you?

McKenzie: I’m good Isaac how are you?

Isaac: Fifty-fifty. (only it sounds more like fif-e-ty fif-e-ty and he talks really fast)

Marlee: Oh no. Isaac. Why not 100%?

Isaac: Because I miss my sweet-heart. (when he says sweetheart he mouths sweet heart)

It’s super cute. Her name is Fiona.

Another cute thing. Isaac is real intense about his clothes. He always looks “smart.” Even when working, his shirt is tucked in and his pants are ironed. And his clothes are always real clean. Dang. So the other day my clothes are hanging up to dry…

Isaac: are those you’re clothes hanging up?

Me: yeah……they don’t look very clean do they….. (I say as I look dejectedly at my laundry.)

Isaac: Tomorrow, I will help you with your laundry.

Me: Isaac it’s ok. You have enough to do.

Isaac: It is ok. I am your brother, you are my sisters, I will help you.

Us: aw. :)

I wish you all could meet these people. It’s so hard to explain them.

MARKET EXPERTISE

Hmmm…..by tha way. (Isaac, our Isaac, little Isaac, says that whenever he’s changing the subject). We’re pros at the market. We’ve got it down to a fine art. We call them out when they overcharge us, and when they do we walk away and go find someone else with some pineapple, or passion fruit, or whatever it is we’re looking for. We now know how to get to the fruit and veggie section, the bread and egg area, the clothing/towel/shoes area, and we know where the sick nasty meat section is which we avoid at all cost. Even if we were dumb enough to get meat there, we wouldn’t because the smell is putrid. Raw meat sitting in the sun, day old fish, and cow stomach make for the grossest smell combo ever. It doesn’t help that the stomach looks furry. It’s really tough to walk there. But yeah. We know Jinja pretty well. We can find the best and fastest internet places and we know where the supermarkets are and which ones to buy what at to save the most money. We know the clinic location, the tourist location, and the safest places to get some food. We have a group of boda-boda drivers who know we need to go to Nakabango and how much we pay and we know the corner they chill out at. We’re in love with this place.

THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Funny story. The other day I went to get water at our little super market we go to the most seeing that it’s right next door to James’ internet café. (The fastest and friendliest for the price.) After chatting it up with the Indian dude who runs Jala Supermaket about the Indian soap opera that was playing I head back to the café. As I walk down the steps there’s two white boys, probably my age standing there talking rather intently. They looked rather fresh off the plane. Backpacks on and holding the straps tight, very clean hiking boots, cargo pants, and button up shirts…and eyes open really wide staring at everyone who passed. They honestly looked scared out of their heads. As soon as they spot me they stop talking and look at me, then back at each other. I decided to be friendly and muttered a “hey.” They look at me and go, “Um, is it ok if we shop there?” I gave them a kind of confused look. “I mean, like is it safe? Can we drink the bottled water?” I wanted to laugh out loud but I didn’t. I just kindly told them it was fine to shop there, the bottled water hadn’t done us any harm and told them where the other supermarkets could be found. I almost told them where the market market was but got the feeling they couldn’t handle that yet. I then hurried away. We now have our bearings and I didn’t want to be associated with such lost looking Americans. No way. This is our town now. Kidding. Kind of.

THE LORD WILL ROAR FROM ZION

Another story. This one is less funny and more awesome power of Jesus. We were picking things up in the market and this man comes up. He was obviously intoxicated. He was super happy and wanted us to hug him and yeah. Just weird. Marlee was annoyed, we all were, but she told him to stop and them moved away from him. He followed and reached out to grab her arm. (Now everyone. The market is a busy place. There are people everywhere. He could not have harmed her. We watch each other’s backs and we weren’t scared. Just uncomfortable.) Anyway, he reaches out and intercept him by grabbing his hand. I get his attention and said “In the name of Jesus leave.” He looked at me and asked what I said. When he asked he straightened up and I could understand him. It was not slurred. I repeated what I said and he turned around, and walked away. We kept our eyes open but he never showed up again. Jesus is so awesome. “He will not withdraw His hand.” He hasn’t. We watched the second Chronicles of Naria the other night and it just reminded me of God’s love for us. When Aslan takes down the guy chasing Lucy it gets me chills. When I am in danger, “the Lord will roar from Zion.”

Well I think that’s about all I have to say. Just some interesting little stories. Enjoy!

Peace out.

Tamara Joy

joel 3:16

THE “OTHER” PROMISED LAND (the one NOT flowing with milk and honey)

*WARNING: the following contains true stories that are based off the testimonies of three American women. And as typical to Marlee’s extensive style of writing, reading this is more like reading a novel than a newsletter. Much has happened since we last blogged, so read at your own risk. I’ll be stoked if there are people who actually make it the entire way through.

Well friends and family, we are back.

Here’s the deal. The ultimate low down. The 411. The insider. The story in a nutshell…:
Our two weeks spent in the Promised Land were packed full of...experiences. I think it’s safe to say that it was by far the hardest thing any of us have ever had to go through. Ever. The travel, weather, food, water, schedule….everything. Nothing escaped being a total, complete challenge. But I suppose peace and freedom doesn’t come unless you pull up your sleeves and fight for it. We kinda felt like Jacob, wrestling with God for a while. We were forced to make some pretty big life adjustments (giving up ways of old and making room for ways new) but I believe it helped tremendously our pursuit of having a clearer view of our gracious and sovereign Father.

THIS IS OUR STORY.
Part I----TRAVEL
Time: 4:00 am.
Place: Teen Missions Base…Nakabongo, Uganda, Africa
Destination: Kabriamido, Podunk, Home of The Massive Cactus Milk Tree Plant, CAPITAL OF NOWHERE, Uganda, Africa

We had little sleep the night before, due to the overwhelming excitement of waking up before the crack of dawn to join our fellow sojourners in voyaging into the anticipated Promised Land.

T-time was expected to be at 4:30 am. But in Africa…that could of quite possibly meant 7:30 or 8. No matter. We showed up, packed and ready at 4am sharp.

By the time we got out there, the truck we were to be traveling in was almost completely finished being loaded. Now let me begin to explain the contents of this truck.
Ÿ 80 bags of cement
Ÿ 15 massive logs for building
Ÿ Enough food to feed 150 people for two weeks (large sacks of potatoes, rice, beans, flour, sugar…etc.)
Ÿ 1 motorcycle
Ÿ 2 wheelbarrows
Ÿ 30 jerricans for hauling water
Ÿ 1 dog
Ÿ Luggage for 40+ people (tents, suitcases, wash basins, buckets, sleeping mats, etc.)

By this time, as you can imagine, the truck was ¾’s of the way full. And that was the truck before all the people. Actually, I saw it and thought that surely we were going to have to wait for a bus…but I was highly mistaken.

Finally, after all the things were loaded, lines began to form and people started piling…disappearing…into the depths of the truck. The only words being spoken were “MOVE!” “KEEP GOING!” “WE STILL HAVE MORE PEOPLE!” “WE HAVE TO SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!” “YOU! YOU CAN SCOOT OVER!” “HURRY UP!” (they weren’t trying to sound like inhumane task masters, just doing what they had to do to make everyone fit.)

It was pitch dark. You didn’t know what you were standing on. Or who you were standing with. It didn’t matter. You just had to do it.

We waited till the very end to load. Our hope was that maybe we would avoid being shoved in the midst of people back to back and we could catch some fresh air.

WRONG.

About the time you think the last of us had gotten on…..six more people had to find their way in.

We may be girls, but comfort has never been of less importance to us in our lives. We were literally just trying to survive. I promise I’m not exaggerating. Serious as a heart attack. Yes, it really was that bad.

What can you do? Cry? Be mad? ….I guess those were options. But by the grace of God, we just laughed. And laughed and hurt and laughed till our arms felt like they were going to pop right out of their sockets from hanging onto the bars above us for dear life. So painful. So funny.

Just when we honestly thought we couldn’t take it anymore…..flat tire number one. Everyone unloads. People sprinted to the nearest bush….for relief. We were all so thankful.

So here we are, a huge group of people stranded on the side of the road. There was nothing to do but wait until they patched the tire. Since the village was semi-remote, the “mzungus” attracted a large group of kids who stood gazing at us on the other side of the road. The wait probably lasted about two hours total, until finally Tj nudged me from my sleep and we loaded, again, into the truck.

But this time….they let us load first.

We tried to refuse and go last, but Elijah (our leader) insisted. He wanted us to be as comfortable as possible…. :/. The only problem was……comfortable? Are you kidding me? Oh well. We knew he was trying to accommodate us the best he knew how. And really, how much worse could it get? So we loaded- first- and made our way wearily to the back of the truck.

Surprisingly, it was more comfortable. I decided to climb the wall of luggage until I was up high enough that I could feel the draft from outside. With a little wiggling and adjusting, I was actually able to create a pretty nice nook for myself. Tj and Mckenzie were a little more cramped, but found a spot next to the side of the truck where at least they could sit and get some fresh air.

This was all working out really smoothly…and unlike my two trooper teammates, I fell right asleep, bumps, jolts and all. It’s becoming the running joke that I can sleep through any situation. What can I say? You gotta do what you gotta do.

Then all of a sudden, WHISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!
Blowout.
Bummer.
Faulty patching job yields flat tire number two.

This time, we really were in the middle of no where. There were two mud huts that we could see from the road, and an occasional biker that peddled on by, but other than that….no village. No market. No water. Nothing. Just that red dirt road…..

By this time our crew is getting the hang of loading on and off, so it didn’t take long till everyone was out (again) trying to find some shade, or a good place to lay down. Actually a few people opted to stay inside and just wait it out. Mckenzie and I were part of that crowd. And so we slept. Until someone told us there was bread for lunch, at which time we promptly woke and ate.

Meanwhile Tj decided to roam the roads with one of our new friends Michael and they went around trying to boost the overall moral of the jaded travelers. Mad props…it was during the heat of the day, and in Africa people, it gets a little warm.

After lunch (rationed slices of bread) we all gathered under a tree and Elijah led us in prayer and song. It was a really neat moment, because many were discouraged and I think that the corporate worship helped lift everyone’s spirits.

When we had finished praying, I felt an urge to go preach to the people living in those mud huts. So I asked McKenzie and Tj to come with me. One of the leaders, Fred, who knew the language of this area also came with us to translate.

It was kinda funny, we walked up and a lady was washing some clothes and had four kids running about her. Probably the weirdest thing that happened to her that week; three white girls wandering around into her yard.

When she saw us coming she pulled out a bench and some little stools for us to sit on. Then Fred told her that we were from America, allowed us to introduce ourselves, and said we had come to tell her something.

She was willing to listen.

So, I began to tell her the good news. That there was a God who loved her, very much, and had sent His only son to the earth to die, to be raised from the dead, and in doing so paid the price for our sins so that we may be at peace with God have life eternal with Him. I was kinda overcome with emotion as I explained that I wanted nothing more than for her and her family to believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

When Fred finished translating, He asked her if she would be willing to accept Jesus into her heart.

She said she was not willing.

Wait….huh?
God, that’s not how it’s supposed to go.
She’s supposed to believe and be saved …and live happily ever after. Right?

She was not willing because she was a Muslim.

What do I do? Ok, thanks….we’ll just be going now... My heart sunk. I’ve never felt so hopeless. I had told her the truth that could set her free! And she didn’t want it.

I didn’t feel like persuading her. It seemed pointless to try to convince her. All I could do was love her. So, I gave her a hug, played with her kids and told her that I hoped someday she would believe in Jesus as the only truth.

Just as we were about to leave Fred turned to us and said, “Can we stay? God has given us another one.”

It was true! Another woman came over to where we were sitting and said she also wanted to hear what we had come from America to tell her.

Unlike her aunt, she professed to be a believer, but didn’t own a bible. Real convenient that my bible was stuffed underneath the mountain of luggage. No to mention, she probably couldn’t have read English anyhow. I really wish I had had one to give her.

BUT I didn’t.

The thing is, I think when the second woman came, it was God speaking to the first woman again. She didn’t disappear into her house. She stayed. She paid attention. She listened, again. She was interested.

She never did tell us that she wanted to believe in Jesus. I think God just wanted me to trust that His plan wasn’t exactly my plan. At first I was a little upset, but God reminded me that He who starts the work is faithful to complete it. I believe in my heart that there is hope for her. I pray that God reveals Himself to her. But all I can do is pray. I’ve been given a peace about it, and I hope that someday I see her in heaven. I guess I’ll just have to wait.

To make a really really long story short, Camille and Dennis, a TMI staff member, finally came to the rescue with a new tire and we proceeded on towards the lakeside where we would transfer everything and travel by boat to the Promised Land.

The third trip was by far the most grueling. To make matters worse as I was getting into the truck, my flip flop broke. Not funny, God… Tj and I were standing next to each other facing the left side of the truck, about mid way through, smack dab in the middle of everyone. Luckily the people in front and behind us were seated, so we didn’t have a hard time breathing. It was just that the roads got worse, so the ride got bumpier, and it was a longer trip so it really was painful. Not to mention the fact that “not as squished” still means that we are being pressed on either side by people a lot heavier than we…

But we sang. For probably three hours we sang and cried out to the Lord to help us through. Literally screaming sometimes, declaring that He was our strength and that for the sake of His glory, He had to help us make it.

And He was faithful.

We did, in fact, reach the boat. It was time consuming, transferring EVERYTHING that was on the truck to a boat, but the boys really stepped up and worked hard to make it happen. In comparison to the rest of the day, it wasn’t too long till everyone had boarded the boat and we set sail across Lake Kyoga to the Promise Land.

What was supposed to be a five hour max journey, evolved into the fifteen hour exodus to Promised Land # II, under the harsh-est traveling conditions I have ever endured. As Tj puts it so optimistically, “At least it didn’t take us 40 years!”

My water supply had run out about mid day. Between breakfast and lunch I consumed a total of five slices of bread. And, due to us helping with registration till three in the morning, we didn’t go to bed till about four am. My dependency solely derived on that which is totally foreign to this world. And we had made it. We were ALIVE!

Do miracles still happen? Allow me to answer with a resounding YES!

Marlee, Mckenzie, Tj….Trust me. Be anxious for nothing. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Part II---BOOT CAMP
As volunteers, we each had jobs that we had to do to help out with the boot camp. Mckenzie was the official nurse and drama teacher. Her day involved tons of kids and leaders complaining of anything ranging from simple headaches to even giving one girl her penicillin shots. Not to mention teach 4 teams 10 dramas in less than two weeks.

I was supposed to teach music and be “Ms. Piggy” which meant I investigated tent sites, eating sites, and team gathering sites for trash, messes, and filth. At the rally every night I gave out each team’s awards and the team with the most points had to wear signs around their necks that read “I Live Like a Pig” and had to clean the latrines the next day.

Tj helped teach music and was the faithful Ms. Piggy confidant. Sometimes she helped Mckenzie with her drama classes. Basically she jumped around and came in with the assist.

Water was definitely an issue. Lake Kyoga, we were warned, was infected with some sort of snail disease. If you swam in it you could get an itchy skin rash that could lead to other complications. Knowing this, we thought it best to avoid lake water…

Welp, everybody and the dog got their showering and laundry water from the lake. We approached Elijah and Innocent (the two main leaders) and asked them where we could get drinking water, and after much debate they told us that there was a well that they drew water from. AAAGGGHHH! So confusing. So, as it was, we just prayed that Jesus would filter our water because there really was no telling where it was from. Half the time it was cloudy & murky, the other half it smelled like gasoline.

This is where things get interesting.

As if life at the Promised Land wasn’t hard enough, Tj became ill. Loss of appetite, headaches, painful joints, and fever. A couple days later Mckenzie got sick. Tj started malaria medicine, and we hoped Mckenzie would start feeling better. But Mac’s sickness worsened. For over a week she experienced similar to Tj’s symptoms plus extreme weakness.

It wasn’t pretty, folks.

I was feelin’ fine…

Thankfully, the Lord provided a way for Mckenzie to go to a clinic where she was thereupon diagnosed with malaria. WOOOOOO! ALRIGHT! SWEET! The good news is, Tj apparently took to her medication because she started feeling better.
All joking aside….Guys, keep in mind that your prayers are the sole reason we didn’t pack up and get the heck out of dodge. Even though we were able to make light of some pretty serious situations along the way, we fully understood that being sick wasn’t anything to kid about. Through a lot of prayer on a lot of people’s parts along with some much needed discernment, we were able to get Mckenzie and Tj the basic medical help they needed.

(By the way, both of them are totally healthy now. This is all past information.)

Besides being sick, the first week in general was really rough. There was a major language barrier due to our American English and their African English. One of the leaders named Tom helped me with music, and I am so so so thankful for him and Teej for helping. He loves music, is awesome with kids, and had a way of translating exactly what I had just said so that they magically understood him. No matter, he saved that music class.

Another reason it was challenging was because of our shower situation. Lord. In order to take a shower you had to: (1) find a bucket, (2) trek down to the lake, (3) get deep enough into the water to avoid trash and sick nasty from floating around in it and (4) haul the bucket of lake water all the way back to the bathroom. You then proceded to (5) put some “Jik” (pronounced JEEK; aka bleach) in it and wait for 15 minutes so that it killed all the diseases, and after that (6) you were supposed to be able to pour your bucket of water into another bucket with a shower spout attached to it. Only problem is that the actual shower bucket was way too high for us to reach by ourselves…. So we would have had to (8) go find a boy… a tall, strong, boy… who could hoist our water high enough and successfully pour it into the shower bucket. Besides all that, there was the option that (9) we would run out of water and would have to go through heck again to get more….

We recognized the easiest solution was to not ….very often. Im not going into much detail.

One more thing that’s interesting to note. The Promised Land is flowing with snakes of all kinds. Cobras, vipers, green mambas, black mambas, boa constrictors, pythons. Ya. They’ve got it all. I witnessed four snake sightings. One was a cobra. The other, someone told us, was a viper. The third was unidentified considering it was coiled beneath our tent…Im serious… and the fourth, a green mamba that one of the leaders had killed in his camper’s tent. These snakes were everywhere and got so bad that Elijah and Innocent asked Tj, and McKenzie and me to pray with them against the snakes because they were becoming such a distraction.

There was ome relief though to all the mess.

At the rally every night, praise and worship went down like I had never seen it before. In a dusty tabernacle, we sang and danced to the beat of tribal African drums and it was so awesome. I loved it.

But every rose has it’s thorn…

I loved it, that is, until the plague of the white moths. On top of everything, one night millions upon millions upon trillions of white moths swarmed the lights in the tabernacle. It was HORRIBLE. People in the back couldn’t see what was going on twenty yards in front of them. The kids tried to cover their faces with their shirts but it was of no use. If you opened your mouth you ran the risk of consuming more protein for the day than you had probably wanted. They stayed and swarmed and buzzed until they got tired and died. I don’t know when exactly that was because we ran back to our tent for dear life. Someone said they came because we were the children of the light. I’m pretty sure it was because we had the ONLY lights for miles and miles.

Thankfully, not every night was that bad.

For me, evening worship was by far the best part of the day. The amount of energy was incredible knowing that everyone was completely exhausted and the songs were beautiful. I think that’s the only time the language barrier didn’t conflict.

Our food situation was actually good. It would have been more relaxing if we didn’t spend half our time swatting away the swarms of flies. Eating porscho (ground maze) and beans for lunch, and rice and beans for dinner for two weeks was kinda hard but after a while it just lost it’s taste and we ate it just to put substance in our stomachs. But at least it wasn’t bread. We ate and were satisfied, so we definitely counted it a blessing. For dinner most of the time they would serve irish potatoes with the rice and beans which was incredible. Irish potatoes are the bomb.com. Also, they always served hot tea at dinner and I promise it’s the best tea in the world. They throw in pounded ginger and it’s so so good.

Week two was much better. Mainly because it meant one week down, one more to go. And two of the days were going to be spent resting because of Sunday and Christmas. The kids began to open up and accept us as their crazy mzungu friends, and we were able to understand each other better. The more they heard us talk, I think, the more they developed an ear for deciphering our accents. We even started visiting different teams during lunch and dinner and hanging out with them throughout their classes and during our free time. We became one big, happy, goofy, grimy, black and white family.

Finally, came Christmas Day. Mckenzie had brought along a few decorations, so that was an exciting surprise and we decorated the thorn tree right outside our tent as testimony to our untainted Christmas spirit.

This part was funny. Our tent was placed further down from all the others, next to the main house, which was also on the way down to the lake. I kid you not, Christmas morning we woke up to the sounds of Feliz Navidad being sung from all the kids on their way to the lake to fetch their water. FELIZ NAVIDAD?!?! Ok…that’s cool, I guess! Not what we expected to hear on Christmas Day in Africa, but at least I know that one….!! We all three laughed hysterically.

Christmas ‘08 was unforgettable. Those two weeks were unforgettable. I think it’s safe to say we emerged more grateful human beings. I will never complain to my mother about a lot of things ever ever again.

We definitely had to learn to depend on God for everything. I mean everything. If anything let us be testimonies to His faithfulness and to His sovereign provision. If He takes care of the birds of the air, the thorns of the desert, and the snakes under our tents, how much more will He take care of US? Think about it.

I leave you with these lyrics from a song by Cambrisge called MY HOPE.
(I think it runs a close second to the Beatles hit, “Help”, as our Promised Land theme song.)

Thank you thank you thank you for remembering us in your prayers. We are now back home at the Teen Missions base and this part of Uganda is so incredibly beautiful. This whole trip has been so incredible. We wouldn’t trade any of it for anything.

That should make you caught up on everything then some. Told you it was long.

Thanks for your love and support. We will talk to you again soon! Hope you had a Merry Christmas and enjoy a Happy New Year!!!

Love,
Marlee (and Tj and McKenzie)

“My Hope”
by Cambrisge

My hope was built on nothing more than all that was and I hoped for
Oh trusting all that I could see would fill my cup and carry me

This simple flesh and friends as well became my one protecting shell
Until the pieces crumbled round my heart was broken on the ground

But You my Lord, my Savior, is all I need to love and adore
But You my Lord, my Savior, is all I need to love and adore

Cause You catch me when I fall

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name

On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand

Catch me when I fall
Catch me when I fall
Catch me when I fall

THE “OTHER” PROMISED LAND