the best welcome ever

after spending an obscene number of hours on an airplane, i am really in africa. it's a bit surreal still...we just arrived at the african bible college in malawi this afternoon, so i haven't had too many adventures just yet. [unless of course you include the countless times we've loaded, unloaded, checked and claimed our seventeen pieces of luggage] but we've already seen why malawi is called "the warm heart of africa". as our plane from johannesburg to lilongwe was taxiing to the terminal today,...

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give out grace

the african adventure officially begins in thirty six hours and i am ready to go. it is becoming abundantly clear that the major theme for me on this trip is grace. both accepting grace for myself and giving out grace to others. a month or so ago i was reading "what's so amazing about grace" and had the idea to write the phrase "give out grace" on my hand as a reminder of what i'm doing on this trip. sometimes it's hard to see the point of traipsing halfway around the world for a few weeks on...

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summer o' fun part one

the first installment of shelly's summer o' fun [aka - two weeks in st. louis] has been a little on the crazy side, but good just the same. i ended up spending the whole first week at church helping with camp edge, the new all-day version of vbs...yes that's right, i said ALL-DAY!! welcome to the world of crazy. my mom basically becomes an unpaid employee of children's ministry when the summer starts and i told her i would tag along on sunday and monday to help with the final preparations and...

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this is a stick-up

last friday my super fabulous friends at john knox threw me the going away party of the century. it all started when i came back to the office after serving lunch to the residents and amber jumped out at me shouting, "this is a stick-up! don't say anything...do what i tell you!" this is me being surprised/frightened i followed her to the parking lot where i was blindfolded and told to put on a large shirt, which i couldn't look at. we drove for what felt like a long time, while amber...

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my life in a nursing home

today was my last day at john knox village. it was bittersweet. i just celebrated my three year anniversary [officially making it my longest lasting job to date] and though the job has had its share of annoyances over the years, it also provided many fond memories. i will miss my residents. i will miss the way they make me laugh and the sweet things they say. i'll miss they way they will sing and dance with you when they're in a good mood. i might even miss the way they make mean faces and occasionally...

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pictures and pedicures

it's almost my friend sophie's second birthday, so we spent saturday morning documenting the occasion with a photo shoot. is this girl cute or what?!? the fun continued in the afternoon with some pampering. our friend jen surprised missy and i with birthday pedicures [a bit of an early gift for me!] and it was my first pedicure ever! i do have to say, it's quite an enjoyable experience. ...

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