I am thankful for....

It's been a while since I've written - things have been pretty busy lately! I don't even know where to start. The last blog I posted was titled, "Am I halfway through tour already?" Now hear I am and it's 2 weeks and some odd days until the kids fly back to Kenya!! My how time flies when your having the time of your life. I have truly been blessed in these last two weeks. It's been such a blur that I can't even tell you where I've been or what I've been doing in detail. I do know that I've been to Birmingham and Decatur, Alabama, Townsend and Hixson, Tennessee, Brasstown, North Carolina, Alpharetta and Atlanta, Georgia and Greenwood South Carolina. And best of all I got to go HOME to Toccoa, Ga for 2 days! One of the fun things that I can remember was eating at a Japanese steakhouse with my host in Birmingham. It was great seeing the kids faces as the flames burst in front of them and as he flipped rice into their mouths! We have had 7 concerts in the past 7 days and I was soooooo exhausted when they came to an end on Tuesday night. 


As I said earlier - it was so refreshing to go home for a few days. I was able to realize how much I am loved and missed by my friends and family and it was a huge encouragement and spirit lifter for me to see everyone. My roommate from college, J Lo and my best friend India came into town to stay with me and see the choir. It was so good getting to catch up with them both. I also got to see some other friends at church. I can't forget how amazing it was to see my family as well. Getting hugs from them all was the best. I am so incredibly blessed to come from an amazing family, have the best friends a girl could ask for, and have an incredible church to welcome me and my new Daraja family. Thanks to everyone who made my few days at "home" very special - I love you ALL. 


The night before leaving Toccoa, India, J Lo, Mandy, and I decided to go mattress surfing - pretty much the most amazing thing I've ever done! My brother has been doing this with the college class at the church for a while now, but I've never been able to participate so I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity while at home with my best friends! We had a blast. For those of you who don't know, mattress surfing consist of tying two mattresses that have been inserted with metal poles to the back of a truck with a big rope. Then you put on a ridiculous amount of clothing and head gear, hop on the mattress (stand if your able) and hang on for dear life as your brother plows through a wet field of grass and fire ant beds. Oh the joys of having grass pelting in your face and globs of dirt smacking you against the head, and we can't forget the ants biting any inch of you that isn't covered. Sounds like fun, huh?? Oh but it was!!! There are pictures from this adventure on my facebook page - if you want to see how utterly ridiculous I looked :)


Daraja was able to come down and hang out at my parents house while in Toccoa as well. It was so neat to be able to show my kids and the Kenyan adults where I grew up. Thanks everyone in Toccoa who hosted the kids too. They had a blast and I'm glad that the rest of Daraja was able to have a small glimpse into the lives of those who have made such a lasting impact on my life. Toccoa FUMC - you're amazing and no matter how far I go from this church you will always be, "my church." (I just have two "my churches" now, b/c Brooklet UMC is as close to home as I can get w/o having grown up there!!)


Now I'm in Greenwood, SC where I have been for the past 3 days. We have celebrated Thanksgiving with our host here and have really been blessed by the people here in Greenwood. We have been treated to breakfast at Shoney's, a library tour, complete with books for each kid, bowling, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas tree decorating, Wii playing, I could go on forever. My host has really made this time special for the girls and I and I'm very grateful to them for being my "fill in family" for this special holiday. Tomorrow I'm off to Thomasville, NC! Please pray for us as we near the end of tour. Pray for my heart as I begin to prepare myself for departing from the choir. It's a reality that I don't want to face! Pray for everyone on tour to being preparing themselves. Pray for the remaining time we have together and the we will not take a single moment for granted. I love you guys and will see you soon. God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!


Allison :)


Phrase of the day: Nipe Heshima (give me respect) - haha, I just learned this, perhaps a little too late! :)

Am I really half-way through tour already??

Hello all! The times when I get to blog are some of my favorite moments on tour. I love them because I'm able to get away for just a moment, plug my ears with some good music, and just type out all my thoughts. I actually get a chance to process all the things that have gone on in the past few days or weeks. I realize that when I don't have a chance to blog I really begin to forget about all the little things that have happened that I really don't want to forget but simply don't have the brain capacity to retain. I pride myself on having a good memory, but let me just say that my memory has been tested to its limits on this tour. I remember saying, "oh I'll never forget the names of my hosts" or, "I'll remember every place that we go." Oh how wrong I was. I've stayed in about 25 host homes by now and I can honestly say there are many that I don't remember the names of or even where I've stayed. I was feeling guilty about this and then I realized - I still have all the memories from each place even if I can't remember the names and locations. The important part is that each home, family, church, and town has had a unique impact on my life that is irreplaceable. I am so grateful for EVERY person that I have come in contact with on tour - I have so much to learn. Before tour, my mindset was that of how I had so much to offer the people I would meet and the kids that I would be living with for three months. I realize how backward my way of thinking was now. I've met so many special people with their own set of gifts to offer. I have so much to learn from the people God has placed in my path. I have to remind myself to open up and receive the blessings God is trying to place upon me through others. With all of that said, I don't think that I should go through tour just expecting to be blessed by the people I meet. I know that God wants me to walk a two way street. I have things to offer people but I realize that sometimes - what I have to offer isn't exactly what I thought it would be (if that makes any sense).


Tour is half way over now and things are starting to really sink in. Like, my time with these kids is almost over - have I really poured into them the way I should have? All of the questions are starting to rise up within me and I have to remind myself to not look too far ahead into the future and just live for the here and now. I want to cherish every single moment with the kids and take nothing for granted. I will NEVER have this opportunity again with these same children and I want to make sure I've done what God put me here to do before they get back on the plane to go home to Kenya. I've been praying about what it is God wants me share with the kids, whether it's advice, a listening ear, a hug, prayer, encouragement, whatever it is, I'm sure it's different for each kid and sometimes it's hard to discern what each individual needs. I've come to realize though, even if the children learn absolutely nothing from me - I will forever be changed by the impact they have had on my life. They have taught me things that I would have never been able to grasp otherwise. 


To catch you up on what's been going on we've been to Cincinnati, OH for another Youth Specialties conference like the one we did in LA at the beginning of tour. We had a great time there and were able to do a concert at Mt. Carmel Church of Christ while we were there. We had to fly from Charlotte, NC to get to the conference in time - I have never flown on such a small plane! It was weird. I don't really have much to compare to though I guess considering my only other flights have been to Kenya and California - both flights that call for larger planes. We made up about 1/3 of the passengers and the flight only took about 1.5 hours. It was very interesting. On the day we were supposed to come back to NC from Cincinnati we got to the airport around 10:00am thinking our flight would be at 12:20pm only to find that we had been booked for a 4:40pm flight instead. So, we had a day at the airport with Daraja, haha! It was pretty fun considering the circumstances. After Ohio we returned to Winterville, North Carolina where we had another concert at Discovery Church. The church met in a Boys and Girls Club facility so it was neat to have change in environments. I stayed with their children's/family pastor which was cool. We swapped resource names and ideas. I love staying with the children's pastors! Then we moved on to Burlington, NC. We sang at St. Marks Church. This was where we celebrated our official halfway day. We made puppets with the kids and we were able to wear whatever we wanted for the day. At the end of the day all of the adults had the chance to go hang out while the church took care of the kids for a few hours. The next stop was Baptist Home Baptist Church in Wilkesboro, NC. I got to stay in the hospitality house for 3 nights here and had a day off on Sunday. The rest was very much appreciated and I loved my host home! They treated us soooooo well. One night while we were there everyone went roller skating - it was lots of fun. We played a dice game that was kind of like four corners and I won! Haha, it was great - there were probably like 50 kids playing there too. I won a free snow cone! After Wilkesboro we headed to Little Brasstown Baptist Church in Brasstown, NC. This is where I am right now. So that's all for now.


The word of the day is - wewe. This is used kind of like dude. It literally means, "you, you." It's something we say a lot. For example, if one of the kids does something silly we might respond with, "wewe." So yea, see if you can figure out a way to use wewe in your life today. It's pretty easy to catch on to. 


Can't wait to see you soon in Toccoa!! Only 12 days. Love you all so very much!


Allison :)


If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:26-27

Down Time...(yes, I finally got some)

Well...I don't really have anything specific to blog about but I thought since I skipped out on blogging last week I would double up this week :) I thought I would just talk a little about what's been on my mind.

Lately I've started to really miss my independence. I've never considered myself to be much of an independent person but I realize now that every American is to an extent. The simple things like being able to go to the store when I want, take a shower when I feel like it, wake up when I'm ready, eat whenever I feel like it...things like that I really have taken for granted until now. I'd love to say that I won't take advantage of them when I get off tour but in reality I'm sure I'll slip back into my old lifestyle eventually after I return. I do think that I'll forever be more conscious of just how independent my lifestyle is. It's really as if I've become a parent over night, but not just your typical family. I parent along with 6 other moms and 4 dads and together we work together to parent 23 children between the ages of 9 & 14. It's like parenting in the extreme. I never realized how much this internship would teach me about parenting. I'm learning to work together with "my spouses" (haha) because we have to be consistent with our parenting practices. The kids desperately want to find loop holes within us so that they can get their way. It's a big challenge. I love the challenge though - I feel like when the day comes for me to be a parent I'm going to have a lot of experience behind me that very few people have the opportunity to be a part of.

Another thing I miss are simple things like watching TV or movies and hanging out with my friends. I really really miss my friends. I find myself longing to hang out with them and just be a normal 23 year old from time to time. I also miss my job (my other one, being a Children's Director). All of you at BUMC should be happy to hear that. It's true though. I really miss being there to help make decisions and plan for the kids. I keep praying that everything is going well and that my volunteers have everything under control. I left everything in GREAT hands so I'm not terribly concerned, but I do miss all of the people at BUMC very much. I also miss HeartFIRE and worshiping on Sunday mornings! I'm excited to see where the new service is when I return - I've been praying for you guys! Of course I miss my family as well. I've gotten used to being 4 hours away from my family while living in Statesboro for the past 4 years but there's something about being on the road and knowing that I can't just drive 4 hours to go see them that makes the distance different. I'm missing out on a lot at home since it's getting time for the holiday stuff to start happening - I'm praying that Daraja will provide a lot of cool holiday memories for me instead!

Even though I miss a lot things, I want you to know I'm having a BLAST on tour. The kids are so amazing. On one had kids have the same qualities universally, but on the other hand these children are so different from American children. They truly love unconditionally, they have a capacity to learn and lead spiritually that I've never seen in American children. Sometimes I wonder if we limit our children in America simply because we don't think they're ready or able to comprehend certain things about Christianity. We dumb down and water down Christianity to only talk about the happy things instead of putting the truth out there and then helping explain it on their terms. Kids have such a capacity to learn - we (as a church) are doing American children such a disservice by deciding that they're not "old enough" comprehend Christianity. I've really been thinking about this a lot lately and have been trying to determine if it's a difference in the kids or if it's a difference in the leadership from adults. I think it has more to do with the leadership. I have challenged myself to be extremely conscious of this when I return to work. Children are capable of so much more than we allow them to be.

I know I've been rambling, but I just wanted to share my heart with you guys for a change. Please pray that God would give me more clarity about the things I've been talking about. I want this internship to have a huge influence on the way I do my job when I get back. I think God has put me on this tour to better my knowledge of children and how to guide them spiritually. Please pray as well for my heart. I have such a desire to get to know these kids on a deep level and really be a strong mentor for them. I realize that I can't be this for every single one of them, but I pray that God would allow for me to have this kind of a relationship with some of them. We're half way through tour and I've yet to really get into the heads of these kids and dig into their personal stories. I feel it coming soon, just pray that God would use me as He sees fit.

To my family and friends that will be in Toccoa when Daraja is there - I will see you in 18 days!!!!! I can't wait. I love everyone of you so very much. And of course the word of the day.... sijui. This means, "I don't know." It's become one of my favorite responses! :)

Much love!
Allison :)

The Crazy Life...

This has been a really crazy last week and a half. That's part of the reason I didn't update my blog on Saturday like I normally do (sorry Daddy). We have reached the part of the tour where sickness is starting to try and pull some of us down. But on the upside of things - everyone has gotten into a pretty good routine of how to go through each day. Things are starting fall into place and a sense of normalcy is starting to fill the atmosphere. This helps the colds and allergies to not have such a dampening effect on the group.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things to keep me on my toes, I'm pretty convinced that tour will never become THAT normal. For example, I had a day off this past Wednesday and another intern and I were staying in the "off house," meaning we didn't have any kids that night or the next day. We had decided to sleep in late and then run a few errands and take it easy the next day. The other intern is epileptic, which I knew in advance, but what I wasn't prepared for was a seizure. I must admit that I've never been so scared and helpless in my life. The morning of our day off she had a seizure just as I was getting out of the shower. I rushed downstairs and got the host, we called 911 and I contacted the tour leader, Christi, and told her what was going on. Luckily, the dad in my host home was very calm and handled the situation very well. Their kids were already at school, the wife had skipped a meeting she was supposed to be at, and the dad had been sick and was still at home resting up. God was all over the whole situation I must say! It was such a scary experience, but if it had of happened at any other time it could have been really bad. God allowed for her to be away from the kids when all of this happened and I am so thankful that I was the only one who had to be around for it. I don't ever want to experience that again - but God taught me a lot through the whole situation.

I was actually able to still enjoy my day off too, I just didn't get to enjoy it with the other intern. My host took me to Macaroni Grill for lunch, then to buy a belt, after that, a manicure and pedicure (they had a special going on, I couldn't pass it up), and then Bonefish for dinner. It was a pretty good day off despite the chaos of the morning. I finished the day watching a movie in the host's home theater - it was awesome!

Since I wrote the last time, we have visited Cranberry Township, PA where we stayed 4 days. I really enjoyed my time there. My girls and I were able to stay in two different host homes while we were there because our first hosts had a child get sick. We stayed with the children's pastor and her husband and 16 year old daughter for the first two nights. This was cool since I'm a children's pastor too. They took us to breakfast both mornings and even had one of the those cool massage chairs that massages EVERY part of your body! It was great! :) After two nights with them, we moved houses to stay with the pastor and his family (their son got to feeling better). The church had their annual fall festival while we were there and all of the kids and chaperones were given cowboy hats, bandanas, and sheriff badges to wear. We looked pretty cute in our "western wear." The kids had a great time riding the bull, milking a (fake) cow,  doing obstacle courses, playing carnival games, taking old western photos, and eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream! It was a great night.

After Cranberry, PA we traveled to Waynesboro, VA. We had a great time here and enjoyed the weather getting a little warmer. After a 2 night stay in Virginia, we traveled to Weddington, NC for another 2 night stay. This was where I had my day off. Then we traveled to Mocksville, NC and had a great concert at Blaise Baptist Church. Yesterday morning we did a concert at a middle school for the 7th graders. It was awesome doing worship songs in a public school. At the end of the concert we had the kids do the "Cupid Shuffle" with the teachers, it was great entertainment. We have a concert tonight in Statesville, NC and then fly out tomorrow morning for Cincinnati, OH.

It's been a busy few weeks as always but God still seems to find the energy to supply me with. I continue to pray for wisdom but have added strength to that list. It's becoming easier and easier to let things get me down physically because it's the time of year for colds and allergies to kick in. I know that my spiritual connection will help with my physical strength as well so I'm fighting for my time with God and really covet the few minutes here and there that I'm able to spend with Him. Please continue to pray for the group. We need prayers for health - everyone is still feeling pretty good, but the first few colds are starting to sprout up here and there. As always, pray for safe travels!

I've been trying to think of a good word of the day to leave you with. We're going to go with Jambo - jambo simply means hello! Hope everyone has a great weekend! Love you guys so much.

Allison :)

PS - check facebook for pics, I'm having a hard time uploading to my blog this time!

I'm gonna be such a great mom some day! haha :)

Whew! I made it through the busiest weekend of my entire life. I can honestly say there were moments when I was questioning my ability to keep going. So much has happened this past week or so that I'm not sure where to begin. I have learned a lot about myself and the kids and I'm really starting to feel like a mom rather than a chaperone. In my last blog I wrote about the jam packed weekend we had ahead of us. That weekend was AMAZING - looking back on it now, I find it hard to believe that everyone stayed alert, happy, excited, energetic, and positive for the majority of the weekend. God truly knows what He is doing and I've learned to not question His plans. 

This past Saturday the kids had an amazing opportunity to perform at a Third Day concert. It was soooooo awesome to see the kids doing such a huge event. They were amazing (yes, I'm biased, but I think you would agree if you heard them)! I always feel like a proud parent when the kids are leading worship - I laugh at myself because I often have tears come to my eyes when I watch them up on stage. One thing I found very interesting was the fact that the kids didn't even make a big deal out of being able to perform with Third Day. They treated Mac Powell (the lead singer for Third Day) just like any other person. Here I am with the other interns pinching myself to make sure that I'm actually in the same room with Mac Powell standing 2 inches away and the kids could care less who the guy is. All they know is he's someone who they are going to sing with. It's really cool because the kids "perform" the same no matter whether there are 3 people watching or 30,000. I love that about them!

After the Third Day concert we traveled to Anderson, SC. We arrived a little after 1:00 am and had to be up at 5:00 the next morning - sleep has become a precious and rare thing to be cherished this past week. The kids did 2 songs per service at Newspring (they had 4 services) and then we headed north. We spent  almost one full day on the bus as we made our way to Maryland where spent 2 days. One of these days was spent touring Washington D.C. We had a great time touring the White House, The Air & Space Museum, The Natural History Museum, and eating lunch on the Mall outside of the Capital. My favorite experience of the day however, was the planetarium at the space museum - I felt like a kid again as I ooed and ahhed at the stars and the planets. Some of the kids kept asking if we were moving and told me that they needed their dramamine. I had to laugh. 

After Maryland, we spent some time in New Jersey where we had a concert on Wednesday night. It has really started to get cold (I mean like 30s and 40s all day). Everyone says it's unseasonably cold up here, but I wouldn't know any different. It was very rainy in New Jersey and really cold - but none the less, we had a great time and really good time of worship with Bethel Baptist. On a side note, just to make you laugh, many of you know I'm a pretty big clutz. I fall a lot! Well during the lovely weather in New Jersey I added another fall the ever growing list that I have of "falling stories." The church we were staying at had a family life center on one side of the street and the sanctuary and the office building were on the other side. We needed internet while we were there and there was no wireless so we had to go across the street. No big deal (if you aren't me). Since it was raining, freezing, and the road to cross was 5 lanes with a fair amount of traffic I was running to make my time outside as short as possible. Not a good idea. I'm running (keep in mind I have like 3 layers of clothes on, a huge backpack, with laptop inside, no hood, and the ground is super wet and slippery), I get about 20 yards from the door and I completely miss the fact that there is a curb to step over. I trip, do not catch myself, the backpack comes over my head forcing me to completely lay out in a puddle. As I struggle to get up and rebalance myself I just had to laugh. Only I could manage to myself in such an entanglement. If only had taking my time I would have ended up without pain in my knee and elbo, aLOT drier, and my ego still intact. Haha, God does have His way of humbling us - I must say!

Anyway, I'm now in Pennsylvania having a blast. We went bowling today and I'm proud to say I broke 100 (ok, yes there were bumpers) but still. Let me tell you though, I was pretty impressed with the kids' ability to knock down some pins! I also got to go to Target today - I was thrilled. Of course my kids were waiting with our host in the car so I didn't go in to browse, but it was a small adventure that was out of the ordinary for me :) It really is the small things that mean the most. 

I have been struggling a lot this past week with wisdom and patience. I have reached the point where I is essential that I find a healthy balance between being a friend and a caregiver. I have really had a hard time knowing what to say and when. I'm really trying to determine what I should choose to bring attention to and what I should simply ignore. This issue is the thought behind my title for this post. I am learning more about being a parent then I ever could have in all my 4 years of Child and Family Development Classes at GSU (no offense to my professors). It's hard to explain, but I'm really having to do some self assessment. God's really working in my heart and I've been discovering just how incapable I am of "chaperoning" these kids. Now is definitely not the time to be the control freak I'm so prone to turn into. I told you that I've been struggling with wisdom and patience, well one of the interns prayed that I would find each of these things and that God would provide. (Yes, I know when you pray for patience God only gives you more situations in which your patience are tested, I was fully aware of this when I asked). This morning I was doing a devotion and what verse happened to be the key verse? James 1: 2-8, which says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." Now you tell me that God wasn't all over that!! Man, He's incredible. I have no words to describe how much peace I felt after stumbling upon this verse this morning - it's awesome to see God prove His holiness and mightiness. 

I know this has been a REALLY lengthy post, I'm sorry if your eyes are killing you by now. But kudos to you if you made it this far. I miss you all so much and love the texts, emails, comments, and facebook replies each of you send to me. They really uplift me and make me smile. I'll leave you with the word of the day which is a recent addition to my own Swahili vocabulary - twinde. It means quickly or hurry (appropriate, huh?)

Naukupenda everyone!

Allison :)

I Think I Can, I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

It has been one of those days where you think you think you will never see the end. You know, you wake up 2 hours before the sun has even thought about peeping over the horizon, sit in traffic for about an hour to get where you are going, then run errands all day only to find that each errand you run will have its own special obstacle to overcome. By the end of the day, which is now 7:30 pm because of waking up so early, you can’t think straight, everything makes you giggle, and you finally give up, lay down, and talk to God, thanking Him for helping you make it through the day and asking for His blessings and guidance upon the day to come.

It’s days like these that I truly see God at work – the days where Satan tries so hard to twist and turn things to where everyone’s spirit is down, we are exhausted, and it’s easy for everyone to begin taking out personal frustrations on one another. Note that I said “Satan tries.” He has been trying to throw an obstacle into every situation we have encountered today, yet we have overcome them. It’s so refreshing to come together as leaders after a trying day and just pray, give it all to God, and ask for grace and guidance and the wisdom to handle the situations at hand. It gets even better at the end of the day when you are able to sit down with your girls (ages 10, 10, and 13) and listen to them pray to God for the leaders of the choir, their own hearts, and the hearts of those we are to encounter this weekend. They pray so honestly and are so humble. It’s prayers like these that keep me going after a long day. Their words and thoughts reflect so much of what is truly inside their hearts. Sometimes I have wondered if the kids really trust in God and lean on Him for everything. When I hear them pray I know the answer to these questions are yes without a doubt. They display such a pure and perfect example of what having a childlike faith is supposed to look like. This makes me think about how much the children of the choir have overcome and yet they still praise God and call Him worthy. They are so trusting and lean on God more than Americans could possibly imagine. I am really starting to realize that if these kids can praise God with all of their hearts after going through death, hunger, sickness, homelessness, and so many other obstacles in their lives – how much easier then should it be for me to completely trust in God and rely on Him for my everything.

Today we had very large problem with our new bus, it got stuck after having to do a sudden stop on a large hill. It was teetering and blocking traffic so the wrecker came to fix it; however, the wrecker accidentally dropped the bus do to its weight and the engine frame was bent along with a cracked and bent bumper. I don’t say all of this to complain, please don’t receive it in that way. I say it to 1. Inform you and 2. Ask for your prayers. We had thought our bus troubles were behind us but I know that Satan wanted to take advantage of the fact that this is the busiest weekend of the entire tour and our patience and time are definitely running thin. Please just pray that the bus will be fixed in a timely manor (by this Sunday morning) and that wisdom and guidance will be given to those in charge of handling this whole situation.

To fill you in on the last week or so, the girls and I have stayed in several host homes that have truly been a blessing to us. We have enjoyed four-wheeler riding, marshmallow roasting, trampoline jumping, North Georgia fair rides, tons of ice cream, leaf rubbing, many yummy meals, shopping (on my day off), having our clothes washed, swinging on the playground, playing basketball, really sports in general, and getting to know people and their individual stories. It’s been a blast so far and I have learned so much from each of the host homes. We have done three concerts  (not including YSLA) and have two tomorrow and one Saturday. The concerts have been great so far. I have now been moved to running the sound system during concerts. This is exciting but very nerve racking for now. I’m ready to get in a routine with it so that I’m not so nervous about forgetting to play the next song or turn down a microphone and the iPod during the next video. I really am enjoying learning a new skill though, it is very exciting! The kids are starting to get back into a routine and everyone has arrived from Kenya now. For the first week we did not have 3 of the 4 Kenyan adults and one of the kids. Now everyone has arrived, even baby Talie who is 2 (the daughter of the choir leaders). It finally feels like one big family of 35 :) ! I love it!!!!!!

This weekend is jam packed with worship. Friday morning (Oct 9) we will be singing at Catalyst and then traveling to Newnan for a concert at the Arts Center. Saturday we will be leading worship at the Third Day/Jars of Clay concert in Alpharetta (yes, I’m pumped!!) and then Sunday morning we’ll be at Newspring in Anderson, SC to lead worship! So exciting but definitely need your prayers for smooth sailing and safe travels. I must go to bed now I have to wake up at 4 am to get an early start on the day! Thank you all for your support and prayers. You all mean so much to me.

Naukupenda! (Word of the day, means, “I love you”.)

Allison :)

...and the fun times continue...

WOW is about all I can say right now! This internship has been such a blast and a huge blessing so far - I simply canNOT wait to see what else God has in store! It's only been a little over a week and I've already experienced soooo much!
The YS conference in LA went so good. The kids did an incredible job leading worship. Here's a link to a video clip of the kids leading: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=141485677871 God is using these kids in amazing ways to minister to people, especially to me! It was so refreshing to spend time with them in LA and simply share in the joy they have for life.

We were not able to see much of LA while we were there, however, we had TONS of fun. Besides the concert on Sunday morning, we enjoyed a really cool bounce/jump thing (you know the blow-up things) that had an obstacle course, slides, and a climbing wall inside of it. The kids had a blast playing in this and I must admit I did too!! We had fun playing with playdough and riding really cool three wheel bikes around in the back of the conference center. Being with the kids is almost like getting to re-live my childhood and at the same time become a mom. It's crazy! I'm getting to enjoy so much that I would have loved as a child but I'm also having to really take on a HUGE amount of responsibility. I love the challenge that this internship is presenting. It's been such a growing experience already. Okay, sorry for the side note, back to what we've been doing. On the night after our concert we enjoyed a 3 block stroll from our hotel to Denny's, which was a nice change from eating delivery on the floor of a hotel room. Don't get me wrong, those we're definitely fun times too - there's always memories to be made, no matter what we're doing. It took us almost 2 hours to finish dinner at Denny's! Haha :) Yesterday the choir was treated to "luxury rides in style" as we caravanned to the airport in a black limo and 3 black Suburbans. The kids were so excited, especially the boys who were in the limo! We flew out of LAX and came back to Atlanta where we met up with our host home. We enjoyed dinner at the Chic-fil-A Dwarf house near the airport and then made our journey "home." Our first host home of the trip has been a great, we are staying with a really sweet family!!

Today (Tues. 9/29) we spent the day at Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta. We got all of the merchandise for the store prepped, began the dentist appointments for the week, and everyone got a flu shot! All the children did really well with the shots and the dentists; I'm hoping tomorrow's dentist appointments will go just as smoothly. After a day of working hard at the church, we loaded up with our host homes and headed to Atlanta to eat at The Varsity. Let me just say that it was a BIG hit with the kids. They loved imitating the famous "What'll ya have" slogan and wearing the varsity hats. After dinner we headed out to enjoy the Braves game. We had tons of fun and even made it on TV. We also got the kids to start the wave and it actually made it around the WHOLE entire stadium, I was impressed.  Oh, the tomahawk chop was fun too, the kids caught on pretty quickly.

Before I go I wanted to ask that you guys pray for a few things. First, due to all of the flooding last week in N. Ga, we no longer have a tour bus for Daraja. It was at a shop being worked on and this particular shop was under water during the flooding. Our bus was in about 8 feet of water. This is somewhat of a blessing because the bus has seen better days; however, we have no form of mass transportation now and desperately need something ASAP. Second, the other Kenyan adults will be flying in Thursday as well as our 23rd choir member, Moses, who has been sick with the chicken pox. Please pray for them to have a safe flight. Third, the 24th member of the choir, Violet, still has not been about to get her visa and has yet to be able to come on tour. Pray that this will go through soon and she will at least be able to join us for Fall tour even though she had to miss out on Summer tour. Fourth, continue to just pray for the tour and everyone on it - I feel your prayers, so keep it up! It's so encouraging to know that I have a team behind me! Good night for now! I love you all.

Swahili lesson of the day - Asanta Sana = Thank you!

Blessings,
Allison :)

This is the start of something good....9/21-9/25

As I write this blog I’m in flight to LA! My first week has been amazing so far. We have been doing a lot of training and prep work for the past four days and today is my first day of seeing the kids since June! It’s been a crazy ride so far.

Monday started off with trying to travel to Alpharetta amidst all of the flooding going on in North Georgia!! Getting to Alpharetta from Toccoa went pretty smoothly. I didn’t have much trouble since I was able to stay on big roads. Alpharetta to Tennessee was quite the adventure though! Our first two days of training were scheduled to take place in a cabin on the TN/GA line about 2.5 hours northwest of Alpharetta. When we headed out, it was raining buckets of water and there was a lot of flooding going on. Grocery shopping for the cabin in the monsoon was awesome! We had two groups going up to the cabin because two of the interns had to fly into Atlanta so they were coming up with our tour leader from the airport. My group (the other four interns) headed up around 4:00 that afternoon. After many dead ends, roadblocks, and turn-arounds we finally made it to the cabin around 8:00pm. The other group wasn’t as lucky and didn’t make it to the cabin until 12:30 in the morning.  This put a bit of twist on our scheduled training so we spent most of the day on Tuesday piled on the big comfy couch talking about who we were, what our fears and excitements were about tour, tour prep, and other stuff to help us get prepared for the BIG adventure. On Tuesday afternoon we had a break before dinner in which we all had planned to take a nice refreshing nap…but, the cupid shuffle came on the iPod and we couldn’t resist a dance party, haha. We turned the dining room/kitchen into a ballroom dance floor eventually and our tour leader (Christi) proceeded to teach us all The Waltz, The Rumba, and Swing Dancing! We had a blast, I was especially impressed with the two guy interns, Stephen and CJ, who were really fast learners and not too bad for their first attempts! We all enjoyed dinner together and had a great time bonding at the cabin. On Wednesday morning we packed up and headed back to Alpharetta where the 410 Bridge (Daraja’s mother organization) is located. We spent the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday doing more training for our specific travel roles and doing errands around Alpharetta to get last minute shirts and pants for the kids. Our motto for the last two days has been “divide and conquer!” We spread out like little ants hunting down all of the Target’s, Wal-Mart’s, and Old Navy’s within a 30 mile radius around Alpharetta. It was great! :)  I found out that my travel roles consist of assisting with the administrative stuff (receipts, donor info tracking, mailing, etc.), setting up the sound system (not running it, just putting it together), helping out with Bright Point (the sponsorship organization we use to help our kids get sponsors, it’s similar to Compassion), running the store after concerts, and there may be others I’ve forgotten.

I’m super pumped to land in LA today and see the kids. This will be the first time I’ve seen them since June. We are in LA to do a Youth Specialties conference. We will be there until Monday, when we will fly back to Atlanta. I’ve really started to realize just how limited my free time will be and how difficult it’s going to be to have quite time, time to blog and facebook, and time to talk on skype/ the phone. So please forgive me if I don’t respond super quick to your comments or encouragements. They mean the world to me, it’s just super difficult to respond to everyone, but know that I love them and NEED them, so keep ‘em comin’!! I’m excited to share this adventure and what God’s doing in my life with you guys for the next three months. I love you all so much and will do my best to update at least once a week. If you want to know about where we will be for concerts and stuff, just ask and I’ll do my best to get back to you on where the closest concert will be to you.

I want to leave you with a Swahili word of the day each time I write, this is the native language of the kids, even though they can all speak English, they speak Swahili regularly as well. Today’s word/phrase: Bwana Asifiwe = Praise God!

Until next time,
Allison :)

Pre-Tour Chaos!

Well, it's the week before I leave for tour and there is SOOOO much to be done. I'm busy getting my ducks in a row at work so I don't leave everyone with zero direction on what to do with my kids for the next three months. It's crazy how difficult it is to think that far in advance and trying to think of all the little but necessary things I do that keep the children's department running is exhausting. I've been meditating on a verse from Isaiah today to help me keep my head on straight - it says, "He gives power to the weak, And to those who have have no might He increases strength." (Isaiah 40:29) This has helped me to realize the major importance of letting God prepare my heart this week for what's to come, as well as how important it is that I trust in Him to help me accomplish everything before I leave. 


I'm ready to have packing behind me and be on the road already, but first things first I suppose. After all, this is my birthday week, I keep forgetting that!! I must make the most of my last week of stability and savor the time I have left with my friends.


Please pray for the tour to start off smoothly and for the team to really bond during our first week (which consist of training). I'll continue to keep you posted as I begin tour. Thanks for joining me on my adventures via internet :) Bye for now!