so i’m not good at blogging.

i’ve failed miserably at keeping people informed about my africa STUFF ever since i went to kenya almost a year ago.

i keep saying “i’m going to post pictures” or “i’m going to start blogging soon!” but then time slips away, and i have my fair share of drama in my life to keep me busy and then i realize it’s been a bajillion days since i returned so i feel like it’s pointless.

but i’m really going to do it.

i’m going to write a little bit about my trip last year to 1)get those words out of my stinking head and 2)maybe help others realize how deep my love for africa truly is…not that i really feel like i need to get people to understand…because some people won’t get it no matter how hard i try.

BUT i’m going to do this on a different site. so sometime in the next week(ish) FOR REAL this time, I’m going to start a new blog and leave this one up so people can link to it.

tumblr has gotten entirely too dirty for my taste lately!

hurrah!

I have this feeling a lot of people don’t actually believe me when I say “I literally do not have time” or “I literally only see Caleb an hour or two a day”. But here’s a little glimpse into what my typical Monday, Wednesday, Friday is like.

7:30 AM: Wake up after pressing snooze 15 times. Wake Caleb up. Shower. Get ready. Wake Ellery up. Get her ready.

8:15 AM: Head to Genies to drop Ellery off. This is not nearly enough time to allow us to get there and back to campus, find a parking spot and make it to our 8:40 AM class, but we can’t seem to get out of the door any sooner.

8:40 AM-10:30 AM: Class

10:30 AM: Pick Ellery up.

11:00 AM: Arrive at home. Clean. Make lunch. Do homework. Play.

12:40 PM: Caleb has class until 1:20 and then 1:20 until 2:30

2:30 PM: Caleb comes home.

3:00 PM: I go to work.

3:40 PM-4:30 PM: Caleb’s class.

4:30 PM until 7:00 PM: Caleb and Ellery play. He does homework. Makes dinner.

7:00 PM: Caleb goes to work.

8:00 PM: I get home from work.

1:00 AM: Caleb gets home from work.

So you see. There is really no time in there that we are together as a family that is uninterrupted. It’s insane. And it’s the truth. And I’m ready for it to be over with.

So I thought I would write a little post to clarify a few things pertaining to this upcoming trip that we are fundraising for! I have noticed a few people think we are going to Kenya or think we will just be doing missionary work while we are there so I want to clear the air :)

So I posted in January that we got accepted to study abroad in South Africa next Spring, which is incredibly exciting, and such a cool opportunity for all three of us. We will be flying out mid-December(ish) to Capetown, where we will live and study until May. Through our time at Cornerstone Institute, we will be taking classes to complete our degrees (yay!) and be actively involved in the surroundings, spending time in the Cape Flats and taking a few trips to various parts of South Africa. Our hope is to get involved more deeply in an organization while we are there, but that is something we hope to figure out over the next few months.

Because our situation is unique, there are many things financially we are trying to navigate with the school there. We know that through George Fox, our tuition at Cornerstone is paid for, but we will be responsible for finding our own housing and obviously, providing childcare for Ellery. They’ve been great in brainstorming options with us, but we know it’s going to cost some money. We are confident that through the support of others and God’s faithfulness, we will be taken care of!

Tentatively, (and I say that because we can’t say for SURE yet, but we are pretty positive) we will be heading up to Kenya once the semester is done. I have been itching to get back since I boarded the plane in Nairobi to come home, and I haven’t quite been able to express these feelings appropriately, but I don’t feel like I should have ever left. Our hope is to get connected with Visible Grace while we are there (which as you know, is the nonprofit I went with last summer), helping Ashby with whatever she needs and introducing Ellery and Caleb to the people I met while I was there. And I am also in contact with a cool organization called Rehema House that I am planning on visiting while there. Rehema House helps young mothers right outside of Nairobi and I just think it’s such a cool, unique ministry.

We are completely and totally open to whatever God has planned. If He says that we just need to go home once the semester is done, then that is what we will do. If He leads us to stay in Capetown for a bit, then we will try to make that happen. If God has bigger plans that I can’t even fathom right now, who knows, we might not come back for a while. Our life is only “kind of” planned up until June of next year and after that? Well, I guess we will see when it comes! All of this is incredibly exciting and frightening at the same time. We pray that through this semester abroad God would provide clear and solid direction to the path we should take. But the biggest thing is that people tend to worry about us, because we are not “logistics” people. We have been following this insane plan of Gods for a while now and it hasn’t taken us to the most comfortable or logical places. Take comfort in the fact that we are okay! God has always been one step ahead of us and I know that this will continue during our time in South Africa.

So what are we asking money for then? By donating to our “fund”, you are not only helping us complete our education, you are providing for an opportunity for us as a family to follow God’s leading to a continent that I personally, have had on my heart for years. Any financial support is going directly into a separate account that will not be touched until we arrive in Africa. You will be helping a family who knows they are called into full-time ministry (but doesn’t know exactly what that looks like yet), figure out if God wants them to stay or go. And, God-willing, you will be helping us get to Kenya afterward, where I truly felt like I left my heart last summer :)

Any more questions are encouraged and I will try to answer them! We love the support we have been given so far, but don’t want anyone to feel misled. We won’t be doing full time missions just yet! But the hope is that God would provide a similar opportunity through our time there.

Here is a run down of what went on while I was “offline” :)

-I am involved in a young parents group called “Young Lives”, which has just been such a blessing in itself because I had been praying for an opportunity like this since I left a previously not-so-good experience in Alpena. I feel super comfortable with the girls and like I’ve been involved for years. It’s given me a chance to photograph a very adorable child named Marleigh and I love getting to know the parents. And more recently I was able to share part of my journey as a young mother with the girls!

-I visited a Greek Orthodox church as part of my Christian Foundations and for Easter we attended a Catholic service. Both incredibly rewarding experiences for me. I loved it. And may miss the Catholic church a little bit.

-I got the chance to reconnect with a friend, Bret Samp, from my highschool days who moved out here right after graduation. It was nice to finally set up a playdate to see him and his kids. Hope to be able to make it a regular thing this summer! Ellery loved it!

-Ellery finally got her passport in the mail. It’s hilarious. I’ll post a picture of it. This is a highlight because now the whole Russel clan has passports! Yay! :) We are going to South Africa!

-I actually got to hang out with Ashby. What? That never happens!

-We celebrated Caleb’s 22nd birthday, which was low-key, but fun. I realized how small the number of friends we have is when only three people showed up. I’m sorry, some Oregonians are so darn flaky. But we got to play a few rounds of Shadow Hunters which is always a joy!

-Oh yeah, we had to freaking MOVE to a new apartment across town. It was actually horrible. I had to skip most of my classes, it took an entire week and it was stress, exhaustion and quite a few tears. But we actually really like our new place, so that’s great!

-I signed my graduation papers. Which when I did it, I didn’t think much of it, but now I’m like, HOLY CRAP, it’s almost over with. This time next year I will be graduating in freaking SOUTH AFRICA. Okay, I’m just a little excited :)

-And then the beloved Spring Break, which was actually awesome and I wish I could just live in Disney Land. Despite the fact that Disney is possibly an evil corporation, it’s the happiest place on earth, and that’s the truth! Ellery loved it. She loved meeting the characters and riding the rides. We had to stuff her rainboots with socks to get her on the bigger ones though ;) Along the way we got to experience the beautiful Redwoods which were just breathtaking and indescribable and we visited LA in which we saw the “Hollywood” sign and the walk of fame and had drinks at the hotel Whitney Houston died in. I also got to see two of my good friends on our trip. It was great!

Other than those highlights, we have been working our way through school, working at our jobs and trying to be the best parents we can be!

So, the Lenten season is officially over with and now I’m making my reappearance back online. I have to say though, this second day back on Facebook has actually caused some physical pain.

This was posted on my Facebook wall earlier today:

“I’m not the only one thinking this, so I’m just going to say it. I think maybe instead of going to the Redwoods/California/Disneyland, that money could have been contributed to your Africa trip instead of soliciting others to pay for it-just saying…”

Actually, typing those words makes me feel a little sick. When I read that, I started shaking really badly. I was sitting in the lounge waiting for my class to start and I just stared at the computer and blinked and waiting for my body to move. Several of my classmates walked by and said “Are you coming to class?” and I just couldn’t move. I quickly deleted the post and responded in a private message and worked up the nerve to sit in my class.

But about ten minutes in the tears started to come and as soon as I walked out the door, I felt like I was going to vomit. I then proceeded to spend 15 minutes on the bathroom floor in upstairs Hoover, crying my eyes out and dry heaving over the toilet.

It’s only one person, their opinion doesn’t matter right? Well, that would be perfectly acceptable as a defense, but it’s not. First of all, this person is family. And second of all, we have been beaten up a lot lately and this just struck a very personal chord and sent me overboard.

What I learned today is that this is going to be a reality in my life so I should probably figure out a way to cope. If God is calling us into missions, we will always be asking people for support financially and somebody is ALWAYS going to have an opinion about it.

I don’t feel guilty that I enjoyed a special family vacation with my daughter and husband. We work extremely hard. We have always provided for Ellery and have never asked for a dime along the way. I made a promise, not only to Ellery, but to myself years ago that I wouldn’t break promises to my kids. And who knows when we will ever be able to do something like that again?

But I’m done explaining myself to the world. Going to cling to those who love me and let the haters hate…

I sent out newsletters a month ago saying I would be posting more of my Africa photos and have not done that. I apologize to anyone who may have attempted to look at this blog! School has been very time consuming lately…not to mention everything else going on. In the next few weeks I hope to be able to post more photos and blog a little about my specific experiences and our upcoming adventure to Cape Town. Please keep my family in your prayers and we navigate all that goes with planning a move to a different country! :)

The above photos were taken in the Ngong Slums. If I learned anything in Kenya, most of it was during our time spent in the slums. It was powerful.

Today, I read this post on somebody’s Facebook wall:

“It’s mostly religous people who worrie bout 3rd world countrys when their fellow americans struggle 2 keep food in their childrens bellys n a roof over their head take care of your own n let them worrie bout theirs”

In response to an extremely harsh and derogatory statement made about the people of Haiti and their apparent lack of hygiene. I’m actually not even sure how the two related, but it really frustrated me. To no end.

I am not ignorant to the fact that we have a real issue here in the United States with the poor, homeless, hungry and destitute. I would never say, “well, they chose that path” or try to lay blame on them for their situations in life that gave birth to the place they lay their head every night.

But to say that we should ignore the rest of the world when our own are struggling because they should “worry about their own”…

This goes beyond an issue of “religious” or “Christian” because as human beings, we shouldn’t be assigning blame to one another for these things. If you are up in arms about the religious people extending help to those outside of the US, then I hope to see you out on the streets, caring for and feeding the homeless.

I know I’m not articulating myself as well as I’d like. But the reality of the situation is that we have a government set-up unlike any other country and we have programs that offer help to those in need HERE. We are, in many ways, more privileged than some of the world, and I say that lightly because I do not think we are better or entitled in ANY way. But we are in a better “situation” than the children extending their arms in that photo above, and that’s just one small glance and a world full of people who need love.

I know I should be doing more in this life to help those here and across the globe. (I’m still trying to figure out how to do that.) Which is why I feel like Jesus has given me a heart for the ones we so often forget.  I just have a hard time when people are willing to turn a blind eye to reality. I guess it helps you sleep better at night…?

(Source: jasminejuliette)

I’ve now gotten Ellery to say “please”, “thank-you” and “you’re welcome” in Swahili almost every time.

And it’s stinkin cute.

She does keep me on my toes, learning new Swahili. She always asks, “Mommy, how do you say (insert word here) in Swahili?” And then I have to look it up :) Not a bad problem to have!

That we get to go to Africa as a family! We just got accepted last night to study abroad in South Africa next spring! Which means, this time next year, we’ll be in Capetown…

YAY!

I truly feel God’s hand in all of this. I mean, what college chooses to send a young family to have an incredible experience like this?

In the next few months, we will be doing lots of planning and fundraising! Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare :)