100

Yesterday, my wonderful Great-Grandfather, George Figg, turned a whopping 100 years old!!

isn't he a cutie!

Tomorrow we will be caravanning up to Indiana with my parents, siblings, and their significant others. My relatives are traveling from all over the country to be with him this weekend. I'm so excited to see everyone and for Andrew to meet Great-Grandpa. 

Any ideas for gifts to give someone who is turning 100??

Africa Part 3: Light in the Dark

sunset from the last night of the camp

Camp is Heaven on earth. There are no if, ands, or buts about it.

Camp Swamp is a place where everyone, kid and adult, can be completely themselves.  There's no judging, making fun of, excluding. Camp is a place for life long friendships to be made.  It's a safe place. Safe from this dark world.

The African camp hosted over 200 kids from all over the southern region of Africa. I had 17-18 year old girls and Andrew had 16-17 year old boys. Andrew and I are pretty used to having these age groups because we tend to counsel the same age at the American camp. But oh how we weren't ready for the differences.

I think most have heard of the apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mendela. Steven Biko. Segregation. Division between the whites and blacks just like we had here. Well, I didn't realize that the apartheid was just beginning to fade in the early to mid 1990's! That was only 20ish years ago.

Years and years of hurt, hatred, violence, and segregation can't all just disappear when the apartheid does.  As an outsider looking in, it is clear South Africa is still mending from those times. It's still a dark and scary place between the whites and the blacks. There's so much poverty, crime, and hatred everywhere you turn in Joburg.

Luckily, the kids that Andrew and I counseled are raised in God fearing, Christian households.  In this dark place, their parents teach and train them to love and respect everyone.  And they teach their children those things because of their love for Jesus. (Which gives me so much encouragement and faith.) But these innocent kids, get so much influence and peer pressure around them, whether they realize it or not, telling them to hate others, look out only for yourself, and violence is the way to handle anger. Some of the African kids I talked to described how they are picked on and bullied at their schools.  They told stories about how fights are everywhere at their schools. It's a terrible environment for these kids who are being taught such amazing things from their church and parents.

But as I was saying before, camp is a safe place. A place where you can let all the walls you put up to get around this world down, and let the love of God into your heart. The week starts off with a lot of fun and games, free time, and hanging out with new and old friends. After two days, all the kids are having fun and feeling free. Freer than they've probably felt in a long time. There's no worldly distractions around tugging on them.

It's so powerful to see how once someone lets all their walls and guards down, how quickly and eagerly they desire to want to know and love God. I wanted to post the blog I wrote on the Swamp Corps page during the camp:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012

Walls torn down

I have had the privilege to counsel the oldest girls (17-18 years old) on this trip, and to be honest, two days ago I might not have started off my sentence so positively. More than half of my girls didn't want to be here and it showed in their attitude. I've never had to persevere so hard with patience and being excited for the girls I was given. Last night I went to bed wondering if any impact would be left on the girls' hearts before they left. This morning, however, I can truly say I feel blessed. God revealed the work he's been doing on all of my girls' hearts since they've arrived 2 days ago. We had our thankful devotional this morning when everyone stands in front of the entire camp to express their gratitude verbally and publicly. As I expected, none of my girls got up to get in line. However, half way through the devotional, 3 of my campers got into line, stood in front of the entire camp, and wept about how they never wanted to come but they've had the best week of their life. Around me, the rest of my girls sat and cried out of the gratitude that was flowing from their hearts even though they didn't verbally express it. My heart is so excited right now by God's power and I was so moved to share it with you. I can't wait to share with you what will come of the next day and a half left now that God has torn down the walls of the older campers' hearts.  

Miss you all!

Love from Africa,

Kelsey Chase

One of my girls, Talent, pulled me aside and shared her life with me and how badly she wants to become a disciple of Jesus. Mpho is eagerly studying the bible and trying to make God her number one (according to her Facebook status earlier this week).  Andrew finally felt that by the end of the week he could have fun with his campers. There's already been one baptism since we've left. An older guy camper, Kamohelo. And the day we were leaving, mine and Andrew's campers were crying and hugging each other. God moved in our campers hearts and is continuing to do amazing things in their lives today.

Our goal was met. We were able to let the African kids know what it feels like to be safe and loved. What we should feel as children of God. Something they may not get to experience again until next year. God is too good.

We are so grateful for what the Johannesburg Church is doing for their children. They work so hard at creating a safe and loving place for their kids and as an outsider who just spent a week, 24/7, with your kids....you are doing a fantastic job. Your congregation and your families are the light on the hill that God calls us to be. You are the light in a very dark place. Thank you.

Africa Part 2: The Camp!

Camp! Camp! Camp! What we've all been waiting for. Sadly, I didn't find time to take a bunch of pictures so I'll just have to tell you all about it.

We arrived Monday around lunch time to the facility where we were hosting it. We were so blessed to have all day Monday to spend with the African counselors who were volunteering their week to help us. My African coco's (co-counselor) name was Corretta. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Like Andrew and I, her and her husband, Lucky, just got married over the summer. So we had a lot of fun bonding over our new marriages! I also was blessed to have another American coco whose name was Tia.

We spent that whole Monday bonding, getting to know each other, and teaching one another about each others cultural differences and similarities. We all had so much to learn!

One of the biggest cultural differences that I kind of touched on before was the language.  Certain words of ours that aren't bad in anyway to us mean very offensive things to the Africans.  And similarly, certain words of theirs our cuss words in America. HA that was interesting when I kept hearing my girls say them throughout the week. We especially made sure what we said was offensive in no way.

That Monday night, the African counselors introduced us to potjies! And did we feast! Andrew and I are totally going to do this here in the states for a college football game day!

you fill cast iron cauldrans with all sorts of veggies
and meats and let it cook for two hours over hot coals

Kevin and Mlu keeping the fire going

Tuesday the kids arrived. So in America, I already have a heard time getting people's names right. I'm terrible with names. Here are the names of mine and Andrew's campers. Enjoy!

Kelsey's:

Meta

Mpho

Bulelwa

Talent

Gugulethu

Titamenji

Tshegofatso

Bobo

Shirley

Skylar

Mia 

Andrew's:

Ope

Bongo

Lehlogonolo

Siyabonga

Keitumetsi

Mulalo

Patrice

Bryce

Sethenjwa

Blake

Tebalo

Braxton

David

Remo

Siyabonga

David

No, that is not a typo. He had two campers with the name Siyabonga. I thought it was going to challenging to pronounce their names, but it suprisingly came a lot easier than I thought. Whenever I'd asked someone what their name was, they'd ask me in return, "Do you want my African name or the name I go by?" HAHA. 

We spent the week with our cabins playing games, doing crafts, eating meals, and challenging other cabins to activities. I spent hours teaching my girls how to make all sorts of friendship bracelets. They LOVED them! But most importantly, we introduced them to the love of God. We shared our lives with them to show what God can do for their lives. One of my favorite moments was two nights in a row we sang around a huge bonfire worshiping God singing in African. It was so cool to worship Him under the African stars in a different language. So moving.

We made so many friendships that week. I may never see most of those people again but we will forever remember them. My girls even gave me an African name. Mine is Kamohelo. It means "acceptance" in African. We feel so apart of the Joburg church and the African families because of this camp. 

me with my girls

andrew with all the guy counselors

Thank you God for making life worth living. We love and miss all of our African brothers and sisters!

...even more to come tomorrow :) You seriously thought I was going to do this in 2 posts!?

Africa Part 1: We have arrived!

You know, just because a country speaks English doesn't mean you'll understand anything their saying. South Africa....one of those places. I absolutely loved their lingo, though. Please don't hold me on the spellings, but you'll get the idea:

robots = traffic lights

cheers = good bye

costume or cozi (for short) = swim suit

bucky = truck

slip slops = flip flops
braai (pronounced br-i) = cookout

All of these said in accents to die for. We asked them what we sounded like. "Just like the people from the TV!" Haha! AND I was told my accent was one of the "thickest" American accents of the group. I didn't even know that was possible. 

We had so much fun learning the lingo from the most wonderful South African family, the Stockdales.  Ian and Bronwyn hosted us along with their daughters Phoebe and Paige. 

hanging out with Pheobe (right) and Paige (middle)

We sadly forgot to get a group shot of all 6 of us, but I'm confident we'll be seeing them again so don't worry your little hearts. You'll get to meet them, too, through our future photo.  

We didn't start the camp right away. And thank goodness! We were all walking zombies with swollen ankles. We arrived Friday morning, met up with our families, and recuperated from our traveling. The Stockdale's took us to a traditional African restaurant to get the full experience.

they came to the table to wash your hands

and painted your face :)

2 hours of sleep people...2 hours!

Saturday was a day of exploring. We went to a lion park where Andrew and I made some memories for life.

the lion den

it was nap time when we arrived

but Zara got playful when we came in with her "mom"
(the woman who has taken care of her since birth)

she just liked laying on top of Andrew and licking his head

Later that night we rang in the new year with the Joburg Church with an epic dance party and had a midnight communion service. The African's taught us some cool dance moves while we returned the favor. We ended the night praying in African, English, and Zulu.  It was such a powerful experience.

Sunday was a designated day to relax. But we don't know what relaxing means when it's our first time in Africa! The Stockdale's invited my brother's host family over and we had a braai. Lots of meat, swimming, and RUGBY!

it started off a small backyard game

but then we got serious and went to the park down the street

and I couldn't come all the way to Africa and not play for a little bit

So to recap, in 48 hours, Andrew and I discovered Africa, made friends with lions and tigers, ate tons of African meats, learned how to play rugby, prayed in different languages, learned how to dance Africa style, and made life long African friends. Living a dream.

Deutschland

December 28th, 2011 at approximately 3:30 pm the journey we had been counting down for months was finally a reality. We arrived at the airport in Atlanta only to immediately jump into chaos. There were about 45 of us traveling together. Imagine you, your family, about to go out of the country, and the busiest airport in the world. Multiply everything you're imagining by...well...45.

This was mine and Andrew's first ever flight out of the country. And first ever flight that would be more than 5 hours long. (Our flights for our honeymoon were right at 5 hours and absolutely miserable!) I was only anticipating how little sleep I would get, how uncomfortable I would be, and how bad the airplane meals would be.

And well....

All were just as I anticipated! On our 8 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany, I got a grand total of 1 hour of sleep. This view was so beautiful I almost forgot how tired and crabby I was...

Sun rising over Europe

However, I didn't forget. We landed in Frankfurt at 2:30 in the morning EST and 9:30 in the morning there. (Shortest night of my life!) Despite being so tired and uncomfortable, I was very eager to get to visit Germany. Never had I been in an area where English is no where to be found. (Which we felt a little on the plane considering it was a German airline.)

But luckily we had a wonderful lady to show us around the sights and translate for us. 

saw many beautiful old churches

inside one of the many we visited

I know this is going to sound really silly, but the one thing that finally hit me was how old and how much history Europe has. Old in America is 1800's. Old in Germany was 1200's. Crazy difference! This was my first time seeing buildings built before America was even around. (Okay so it's obvious I don't get out much.)

And by so much history, I mean we stood in the square where the Nazis are famous for marching. 

standing in the square

a shot looking down at the square

a picture of the Nazi soldiers in the same place

See the banners with the swastikas draped down the walls of that church? I took the picture (looking down at the square) from the roof of that church near the bell tower on the left side of the building and fixed in the middle of the picture. Crazy! My feet stood where amazing history took place. My next goal...to have my feet stand where Jesus once stood. One of these days. 

We couldn't come to Germany and not get some traditional German cuisine. 

where we ate lunch

we were given platters for everyone to share

the damage

the end result

The group was so exhausted. We just had the shortest night of sleep in our life, which most of us got no sleep, then walked around Germany all morning. We were zonked! 

So after a few more of the sites.....

visited the holocaust memorial for all those that lost their lives from frankfurt.
anne frank was one of them.

inspiration for the whomping willow in harry potter...
i think so!

the bridge where couples "lock their love" then through the key
into the river. if i had known we'd be there i would have
come prepared!

We all passed out at the airport as we waited for our 10 hour overnight flight to Africa. Sorry, I think our group gave another reason for the Europeans to hate Americans. We didn't move for anyone. 

Andrew and I would love to go back to Germany sometime. Both my mom and his mom's heritage is German. Supposedly the castle called the Linderhof Palace was once in my family. I'd love to go see it. 

Long Time (literally) No See

I'm so sorry it's been such a long time! Trust me, every night I go to bed thinking about posting a blog to update all of you on our adventures, but I'm always too tired. Since coming back to the states, 9 pm has been a constant "I'm ready for bed (yawn!)" time. So my usually blogging time slot has been preoccupied by some zzzzz's. I hope you can forgive me.

I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to share about our month of adventures on here and I'm pretty stumped. If only I could tell of our journeys in one blog post. But that is physically impossible. I'd be here all night and into tomorrow typing to tell you about it. And well, to be so honest, I know neither of us have the time to type or read that long of a post in our busy days.

So to start somewhere....

My husband and I celebrated our first Christmas together! Throughout our entire relationship (2 years) before marriage we never spent a holiday together. 1. Because our families didn't live in the same city. 2. It was few and far between when we got just "family time" with our families so we didn't interrupt that. And 3. Because we wanted the little things like spending the holidays together to be special when we truly became our own family.

And I'm so grateful we did it that way. This Christmas was spent with my family in Cocoa Beach. We had a nice lay/nap by the pool, ate lots of yummy food, and went to the infamous Harry Potter World!

We of course broke our fast. AMEN! With some Ihop. 

Might I recommend the pumpkin pancakes. They were perfection. And don't judge me...but I ate every last bite. You would too if you hadn't touched sugar, bread, chocolate, and coffee in over a month! 

Anyways....

Next Christmas, we plan on spending it with the other side of the family. I can't wait! Of course kind of sad because I've never spent a Christmas without my parents but exciting because spending holidays with in-laws means I'm married, which means I have a husband, which means all my dreams have come true. :)

Til next time, I'll begin to share about the trip that gave us so much joy. And that took me away from here for a month! 

Side note, I saw this today on Pinterest and I want one. 

I want to have this up in our home and put a pin on all the places we travel to. Not in such a way that we are showing off to people, but in a way that always reminds us of where God has taken us. As a way to always remember. And be grateful. 

Next stop......Germany!

First Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful week giving thanks and spending time with loved ones. Andrew and I did quite a bit of traveling to celebrate our Thanksgiving.

First stop.....

Atlanta, GA

We had such a wonderful evening with some close friends of ours. Most there were friends that once lived in Athens but have moved to Atlanta after graduation. Not only did we feast, the person who invited us stood up and shared why they were grateful for us. So encouraging! Thanks to by BFF Lauren for inviting me and the husband! The 2 hr. 30 min drive there was totally worth it.

Next stop....

Macon, GA

Took Lydia ice skating. It was her first time ever and she had a blast! "Two more times!" "One more time!"

Her and I also have a common bond of playing the violin. She was so excited for me to hear her play and play for her. I couldn't really do much on her tiny person violin but she was so cute. I think Andrew had the most fun out of us all playing the violin. He was the one who didn't want to share. Now I know whenever he complains of being bored I'll just pull mine out and he'll be content for hours. Who knew!?

We had such a wonderful time there. Always feel so loved and taken care of by his family. 

On Thanksgiving day, we made homemade chocolate chip waffles and watched the beginnings of the parade. We were able to watch just long enough to be graced with Daniel Radcliffe's singing and dancing. HA!

Then we left that morning to drive to Florida for...

Stop #3...

Cocoa Beach, FL

I forgot to take pictures of the feast but my mom did a top notch job! It was so nice to see my grandparents and aunt and uncle there. The wedding was so rushed that I barely (or not at all) got to spend time with them. 

While down there, Andrew golfed for the first time and I helped my mom with this ridiculously hard puzzle. It's still no where near done after hours of time put in.

And we set up the Christmas tree. The fam will back down to the beach shortly for Christmas as well.

Then final stop...

HOME!

After the 10 hour drive home, we put up our first Christmas tree. It's pretty puny but who cares. We were excited! Got to go get more ornaments this week. It's a bit bare.   

So now it's on to tests, project, and programs to finish out the semester. We are and will continue to be bogged down with books for a couple more weeks. So close! But based on the weather today...I feel Christmas coming up soon. Thank goodness for warm coats, socks, slippers, and heated homes.

Joyful Day

In case you didn't know, Andrew and I were selected to go on a mission trip to Johannesburg in South Africa.  The trip is through an newly established group called Swamp Corps. The idea of Swamp Corps is to take a kids camp that has been going on here in Georgia for years to places around the world.  This isn't just any camp. It's a week long 24/7 camp where kids leave their families, come learn about Jesus, build friendships, and develop a relationship with God. This particular camp saved mine and Andrew's life.  It's the place that helped us to be where we are today. The Swamp is what helped build the foundation and inspire us to become disciples of Jesus.

We've been so blessed to also work out there as counselors. Andrew for 7 years and me for 3. That is where we grew individually in our walks with God, helped mentor and train other kids, and grow in our relationship as a couple.  And now......we get to help take all the goodness of this camp to Africa!!

First, Swamp Corps started in Jamaica.  That camp has been going for two years and then Barbados started this year. And now this is Africa's first experience.  Other trips in the works are Kenya, Brazil, and India. God has been working hard.

Well, 10 days ago, I was crying because I thought we couldn't go on this trip anymore. With everything that was happening to our cars we had a lot more set backs financially than what we thought.  I kept telling myself that God wouldn't have selected us out of so many to help with this camp and then not provide. And well today I'm crying again because someone donated 1,000 dollars to Andrew and I!

It was donated anonymously so we can't give a proper thanks to whoever it was, but we are sure it's someone we are close to and knows all the set backs we've had recently. So to whoever you are....you are an angel to us. You've relieved us, built our faith, and made us evermore grateful. We thank you so much!

So with all that said.....

57 DAYS TIL AFRICA

Welcome Home

Well, getting/being married is pretty much the best thing God ever created. One of the many perks.....it gives you a good excuse to treat yourself and go on a once and a lifetime vacation.  And I might say that ours was pretty legit. See below.

However, along with all the fun comes some dirty work. See below.

This was our apartment upon coming back home. MOVING IS SO NOT FUN. "But you're moving in with your new husband so it's a fun move," you might say. HUSH. MOVING IS NOT FUN. No matter the circumstances. Thankfully the mess has been contained to the spare bedroom and it's starting to feel like our home. And it's so nice to call it OUR home! 

Here are some more exciting things we came home to after a beautiful, luxurious Alaska.

 Sooooo apparently the sensor for our ice maker is broken. And well.....we were gone for 11 days. 

 And we have enough booze to last us til our 10th anniversary. Welcome home and happy marriage!