Kumbaya!

Right now I am talking to Sue Blackburn. YAY! She is very fun! Today I am babysitting for my parents, and Trav and As. The reason this is titled "Kumbaya", is because of my brother Nathan, who was just singing that song. Random, I know, but who isn't at least a little random? Hmmm... what to talk about... well, 11 days until we leave HOLY COW! It is so surprising... it feels like we have only been here for 2 weeks... and now we are leaving!! What on earth... the first person I get to see in America is Ry!! YAY!! His whole family has been fasting from Wendy's for us!! HAHAHA!! They are all so wonderful!! As you could imagine, we are all going out to dinner at Wendy's!! HALLELUIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really miss Amy Furguson... she is such a darling! I'm also really missing Casey Gossman!!!!! She rocks!! To all my girls, I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in the process of co-authoring a book. It is very exciting! We (Ry and I) are planning on making it a trilogy! I absolutely adore reading and writing fantasy!! If anyone would like to critic or just read my book, email me! I would be gald to send it! As of now, Desiree Guzman (sorry if I spelled it wrong, D), who is an experienced writer is reading and criticizing the book. She is very skilled and I really enjoy her suggestions!! Well, I am off to answer emails and keep revising the story!!

Much love from your sis in Christ!

~*YAmber LynnY*~

Long Time, No Blog!

Hello everyone... I apologize most sincerely for not writing my blog for over a month! The reason I have decided to write again, is because of Bert Slater. To me, he is grandpa (not really, but I view him as an adopted grandfather!), to his country, he is a hero, and to life, he is an adventurer. All of these qualities are amazing, and I wish that I might be able to own up to so much when I am old, but the most magnificent characteristic about him is, to God, he is a spirit that is so wonderful it cannot be explained in words. Bert is never frowning; he is always in a welcoming and friendly mood. He is wise, caring, understanding, and encouraging. Many people know him and love him. I know that I love him with all of my heart, but it is nothing in comparison to the amount of love God has for him. Just think about it, how can a person love so many people so much, without the love of Jesus Christ pouring out of them? I have just read an email that Bert sent me. I almost cried. He told me of how he had printed out all of my blogs and so enjoyed reading them. The email contained many quotes and words that have been in my previous blogs. Bert Slater said that I had encouraged and influenced him, but now I should think it the other way around! Grandpa Bert, this piece of my blog is dedicated to you. Thank you for being such a splendiferous person that so many of us have come to adore and cherish.

I pray that some of you still check up on my blogs once in a while. If you read this, please pass the knowledge of my return on to others. This blog may hold comments for me, but I would prefer them to be for Bert. Encourage him, love on him, write to him in the most animated language that you can muster. Sometimes, as everybody knows, people need their friends to verbalize or even write down how much they love them, show Bert that love. God knows Bert cannot be a fountain of love all the time!! I love you Grandpa Bert, thank you once again.

Much love from your sis in Christ!

~*Amber Lynn*~

First Day in the Village

If you are not prepared for a long read, please stop here!!
Today we visited the widow we (as a family) sponsor, Constance.
I will start at the very beginning of the trip, we had a brief breakfast and made lunches for everyone, while Cyprien arrived. I was very excited to be going into the village for the first time, BUT was well aware of the driving and walking time... that kind of put me off, but only a little!! The driving and walking time was roughly 5 hours!!!!!!! YIKES!!! So we got started driving, it took us about 20 minutes to get out of Kigali, then we were on a nice, PAVED road. My parents told me that this road goes all the way to Uganda!! So we are on this road okay, and the farther we go, the more beautiful, higher up, and scary it gets!!! Eventually, we were halfway up the mountain, we were in the city of Byumba (is that how you spell it?). It wasn't much of a city really... to me, it didn't even look like a full subdivision!! I was like, "A city, haha, riiiight..." at the end of Byumba, we turned right onto a NON-paved road... lemme tell ya, this road was DEFINITELY the path from HELL!!! There were potholes like no one can imagine, huge bumps with no warning in front of them, it was just big enough for one car with maybe 5 ft. of room, and after that 5 ft. a sheer drop down the mountain!! It was fun on the way there, but on the way back, hoho!! But, I am getting too far along in the story... where were we.... OH yes, the freakish road made by the devil!! On this road we saw some people with bikes carrying at LEAST 50 lbs. on their bikes, on this riddiculous "road"!! When they looked at us they would wave hectically shouting "Mizungu, mizungu!!!!!!!!" As we got even higher on the mountain, the road got smaller, it looked like a walking path!! There were children on the side of the road, maybe 3 years old, all alone, who have probably never seen white people before, looked at us in amazement. And some of the older children (5-9) would chase after us yelling the familiar phrase, "Mizungu, mizungu!!!!!"
Finally, after 3 1/2 hours of driving, we got to a school. Here, the children jumped out of the windows to come and see us up close. The volunteers and teachers were out first (but not out of the windows) they all gave us hugs and some of them spoke a little bit of english. Then when nearly all of the kids were outside, they sang us a song!! It was very cute, but I was very surrounded, and to be completely honest, everyone smelled... really bad... they were all very sweet and cute and nice, but I was glad to get out of that huge group. They all followed us while we walked, and Vienne warned them that he would beat them if they did not get back to school, and when they did not listen, he really did take a stick right off a tree and whacked them!! hard!! It was really funny, but I got scared!!
After walking for 1 1/2 hours, we got to Constance's house. It was very nice and we saw her 1 week old baby. She was ADORABLE, we talked with Constance for awhile and met her children, and it was really great.
On the way to and back from Constance's house, we met people who have been sponsored. I thought to myself, are we getting so large, that we meet people that we work with on the road?? The was back from Constance's house was REALLY difficult, because we were going uphill, for an hour and a half!!!!!!!! It was really crazy and my coughing became a problem, as soon as we got to the school we left because we were all extremely drained. God really got me through today... on my way uphill when I was most tired, I kept thanking God for things that I had to keep my mind and thoughts on positive things!! It worked, thank God!!! I made it and am now very tired, keep up the comments!!
In His Hands,
~*YAmber LynnY*~

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man!! We have been here 4 days and have so far experienced-- horrible coughing and sinus infections, a hideous black caterpillar bite-thing, teeth breakadge, and broken water-stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am couging a whole lot, but my sinus infection is finally nearly gone, praise God!! I am taking Amoxcicillin (is that how you spell it??) and it is helping a lot, I just am praying that I get well really soon... To all who comment on my blog, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel sooo encouraged and loved by you guys!! It always makes my day when I read your comments!! Here in Rwanda it is so beautiful... the flowers are different, and GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! The roads are as curvy and wormy as, well, worms!! I am really struggling with my sickness... I feel so slow and like I'm stalling everyone!! And I am really depressed because I can't do much with my family!! It is really saddening... all of you who are praying for me, please pray especially for my health, God answers prayer!! So please pray for me!!!
Much love in Christ,
~*YAmber LynnY*~

Panic Attack!

Oh my goodness!! Well, I am here in Rwanda feeling quite out of sorts! I have also got a rather nasty cold with coughing and gross stuff like that... by the way, thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments! My heart is truly warmed and encouraged by the lovely verses and words of wisdom! I suppose I should talk about what I mean by "Panick Attack!" It all started while we were descending into Rwanda, I was feeling a little sick, but nothing major... I looked out of my window, and saw all of the Rwandan houses with tin roofs and red bricks... it was then that I started to churn inside, I kept seeing flashes of my house in my mind and pictures of flying above the Chicago houses as well, I thought, "Where is my house?? I want my house!!!!!!" A wave of massive insecurity swept over me, "What am I doing here, I want my home, I want to be home!!!!!" my insides screamed. I tried to ignore the way I was feeling by telling myself that I could take it, I could take this huge unsafe feeling and smush it down and not let it bother me. Then my stomach got very upset, and got gradually worse as we left the plane and got into the Rwandan airport. I started to shake uncontrollably and started crying. The Rwandan's at the airport saw that I was sick and got me some water and let my family stay in a room with couches, all I was thinking of was my house and all of my friends and everything I knew and held close to my heart. My mom took me to the bathroom and sat me down and told me to breath in through my nose for 5 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds, then breathe out through my mouth for 6 seconds. That helped me A LOT! I also was holding a Squish pillow that reminded me of mine back home, I held it so tight and did not want to let it go... all through this I was praying, asking Jesus to help my because I felt so afraid and vulnerable... I had to go into the bathroom twice and the second time when I came out I was feeling quite a bit better, but still very afraid and I felt like a little girl clinging to my mother. My mom stayed by my side the whole time and prayed for me and held me and comforted me. Without my mom, I don't think I could've made it... it was not just my feeling insecure that spurred my panic attack, I was suffering from over-exhaustion. I had only slept 7 hours in 2 days. ( I am not a good plane-sleeper) After I left the bathroom, I met the Rwandan staff! Travis and Astird and Odette and Claudette and Cyprien and Vienne, I was feeling very timid and weak, so my dad helped me to get to our house quickly. My mom led me into the house and I only remember walking up stairs, watching my mom get my bed ready, and then me crashing onto the bed, with sleep hitting me like a train! I was very reminded of how I cannot lean on my own strenghth, not in the least!! But if I trust in Him and believe that He will give me strenghth, I know I can pull through. To everyone who is coming with a team-- this is not meant to scare you, but to encourage you and strengthen you, and to let you know that God is not going to give you anything that you cannot handle! Now it is Friday and I am sick, with a cold and a cough, but I am better from my panick, the Lord guided me through. Once agian, thank you for your comments, and please leave more!

Only with His strength,

~*YAmber LynnY*~

Whew! 3 Days Left!!

Welp... 3 days left and I think that I am going to go CRAZY!!!!!!! AHHHH!!! We have packed a lot of stuff and that's good... I was really emotional in church this morning... basically because I feel like everybody thinks that they will never see me again!! I'm like, "I'M ONLY GONE FOR A LITTLE WHILE!!!" I am really glad that my best friend Ryan came over to my house today, I really needed some encouragement and I also needed to see him!! (for those of you who don't know, he lives in Bloomington, IL. kinda far....) I was also sad because there are too many "lasts" lately... like: my last school day, my last time being with my friends, my last church service etc. It kinda goes back to the "I'm only gone for a little while" thing... does it make sense for me to feel safe while going to Rwanda with my whole family, and still feel lonely?? That's how I am feeling right now, lonely... but I don't really know why! I have an idea though, that is that even though my parents and siblings are going with me, I won't have anyone else that's close to me, close to me!! It is a terrible feeling... I know that I am very excited to grow closer to new people, while I am there, but I also know that I will miss the feeling of home that I get from my best friends... I think it is rather ironic that the sermon in church today was about lonliness, and what a key aspect of getting out of it, was reaching out to people. So right now, I am reaching out to you, I would like to ask you to comment me. Just a little "hi there and hello" or "I'm thinking of you" would be wonderful.

May Christ be with you always,

~*YAmber LynnY*~

Well !Hola! Peoples!!

Well, howdy there! Right now my friend Andrea is over! FUNNESS!!!! I have laughed so hard that my stomach hurts!!!!!!! Today is Tuesday, and holy cheese am I happy!! :) I only have 5 more days of school left and 2 of them are spent on no school days and a field trip to 6 Flags Great America!! ALSO FUNNESS!! Andrea is excited to go on the rides with me! I told her that i wouldn't go on the Giant Drop though... I AM 'FRAID OF THAT RIDE!!!!!! Now to talk about Africa:
It is still really super hard to believe I am going... but, one thing that makes me extremely excited (<-- and sort of doesn't have a lot to do with Africa, but I like it and this is my blog, so what the heck!) is that the day that my whole class is graduating on June 1st, and that is the day that my family will be in London, England before 12 hrs. as a layover! So, basically I will be graduating whilst in England!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!! I don't know how I'm supposed to prepare myself spiritually, mentally, even physically to be in Rwanda!! My family and I have been walking as much as we can to somewhat prepare physically... One thing that I am certain I will enjoy is the Women's Conference that GFR is having for the Rwandan wormen who have been abused and survived the genocide. I think I am looking forward to that so much because I want to go into college for couneling for young women who have been abused or don't have good families, stuff like that...! Well, have a good day!! I am going to watch American Idol with Drea Drea!!! :))))))))

~*YAmber LynnY*~

Hello Everyone!! Welcome to my loverly blog!!

Following in my mom's footsteps, I have started a blog! I decided to create it today because I wanted a before, during, and after sort of thing...! So, anyways, we haven't even started packing our clothes yet!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!! Life is pretty much insane now, today I kept repeating to myself and friends that I am going to Africa next week!!! It is sooo hard to believe!! I don't think I will actually be able to grasp it until a few days after I am already there! For those of you that I have told about my nose-piercing, prepare for disappointment!! My mom was talking to a lady about it and it isn't legal until I am 16 with a drivers license!! WOW! Good thing I didn't even TRY to prepare for that mentally! When I would talk about it with my mom, I would freak out just thinking about it!! I think that I am a saps...! OH WELL!!!! That's fine with me! *laughs* well, I have school tomorrow, and it is 9:17, so I should probably go to bed now... *sigh* "Goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow..."!!!!!!!!!!! (<--- HA! Do I make you laugh? Cause I think I just made myself laugh with that one!!!) PLEASE, feel free to give as many comments as you like!!

~*YAmber LynnY*~