A Week of Carnivals

This past week we did something a little different. All the kids were off school for holiday. Usually during this past week we have a holiday club where we have kids and teens club everyday Monday-Friday. This year we tried something new! We had carnivals in each community that Living Hope works in. Monday we were in Red Hill. Tuesday we had a day off to celebrate Braii (grill out) day here in Cape Town, woo hoo! Wednesday we were in Capricorn. Thursday we were in Ocean view. Friday we ended the week in Masiphumelele. As we prepared for the carnivals none of us really knew what to expect. we learned how to make balloon animals, prepared crafts, and learned some new games to teach the children. I remember being a little girl and loving when a carnival or fair would come to town. I knew I would get to go on fun rides, play games, win prizes, and eat food that would make my stomach hurt later that day but wouldn't care because it was so good! It was the whole experience that I loved and would get excited about, especially getting to share that with my friends. As we set up in Red Hill on Monday nobody really knew how the day would turn out. Kids starting arriving and they were so excited. They were ready to jump in and do everything we had planned for them. We made tons of balloon animals, painted a lot of faces, and played with the parachute until my arms hurt. This continued the whole week in each of the communities. It was really cool for Nathan and I to be in all of the communities this week. We were able to meet new kids and spend quality time with all the other life skill educators. One thing stayed consistent all week though. It didn't matter if the balloon animal you made looked funny. It didn't matter if the spider you drew on a kids face looked like a caterpillar. It didn't matter how crazy the day seemed once we were all packed up. They were overjoyed that we were there spending time with them for the day. One of my favorite parts of the week was on Thursday. I was face painting a little boy who was five years old. He was so excited to get his face painted and told me he wanted a spider on his cheek. I had painted a lot of spiders that day and most of them didn't resemble a spider in my mind. As I sat there painting, the little boy was trying not to smile when the paint brush would touch his face. I continued painting and when I was finished I showed him his face in the mirror. The look on his face was priceless. His eyes became the size of golfballs and his smile stretched ear to ear. He said thank you and gave me the biggest hug in the world. He stood up and ran away with his arms in the air screaming, "I'm spiderman!" It was in that moment that I was reminded of the simplicity in life. It doesn't matter if these kids have the best things, they are truly happy with the simple things. On Thursday that little boy was spiderman and that was enough for him. My prayer is that we all can find joy in the simple things in life. Time with family, the smile on our friends face when we tell a funny story, or the promise we remember when we see a rainbow. May we all strive to live life this way and to remember the simple things that bring us so much joy! 

Chosen: The Legacy Leighton Has Left Behind

As I sit here with a heavy heart and hope for what's to come, I am reminded of how magnificent of a God we serve. In life we hit road blocks where monumental things happen to us. There are moments that take us by surprise, moments of utter disbelief, moments of unmeasurable joy, and moments where we wish we could stop time in its tracks. This past weekend I lost a friend that meant so much to everyone that she had ever met. Someone who lived a life of pure joy and selflessness. A life that people would look at from the outside and think, "man that girl has something special!" Although her life was cut a lot shorter then we all wanted, her purpose on this earth was complete. While heartache is upon all who knew her and eyes are filled with tears, we hold on to a hope that we serve a God who knows all of us by name and has written the ending to all of our stories here on earth. Many will gather today in Tennessee to celebrate the life of that beautiful, fun, and loving girl. Hearts will cry out and many people will ask the question, why? It's okay to ask those questions. It's okay to question why it happened and mourn over this trying time. But at the end of the day, when Leighton is laid to rest, we can all join together knowing that she is with Christ, high above the clouds, worshipping Him and fully alive in His presence. Her story was written and her story is now complete here. She was chosen to live the life that she did, to impact the lives that she did, and to leave a legacy that people will talk about for years to come. Her life has left us all with a challenge. A challenge to live life to the absolute fullest. A challenge to put others before ourselves. A challenge to make Christ known through our daily walk. I am blessed to have known Leighton Williams. I am thankful for the influence that she made on my life and the handprint that she has left in my heart. 

Tonight, while reading a book I was recently given, I couldn't help but think how thankful I am to be chosen by God. I am the daughter of a God who didn't choose me because he had to, but because He wanted to. He chose me because He loves me so much and wants to see me happy. Times like now it's hard to remember that, but the chapter I read tonight brought new hope into my life. We all know how it feels to be chosen by someone. A friend, that special guy, or a job position that we have wanted for years. It's sometimes hard to process God choosing us because we can't physically see or touch him. But He is there and He has chose US! His love for us is so vast that we can't even comprehend it. Kelly Minter, author of "The Fitting Room," illustrates it beautifully in her book...

"It is only when my view of God is distinctly human and small that I think, well, God is supposed to choose me, right? But when I understand even a fraction of his magnificence and greatness, I have the utter opposite response--one of disbelief and gratitude that the God who governs every atom of the universe acquainted Himself with my unique being, lovingly, and individually picking me with His mighty hands, holding me with the tenderness and awe of a child cupping his first sand dollar. And when I consider Psalm 139 and meditate on the Lord's intimate knowledge of me, I begin to understand that I have not been mindlessly chosen as one soul in an enormous pack, like a rancher purchasing a herd of cattle. Instead, God has chosen me as a beloved individual who has been searched and known. Whose sitting and rising, and coming and going does not escape the roaring, never-slumbering eyes of God. He is familiar with all my ways, the words on my tongue before I speak them. His loving hand has hemmed me in on every side. I cannot rise to heaven or flee to hell or skip across the ocean without His presence attending me. And when I was in my mother's womb, and God was spinning planets and drawing the tide in and out, while he was dressing the fields, and feeding the sparrows, He was somehow, at the same, knitting together my fair skin and hazel eyes with my sensitive heart and melancholy temperament, stitching together threads of genes that science has yet to even identify And while He sits on His throne, ruling and working, He thinks about me with vast and innumerable thoughts. I think this is what it means to be chose. And though we are part of a vast number of saints who have also been chose, it does not in any way diminish the exclusivity of God's individual choosing of me or you." 

I couldn't have put it any more perfect. How can you read that and not have hope! We are chosen. The life we live here is not ours, but it belongs to Christ. He has chosen us for this time to make His name known. He has uniquely molded us into His most beautiful masterpiece. There will be times of immense grief on earth, times like I said above, where we question who God is and what His ultimate plan is. But let's take grasp of the peace and hope He offers us. Let's join together and celebrate the amazing gift He has given us, the gift of being chosen. The gift of being sons and daughters of the most high God! That is my hope tonight and for tomorrow. 

Tonight I am celebrating Leighton and her life. Saddened I can't be at home with friends, my heart is stretched over the ocean that separates us and is there. But tonight I have hope and peace because I know the hope that has come with the life Leighton lived. I have peace because she was chosen by our beautiful King and is living a life of pure joy in the most beautiful place in the universe. She is with our sweet Savior and I can't think of a better place to spend eternity! 

I love you Leighton, see you soon! 

365 Days

365 days, 1 year older, and so much left to learn! Today I turned 25 years old and it's been one amazing day. Each year seems to go by faster and faster. I blink and 365 days have passed  once again. 24 was very good to me. I was newly married, moved across the world to South Africa, made new friends, fell in love with a beautiful community that sits high on a hill, and in return feel even more in love with my beautiful Savior. While 24 was a very good year, it had it's challenges. I moved halfway across the world 6 weeks after being married, I had to say goodbye to family and friends, I began to see the deep hurt and trials in a community that I love, and sometimes no matter how hard I searched, I felt far from the Lord. In the last 365 days there have been moments of joy and moments of despair. There have been tears of laughter and tears of sadness. There have been times where I wanted to pack up and go home to the comfortable lifestyle I once knew and times where I could see us living here for many years down the road. Looking back at all of those moments I can't help but smile. I'm 25 years old and on the most incredible journey with the most wonderful husband. I remember thinking after high school, "I wonder where I'll be and what I'll be doing when I'm 25 years old!" At that time, it felt so far away. Where I am today is not where 18 year old Claudia thought she would be. Isn't that awesome? That's how remarkable of a God we serve. He knew where 25 year old Claudia would be way before it was on my radar. My friend today welcomed me to the quarter century of life. For a moment I thought to myself, "O gosh, I'm an old lady," but then I remembered how I'm in the most exciting place of my life. 365 days ago I had no idea what the next year would hold and 365 days later I am so thankful that is the case. I love how our story is written by our Father and even though life seems confusing and hard at times, He knows we will come out on the other side as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Him. So, heres to you 25 and another 365 days of life! I pray that I will love harder, laugh often, make new friends, fall even more in love with the community sitting on that hill, and grow deeper in faith and love to my beautiful Savior. 24 was good, but 25 is going to be GREAT!