song for zoe

Last night Nate was up because he couldn't sleep. When I woke up this morning, I turned on the computer and he had written a song for Zoe. It's so sweet I had to share it:

I’LL BE THERE

I’ve been so patient

Though your date is past due

Don’t think I’m upset

I just wanna meet you

You’ll find a new world

With everything new

Though fear and shock may try

Nothing’s gonna touch you.

You’ll open your eyes

No doubt they’ll be blue

Though you prob’ly won’t see me

I’ll see you

Cuz I’ll be there

With a smile on my face

Or a tear in my eye

Proud as can be

‘Til the day I die

I’ll love you everywhere…

As life begins

It’ll seem so hard

When all is dark

I’ll be your star

Even before you’re here, I’ll be there

You'll say your first words

Then I'll hug you tight

You'll walk your first steps

But always in sight

Holding your first crayon

In your left hand or right

Seeming just as scribble

Poetry you'll write

We'll play make-believe

I will be your knight

My princess in trouble

The dragon I'll fight

Yes, I’ll be there

With a smile on my face

Or a tear in my eye

Proud as can be

‘Til the day I die

I’ll love you everywhere…

There’ll be new things to learn

And I’ll show you how

We’ll conquer together

That’s my solemn vow

Even before you’re here, I’ll be there

Runnin' to the bus

It's your first day of school

Boys are still gross

But you're Dad's little jewel

Then all of the sudden

Wearing what to the pool?

You want brand new clothes

Cuz you gotta look cool

Though boys break your heart

And girls act cruel

I’ll be there

With a smile on my face

Or a tear in my eye

Proud as can be

‘Til the day I die

I’ll love you everywhere…

As life gets harder

And puts you to the test

No matter the cost

I’ll do my best

Even before you’re here, I’ll be there

Find love like your Momma

We'll see your face glow

Time to walk down the aisle

But I won’t wanna go

I'll say "stay young with me"

You'll say "I can’t, you know..."

We'll walk hand-in-hand

The tears fightin' to flow

I'll play the tough father

But you'll know it's a show

Then one day you'll have kids

And get to see them grow

I'll be there

With a smile on my face

Or a tear in my eye

Proud as can be

‘Til the day I die

I’ll love you everywhere…

You’ll say “parenting’s hard,

And the kids run free”

I’ll just laugh

And say, “Give ‘em to me”

Even before you’re here, I’ll be there

When that doctor walks away

You're at my bedside

You'll say Daddy stay here

Be my young, strong, knight

You'll cry with pain

But I'll cry with pride

My beautiful girl

Is gorgeous inside

Although I’m now gone

God is still your guide

Remember all I taught you

You’re not alone tonight

I’ll be there

With a smile on my face

Or a tear in my eye

Proud as can be

'Til the day I die

I'll love you everywhere…

When we're in Heaven

Far away from harm

I will be waiting

To hold you in my arms, again

Even before you're here, I'll be there

I’ll be there

I’ll be there

Yea, I’ll be there

God loves me more than the birds!

"Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:25-26

It's amazing what a little "home culture" can do for you once in a while. We have been enjoying Nairobi for a month now and all the western culture that comes along with it, but today we had an extra dose of American culture. We attended a church this morning which can only be described as 0% African. It was full of ex-pats, in the theatre of an international school. Praise was led by a group of the students and we sang songs straight from America (in English!) and there was a praise band too! As we sang one of me and Nate's favorite "Hillsong" songs, I looked around the auditorium, full of people with their hands raised in praise to God, I realized I had not worshipped the Lord in "my way" in over a year. Don't get me wrong--there is something extremely special about worshipping with Africans, feeling free to dance around the room and singing praise to God in another language. But, today was special for us.

We watched a video sermon from Andy Stanley on worry...which for me, was VERY much needed. I'm that person who worries so much that when Nate doesn't worry, I worry because he needs to be worrying about something and I worry that he isn't worried! But he talked a lot about how the things we worry about are the things that we are most devoted to. But really when we worry about anything...putting our devotion in that, we are placing that thing above God. And why? Because we believe that God CAN take care of whatever situation we are worried about, but we don't believe he WILL take care of it. We believe we can do more ourselves through the process of worrying about it. But the Lord takes care of the birds and flowers and He made us in HIS OWN image...why do we believe He won't take care of us?!

This afternoon we had lunch with some of our favorite people and played Mario Kart on their Wii...then we went over to have dinner with some more of our favorite people. We ate waffles and pancakes (which were amazing!) and we just hung out all night with friends, talking, laughing, and playing games. It was a wonderful day and I know the Lord had it planned especially for me.

When we got home tonight, I checked my email and it was the first test of whether I had truly learned anything from the service this morning. Let's just say an email that I have been waiting on the past few days had arrived. I'm not an angry person usually, but immediately I started having feelings of anger and worry (reading aloud my email to Nate and ranting and raving). But God reminded me of the verses from this morning...he reminded me that He loves me more than the birds and HE will take care of the situation. I just have to trust.

Never a dull moment

I am so thankful for a husband that doesn't let a day go by without giving me something to laugh about.
This is one of Nate's latest antics...he decided to try Nair on his head. I told him the only time I ever used Nair was with Jenny Wade at the beach. We used it on our legs and shortly after were in extreme pain. I warned him...he decided to go ahead with it. This is what happened.

giraffes and elephants and monkeys! oh my!

So we are spending our last weeks doing things that we probably won't do once Zoe comes. Nairobi is full of fun stuff that we aren't used to back in Morogoro, so we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. This past week we went to a giraffe farm and got to pet and feed the giraffes! Here are some pictures of that:

And yesterday we went in search of the elephant orphanage with some good friends. Maybe we should have suspected there was more than one animal orphange? Anyway we ended up in the wrong place, and didn't realize it until after we bought our tickets. Fortunately, the guy let us leave (the elephant orphanage is only open for one hour a day) and we were able to re-enter later in the day once we found the elephant orphanage. The baby elephants were so precious (they always look like they are smiling). They have been rescued from various places in Kenya and brought to this orphanage and they all have different stories that we got to hear. We watched them play in the mud, drink milk from bottles, and we got to pet them. SO much fun :)

After we finished there, we went back to the other animal orphange (pretty much a glorified zoo...it didn't do too much for us when we've been closer to animals in game parks with no fences between us). But these animals were also rescued from the wild, so it was fun to see them too.

After a busy day yesterday, I came home to take a nap before we had some people over to our flat for dinner. When I woke up, Nate had left me a stack of candy with a note telling me how much he loves me! What a sweet husband I have. We have been eating out like crazy, going to nakumatt probably 5 times a week (it's like a walmart!) and enjoying our time so much. But we are still soooo looking forward to our precious baby girl arriving soon. We had our 38 week ultrasound today and she is doing wonderful! The doctor messed up transferring the images to our flash drive, so hopefully we can go back and get them loaded and then I will post a picture of her ultrasound. I think she is gonna look like her daddy :) Here is a picture of me at 38 weeks