341/365 Part Two

341/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Let's just get right on to it...


Christmas morning! Mom walked out, wide-eyed, and said, "Santa came!"


Santa came with some sweet kicks for me.

Then we had breakfast: venison sausage, chocolate gravy and biscuits, scrambled eggs and mimosas. The strangest meal you've ever heard of.

Next came one of our Christmas traditions: be ready to walk out the door for grandparent's house, be late, but decide to take pictures in front of the tree anyway, be cheesy.


We always laugh like "how stupid is this going to look!" when we hug, but then we end up liking those pictures best.


And here we are in the winter frost! Brrr.


And here we are with our laser dog!


Then mom and dad joined us.


And Gracey smelled remnants of sausage on my hands.

Moving on!


Loads of shrimp. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas...


My cousins love Christmas!


My sisters love Chelsea!


My mom loves her, too.


There is no telling what Jonah is playing or what Joel is eating.


Sweet cousin love. Did you know that I was her maid of honor like, five years ago? I'd do it again if we were polygamists!


Kasey got a Cinderella dress, a Belle dress, and an Aurora (Sleeping Beauty - yes, I know her name) dress. I gave her bitter, jealous glances all night. Here, I told her to pose like a cute little girl with her chin resting in her hands. Then I told her to sweetly ask, "Where is my prince?" to which she responded, "WHERE is MY PRIIIIIIIIIIINCE?!?!?!"

Eeek. I know a lot of people who can relate to you, Kasey.


We posed some more.


We travelled to the 60s with my grandparents.


Can you believe I've made it this far without posting a picture of Keane? Here he is with his parents and both sets of grandparents.

By the way...


Keane weighed 5 pounds last year.

Way to grow, cuz. Way to grow.


Yes, this is the cutest moment you've ever seen.


This is pretty cute, too.


If I were really cheesy, I'd say that Keane is a gift...

(Keane is a gift.)


This year's cookies were not our best looking but ummm wow, they tasted good. Of all the sweets there, I was so into these. How often can you say that about a sugar cookie? ALWAYS mix vanilla and almond extract.


The deer lost his head on the ride over. It's okay, he was dead already.


New tradition? (Check my uncle Jay - nice touch.)


And check last year. Also, check the fake gold eye lashes....

We nixed that idea this year.


Brandon liked the cookies.


Lauren liked the cookies.


Chris took a perfect bite of his cookie!


And my cousin, Justin...


He liked the cookies but I don't know how he ate them considering he literally filled his plate with some sort of awesome cherry dessert that his mom made. I'm talking, a serving the size of his hand, at least. And that's why he needed Joel to hold the plate for him.

At some point we had communion and a sing-a-long with Andrea Bocelli.


And we also opened presents! Lauren has the same reaction...


As Emmalynn.

Christmas is always magical.


I wrapped seven presents for Jesse and put them in different places under the tree.


BAM! I win. Or, he wins.

There you have it...that's what I got. Some of these pictures are from Rachel's camera so thanks for those, sis. Even though I deleted them all. Love you!

I was thinking today that my faith is really pretty crazy. God became man...He walked among us...He never, ever messed up...He suffered so that I wouldn't have to. It sounds absolutely insane and yet, I believe it. And I believe the root of it all is love. So love and tidings and baubles and bows and cheers and hugs and kisses to each of you!

Well, kisses only to some of you. I have a reputation to uphold, here. And some of you might not brush your teeth that often.

Merry Christmas!

302/365

302/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Why am I posting this picture today? Well...


It's a little bit clearer than this one.


And this one.

And...










...these ones.

I love my mother. But when I hand her a camera, say, "It doesn't have to be good," and she says, "You're setting me up to fail," I think I need to re-evaluate.

Okay but I seriously LOVE my mother. And I love her pictures, too. Thanks for taking these, mom!!

Tonight I continued my path of trying to figure out what just happened these last three months. I was asked to speak at FUSE, the youth group at our church. Before Africa, I had to write everything down when I had to speak in front of people. I'd plan a million things to say and be finished in 10 minutes. But tonight I could have talked for two hours with much less psycho-planning. It was really fun to talk to a room full of kids, teens, and some adults about the story of my life so far. Missions is a lot about what you do when you're there. That's obvious. But it is just as much about the story and the testimony. I feel the (happy) burden to share it and I am so thankful for the opportunities. I haven't sought them out, either. Which is really cool to me. The RU4 Children blog, and tonight - I'm getting to share with people that I've never met before. That don't know the first thing about me.

I told the crowd tonight that I'm 25 years and 302 days old and I know that because I keep a blog chronicling my life every day. As soon as I said it out loud I SO wished it were a joke. I think the kids did, too.

It is really cool that I have a story to tell, though. I always prayed and asked God for a good story. I was a pretty dumb kid - that was before I knew that all good stories MUST have some sort of conflict. A story without conflict is boring. I have to remind myself that the hero normally wins, though. So, assuming my story is not a tragedy (it's not), the conflict will resolve. Just sayin'.

Thanks FUSE and Chris and Amber for letting me be a vessel tonight. It was awesome.

280/365

280/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today was our last day teaching at Joy Springs. We still have a big presentation day on Thursday, which makes me feel all kinds of knots in my stomach, aka, I'm gonna bawl, but today was our last "real" day. At the end of a really fun really productive class with the 6th graders a few girls came up and gave Amy and I these beaded rings that they made.

Honestly? I could have died right there. I dare you to give me a better gift.

There is a problem, however. It's that I do really badly with rings. I always lost them as a kid and I haven't worn one since. This summer someone gave me a ring that had an elephant on it and the next day my mom found it in the garbage disposal. How will I ever take care of this ring strung together by a thread?

Today Amy and I bought Bibles for prizes for some of our kids. They are really cool hard cover ones with the Old and New Testament. Most of the kids, if they have Bibles, have only NT's and they are tattered, coverless, sad looking things. We wrote notes on the insides to the kids. We don't know yet who will get them, so it's exciting. We wrote something different in each one.

We are also giving away awards for top boy and girl in each art class. We bought them drawing books, colored pencils, and mathematical sets - a tin box with rulers, a pencil, and a sharpener. Those are very popular here. And they cost less than a dollar. We've wrapped up each gift and I'm SO excited. I don't know if any of these kids have ever opened up a package.

We also did something with the kids today for those of you who gave to them. I want to tell you how cool it is, but you'll just have to trust me for now.

You want to know something I've learned since I've been here? It's about helping. I think helping is the most non-stressful, fun, easy, enjoyable thing you can ever do while still reaping a huge reward. I mean, think about it. Money, success, power, all of those are great rewards, but they take a lot of hard work. The reward here just feels SO good but what's even cooler is that it's no work at all. Helping in itself feels like a reward. It feels like an honor to serve. And I'm not saying that as a sweet, Christian, all-I-want-is-for-everyone-else-to-be-happy type girl. I'm not that good. I'm saying that from my down-to-earth, realist, even pessimistic side. We can all do something, at no great cost, and gain something even greater from it.

Like, for example, this ring.

249/365

249/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

We went back to Moi Girls School where we had spoken last Sunday morning. Every Saturday they have entertainment night. The girls can choose between a disco or CU. Disco is dance party. CU is Christian....something. I figured I'd have gone to the disco even if I were a Christian in high school. But we still had probably 400 girls show up. We played the movie "One Night With the King" about Queen Esther and it was craaaaaazy. EVERY TIME something happened that deserved any reaction at all, these girls screamed. Especially if there was a kiss on screen. I'm talking, my ears were ringing by the end of the night.

Before the movie some of us shared and we sang two songs. They were ecstatic about the guitars. I took one of the songs. I wanted to have something for them to sing along with because they have such beautiful voices - I told them they were my duet partner. So I brought them this song from Psalm 103. Above is a short clip. Below are the words to the full song in case you'd like to know:

Who made the wind His messengers
and flames of fire His ministers
Who formed all the foundations of the earth

Who calls on the earth and it quakes and it trembles
Who touches the mountains, they smoke and they quiver
You made the earth and all of its beauty
so I will sing, yes I will sing

I will sing to the Lord
as long as I live
You are mighty, yes You are mighty
and the earth will cry out
but I won't grow silent
for what a mighty God we serve

Who made the ocean so vast and so wide
Who gave the birds a song and a sky
You who love me more than I deserve

All of creation is for Your adoration
Lord, I stand in awe of your imagination
You give me reason to worship before You
so I will sing, yes I will sing

I will sing to the Lord
as long as I live
You are mighty, yes You are mighty
and the earth will cry out
but I won't grow silent
for what a mighty God we serve

And of all of the reasons to sing
You've created your own masterpiece
in me, so I will sing

223/365

223/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Last night I went to bed at 8 PM. I woke up around 6 AM to watch the sunrise, but it was pouring outside. I fell asleep again around 8 AM and then woke to find we were supposed to be leaving by 7 AM. So for the first time, the Kenyans had to wait for the Americans. Wups!

Pastor Chola had to lead worship at church at 4 PM so we booked it across Kenya and pulled into the church at 3:59 PM. After 6 hours in a car with 9 people and one 20-minute rest-stop in the middle, Amy and I were happy to stretch our legs.

We stopped by Nakumatt for a few essentials then came back to the apartment where we’re staying at for the next month. I missed this bed!! The mattresses here are sort of like sleeping on the floor. I got used to them at the hotel and slept rather well (obviously), but this bed is cushy and big. I’ve never had a bed bigger than a twin size, so this is like heaven.

So after throwing down my backpack filled with 10 days worth of dirty clothes, I went straight to the kitchen to bake some dessert and warm up leftover pizza and pasta we had in the freezer, then sat down to watch a movie. After that I took a hot shower and I dried my hair because it was sooo warm and cozy. After all those days of air drying it feels so soft and looks so long...and I cut my fingernails, and I put on lotion, and I cleaned my glasses...all things I normally breeze through in a hurry. I don’t normally enjoy the processes of getting clean and getting ready, but not tonight. And I never loved night gowns so much.

Oh, and Amy made coffee. Real coffee from a real coffee pot! I was smuggling instant coffee into breakfast at the hotel. Such a cheap imitation and also severely desperate on my part.

It really doesn’t take much to make me happy. I still can’t help but feel selfish. So many people live without these little things and also, they don’t need them to be happy. Even driving today, I felt bad about feeling bad about my legs being cramped. People cram into cars here and travel long distances on a regular basis. They miss showers on a regular basis. They don’t have complete ceilings. They have flimsy blankets. Africa regularly reminds me of all of the things I don’t deserve. Even the little things that I think I need to survive. Can I be happy with nothing? Can I stop thinking “I deserve, I need, I should have” or not? Others work harder than me and love more than me, yet they have less than me. I can’t help but think you’d expect me to share some of the questions I have or things I’m learning on this blog. So far I haven’t, really. But there are many things to mull over.

My mind is racing, actually. Most thoughts are probably best suited for my journal, but I’m sure a few will spill over here. I think it’s also expected that these three months are going to change me, but I’d like to focus on other people. I’ll be an after-thought. The change in me is a given. Tomorrow we are supposed to meet to map out our last two months. I’ve been praying that the Lord will guide us and give us opportunities along the way. I’m ready to work and be worked. I’m ready to meet people, to help people, to care for people. You never ever feel equipped for this kind of thing. Instead you feel lazy, selfish, and under-prepared. The great thing is, the Lord uses our weaknesses to work in big ways. I suppose it’s because our pride is out of the way. It’s all a part of His great mystery.

175/365

175/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

You should know that I DID take a few pictures today. But I can't show you yet and you'll understand why tomorrow. So I'm not cheating, just circumventing.

I took these pictures yesterday, but I thought it'd be worthwhile to post them now that I'm home with my computer.

After some insane work, my mom and I sewed 22 aprons between us. We started out a bit outside of the Peach Festival. You have to pay to have a booth in there, but a friend of a friend let us set up and catch traffic going in and out at this cute little place:



We had some people come by, but traffic was a little slow. So my dad scoped out the inside, made a few calls, asked a few bold questions, and a few hours later we found ourselves set up inside the Peach Festival:


I'd like to thank Alison for pointing out the sign over our heads. That made my day! I'll believe it!

But honestly? Business was slow. Not just for us. For all of the vendors. People in this town are more...perusers. Although, they did enjoy peach ice cream and fried-whatever-I-can-get all day. But I don't blame them. Gotta eat...don't necessarily gotta cook. Or wear a t-shirt.

I sold five aprons...3 to her:


My Mimi. She's awesome and I love her.


We also got a good amount of donations and money from selling bottled water.

In the end, we walked out with about $235 a piece. I'm not complaining because I can just post these babies on my website and sell them to my amazing friends! And Amy isn't complaining because she made more money selling her t-shirts after church today than she did for six hours yesterday, weathering the heat and the rain.



But we did receive a lot of encouragement yesterday. And we got to share our hearts with plenty of people. All in all I'd call that a great success.

If you'd like a shirt for $20, e-mail me! (brittanyrosewhite@gmail.com)
If you'd like an apron, look for a site update soon.