Hello, Hello...

After 22 relatively easy hours on airplanes... we have safely arrived in South Africa.
Experiencing the first flight with the children was a wonder that filled our hearts to overflowing. There was timidness and uncertainty and holding hands across aisles. There was gasping and giggling as they wondered at the marvel of tiny villages below. There was joy in the tray tables and the new surprises in their backpacks and the endless multitude of movies they could dial up on the screen on the back of each seat. We tried to sleep as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean... really we did. Harrison and I attempted every sort of entanglement to find a comfy spot. In the end, we decided on the "no touching"position and slept for about two broken hours of dozing. But we arrived with wide eyes to find a beautiful group of people waiting for us in Johannesburg and there were bells :O) ( we did not find our luggage waiting for us there... but that is another story all together).
I'll just tell a story about our first morning here because it is swirling in my heart right now... Expect photos and more stories any time I can access an internet line. I love you all! Truly I do.

This morning ... church under a blue and white striped tent in the informal settlement (read here "shanty town"") of Zandspurit.
Oh the singing and dancing.
Oh the sweet dripping moment as they shout "Ah-mane" in response to each sentence of the preacher.
Oh, the sweet dripping moment as every man and woman began praying... together... out loud.
Praying so earnestly and raw... lips moving so rapidly there was no question the words were not forming in minds that weigh every phrase - but flowing with energy that originates from the very heart core. The chatter and noise was swirling around the tent with an energy matched by none other I have experienced... growing in intensity ...

.... and my voice joined in.

Almost involuntarily drawn out by the Spirit that swam in the richness of that space.
I sang a soft, dreamy melody - - weaving it's way in and out of the voices. The voices praying and crying.
... and the song danced around and throughout the voices...
... and I saw clearly for just a moment that in that place... the noise of all those people rising at once sounded loud and chaotic in that tent... but each one of them, right in that place, laying their lives out in front of the throne of God , was a beautiful song - and He hears each individual voice , each heart, like a dreamy melody in his ear - an intimate whisper singing through the symphony of all the prayers being lifted to Him. And in His grace and goodness, He chooses to whisper back to each in the undeniable voice that can only belong to Him.
The voice that has been holding Billy and I up for the past year.
In that moment - I felt truly in the throneroom of our God -

- and I was amazed to find that today it looked like a blue and white tent.