I can’t help but get excited about Saturday in Athens, even if I am a continent away! Oh how long I have waited to see my dawgs tear it up again between the hedges. I thought this article summed up why UGA football is so great and why I will always be proud to be a GEORGIA BULLDOG!

“On Saturday morning, kids will be smiling, parents will be hoping, and grandparents will be reminiscing. As the first signs of Athens appear driving down Broad Street—The Varsity, The Arch, North Campus—it will be clear that college football season has truly arrived. The sun will wash over the streets of the Classic City and a quiet September morning will soon be filled with sounds of Who’s that coming down the track? and Glory, Glory.

Hoards of fans will rush to claim precious tailgating space around campus, ready to kick back in lawn chairs and enjoy some time outdoors with friends and family. Red and black pop-up tents will be scattered across the grass of North Campus, with flat-screen televisions and generators and charcoal grills filling the space between. The Intramural Field parking lots will be packed tightly with RVs, each filled with all the comforts of home. Smoke will rise from every corner of this storied campus and the smell of grilled chicken, hamburgers, barbeque and family recipes will be inescapable and mouth-watering.

The Georgia students will be out in full force, the men in white button-ups, red polos and black T-shirts. The women will sport their Sunday best with fashionably placed red accents and a black “G” decal on their cheeks. Freshman students will be nervous, excited to see what all the hype is about. There will be games of cornhole and two-hand touch on Herty Field where kids dressed in replica Georgia jerseys will be Hines Ward or David Greene or Garrison Hearst.

Parents and grandparents will tell stories to their children and friends and passersby, stories that have turned slowly into legends. Herschel, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!, P44 Haynes, and Oh, God a touchdown! In the corner! Something about this place is magical. A cool, bordering-on-fall-breeze will sweep through the trees, and it will feel right to be in Athens. There is no doubt that time has changed this campus, this town. Favorite tailgate spots have been replaced by concrete parking decks. New, bigger buildings have replaced old and outdated landmarks. Faces grow older and the crowds grow larger. The tradition, however, is steadfast and unchanged. Timeless.

Inside Sanford Stadium the day will descend into dusk, the sky transforming into shades of reds, oranges, yellows, blues and purples. The smell of popcorn and hotdogs and Coke will drift throughout the stadium. Screams and cheers will soon replace the nervous anticipation of each and every fan, as the most beautiful football jerseys in college football will race out in a red blur onto the greenest grass you’ve ever seen. It is the perfect moment of the season, when hope springs eternal. The home opener. We’ve spent an endless year waiting, and it’s finally here.”

I’m an aunt, or at least that is what I am told by my neighbor “A”. My friend had a beautiful baby girl last Sunday and has now adopted the white girl, a.k.a me, as baby Batima’s aunt. I’m thrilled for the job, I mean just look at her, so beautiful!

Proud mom and day

I encountered this mess in my bathroom this morning

Termites… eating my toilet paper… grrr africa! 

Dearest Africa, most days I love you but this morning is not one of those days!

“It is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all.”

[So don't take yourself to seriously, obviously you can do nothing!]

I heard this message listening to a podcast by Francis Chan earlier this week. I think in my heart I know that my flesh will fail me every time; it will never push me to do enough, it will never satisfy me, it will never make me happy, it will never sustain me… it will never give life. But how often does this promise so carelessly float from my mind? How often do I allow my selfishness, my apathy, perhaps even my laziness to drive my actions and thoughts instead of this promise that only the Holy Spirit will sustain? Honestly, it happens all the time. I think I make this deal with God: God if you will make me more disciplined, God if you will give me more passion, God if you will make me more open, God if you will give me more boldness… then my ministry will flourish. However that just isn’t the way God works.

I received a challenge from a sermon I heard earlier that talked about Jesus calling his first disciples in Mark 1. As Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John to follow him he says: “Follow me, and I will MAKE you FISHERS of men.” (Mark 1:17) I was reminded that God doesn’t promise to change my flesh so that I am more disciplined, more passionate, or even more bold. What he does promise is to use my flesh, my personality traits, every one of my mundane, temporal, worldly experiences and shape them for eternity. That he would use the Holy Spirit in me to shape and position me perfectly to be a fisher of those that my life has influence over.

Alone, my flesh will fail me every time. But Christ promises that it is the Holy Spirit in me, and his ability to shape me for his service that gives life, sustains me, pushes me everyday, and gives me the ability to be a fisherman and not just a follower.

this package full of all things good made its way to mali a couple of days ago… needless to say, my life got better at that moment!

my fam is the best, thanks fam!

Because it was a tough day:

There’s a mountain here before me
And I’m gonna climb it with strength not my own.
He’s gonna’ meet me where the mountain beats me
And carry me through…carry me through

Lord be gentle
I’m just a [woman]
Please don’t crush me with heavenly hands
Lord remember that I tried so hard
I’m walking toward the kingdom Lord.

this post is for keely.

these pictures are all i think of when the word thailand comes to mind… i want to go here… period. keely make this happen, i’ll give you ireland for thailand, i think that’s fair. freeman and holt, you are now obligated to go as well.

has anyone been to thailand? any takers vacation 2011??

For Rent

Beautiful one bedroom studio situated right on the river, spectacular views

Spacious bedroom

All meals included in price 

Pets welcome

Ok, so this hut isn’t actually for rent, but it is indeed my house for the next couple of months at least. On my last visit to the village, chief informed that the hut was complete and he was very excited for me to come live with the Bozo. 

As I was reading through Ephesians last week I came across a verse that really stuck out to me: 

“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.” Eph 1:17-19

I have been working on learning this verse in Bambara so I can share it with the chief on my next visit. This has been my prayer, all week, that the chief would know these words, understand them, and allow Christ to fully share his glorious hope and grace with him. Please be praying this verse specifically for the chief this week as Billy and I travel out the village again to share more stories.

I thought this moment was quite comical when I looked down and discovered…”wow, hannah, you are such an american!”

So I walked to the boutique to purchase something edible for dinner and instead of anything that one should eat for dinner, I return with 1. diet coke 2. roll of double chocolate cookies 3. milk chocolate bar

Even in Africa the need for diet drinks and chocolate doesn’t go away

Well it has been about a month since moving to my new home here in Segou, and a crazy month it has been. Last week, thanks to the help of our first American volunteer team, I finally had some time to put some personal touches to my house and take some pictures of the things I love so much about this place.

Made a trip to the bogalon factory to purchase some amazing fabric that now adornes my entire house! Bogalon is made by dying the fabric in tea, painting designs with mud, and finally dying it more to achieve the right color

These beautiful flowers make themselves home all over my courtyard and I am determined to keep them alive!

My ride, we affectionally refer to it as P.J (Piece of Junk), people hate on it but I am beginning to love it

My neighbor's daughter and my market helper, she always gets me some good deals. Isn't she adorable?

Nightly entertainment... all the guys gather at this boutique every night to watch soccer matches. This boutique also acts as the meeting place for "P" and I to practice Bambara day after day. Please be on your knees from "P" he is one of my first Bozo friends and is open to hearing our stories. Pray that he will come to know the Lord and want to share his story with the rest of the Bozo

The neighbor girls who sit outside my house everyday and everyday ask me to undergo this torture that they refer to as getting your hair done. I tried it and ahhh, it hurts!

Thanks so much Texas team for your help and encouragement this past week… you did so much more than you know!

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”  Isaiah 55:7