A Baby in a Bucket and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Six years ago, I had no idea that you could use buckets for everything.
Bath-taking, food-serving, dish-washing, house-cleaning, rat-trapping, water balloon-storing, laundry-doing, foot-washing, and even an indoor, night-toilet when life so calls for one.
Disclaimer: NOT the same bucket for everything. Let’s not be gross.
Four years ago, I watched malnourished, 2-year-old legs walk too far to get a plate of food his body just couldn’t take in. Pre-school aged family members showed him how to dip his fistful of food in his juice to soak the food so it would slide right through his revolting throat.
I didn’t know his name or where he had come from, but I heard the Savior speak. “This little one has a King David anointing on his life. He’s just a little shepherd boy right now.”
I knew I would need a bucket.
I came back with a bucket, heated water, soap, a soft towel, a new outfit and lotion to anoint and clothe the little king-to-be. He took a bucket bath fit for a king in the back of a truck, and I spoke out his anointing as I rubbed his skin with lotion.
Kevin straight out of the bucket.
That was the beginning of Kevin and a new way of living in and for the Family of God, right there with that family. (Side note: Kevin is CRAZY. This story is not made up of Hallmark moments. It’s sticky and full of questionable smells. Pray for that little wild-man, leader-king. He’s basically the Tasmanian Devil.)
That baby in that bucket was the beginning of a life lived without bucket lists, and a life lived with full buckets.
A few days ago, I sat in Kevin’s yard with his whole family and a bag of fruit. His mom and I remembered all the bucket moments we’ve had together while the kids piled into one for scream-laughing and bath time. Cakes and cornbread, Christmas Eves together, babies born, family deaths, a new home, church worship, countless hospital visits, and a thousand moments in between.
Years of buckets, and buckets of memories.
While two babies sat on a bucket to dry in the sun, and while Kevin just continued to be Kevin, I shared with Mama Charity that my life is changing.
-THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT-
This year, I am joining my life with a man and his ministry. Chris is the Country Director for Children’s Cup South Africa, and we believe we were made to work together.
The very beginning.
I will no longer be a part of the ministry at Ten Thousand Homes.
God is expanding my capacity for living out the love story of His Family in the context of a new family. Here is my blog with a little more back-story about our family, and HERE is Chris’ version of our story. I think he’s pretty wonderful.
Chris and I will be buying a home in the same town that I live in now and serving local communities as part of Children's Cup South Africa. We believe God will do even greater things through us together than we could do on our own.
My time at Ten Thousand Homes has been transforming, beautiful, and I am overwhelmingly grateful for the family I have here. We’ve danced, and we’ve cried as we have said our goodbyes. And we have been full.
Telling Busi in Dwaleni that I would be leaving TTH.
In the midst of life being turned upside down by a handsome Tennessee man and a beautiful sovereign God, I am full. Not just full for the future, but full today. Every moment counts in this lifetime, whether they are moments of tears, dancing or turning.
No matter what your bucket is needed for in this moment, use it. Use it fully.
God is pouring Himself out for His Family, one bucketful at a time. All we have to do is be there, together, every time He asks us to bring the bucket.
Thank you for being a part of my life, one story at a time. Thank you for joining me through prayer, support and for stepping into each bucket moment with me. I hope you will continue the journey with us into greater things ahead.