Thinking back on 2014, I am awash with gratitude and joy.  Simply put, 2014 was the best year I can remember.

• It was full of time with friends and family.  I think I spent more than a month total with my parents!  I am so thankful to have parents that I love so much in my life! Got in some time with my brothers and co.  Got to hug friends and celebrate beautiful moments in California.  Even a summer NYC trip reconnected me with some of my dearest friends.  Oddly, I feel like I was able to connect more with people I love in 2014–even though I spent a large portion of the year in Africa.
• I prayed through much of the year with an amazing crew of ladies.  Even though I am in and out of the country, I have a group a wonderful ladies that allow me to slip in and out of an amazing Bible study.  We go deep, challenge one another and pray deep.  The group has been a beautiful anchor everytime I come back from Africa and there support in so many ways has meant the world to me.  I’m hoping to join or start a similar study in Kigali for 2015.
• I am blessed with lots of homes.  This year I was blessed with a wonderful new home in Kigali that is so wonderful and some great folks to share the space with.  I also found a great church in Kigali that feels like home.  And of course, Oregon is always home but I also got to spend time in Orange County, NYC and Uganda.  It was good to return to so many places that I love!
• I friggin’ love my students.  Seriously, the students I work with in Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda are the most inspiring, hope-filled, hard working and overall fun group of people I have ever met.   To walk alongside them, cheer them on, plan parties for them, train them in business skills, counsel them and love them is the greatest gift I could ever ask for.  This year we almost doubled the number of students I have direct access to and added a lot more girls.  I am so excited to see what God does in each of their lives and I am honored to be an aunty to Africa’s brightest students!
• I am living the dream.  I love what I do every day and God has been blessing our work in huge ways.  More people are getting involved and our ability to help more students is growing.  This year we are launching a entreprenuership program and adding even more students.  We are learning a lot and deepening the support that we provide to students and they are growing in skills, maturity and wisdom.  If you are considering a year end gift, please check out this inspiring video and consider giving to my work at These Numbers Have Faces.

Thanks to EVERYONE that has prayed, supported and loved me through the beautiful year. God has been good.  All signs point to 2015 being even more amazing!  Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!