Sweet Feet

Each day at Ngungwane we had somewhat of a plan for the day…and I use the word “plan” loosely.  Flexibility is key on these trips because anything can happen and you just have to roll right along.  Before heading to Swaziland Children’s HopeChest told me new school shoes would be a nice gift for the kiddos.  School shoes for about 160 kids was not a cheap endeavor, but these are our friends so I wanted to give it a good shot.  To make a lot of things happen on our trips you have to figure out how to rally troops and ask for help.  I sent out a few emails and a local church ended up providing all the funds for the shoes.  This was so awesome!!!!

On my first trip to Ngungwane in 2013 I got to participate in shoe distribution.  To this day it’s still one of my favorite days in my life.  In.My.Life.  So I was super excited about another shoe sizing day…especially for school shoes because the kids love school and new school shoes are a big deal.

First, can you imagine sizing and getting shoes to around 160 kids?!?!?!  I was so impressed with the smoothness of the day.  The Ngungwane staff had already pre-sized all the kids…which I imagine was not an easy task by any means.  I was so thankful for all their prior hardwork which made the whole process much smoother than it would have been.  The care and attention the Swazi staff pours into the kids is just crazy legit.  I sat there thinking through how they had gone about getting shoe sizes for each child and all that really entailed.  We take for granted how easy it is to find out our kids shoe sizes…I imagine it wasn’t quite as simple for the staff plus throw in the high volume of kiddos.

I again got to help kiddos try on their new shoes and make sure they were the correct size they needed.  And again, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the day.

I will never shake how personal our shoes are.  How personal it is to hold someone’a feet in your hands and to allow someone to hold your feet in their hands.  How personal the whole process is.  And how deeply humbled I felt to play such a small roll.  Several times I sucked tears back because I could not shake the sheer privilege this was for me.

I didn’t take many pictures for several reasons.  1.  This was a busy day.  A whole gaggle of kiddos trying on shoes and making sure they fit was wildly busy.  2.  I felt a little weird taking pictures of something so personal.  At one point I snapped a picture of the shoes which were left behind and then deleted it.  One thing I am learning is how to be respectful and mindful of our friends and sharing their left behind shoes didn’t feel good to me.  I want to always use the utmost respect and care for our friends and the live’s they live.

The day was a  phenomenal one.  Again, one of my life favorites.  Most of the kiddos really loved their shoes.  We even heard from parents who we’re crazy grateful for this small gift from a church on the other side of the ocean.  Love makes a difference and truly matters.  I was so honored to help size some of those sweet little feet.  Oh, where those feet have been and where they travel day in and day out.  The weight and responsibility some of those feet truly carry is far unbeknownst and unimaginable to most of us…the magnitude of this did not fall lightly on me.

I also loved seeing Harper just being her.  I realize I haven’t talked a whole ton specifically about Harper, but what it all comes down to is she was all in and just doing her thing.  There would be bits of time where I never even saw her because she was playing games/holding babies/doing whatever while I was around doing whatever I needed to do at the time.  Each night we would talk about highlights in our day and it was sweet to hear her thoughts and heart at that time.  While I am thrilled I got to go on this trip with Harper, I really wanted this trip to be about our friends…our brothers and sisters in Christ…and not about Harper & me together.  I think God had very specific roles for each member of our team and it was really great seeing what He had planned for each person…including Harper and I…together and separate.

Hope you guys aren’t completely burnt out on Ngungwane posts just yet.  Each trip is just so flippin’ special and I can’t help but want to over share.  It’s just what I do 🙂

Lots of our little friends are still looking for a special friend sponsor.  GO HERE and choose “unsponsored” in the “status” bar, get in on this love action and then think about joining our trip next year.  You won’t regret it.

And we’ve got a Timbali winner in the house…

LISA SAYS:  I follow Timbali on social media!

Super congrats Lisa.  Check your email for a message from me.

Happy Tuesday!

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