Your Saving Love

     When the sun refuses to shine,

And the moon has a place it’d rather be,

When the whole world is at its darkest moment,

You are there with a smile that lights up the world.

~~~~~~~~~

When despair is all there is,

When darkness is my only friend,

There You come,

You rescue me from the pain,

Erase the heartache that I’ve come to know so well,

Making me wonder at how amazing You are.

~~~~~~~~~

Bound by unbreakable chains,

Forever to remain in darkness,

Unable to know what love is,

Or to feel it’s wonderful warmth,

Forever to remain in the cold darkness,

To remain forever without you.

Those icy hands will forever remain on my heart,

Never again to depart.

~~~~~~~~~

No more pain,

No more shame,

It was all washed away when You came.

The chains broken by Your love,

Which was so strong it broke the unbreakable chains.

You came bursting forth,

Bringing with You glorious light.

You knocked down the walls which contained me,

Broke the chains which retained me,

Released me from my dark prison,

Showing that You and only You are strong enough.

You defeated the guards keeping watch over my heart,

You led me to Your castle,

Through the gate of pearls,

To the one place where there are no tears.

All the pain is gone,

Never to return again.

In Your heavenly abode I shall remain.

Adventures

I have always loved treasure hunts, hide-and-seek, and anything like that. Why? Because I like finding things. I like treasures. The feeling one gets when they find what their looking for is amazing. I also love adventure because you never know what's going to happen. It's a mystery, and who doesn't like mysteries?  Well you know what else is a mystery? God is. He is mysterious. He makes me keep looking, keep trying, keep trusting in Him, and keep knowing that at the end, there is always a treasure. God himself is the biggest treasure that ever was and ever will be. I have never given up on a treasure hunt because of the treasure part of it. Adventures are awesome. That's all I have to say for now but I'll post soon.

Summing up God.

I need to confess something: earlier I was trying to sum up God in a few words, but it took me a LOT more than that to sum Him up. The reason is because God truly is everything. Not the bad stuff, but everything pure, everything holy, everything wonderful, and everything perfect. I can't think of a single word to sum up everything because there is just so much. I have never been left speechless before now, before thinking of one word to sum up God. The word God in itself doesn't sum him up. Nothing can because He almost like a riddle. He has no beginning and no end, He is fully man and fully God, He's love is unending and pure, He loves all, He created all, and He will destroy all. What is He? He is God. I know that isn't saying much, but I truly fall speechless trying to sum Him up.

Out of billions

I was thinking the other day how lucky I am. I have a wonderful family, a wonderful home, our family can afford to put groceries on the table every day, we can afford a car. But then another idea popped into my head: Why was I, out of billions and billions of people, chosen to be in God's kingdom? He could have gotten somebody smarter, somebody prettier, somebody more talented, somebody famous, or somebody more important than me. But no, He choose me. It is impossible to answer somebody if they ask why. Because I don't know. It is easier to see now just how lucky I am. God truly does care for all of us. And then I realized that He didn't just chose me out of billions of people, He chose me out of billions of people because He loves me and wants me to spend eternity with Him. And it is just so hard to comprehend how much He loves me and everyone else that He has called. So if you ever feel like nobody cares about you, just think how much God does. How He called you instead of somebody more _ than you are. How He chose you and how He loves you and how He has a special plan for you.  

Beauty

Ah, I am having a wonderful evening. Still getting used to the time change and still very tired, but I love this time of year. We have had some beautiful sun-downs that my big sister Song captured in her blog Shanghai Songbird, you should check that out. I love spring time when the trees are blooming, the grass growing, and a few flowers here and there. It's not spring yet, but all of this is starting already. I think sometimes we see straight through the beauty of the world God created. We don't realize how wonderful and amazing it is that we have so much as seasons. But I'm also sad that it's about to be mosquito season again. They really bother me is more ways than I can say. I had better go, can't stay up on a church night. I'll post soon!!!

God

Hello guys! How are you? I was just going to say how wonderful God is. He works in mysterious and wonderful ways. I realize now that I'm older how blessed I am. I have a wonderful home, an amazing family, and way too many clothes:) But the most wonderful of all the things I have is a forgiving, saving, and never-ending God. Some people might think it's a bad thing to go on the mission field, but I think that since God gave us so much, why not give Him our lives, why not live for Him? I am also experiencing this restlessness to be a missionary that won't go away until I get to India, so it will be a while till it's gone. I hope everyone realizes how blessed they are. If you just look around, you can see God has given you so much and we should all spend some time to tell God thank you now and then. Take a moment every now and then and see God has blessed you this very day. I hope this post has made you see God in more ways than you did before and have a great day!!

Family

I know it's been a while since my last post, so here is a new post! I didn't really go to India, that was just a project I did for school. I should also tell you that I am a homeschooled student of SPIGOT, our schools name. I am the 5th oldest in our family of 8 (parents not included) and have 3 siblings younger than me! We have a huge family, but not the biggest one I know of. I have 3 brothers and 4 sisters, 3 of whom have Down Syndrome. We are a pretty amazing family, 8 kids, 2 parents, and 3 with Down Syndrome! 5 of my siblings are adopted, making our family a pretty crazy one. I will try to remember to post soon, and I hope you enjoyed this post!!

Day 7 (really 8)

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't post last night, the laptop didn't work on the plane, so I'm just posting now. All we did yesterday was fly, and fly, and fly! I am really tired and glad to be off the plane but sad to leave:( I hope to go to India again and really can't wait to  give my niece a pink sari I got her. Thanks for keeping up with me on my trip! I learned way more than I thought I would on this trip. I learned not only about the Indian culture but I learned about God too. I recommend a mission trip to anyone who wants to serve God and his people. Please think about a mission trip if the opportunity comes up.
Goodbye!!!!!

Day 6:

Yawwwn, I am soooo tired. We had a crazy day here in Calcutta, and it left me so tired. I was in charge of the little kids at an orpahage we went to they were so restless! I lost count of how many games of tag I played, but well over 15. I know this post is short, but I need to get to bed. Tomorrow is our last full day in India:( Then we leave the day after. All day today we spent playing with kids and having a bit of free time.  Ok, gotta go, शुभ रात्रि!

Day 5:

Hurrah!! I finally saw the Taj Mahal! It was so pretty, and I got pics of the inside. After the Taj Mahal we went shopping in a market. I got a deep blue Sari and a necklace. I might have gotten everything if I could have. They had such pretty stuff!! But sadly we are leaving New Delhi today and going to Mumbai. I was exited to go and had such a great time in New Delhi. after lunch (which was in the airport) we went to the plane and loaded up. It was a long flight and I spent it asleep and I don't remember how long it was. When we finally got there we checked into our hotel and hung-out for awhile. Then we went to dinner which was awesome:) After that we came back and I am writing this. So now I need to go to bed and will be happy to.

 Until next time, शुभ रात्रि

Monday, Day 4:

Wow, Agra is awesome!! We had a great day today, but I haven't seen the Taj Mahal yet:( Today we went to a church to help out at a Monday night church program for kids and grown ups. I helped out at the kids program in the gym. The parents session was in the Chapel and the adults went to that. I helped supervise the games and taught 4th grade girls for 45 minutes. I was glad to help and made some good friends with a few of the staff members. Today I really felt that the mission trip began. The 2 day was more of a tourists day. Tomorrow will be our last day in Agra so we will have another tourist day, and see the Taj Mahal! Until then, गुड रात!!

Sunday,Day 3:

Today is was our last day in New Delhi, so we made it worth while. First, we went to a church and a man in our group even preached a little. We were all introduced to the congregation and said a little about ourselves, and I guess I did a good job because a young woman named Sarala came up to me after the service and asked me some questions about Christ. I answered her questions and asked her if she would come to lunch with us. We went to a great restaurant and I talked to Sarala the whole time. But we had to go back to the hotel to pack before I said half as much as I wanted to. Our train to Agra left at 2:00 so we needed to pack up and head out. I was very exited to go to Agra and I was dying to see the Taj Mahal. But I will have to wait until tomorrow to see what adventures await me. Until then, शुभ रात्रि!!

Pics of day 2

                 

                                         

                                                                The Park Hotel

Lotus Temple

                                                            
                                                                     Atrium Hotel/Bar
                                                                    Karala, you sould try it!
Qutub Minar

                                          Jama Masjid                                                                                                   

                                                     Chor Bizzar was so good!!

Day 2:
Amazing!!! We had a amazing day today, and did so much!!! Today we went to so many tourist attractions and great restaurants. For breakfast we ate at our hotel( The Park) and after that we all loaded up on our bus and went to Lotus Temple. Lotus Temple is the place of worship for the followers of Bhai Faith in India. Then we set off to go eat lunch at Atrium and I had Kerala, yummy!! Then after lunch we got back in the bus for a trip to Qutub Minar, the tallest minaret in India. It is made of red sandstone and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was around 3:00 by the time we got back into the bus to go to our destination before dinner. We went to Jama Masjid, a Hindu mosque. Then we went to Chor Bizzar and saw a very strange thing. I saw my second cousin twice removed. I had not seen her for 2 years since we had not gone to the family reunion. I could hardly believe it! But we had to leave soon, so I had to go. We had a big day ahead of us, and needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow we were going to a church in town and we were going to go to a early English service. The one after that was in Hindi. So once again, रात का अच्छा है!

                                                         

Day 1 in India

Day 1:
We are finally here!! After a day on the plane, my missions team and I finally got to New Delhi, India. It is 9:00 O'clock PM Indian time and we are loading up on bus going to a hotel in the city. We have had a long day of traveling I am looking forward to bed. But we are going to take a quick tour of a bit of New Delhi on the way to our hotel. All of New Delhi that we saw seemed so huge and amazing. I am posting this in my hotel room with I share with a girl named Nala. We are good friends and are both so exited for tomorrow! Until then,शुभ रात्रि(Good night in Hindi) from Anna.