the things i cherish

i try not to put my hopes in material things. i usually fail at this, but i wouldn't really consider myself a materialistic person, mainly because of how i grew up. and i'm not a packrat. yes, there are those few failures (iphone, ipod, clothes, etc.), but i could definitely live without those things. i proved to myself i could last summer, when i was thousands of miles away with 3 changes of clothes, no ipod, no phone, no computer. just the Lord, His Word, a few other books, 17 awesome best friends, and some really badass kenyans.

but, there are a few things that i really hold dear. here's a short list:

-my kenya journal. it's nothing but a small spiral notebook, but it holds those memories which i can sometimes only re-live by opening it up. it brings me joy, sorrow, laughter, and tears (only once) when i go back and read certain parts.

-little bible. when my grandfather died in '05, i was going through some of his stuff one day with meme and found a tiny bible with just the new testament and psalms in it. it's from someone names mrs. williams from west end baptist church (where he grew up), and it's dated march 16, 1943. we deduced that it was given to him before he left for wwII. he was in the air force, mostly in europe, but only worked in the office (if you knew him, it makes perfect sense). but, he still served our country, so i was really excited to find this little bible and get to hopefully pass it on one day. also, interestingly enough, in the note on the first page that the woman wrote, it mentions psalm 91, which the kenya team recited every day of our trip. awesome coincidence. or awesome God.

-my kenya scrapbook. last christmas, jennifer gave me an awesome scrapbook full of pictures/memories from the summer. she put many many many hours and many many dollars into making it awesome for me, and i'm very thankful for that. i'll cherish it forever. she loved me. i was a lucky guy.

-hope. i have a picture of my niece (hope) when she was a couple of months old. there's nothing flashy or really great about it, except that it's my beautiful niece. it reminds me of how my life changed when she came into the world. maybe that's weird, but i felt myself change a lot when that happened. i've learned much patience and love from she and her brother (and i will from the next one on the way too!)

i know there are other things at home in hoover, but those are things that are here that i can physically see. i tend to keep memories better than i do tangible things, and i have a million of those. enough to last a lifetime, and more than i deserve...He has been really good to me.