i'm gonna live in Mozambique!

official departure date is October 7th. the dates have constantly changed and i have wondered if this day would ever come. i just bought my ticket. i am leaving this weekend to spend the holiday with Cousin Shannon and Baby Cousin McCarley. i will leave from there and go to Atlanta to fly to Kansas to spend time with The Steen Family and will get to celebrate Hailey's birthday. 


my nephew Carson spent the night last night. i could not take my eyes off him or hug him tight enough. i know all sorts of people leave their families all the time and many families live hundreds and thousands of miles apart. and i know we can talk and email and the sacrifice is small. but i can always feel the distance. it is a big gap. a huge void. i guess absence makes the heart grow fonder. but i thought i was pretty fond already. i reckon i will find out what fonder feels like. 


but despite the lump in my throat, i am ecstatic! beside myself with absolute joy and delight that this day is here. it has been such a long time coming. i know this to be my destiny and purpose in this moment. and i cannot wait. i have waited my whole life for this. "it's going to be wild, it's gonna be great". it will be far greater than anything i have ever known. i am not losing a thing, but gaining so much. come visit!

Needs

10 donors @ $50 a month

20 donors @ $20 a month

$800 - Visa Renewal in March ( I will have to fly to South Africa)

$600 - Health Insurance

$0 for Lots of Prayer for safety, peace and wisdom (worth $ Bajillons)

Prayer Requests for Today

a six month Mozambican visa


comprehension and retention of Portuguese


finances: monthly support, Visa renewal, health insurance


wisdom in choosing what courses are needed most and the most effective way to teach them


materials and coursework in Portuguese


favor from businesses and agencies interested in helping us


an absolute miracle in getting my belongings in two suitcases


oh! and for sleep! i have been having insomnia for months now. no fun.

Fee Free Donation Information

For fee free PayPal giving:


1. go to www.paypal.com 
2. give to cloutman@lifetv.org 
3. select "GIFT"


I will get 100% of the donation.

Iris Ministries Introduction from Iris Ministries on Vimeo.

Moved...

I turned 34 this week. I always think about Jesus and my dad when I think of that number. So Jesus died about age 33. And now I am older than Jesus. It just makes me think, "I am older than Jesus. I better get busy". And then I recall being a child and telling others that my dad was 34. He is kinda always that age in my head. At the time, I would have been 7. I think it must have been that age when I learned my address and phone number...and parents' ages. I think for a moment, how different our lives are. Single. No kids. He was married. Two kids. Two jobs. Playing football with students in the backyard. Teaching me to ride a bike. Pretending to comb out my tangled mass of long wet curls in front of the television, but never combing below the first layer. My days are so different. (I have no clue when Mom turned 34, she never tells her age.) 
On the same day I turned another year older, I moved out of my house. Happy and blessed and delighted to be moving, but mostly realizing I don't think I will ever be back. So I reckon I am going through a mourning of sorts, of what was. All of that life is not coming back. I don't want it to, but it is all I know and it was mine. I loved my days of running all over College Park. I loved growing up under the Gold Dome. I loved getting to experience the finest of all that the State of Georgia had to offer. I loved my old life. But it is time. I am moved. Physically. Emotionally. So it hurts a little? But I got to celebrate with Betsy and Jill and Alan and Reality TV, complete with cake and ice cream and it was truly all I could ever want. It just felt good to be with friends and the familiar. 
And now, I am back in the city of my birth. The place where I took my first breath. This little Yoknapatawpha County, otherwise known as, Hartwell. It still freaks me out a little to see people I know when driving down the street. It is small town here, y'all. But it is a huge part of me. Part of me starts to suffocate when I leave The Perimeter, but this little place, whether I like it or not,  kinda feels like a pair of Tod's loafers. It is familiar beyond description. Yet, I wanted to cry down the aisle of Ingle's and to be honest, I did. This transition time is hard. 
But guess what?  I have been incredibly blessed with the most adorable cabin on all of Lake Hartwell. I have my own private little sanctuary to perch and rest and prepare. It is so incredibly lovely. It is perfect. And now finally, most things are in order. I am moved. There are duffle bags in the basement here filled with kitchenware and my brand new Chaco's and needs for Mozambique. I have downsized my wardrobe and personal belongings to one closet. I am sending off my renewed 52 page Passport on Monday for my Mozambican Visa. The Volvo is For Sale. 

That's pretty much the update. I get to go back to Atlanta for Portuguese lessons this week. I think I will go to Whole Foods just because...

www.aidthentrade.org

This is the website for the new non-profit organization aidthentrade, that will oversee fundraising for the school! I love seeing the vision in words and pictures.