coming true

My dream for some time has been to open my open coffee shop, or boutique of hand-made goods, I hadn’t decided yet. I kept trying to figure out how they could co-exist, as well. The thing that was important about my shop was that it would exist to directly benefit a people group or specific issue (like the poor in Turkey).

I’ve also been fascinated by hand-made goods since some back in high school. Wimberley Market Days is one of my favorite things to do, as is browsing through the Renaissance Market on the Drag in Austin. I kept telling everyone I would open my own booth or table in Wimberley or Austin one day. And when I learned that Portland, OR had a Saturday Market (every week!), I almost packed my bags right then. I’ve learned a number of crafts, though none good enough to make a sellable piece of art. I tend to stop just short of becoming very good or discovering I’m mediocre—a habit I need to break… But I love hand-made goods and I especially love them in other countries—with the influence of new materials and ideas and customs.

I started working at Starbucks because I wanted to learn more about coffee, and to find out how “the man” runs his store so that my little coffee shop can be competitive. And as I learned, I stored everything away for that day far far off in the future when I would have money enough to venture into the world of small business.

When Dawn told me about this opportunity, she told me about the gift shop. I thought to myself that this would be a great opportunity to learn business skills and to get a taste of running my own business. A month before I left for Africa, she mentioned the coffee shop would be going in as well. I took this as a sign that God loved me and was telling me I didn’t have to get over my caffeine addiction before I left.

I know what your mind is doing now. It is computing, in only the amount of time it takes to read this post (20 seconds?) what it took mine an entire summer and about a week here to figure out (yes, yes—I know—I colored over it, but the blonde is still there…). I am living that dream right now. I thought I was living out my dream of coming to Africa, but I never dreamed that Africa had anything to do with my far-off dream of a shop of my own, or that the shop would come so soon! And here I am, living in beautiful South Africa, planning out the opening with Dawn, Mariet, and Ann Marie—the opening of both a coffee shop and hand-made craft store—of which we have been granted ownership and responsibility. IN AFRICA!!! I must be Jesus’s favorite! This isn’t to say He doesn’t love any of you—just that He loves me so much that I have two of my greatest dreams in the here and now. (And I’m just kidding, I sure He loves some of you all too… maybe not Joshua—but the rest of you…) (NOTE: If you don't appreciate or understand sarcasm with a bit of good-natured heresy mixed in, this is probably not the blog for you.)

And I’m already seeing how He is preparing me for the realization of my other dream—to adopt a boy from Africa. I’m watching Luiza love on Veli and the Kinsleys love on Alfie and my heart fills with so much joy knowing that one day I will have a beautiful boy like Veli and Alfie to love. (Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t come home with one this time…)

But in all seriousness now, I just have to say that every day I wake up here to live out the desires of my heart that were heard by Him. I place them all in His hands and pray that He would lead me in every step in Africa and with the shop. I praise Him that we can’t see the future and are so limited in our vision—because I don’t think I could have ever cooked this one up on my own—and why would I want to when His ways are so perfect?