After our team and the Mocha Club staff decided to postpone our trip to Kenya, we got an email from the Irene, the director of New Dawn.

Just as a quick reminder, our goal when raising $10,000 was to be able to remodel four classrooms in the high school, making for better learning environments for the 160 students at that school.

When we reached (exceeded!) the goal, the folks at New Dawn were ecstatic and they got to work so quick.

And this weekend, Irene emailed us pictures of the first classroom under construction- walls being added, ceiling being put up.

I saw these. All nine of them. And I just cried.

Because YOU made these pictures possible. YOU donated, each of us making small sacrifices that together have made a huge impact. And you can SEE IT. You can see the impact right here in these pictures.

I wanted to be standing in that room this week. I wanted to touch it and smell it and use a hammer and stand there in awe of what you did in February with the Purpose Project.

The pictures just made all of this all the more real. I mean, the pile of clothes that were ready for a suitcase made it real. The PASSPORT! that I worked so hard not to forget made it real. But seeing these pictures really pushed it over the edge for me- the line between not crying and crying.

My other emotion?

Thankfulness. I am so deeply thankful that we are making an impact on these students’ educations. I can’t believe that our couple of dollars each have pooled together to buy that wood and hire those people to make better classrooms for teenagers.

It played into the tears for sure.

Thank you for your kind words yesterday. Thank you for understanding our decision. Thank you for respecting Mocha Club for making a tough choice to postpone our trip. (Honestly, those comments were my favorite. In a world where non-profits are plentiful, I’m so honored to partner with one that uses their brains and their hearts and wisdom to make every decision. I respect that staff so much.)

And thank you for being a part of what God is doing for teens on the other side of the planet.

. . . . .

We have some ideas this week, ways that we can continue to share the story and offer fun ways for you to continue to partner with us as we continue to help New Dawn High School as much as possible. So stay tuned for that.

But again, for today, just thanks. And tears. And I’m sorry we’re not there to show you this first hand. But mostly? Thank you.