Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone! I have taken a break from blogging because I was on a speaking tour in the USA. We were gone for almost two months. We have just returned to Poland and I have so much to blog about. So I will be posting bits and pieces of my time away in the next few weeks.

Just one note. I did get to go to Brave Girls camp and it was AMAZING! If you ever get the chance to go it will change the way you see life. I am so blessed to have been able to go. You can look it up at bravegirlcamp.com I will be posting more about it soon. They have sold out for this year but still have available opening next year, so get started!!


There is nothing like being in your own bed and waking up in your own space. I am thankful to be HOME!

Our shop is OPEN!

Dear Friends!

This is Helka. Mama Rhonda left to the States right after Easter. I just want to let you know that our SWEET SURRENDER coffee shop is finally open. I am sure that mom will write you more about all the struggles we had to go through to open our shop and it will be a GREAT testimony of God's faithfulness.

Here is our Sweet Crew:

My girls...

I have lovely Polish daughters. They are daughters that I chose. They were not born through my body but instead they were born of my heart! When I came to Poland I needed them and God was good, he brought them to me.


This is Ania. She is my oldest Polish daughter. She is smart and lovely. She is studying to get her M.A. in English. She runs the English club at our coffee shop and takes care of so many details of running the shop. I have watched her grow into such a wonderful and warm woman of God, she brings me such joy. She is loyal and so faithful to her Dad and I, she lets us tell her what she needs to hear and is always learning and growing. One thing I love about Ania is how giving she is to others. She never hesitates, she just gives from her heart. She has been with me a long time now and she anticipates what I will say or do about something. Ania knits and for Christmas she made me the most wonderful, warm blue scarf. I trust Ania. She has keys to our entire lives and I like that way. You could not separate us from one another!


This is Helka. She is my second Polish daughter. When she came to me she had some broken places in her life. God has healed so many of them in recent days. Helka could be a supermodel but has chosen to work in the coffee shop ministry because she wants God's will in her life. She is humble and yet confident. She is so funny and makes me laugh. She loves to tell me secrets, and we can giggle together like two little girls. She is so much like me in her personality. She is usually trying to do three or four things at one time. I love watching her with Leo, her nephew. I know when I watch her with him that she will be a good mom. The thing I love about Helka is that when she chooses something she pours her whole heart into doing it. She can accomplish so much in just one day. She loves my dog Ollie like he is her own, that's why I can leave him with her when I go to the states for a visit. At Christmas Helka made me a pretty silver bracelet with pictures of our family and she and Ania are both on it. I treasure Helka. She is precious!

Just yesterday a stranger said to one of my girls that she "must be our daughter", and she said "yes".

That made me smile.

I love my girls.
Be good while I am away girls! ;)

Special Occasions

Hello, this is Helka (Rhonda's Polish daughter). Mom is so busy lately so I asked her if I can write on her blog. I wanted mom to share these pictures with you, but she had no time (busy mom!:)). It was our special party for our neighbor.

We stole some ideas from your wonderful blogs. Shredded paper is from Lissa's.




We made the birds from a VERY old music sheets (like 50 ys old)! Thanks Mr. Wagner! No one at the shop could play your beautiful music so we turned your heritage into the birds. They look awesome!









The food was made by our new cook from Kansas! Yummy!













So many parties ahead! And we open the shop very soon! Finally! Yeyyy!

The rest of the true story

I was on the way to Krakow with my sweet husband just four days ago for another business trip. We were driving down the road talking and enjoying the drive. Our cell phone rang and Daniel, one of our volunteers in Poznan, told me that a man from Kenya was trying to get hold of us on the phone. I asked if he knew who it was and he said that he had tried to give our cell phone number but the phone kept disconnecting. He never got a name.

My husband and I tried to figure out who might be calling. Most of the people we knew there did not have access to call us, and it would be very expensive. In the back of my mind I remembered the blog about Jackson. Maybe he had read the story and decided to contact us. It has been many years since we were able to talk to Jackson. He had no computer and no phone. Our contact had been mainly through other missionaries and friends in Nairobi.

It was after dark, we were still on the road and the phone rang. It was a 254# and we recognized that it was from Kenya. However, when I answered the call was lost. So, I decided to send a text in case the person was using a cell phone. I said "Please try again, we lost your call...who is this please?"

Minutes passed as we waited to see if there would be a response. My phone sounded the alarm that there was a new text message. I looked and the message read:

It is ur son Jackson Tustin. I found you on the internet and saw pictures of my sisters, they are so big now! I also saw pictures of mum and she is beautiful.

I sobbed as I read the message. While we have been telling Jackson's story for many years we have not been able to talk to him for so long. There was a piece of my heart that came back to me on that cold drive to Krakow. I remembered taking Jackson out to dinner one of last nights in Kenya. We had ordered dinner and we told Jackson that our time in Nairobi was almost over. We told him we would have to leave in two weeks. Though he knew it was coming this was a shock to Jackson. He laid his head on the table and wept. We tried consoling him but he was grieving. Leaving him was one of the most difficult things we ever had to do.

Later that night, when we arrived in Krakow, we were able to call Jackson and I heard his voice after so long. He is indeed a man now. He coaches soccer for kids and works as a guard, still living in Kibera. I am also a grandmother of a bright, beautiful young man who is 8 years old, my Kenyan grandson.

Jackson said to me "Mom, do you remember the time I got the shoes?" I asked Jackson if he had read the blog, because I had written about this story on my blog. He said no. He told me that though he had given his heart to Christ it was when God gave him those shoes was when he knew God loved him. He told me that today he still remembers that and he loves God. My mother's heart was full.

Jackson still has a very difficult life. I think it did his heart good to know that we missed him as much as he had missed us. We laughed and cried together. When we said goodbye we promised that we would not lose contact.

I guess I wanted to share the rest of this story with you because I feel so blessed. Many times people ask us what happened to Jackson and it felt so bad to have to say that we had not been in touch with him for so long. I even wondered if he remembered us, but now I know. What God starts He is FAITHFUL to and He will FINISH!

God loves us...Oh Happy Day! :)