A Story to be told

He knows me

2012-02-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

You have been, and You will be
You have seen, and You will see

You know when I rise and when I fall
when I come or go, You see it all
You hung the stars and you move the sea,
and still You know me

……And nothing is hidden from Your sight
Wherever I go, You find me
and You know every detail of my life
and You are God and You don’t miss a thing

You Know Me (paraphrased)-Bethel Music

I can’t really describe it, but the way the Lord speaks to me, more often than not, is through music. There are days where I feel like the Lord specifically writes songs for me. Like He is looking into the deepest parts of my heart and is sweetly singing His love songs over me. This morning after tossing and turning for 30 minutes, trying to fall back asleep, I finally got up at 4:30am. For those of you who don’t know, I definitely am a fight with the alarm clock kind of person. So when I get up early on my own and without the sound of the alarm clock, it only means one thing…….the Lord is waking me up. He is the sweetest person ever, it’s like He can’t wait for my alarm clock to go off, He wants my attention RIGHT then……and I usually don’t fight Him on that. He’s like a little kid just waiting for their parents to get up so they can tell them something SUPER important, like their dream about unicorns or how they finally realized their new pajama shirt glows in the dark. Have you ever had those moments? Where everyone is asleep and you have just had the coolest thing happen……the only problem is nobody else is awake to share in your joy! Isn’t it just so annoying? I feel like that is the way God is with me sometimes, like He is so anxious to reveal something to me He just CANT WAIT for my alarm clock to hit 6:30, He has to wake me up right that moment. Thankfully every time I have one of these moments with my sweet Lord, He always wakes me up feeling refreshed.

So I have to admit I have been TOTALLY obsessed with the new Bethel album called, The Loft Sessions. If you haven’t listened to it yet, go do it right now! Don’t even finish reading this blog, it will blow you away! So incredibly profound and anointed by the King. So I have literally had this album on repeat since the day I got it, it’s like an addiction. Some days, I just want to crawl into a dark quiet corner of the house and blare it as loud as I can. The words of the songs are simple, yet so powerful….and once again I feel like the Lord is just singing the lyrics over me. They’re all amazing, but the one in particular that is currently stuck in my head is You Know Me (song above^). This is the song that the Lord woke me up with this morning. The Lord is so sweet and is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I think it has special meaning for this part of my life particularly because there are days where I feel like I am walking in the desert. And I don’t particularly like the desert, if im being totally honest. There’s days where I just feel like the promise land is never going to come, or that it’s always a few steps out of reach. But I will say I have learned the most during this desert season. It is very hard and is causing me to grow A LOT! Which im very thankful for, for we all know I have a lot of areas to work on. I love this song because every time I hear it, im reminded that im not forgotten. Though there are times where I feel like I have been forgotten, that I have slipped through the cracks, that He skipped me while everyone else is getting what they want, or that I haven’t done “my part” to get the blessing. He reminds me that He has not forgotten, but that His timing is perfect. And while I know this to be true, there are days where it is hard for me to be patient. It is usually in my crying out moments that I hear His still, small voice reminding me of His goodness. Immediately I am reminded that He is faithful and that His will IS perfect!

Today my daily bible reading was perfect! It was from Mark 9 talking about a man who had brought his son, who had a spirit that made him mute, to Jesus to be healed. The thing that struck me most about this was verse 24 which reads,
“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
I had to ponder this for a few minutes. The man says “I believe” then immediately after says, but “help my unbelief”. This would mean that he still had doubts, but He wanted Jesus to help him to believe. Jesus healed his son, despite the father having some doubts. I can’t even count the number of times I have said I believe you Jesus, but in the back of my mind have had doubts. There are times where I want so badly to believe in the things that the Lord has promised, but doubt creeps its way in. I want to be like the father in this story, unafraid to say, “Lord I believe, but I need You to help me overcome my unbelief.” It has been a beautiful thing realizing that I don’t have to be perfect for Jesus, that He loves me just the same. I love that I can be open and honest with Him and I know that He wont turn away, but rather will help me overcome my struggles. Some days, okay…most days, the Lord literally has to run me over in order for me to get it. There are still days where His love seems too good to be true and instead of running freely into His loving arms, I sheepishly creep into His arms, unsure if He really is everything He says He is.

Our love story is one that is bumpy but that has many beautiful stories. The Lord wins over my heart each and everyday, and constantly reminds me that He isn’t going anywhere. The days when I feel like im walking in the desert, He is there with me. The days where I feel like He has forgotten me, He reminds me that He is working in areas that I can not see yet. The days where I feel like He skipped me, I find that He in fact is just waiting for the right moment to bless me. Our relationship is full of laughter, joy, and learning moments. He wants to know the desires of my heart, and I have learned to be open with Him about them. He is jealous for my time and my affection, and I have learned (and still learning) to put Him first. There are days where His provision and love are so evident in my life, that it feels as if I just might explode. I can’t imagine ever loving anyone or anything as much as I love my Savior. He speaks to me in ways that I can’t even explain. Many times I wish I could. He is incredible, and I feel so lucky to have a Father who cares about every aspect of my life. He knows the path before I even step foot on it, and He tenderly guides my every step. Though I have my days where I don’t understand His delay or His reasoning, I remember that He has always been faithful…..that delay doesn’t always mean defeat and that I don’t always have to understand His reasoning. The Lord is so good and I couldn’t picture a better man in my life. He is daaaa bessttttt!

Africa....final thoughts and lessons

2012-01-23T17:12:00.001-08:00

It’s been over 2 months since I landed back on American soil. Getting back into the swing of things was very difficult, there were countless days filled with tears and a deep longing to be back. I can remember waking up and getting so excited, only to walk out my front door and realize I wasn’t in Africa anymore…and that the kids were no longer just a walk away. Many nights I woke up in the middle of the night, completely confused of my surroundings and wondering why I wasn’t under my mosquito net. My first “hint” of reality was standing in line to use the bathroom in the Washington Airport. A lady, who clearly didn’t speak English, “cut” in front of the line to use the restroom. As the merciless women in front of me started to get furious and say things….out loud….like “Can you believe her?” “How rude! There is a line you know”. It took everything in me to 1) not break down in tears and 2) to keep my thoughts to myself. I was in utter shock that these women were complaining over having to wait…what? like a few more seconds to use the bathroom. I had just come from a culture where you “hurry up…to wait” and waiting in line for a bathroom was like waiting to do anything in Uganda. A few more minutes surely wouldn’t have killed them, and in fact it didn’t. I began to then think about what the woman’s story was, she was clearly from the middle east by the way she dressed and the language in which she spoke in. I began to ponder on what she had to go through in her life, and that maybe she came from a culture where its normal to fend for yourself. Maybe in her culture they don’t wait on others to occupy a stall, in fact they may not even have stalls to wait to occupy. They may have a hole in the ground for all I knew. As I patiently waited my turn, these thoughts flooded my mind…….and it was in that moment that I knew Uganda had forever changed my life. I was no longer worrying about my own needs, but becoming more aware of the needs of those around me.

Coming home to a greedy culture was hard, especially this time after having spent a month with precious people who have absolutely nothing. Simple things bring them joy, and I feel like that is the way we should all live. Living simply, so that others may simply live. We don’t need excess things; we just need basic needs met. Though of course, we all want excess things, even I am guilty of this. We live in a consumer society that has taught us that the more “stuff” we have, the happier we will be. BUT what they fail to mention is the more “stuff” you have, the more “stuff” you have to worry about being broken, malfunctioning, getting lost, or getting stolen and that in fact it WONT bring you more happiness. I loved being in a culture where the “stuff” didn’t matter, where a little kid could kick around a plastic water bottle and be perfectly content. Where they could make a soccer ball out of the posho that they eat, tie some leaves around it and bam! instant happiness to one little child. I miss these simple things, in a simpler life, where it was the simple things that brought the most joy.

I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that it was the hardest month of my life. There were moments in which I felt like I couldn’t go on, moments where I felt like I wasn’t “cut-out” for this, and moments where I felt like I was failing. But despite every trial, every hard moment, every tear shed, every frustrating moment…..I found complete joy. There were many things that I couldn’t see at the time, but now that I have had more time to process everything a little more….I have truly seen the hand of God. I love the way the Lord uses every hard moment, and uses it for His glory. Im glad I didn’t give up, that I didn’t believe the lies of the enemy, and that I kept persevering even when it felt hopeless. For what I found was something I wouldn’t trade anything for. For the first time in my life, I found true happiness…happiness that can only come from Jesus. I had never felt so alive before. I can remember walking the red dirt roads with the kids and just laughing the whole way. And not even a fake kind of laugh, but a genuine laugh. Despite the heat, despite the seemingly long trek, despite the rain….we found joy in our walk. There is something about that place that brings such joy to me, like I get so excited even just talking about it. I can’t help but smile as I think about the kids and their sweet faces. There are so many things that bring me joy there, from the kids, to the women who work in the market, or the women who work with our kids, or our adorable neighbors across the street. I can’t help but miss the place that stole my heart.

As I look back at pictures I am reminded of all the fun memories, but also the gentle and sweet memories. Like the story of the family who invited us into their home, though they had nothing, and fed us. We laughed at the time about not being able to identify the meat, but the beautiful reality was that it was all they could afford. All they could afford were the parts of the animal that nobody else wanted. Though they had nothing, they served us with everything they had. They washed our hands before our meal, they gave us fresh water (though they didn’t even drink the clean water themselves), and humbly sat on the floor while they offered us the comfortable chairs. What a beautiful picture to remember. Though we have everything, we give Jesus so little. Whether we have a little or a lot, we are called to give Jesus everything.

There were countless lessons I learned on perseverance, trust, faith, love, joy, and my all time favorite…..patience. It was a month where I had to rely solely on the Lord. Without Him, I would have never survived. I would have completely missed everything He wanted to show me, and I would have come home unchanged, content, and bitter. It is very easy to get frustrated with the way things are done in Uganda. But there comes a point where you either 1) let it get to you orrrr 2) you make the best of the cards you’ve been dealt. When you choose option 1, take it from me, it will make you miserable and a typical impatient American. When you choose option 2, it will grow your character and cause you to step closer to the person God has created you to be. With any mission trip you are challenged in ways that are; to say the least, not always fun. Giving your life away takes a lot of hard work and humility. But with the help of Jesus, you can walk away having found true happiness and joy through the process. Because it is a joy that is found in laying down your life and serving others the way Jesus intended them to be served.

I had to have a lot of “come to Jesus” moments, in which my sweet Savior had to remind me that I was doing this for Him….and nobody else. When I would get caught up in my “well why does it have to be this way” or “I cant believe somebody would do such a thing”, the Lord would sweetly remind me that I too am imperfect and need to press forward with more grace for others. There are times where I can get caught up in how I think things should be, but really Jesus wants me to love people where they are at. There are many things that frustrate me about their culture, but it is nothing compared to the things that I love about their culture! The fact that they always look out for one another, that they forgive so easily, that you never hear them saying anything negative about one another, that they love like its going our of style, that they find happiness in every situation, and that they are some of the kindest, sweetest, most generous people you will ever meet.

There are so many things that I miss. I miss walking down the dirt roads and stopping every few seconds to pick rocks out of my shoes. I miss the inconsistency of showers and always laughing my way through the scorching hot or ice cold water event every morning. I miss walking down the street to explore and having 15 village kids attached to the ends of your hands by the end of the walk. I miss avoiding getting run over by vans, cars, bikes, motorcycles, and cows on the way to town or the kids house. I miss laughing with Mama Jonah as she would dance in the kitchen. I miss being so sweaty from playing outside only to come inside and collapse on the cool floor. I miss watching our kids sing and dance their hearts out for Jesus on Sunday mornings. I miss playing tag in the street with the younger kids because the older boys kicked us off their “soccer” field. I miss never being clean, for the minute you stepped outside you were dirty again. I miss having little kids crawl up in my lap and fall asleep. I miss cramming in the back of Susan’s car with 10 other kids to go buy shoes. I miss sitting on the floor with Rehema, Angela, and Sylivia and playing card games till it was time for bed. I miss hearing the kids outside our window playing and laughing. I miss getting caught in a downpour and walking home drenched. I miss hearing little kids yell “Mzungu” from the minute we left the house until the minute we got home. I miss holding random babies. I miss loving on our sweet kids. I miss playing dancing games with the little girls. I miss sitting on Sylivia’s bed and talking with her and the other girls about America. But most of all I miss the soft, tender, sweet, smiling faces of all 140 of our precious children.

I can’t wait to be home with them again, but for now I must rejoice in this season of life. Though I long to be there with them; I am thankful for the place that God has called me to right now, loving on my sweet Ms and Hs girls.

Thoughts, questions, and a life full of Joy!

2012-01-17T11:43:00.001-08:00

I can not deny the fact that I have a loving Father. Or the fact that I have a Dad who wants the best for me, who is my number one fan, who constantly shows me unconditional love, who is the definition of grace, and undeniably the reason I am the person I am today. I can not deny the fact that He has watched me grow up, He has calmed all my fears, He has seen me through my best and utter worst, He has seen me shed multiple tears during trials, and has seen countless heartbreaks. I can not deny the fact that He has made me in His image, or that He has called me worthy. I can not deny the fact that He has always provided, always protected, and always patiently waited for me. I can not deny the fact that I have a Daddy who has loved me far more than I have deserved and who looks upon me and calls me beloved, wonderful, beautiful, precious, and worth it. I have never once in my life felt like I have lacked a Father’s love, for I have had a Father who has loved me since He created me. Who has seen my trials, who has seen my tears, who has seen my flaws, my faults, my failures, but regardless….He has always loved me the same.

As I walk into the next chapter of my life I am overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord. I am blessed to have a Daddy who cares about my existence. Who calls me by name, and who has not forgotten me. A Father who has cheered me on every step of the way and who has been there for every breakthrough and accomplishment; but most importantly who has sweetly whispered in my ear every step of the way…..”Im proud of you and I love you”. Blessed by a Father who constantly reminds me that He is jealous for me, that He wants my praise, that He wants my heart, but most of all He wants my life.

Though I have been a “Christian” all my life….going to church, reading my bible, praying, you know doing what “Christian” people do; it has only been a few years of being a follower of Jesus. I can still remember the day the Lord took my life. It was a day ill never forget, sitting on the floor of an auditorium, surrounded by a sea of faces, crying my heart out to God and begging for an answer to the question…….“What is the purpose of my life?”. It was in that moment that I began the journey. The journey of finding the purpose God has called me to. The reason of my existence. The answer to my hearts cry…..to belong.

It is a continual journey towards becoming the person the Lord has called me to be. Filled with many joyful moments, yet many sacrifices. I was never taught about a relationship with Jesus growing up, I was always told of a man named Jesus who was a pretty cool dude and to save yourself from burning forever and enter through some pretty gates you have to believe in Him. Well to a kid who is terrified of dying and afraid of fire, this following Jesus thing sounds like the only option at this point. So I believed, well because it’s what all the “cool” kids were doing, well and the fact that I wanted to enter through the pretty gates….lets be honest. So I believed in this Jesus character (for that’s all He really was to me) because my parents did, and because everyone around me seemed too. Though I believed, I never felt like I was a good Christian; for I didn’t know scripture very well, I never went to Sunday school (I was too shy to make friends), and I didn’t know all the bible stories like all the other kids. But even now…I don’t believe in Jesus because of my scriptural knowledge, I believe in Jesus because of the works He has done in my life.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I found out about this little thing called a “relationship” with Jesus. My first thoughts were, “a relationship? well that’s awkward, how can you have a relationship with a person you cant see?” that’s like saying “Im going to have a relationship with thin air!”. You would probably then get a bunch of weird looks as people slowly crept backwards away from you. But in essence that’s kinda what having a relationship with Jesus feels like sometimes. Just like the wind, though you can’t see Him you know He is there. So this whole relationship thing with Jesus kinda freaked me out at first and I thought it was a little loony. But decided to join the loony people and figure more out about this whole “relationship with an air-man named Jesus’ thing.

Hands down the best decision I ever made! (Though at times I feel like a crazy person, im totally okay with it.) I look back and think about the person I should have become, compared to who I am now…..and it brings me to tears every time. Never in my LIFE would I have chosen this path, luckily I have a Father who is excellent with directions. This is the path He chose for me, and for that I am ever thankful. Though I was raised in a Christian home, it was everything within me to be a rebellious child. I have no other explanation other than by the grace of God that I didn’t choose an alternate path.

My Story: My parents were divorced my junior year in high school, a complete tragedy in the midst of a “perfect” life. I was really good at shoving in every emotion and putting on a face of being okay to those around me. While inside I was a mess, a little girl completely heartbroken by the abandonment of an earthly father. I told myself I had to be strong, I had to hold it together, that I had to fix this on my own, and I had believed the lie that somehow this was my fault. I believed the lie that if I had been prettier, funnier, better, more perfect, then daddy would have stayed. The enemy constantly whispered in my ear, “if you were worth it, then he would still be here”. I fought the lies for awhile, till finally I started believing them to be true. A year had passed and nothing had gotten better. I had become really good at covering up how I felt like dying on the inside. I was pursuing Jesus, and would have amazing moments with the Lord yet, it still felt empty. Senior year was awkward to say the least. I had lost motivation, to do anything. I felt like everything that seemed “perfect” now had no purpose. I had always imagined growing up, living in a perfect house, with a perfect family, attending a perfect college, finding a perfect husband, having a perfect family, and full-filling a perfect life. But once my “perfect” was turned to disaster, it was hard to imagine that anything working out. Though I had an amazing senior year, filled with memories I still laugh about to this day…..it still felt empty. I felt led to take a year off; I was freaking out about this whole college thing and feeling totally unprepared.

I was accepted to Colorado Christian University and was excited about the new change, but something inside me was unsettled. I began to look to the man who has always been faithful, Jesus. I began praying hard and really trying to seek out what the Lord had for me. Then it came…..the one thing I never expected. An internship at Riverside Community Church. If life were a baseball field then this would have come out of the field next to….left field. It was like a door had walked itself to the middle of a deserted field and said, “this is the door you are supposed to walk through”. For some of you who don’t really believe God has a sense of humor……..He does. Im sure the expression on my face was priceless as the Lord said, “take this path”. I have never been involved in a youth group, I didn’t think I could ever really like highschoolers, and …….i had NEVER been in a youth group. So why was I going to even consider taking this position?? I didn’t even attend the church, I didn’t even really like kids, and I was still in high school when talk of this position came up.

Meg Cullip, who was the current intern at the time, met with me for coffee to “talk”. Thankfully she is absolutely hilarious and we hit it off right away, so it wasn’t totes awks. She talked to me about the internship and what it all entailed. After much prayer and a constant peace, I knew this is what I was supposed to do. May of 2010, I walked the infamous “stage” and graduated from high school. Meg took me under her wing, and showed me the ropes of the position. Though I must say, anytime you work in ministry, though it may seem like its all together….it never really is. It’s a constant learning process, and though you may have an “outline” that doesn’t mean that “outline” will work for you as well.

So August of 2010 it began, the next chapter of my life…my life as a Youth Intern. It is by far the craziest thing I have ever said yes to, but it has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever said yes to. The high schoolers that I thought I could never love, I cant imagine my life without. I have found more joy in the past two years than I have ever had my entire life (even more than when I got my first Barbie convertible). The kids I have the pleasure of serving are incredible, and the more time I spend with them the more I fall in love with my job. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Growing up in church and growing up in community are two different things, there are still days when I stand in the back of the church and just thank the Lord for bringing me to this place. Though we are a little odd and very weird, we are family….and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

Tears flood my eyes as I think about the hope and support my new family brings. Blessed to have a church family that makes me excited for church every Sunday. When Jesus talks about community, I believe this is what He envisioned. We are not perfect, but we are persevering.

Needless to say it has been a year of complete joy. I would have never chosen this path for my life. But at the end of the day I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. I always wanted to make a difference, wanted to be the one who didn’t follow the crowd, and wanted to be the girl who lived her life for Jesus. Though it causes me to die daily to my own desires, im blessed to have a Father who guides me perfectly. There are definitely days where I wish I would have gone to college like the rest of my friends. But I know that isn’t what the Lord had for me. I definitely get the looks of disapproval and hear the constant phrase, “You better go soon otherwise you never will”. At first it used to bother me, and annoy me when I would hear the whole “college” speech about what I should be doing and how I should be living my life. Yet now, it’s a conversation I enjoy having, for I am always reminded about how I have to trust the Lord with my life more now then I would have if I went to college. It’s a story of the provision and protection of the Lord, never have I lacked anything for He is constantly providing my every need. No I didn’t go to college and im glad I didn’t. Instead of sitting in a classroom, I get to sit in the presence of the Lord everyday. I get to surround myself by a community of believers who truly love Jesus. I had the opportunity to travel to Africa to stay for a month and play and laugh with the sweet kids there. Most importantly I get to rely on the Lord’s leading for every moment of my life……..and for those reasons, I would pick not going to college all over again. I am blessed far more than I deserve, and I have found such joy in the life that I live. No it’s not an average life for a 20 year old……but this is my life! This is the life and path that the Lord has called me to, and for that I am ever thankful.

I am blessed to be part of the generation that will make a difference, that will break the status quo, and that will go against what we are “expected” to do rather than what we are called to do. I have realized that it must start with me…..in order to see change, you must first be the change. That means loving people well, serving the kingdom, and sacrificing everything to the one who gave it all. Following Jesus means dying to self. Not a physical death, but rather a spiritual death. It’s about dying daily to the desires of my flesh, so that I may fulfill the desires of the King. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but it’s what I want to do and have been called to do. I want to be that crazy, radical, on fire for Jesus person. If people don’t see the light of Jesus in me then what is the point? If I am not pointing people back to Christ, then what is the point? If I am not living simply, so that others may simply live then what is the point? If I am not giving up my life for Christ, then who am I giving up my life for? These are the questions the Lord has asked me over the past year, and that He asks every one of us. We have to move in order to be a movement. There is a generation rising up and taking a firm stand for Christ, and it starts with me…it starts with you. I don’t want to be the person that says she loves Jesus, but it isn’t evident in her life. Jesus doesn’t like lukewarm, and neither do I. All I want to do is live my life for Christ……period……no exceptions. I can no longer stand on the sidelines and cheer on the people who are making a difference for Christ, I want to be the person running the race…..and running it well. Because, at the end of the day I want to hear the sweet words of my Father, “well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). I want to be the difference…..so that requires me to “step out of the boat”.

I don’t have to have it all together; I can be a little messy. I don’t have to know what job I will have, who my husband will be, or what kind of house we will live in. Jesus already knows these things, He just wants my utmost attention and to know that I am willing to follow His lead. I don’t have to have a “plan”, for He has already taken care of that. This will be another year of breakthrough. I am constantly reminded that I don’t have to worry, for He already knows the destination (Jeremiah 29:11). So as I enter this next chapter, completely blinded, I am stoked about what will unfold.

Back and Forth

2011-11-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

Last night Sue and I tried waiting for the boys to get home. Finally about 1:15am, we called them and told them they were on their own. We were so tired and couldn’t stay up any longer. So we told Moses (our gate keeper) to stay up and that the boys were about an hour and a half away. We put on our jammies and crawled into bed.

This morning when we woke up Phil was gone taking the kids to their exams. But Jack was here to greet us. Glad he finally made it safe and sound. We were going to try and paint the words and verses on the walls, but it was way too hot. Susan came and we decided we would at least go get the paint. We were going to try and finish shoes, but the kids who still needed shoes were nowhere to be found. So we got the paint and headed back to the house. On our way back to the house, Susan said that Pius was at home and since Jack hadn’t met him yet we headed to Scovia’s house to pick up baby Keith. Once we got baby Keith we headed to Pius and Susan’s house. We stayed for a little while and played with some of the village children. While we were there their chickens that stay in the room got loose, but they didn’t seem too concerned and just left them in their new residency under the couch. Jack finally got to meet Pius and see their little home. I still can’t get over how cute it is. If I lived in Iganga, I would want a house just like it! Though there is not power it is still perfect. On the way back to town, Susan spotted monkeys! So we turned the car around, stopped the car, and got out of the car to walk to get a closer look. Jack had little Adrian asleep next to him, while baby Keith was asleep in his arms. He decided it would be best if he waited in the car and played grandpa for a while. We had to walk along the highway to see them, but sure enough in the midst of a bushel of trees there were monkeys! Not baboons but monkeys! They were the cutest little things ever. I prayed that Sue didn’t get so into her “camera mode” that she got run over by the passing cars. I really am trying Steve, I promise!

Since both the little guys were sound asleep and we still had errands to run, we dropped them off at Scovia’s. We stayed there a little bit while Susan handed off the baby and Sue and I played with little Phiona. Love that little girl to pieces and will be so sad to leave her. We then headed to go buy fabric. One of our little girls uniform got burned. Her mother burned her uniform after coming home drunk one night. Since she is in the younger grades she doesn’t get caned (spanked with a stick) everyday for not wearing her uniform. They are more gracious with the little ones at school. So we decided that we would get fabric to get her another uniform made. They don’t sell the school uniforms; you must buy the fabric then take it to someone who knows how to make them. So hopefully Susan can get that done for the little girl so she will have a uniform again. When Nachap Iriama first told us about her uniform, tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face. She was so afraid to tell us what had happened because she thought she might get in trouble. But we knew that it was not her fault and that it was an easy fix. So we got enough fabric to make her and little Adrian a uniform for school.

After we got the fabric, we headed back to the kids house to pay the shoe man and look for the two boys again. We had hoped to find them this time so that we could go get them shoes; but once again they were nowhere to be found. So we then headed BACK to Scovia’s house to grab money to buy supplies for the kids. It was like we couldn’t make our mind up of where we wanted to be. We went back and forth so many times from the kids house to Scovia’s to the market, that I am pretty sure I could find my way around now. It was so crazy but so fun. We went to the market to get things for the kids. Susan went in and purchased everything while Jack stayed in the car, Sue wandered around, and I made sure Sue didn’t get killed or taken. We all did our jobs:)! It seemed like we were there forever, then out of the blue one of our boys Paul Losiya showed up. We had been looking for him all day, and of all places he was in the market. He was heading back from Bagumba (where his family is) to the kids house. He kept me occupied while we waited for Susan to finish her shopping.

Once we got all the stuff we headed to the kids house to distribute it. Each child got a roll of toilet paper, soap, shoe polish, lotion, and toothpaste. It was like a little assembly line, and they all knew the drill. Once they got one item, they would move over and make another line to receive their second item. It worked out very nicely, instead of a massive herd……it was controlled chaos. Susan and I handed out all the supplies while Jack and Sue videoed and took pictures of the kids. The kids were so excited for their stuff and patiently waited while we handed it out to all of them. I was so excited to see them and be able to give them their new things. It was getting dark, and Susan was getting tired. We headed back to the house after our long day. Sue and I are very tired and the past month has really worn on us. We are very sad to leave the kids, but in a way ready to be home. Tomorrow will be our last day with the kids, which means it will be full of laughter and tears. Not looking forward to goodbye, but it is something that has to happen for now. I will miss all the kids terribly and will never forget the impact they have had on my life. Each and every one of them has their own unique personality and holds a special place in my heart. I will miss singing and dancing with the little girls. I will miss being harassed and messed with by the boys. I will miss all of the running hugs, and constantly being called Mzungu. I will miss the laughter and the smiles, and the love that the kids have for one another. It will be the hardest goodbye ever, and I am not looking forward to it. So tomorrow I pray goes by slow, and that we can soak in our last few hours with the precious kids whom have stolen our heart.

Shalom.

NKwendainho

2011-11-01T14:53:00.001-07:00

Sue and I finally got a good nights rest! It is a miracle that we both slept well in the same night! Normally one sleeps well, while the other one tosses and turns all night. So it was nice to both be able to wake up on the rested side this morning. We got up to a somewhat empty house. It was so quite I thought it was empty until I turned the corner into the kitchen. Ida, Mama Jonah, and Sue were all sitting in the living room watching tv. Phil had gone to the kids house to work on interviews. So when we moseyed out of the room at 11am, he was already gone….and had been gone for awhile now. Today was a painting day!

After the sweet women who take care of the house made us breakfast, we decided we would head to the kids house. But Phil had come back with some of the kids to finish up interviewing. Some of the boys got chased off from school because they needed haircuts. So John Bosco Amei shaved the boys heads while Phil and Sue worked on interviews. They worked on interviews until around 2pm, then Sue and I headed to the kids house to paint; while Phil waited for Peter to head to the airport to pick up Jack! Sue and I were so excited that the walls were finally ready to be painted.

We headed to the kids house to begin the painting brigade. When we started to begin this painting adventure, we forgot to factor in Ugandan paint. It had the thickness of oatmeal! It was so hard to spread on the walls. Not to mention the fact that my paintbrush didn’t have a handle. It was the most difficult paint job ever. We made it work until we were too short to reach any higher. Sue’s paintbrush was the only one with an end on it, and the only one we could use to put on the stick. The downside was that her roller collected more paint than it spread. It wouldn’t fit on the stick so Emma had to cut it down to make it fit. In order to reach higher, we turned over these big barrels used to collect rainwater for washing and other various things. It was the sketchiest thing ever. Sue began using the roller to reach higher, but after awhile got tired. Samuel Aguma, our hero, took the roller from her and painted the rest of the top part of the wall. He was our hero! He did such a good job and never got tired. He was a fun painting partner. That was until Agnes Anyakun came and took over for me. We let the two of them paint their little hearts out. Agnes finally got tired and handed the roller brush back to me. We had only a little bit to go, and we ran out of paint! So there is a corner in the wall that is missing white paint…..oh well. We had to paint the walls white, because it holds the plaster better and prevents it from cracking as much, before we could paint the words. So tomorrow will be another paint day! Maybe we will get more on the walls than we did on ourselves. Im still scrubbing paint off of my body. It is very difficult painting in a skirt, to say the least. But we got it done, and I’m so very thankful for the kids willingness to steal the paintbrush from us! We would have never made it without them.

After painting, we decided to head back to the house to wash our hands and body. Samuel Aguma began to escort us, but right as we got to the main road they came running to get us. Susan was at the kids house with the shoe man, so we headed back to the kids house. Our white hands would have to wait! When we got there, Susan said that we were going somewhere so we would need to wash up. We told her that we would head to Phil’s house, while she stayed with the shoe man. Needless to say we had just made it to Phil’s when we heard Susan’s horn honking at us to hurry up! So she came in our room and told us she had a surprise for us. Now in the past when Susan has told us she had a surprise or we were going on an adventure, we have ended up in a village at a funeral. So when she said “surprise” we were a little nervous of what this “surprise” might be. So we got as much paint off as we could and we headed towards the car. From the time we went into the house, till the time we got into the car we had gained 3 other kids. Adrian, Phiona, Sylivia Namaganda, and Rose Naigaga were now with us….plus the shoe guy. Susan said that we were dropping off Sylivia and the shoe guy. We had no idea where she was taking us. But she told us we were allowed to ask as many questions as we wanted too. She told us that we could bring Phiona and Adrian with us if we wanted. So we now knew that it would be kid friendly and that it wouldn’t be too far. Phiona, Adrian, Rose, and now baby Keith were all with us. We had NO idea where we were going. So we started to guess, we asked if there would be food and she said yes. So maybe a restaurant, then we thought maybe we were going to meet Pius her husband. Everything we guessed, she said no. So we had no idea. We drove down a new dirt road and ended up in front of this super cute little house. We were going to meet her husband!!!

We were so excited to finally meet this man we have heard so much about. We were beginning to think he didn’t really exist. But as we pulled up out came this young man. Who wasn’t Pius, it was Moses a friend of Pius. As we walked into the house we finally got to meet the one, the only, Pius. He was the nicest man ever. We have never seen Susan so happy. The whole time we sat there with little Phiona and Adrian, Susan just glowed with glee. We thought we would never meet him, but are so grateful that we did. They have the cutest little house ever. When we arrived and walked through the front door, Susan was so excited to show us her little house. She took us in all 3 of the little rooms. She showed us Keith’s room, which is currently where the chickens are making residency. She showed us the living/sitting room. She even showed us her cute little bedroom where she and Pius sleep. It was a quaint little house and totally fit for Susan and her new husband. Susan was in the back cooking dinner, which was such a treat, so Sue and I explored her cute little neighborhood. We, of course, attracted the whole village.

Pius came out and played with little Adrian and Phiona. It was so sweet to watch him love on the little kids. He would throw little Adrian up in the air, and little Adrian would just laugh with glee. It was a precious sight to see. He is very good with kids and will make such a great husband. It began to get dark so we headed inside to take our seat as we waited on the meal. Susan cooked all of Sue’s favorites, we had rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and fish. It was so good, Susan is a great cook. It was very interesting, because all the cultural things we have seen here, Pius was so helpful. He took the empty cups from Susan and put them in the kitchen to be cleaned. Then when we were finished with our meal, he took everything, all our plates and the food dishes into the kitchen. He was very helpful and so sweet with her. You could just see the love between the two of them; it was like watching two teenagers. It was a precious sight to see, and so happy to see Susan so happy. We could not get over how happy she was in her little home with her sweet husband. We told her that she had found a keeper. Sue even told Susan that she was going to steal him, Susan wasn’t going to give him up though. Thankfully, for it would mean Sue would have to learn how to cook, that was the deal breaker. Hah. There was one point in the night where Susan kiddingly said that she was finished with Pius and that Sue could have him now; but Pius said that he could never leave Susan. He was very nice and when Susan went into the bedroom to nurse baby Keith, he stayed out in the living room with us and the three of us had a nice little conversation. The two made us feel so welcome in their little house. I felt right at home.

We also taught little Phiona and Adrian (and the rest of the house) how to sign “I love you”. It was the hardest thing ever, but so sweet and cute when they finally got it! So from then on the whole house kept say NKwendainho (pronounced Gwen-dye-no), which means I love you! It was so much fun!

It was getting late, and the little ones were getting tired. So Pius and Susan took us home back to Phil’s house, but only after dropping the little ones off at Scovia’s. Phiona was asleep on my lap, Adrian was asleep on Rose’s lap, and baby Keith was asleep in Susans arms. We had three tired little monkeys and they were ready for bed. Pius thanked us for everything we have done for Susan, faith and baby keith, we told him we were just so excited to finally meet him. It was such a joy and a great surprise. Susan helped us get settled in Phil’s house before she departed to go back home. She made sure we were all locked in and secure before she and Pius pulled away.

So Sue and I are here in the house…..alone. Phil and Jack are on their way back from the airport, guess this means we will be staying up to let them in. Tomorrow will be a great day filled with more painting and laughter.

Shalom.

Hakuna Matata

2011-10-31T12:25:00.001-07:00

Last night we decided that we wanted to go to Jinja today to shop. We told Susan that we wanted her to come with us, but Sue stressed only if she would be here at 9:30, for we were puling out at 9:45! Sue was very serious, in a comical way that is. We were so proud of our little sister Susan. I had stepped in the shower at 9am, and only seconds later heard Susan, yes SUSAN, knocking on the door. She had arrived, and early that is! We were so proud for we know it is hard to get out of the house on time with a baby. But she did so well! She was here early and therefore we were able to pull out at 9:45 just like Sue had wanted. Hooray, we ran on American time today. Sue was very excited for that!

Jinja is about 45 minutes away, and it is where the local shopping is. It is where every group goes right before they head to the airport to fly home. It has about 8 different little shops in which you can buy things. They have everything from necklaces, to bracelets, to little animal statues, to bags, to shawls, and so much more. It is a very quaint little place and one that is very fun to browse around in. Phil and Susan were gracious enough to let us shop for the morning. And they were very patient while we became girls and went into our “shop” mode. Sue was on a mission to get her things for her peeps back home. SO was I, but when I say Sue was ready to shop, I mean she came away with bags full of things. She is so funny and it was a sight to see. I made my select purchases and got out, while Sue, well took a little longer. It is always fun, for it is an opportunity to support their economy. They make the most beautiful things and it is always a treasure hunt to see what unique pieces you will find. We decided to go today, for we won’t have time this year on our way to the airport. I’m always amazed at how beautiful all the beading is and how meticulous the detail on the handcrafted items is. Last year I brought home a giraffe statue, its little head stuck out of my backpack the whole way home. It is a miracle I got that thing home all in one piece. This year I decided to bring home an elephant, it is extremely heavy (seven pounds to be exact) and like my giraffe it will travel in my backpack as well. We will see how this goes:)! Hopefully I don’t break its little trunk off! But there are no guarantees.

After shopping in Jinja, typically we would have stopped at a quaint little restaurant called The Source Café, but sadly it was closed. Susan asked if we wanted pizza, and we decided that sounded good! So she takes us to this place that is literally a gas station with a restaurant in the back. Surprisingly it was cleaner than any gas station/food stop I have ever seen in the states. (at least in San Antonio/Bulverde that is) It was actually very good, and was a fun little place to eat at. It had just about every American food you could ever want! Everything from pizza to oreos and even ICE CREAM! But….we controlled ourselves and didn’t get any. So we left our little gas station stop and headed back to the house!

When we got home Phil told us the kids were coming to the house for interviews. So we decided not to walk to the kid’s house and find an empty house:)! So we waited for the kids to come to us. While we waited, Sue wondered across the street. I had just come out of my room and decided I better go find Sue. She was taking sky pictures for me, BUT she was outside the gate by herself…and that is just not allowed. So I walked over there to stay with her until she decided to mosey her way back into the safe zone. While Sue was busy with her head in the clouds, literally, I saw the cutest little girl pumping clean water into a jerri can. She had to be about 5 years old at the oldest. She was having the best time jumping up and down pumping the lever that was until she got tired. So I walked up and took over for her. Little did I know, the whole village was going to need to have water pumped at that time. So what I thought was going to be one jerri can, turned out to be about 6 jerri cans. But it was so worth it, and I got quite the workout. Those things are heavy when they are full. I cant imagine being five years old and carrying water that outweighs me.

It began to rain so little Sue moseyed her way back inside the gate. We walked inside and Phil had put on the Lion King 1 ½ for the kids while they waited. It was so precious to see all those little kids watching so intently at the American movie. They all started laughing when I started singing Hakuna Matata they thought I was crazy! Glad I brought it. They were so sweet, I felt like I was in daycare all over again. Watching my favorite movie with some of my favorite kids, it doesn’t get any better than that. It was a long day and I’m super tired. Tomorrow Phil and Peter are going to pick up Jack from the airport. So Sue and I will be on our own starting at noon. Oh the trouble we will get ourselves in. Enjoying the last week here with the kids.

Shalom.

Getting older in a Foreign Country

2011-10-30T12:34:00.001-07:00

Today was church! And I was super excited! It is our last Sunday here and I will miss watching my girls sing in church. Pancakes for breakfast….always a great start. Sue and I walked to church while Phil finished getting ready. We got there and the kids had already started their singing and dancing. Our normal bench wasn’t there, so we stood in the doorway and searched for a spot. We started to walk toward our “normal” seat, and Emma met us there to show us where to sit. Sue was in a chair, while I sat in an empty school bench. Well for a little bit, that was until a gaggle of girls came to take their seat next to me. Funny thing is, as I walked into church I thought to myself “I want to sit with the kids today”. Well consider that prayer answered. It was such a sweet moment being squished on that tiny little bench with a bunch of my sweet little girls… well and one precious little boy. I guess he didn’t get the memo that it was going to be a girls’ bench kind of day. Or maybe he is just the smartest boy around, sitting with all the cute girls. Smart move little man! Sue and I eagerly awaited all the different choirs to come up and sing their songs. After all the singing was done, it was time for the message. Today was different though; Emma Aliau was going to preach today. Emma is one of our older boys, and we could tell he was really nervous. He one day wants to be a pastor, and Sue and I know he will make a great one! He was sitting on our back porch this morning with Phil, going over last minute things with Phil. He looked very spiffy today in preparation for his big moment. He got up there and was nervous, Sue prayed with him before he took the stage. Well there’s not really a stage, it just sounds more “official”. He did a really good job, and it even lasted longer than 5 minutes. His message was very good and positive. Since Phil will be gone with us next Sunday, Emma will get another chance to preach next Sunday too. You could see the excitement in Emma’s eyes as Phil told the audience that he was in charge of preaching next weekend.

Since Emma was preaching, church let our early. Therefore we waited at the school until Susan came. Susan came around 1pm and we finally headed to lunch. But only after picking up Scovia, stopping by a pharmacy, and visiting little Faithy. So really lunch started at 3pm. We finally got done and headed back to the house. Mind you that the kids were told to be at the house at 2pm. We arrived back at the house at 5pm. There are days when it is really hard running on Ugandan time, and today was one of them. But at that point, there is nothing really that you can do about it. The only way to make it through is to make the best of it. While we were visiting Faithy I was able to capture a really cool picture of the sky. I will say I’m pretty proud of my little picture. The sun was shining so bright and the clouds were, as I like to call them “fluffy”. The sky was very blue, but when the camera captured the photo, the sky turned out dark. There are 6 distinct rays coming from the sun and it looks as if it could be a star in the night. It was a beautiful painting in the sky from the Lord. And for many of you that don’t know, I’m obsessed with sky pictures. I love capturing the “paintings in the sky”. As I looked at the picture, I began to think of the birth of Jesus, and how the wise men must have had a similar picture. A star so distinct that they knew it was “the one” they were meant to follow. It reminded me of how in our Christian walk we have to look for our star to follow. How God will constantly guide us, but we have to look for Him. We have to trust that He is going to show up to lead us and to guide us. To never lead us astray but to lead us to our destination. In the same way that the wise men followed the star that led them to Jesus (Matthew 2:9-11), we too must follow the star that leads us to Jesus. That leads us to the plans and the purpose for which Christ has called us to. I think about all the things that led us here, to Africa. I think about the route we were led to follow, the rough and the easy parts. I think about the trials and the hardship that we had to face along the way. But just like the wise men knew it would be worth it, we too knew that following where we were led would be worth it. To be here loving on the kids is worth the, at times hard, road we chose to follow. It was a very cool “epiphany” from the Lord, and hopefully you will enjoy it as well. It was a sweet moment with Jesus, as He reminded me why we are here and the purpose He has for us here.

When we got home at 5pm-ish, all the kids were running around in the front yard. Apparently since it was my birthday, we were having a little celebration. I was quarantined to my room and was told when the time was ready someone would come get me. So I lay in bed until they decided to let me out. About 20 minutes later, Sylivia, Sue, Susan, Mama Jonah, and Paul Umo came in the room and told me I had to be blind-folded. Man it felt like my eighteenth birthday all over again! On my eighteenth birthday my sweet friends at school had me blind folded the minute I got to my first period class. Colton Moore and David Martinez, bless their hearts, carried me all the way to the elementary building to our fifth grade SALT partners room. I was then un-blindfolded as my class and our fifth grade class sang happy birthday to me, while the entire 5th grade boys individually came up and handed me a rose. It was a memory I will never forget and the perfect start to my eighteenth year of life. So I was having memories and I was blindfolded again today. Paul Umo and Sylivia were the ones who would lead the way, I was just praying they didn’t run me into a door or anything. We had a make shift blindfold, it was a little dress I’m pretty sure. But we made it work. They led me down the hall and then stopped right before we got outside. All I could hear was Ida behind me laughing and making crazy noises and I could only imagine what she was doing behind me. It was finally time to head out the door. I didn’t really know what to expect, it is Africa after all. Sylivia took off my blindfold and there in front of me were all our kids. I looked down to see three cakes sitting on our make-shift table. They stacked two foot-lockers on top of each other, who would have known they would have been so handy. I was completely overwhelmed as a hundred little faces were all smiling at me. It doesn’t get any better than being sung happy birthday to by 100+ African children. Nothing tops it. They were precious! I was able to hold back the tears, but it was very hard. It was soooo overwhelming and I felt so blessed. It was also a blessing to get to serve them a little slice of cake! I got to serve on my birthday rather than being served, and that is just the way I like it.

Susan had bought me a “little” present. I can tell you, I was a little afraid of what it might be. I could of sworn she had wrapped a live chicken in a box, and at any moment it was going to jump out at me. I opened the box toward Susan just in case anything crazy jumped out, you never know with that crazy woman! Since I’m the “baby” in the house, she bought me these little baby lamb squeak toys. It was awesome! Now I have something to annoy Sue with the WHOLE WAY home! She’s going to kill Susan by the time we land in San Antonio, I will find great use from my three new little friends. Oh the fun I will have. BEST present ever. Some of the older boys were outside laughing as they saw me unwrap my gift. They probably thought, “this crazy American is getting so excited over squeak toys”. Little do they know, they will be the best little squeak toys ever and will bring great amusement. Overall, it was a good day. Couldn’t have asked for more, spending the start to another year of life with the ones who bring so much joy to my life. It was sweet getting to spend it with my Sylivia. It was almost like it was her birthday too. She is like a sister to me, and has come out of her shell so much this trip. I am going to miss her so much when I leave. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Jinja! Bring on more pictures and getting up early. Can’t wait to spend the evening with the kids after!

Miss you all and love you much!
Shalom.

Reflective

2011-10-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

This morning we woke up to kids right outside our window, since it was Saturday they were here early to start interviews. My goodness we never thought that interviews would be such a long process! But we have been doing them just about every day since we got here, and we still have more than a handful to go. It feels like the never-ending project. Luckily it’s not my project, therefore I get to go outside and play with the kids. It was so nice to hear the kids outside our window again. Last year when we were here the girls stayed out back, so every morning we could hear the hustle and bustle of them getting things ready for the day. It was such a sweet sound, and one that I have missed terribly this year. I miss the kids being a step away and their voices constantly echoing outside the window. It has been hard having them so far away and not being able to hear their giggles 24/7.

We moseyed out of our room and Sue headed straight into interviewing. I was feeling not so good after breakfast so I headed back into our room to lie down for a couple of hours. I crawled in my bed, turned on my iPod, and had about an hour of just thinking before finally falling asleep. After about a 3-hour nap I got up and was feeling much better. I got up and helped with interviews for a while until I got tired and went outside. I found a nice green little friend on the ground; actually it was handed to me by one of the kids in hopes of it scaring me. Little did they know, grasshoppers don’t scare me as long as I can grab them and not have them jump on me. I thought to myself, “this will be fun”. I headed into the house and saw poor little innocent Sue just typing away. She looked so bored to death, so I decided to liven her mood. I placed my new little friend on her shoulder and watched as she began to squirm and tell me, “I was so dead, and that I better sleep with one eye open tonight”. Mission accomplished! It definitely livened her mood, and I think if she wasn’t so afraid of little bugs I might be expecting a visitor in my bed tonight. We’ll see if that’s the case.

We handed out little pillow case dresses that were left over from the Haiti team. The girls were so excited to receive them and looked darling in them. It was hard to find sizes long enough for the older girls; so many of them just used them as blouses. It will be a lot cooler for them, especially since the material is light and they are sleeveless! Yay for new clothes for the kids! They were very grateful. Thank you everyone who took the time to make them, they were a HUGE hit.

It was so hot; the power went off shortly after I got up from my nap. Due to the hotness I thought it would be a great time to go outside, for there was at least a breeze out there. I played dodgeball with Regina Nate and two other little girls. It was so much fun, but by the time I got into the house I was dying of heat. I laid on the floor like a little dog in an attempt to get cool.

The power came back on and so Sue got into her picture and blogging mode. I called my mommy and lay in bed for a little while. I’m so tired of sitting in little plastic lawn chairs. So I decided to lie in bed instead!

I began to think about all of our kids. I pondered on many of their backgrounds and the families they have come from. Two songs came to mind, songs that have been playing in my head all day long. They’re both from a band called The Afters, which is one of my favorite Christian bands.

Turn round this time
Love is there to find
Lift your head and see
Open up your eyes
Love will make you beautiful
Love will make you beautiful
(the Afters-Love will make you beautiful)

I was on the edge
Of a distant world
A shattered life
With no where left to turn
Till I saw you there
And everything I thought had gone to waste
Was falling into place
(the Afters- Falling into Place)

I think about our kids when I hear these lyrics. I think about everything they have come from, and how many of them are so grateful to be here. Many of them were on the streets uncertain if they would have a next meal. Some were kicked out of their house by their mother, or even by their mother’s new husband. I think about the way Jesus led them to this place. To this family, for some it is the only family they have. How Jesus showed them love and favor and provided a home for them. How He wrapped them in his arms and showed them the way to a better life. I began to think about how many of these kids never knew what it meant to be loved. They never knew what it meant to have somebody look out for them. They never knew what it meant to have somebody care for them, and show them that they were worth it. To show them that they were born for a purpose and that Jesus has a high calling on their life, and that most importantly that HE says that they are worth it. Many of our kids’ stories are heart breaking; some kids come from homes that are abusive, broken, and lifeless. But then they arrive here, where life is evident, joy is abundant, and laughter is contagious. And it is all because Jesus has a purpose for them, and He has a future set aside for them (Jeremiah 29:11). I just wonder how many of them really know that. They are provided with food and shelter, yet many of them don’t trust that they will still have it a week from now. But when you look at their culture, can you really blame them? They went from living on the streets having to hunt through the trash to find their next meal, and now somebody has told them they would have 3 meals a day. They feel as if it is surreal and that it will not last. For nothing in their lives have been “forever”; the same person who birthed them, kicked them out on the streets to fend for themselves. All because there’s no longer room for them, or they have found a new husband that doesn’t want them. I know it is culture, but I will never be able to understand how a mother kicks her kids on the streets. It will never get easy to hear and it will still break my heart every time. It has been good to come and to just be with the kids. To show them that they are WORTH it, that they are SPECIAL, and most importantly that they are LOVED. To hear them giggle as you tickle them, to squeal as you chase them, and to sigh as you hold them. For many of them they are orphans who have finally found a “home”. For some they have found a shelter from a broken family. And for others they have found a place in which they finally belong. I pray that they know that they are loved, know that they are cared for, know that they are safe, and know that the creator of the universe has placed them here for a purpose. As you get to know these sweet kids, they find a special place in your heart. A place that is so deep that you feel as if your heart will burst. Tears begin to make a steady stream down my face as I think about leaving them. We have been here for a week shy of a month, but it still doesn’t feel like enough time. It is impossible to get to know them all in a month, but the ones that I have gotten to know very well, I will never forget. I will never forget their laugh, their smile, their personality, or the joy that they have brought me. I don’t think I will ever be ready to leave the kids. I wish I could just bring them all home with me. Not because I want to “Americanize” them, but because I will tremendously miss their laughter and their joy when I board the plane.

Shalom.

Caught in the Rain

2011-10-28T14:13:00.001-07:00

Last night I finally got a good nights rest, Sue on the other hand did not. She was freezing (yes freezing) the whole night! While I was sound asleep little Sue was shivering her little self to sleep. Yesterday was the first night that it was actually cold in Uganda. As in, I actually made use of my jacket for the first time since we have been here. We woke up and it was a little warmer; but since Sue froze the whole night she was looking for a hot shower. So she went in first in hopes of getting hot water, and it was a sad day for Sue. She got an ice cold shower while I got a hotshower. Maybe there will be better luck for her tomorrow. I took my time getting ready for the day, for we wouldn't head to the kids house until after 1pm and it was only 11am. About thirty minutes before we were going to head to the kids house, we saw little heads outside our window. Some of the little ones had come for interviews! So we stayed here for a little while longer and worked on some interviews with Phil. We finally headed to the kids house at 1:45pm. We were supposed to meet Susan at the kid’s house at 1pm but she is always late so we weren't in a rush to get there.

We walked with some of younger ones who had finished their interviews. Little Doreen Nabirye held my hand the whole way there; she is absolutely precious. Doreen is another little cutie that I met on my first trip. I have a picture of me and her sitting on the front porch at Phil's house that is on my wall back at home. It is such a precious picture, Sue took it from above and she was laying in my lap just smiling away. It’s really a precious picture and one of my favorites from the trip. She's my little bundle of joy and I love her to death!

In 2007 Doreen's father committed suicide. When Doreen's mother was at the funeral for her husband, she abandoned her daughter Doreen and left her with the Aunt. Due to the culture here, when mother's with children get remarried their new husband has nothing to do with her previous children. Therefore Doreen was left with her Aunt becausethe mother wanted to marry another man and knew he would never take the child. I can't even imagine leaving this precious little girl behind. She is such a joy to be around and is definitely another one I would take home in a heartbeat! Her smile lights up the room. Her Mzungu (English) is very good, which always makes it easier to communicate. Every time I see her she always comes running for her hug. She has the cutest little voice and I love the way she says "Liz". She draws the short name out and always turns her little head to the side, as if she was shy. It is the most precious thing ever. Her favorite subject is English and she wants to be a teacher when she gets older. Her favorite color is purple and so is mine. That was the first time I had ever heard one of them say they liked purple; 90% of the time they say red!

Doreen and I skipped and sang the whole walk to the kids house, we were in our own little world. Once we got to the kids house, they all came running! It is the best sight to see, when as you approach the gate all their little bodies start coming as fast as they can. Most of the time, they catch you with a hug before you have even stepped foot in the gate. Susan wasn't there....but we played anyways. When Susan says 1pm what she really means is 3pm. So we knew she wouldn't be there anyways. All my sweet girls came in an instant to play our little hand game. We played that for the longest time, then I was pulled away to go somewhere else. I went to go see Sue and find out what she was up to. She was in theback taking pictures of the older girls.....of course. I would expect nothing less from Little Ethel. I was summoned outside the gate to play a game with the little ones. All the little girls were out there, Lomokol Munyes, Doreen Nabirye, Florence Namukose, Perudasi Kagoya, Beatrice Achila, Sarah Ikawai, Susan Sunday, Susan Achila, Mary Lomou, Masiat Kafuko, and little Phiona; and, there were about 4 boys playing with us. It was so fun though. Basically it was like tag, except when you get tagged you have to form a chain with theother "tagged" people. The only way you can get free is if somebody runs underneath your outstretched arms. It was so hot and I was so tired by the time we got done. After a long game that went on forever I gave up for a little while to go grab water. I ran into Sue and we headed to the kitchen, where our backpack was. A few of the little girls followed us in there. So we sat, talked, and spent time with about 7 little girls in the kitchen.....typical girls. Then we taught Sarah Ikawai, Phiona, Betty Achila, Florence Namukose, and Sharon Nakandi how to do the hokey pokey! Oh goodness it was the funnest thing ever! Little Phiona and Florence Namukose we on either side of me and I was cracking up as they watched every move and tried to mimic. They did very good! Language is never a barrier when you do the hokey pokey. After the hokey pokey, we decided to head back to Phil's house to grab a snack and to take a breather from all the fun! We were a little tired.

Sue and I grabbed the backpack and headed out! Back down the never ending dirt road again! We are very familiar with this walk, we walk it at least once a day, and some days more than once. When we arrived at Phil's, he had made great progress with the interviews and had a houseful of kids. All eagerly waiting their turn to share their story. We grabbed some water, a snack, and a little breather time before our SECOND trip to the kid’s house. Susan still wasn't here...it was about 4pm. Right as we were about to head to the kids house we got a call from Susan. She was at the kid’s house with the man with the sandles for the kids. So we told her we would be right there! It was starting to drizzle. Sue and I grabbed our rain jackets (thankful we packed them) and headed down to the kids house with Susan Achila, Rose Naigaga, and one other girl whose name I can’tthink of at the moment. At first it was just a drizzle, then it turned into a bit heavier rain. We were still a ways away from the house. The two Mzungu's were the only ones who were being sheltered from the rain. Little Susan Achila went from holding my hand to burying her head underneath my arm to keep her face sheltered from the rain. We walked like that the rest of the way, her little head under my arm and herlittle arm around my waist. It was such a sweet moment, and had it not been raining so hard we would have been able to capture it with the camera. Every now and then she would raise her little head up and smile and giggle as the raindrops fell on her precious little face. She's adorable.

By the time we got to the kid’s house it was pouring down rain! Many of the kids were standing under the tree taking shelter from the rain, while others were picking shoes from the pile. We joined the ones under the tree. The one and only tree in the whole area. Good thing it’s a big tree and can shelter many people from the rain and sun. Sue and I were so close to the tree we could have been attached to it, we had found literally the only dry spot under the whole thing. We tried to take some pictures but figured it was a hopelesscause due to the drenching from the rain. Finally all the kids got their shoes and Sue and I found shelter in one of the boys' rooms. We stood there as Susan called all the kids out from their shelter and back into the pouring rain in order to count how many pairs we were purchasing. They looked like little drenched rats and all their clothes, that many had just washed only hours before, were now all soaking wet. The kids wash their uniforms for school in a bucket and then hang them on the line to dry. Typically it’s not an issue, except for days like today when it begins to rain and all their clothes get soaked. Bummer. We decided that due to the rain it was time to stop with the shoe madness. So we came out from our nice and dry shelter and headed into the pouring rain to get to thecar. It isn't a long way from the kid’s house to the front of their gate, yet when it is pouring the gate seems like its forever away. Luckily there were puddles and I was able to splash Sue with the mud as we made our way to the car. Her once clean skirt was now spotted in mud. She was oh so thrilled! ;) BUT she made me get in the car on the side in the mud hole, so my feet were covered in mud. It was fun though. Squishy mud toes for Liz. Susan was kind enough not to make us walk back to Phil's house and gave us a ride. But I will say I did wash little Sue's feet and her shoes once we got back to the house. So we are basically even now.

We came back to the house and little Adrian and Phiona were here. They stay at Scovia's house so Susan was bringing them home. Little Adrian sat on the couch while little Phiona crawled up on my lap to play a card game. I think we were playing a matching game, but I'm not really sure. Whatever it was, she made her own rules and I just followed along. It’s always so fun having little Adrian and Phiona at the house and being able to play with them for a little longer before they go home. They are both precious kids and super sweet! The house became empty again, and it was down to the three musketeers. I played doodle jump as I patiently waited for my turn with the computer so I could write my blog. Tomorrow is Saturday which means all day with the kids! Wohoo!

I also want to inform everyone back home that after Sue came out and complained to management that not even the cheapest hotel back home would make a paying customer go two weeks without lighting, Phil finally replaced the light bulb in our room! Yipee! We no longer have to practice our Amish skills. I’d like to say it’s been fun but lets be real. Two weeks in the dark is two weeks two long! Tomorrow we might even get toilet paper! Simple things in life!

Shalom.

Naked babies and a Naked Man

2011-10-27T12:26:00.001-07:00

Last night was the latest we have stayed up since we have been here. After Sue’s long and adventurous day, she was pretty wiped. She said she was going to bed at 8:30, but this is Africa and nothing happens on time. We didn’t end up crawling in bed until about 12:45am. Little Sue was so tired and I had surpassed my “tired” state and was now wide-awake. I had literally just fallen asleep when a storm rolled in at about 1:30am. There was a LOUD crack of thunder, and suddenly we had no power. Which meant no bathroom light to keep our critter friends away, and no fan to keep us from waking up in a pool of sweat. It started off as a nice little rainstorm, and turned into the loudest rain I have ever experienced. I could barely hear the thoughts in my head because the rain was so loud and heavy. I thought to myself, “at any moment this roof is going to come down on top of us from all the rain, or we are going to be floating on our beds in the morning”. Since I was little, I have hated being in the dark. My mind starts to make up things and I start to hear noises that sound like someone is coming in the room. When I was little I would pull the blanket over my head, in hopes that if someone did come in they wouldn’t see me. Well I would like to admit that last night I went back to my childhood ways. I was the only one up (well so I thought, I later found out that Phil was still up as well) and it was freaking me out. There is nothing like being in a powerless house, in Africa, in a huge rainstorm! It was probably one of the scariest things. So I did like any normal person does when they are scared, I began to sing in bed. Hah. So here I am 19 years old, in the pitch black, singing in bed as if nothing is scaring me. I hate the dark! And I especially HATE the dark in a foreign country when I don’t know my surroundings all to well. If Sue would have gotten up at any moment and started walking to the bathroom, I probably would have had a cow for fear of it being a stranger. I would have woken the whole neighborhood by the screech that would have come out of my mouth. Unfortunately Sue remained asleep the WHOLE time, she never woke up once. I thought that surely her little bladder would get full eventually and she would need to use the bathroom, but no of course not. Did I mention that it was super hot?! Because the rain had knocked off the power, the fan was no longer blowing. Therefore making the room quieter and much hotter. And for those of you that can relate, I can’t sleep at all when it’s hot. So there I laid until about 4am in the morning, singing to myself and dying of heat. At 4am I thought to myself, only 2 more hours until daylight! You know it’s a long night when you’re counting down the hours until sunrise. Luckily we got to sleep in so I at least got 6 hours of sleep! Power finally came back on so it was much cooler in our room! Little things in life.

Today we went to a new village to meet little Adrian’s (the little boy Sue is hoping to sponsor) grandmother. We thought she lived in the village, but really there were several villages in between Phil’s and the grandmother’s village. It was a very beautiful ride I must say. It was very colorful and we saw many areas where they grow rice and potatoes. As we were driving down the road we saw a bunch of young men/boys in a field. They were all wearing yellow, and Susan told us that they were prisoners. They bring them out to the fields to work. We stopped the car so Sue could get a picture. As Sue was taking her picture I noticed something different about one of the guys. Granted, we were about 50 yards away so it was a little hard to tell; but as I looked closer I realized one of the boys was wearing brown. As I looked closer I realized he was BUTT-NAKED! I looked at Susan to confirm the nakedness, she said he was bathing. He was not a little boy, he was an older boy, standing there butt naked in the middle of a rice field bathing! I could not believe it, though Sue didn’t even notice because she was too busy stuck behind the camera. It was the funniest thing ever, I could not believe my eyes. But I guess when you’re a prisoner, you would take any opportunity you had for a somewhat clean bath. The other boys around him were just standing there as if nothing was wrong, though in this culture there really isn’t anything wrong with someone standing butt naked in a field bathing. In America, things like that just don’t happen; well unless the person is drunk then that’s a different story. So we waved goodbye to the prisoner men and continued on our journey.

We finally arrived at Adrian’s grandmother’s house. Where of course, due to the culture, we had to eat. Now I’m usually pretty fine when it comes to village eating, yet today it was a little different. We sat down and they brought out rice, I thought to myself “okay I can do rice”. BUT then they brought out the meat, Sue claimed sickness today so she was off the hook. Which meant I had no excuse and had to eat at least something, I could NOT do the meat. When I’m looking at the bowl of “beef” and cannot identify the parts, that is never a good sign. I always opt for the vegetarian route in those situations. So I passed on the meat but had my fill of rice. Here they love the fat, and fat is what you see when they hand you a piece of meat. It makes me want to vomit every time and I have never been able to get past the chewy consistency of the fat. When it is trying to slide down my throat at the same time I’m chewing, I’m thinking that’s a “no” to that! There were so many cute little kids just standing outside the door looking in at us Mzungu’s. Little African children flock to Mzungu’s like flies on poop, especially when there is a camera in hand. I have never seen so many little nakey baby butts. Little kids, because in the villages they don’t use diapers, run around naked with just a shirt or dress on. Mainly because when they go to the bathroom there is nothing to absorb the liquid, so they just let the stream flow wherever they are seated. I tell you there is something about little naked children in Africa that just melts you heart. I love getting to hold all the little babies, well that is until it is time for them to go to the potty. Then it is extremely easy for me to hand them off to somebody else. Just sayin.

So we ate and then headed onto our next stop, which was Susan’s Dad’s sisters house. Which meant….more food. She brought out a little silver bowl with a lid, and I could only imagine what this was going to be. Since Sue was still playing the “sick” card, I once again had to at least try whatever was in that little silver dish of death. Susan opened it up, only to reveal more plantains. But this time they were covered in this weird peanut sauce. I told her to only give me a half of one, it was the biggest piece of anything I have ever had to eat. It took everything to keep it down, it had such an unappetizing taste to it. I’m sure Sue was just chuckling in her little head, as I unwillingly ate the nasty things. I have decided that I am not a fan of plantains anymore. Besides there was a little bug in my serving. I did leave the bug behind!

After about an hour of sitting and trying to down plantains, we were ready to head back home. It was getting dark and we were all pretty tired. Susan tried to steal my shoes on the way out the door. So in the middle of about 5 older women sitting on the floor Susan and I are having a battle over MY shoe. That little turkey was trying to take it, I had gotten one on but as soon as I was going to put my other shoe on she snatched it. So in my efforts of “two can play at this game” I grabbed one of her shoes and put it on. So there we stood, both of us wearing one of each other’s shoes because neither of us was willing to give up our shoes. The ladies started loading up our car with potatoes, rice, and a live chicken (yes a live, kickin chicken). We said our farewells and began to pull away, that was until Susan got stuck in a rut. Literally we were kicking up mud and laughing so hard. Finally she pressed the gas and got us out of the muddy hole, so that we could finally be on our way home. Sue then realized we had gained a baby on the way. We asked Susan if Scovia was taking this little one home too (for Scovia normally takes home children to watch after when their parents can’t) but no sooner had we started driving, did we stop to give the baby back to its rightful owner. But in exchange for a baby we got some beans. Since we didn’t have a bag to put the beans in, Susan asked if she could use my skirt to put the beans until we got home. Before I could answer, Susan was dumping a big bucket of beans in my lap, my first question was “are they hot?”; for Susan is notorious for handing me things that are extremely hot with no warning at all. So there I sat with beans in my lap for the ride home. Luckily we picked up yet another passenger on the way and she had a bag. Relieving me from “bean duty”. Thank goodness! The way Susan drives, especially over large craters in the road, it would have been a bean explosion the whole way home.

Though we didn’t have time with the kids today, it was an eventful day and we are wiped. The best part of the day was when Susan kept saying, “Liz if you laugh at Sue today I will leave you in the village”. Thankfully Sue promised my mommy that she would bring me home safely; therefore if I get left in the village so will she! Though it might be interesting if Sue and I had to find our way home; I don’t think we would ever make it. Tomorrow will be a day spent at the kid’s house laughing and playing! I am so excited with only about 6 more days here with the kids; I will be spending every moment I have with them! Cant wait to see their smiling faces tomorrow after lunch.

Shalom.

All day Abb Workout

2011-10-26T12:47:00.001-07:00

Today Sue and I woke up and BOTH had hot, not warm, but HOT showers. Praise Jesus! Simple things in life. We woke up and moseyed our way out into the living room to join Phil, who is always up at 6am. Sue worked on pictures, and I prepared a bible study for the older girls. In my “wishful” thinking mood, I hoped to maybe start painting rooms today. So in our hopeful theory Sue and I headed to the kids’ house so that I could start painting and Sue could grab kids for interviews. Her plan was to leave me there to paint and play the day away. It was extremely hot today, probably one of the hottest days so far. I began to second guess painting today, because a) it was hot and b) all the kids were out for lunch. I decided I didn’t want to fight that battle today. So we nixed the painting plan and decided just to play with the kids until lunchtime then bring them back for interviews after they ate.

Phil had wanted me to paint the walls white before I painted the words on the wall. After looking at the walls I realized that would take a VERY long time to paint all 14 rooms and THEN paint the words. So I made an executive decision that we would paint directly on the wall and skip the white paint step. My executive decision was nixed; for Phil had a purpose in painting the rooms white, and that was to reflect the light so their rooms were brighter at night and not so dark. Well there went my idea! Thankfully, we talked with Susan and she suggested that we paint on the walls of the courtyard instead of in the rooms. The day scholar kids (the ones who we help go to school, feed, and serve medically but do not house) aren’t allowed in the rooms, so they would never get to see the writing on the walls. But if we paint it on the courtyard walls it will be available for all to see. We decided that was a great idea and so we are going with that one. They are going to finish plastering the walls tomorrow and they *should (remember this is Uganda and things rarely run on schedule) be ready to paint by Monday. Wohoo! I decided it would be fun to paint the walls while the kids are at school and it be a surprise for them to return to! So Sue is going to find her creativity and help me paint Monday! Lucy and Ethel take to the paint, this will be interesting! Pictures will be taken for sure! I cannot wait for the finished project! We have 17 words that correlate to 17 bible verses. Glad all my bible verse searching won’t go to waste! Though it wouldn’t have been a waste anyways. The design I have made is a big word, followed by the verse that correlates with it in smaller letters underneath. For example: Love Jeremiah 31:3

The other words I have chosen are: Mighty-Zephaniah 3:17 Follow-Luke 9:23 Live- 2 Corinthians 5:15 Faith- Hebrews 11:1 Beauty- 1 Peter 3:3-4 Purpose- Jeremiah 29:11-13 Comfort- John 16:33 Serve- Luke 1:38 Courage- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Grace- Ephesians 1:7 Strength-Psalm 18:31-3 Thankful-Colossians 3:15-17 Encouragement- Isaiah 41:10 Hope-Romans 8:28 Truth- John 8:31-32 Wisdom- Matthew 7:24-27

I am so excited to get this project started! Ready to release my creative juices. It will be a fun time, except for the having to wake up really early to get it done by the time the kids come home for lunch. But it will be so worth getting up early for!

So instead of painting, we played with the kids. I tell you it is going to be the hardest thing leaving these kids. I’m sure I will cry the whole way to the airport. I start to get emotional at even the thought of leaving. These kids have forever left a handprint on my heart. Their sweet spirits and smiling faces brighten my day every single time. I love that from the minute I walk through their gate, till the minute I leave, little smiling faces swarm around me. The minute we walk through the door our hands are never bare; for there is always a child glued to our hands. The little girls always grab me to play a hand clapping game. While the little boys always pull my hair or tickle me. Some things never change from culture to culture. Hah. There is literally one tree inside the kids’ fence where there is shade, and Sue and I definitely ended up under it today. I stood there with the little girls as we played a hand game in their language. Its like a guessing game, I have to guess what is going to come next, very often I fail. They always get a giggle out of that. Little Florence Namukose always comes in for a running hug, if she was any bigger she would knock me over at the speed she is going. But it is precious and it is something I look forward to every time I see her. We bonded over a game of dodgeball; she was using me as a shield so that I would get hit first. She is precious and another little one I would take home in an instant.

A short time after being there and making our “hello” rounds I found my little monkey Phiona. I swear that little girl is the cutest thing ever. The first year I came, from the minute I met her to the minute I left, she was stuck to me like glue. We had an instant connection from the minute I met her. She would always greet me with a running hug, and still does. She was always in my lap if I was sitting down, in my arms if I was standing up, or holding my hand if I was walking around. And this year isn’t any different. Last year when I was here I didn’t meet her till the end of my trip and at the time she wasn’t one of Phil’s kids. Now that she is one of Phil’s kids I get to see her all the time. She is my little bundle of joy and has the cutest laugh in the world. Today at the kids house I don’t think her little feet ever touched the ground. If she isn’t already in my arms, she will grab my hands and jump as high as she can trying to grasp her little legs around me. Which is why I call her, Little Monkey. She loves to be held and loved on. She is so cute you can’t help but love her. Today as I was holding her I kept saying, “little monkey”, she then would repeat in her little voice, “little monkey”. She is fascinated with my earrings and always plays with them. She is a doll and we always have the best time together. It is always so hard to leave her, but thankful that she is just a few minutes walk away. She is being adopted by a sweet family. Please pray for them as they walk through the adoption process for it is very long and expensive! Praying they can get her soon. To find out more of their story visit, www.wix.com/bringfionahome/fiona-fund.

After the children were done eating, Sue “attempted” to round up a gaggle of kids to bring back to interview. That didn’t go so well, to say the least. They kept running off to play instead of staying put. Guess the language barrier had something to do with that. Finally she grabbed an older kid to translate Mzungu into Losoga. That worked a lot better! Finally we grabbed our gaggle, said farewell to the other little kids, and headed back to the house. When we arrived Susan was there ready to go do some shoe shopping. We were so thirsty we asked for 5 minutes to “refuel” before we headed back out.

We went and picked up our first group of kids. Once again it was time for the clown car to hold the uncountable number or children. Oh boy! We got to the market and Sue began to have….well…..issues. Since I promised to be the good one (after hours of laughing at her) I will refer you to her blog to see the complete story. I promise it is soooooo worth it! http://sue-henderson.blogspot.com/ Let me just say she chose to stay home after that. The first words out of her mouth were, “oh, no, this is not good”. And it really wasn’t good, I on the other hand still laugh to this very minute about it. Guess my sympathy card didn’t make this trip. I can guarantee if it was me in her position she would be laughing as well. I am literally crying as I am writing this section of the blog, and I just can’t control it. Well I guess I could, but its just too much fun not too. In all reality I really do feel bad for little Sue, because she was miserable. But sympathy won’t come today, for I can’t look at her without laughing. Tomorrow I will be at her beaconing call. If not, she just might kill me. In years when it is my turn for the evil monster to take over, Sue will just be rolling in laughter. Payback will be not so sweet. Hopefully I will be able to laugh with her……maybe. I know that she is just praying for the day when she can laugh at me as hard as I laughed (and continue to laugh) at her. Susan kept telling me not to laugh, through her own chuckles. I will have you know I was not the ONLY one laughing, Susan was laughing as well but somehow I’m the one that gets in trouble. It was worth it. It’s a good thing Sue and I have a great relationship, otherwise I think I might have well been a dead Mzungu walking.

We left the kids at the market while we rushed (literally FLEW) home to Phil’s. I have never seen Susan drive so fast, and dodge as many livestock and humans who inconveniently crowd the roads. It was record timing! Before we even got through the gate, I was unwillingly pushed, no forced out the car door. My duty, besides laughing, was to get the room key from Phil and pave the way for little Sue to make her grand march, well waddle. Luckily we made it just in time, well almost. We left Sue to do her thing. Needless to say, interviews looked like the better option, by a landslide, for Little Sue. Therefore, she stayed home while Susan and I finished up the shoe shopping. Thankfully, Sue was able to join us on our last trip to the market. This time little Sue had no little problems. We were glad to have the shoe shopping gang all back together. Though I kept getting told, “stop laughing Liz”.

We have finished the shoe shopping for the most part; we still have about 2 more pairs to go. But since we have more money, we have decided to use that for shower shoes for the kids. Susan is going to find someone willing to come to the house so that we don’t have to take all the kids back to the market. That just might about kill all three of us! Don’t get me wrong it was fun. But when you’re only able to shuttle at the most 8 kids, it takes a lot of trips to get it all done. So thankful for God providing extra money so that we can get another pair of shoes for them.

We were supposed to have Bible Study with the older girls today, but they never showed up. So hopefully we will able to do it sometime soon. It’s hard with their schooling, since they don’t get out till late, and many of them have homework. Maybe tomorrow we can meet with them, though it may have to wait until Saturday or Sunday when they aren’t so stressed with school. It also doesn’t help that it gets dark early, so it doesn’t leave them much daylight time once they officially get out of school. They have solar lights at the kids’ house but it is still hard to do most things in the dark, for the lights don’t put out that much light. And the fact that they are timed to go off at a certain time. So once the lights go off, it is pitch black and they are forced to rely on a flashlight to get whatever else they need to get done.

That pretty much sums up the day! It was a very eventful day, literally. And one of us is glad it is coming to an end, I wont name that one, but I’m sure you can guess. I’m sure my day will come when I am the butt of the joke, literally. Hopefully that day doesn’t come soon. Though Sue is eagerly waiting. At dinner tonight, instead of praying for the food to nourish our body, Sue prayed that Liz would be humbled. I wonder whose prayer will win, my prayer of forgiveness, or Sue’s prayer for my humility. I’m sure we will find out soon enough. Needless to say my abs got a workout, and we will both sleep VERY good tonight. Praying for a wonderful day tomorrow. Missing everyone, but thankful that I am here. Love to you all.

Shalom.

Soccer and Mooing

2011-10-24T12:34:00.001-07:00

Last night we found the infamous bug in our room….again! I saw it crawl across the floor towards the light. We haven’t had light in our room for the past four days, because Phil is convinced the power is not high enough to turn on the light bulb. I’m calling a fault in his theory, for the light has yet to come back on! No wonder the bug has made its permanent home in our dark room. At this rate, if we don’t get the light to come back on we will be sharing our beds with this new unwanted friend! The good news is the bug is now on Sue’s side of the room, therefore it will get her first and I have nothing to worry about. It poured down rain early this morning starting at about 5am and not relinquishing until around 10am. So we woke to somewhat crazy power. There was enough power for the power strip to keep everything charged, but not enough for the lights to come on. So we once again became Amish and lived in the dark for yet another day. I have decided that showering in the dark is not so pleasant. I woke up and Sue was nowhere to be found, it was quite strange waking up to an empty room. I don’t think I like waking up without my partner in crime being there.

Phil went to school with Sylivia again today; therefore Lucy and Ethel were on their own. The power came back on shortly after we ate breakfast; therefore we figured it was a great movie day because of all the rain. We popped in The Blind Side and felt right at home. Ida joined us for our movie watching, she is precious. And here kids are the cutest little things. All her girls are spitting images of her, though some of the girls are her step-children. You would never know the difference! It is very rare and seldom ever happens that a woman takes in her step-children. Ida acts as if they are all hers and in fact we didn’t know that they weren’t all hers until we looked at their birthdates. She is a strong woman for taking in all those kids, making her total to come out to 13! Phil said he didn’t even know they weren’t all hers, for he has only ever seen the kids with her. They were never with their real mother. Ida is an amazing woman, and I am so glad she works at Phil’s. She is such a bright and cheerful woman and it is so fun waking up to her sweet spirit in the mornings. She has the kindest heart and is so giving, no wonder all her kids are so wonderful as well.

After our movie fix, we decided to go play with the kids. We grabbed a soccer ball, a volleyball, and headed out the door. Hi Ho a Cherry-O to the kids house we would go. We got there and little Perudasi Kagoya came running up for her hug! She is the cutest little thing and besides little Phiona I would take her home in a heartbeat! Every time I see her, along with Phiona, she comes running for her hug. It is such a wonderful way to be greeted, and is always followed by her little hand reaching for mine. I now have two little shadows and they are the cutest little shadows ever! After getting through the gate, and being attacked with hugs from all the little ones, our first mission was to find a pump. We blew up the soccer and volleyball and you would have thought it was Christmas. Nearly seconds after they were blown up, they were out of my hands and into the hands of a child. They were so happy and had so much fun with them! The little boys took the soccer ball while the little girls played with the volleyball. And off they went to play for hours and hours. Emma and I played real volleyball for a while, that was until he kept spiking it at my face! Then I finally gave up and took the ball and played with the little kids again. Sue needed to run back to the house, and I told her she wasn’t allowed to go by herself. So we walked back to the house for a few minutes, or so we thought. About halfway to the house, Phil showed up with the van. Right on time! We were about to die of walking, well Sue was that is. So we hopped in the van and off to Phil’s house we went, well only after picking up about 3 more of ours kids along the way. We thought it would be a quick in and out, but Phil had plans to do a few interviews. Which was fine, but I just wanted to go back and play with the kids. So we made a deal, as soon as the older two girls were done I would walk back with them to the kids house. But then we realized the other kids that were here we had already done them, except for Zipola. So I waited until we finished her interview, then Sue agreed to walk back with me since some of the kids were writing letter.

Paul Losiya, Zipola Nangobi, Sumaya Nangobi, Arafat Sizza, and Asunta Okere decided to join us as well. I tell you Paul and I had the best time laughing and being silly the whole way to the kids house. We moo’ed at the cows (which cows in Uganda don’t moo like they do in the states), danced in the street, raced each other, skipped, walked like cows, and laughed our hearts out the whole way there. It was so much fun! He is such a character and we get in so much trouble together. He is like a little brother, constantly picking on me. We passed cows mooing and decided to join them, we also thought it would be fun to walk like them…so we did. Then we passed a school with little girls dancing, and decided to join them from the sidelines. Boy was that a sight to see. By the time we reached the kids house we were so out of breath from laughing and being ridiculous the whole way there. It was the first time since I’ve been here that I didn’t feel like I was walking on eggshells and I could just be me.

We got to the kids house and they were all still in the front playing with the soccer ball. I walked to the back of the kids house to see if any of the older girls had gotten out of class yet. I got to see trouble 1 and trouble two, aka Rehema and Angela Kitasala. And I got to see my sweet girl Sylivia, she was feeling much better. Esther Nate and Carolyn Amulen were moseying around as well. Little Susan Sunday had the volleyball in her hands so I led her to the front so we could play with it! Samuel Aguma informed me that I was standing on “their” soccer field and that unless I wanted to die I should move. I politely told him they couldn’t have the whole front yard for their soccer game. After the boys ran over the little girls I was playing with a dozen times, we relocated to a space closer to the fence. Samuel Aguma, jokingly but seriously, told me once again that I was in their soccer field. I politely told him he needed to share. Then our ball rolled into their court and Emma Aliau threw our ball over the fence and told us we need to play in the street. I looked at him and in the way I normally say it told him he was “rude”! And that he needed to go get our volleyball…..NOW! He laughed and refused, and I threatened to pummel him, all the while the little kids obeyed and went to play in the road right outside the kids house. No worries - rarely do any cars travel down this road. I went out the gate, grabbed the little kids, and told them to come “inside” the gate to play. I would not take my children and go play in the street! I was putting my little foot down. (all of it was in a kidding manner, they were just being dumb boys) So we came back in the gate and continued with our game! I told them they couldn’t have the whole front yard and we weren’t moving so they would have to just play around us. Silly boys and their soccer games were not going to force me and the little kids outside the fence. Haha I would not allow it. They messed with us and we messed up their soccer game, but at least we were in the fence and they were getting a lesson in sharing from the Mzungu. This big kid wasn’t going to get kicked out of the gate. They played around us and half the time the ball didn’t even come to where we were playing. Point for Liz, they only thought they could kick me out….boy were they wrong. That is the last time they will try to kick me to the curb…literally. Good thing we were all in joking spirits and were able to laugh as we refused to get off of each other’s territory. But as we left the little kids were back on their own and kicked outside AGAIN! Silly boys. Thankfully the little kids don’t really mind and have fun anywhere.

We had another adventurous walk back to Phil’s house as Paul Losiya, Moses Okere, Peter Longoli and Eliya Umo joined us. More running, dancing, skipping, and mooing in the mix. Oh what fun it is to be in Africa. Power went out seconds after we got back to the house. But thankfully we are now pros at being Amish! Power came back on a little while ago so we popped in a movie and now Sue, Phil and I are playing cards! Things keep looking up and we’re all having a good time!

Shalom.

Sunday=Church and Bible Study

2011-10-23T08:31:00.001-07:00

This morning was another interesting shower morning. We thought our shower problems were over…boy were we wrong! I got up first to take my shower. I turned on the water, stepped in, and things seemed like normal. That was until, the water became ice cold and I quickly jumped out from underneath it! I thought to myself, “oh great! Not this again”. Then the cold shower turned into large drops of water coming out of the bottom of the showerhead. Man, I think I would rather the cold water than no water. It was like a schizophrenic shower. Going from warm, to cold, to drops of cold, to absolutely no water at all. I called Sue until she finally woke up, and told her to please ask whoever had the water on to please turn it off so I could regain water. Turns out Sylivia had gotten in the shower right after I had; therefore causing there to be no water on my end. I was just about done with my shower and had most of the conditioner out of my hair, before I finally gave up and turned the water off completely. Another reminder that two showers cannot go at the same time.

Sue woke up to Angela coming in our room this morning and telling her it was time to get up. What a lovely way to wake up, if that would have been me I would have jumped on her! That surely would have woken her up and made her jump out of her socks(because she wears socks to bed). We went out and grabbed a quick breakfast and then Sue and I walked to church. We left Phil at the house with the other girls, for we wanted to make it to hear the music. It is my favorite part of church; all of the different choirs that the kids are in come up and sing a song or two. It is so sweet to hear their voices and watch them as they sway back and forth to the music. Their voices are so loud that the kids boarding at New Grace usually pop in the windows to see what is going on. Today there was a girl who was standing outside of the door and was singing and dancing along with the choir; that was until I made eye contact with her and she ran away. She got a little embarrassed, though she was doing a great job! It is always funny to see the little kids who are asleep in the front row, some things never change from culture to culture. The little kids still sleep through the service and the mothers nudge them constantly to wake up. It is like musical chairs anytime someone else walks through the door. The kids are constantly shifting seats and getting kicked off the bench anytime an older child or adult comes in. They know the drill, someone else comes in who is older, they must give up their seat and find a new one. They missed the lesson on first come, first serve and are stuck with the lesson of seniority rules. I understand it’s a “culture” thing and a respect thing, but it is still comical to watch. It’s like a constant musical chairs game. It always amazes me how many little bodies they can fit on one bench. The kids cram on these benches made to hold 4, but they cram about 6-7 kids on one. And now we see why the benches are so hard an uncomfortable, they would have to be to hold up all those kids! Emma got to help Phil again, and it is always so fun to watch him up there! He is going to make a great pastor one day. It is hard for him not to laugh when Phil attempts at new words in Lasoga, and it is so funny to watch him try and hold it together. Phil is very animated when he preaches, and well.. Emma is not as animated. Emma likes to make faces at Sue and I when he is interpreting, which is going to get us in trouble because we can’t help but laugh. Emma even tried handing his bible to me during the sermon, I told him he would probably still need it and denied the gesture. He is a character that’s for sure. He likes to pick on Sue and I, and I constantly have to tell him to be gentle when it comes to handshakes. I swear he is going to break my hand some day!

After church we walked back to the house, it was the longest walk of my life. It was so hot and I felt like the road was never going to end. That or I was going to die before I made it to Phil’s house. The kids then came at 2pm for bible study. But it wasn’t really a bible study, it was more of a time for the kids to ask questions about the sermon or other things in the bible that they had question about. So we all sat on the back porch and listened to the things that somewhat confused them. After they were done with questions, we sent some of them home. We still needed pictures from a lot of the kids and thought this would be the best time to take them. Since they were all at the house it would be easier to corral the ones we hadn’t taken pictures of. What we thought would be a fast easy process, turned out to be a long process. There were WAY more than we had thought. So the picture process took a long time, the blazing sun didn’t help much either. It is also very difficult to read the list when you have 15 little heads all covering the paper you are trying to look at. I was trying to write down whom we were taking pictures of, and had to constantly keep backing away from the massive herd so I could read the names. They have such sweet hearts and are so helpful, yet when 10 people are all saying the same thing NOT at the same time….well it doesn’t help at all. Sorry to all my teachers when we talked in class as you were trying to take roll, we just thought you were slow, but really you just couldn’t focus on the names amongst all the talking. I now know how big of a pain in the butt we were to you!

Paul Losiya came in the house after pictures so we could work on math. He is the one who approached Sue and asked if we could, we didn’t even have to remind him. We told him to come back tomorrow so we could work on it some more. He finally understands it, what an exciting thing! His face was full of joy as he finally could understand the math problem. Once again, it’s the simple things in life. Like understanding a math problem, and finally overcoming a once difficult task. Can’t wait to see him tomorrow. Sue works with him, while I make faces at him and make him laugh. We are a great team :)! And I’m sure Sue appreciates me oh so much!

It has been a long day in the hot sun and we are beat! But tomorrow will consist of shoe shopping and hopefully some more dodgeball! Maybe a little soccer in the midst.

Shalom.

Ceremony and Dodgeball

2011-10-22T13:34:00.001-07:00

This morning started off good, with a late morning and pancakes! Hip Hip Hooray for an American breakfast! It’s the perfect start to a Saturday!

An Update on Sylivia: Thank you for all your prayers she if feeling better! Today was the first time I saw her laugh. I walked into her room this morning and crawled in bed with her! She looked so much better and was somewhat back to her normal self. She was actually talking with me now and laughing. It was so good to see her finally feeling better. Typhoid really took the toll on her, but she is coming out of it! Praise Jesus. It was fun to get to lie in bed with her this morning and just have a little girl time. That was until I got called to breakfast. I enjoyed my few minutes I had with them.

Today there was a Primary 7 (7 th grade) ceremony at New Grace (their school), for some of our kids. Going into it we thought it would be a short and sweet ceremony……silly Americans. Nothing is ever short and sweet here, everything is usually long and drawn out. It started off with some dancing, but not the kind that I love when I come to Uganda. It was more “western” dancing, and stuff I see back in the states. Thankfully, that didn’t last too long. Then the girls’ choir came up, and it was so beautiful. The girls’ voices are so pure, and they always do such a good job. It is so much fun to watch them sing and dance their little hearts out for Jesus. It was followed by a skit and some more dancing…and a few long talks somewhere in the mix. The skit was put on by the drama team and it was very…..um….interesting. From what I could tell there was a lot of screaming, and dancing, and some more screaming, and a lot of moments we didn’t understand. Apparently it was about a man who had died, but then the preacher came and he rose from the dead; yet from what we could tell, it wasn’t that at all. Arafat Sizza, one of our boys, is a complete ham! He kept the crowd laughing the whole time, even during the “serious” parts….if there were supposed to be any. When the skit was done, two girls walked up and were going to perform. They started singing and dancing, then from out of the woodworks, one of our boys from outside came in and started dancing with them. He started dancing with one of the girls and it started off fine, but then got very provocative. It was a little uncomfortable and I started to look around to see if anyone was going to stop him. Sadly nobody came to the rescue and I, along with all the other kids in the room, had to witness his moves. I talked with Phil about it later and he said that that type of dancing was not a part of their culture, in fact in the traditional culture boys and girls don’t even dance together. He said the boy was mimicking something he had seen on MTV or VH1 at one of the local places where they have tv’s. Phil is going to talk with the boy about the situation tomorrow.

By the middle of the ceremony (that lasted for 4 hours) I had to use the bathroom. I mouthed to Sue, who was across the room, that I had to use the bathroom. So what does Sue do? She crosses her legs. Doesn’t help my case but it was a funny sight to see, and it beat having to pay attention to the speaker one more second. Once she returned to the seat next to me, she told me that she thought she had seen some outhouses. Wishfully thinking the ceremony would end soon, I held it for another hour. That was about my limit. Jay literally pee could have come out of my eyes I had to go so bad. You would be proud though! I held it for a good 3 hours. So finally I manned up and decided to use the outhouse. Phil called one of the girls to show me where it was. Literally it was like a bathroom built on a platform. There was a ramp on one side, steps on the other, and a short wall so that you don’t have an audience while you do your business. The first room they showed me was a room basically with a concrete floor…no hole. I thought to myself, I can’t do it, it has to at least be able to drain out. Thankfully the next room had a hole, it even had little, raised up, built in shoe outlines to place my feet. But that room didn’t have a door, I decided to do all the little children a favor and use the one with the door. I got in the room, closed the door, and then realized I couldn’t see; it was pitch black in there. Great! So I decided I would have to leave a crack in the door so there was some light. I held my breath and did my thing. It smelled like a petting zoo and there were stains on the ground from where they had missed the hole. Which I understand when there’s no light to see what your doing. It was not the best toilet I’ve seen here, but it served its purpose.

Little Doreen and Susan Sunday escorted me back to the ceremony, and there I remained for the next hour. Oh joy! My butt was sore by the end of it! I have never been happier to hear the final words of a ceremony! It is always even longer when you have no idea what they are saying. Once again, I really need to learn the language. After the ceremony they lead us into this classroom where they were going to feed us. Phil said that they would bring us a plate already made, but to eat what we wanted. Sue, with her sensitive stomach, was a little nervous. We had no idea what they were going to serve us. She and I shared a work bench. Two of the kids then came in with a jug of water and a bucket, they were going to wash our hands. Well first of all your washing your hands with just water and no soap; second of all the water comes from a bore hole filled with typhoid and other prevalent diseases. Looked like this wasn’t going to be our most sanitary meal. Did I mention we ate with our fingers? That’s right, rinsed hands and no utensils. They brought us out a huge plate filled with mainly rice, a small potato, a little bit of cabbage, and some green vegetable thing in the mix. Rice and potato it was! You know, it is really hard to eat rice with your fingers. It misses your mouth more than it makes it, and you’re always excited when you find a clump of rice already mashed together on your plate. Once again, it’s the little things that make you happy. So Sue and I ate like birds and left so much left over on our plate; not intentionally, we just don’t have tummies the size of large bowls to store everything. I tried to eat most of it, but I swear it kept multiplying on my plate….its kind of like when you order a big salad and the lettuce keeps reappearing. Anyways we get done with our meal and washed our hands (with the unclean, disease-ey water).

After the ceremony, and after eating the food they prepared for us, we took pictures with our P7 kids. As we were taking pictures with the kids, some mother was repeatedly tapping me on the arm. Apparently she wanted a picture with the Mzungu. She grabbed my hand and led me out the door and a little to the left. She grabbed her daughter and I took a picture with them; I had no idea who they were. What I thought would be one picture, ended up being several pictures; not only did I take pictures but with whoever else held me there for their turn at a picture. Luckily Phil came to my rescue, only after being made to be in several pictures as well. Then moments later Sue was dragged over there as well. Phil finally said that was all and we were able to break free. I thought the picture frenzy was done. That was until this boy, around my age, grabbed my hand and told me I was taking a picture with him. I told him no thank you, but I guess no was not an option. He wouldn’t let go of my hand; I tried to break free but no luck. He was leading me and I didn’t have a choice at this point. Sue stayed close behind to make sure I was okay. Sure enough, we turn the corner and there is another boy with a camera around his neck ready to take what I thought was going to be “our” picture. Thank goodness it wasn’t, 2 girls and another boy jumped in, while I awkwardly stood in between. I could not wait until the minute I heard the click on the camera and I could make my escape. One picture and I was out of there. Awkward…..extremely.

I raced back into the van and took a seat before anymore strange boys grabbed my hand and insisted on a picture. We took some of our small children back for more interviewing. Sue has released me to play with the kids while they interview, so I didn’t argue with her. I happily took the offer. So we had about 8 little kids outside, so I decided it would be another drawing day. Since there wouldn’t be a mob that would keep multiplying I figured it was safe to bring out paper and something to draw with. They are such good little artists, and it is always fun to see what they draw. They were very excited to get to draw instead of just sit there and have to entertain themselves. Though they always keep themselves occupied and out of trouble, I thought it would be fun to bring some entertainment. So there I sit with 8 little kids all busily drawing on the front porch. Its moments like these where I wish time stood still and I could just enjoy that moment forever. They were so precious and most of them were under the age of 10, so that makes them extra cute! After drawing for some time, Evaline Aleper and Zirifa decided that they were going to teach me a game. Basically it is like monkey in the middle, but the twist is, you want to stay in the middle for as long as you can. I told them to play and once I understood I would join. They were playing with a makeshift ball, made out of newspaper wrapped in a plastic bag. This just would not work. I ran inside and grabbed one of the soft small balls we had brought for them to play dodgeball. I wish I could have captured their sweet little faces when I walked outside with the “new” ball. I asked little Evaline if she wanted to play with this ball instead? Her face lit up with joy as I handed her the ball, and suddenly all the kids wanted to play. Once again, the simple things in life mean the most. They all jumped up from their drawings and took their places in the front yard. That little ball got so much use this evening. From monkey in the middle to their version of dodgeball, we played and played and played until it was too dark to see. We were out there for hours, and by the end I was so tired. The kids were now excited to get back outside, and be able to play with the new ball. We played game after game, until all of us were too worn out to stand anymore. Even two of the older girls, Angela and Rehema came out to play. Sylivia was feeling better so she came out to sit on the bench and watch as we dodged and giggled the evening away. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. It was a wonderful evening with the kids. Tomorrow is more interviewing, which means more dodgeball for the kids and me. Hooray!

It was a long evening and I was hot and tired. But so grateful for the fun I had with the kids. It was a great day filled with fun, laughter, and the blessing of life.

Shalom.

A Wild Ride....

2011-10-21T09:30:00.001-07:00

Last night as I was headed to my bed, I saw this HUGE bug crawl across my sheets. I went out to get Phil so he could kill the bug, but as soon as he came in the bug was nowhere to be found! Great! Phil said it was probably a tree bug; I didn’t care what kind of bug it was I didn’t want it in my bed! Sue came in a little later and I was still freaking out about the bug. Normally bugs don’t bother me, but huge bugs that I can’t find in the room are a different story. We looked and looked and it was nowhere to be found. I put my mosquito net around my bed and lay down. All I could think about was that darn bug falling on my face in the middle of the night. We turned off the lights; I swear I could hear it crawling around. And the noise was coming from my bed. Sue shifted in her bed, and I thought it was the bug; I immediately jumped out of my bed. I said, “If that thing touches me I’m going to have a cow!” After about 30 minutes of being paranoid I told sue I was going to turn on the bathroom light and maybe it would go towards the light. Needless to say it took awhile to get to sleep, but I was finally able to stop thinking about the bug falling on my face and get some sleep.

Today we had an earlier morning, starting at 8:30am. Susan wanted to take us out of the house. Since Phil was going to be gone with Sylivia, and the kids were in school, Susan wanted to take us on an adventure. We planned to go see the Baboons! We stopped along the way to pick up bananas. Susan and her bargaining skills saved us from getting taken to the cleaners for bananas. We couldn’t tell exactly what she was saying to the guy (for she was speaking in her language), but we knew she was winning. He was trying to charge us 10,000 shillings ($3.57) for the bananas, which she told him she would only pay 7,800 shillings ($2.79). He kept saying he didn’t have the change, though he was holding it in his hand. So Susan said that he could keep his bananas (though they were already in our car). He finally handed over the money, and we drove off.

Last year we went and fed the baboons with the bigger group. But this time when we went, we were brave enough to get out of the car! There was a man walking along the highway where we spotted the baboons, so Susan asked him if it was safe to get out. She asked him twice and then told him, if it’s so safe then stay there while we got out and feed them. The man did in fact stay there and probably thought these weird Mzungu’s are getting so excited to feed baboons. Sue was so excited because this meant she got to get close on her pictures of the baboons. She was making me and Susan nervous because, once again she was standing in the middle of the road. Susan and I decided, if any of us die, she will be the FIRST to go! Sorry Steve, we are trying our best. But when the woman gets the camera in her hand, we no longer have any control. Please tell her to stop playing in traffic; pedestrians don’t have the ride away! It was so much fun having the baboons surrounding us and being able to feed them. They were more afraid of us then we were of them. It was only a little nerve-wracking when they would inch closer to you. But as long as you threw a banana they were fine. If you made any sudden movements they would get spooked and run back into the trees. None of us had ever done that before, so it was a good first experience of feeding baboons so close up.

We got back home and the kids were finally out of school, so we began the shoe shopping. We got 30 pairs today, which means we only have 22 more to go! There is a light at the end of the shoe tunnel! We hope to get all the shoes done by Monday. That would be awesome, for that would mean more time with the kids. Woohoo! Today as we were going back to the kids’ house after one of our shoe runs, Susan stopped the car at the end of the road (100 yrds from the kids house), got out, and told me to drive. I looked at her like she was crazy and told her I can’t drive on the opposite side of the road on the opposite side of the car. She pulled me out of the car and told me I was driving. A little skeptical I got in the drivers seat and looked at her like, “are you serious?” She told me to start the car and drive, so I did. I drove us to the kids’ house and even made it through the tiny gate. The whole time praying that no other car would come down this road, for there was only room for one car. It was the weirdest thing ever, and I thought I was done. I could finally say I had driven in Uganda (even if it was only 100 yrds, it counts!). We pulled up to the kids’ house and all the kids were laughing because this Mzungu who had no idea what she was doing was driving the car. I thought that would be it, but no! Susan would NOT let me get in the passenger seat. She raced me to the passenger side and knocked me out of the way. It was a battle as the two of us raced to get to the passenger side, she was convinced she was going to win…..and she did. Therefore leaving me in the drivers seat….AGAIN. She made me back out, and I tried not to run over any of the children. Surprisingly they all run when they see them coming, though I don’t blame them. If you have ever seen Susan drive, you would get out of her way too, she stops for nobody. I pulled out of the gate and she told me I was driving to town. I told her no and stopped at the end of the road where I had first started. I got out of the car and told her unless she wanted to die today, she was going to drive. After we dropped off our last set of kids at the house, we headed back to Phil’s. When we got close enough, and on a dirt road, Susan let Sue drive the rest of the way home. Sue had every farm animal possible cross her path, everything from chickens, cows, and even a goat. It was a very comical ride home as Ethel drove us home! She even got into Phil’s gate without hitting anything, praise the Lord.

We all made it back to the house safe and sound and in one piece. No baboon attacks, or car crashes, it was a good day! We got to feed baboons and see our children.

Sylivia looks a lot better today! So thankful for that. She is actually sitting up and smiling again. The three girls joined us for dinner today. They are so shy and sat there and ate quietly. If it had been America the girls’ food would have gotten cold from all the talking before they even ate their food. Just another difference in culture. Glad the girls were able to join us at the dinner table instead of having to eat in their room. Its good to have company at dinner time. It looks like it will be an early night for Sue and I, we are wiped out. It has been a long and HOT day and we are ready for bed. I think we will make it till about 8pm and no later. Waiting for Dr. Ivan to get here so that he can give Sylivia another drip. Tomorrow is Saturday which means no tests and that the girls get to sleep in. Things are looking up! We are going to watch a movie with the girls then head to bed!

Shalom.

Clown Car and Market Shoes

2011-10-20T12:39:00.001-07:00

Sylivia stayed yet another night at Phil’s, only to get up early to take exams. Phil went with her; therefore leaving us on our own for the second day in a row. We woke up around 10, only to go back to sleep an hour later. We woke up with no power. Therefore it makes it a little difficult to do anything really. Even though it was light outside, it was still pretty dark inside the house. Susan came around 2pm to get us to start shoe shopping with the kids. We headed to the kids house, and picked up the first batch of kids. We were able to get 35 kid’s shoes today! Praise the Lord; that was a huge accomplishment. We crammed basically as many kids in the car as we could, at one point I think I counted 10 of us in the back seat. John, it makes me miss getting crammed in your car! I felt right at home will all their little bodies surrounding me, and basically falling out the door anytime it was opened. I swear I am not going to have hipbones after this trip! But the kids were so great and well behaved in the car. And stayed still for the most part, well except for Moses Kotol, Samuel Achila, and Paul Losiya tickling me the whole way home; therefore causing me to hit the door several times. It’s a good thing they’re some of my favorites, otherwise they would be dead meat! Basically we looked like a little clown car driving down the road. People just kept coming out of the car; it was quite the site to see.

Susan stopped, on one of our four trips to the market, to buy some roasted corn (basically off the side of the road). She always gives me anything she buys. Let me just say it was so good! We laugh because Sue is always having stomach problems, while I am always fine. I tell her its because I eat everything we get off the side of the road, and she eats none of it! Or the fact that my stomach isn’t as sensitive. Either way, I’m enjoying the cultural foods while she is eating only the “American” food or the things that don’t look like they’re still alive. What Susan forgot to mention is that corn is very HOT, therefore I burned my little fingers. She is trying to kill me; she also burned me at dinnertime. During our prayer she hit my hand against the hot pot, in the midst of her laughing she burned herself too…payback. See Jesus is watching out for me.

I can’t tell you how many times I was laughed at today. You know it’s very inconvenient when you don’t know the language. People point and laugh and then start talking and you have NO IDEA what they are saying. The worst is when they walk right up to you and start talking and the only phrase that comes out of your mouth is “no, speak English?”. They laugh and walk away… fail. Susan keeps telling us we need to learn the language, the problem is we can’t even pronounce names much less pronounce their words. It would be a complete butcher of their language, and trust me nobody wants to hear that.

After shoe shopping, and dropping all the kids off at their house, we finally headed back home. We were greeted with no power…once again. It had literally been off all day. Which is fine when your out and about but when it comes to the evening its like living by candlelight. Good thing I have my head lamp!

Sylivia is back here for her third night in a row. She isn’t getting much better and the doctor came about 30 minutes ago to give her another IV. We have now found out that she has a bad case of Typhoid. Poor thing looks miserable, and all she wants to do is sleep. Luckily her tests are only half a day tomorrow. She is so strong for making it through two full days. I’m very proud of her for sticking it out even though she feels miserable (though she doesn’t really have a choice). Because if it was me, I wouldn’t go at all. Once again, I can’t even begin to fathom what it must be like to be sick in a foreign country. I got the opportunity to sit with Angela Kitasala and Rehema Naigaga while Sylivia slept. They are some of the sweetest girls and it has been so fun having them in the house. They have been taking care of Sylivia and have been such good friends for doing so. They are absolutely precious and are taking great care of her. Right now they are sitting on the floor ironing her uniform for tomorrow and getting things ready. In the morning they will help get her up and showered and try and get some fluids in her. They will get her something to eat and help get her dressed. That is the definition of a great friend: being there even through sickness. In sickness and in health, true friends are there. We could all learn a lot about friendship from these sweet girls.

Power finally came back on at 8:30pm! Oh boy, were we excited! We even did a little happy dance. The kids laughed at us as we rejoiced for there being light finally. I tell you, it’s the little things that make you happy around here. Like power…….. and a hot shower. Julius(one of our boys) came over this evening. *I have to sensor this a little bit for the young ones reading this* Julius has been accused for something that he claims he did not do. And they are waiting on one event to prove his innocence. Until then he has to remain in his Uncle’s village which is an hour and a half away and can’t travel during the day otherwise they will arrest him. They don’t arrest people at night and therefore it is safe for him to travel at night. So he is not currently in school at New Grace or staying with us until things get resolved. So we are praying for the Lord’s favor so he can come back. He is a WONDERFUL kid with such a pure heart. It was such a joy to have him here, even though it was only for a little while. It was definitely a sweet moment and one I will never forget. We were so happy to see him and give him the pair of shoes we bought for him today.

Susan, Julius, and the girls all sat around and played cards while Sue, Phil, and I watched. It was so funny to watch Susan and Angela get into the card game. Susan is more competitive than anybody I know. Though she won’t admit it, she can’t leave until she has won. She is persistent on leaving on a winning note. We had such a fun time, and it felt like family being reunited. We laughed and joked, and had the best time, and we did it all with no power. It has been such a good night and so fun to be here. Phil taught the girls about the bible tonight, from Adam to Moses. It was a beautiful thing to watch as he tenderly taught the girls the lineage. He explained it very well, and the girls were very sharp and knew a lot about the bible. Needless to say we have had probably one of the best nights so far. And we hope this kind of activity continues. The kids are amazing, and I love spending as much time as I can with them. Getting to know they’re hearts is one of the biggest blessings. Looking for a great day tomorrow.

Shalom.

A Heavier Day

2011-10-19T12:18:00.001-07:00

Last night, like most nights we were sitting around the table blogging when we got a phone call from Jesca (Matron at the girls house). She called saying that one of our girls was very sick and couldn’t keep anything down. The girl happened to be Sylivia Nangobi, the girl I sponsor. We had a car at the house, but no keys, therefore they would have to come to us. Jesca and two of our boys showed up around 30 minutes later with Sylivia. She didn’t look too good. She showed up having been vomiting and with a fever. The kids house is a good 15-minute walk; so I can’t even imagine making that walk when all you feel like doing is dying. I can’t even imagine being sick in this culture and having to walk so far just to receive help. She showed up and Phil gave her some medicine, poor thing. All she wanted to do was sleep. We then debated whether or not to keep her here or send her to the kids’ house since she had exams in the morning and didn’t have any of her stuff with her.

[Sylivia is in Senior 4-equivalent to 10th grade and they have exams that last a month long. It is a government-regulated test; therefore there are no excuses for missing….even if you’re sick. If you miss a test, you have to retake the whole grade over again. You miss, you don’t pass, it’s as simple as that. So though my sweet girl was puking her guts out she still had to go to her exam. I can’t even imagine, I didn’t even like going to school when I was sick much less have to take a test.]

We decided she would get better rest here. We kept her in our room to make sure she was taken care of throughout the night. We got her a cold shower (at her request) and got her some clean clothes to put on. We tucked her into bed and went back to blogging and reading in the room. A few minutes after we got settled, Sylivia got up. We asked her if she was okay, and she said yes. We thought there wasn’t going to be a language barrier, and there wasn’t we just couldn’t hear! Although it’s hard when she has an accent, and quiet English. We kept thinking she was saying she wanted to go back to the “kids house” when really she just wanted to go to the “toilet”. So after five minutes of asking her to repeat herself, we showed her to the bathroom. Scary that Sue and I were left in charge of her. We can’t even understand the poor girl.

She slept through most of the night until about 2:30am, when she got up because she was nauseous again. After about 10 minutes, and after we made sure she was okay, she went back to sleep. The alarm went off at 5am so we could get her up and ready to be on the bus by 6am. It was about 5:15am when Phil got up because we were rustling around the house trying to get her ready. She hadn’t gotten any better, and was in fact feeling worse. Phil started making phone calls, while Sue and I stayed with her. After hopeless tries, Phil was finally able to get a hold of Peter (who owns the school). He came to the house so that Phil could get the key to the car in the front. Phil was finally able to get a hold of the doctor and they sent someone to the kids house to give Sylivia an injection. Since Sylivia had exams, Phil was going to stay with her at the school to make sure she was okay. They finally left the house around 8am, after getting things ready, to head to the children’s house for the injection then to the school for exams. She did fine during her first exam, but after about 30-minutes she felt sick again. She actually got worse instead of better. So Sylivia is once again back at the house to be taken care of. Angela and Rehema (two of the older girls) are here to stay with Sylivia throughout the night. Praying they can all get some rest and that she starts feeling better.

While Phil was away taking care of Sylivia at her exams, us girls were left on our own. So what do we do? We go back to bed! We were exhausted from being up all night, and slept till about noon. We finally got up, got showers, and headed to the table to eat. Esther was asleep on the couch, poor thing felt terrible. She got up and made us breakfast, then we told her to lie back on the couch and rest. If we couldn’t fix it then we didn’t need it. Sweet Esther, she is such a joy to have around and her laugh is so contagious. Her dodgeball impersonations are wonderful too! We waited for Susan to get here. Once she arrived she told us she was taking us on an adventure to see the country. We drove about an hour and a half. We had no idea where we were going. The country was beautiful; I can’t get over how pretty it is here. After a long drive and Susan constantly saying, “do you know where we are going? I think we’re lost.” (which is never encouraging when your driver is asking where you’re going), we arrive at a house with a ton of people standing around in the rain. Susan forgot to mention that she was taking us to a burial. Not sure how that slips your mind, but it did. So there we were two Mzungu’s in a far away village at yet our second burial in the past week.

We stuck out like a sore thumb to say the least. We could hear the children wailing as we approached the scene. We met the mother of the woman who had died and she led us to the spot where the woman was buried. We were introduced to her children, tears filled my eyes as Susan told us they were now all orphans. Come to find out the woman was the sister of the man who’s burial we went to on Monday. She died Monday night (after the burial of her brother) from a snake bite. Now Sue is deathly afraid of snakes, so the fact that we were sitting outside where this woman had gotten bitten by a snake was not comforting Sue one bit. She kept checking around her feet, and holding her skirt tightly so that nothing could crawl up it and surprise her later. It was a little ironic that we were at the burial of a woman who died from a snake bite, and we were all sitting on the ground while the children played in the tall brush around the house. Hopefully the snake was gone by now and wouldn’t be paying the family a visit again. On a serious note though, the woman left behind not only 1 child, but 8 children ranging from the ages of 13-1 years old. Their father had passed away within the last year, leaving the kids on their own. In this culture because there are no parents to take care of the kids, the oldest two girls will probably get married soon. If they don’t they will have no way to support themselves. And because they will get married, their husbands will not take the siblings, therefore leaving the younger ones to fend for themselves. Hopefully a relative or someone will take in the kids, but if not they will be left on the streets. I cant even imagine being 13 years old and having the pressure to get married because you have no other way to support yourself. Tears welled up as Susan explained the fate of these young children. The oldest two were crying at the death of their mother, while the young children were too young to even understand what was going on. It was an emotional moment as I realized the weight that these children now have to carry. The oldest two will now become wives, while the younger ones will struggle to not be left on the streets.

There are things about this culture that are really hard to take in, and this has to be the hardest one of all. When a child loses his parent in the States there is someone typically set as a guardian. When a child loses his parent in Uganda if there is no parent to take care of them, they are relying on the faithfulness of the Lord to take care of them. It’s a harsh reality, but it is the reality that many of these kids are living in. It’s been an emotional day, but it has been a good reminder of why I am here. To love on the widows and orphans, and show Jesus to the hurting.

Shalom.

One Mzungu+20 kids=a perfect day

2011-10-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

Today we woke up and decided that we needed to get out of the house. We have been cooped up in the house doing interviews and one more day just might do me in! Quickly after eating breakfast, Sue and I walked to the kid’s house to get some fresh air and to see them during their lunch hour. The girls’ dorm rooms look so good and have plenty of room! We walked through each one of them and I scoped out the walls for painting. I think the end product will look very nice. Vicki Marquez, wish you were here to help me paint! There is plenty of wall space for the scripture and words I’m planning on putting on the wall. I can’t wait to get it started and to let the kids help me! It will definitely be a blast. The kids will more than likely walk away with more paint on their bodies then on the wall. Phil will be so happy!:)

I love being greeted by tons of little kids running up and hugging us. It’s the best feeling in the world. They’re tiny little bodies all clinging to you at one time, making it impossible to move. We could barely make it through the gate to the kids’ house. They grabbed our hands and led the way. Before we were even at the gate we could see the kids running to greet us. We got to see most of the kids as they piled in for lunch. From the itty bitty’s to the older kids everyone had come to eat. I myself would be counting down the minutes until lunchtime. It’s the best part of the school day! I could not believe the amount of food they were given. So much food for such tiny little bodies. The posho (corn flour and water cooked together) was piled in their bowls topped off with some beans. I could not believe the amount of food it took to feed all the kids. I mean the pots were big enough for me to sit in. Guess if I ever misbehave they could just cook me and eat me for dinner. Better stay away from the cooks. We took pictures and played with the kids until lunch was ready, then headed back to Phil’s to get prepared for more……interviews.

On our way to Phil’s house Lucy and Ethel got to save the day! Right before we turned onto the main road to get back home, we saw a boy chasing three goats. He was running so hard after them and was able to catch up with the first two. So he grabbed the rope tied around their leg and we hurried to help him catch the third one. We caught his goat and handed him the rope. We were so proud of ourselves for helping a local catch his goat. The goats must have gotten loose, because they tie them to grass clumps and they sometimes wiggle loose.

I was getting cabin fever and decided to be un-helpful and instead go outside to play. The kids came through the gate and around to the back porch to patiently wait until it was their turn. They are so good! If you put me on a back porch for hours I would repeatedly whine. So I left Ethel to deal with the interviewing while I became 5 years old and colored and played on the front porch with the little kids. At one point I could count 8 kids, I went inside to grab more colors and walked out to face about 20 kids.

Guess my 5 coloring pencils weren’t going to work too well. I told them to share and was called back inside to help with the interviewing process. I was not very happy, as I had to sit inside while all the kids were pressing their faces against the window saying Mzungu (guess they refuse to call me Liz too). I so badly wanted to be outside and play with the sweet kids. I was like a child locked up in time-out and I was not a happy camper, well happy Mzungu. I finally found the chance to escape and I took it! Finally free at last, able to play with the kiddos. I sat outside with them as the girls played with my hair. They were messing it up more than they were fixing it, but it felt so good to have someone play with my hair again. The girls had so much fun playing with my hair, since they’re hair is kept short due to lice. After they got tired of playing with my hair and drawing, they started playing a game. I had no idea what they were doing from what I could see it was a lot of chasing and some random kids standing in the middle holding hands. It began to rain as we were playing, which made it so much better. Not only were the kids chasing each other, but they were now slipping and sliding all over the place. What fun! And Sue was stuck inside missing it all. (I realized how out of shape I was, and was super tired by the end of our time together) So grateful that Samuel Achila and Moses Kotol were there to explain the game to me. Otherwise this would have been one very confused Mzungu. Apparently you run around and if you get tagged, you go to the middle and form a chain, someone then has to run underneath your arms in order to set you free. Those two boys were very helpful in helping me to understand the game, and laughing at me when I got tagged. It happened quite often, mainly because the kids look alike and I couldn’t keep up with who was it! Thankfully Samuel and Moses were able to laugh and explain the game at the same time. Though they laugh at me, these two boys are my new favorites! Along with Paul Losiya. The fact that they all speak very good English is a huge advantage! I am able to keep full conversations with the boys and anytime I get confused I’m able to ask them to solve my confusion.

Paul Losiya currently has a sprained wrist from falling while he was playing soccer. So I was able to play nurse, isn’t that a scary thought! I made him promise me that he would keep it wrapped so that it could get better and I gave him drugs (Ibuprofen) to help with the pain. We are also going to help him with math and reading because there are some things he doesn’t understand. So I’m excited to say that I will be seeing more of him. Makes me so happy. He is such a nut and I have so much fun with him, plus his English is so good and it is very easy to understand what he is saying.

Jaimie I got to see Aloko Paul today. I didn’t even recognize him! He has gotten so big and looks so much older. He doesn’t have the little face like he used to last year. He definitely remembers you! I told him how you wanted to come with us. I forgot to give him his letter but I will give it to him tomorrow. Jen Taylor! Your boy Moses is precious and I wish you could have seen his face when we called you! He is such a good kid and has the purest heart. He is always so helpful and you would just love him! I can’t wait for the day when you get to meet him face to face.

Today was productive, on my part at least, interviewing not so much! Sue likes to run on American time while Phil, well has adapted quite nicely to “Ugandan” time. He is trying desperately to convert Sue to Ugandan time, while she is trying desperately to bring him back to American time. Maybe they can find a happy medium?.........Maybe not. Maybe they will both remain in their own time zones and we will move at the pace of a small turtle learning how to crawl. At least it will be the adventure we asked for. That is until Sue kills the small turtle for going so slow. Good thing Phil is not a small turtle and that he is sitting across the table out of harms way……for now. At least we can laugh about it and not throw the kitchen sink at each other.

While they throw sinks, you will find me out back playing with the kids. Language barriers can’t stop two things, loving and playing. No matter what language you speak you can always play (with a little charades in the mix to explain things), and you can always love. There are days when its as little as sitting on the front porch watching the sun go down, in order to let the kids know they are loved. There are days when it’s the simple hug that lets them know they are loved. And there are some days, when just simply sitting and being lets them know they are loved. It’s the simple things that mean the most to them. At the end of the day I am so tired. Little kids jump all over me, crawl into my lap anytime I sit, tickle me every chance they get, and hold my hand any second its free. These are thing I wouldn’t trade anything for. To simply come and be is the greatest gift you can give them.

Shalom.

Interviews, coloring, and a new village

2011-10-17T11:13:00.001-07:00

Today Sue and I slept in until 10am. It felt so good, and for the first time I GOT A HOT SHOWER!! Wohoo! I almost got stuck in the bathroom due to the door not wanting to open. So when the bear I mean Ethel finally woke up I told her about my incident. One being I finally got hot water, and second being I almost got stuck in the bathroom. We figured I could probably just crawl out the window. Sue would be taking pictures while I would try and leap from the toilet to the window in order to escape. We are a tad bit out of it in the morning, therefore our minds kind of wander. We crawled out of our room to be fed and take our drugs. We were waiting for Susan to come back from the bank, so we could hopefully go get more shoes for the kids. After about 2 hours of waiting, we looked out the window to see kids flood into the front yard. Phil had just walked back to his room to get some sleep when we called him back out to start the interviewing process. As he walked back in the room he was holding my sweet little shadow Phiona. He handed her off to me; and forever she remained in my lap.

I had been drawing out signs for the girls’ rooms. I told Phil that I wanted to put up posters with scripture and encouraging words in the kids’ rooms. He said instead of paper why don’t you just paint it on the wall that way it is permanent. I was so excited because this means I get to paint. Painting and crafts are my favorite. Anytime I am stressed or anxious I start to get crafty. It’s my emotional outlet. Sometimes the things that I can’t say in words I am able to get out in more creative ways. So needless to say I am very excited! So it looks like next Friday evening I will be having a painting date with the kids and their rooms. The markers I was using I was able to share with the kids and we had a fun time drawing. They are very good drawers and all the kids that came in for an interview we allowed to color during the process. They were so content with just sitting there and coloring for hours. It completely amazes me how something so simple can keep them so occupied.

Today we were able to get through seven interviews! That is major progress for us. We were very proud of Phil for getting so many kids through and for staying on task! It always amazes me when we hear their stories. As I was looking back at our list of children, it was so sad to see how many of our kids are completely without parents. There’s about 1/3 without parents. There are many reasons why their parents have died, some aren’t the reasons you would think. Many say their parents have died from sickness, which is hard to know what they really had, it could be from malaria or even aids. Another common one we saw was death by defending their cows. Which until you come here, you don’t understand the concept. It was hard for me not to laugh the first time, until I talked with Phil about it more. Cows are a status, like money in the bank. Because famine is so rampant, the cattle are the only things that survive. Each clan has their own cattle, therefore some die defending their clans’ cattle, or they die stealing another clan’s cattle. It seems comical until you realize the reality of it all. That is literally all they have. Because they have nothing else, they defend the most prized possession….. the cows. They run rampant here and many times they are tied to trees so that they are not stolen.

Then we have some of our kids who are run off by their mothers. The reason being that if a woman is left by her husband, and marries another man, her new husband does not take her kids. He has nothing to do with them; therefore the mother abandons her children. (There is much that I’m leaving out because I know some of my young girls are reading this) Some of our kids are abandoned at the death of their fathers. The mother knows that if she gets remarried the new husband will not take them; therefore she knows they will be taken care of if left with a mother or sister. So for some of our kids this is the only family they have. And then there are some of our children who have parents and are still living with them. But this unfortunately is not the case for most.

One of my favorite memories of the day was during the interviews. There were several questions we asked the kids to get to know them better, one of them being “what is your favorite sport or thing to play”. Many of them kept saying futbol, which is what they call soccer here. But the thing is all of them were girls and the girls here play netball. Phil finally said something, and how he had never seen any of those girls playing soccer. So Esther/Mama Jonah re-asked the question. Next thing we know she jumped up, threw her chair, and made a dodging charade. We then figured out what the girls were saying, they weren’t saying soccer they were saying “dodgeball”. We could not stop laughing. And you have to know Esther she can’t do anything without cracking up! She was laughing the whole time, and every time the girls said they liked to play dodgeball she would translate it back to us through laughter.

Another favorite memory was getting to play with the kids in between interviewing and them getting their picture taken. We got to jump around and chase each other and laugh and giggle. I’m thankful for the joy amidst the work! I was able to get some sunshine and some dancing in. Makes for a happy Lucy.

After we finished interviews Susan took us to the village where she grew up. We went for a burial, or what we call a funeral. It was for someone that Scovia had known. We are not quite sure what the relation was, it could have been an uncle, a brother, or even just a neighbor. We pulled up and got out and sat literally in the middle of the whole thing. It is very hard when you don’t speak the language, you don’t quite know what it going on. Everyone was just kind of sitting around in little groups talking amongst themselves. The kids were quietly playing and slowly inching closer and closer to us. Of course we were the only Mzungu’s in the entire village. So they were getting just close enough to stare but not touch as if we were statues or something. It was an eerie feeling, but it only lasted for a short while before we left. Susan just had to make an appearance and she wanted to drag us along to see the village. I’m glad she did, the village was beautiful. The colors are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Every color is so vibrant against each other. The blue skies boldly sticks out against the vibrant green leaves and the leaves stick out against the very brown/red dirt roads. It is beautiful, if I could paint it I would. Pictures don’t nearly justify the beauty.

Today was very humbling as we drove through that village. Around where Phil is we are used to the poverty and the kids running through the dirt streets with tattered clothing if any clothing at all. But for some reason driving through that village it hit me more. They are literally living in mud huts, no electricity, no clean water, no hot running water, no bed to sleep on, or a vehicle/bike to get into town. It hits harder to home when you realize what they lack and the way they live on absolutely nothing… basically. The way the kids run around making up games with sticks and their imagination. The way kids so small are carrying these big jerri cans of water to their home to bathe, and cook, and drink. The way young girls are sitting next to their mothers helping cook dinner and take care of the other children. The way the boys are out working (if not in school) to help provide for their family. It is a different way of living in a culture that is so foreign to us. There are many things that I have yet to understand, but I am learning to see the beauty in this culture. Living simply so that others may simply live.

Shalom.

Church and Children

2011-10-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

Well last night I went to bed around 7:30pm and didn’t wake up till about 9am. Needless to say, I got a full nights rest; feeling much better today and well rested to be with the kiddos. Today was church and I was SO excited because church always means…KIDS! And lots of them:) Church begins basically when the pastor, Phil, gets there. Therefore we missed the music, which is one of my favorite parts; maybe next Sunday we will make it on time. We took the scenic route to church this morning, past the goats, corn, and children yelling “Mzungu”. We had just gotten to the kids house when two of our children ran up, hugged us, grabbed our hands, and led us to church. Guess my GPS skills have a weak signal here in Uganda. On the upside I got to take a picture with a really cute girl along the way. And at one point we got honked at by a man on a motorbike, I looked at Sue and said, “Hey, its just like in America when two girls are walking down the street.” We showed up, and all the kids clapped as we took our seats in the front (which is always a little awkward). There wasn’t enough room for all the kids to sit in the church so this little boy who was about the age of 5 came and sat on my lap. He was the cutest thing ever! My butt was so sore, but he was so cute it didn’t really matter. Therefore, the sermon felt longer than it probably was. It was a good sermon but when one’s butt is tired, one hour seems like eternity. One of my favorite parts of the sermon was when Phil entrusted one of our boys Emma to interpret the sermon. Emma longs to be a pastor and I think he would make a great one. At one point this older gentleman stood up in hopes of taking over for Emma, because Emma was kind of struggling. Phil said something that I’ll never forget, he looked at the man and said this, “No! I want my children to be able to learn.” In the moment I didn’t understand what was going on, but later was able to figure out what had happened and was so proud that Phil let Emma stay though he could have easily dismissed him.

I was able to see all our kids, which is always so much fun! They all have such funny personalities, and each one is very unique. It’s hard to tell who they are on looks, but it is very easy to distinguish them by their personality. We stood outside the church for about an hour taking pictures, dancing, chasing each other, and laughing. Vicki, I got to see your sweet Samuel and gave him lots of hugs for you! He stood by my side the whole time and just laughed and smiled! He was so cute and I can’t wait for the day you get to meet him. He is so lovable and extremely joyful. He and I had a tickle fight today. I also got to hold another cute baby by the name of Benjamin (once again I somehow always end up with the babies). No idea whose baby it was, but I was holding it. As long as it didn’t pee on me I was fine. The minute it made a stinky I politely handed him back to Sue. And pretended like I had no clue he had pooped. Emma had so much fun running around with Sue’s camera, he was like the paparazzi and wouldn’t leave me or Sue alone. As long as they are having fun I guess.

I absolutely love our kids and though we don’t get much time with them, it makes me cherish every moment I do get with them. Coming in to this we imagined having way more time with them; but the reality is that they are in school most of the time. They get out of school at 4 and it gets dark at 5:30; and they are not allowed to walk after dark. So our time with them is limited. We are working more on relational things right now. We are taking the time to really get to know these kids and see who they are as a person, what they like and don’t like. It has been the biggest blessing, getting to see their hearts and how they interact with one another. The girls are precious and love to be chased and hugged and loved on. And believe me they are getting plenty of that. I go home and my skirt has gotten longer from all the pulling, my arms are covered in dust from them touching my skin, my feet are sore from all the chasing, but my heart is full from all the laughing. It is a blessing and joy to be here; though I wont really accomplish what I came here for, I will accomplish something so much greater; getting to know each child on a deeper level. That is just fine with me. Jesus is moving and flowing but in a way that I haven’t been giving him credit for,………until now. I think there is still more he wants to do, but the key to these kids’ hearts is relational, so that is where we are starting.

After church we bid our farewells to the kids and went to lunch. In the process of going to lunch we kidnapped a cute little boy by the name of Adrian, who is now referred to as Sue’s grandson. She has claimed him as her own and nobody will take him from her, or she might kill you. (Phil is now teaching us about their culture on a white board, we better pay attention or we may fail the class) We went to this little resort place we went to last year to have lunch. Dad you would be so proud because I actually ate my lunch that was looking at me. We ate fish, and when I say fish I mean the whole fish. Eyeballs and all. I kept poking my fish eye and asking Sue if she wanted it. We definitely played with our food before it was eaten (sorry mom and dad I couldn’t help myself), well at least Susan and I did. Maddie, I took a picture with an elephant statue just for you!

After lunch we came going back to Phil’s house to drop him off while us girls went to town to buy rice for the kids and minutes for the phone. We got to go into the market again, which is always an adventure. Sue and I get laughed at while Susan does all the bargaining. That’s probably because Sue has a camera attached to her face the whole time. And I would laugh at her too.

Next came taking Esther/Mama Jonah home. She lives across town and it takes her about an hour and a half to get to where Phil is. So we took her home this evening. We got to go to her village and were welcomed into her home. Its considered rude if you don’t go into someone’s home here in this culture, even if it is just for a little bit you make a sitting appearance. It is an honor for them to have you, so you take the opportunity to not disrespect them. We do want to go home living Mzungu’s after all. The village where she lived was very different than some of the ones we have visited. Mama Jonah’s village had a lot of trees with huge leaves. It was a very tropical feeling.

Jacque I got to see your sweet girl today at Scovia’s. The instant I saw her she came running and I scooped her up in my arms. Her feet didn’t touch the ground until I left. She laughed, giggled, and played with the nail polish on my fingers. Was so sad to say goodbye to her, and she held my hand the whole way to the car. From the minute I see her to the minute I leave her she never leaves my side. She is absolutely precious and such a little character.

Sue decided that she wanted to see if we could find her sponsored child, Rachel. So Susan drags us into this little village, parks the car, and walks through this little space between two houses. Leaving these two Mzungu’s, keys in the car, windows down, a camera, and a little boy named Adrian. Sue and I swore the village people could have taken us and nobody would have known. So Sue did what Sue does best, she started snapping pictures. What once was 3 little kids was now 8 and probably half of the village. Around 15 minutes later Susan comes back but now she has gained a woman. The woman gets in the car, we drive about 50 ft, and Susan and the woman get out…again. Leaving the two Mzungu’s again in a car surrounded now by about 15 kids. The weird thing is we were safer in that village in the car then we would have been in town. Susan never walks more than a couple of feet when she leaves us in the car when we go to town. So she obviously knew it was okay to leave us there with a bunch of kids, while Sue took repetitive pictures of the little boogers.

No luck, Rachel was not at home and we would have to try again another day. On the way home we passed a bunch of fruit stands. I asked Susan if we could possibly get some fruit. So I had my first bit of Jack fruit today! I was so excited, sure we bought it from some person selling it off a blanket near the soccer fields; but I didn’t care at this point. I was just excited to have some of my favorite fruit. I even shared some of my fruit with Moses (our house guard). I was just glad to be back home and have my sap hands (from the fruit) clean and ready for eating my fruit. Yumm. One happy Mzungu.

It looked like it was going to rain so we headed in for supper, only after walking two doors down to the local convenience store to buy a coke. And here we sit blogging away like little avid bloggers. We are becoming quite fond of our afternoons where we get to debrief on how our day was and what tomorrow might bring.

Shalom.

Interviews and a tired Mzungu

2011-10-15T09:39:00.001-07:00

Sadly we didn't have a comedy show this morning with the showers they worked quite nicely actually. We both got hot, well warm showers to wake us up. We crawled out of our hole just long enough to check emails and update our blogs. Just enough time before going back to bed around 11:30 for a nap! Yes u read that correctly, it is now Saturday and the time change has finally caught up with us! Tired and a little worn out, but still doing okay.

Today was spent on more interviewing! Therefore it was a long day in the house. We were able to get 5 more kids through before it was too dark for them to be out. We got to hear Emma and John Bosco's stories first. Followed by Paul Losiya, Asunta, and Babara Aile. Let me just say this, we have some amazing kids! When u hear where they came from and then what they aspire to be, it will blow you away.

They all have such funny and unique personalities. The three boys stayed later than everyone else and were having so much fun with the camera. They were making the funniest faces and cracking us all up.

There's more to say but I am just so tired and ready for bed. Sorry for such a short one today. Tomorrow is church and bible study so I'm sure I will have more to say and hopefully more energy.

Shalom.

“Mzungu want to die?” and a whole village on one hand.

2011-10-15T00:34:00.001-07:00

We woke up today to rain and it is still raining. It rained in the morning for about 4 hours straight. I haven’t seen consistent rainfall in so long I was almost shocked to see the wet substance falling from the sky. This morning, like most mornings, was very entertaining. I got up first to take my shower, while Sue lay in bed getting her last few minutes of “beauty” sleep. I turned on the water and stepped in, only to be greeted by FREEZING cold water. Someone might have well just pour ice cubes on me because at this point it wouldn’t have made a difference. I could barely breathe in between screeching and trying to keep the cold water from touching me any longer then it had to. If at anytime in my life I have considered going bald, it was that moment. Long hair+ ice water= one very unhappy and cold Lucy. Sue was very compassionate…oh wait, no she wasn’t she sat in her nice warm bed and laughed hysterically; that was until it was her turn to shower. You know the thing about us is, we go to bed laughing about the darn mosquito nets and we wake up laughing about the showers. Phil says he wishes he could record all the things we say and laugh about. He never gets the full force of our silliness; he just gets our retold stories of our adventures.

Sue was next in line for the shower; lucky for her she got hot water. Well that is if you count a drip of hot water a shower. We were laughing so hard as it slowly trickled on her head, she said, “at this rate ill be showered by November”. Because I was laughing so hard and in need to use the other bathroom to wash my hands, Phil asked what was so funny. I proceeded to tell him how there was hot water but only in rain drop form. We made Sue turn the water off for a few seconds so we could fix the problem. For the second morning in a row, Sue was left with no water and soap in her hair. Her water came back on quickly and was so hot it could’ve burned the skin off her body. Throughout the rest of her shower it went a lot like this ….hot, cold,warm,cold,hot,hot,cold. Needless to say our showers this morning were polar opposites (literally).

Now that you have a picture of the scenes we wake up to ill proceed to go into the rest of my day. After our comedy show of the shower in the morning we went to the living room to sit. It was raining still. I was reminded of a funny story from last night that I forgot to mention.

Death Tea:

I feel like our death tea is blog worthy. *No humans were harmed in the making of this tea, just a few taste buds* Sue in all her bright ideas decided to bring instant tea (just lost power AGAIN 3:00pm) to Uganda. It seemed like a great idea, but really was the worst thing ever!(Phil didn’t even like it, and he eats literally everything) Sue decided to share her death tea with us. Three people somehow ended up with four glasses of crappy instant tea. Mainly because Sue and Phil poured too much mix and had to pour it into a different cup to dilute it. Needless to say it was an epic fail and we laughed for about half an hour! All this while sitting under led battery powered lights because we had no power. We’re really getting thrown into this Ugandan culture thing. No power, no hot water, no tea, and no working mosquito nets.

After the rain finally stopped we had a window of about 30 minutes to go out and walk the streets. Sue grabbed her camera because she just hates taking pictures and we headed out the gate. What we thought would be a party of two ended up being a part of 15! Two Mzungu’s and 15 village kids all holding on to our hands. They were absolutely precious. It was so fun walking up and down the street taking pictures and seeing them giggle as they kept talking to me and I had NO IDEA what they were saying. This Mzungu is language challenged and really needs to work on it. Good thing I didn’t let Sue go alone she would have been run over. She gets in her picture mode and is clueless to everything else, which is not good in a foreign country where pedestrians don’t have the ride away and will be RUN OVER! Ethel constantly heard the phrase, “Mzungu want to die?”. I had to be the mother today and keep her from playing in the street and she wonders why I won’t let her go alone. I don’t want to bring a pancake Sue back to Steve in the US I don’t think he would appreciate that very much. It was super muddy and I helped a girl carry a jerry can full of water to her destination and about ate it in the mud. Unfortunately I was born with no grace and that would have been a sight for the Ugandans to see….”Mzungu-0 Mud Roads-1”. Thankfully I didn’t fall and give the Ugandans even more reason to laugh at me. It began to pour so we headed to the house to take shelter. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed in.

A few minutes after we sat down we saw about 10 of the kids coming into the yard. We are trying to get more information about these kids so we are bringing them in two by two’s to interview. Today we talked with Jenifer Kawudha (a new child) and Carolyn Amulen. They are both beautiful girls and it was so amazing to get more background on them. Everything from what happened to their parents, to what they want to be, to their favorite color, and so on. I can’t wait to get to know the kids better and here more about their stories and who they are. One of the beautiful things about being here is that we get to be more relational with the kids because we have the time to. So we get to know them on a more personal level. Maybe this means I will be better about remembering their names…maybe not since I cant even pronounce them. Oh well, they might all just get tired of me asking and start making up names, that is very likely to happen as well.

(We lost our power AGAIN 7:04pm) Tonight was a good meal consisting of Mac & cheese, fried fish, and potatoes. Going to enjoy it because this is not the normal. Usually it consists of rice, beans, and chicken. Which isn’t bad still have yet to have posho, having the consistency between mashed potatoes and oatmeal. It is actually one of my favorites. Missing the fruit that we normally have. We will have to fix that pronto or Liz is going to wander into the market and get it herself!

Laughing hysterically, Sue has refused to tell me that I needed to use TWO fingers to tap in order to correct a word in the Word Document on her laptop. This whole time I have been using one finger to tap the dang screen and NOTHING has been happening. That is strike 5 for Ethel. One more and I’m feeding her to the LIONS!

Since Phil and Susan are not feeling too well and we need some things from town; Sue keeps telling Phil she will drive. She then proceeds to ask, “which side of the road do you drive on again?” Since here they drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver is on the opposite side of the car. That is an accident waiting to happen.

Please be in prayer for Susan, she is sick with typhoid currently. She is a very good patient. She came to the house today because it is easier for her to be here to get taken care of. She is on an at home IV for the next two days. Praying that she takes it easy and isn’t too hard on herself just because we are here. Susan is so funny and we couldn’t do half the things we do without her. Praying that she has a quick recovery and that her and her baby Kaith stay healthy! Also please be in prayer for Phil as he is not feeling to well himself. Sue keeps telling him to stay on the opposite side of the table and not face his chair towards us. And to keep his sickness to himself, he can share anything with us BUT that! That is all for tonight.

Shalom

Market, shoes, and a downpour....

2011-10-13T13:05:00.001-07:00

This morning we were able to finally take a SHOWER!! Praise the Lord for that, because I know that all of you were worried about that. Sue finally rolled out of bed at 8am and she strictly told me that she wasn’t getting up till then so I better not bother her. The last thing I remember about last night before falling asleep is laughing at Sue whine about there being a hole in her net; therefore making it completely pointless. Phil could hear us all the way in the other room! He’s probably now regretting the decision to let Lucy and Ethel come to Uganda….and stay in his house. Anyways, we finally crawled out of the hole we call a room around 8:30am. It felt wonderful to finally get a shower and have power again! We were able to send emails and update our blogs.

We went into town to get a sim card so we could phone home….just call us e.t. That was interesting in order to get our sim card we had to trade our American dollars for Ugandan shillings. So we are in the middle of town on a little side road/market (every street is a market) and Susan just stops the car. A little confused me and Sue ask her if this is where we get out to trade the money. She says the man is on his way. Literally the guy walks up to our window, counts the shillings, Susan hands him our money, and that’s it. A little sketchy but who’s asking.

We then decide that we are going to start buying shoes for the kids. The kids get out around noon for lunch so we went to pick up 5 boys to take to town. We crammed all five boys plus me in the back (it was like youth events with John all over again) and headed into town. After the boys we went to the kids house to go get 5 girls. They were the cutest little bunch of girls everywhere, holding my hand and looking at my nail polish the whole way! So precious. They picked out the pair of shoes they wanted and we brought them back.

Back to the house…..or so we thought! Baby Kaith was at Scovia’s house crying because he was hungry so we hopped back in the car to go see baby. He is the cutest little thing and I love being able to hold him. Especially because unlike some African children he wears a diaper and I don’t have to worry about him peeing on me. That is always a plus. While we played and took pictures with baby Kaith we were able to talk with Scovia some. She was sitting on the floor making a mat. The colors she used were so beautiful and I was amazed at how much time they take. Two weeks to make just one mat! I would give up after the first day, so I admire her for her hard work because the end result will be lovely.

We head back to Phil’s house and Susan drags us into the market. Little did we know the market is a lot bigger than it looks. Me and sue thought it was just the street that was the market……but it goes way back even beyond the street and is about a block long. It was amazing to see all the colors of the vegetables and fruits they were selling and all the beautiful women selling their produce. They had the most beautiful smiles so Sue was able to capture a few of them at work. They were very willing to stop and take a picture and actually most of them enjoyed it. I told Sue that she wasn’t allowed to take any pictures of men with knives (who were cutting the meat) because if they start throwing them at us I’m not saving her……Ethel would be on her own this time. The market was awesome but it made us appreciate HEB that’s for sure. Glad I don’t have to see my meat as if it was skinned and thrown on the table, flies and all. I’m thinking not. Susan was incredible in the market, it was hard to keep up with her. She was off many times leaving us two Mzungu’s (white people) standing there like idiots getting mocked I’m sure. It was an adventure and memory I will never forget. Susan always tends to bring me on crazy adventures while I’m here. The three of us are always bound to get ourselves into something.

We finally got home will all our goodies from the market. We saw the kids for a bit as it was beginning to rain. I got to see my sweet Phiona again this evening. We were able to let her talk to her sponsors/future parents Jacque and Mike. What a blessing that was to take part in that. She sat on my lap and just giggled the whole time…that little monkey! She never leaves my side and is the cutest little leach I’ve ever seen (Sue is the second cutest leach I’ve ever seen). Her laugh and smile brighten my day, and I fall more in love with the little girl who stole my heart my first trip.

SURPRISE! The power is out once again. We had some heavy rain for about 10 minutes a little while ago. So no power and no internet, therefore me and Phil are playing skip-bo. Power came on a few hours later and Sue was so excited she forgot what she was saying. She was just excited to be able to actually post her blog on the correct day! Hoping to start up bible studies this next week as soon as we get shoes done and have time to solely pour into them. Its hard with school but it will all work out okay!

Shalom,

Liz and Sue

San Antonio, Washington, Brussels, Kigali, Entebbe......HOME!!

2011-10-13T01:13:00.001-07:00

After a somewhat rocky start we finally made it to Brussels. Two women+ 1 hour of sleep= a really exhausted crew! We arrived in Brussels at 7:30am their time, which in turn is 1:30am San Antonio time, we were a little grumpy. But at least we were grumpy together! A somewhat delirious crew mossied their way into the Brussels airport; which is massive by the way, only to feel completely clueless as to where we needed to go from there. When you have to take a bus to get to your terminal, you know it’s going to be an adventure. They really didn’t know what they were doing when they sent two somewhat directionally challenged women to a foreign airport. Thankfully we had two brains to put together and two hours to find the dang T 69 gate. Who follows A and B terminal with the letter T?? Only in Brussels. We were literally the only people in the airport at the crack of dawn……lucky us! While everyone back home was peacefully sleeping, we were wondering around the airport. I had the opportunity to talk to a lovely woman who lived in Kampala, Uganda most of her life. She lives in Denmark now but was headed home for her 5 weeks off to visit home. I luckily was able to talk with her, for the 45 minutes before we boarded, about Uganda and everything about the culture. She was hilarious when talking about the culture and how she liked being away from all the “lazy” people but grateful to see her family every time she went home to Kampala.

We finally boarded the plane for Entebbe and let me tell you that was THEE LONGEST flight of my life! I slept for maybe…well actually I have no idea, but when I woke up it felt like we had been on the plane for like 4 days. Thankfully we had the cutest little African baby girl running around our plane to keep us occupied. The last 10 minutes felt like 10 hours, needless to say we were grateful to finally land in Entebbe even if we had to walk off our plane through a set of stairs like back in 1960’s.

Then it was off to corral our 10 bags of luggage! I told Sue to stand back and watch while I got the dang boxes. (someone has to watch the stuff otherwise it will get stolen, therefore Sue was the luggage guard) If anyone has ever seen the I Love Lucy episode where she tries to get the cookies off of the conveyer belt, then you have the image of me grabbing 10 50lb boxes off of the carousel. See mom I told you it was going be like Lucy and Ethel traveling across the world. Sue would have been useless anyways because she was laughing so hard at me. But we did it, well with the help of one gentleman pushing the cart. We exchanged bibles, in return for customs not to take any of the medicine we brought for the kids. Go Jesus! We finally met up with Phil, Susan, Peter and Scovia…and baby Kaith!! They brought us flowers and all… man aren’t we just rockstars!

We arrived at the flight motel and were so happy to finally be lying horizontal to sleep. It felt nice to sleep in until 9 and be back on Uganda time. We started the 6 hour journey to Iganga! Wohoo for sitting for 6 more hours insert sarcasm here. It felt good to be home again and to be traveling down dirt roads. I’m always shocked at the beauty of this country. Beautiful grass and plants are so vibrant against red dirt roads. I love to just hang my head out the window like a dog and take in all the culture and people….and try not to get my head or any other body part chopped off by the fast passing cars in the process.

Somehow I always end up with the baby. Susan kept passing me her new little baby Kaith to feed, entertain, whatever. Good thing he was cute and I wasn’t so anxious to hand him back otherwise she would have been out of luck. Glad to get my baby fix in. Next eventful thing was eating chicken on a stick in the middle of the jungle… basically. Along the road in the middle of nowhere there is this market type place where chicken on a stick and roasted plantains are shoved through your window (if your dumb enough to leave it open). Thankfully none of us are dumb enough and we let Susan do all the bargaining and picking. She’s pro at it…the fact that she is Ugandan I’m assuming helps. I don’t know how it is cooked or what it is cooked over; but the fact that it is delicious helps me not to ask. I like to use the, “don’t ask just eat it” rule for this one. It hasn’t killed me yet so we’re fine. As soon as we were done having chicken thrown in our windows we continued on our way!

It was so good to pull up to the house and see all the sweet faces of the kids. Vicki I could see your sweet Samuel standing first in line to greet me as I stepped out of the van. So good to see his beaming smile again. Jaque I saw your sweet little girl Phiona as she came running as soon as I put my foot on the ground. She never left my side or let go of my hand as I greeted the rest of the children. You are a lucky woman to have the opportunity to adopt such a sweet girl! I told her ya’ll say hello and gave her a BIG hug for you guys! I greeted the rest of the children but couldn’t see my sweet girl Sylivia. I turned to head into the house to help take in luggage wondering where she was at and sad that I didn’t see her. As I walked back outside to grab more stuff I could hear my name being called, before I could even look up I knew it was my girl! I was so excited to see her and be able to hug her again. She held tight as she repeatedly told me how glad she was we were there and how she was so excited to see me. It always hits me emotionally as I get to hug her and so excited to be able to have a month with her and all the kids.

We prayed with the kids and sent them to their house to eat dinner. That was all we saw of the kids for the night as it was getting dark. We headed into the house to eat….in the dark. The electricity would go out the first night we arrive. Starting this trip out right I guess. Luckily I have my HEAD LIGHT which Sue thinks is totally ridiculous and laughs at me for; but really she’s just jealous that she doesn’t have a cool head lamp like me. So it is Wednesday night and I have yet to take a shower….not gunna happen tonight either. Oh well, guess me and Sue will just smell together! Aren’t you jealous?! Because you should be, only the cool kids don’t shower for three days. Maybe tomorrow that will happen. But for tonight we will catch up with Phil and be thankful for finally arriving!

Shalom

Liz and Sue

And were off......

2011-10-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

After a rough start checking in, we were able to get on our merry way! The Lord is faithful and has paved the way before us...I need to remember that! He has brought us this far and He will bring us the rest of the way! In Washington waiting to board our flight for Brussels! Prayers for a smooth flight :)

Shalom

2011-10-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

On my way to practice this morning I was enjoying the rain as it came pouring down! Like most mornings i was listening to Gungor as I was praying about my upcoming trip! As I was pulling onto Old Boerne Road I looked in my rear view window and saw the word Shalom! I have no idea how it got there. It must've been written in the dust only to be revealed by the pouring rain. It was exactly what i needed this morning. I started laughing so hard at the faithfulness of the Lord! This indeed will be an amazing trip and the Lord has prepared and encouraged me every step of the way!

Ephesians 6:12-20

2011-09-25T08:20:00.001-07:00

Ephesians 6:12-20 KJV

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies........"

2011-09-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend was incredible. There’s this conference by the name of World Mandate that hits specifically on missions. This conference is something very close to my heart; for this is where it all began. This is where the Lord put a desire in my heart for ministry. This is the place where I asked God to “send me” to “lead me into the dark places”. But this is also the place where He called me out and told me to go. This is the place where the Lord began the healing process of all my past wounds. This is the place where the Lord gave me a hope and a future; a higher calling on my life. This is the place where my Daddy became my Father. And as the amazing Father that He is, this is the place where He took my hand and led me into His promise.

This conference was unlike the rest for me. In the past I have always been seeking the Lord during this weekend, always asking where He wanted me. Going into it this time though, I know where He has called me. I know the land in which He has called me to “go”. So unlike the rest, this weekend was a weekend of confirmation and encouragement. He has stirred my heart for Africa (specifically Uganda) and He hasn’t relented since. I leave in three weeks to go back “home” and I can’t even explain my excitement! I never knew I could love a place so much. It is the place that is home for me, but most importantly it is the place that God has called me.

Doing mission work was never my plan. And quite honestly it was the farthest thing from it. But im so glad it was His, im glad that His plan was 100x better than mine. I’m glad that God didn’t let me follow my own plan. I’m glad that He broke my heart for what breaks His. I’m glad that His plan is humbling and requires much faith. I’m glad that He doesn’t make it easy. Because then I would never lean on Him.

I cant think of a better way to spend my life than doing kingdom work! At a young age God gave me the desire to work in an orphanage in Africa, im grateful that He opened that desire back up. It is something that I never thought would happen so I pushed it aside. Thank goodness my God is bigger than any circumstance and that He opens doors that many say can’t be opened. My God can move a mountain, part a sea, talk from a burning bush, and open a door that no man can!!

There’s always a point after each session to go up and be prayed over. Since im a shy human being and slightly awkward I don’t really like people I don’t know to pray over me. It’s dumb I know, but im just being honest. But I decided to step out of my bubble and go up to get prayer. I walked up to a girl on the prayer team and she asked me, “What can I pray for?” I told her about my trip to Uganda and that I just wanted prayer for that. I didn’t want to give her too many details because I wanted to see how the Lord was going to speak to me. She began to pray the basics like for safety, for more knowledge of you, etc. But then she said something that only the Lord knew I was fearful of, what she said next struck the deepest part of me.

She said, “I feel like the Lord is saying that there is power in your words, that power is at the tip of your tongue, so not to be afraid but to speak out against whatever may come at you and to speak into things.” Oh hey Jesus! You know my heart completely.

The one thing I worry about is teaching these kids about Jesus. Sounds crazy since that is what im going over there to do. I always feel like I don’t know enough or that I don’t have the knowledge like others. I don’t remember scripture and my faith is more personal than biblical. I know Jesus because of the works He has done in my life not because of my bible knowledge. But as I thought about it more, I took what she had said even deeper. Lord what do you have prepared for me? Because this is the scripture He keeps giving me:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” –Ephesians 6:12

It makes me wonder, am I not only going to be having power in the things I teach but in the things that are cast out? Hmmm, makes me even more excited to see what is in store! The Lord is on the move and let me just say it is extremely powerful! I have a feeling this trip is going to be above and beyond what we could ever imagine. I have a strong feeling the Lord is going to bring it down hard while we are in Uganda. EXCITING! This makes me even more anxious to get over there. I cant wait to see our kids and the wounds that the Lord heals. I cant wait to see how He wraps His arms around them and whispers tenderly that everything will be okay. I cant wait to see the hearts that are broken for Him. I cant wait to see the transformation as our kids fully surrender themselves to the Lord. I cant wait to see joy in their eyes as they experience what TRUE freedom feels like. I cant wait for the darkness to be overtaken by the light. I cant wait for miracles to happen before our eyes. I cant wait for EVERYTHING the Lord has promised to be true and become reality. I cant wait……I just cant wait! But for now I must……..

Going Home

2011-08-21T06:52:00.001-07:00

“use my hands and use my feet to make your kingdom come

to the corners of the earth until your work is done”

Hip Hip Hooray!! Our tickets were purchased today!! (well actually a few days ago) All systems are a go…we will be Africa Bound in a little less than two months! Praise the Lord for His hand among everything. What seemed like a dream and a desire is now becoming even more of a reality! I cant tell you how EXCITED I am!:) Its like Christmas in August for me! We will be heading out on October 10^th and returning on November 9^th! Prayers PLEASE!! The Lord is moving in tremendous ways but we are still in prayer about details once we land in Iganga. I feel like a little girl again, all I want to do is dance around the house. Kind of like when you have your first crush and all you can do is think about him and dance around the house like a crazy bafoon. Don’t act like you don’t know what im talking about. I know that this is where the Lord is calling me and I cant wait to see what He has in store. I would be totally okay with doing mission work for the rest of my life. (sending that request to God…uhh….now!) I would love to go and live somewhere overseas for a few years and just do mission work. Praying my husband is down for that…..because, well, he’s going to have to be. Super excited for that season of my life, but in no rush. Everything is in the Lords timing:)

So thankful for everyone’s support, prayers, and words of encouragement over the past couple weeks. As we prepare for this trip, every word of encouragement makes a HUGE difference. It helps confirm that the Lord is faithful and that we are in His will.

“And I place my life inside your hands,

you hold for me a perfect plan,

you are the beginning and the end

you have plans for me,

your giving me a hope and a future”

Im so grateful for the group of people the Lord has graciously placed in my life. They have encouraged my dreams, prayed for my safety, and loved on me the whole process. As the trip gets closer, it becomes more real to me. It wont hit me until I board the plane, then it will be something more like “WHAT?! im going to Africa!! sahweet! laterbye Texas..Hellloooo Uganda” Tag team Henderson and Mendoza are about the take Africa by storm! Were going to be like a tsunami of love and mercy over these sweet children….hope they’re ready for it! Cant wait to hear their sweet voices and see they’re sweet faces. So ready to chase some soon-to-be-dinner chickens around in the front yard and pick potatoes by hand from the farm. I’m ready to walk the streets with the kids as they relentlessly pull me through the city telling me to hurry up. Ready for the girls to attempt to teach me their language, yet laugh hysterically while I butcher every word miserably. Ready for Kenneth to ask me a million times a day “Mzungu want to die?” as I attempt to do something ridiculous. Ready to hold my little girl Phiona as she falls asleep in my arms. Ready to play me some “chicken chicken dog” with the kids until the sun goes down. Ready to sit on the front porch talking about our pet dogs with the boys as they laugh hysterically. (dogs run loose in Africa and nobody keeps them as “pets”) Ready to see the country that Dr. Seuss MUST have visited. Literally the plants and trees and animals there look like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. its….AWESOME! Ready to randomly hear me some Shakira as we drive thru the dirt roads with Susan. Ready to be …………home.

A "homeless" heart

2011-07-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

This past week we took a trip to beautiful Denver, Colorado. I fell in love with this place AGAIN. Seriously every time I go there it gets better and better. This trip was unlike the rest though. Normally people go to Denver to vacation and explore the beautiful city; yet we went there to work with low income children and homeless people. Honestly I kept forgetting that I was even going on this trip because of everything else I had going on, like work and getting things ready for Africa in the fall. It literally wasn’t until we pulled into Denver that I realized “oh yeah im here for a youth mission trip”. Its crazy and annoying at times how because of the busy-ness of life we could even forget that were on a trip to do kingdom work.

Going into this trip I hadn’t been in prayer like I had for Africa, I almost wasn’t taking it seriously. I think that is because it wasn’t a place I chose to go but rather a place I was required to go to because of my intern position at the church. (that sounds bad but it’s the truth) I didn’t choose this trip it definitely chose me.

The first night we did a prayer tour, which was awesome. We got to see all parts of the city, even the parts that people don’t or refuse to see. Over the next couple of days it consisted of playing with kids, feeding the homeless, playing bingo with the seniors, exploring an Asian market, handing out pastries to day laborers, and talking with various homeless people.

Being a youth leader you kind of take a step back and let the kids take the reigns on trips like these. You watch as their hearts are at work. And you get the opportunity to love on them as they go and step out of their comfort zones. You are there to help “supervise” and comfort them as their hearts begin to break for the circumstances that surround them. You pour into them as they pour into the people they interact with. I tell you if you’ve never had the opportunity to go as a “leader” it’s the best thing ever. Im constantly overwhelmed by the group of teenagers I have the privilege of serving. They blow me away constantly and this trip was no exception to that.

We had a night of just worship and prayer on the last night we were there. It seriously was one of the hardest and greatest nights ever. As many of my girls began to weep due to the hard situations they were facing; I couldn’t hold back tears. John Hinkebein, our youth pastor, constantly asked me if I was okay, in which I constantly replied “im good”. It wasn’t that I was personally hurting, rather it was that I was hurting for my girls. Yes, ha I consider them “my girls”. They are like my little sisters and whenever they hurt I can’t help but hurt for them. I don’t like to see them in pain or to see that they have been wounded. Therefore I hurt for them and I hurt with them. These girls are what make taking a year (or more), off from starting college absolutely WORTH it. I wouldn’t trade my job for anything. Showing them the love of Jesus is my priority not college. And I think God is okay with that;)

After hearing about how many of them have seen Jesus transforming their lives this past week; I started wondering about the purpose of me being on this trip. Maybe it was to stay up with some of my high school girls till wee hours of the night so they could discuss the things they struggle with. Maybe it was to be surrounded by kids who are so desperately wanting more of Jesus, and having the joy of loving on them. Maybe it was because we needed leaders because of the high interest of kids wanting to go on this trip (which is awesome) Maybe it was to witness the awesomeness of one of our kids FULLY accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Or maybe, just maybe it was because there was something the Lord wanted to teach me.

That is, He has given me a “homeless” spirit. Before you look at me cross eyed and say “liz, what in the world does that mean?” Let me explain. Not homeless in the sense that I don’t have a home, but in the sense that the Lord never allows me to be comfortable. What does this mean? It means that the Lord has shown me that everything is temporary here on this earth. When I start to become comfortable with my surroundings, I start to become stubborn toward where the Lord is trying to move me. Whether it’s a physical destination or a spiritual destination. I never want my “home” to become an idol and something that hinders me from allowing God to guide me where He needs me to be. I think the Lord wants us to have a homeless spirit. In that we are never satisfied with where we are at but rather we are always willing to respond to what the Lord has in store for us. Is it going to be easy?? Absolutely not! Its never easy to leave the things we find “comfort” in, yet when we realize that Jesus is our comfort we see that it is possible. When we make our home in Jesus, we allow him to plant us anywhere. Many have heard the saying “home is where the heart is” but what if instead of heart it was Jesus? “home is where Jesus is”, if we were a generation of people who started looking at our homes not as a permanent settlement, but rather as a temporary shelter on our way to the next step, we may be a lot better off. We would leave room for Jesus to move us to places like Denver, Colorado or Houston, Texas, or even Iganga, Uganda, so that the good news and love of Christ may be shared with all.

Tends to be a trend..

2011-06-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today has been so much fun BUT so crazy busy. But amidst all the chaos the Lord has been really funny to me. As I continue to prepare for my upcoming trip, I some days find myself wanting Africa more and more. So today started like any other day, yet it ended as an extraordinary day:) the Lord left "African fingerprints" all over my day today.

First I got in my car to head to staff meeting like I do every Thursday. So I turn on the car and turn up the stereo like normal; yet normally I have my country music playing like Eli Young Band, Randy Rogers, a little bit of some Kenney, you know....the good stuff! But today I decided to flip to the radio to see what was playing. So I turn to 96.7 which I rarely ever do! Normally I stick to country or Christian, its just how I roll. But today I decided to be a little risky ha, so I flip over and the Bobby Bones(?) Show is playing and I'm kinda listening to what they have to say and not really paying attention until I hear the word Africa. I was like wait wait wait, hold the phone, did he just mention Africa? So I start actually paying attention, apparently one of the girl hosts on the radio is currently in Africa so they were trying to see if they culd get her live on the air from Africa. I thought it was odd how it randomly popped up. So I started to ask God okay what do u have for me today?

Then I get to staff, Linda and I pull up at the same time and so I stopped her and asked her how her trip to Africa went before we headed in. So as she is telling me about her trip and the vision the people over there had there for the village and orphans, my heart began to melt. It was so powerful and encouraging as to how these people are working with these kids. It makes me heart dance with utter joy!!! She was telling me about how they basically hold a camp there for the local kids all throughout the summer, which is such a neat picture of ministry. Needless to say i was encouraged and made the urge for the trip even greater.

So by now its not even 10 am and Africa has already come up twice! So I go to my meeting and meet with my staff, who by the way are awesome! Can I just say how much I love my church?? Anyways John (my boss) needed a ride to the Loft so I went to go take him there, as I was on my way to drop him off I saw that I had a missed call from Sue.

I call Sue Henderson as soon dd I drop off John. So what does she want to talk about?? Africa!! Of course she does! So I talked with her about dates and a potential third member to go with us. All steps toward the preparation of our trip. I get off the phone with her and go back to the meeting.

It's now about 12:30 and Africa has come up 3 times now. It's starting to be weird how it keeps coming up ha! So I go to lunch with some member of the staff and we talk a little about Africa. Of course we do! I was telling them how I had written my letter but the only part o haven't written is the part where i talk about the cost of the trip and sponsorship. The part I hate most. I've almost thought about just keeping it out. I don't know I need to pray more about it.

I get done with lunch and head into town. I'm doing my thing, minding my own business, when I get s text message. It's my aunt. I rarely if ever txt my aunt. So I look to see what she says......of course..its something to do with Africa. Now its becoming unsurprising and I'm now expecting it to POP up! Have u ever had that? Where something occurs so much in one day that u just begin to expect the weirdness of it all?? So my aunt proceeds to ask me about where, when, what orphanage, and various other things about my previous trip to Africa. Excitedly I give answer her questions and curious as to why she is asking. Apparently there is a young girl working in her office who went on a mission trip to Ghana, Africa, and was wondering if we had gone to the same place. Of all the days to ask me, she picked today.

So to top off the day a song with a catchy tune comes on the radio. Now I'm only posting this because of the Africa part ha. So don't get mad if its a bad song. I didn't read into it this part just caught my ear

"Five in the air for the teacher not scared to tell those kids thats living in the ghetto that the n-ggas holdin back that the World is theirs!
Yeah yeah, the World is yours, I was once that little boy
Terrified of the World
Now I’m on a World tour
I will give up everything, even start a world war
For these ghettos girls and boys im rapping round’ the World for!
Africa to New York, Haiti then I detour, Oakland out to Auckland
Gaza Strip to Detroit, say hip-hop only destroy
Tell em’ look at me, boy!"
Lupe- The Show Goes On

It was just comical to me how just the simplest things in my day all continuously pointed back to one thing.....Africa. the place that stole my heart

The perfect person

2011-06-08T21:38:00.001-07:00

"I can see widows and orphans through my tears, I know my call despite my faults and despite my growing fears"
-the Cave (mumford and sons)

Jesus calls us to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27). I'm so ready to do that! I can NOT wait to get back to Africa! It is what has consumed my thoughts for the past couple of days; and I constantly feel like I'm in this fog!! The Lord is definitely moving. Right now we are looking into flights and dates that work for the both of us. Me and Sue Henderson will be taking this trip together, its awesome how God picked her to travel with me. When I had first met with Phil in Sue about potentially going back i felt comfortable about everything except for one thing......traveling alone. So after meeting with them on Friday, I got a phone call that following Monday morning from Sue. She said that she had been praying and really felt the Lord say that someone needed to go with me, and that someone was her. Therefore she told me that she wuld go with me, unless I felt comfortable flying by myself! It's funny because I had prayed about it saying Lord you know that this is my fear but I lay it in your hands to bring the right person to take this journey with me. I prayed for it to be someone who I knew, that I felt comfortable with, and to tell you the truth I couldn't have picked a better person! Sue is the perfect one to go with me. In a way she is like a mother to me (I tend to have a lot of second mothers), I know that she will watch over me and love me as if I was her own. Africa has no idea what duo is about to hit them!! I love love LOVE the way Jesus works! So stinking cool! Prayers as we go into the beginning stages of our trip. Praying for the Lords guidance and blessing every step of the way! ......let's do this:)

Liz is finally writing a Blog?

2011-05-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

My first trip to Africa was this past summer for two weeks, with Riverside Community Church, my new church home. It was the best trip of my life and it was painful to have to come back home. I miss everything Uganda has to offer, from the beautiful children to the freshest fruit I’ve ever eaten. Boarding the plane to come back to the US I knew this would not be my last trip to a land that felt so much like home. This past year I have been a youth intern, working with middle school and high school aged kids. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have found a community of my own and have been surrounded by INCREDIBLE people who love Jesus in a way I’ve never seen before. Our staff is the best and I just feel like I added more people to my family. They’re the family I got to choose or rather chose me. I have really seen the hand and heart of God and what it looks like and means to be in love with the Maker. He has taught me above and beyond what I could ever imagine knowing at 19! I did not attend school this year for the sole reason of me not feeling called there just yet. It sounds CRAZY I know, but it is the honest truth. When the Lord moves, He moves, and makes it blatantly obvious so that I don’t miss it! So I took the year off to really focus on what the Lord was calling me to do. To tell you the truth I am exactly where He needs me to be. If I would have attended school this year I would have missed EVERYTHING He needed to teach me in preparation for whatever the heck He has in store for me. So I am thankful for the Lords direction and for Him being a loving gentleman and opening the doors for me to walk through. Needless to say He has guided every step this year; He is continually walking before me, after me, and most importantly with me. I am confident in His plan and really…..im just along for the ride. There are definitely days where it’s hard to be patient and wait on Him, but He has proven that He is faithful.

This is where my story begins…..First off I would like to say that I absolutely HATE blogging, journaling, writing, etc. But because He has told me it’s not my story to keep but His story to tell I write. The Lord is moving in ways that I didn’t imagine were possible. For some reason He has stirred my heart for Africa. Since I was 5 years old I have always told my mom that someday I wanted to work in an orphanage in Africa so that I could help the kids there. Being five years old my mom had doubts but always encouraged me to follow my dreams. Here I am at 19 years old planning my second trip back to Africa to work in what? That’s right! An orphanage! Praise God for bringing me to the right place at the right time. It started as a hope and desire back in August of 2010 (took my first trip to Africa in June/July 2010) to return back to Africa for a longer period of time to work with the kids. That hope and desire is slowly becoming a reality. The Lord is piecing together the puzzle and im overly excited! Like to the point of jumping up and down and dancing around like a crazy person at the thought of going back!:) I am aiming to go back in the Fall of 2011 to disciple and mentor some of the older girls in the orphanage. I will be there for a month or longer if the Lord calls me to stay. Therefore I will be blogging my crazy adventure for those who wish to follow along. I do warn you my writing may not always make sense and it will be completely honest; but it will be a step into my thoughts and feelings (hah as scary as that may be). So take this journey with me and enjoy.

“And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you. “

Luke 12:29-31