June 15 2011

Here is the last post from Uganda last year! Enjoy!

June 15, 2011

We left Mbale today :-(

(well yesterday now. I lost wifi last night so I’m posting this today.)
It’s very hard for me to be excited about this safari right now. I know I should be. This is a great opportunity and will be a fun experience. However, I want to be in Namatala. I want to be with our ichooseyou kids. I cried for a while on the way here. I’m about to cry again writing this. We rode in a van for 8 hours to get here. 8 hours. That’s a whole day that we could have been in Namatala! I really am trying to be excited but it is so hard. If we had spent 2 weeks in Mbale and Namatala and then come here this wouldn’t be so hard. At least I know that I don’t want to do this next year. Next year I think I want to stay for 4 weeks and then not go to a game park or go to the game park after. One week in Namatala is not enough. I wish you had been there so you could understand why this is so hard for me. I so love those kids and there is such a need for Christ. The last day that we were there we could smell the alcohol everywhere we went. I have to imagine that the alcohol is an escape for the men. They can’t take care of their families so they drink. When they find Jesus they find hope and no longer need the alcohol. I know it’s not that easy but it would be a start. You have to start somewhere. On the way here we saw so much and had quite the adventure. I saw some pretty nice huts compared to what there is Namatala. I was listening to music and watching the road go by and I couldn’t help but cry. I can’t imagine going home. I still haven’t gotten used to the extravagance at this game park. I don’t know how to think about going home yet so I’m just not going to.
We were driving today and all of the sudden Abu slammed on the brakes and we hit a pothole and our luggage rack apparently broke. So we pulled over and about 5 men walked up to our van to help. They worked on it for about 20 minutes and finally fixed it. When it was fixed the men wanted money. Glenn gave them money but they wanted more! It was funny. Abu and Glenn were hilarious saying “I will not give them more money!” So we left. Without giving them any more money. And we drove and drove and every now and then we would get stopped by the police. They stand on the side of the road and wave you down. Then they sometimes talk to the driver and sometimes just walk around the van then wave you off. It’s so strange. We stopped for gas and all needed to use the restroom but I was the only one brave enough to use the restroom there. It was quite the experience. It's kind of scary standing over a hole in the ground to pee. At least this one wasn't dark inside. The restrooms by the school are dark inside. Scary. So I used the restroom/hole in the ground and we left. The further we drove we came upon speed bumps. There were never any speed bumps in Mbale so this was new. They were regular speed bumps, then they got bigger, and bigger, then we came upon a road that had a whole bunch of speed bumps spread about 5 feet apart. We counted about 30 speed bumps a set and I think 4 sets. It was so annoying! We were delirious by the time we got past those. We drove some more and then stopped at a road side market because Glenn and Becky wanted roasted corn on the cob. When we stopped, everyone that was selling stuff got up with whatever they were trying to sell and came to the van and asked us if we wanted it. We were literally surrounded. There were so many people! Finally someone selling roasted corn came up and sold Becky and Glenn some. Becky’s apparently wasn’t hot enough according to Glenn so Glenn made the lady go get her a hot one. Then we left. We drove for a very long time again and we were just about to turn the corner to get to the game park gate when a police man waved us down. He told Abu we needed seat belts. We didn’t have seat belts. So the police man made Abu get out of the van. Abu walked around the van and went to Glenn’s window and Glenn gave him some money. We paid the policeman off! Haha it wasn’t enough money the first time so they gave him more and he let us go. Wow. That hadn’t happened to us yet but Becky said that it always happens at least one time per trip. I thought that was crazy. At the gate to the game park a soldier stopped us and Abu said he was drunk. Abu and Glenn got out to pay our entry fee and the drunk soldier came up to Linda’s window and leaned on it. She ignored him and he didn't bother her. Then he opened our door and Abu walked over and the soldier said “fresh air” and Abu looked at him and said “they don’t need fresh air.” and shut the door. It was hilarious. Thank you Abu! Haha I miss Wasswa but Abu is a pretty good driver too. If Wasswa were here that soldier wouldn’t have had a chance to get anywhere near our van haha. Wasswa was VERY protective. :-) on the way in from the gate (a 2 hour drive) we got to see a lot of animals. Mostly common animals that we can see at home but we did get to see water buffalo and a couple giraffes! That was cool. I still wish we were in Namatala though. Sigh. Next year.
Dinner was good. Best food out of the whole trip except for James spaghetti. Haha. I’m going to shower and sleep now. We have a safari at 6:45am. I miss Namatala and the ichooseyou kids. I miss Flower and Esther and Sandra. Next year…

 

 

 

Safari

The safari was fun. God and I had a great conversation. He showed me that he has already given me the desires of my heart. So often I don’t trust him to do that. But he will! His word says he will! He knows the desires of our heart better than anyone else. It’s time for me to trust him fully with them. You will never believe this but I was cold at the beginning of our Safari. It’s winter here! Haha 80+ degrees of winter :-) but it has definitely warmed up now. I got to see a lot of Giraffes and a pride of lions. We saw elephants from afar! I wish we had seen them closer :-/ we are about to go on a boat safari! Becky says this is her favorite. Still wish we were in Namatala but I know I’ll be glad I did this at least once. Next year. :-)
Family- I miss you! I really wish you were here. I know it sounds crazy but consider coming sometime with ichooseyou. It’s so worth it. Consider sponsoring a child. They are so sweet and so appreciative.
Friends- I miss you!!! We have to do something fun when I get home and I can show everyone the pictures all at once. You also would love it here. Consider coming. Consider sponsoring a child. God is moving so much here.
I love each one of you so much. Thanks for reading about my journey. It’s not over yet! I just wanted to say thank you. I love you!

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That was the last time I posted on my trip! I of course posted a few times after I got home asking for grace and understanding about how I was feeling. I definitely wanted everyone to understand that I loved them and I know this is my home but I had been completely changed. I am so excited to be 34 days away from my second home! Uganda here I come!

 

About to explode with excitement / June 13 2011

I am going to explode with excitement!!! I am excited to turn 23 this week, I'm excited to graduate in 12 days, I am excited that progress is being made as far as a well is concerned in Uganda, (yes! A well! More details when I have more information) I'm excited that I only have 35 days left until Uganda, I'm excited that we will be planting gardens this summer, I am excited to see my babies again, I am excited to see my Ugandan friends that I have missed like crazy this year, I am excited for Rise in August (96 days!!!), I'm excited for the new leadership I see beginning to blossom in our staff, I'm excited for the change God is bringing to Texas State University, I'm excited to see my German sister Katha again (124 days!!!), I'm excited for this new season in my life! I'm still terrified about some of it but I am also extremely excited :-) God is good all the time! Can you see why I am about to explode with excitement now?! I have THE BEST life :-)

Here is my post from my blog on June 13, 2011. Enjoy! This is when it started getting sad for me. I did NOT want to leave. I'm glad I did because I wouldn't have traded this year for anything, (no matter how stressful, frustrating, and uncertain some of it has been!) but it was hard saying goodbye and trusting that I would be back. Once again, God is good all the time!




June 13, 2011

Saying goodbye :-(

Last night we went to the sewing ladies to say goodbye. Today was our last day in Mbale and they were at a women's conference. So we said goodbye last night. It was awful. I’m not ready to leave. These people have become like family to me in such a short time and I’m not ready to leave them. God is doing amazing things in Namatala and I wish I could stay longer and be a part of it longer. Medina kept telling me she loves me, and I know she means it. She is so sweet and loving. I will miss her. The kids were there playing and wanting pictures and loving on us. I could have kissed Esther’s face off. She is such a sweet girl. Sandra was playing for the first half of the night but she didn’t feel good (still. Please pray for my baby girl) so she sat down. I went to sit with her and hold her (she likes to snuggle) and Flower, Esther, Fortunate, Jacob and Isaac came with me. We had fun. We found out what each others favorite colors are and talked about nothing for a while. The whole time I was getting to hold Sandra :-). Then the kids went to play some more and I stayed with Sandra and Flower stayed with me. We got to talk for a good while before having to say goodbye. I got to talk to Paul for a while which was cool. I didn’t really get to know him until the end of the week but he is a pretty cool guy. We will be friends. :-) haha. When it came time to say goodbye it was very sad. Medina continued to tell me she loves me, along with all the other mamas. They mean it too. They are so sincere. When Grace hugged me and said goodbye she cried a lot. I cried a lot too. Then she squeezed me tight and asked me to pray that she will still be here when I come back. I told her she will but that wouldn’t satisfy her. She wanted me to pray for her. So I told her I would and then she asked me to take care of her boys and I told her she would be here when I got back. It was so sad. Grace is HIV positive. I know that the lord is with her and keeping her well. Please, if you have a minute pray for her and for mama Sarah and all the other moms that have HIV/aids. Grace has twin boys, Jacob and Isaac. They are beautiful boys and they are doing very well in school. They love the Lord so much. Mama Sarah has 4 kids I believe. Liz, Harriet, Joyce, and Justine. They are all so beautiful. Sweet sweet girls. Her husband died and she found out he had aids. She was tested and was HIV positive. She tested her girls and only Harriet was HIV positive. These women need our prayers. Mama Sarah and Grace are good mothers trying to raise their children for the Lord living with an awful disease. After that I was a mess. I hugged as many people as I could and then it was time to tell Flower goodbye. We hugged over and over and cried and she asked me to stay and I said I would if I could but my mom wants me back. I kissed her beautiful cheeks a few times and then had to walk away and try to stop crying. Paul walked me half way out then Flower came and took my hand and walked me the rest of the way out. We hugged and cried all over again and then I had to go. I wish I could see her beautiful face one more time before I go. But I know I would just cry all over again. She is like a sister to me now. I’ll miss her and Esther and Mama Flower. Mama Flower holds a special place in my heart. On the day we got here we were walking somewhere and she took my hand and pulled me in and we walked arm in arm all the way. I knew then that she would be a very good friend. She is. She has raised 4 wonderful beautiful children, been through so much and still has the sweetest heart. I wish you could meet her. You would love her. It’s impossible not to.
Today we went to say goodbye to the kids during their break at school. I can’t tell you how many kids I hugged and kissed today. Sweet Esther asked me to tell her sponsor, Emili, that’s she loves her. Deborah asked to tell her sponsor that she wants a bible. A bible. Of all the things to ask for. :-) you can just see Jesus in their faces. Jacob stood with me a while and held onto me and wanted his picture taken (of course) and Fortunate held my hand and wouldn’t share. Haha so sweet. She is still a little shy when I kiss her or hug her but I think by the end of the trip next year that will be over. Of course my beautiful Sandra stayed by my side almost the whole time. I love her. I can’t wait to come next year and see what she is like when she isn’t sick! I hope that girl gets well soon. Pray for her please. Pray for wisdom for the doctors. When it was time to go I grabbed Esther and Sandra and hugged and kissed them both until I couldn’t anymore. Then they went back to class. I’ll miss them all so much. As Joyce was going back to class I stopped her and hugged her and told her I would take care of papa Ted and she promised to take care of Flower for me. Sweet girl. I plan on keeping my promise and I know she does too.
Once all the kids were back in class we took Vicky to the doctor. She has been fainting and complaining of headaches. The doctor apparently wasn’t much help. He came to the conclusion that she has a sinus infection and a heart problem without ever looking at her ears, nose, throat, or listening to her heart. They did lab work to make sure it wasn’t malaria or typhoid. It wasn’t. And then he wrote prescriptions for a sinus infection. I wish he would have taken time and really figured it out. Faizo was there when we got there. He has some type of worm on his face. The doctor gave him pills for that and an anti fungal cream. Hopefully that clears up soon. He is such a cute boy.
We ate lunch at the chat and chino today. Glenn, Morris an Aidah’s son, has an Internet cafe. It was pretty good! That was interesting and fun.
Then we went to Namatala. My little girl from the first day found me! Haha she fell asleep on my shoulder and my once gray shirt is now brown. She was so dirty and sweaty and when she laid her head on my shoulder it got all over my shirt. :-) I’m never washing that shirt. Lol! Then Sarah took us to find Tacko. We were very surprised to learn that Regina, the sick woman I wrote about, is Tacko’s mom. I got pictures of him in front of his hut, next to his mom, with me, by himself, and a picture of his feet. They are filthy. He doesn’t have shoes, and his toe nails look, well, I’m not sure if he still has them. Becky said she would consider adding him! If she does I want to be his sponsor. Haha man there are too many kids I want to sponsor! But I feel a real connection to Tacko, and he likes me. He ran straight to me today when we found him. I felt special.
Overall we ended the trip in a great way. I just wish we had more time here in Namatala. I love these people. I’m not ready to leave them. I’m not ready to be back in a place where most people choose not to believe that people really do live like this. We take what we have for granted. We have so much. So much! I wish all of you could be here and see this and understand just how blessed we really are. I told mama flower the other day that we are all just borrowing from God. If you are like me God has loaned you a lot and you don’t even realize it. Sure it’s not a breeze but at least we don’t honestly wonder when our next meal will be or if we will be around another year for our kids. I know tomorrow isn’t guaranteed for any of is but it’s not the same. Use what God has loaned you wisely and give to those that don’t have anything. It’s not yours to begin with. These kids could change their country when they grow up. You never know what a difference you are making by giving away what belongs to God already.
I’m not sure when or if I will be able to get on again until I get home. We are going to a game park, then Kampala, then Entebbe, then London, then home. I’ll post again as soon as I can!

Do you know how much I love you? / June 12

38 days left!!! I am amazed at how God has provided for this trip! I am happy to announce that I have the trip and the home expenses while I'm gone covered! I still need spending money and money for shots, malaria meds, etc. but I'm not worried at all! God is so good! If you have been wanting to give but haven't yet the information on how to give is listed on the left hand side (I think...it's somewhere on here!)

I am so ready for Uganda! I'm trying not to skip all of the wonderful things happening in between now and then (like GRADUATION!) but it's a little hard! I am already in Uganda in spirit for sure. I dream about Uganda, (actually I have recurring nightmares that we get there and all we do is stay in the hotel. I wake up crying and exhausted.) I constantly go through my Uganda check list in my mind, I daydream about my babies, I look through pictures every chance I get, I "open" my iPhone every 5 seconds to see some beautiful Ugandan faces staring back at me... It's bad. Today while I was looking through pictures I kept seeing pictures of me and (Teko) Brian together and thinking that I wonder if he knows how much I love him. I can't help but wonder what he thinks is happening! Haha...I'm sure someone explained to him what IChooseYou is (as best as possible) and explained that he is now an IChooseYou child, but I wonder if he knows how much he is loved. I'm not the only one that loves this little boy! This little man is destined for great things! God just wouldn't back down until we got it! The whole name thing was pretty clear but it goes beyond that. Three of us felt a special connection to him and all three of us just knew he needed to be an ichooseyou child and be given a chance! I look through my pictures and my heart threatens to explode with love for Brian and I just want to yell "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?!" Then I want to start from the beginning, tell him about every little thing that God has done in my life to ensure that I wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to love him, but most importantly I want to tell him what God has done to prove how much HE loves him and ensure that I wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to physically show Brian that love! I want him to know that I love him, yes, but I want him to know that his Heavenly Father has gone to GREAT lengths to prove his love for him and to give him new life and new hope. God is asking the same question to all of us: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?!

Psalm 139 NIV (1984)

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Do you know how much He loves you?


Here is June 12, 2011

June 12, 2011

I can’t think of a title for this post.

This morning I woke up and Haley told me she was sick. She had been throwing up all night. I told her she should have woken me up! But she is a sweet girl and didn’t want to bother me. I called Becky and she said Ted had been sick all night also. So the two of them stayed at the hotel to rest and get better while we went to church. Church was an experience! So much singing and dancing followed by a very powerful sermon. We had walked in during the end of “Sunday school” and pastor Morris was preaching about how important accountability is. Then baby Loru’s father stood up and said “I used to be a Muslim but now God has changed me and I want to be a born again Christian. I know how important this accountability is.” (grace please, some of what he said got lost in translation. That was basically what he said.) That was amazing! I cried, Becky cried, our whole team cried! Our God is so faithful. Then the praising began. Oh the music and dancing is so much fun! Little Edwin made his way to me and I held him while we sang and danced. He is the sweetest little guy. So cute! He would let me kiss his cute little cheeks and he would hold my hand and play with my hair. So sweet! Then flower got up and sang with the ladies and it was so beautiful. I loved to watch her sing to God with her eyes closed, so free worshiping the God that gave her new life. I cried then too. Then everyone was praying at the same time and that was so cool. I cried again. Of course. Haha. Then Edwin had to go out with the kids and pastor Morris gave a sermon about how Jesus told us there would be trouble and suffering in this life but not to turn back to our old ways when it comes but instead to tell our problems about our God. It reminded me of the book that the faculty advisor for Rise, Mary, always reads us. It’s called You’ve Got Dragons. Read it sometime. :-) Anyways, like I said the sermon was great. There is so much truth and community in that church. God is definitely moving there. After the sermon there was more singing and little Edwin came back and found me again. The offering bags went around and then the choir took an offering but the basket was at the front. Becky gave Edwin some money to take up to the basket. It was so cute! I really enjoyed church this morning. I can’t believe we will be leaving Mbale Tuesday! I wish we could just cancel our plans at the game park and stay here until we have to go home. I am going to miss mama Aidah, mama Flower, Flower, Edwin, Joyce, Esther, Paul, Jared, Becca, and Taylor and everyone else so much! I can’t imagine leaving them. I don’t want to think about that yet. We came back to the hotel and Haley and Papa Ted are feeling much better. Still tired and weak but better. That’s so good. We had lunch and now we are resting at the hotel. I so want to go back to Namatala. But I guess we will have to see what the day brings and what tomorrow looks like. I’m about to post pictures I think!

June 12, 2011

Our team!

All the ichooseyou kids after they got their hats and headbands :-) sweet family

These girls are beautiful and so sweet! Best friends :-)

Paul! Haha he finally just smiled in a picture :-)

Paul being…paul.

Sarah and her Family

This little boy is special to me. His name is Tacko (Family, we used to spell this Taaco. :-) haha) My parents let me name our first dog and I chose Taaco. (pronounced Tay-co) I was apparently naming our dog after a boy I would later meet in Uganda. God has a great sense of humor. I have been teased so much for that name. Now I have an explanation! This little boy is not an ichooseyou child. Hopefully someday we will have enough sponsors per child to add him. He was with us quite a bit in Namatala.

Namatala. Sad but real.

Ichooseyou moms!

Mama Flower and her precious family. I love this family so so much. I want to keep Flower with me forever. I love that girl so much. I will miss her every day until I come back. Paul is hilarious. Esther is a jewel. Once you have met her she stays with you forever. I didn't get to know mike very well but the other ladies say he is just as awesome!

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So that was June 12, 2011! I need to hurry up and finish these flashback posts! Only 38 days left!

 

 

Do you know how much HE loves you?

God is Good ALL THE TIME! / June 11

 

God is good ALL THE TIME!!! I can't even count all the times he has proven his love and his provision for me this semester! It has been amazing lately to see God answer prayers that I never really even prayed. God KNOWS what we want and what we need and He loves us enough to set things in motion before we even ask.Thank you Lord for your amazing love!!!

Here is June 11, 2011:

So much to catch up on! Beautiful Flower :-)

Friday we got up early and went to chapel at covenant, the school that the ichooseyou kids go to. That was awesome. They started off singing worship songs then they sang a song to greet us. The kids lead the music! It is so sweet and they are so good! After all of that each class had to stand up and say their memory verse for the week. They were so good! It was so sweet :-) then Lauri got to teach them for a while and at the end she taught them to say “howdy Christian!” haha it was so cute! We left chapel and went to Namatala to try to find the girl with the wounded leg so that Becky could re clean and dress it but when we got there we couldn’t find her. We walked all over Namatala letting Haley see more of it and looking for this girl but we never found her. We checked on Baby Loru and he is doing well! He was getting his IV and being looked at when we got there and he was NOT happy but as soon as the nurse left he was fine again. They made the bandage go all the way around him now. I’m not sure why. But the hole in his stomach where his intestines are out is uncovered. Right after the surgery it was pretty much inside him but it is starting to come out a little more now which is fine I’ve heard. After the next surgery in 7 or 8 weeks he will be completely fixed! We went to mama Aidah’s house for lunch. James, one of the cooks, made spaghetti. It was good! Finally something that doesn’t involve potatoes lol. Then Sarah was going to do our hair but we wanted to buy stuff from the sewing ladies first before it rained. Didn’t work. As soon as we got there it started raining haha. But it was fun! We took our time figuring out what we wanted. The sewing ladies were amazed at how much we were buying haha. They make good stuff! :-) it was so much fun! Those ladies are awesome. I love being with them! It finally stopped raining enough for us to go back to mama Aidah’s and when we got there it stopped completely. Sarah put a few braids in our hair out on the front porch. That was fun! Becky took mama Flower inside for a while to tell her that someone wanted to sponsor Paul through high school so he could graduate and save his money for university. Mama Flower cried and cried and was telling Becky how God has taken care of them. Her husband left when Esther was born and she has done an amazing job raising her kids! This family so deserves a chance. Florence was with us while all of this was happening because Becky had invited her to stay the night at the hotel with us. She was telling us what a difference this is making in their lives and thanking her sponsor and it was so sweet. Such a sweet sweet girl. I wish I could bring her home with me. :-)

On the way home I found out that Wasawa is really spelled Wasswa, and he is a twin but his twin is a girl! Babilye is her name. Just thought that was cool. We also met his son. Very attractive young man! Haha :-)

Florence, also known as Flower, came to the hotel to stay the night with us. We. Had. So. Much. Fun! Hahaha. Oh what a night. first we came in and changed into our swimsuits. We went down to the pool and flower was so excited. She said the last time she swam was in p3 or p4 (2nd or 3rd grade) and now she is on p7! (6th grade) we all jumped in and she was so cold! Haha we had to teach her to move around in the water to get warm. Then we showed her that you can float on your back. Oh it was fun after that! She wanted to try but she didn’t want me to let go of her. I had to stand behind her and hold her back while she tried to float. It was hilarious! Water was going everywhere and we were laughing and people were looking at us like we were crazy. It was great. Becky has pictures I think. We spent a long time in the pool playing and getting flower to try to float without me holding her. Then we got out and she was Really cold. (you should see the people here. Anything below 100 is cold to them. It was 70 ish in the morning today and everyone had on their thick winter coats! It was hilarious. Even when it is mid to high 80’s people will have on long sleeves. So funny!) we all ordered drinks and she got hot tea to warm up. We put 3 towels around her and I held her close to me to warm her up. Poor girl was shivering. Then we came back to the room and showered. This was great. Flower asked me if she needed to wear her swimsuit in the shower and if the water was hot or cold. She was very excited to hear that it was hot. Then I’m not sure why but she kept turning the water on and off while she was in there. It was so sweet. While she was showering Haley and I decided to give her a real American girly sleepover. Of course, what is a girly sleepover without a makeover?! Haha so when we all were showered and dressed we pulled out the makeup! She was STUNNING! Flower is naturally gorgeous. She could be a supermodel without a trace of make up. But it was so fun to see sparkles and color on her beautiful skin. Hopefully I can post a picture soon so you will understand what I mean about her being so beautiful. She has no idea how beautiful she is either. She is tall and thin and has flawless skin and the most beautiful eyes, cheeks, nose and chin. Goodness I wish all of you could meet her. And her whole family! They are all beautiful and have beautiful hearts. (flower is mama Flower’s oldest daughter. Mama Flower has 4 children: Paul, Michael, Florence (Flower), and Esther (aka Queen Esther :-)) Esther is 5 and she is going to be just as beautiful as Flower. Anyways, after we did her make up she was looking at herself in our mirror and posing like a model (and was good at it! Haha) then we all finished getting ready for dinner and put on our new jewelry from the sewing ladies (I let Flower wear the beads I got for my sister!) and went to dinner. We had pizza! Flower had never had pizza before. It was great! She really liked it! Then we came back up to go to bed. They had brought us an extra mattress so I made Flower sleep on my bed. (yes I said made. I had to guilt her into sleeping on it. Haha if she is going to have a hotel experience she is going to have the full experience. And a mosquito net. That’s important. I can’t imagine anything happening to my Flower.) I slept SO GOOD last night. I hadn’t slept at all the night before so it was great to have slept so well. It was great to have Flower with us when we woke up too! What a night. :-) great memories made for all of us!

Today we went to the church to have a fun day with the kids and their moms. They sang for us and we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We gave the girls head bands with flowers on them and the boys baseball caps with their name on it. We had clothes and shoes for all of them and fun stuff like bubbles, chalk and Frisbees to play with. Some of the kids had prepared songs and dances for us and some just wanted to say thank you. Vickie, one of our ichooseyou girls said thank you and was saying how much it has changed he life and started crying! I cried too. She ran over to Becky and hugged her and cried some more and it was so sweet. It’s so great to see exactly how much they feel blessed by what God has done through Becky and Ted and ichooseyou. Then we all got to hang out for a while and play with the kids! it was a great day. Flower sat with me for a while. She was self conscious of how tall she is and how big her feet were because there weren’t any dresses or shoes in her size. The dresses were too short and they didn’t have any shoes her size. (sound familiar anyone? My sister and I know exactly how that feels) but I got to tell her that God made her perfectly. She is a creation of God and our God never makes a mistake. He made her perfect and beautiful. Did I mention how beautiful she is?! Haha :-) Flower, if you are reading this, I love you. You are a daughter of the most high king. He created you perfectly beautiful and has GREAT plans for you. It is ok that you do not know what you want to be yet. God has plans specifically for you and you are going to do great things for him! You are forever my sister :-) I love you.

I am so tired now. And I am hungry but I am tired of the food here. I am Going to go see what kind of crazy combination of food we can find. Wish me luck! I’ll write more later!

Me crying holding the two most beautiful baby girls in Africa. Having to say goodbye.

Scovia! As promised. Poor sick baby girl

Flower and I at Mama Aidah’s house before our sleepover

My braids :-)

Isn’t she GORGEOUS?!?!!!!

So that's it! June 11, 2011 :-) I can't wait to be back! 60 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His Love is FURIOUS! / June 9 2011

I. Love. This. Song.

Had to share :-) His love covers us! It is waking hearts to LIFE! Amen!


So here are my posts from June 9 2011!

Wound clinic in Namatala

Well we had another God day in Namatala! We had decided to have a wound clinic but before we went we wanted to see Loru in the hospital so we went to see him and he is doing better! His dad, Sully, was there and when we walked in he smiled so big! He was so happy that his son is finally going to be ok. Then we went to set up our wound clinic in Namatala. Becca was in charge so she told us what to do and what she wanted as far as goals for the day. Becca has a HUGE heart and she cannot stand to see sick or malnourished children. She and Becky were to clean wounds and dress them unless someone had a bigger problem than little wounds. Then they were sent to Becca and she did as much as she was trained to do. I was getting the name and age of all the children and measuring their arm to see if they were normal or in danger of malnutrition. It was sad to see the ones that were in the danger zone but also neat to know that there weren’t as many as there used to be or we thought there would be. They were all right at normal or really close to normal but only a few were way below. Of course none of them were very much above. One child had measles, one had some type of worm, one had an awful cough that sounded like asthma to Becca at first but then she quickly changed her mind. A mom had something wrong with her and brought out an X ray and a prescription a doctor had written for her as wanted Becca to help since nothing she was doing was working. I’m not sure what happened with her. I know Becca wished she was qualified and had the means to do so much more for these people. Sick children just kept coming and worried mothers were waiting and all Becca could really do was give suggestions and tips on how to deal with the symptoms and tell them they need to go to the doctor and what to tell the doctor. She has found that most of them won’t automatically tell you all of their symptoms. They will tell you what hurts the most and that’s it. If the doctor isn’t asking lots of questions they could be missing what is really wrong. Once we finished with all the people that had come to us from that part of Namatala we went to Mama Aidah’s house for lunch. Boy am I getting tired of bread-like foods and potatoes. After lunch we went back to Namatala for another wound clinic in a different area. As we were walking in we saw a lady on a mat outside her hut that looked very sick. Becky said she had been there the whole 3 weeks that Becky has been here. So we stopped and Becky and Becca talked to her about what was wrong for a while and prayed with her. The kids in this area must not be as used to muzungu’s as the other kids were because they would just stare. We didn’t get any kids running up and grabbing our hands like we normally do. While Becky, Becca, and the lady on the mat were praying I felt a strong urge from God to pray also but had no idea what about. So I told the other people with me that we needed to pray and we did. I still don’t know what we were praying for but I’m glad we prayed. We set up and people started coming. At first it was just kids looking at the muzungu’s and their moms, which was good, but then a girl came up to us and pulled up her dress and showed us the most awful wounds I have ever seen. (Granted I don’t see many wounds on a daily basis.) she had a big tear shaped wound on the outside of her left leg that was pink/white and filled with puss and gross. Flies were landing all over it when she would pick up her skirt. The inside of her left leg had a slightly smaller but much worse looking wound. Becca was cleaning her wounds while I was measuring children as sending small wounds to Becky and it started raining. The adults in the village insisted that we take cover next to a nearby hut so we did. We all stood around while Becca finished cleaning and dressing this girls awful wounds. All of the kids took cover with us because we are muzungu’s and they didn’t want to leave us. Plus I’m sure they thought we had sweets. That was fun. I got some fun pictures while we were trying to wait out the storm. Sarah, our translator, told us we should leave because the rain didn’t look like it was going to end any time soon. Two of our ichooseyou girls were with us as offered to take our supply bag to the van. As soon as they started walking it started POURING and there was thunder and lightning and Becky yelled for them to run to the van. We didn’t know what we were going to do since our van wasn’t very close and then we saw Wasawa, our driver, coming down the road very fast! We all started laughing. Wasawa has been so good to us. He takes care of us all the time and really goes the extra mile for us consistently. We all secretly knew he wouldn’t leave is there alone. Wasawa to the rescue! Again. Haha :-) what a great guy. So we all got in the van and took Becca and Taylor back to mama Aidah’s house and started back to the hotel. We got to the end of the road out to find a power line had fallen. As we were trying to turn around a small car came up from behind us and Wasawa started honking and yelling something out the window in Luganda and the white car passed us and Wasawa started yelling louder and honking more. They almost drove over it! We were scared of what we were about to see. Because of wasawa’s honking and yelling they stopped and rolled down the window and he told them something. I can only guess it sounded something like “that’s a power line down! Are you crazy? Turn around so you don’t get hurt!” haha so we all turned around, which was an adventure in itself as all the roads are dirt aka mud when it rains. When we finally made it home we got to look at all of our pictures and rest for a while. That was nice. Another eventful day in Uganda. God is good, all the time.

I have to say that the small wounds clinics were some of my favorite times in Uganda :-) I can't wait to do that again! There are just so many people, and so many children! It is such an amazing opportunity to meet the physical needs of the people and have an open door to telling them about their true savior! This was the day that I met Teko Brian. I didn't write about him on this day...in fact I don't think I ever truly gave the story of how I met Teko Brian. I think I was probably a little bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. I wrote about it in my personal journal but never on my blog. So...here is the story of how I met my favorite little Ugandan Man, and now adopted son through ichooseyou, Teko Brian.

During the first half of the small wounds clinic I was designated to take down names, ages, and measure arms for malnutrition. close to the end of the morning we were making sure everyone was done and this cute little boy that had been with us all week, and was actually the first child I took a picture of in Uganda, sat down in my chair. I asked him how old he was and he said 7 or 8. I began to measure his arm as I asked him what his name was. At first he answered me very softly something that sounded like Tay-co but since I couldn't hear him well and I wasn't completely sure he knew what I was asking, I asked sarah to ask him what his name was for me. Sarah asked and he whispered to her and she stood up and said "His name is Tacko T A C K O." (pronounced Tay-co) I don't remember my reaction in that moment. All I know is that I stopped moving and it took a minute to process what she had just said. I asked her again, "Tacko?" and she said "yes! Tacko! Write it down!" I couldn't really believe what I was hearing. It was strange and funny and felt like a wink from God but somewhat silly at the same time. I don't know how long it took to sink in but once it did I immediately had a small freak out in which I explained why his name being Tacko was so crazy! For those of you that don't know, I was given a dog when I was about 3 and my parents asked me what I wanted to name the dog. Immediately I said "Taaco!" (pronounced Tay-co) I have been made fun of my entire life for naming my first dog Taaco. I felt silly thinking it meant something from God but at the same time I couldn't ignore it! After all this was the first child I met, took a picture of, hugged, and really spent time with! I spent the rest of that day processing and trying to wrap my mind around it. Later that evening I asked Becky if we could add Tacko to ichooseyou and by the grace of God and the kindness of her heart she said yes! Now skip a few days...fast forward to the last day. We went to Namatala to re-dress a few of the bad wounds and say goodbye to some people. I knew I couldn't leave without seeing Teko again (we found out his name is actually spelled t e k o.) so I decided to try to find him. We ended up asking around to see if anyone knew where he lived since he had not found us yet. A little girl, no older than 5, told us she knew and started leading us through Namatala. Finally we ended up in front of a few huts and our friend Regina. The first team had met Regina before we arrived and we had prayed for her a couple times on our trip. Regina was very sick and could not get off of her mat. When the little girl pointed to Regina's hut and told us it was Teko's hut I immediately assumed she was confused. She wasn't. Regina is Teko's mom. I yelled for Teko and he came running around the huts and straight into my arms. It was bittersweet leaving him. I hated leaving him but I knew that He and his mother were finally going to begin to receive the things they so desperately needed. Being reunited with Teko is on my top 3 things I am looking forward to this summer. Possibly my number one thing.
As of now, Teko is in school, being fed, and Regina is getting medical care. The doctors haven't been able to pin point what the problem is but they are doing tests. Days like that one in Namatala remind me that we serve a God that knows us and knows us well! He loves us and he has great plans for us! I am forever amazed by the God I serve.