Johnson Family Lately

• Logan started PreK at New Hope Academy and loves it. She goes three days a week from 8-1.
• Lilly starts the 4 year old program at Mustard Seed on Wednesday. She will go to "school" on Wednesday and Friday from 9-1. She is very happy with her teacher and excited for me to take her to school and leave (that's what she told me).
• Josie started taking some steps a week or so ago. She now likes to practice all over the house. The "big girls" are so proud of her. Our dear friends from Louisville came to visit with their sweet boys CJ and Ashton. Josie walked for Amy! We had a great time visiting and not such a great time watching Kirk's previous high school Trinity whip up on Brentwood Academy in football. Ha!
  
• Kirk is coaching 6th grade football as the Offensive Coordinator at Brentwood Academy. He is really enjoying coaching again and the games are so fun to go to.
  
• I am working at the YMCA two days a week. It is really nice to be able to bring the kids to work, get paid and reduce our membership.
• We took the kids to Chattanooga this weekend for a short get away. We had a lot of fun at the aquarium. Lilly liked the penguins and butterflies the best. There was one butterfly that really liked her and did not want to get off of her shirt. She said he was tickling her. Logan liked touching the stingrays that were "slimy" and the penguins and sharks. I liked the sharks and enormous turtles and everything else that lit their faces up with amazement. I also enjoyed food: Mellow Mushroom, Starbucks, Sticky Fingers and Ben and Jerrys :)
• Logan and Lilly ran in the Franklin Classic Labor Day 1k kids race today. They were so cute! It was a little chilly and rainy but they were determined to go. I was running with Lilly and Logan and holding their hands. Logan let go and took off and I didn't see her again until the finish line. Kirk said she looked like she was going to throw up she was so tired. Lilly alternated between holding my hand and running, holding my hand and walking and sprinting all by herself. She said next time she wasn't going to hold my hand, she was going to practice racing at home and she was going to beat Logan. I am excited to see this. I was certainly impressed that she didn't ask to be carried and she didn't quit. They were both reward with ribbons and a pancake pig out at Cracker Barrel. I am thinking we will be doing more races in the future...I hope!
• Lilly turns 4 in two days. I am a little wowed by that. She is still her silly self and very much the wild card/goof ball of the family. She is also taking so much interest in Josie and being a great big sister to her.
• Logan is going to be Jessie from The Toy Story for Halloween, Lilly wants to be "Spidergirl" and Jo-Jo is going to be an elephant. I have decided to be Pocahontas.
  
• Logan goes to dance at Strong Tower Church where we are going now. She does this on Monday nights. I am thinking in the spring we will get Lilly started on soccer and see if that sticks. She really enjoys it and I hope by the spring she will be ready to play on some what of an organized level. Kirk and I may even coach her.
• We are now looking forward to our Illinois reunion weekend with 3 of Kirk's college roommates and teammates and all of our kiddos (girls really). We are blessed to have 12 little girls amongst us and one lone soldier boy named "Nicky" who will be charming all the ladies when he gets older. Ha!
  
• We are also looking forward to watching football, the weather not being 100 degrees, getting involved in the kids school and church, watching families grow with dear friends having babies soon, friends coming in town, Grandma and Pops coming for a visit and maybe even a trip to the beach if we can swing it.
  

You have to laugh or you WILL cry

• You have to laugh when you plan a great and fun bike ride in your neighborhood and half way through it (with neighbors watching) your kid throws up everywhere
• You have to laugh when you are diligently repairing the kids swing set only to get more chigger bites than you can count....in areas that shouldn't be mentioned.
• When you give a 5 and 3 year old their choice in deciding which back pack they want and they choose a purple cheetah print and a Madagascar lunch box to go with it.
  
• Thinking your precious one is asleep only to find that she has inked every part of her body with permanent ink from a stamp that she found in her dad's office.
• When everyone in the house is sick at the same time
  

More Africa pics

July 10

July 10^th

We are still in the air as I am typing this. Thank you God I can see land below....American soil...yeah!! We flew throughout the night stopping in Rome for gas. I slept most of the way and watched a few movies. We are actually supposed to land an hour early at 7:30am instead of 8:30. My flight to Nashville leaves around 4pm.

This is the last day of my Africa blogging! Thank you for reading this and sharing in my journey by supporting me either financially, through donations and or prayers!

I am sooooooooooooooo looking forward to being home and sharing with you all that I saw, did, and was touched by. The Lord is certainly moving mightily in Kenya and Uganda. He is raising up leaders with integrity and a great commitment to the Lord and hard work. Here are kids that have nothing but the riches of his kingdom. To him be glory both now and forever.

Amen

July 9th

July 9^th

Early to rise and off to Nairobi to do a little shopping before our long flight back to the states. We have some Kenyan shillings we need to get rid of!

It was a tearful goodbye. We bought pineapple for the kids. They haven't had that for years. We all received so many letters from individual kids at Fiwagoh. My little buddies were Isaac, Goffrey and Ngugi. My older buds were Duncan, John and Duncan. We lined up all 180 kids and gave each one an individual hug so no one got left out. There was several tears shed. We were so thankful to Pastor Benson and his wife Florence for their love and care towards us.

We stopped at the Great Rift Valley and took some pictures of the valley below.

We drove to a jewlery making factory name Kaszuri and watch them make the beads. Jewelery from this factory is being sold in Boston and other American boutiques. It is mostly single mothers from Kenya making the jewlery for a sustaining income.

On the way to the airport we stopped and shopped at the Masai market. This place is crazy if you have white skin, even if you don't. You can't even think straight with men in your face wanting you to buy all their products. You also have to bargain with them which can be annoying and lengthy. Kirk would be proud of me. I got one product down from 6,500 shillings to 2,500 shillings. That is the difference between 76 dollars and 29 dollars plus he threw in a toy for my kids!

We are now at the airport. We had a super long line to go through security, another long line to check in and another long line to go through customs. We are now waiting at the gate.

We are about to fly to Ethiopia which will take 2 hours. We then have a layover in Ethiopia. We fly out of Ethiopia at 10pm and arrive in Washington D.C at 8:40am. We are going to be tired but too excited to care. I hope they have mexican restaurants in the DC airport! I miss mexican food, icecream and everything with sugar and diet coke!!

As usual on this trip...God intervened. We drove for 2 hours to get to Nairobi. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:30pm. It was delayed until 7:15pm. It takes two hours to fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our connecting flight left at 10 which means they start boarding internationally an hour earlier. Once we got off our flight from Nairobi we had to sprint to get to our next flight to get home. Ethiopian Air does not fly to DC everyday so we were very upset at the thought of staying a few more days. Once we got to security there was such a long line. Thank you God that the security guys knew we were going to miss our flight and let all of us going to DC jump in front of security and then continue to run from there to catch our flight. There were 5 of us that were left behind. All of us were on the plane just waiting and praying that they would get on and at the 11^th hour they did. They closed the doors and we were off. The plane was not going to wait any longer. I can't believe it was that close!

Embarking on our 17 hour flight home......

July 8th

July 8^th,

Today has been relaxing. The kids were overjoyed that we came back to stay 2 more nights. They were so smiley at devotion this morning. Pastor said so many of them could not concentrate on school yesterday and were crying.

We did not have a plan for the day. We wanted to help wherever we were needed. The children attended school until 1. Some of us went to the market to buy food and donated supplies to the orphanage. Some of us cleaned and I baked and cleaned. I stayed with Pastor Bensons wife Florence and cleaned her kitchen after we ate breakfast there. She and I also made rolls together. She was laughing because they kept sticking to my hands. She said my hands were too soft and that I needed more flour. Mine still never turned out like hers. We carried 6 pans down to the oven. We loaded the stove with charcoal and baked them.

It was a real beautiful day. We packed up all our things to get ready for the airport tomorrow. I took a nice little nap. We broke up in to groups and we talked about the story of Joseph. This is such a relevent story to them. God brought Joseph out of prison and made him ruler over many and saved millions of lives. God has not forgotten one of these children. He brought them from the brink of death living on the streets and used Pastor Benson to do this. These kids are so greatful, especially the ones that remember where they have come from. Not one story is the same. Parents have passed away, they have abandoned or abused their children, they have been left in the care of relatives who could no longer take care of them, and the stories go on....

We will never forget the stories. Duncan is the oldest boy here. His mother died when he was young. His father was an abusive alcoholic that abandoned him at the age of ten along with his 2 other siblings. They were given food by the neighbors until they got tired of it and called the authorities. They were picked up and taken to a Remand Home (Juvenile detention center). The government does not know what to do with the abandoned and orphaned kids so they take them to Remand homes. This is also where kids that have committed crimes go. Thankfully, they were rescued and taken to Fiwagoh. Duncan is everywhere here. He shows love to others without ceasing because he says that he was shown great love when he first came here. I have seen him running errands, caring for the smallest child here, preaching, baking, cleaning, hauling luggage. That is a thankful heart and one that does not forget where he has come from.

Teresa is one of the older girls here. Her parents died when she was young and her grandmother was struggling to care for her. Her aunt convinced her grandma that it would be best if she lived with her. Here is a real life Cinderella story. Teresa was forced to do so much work at the hand of her aunt. She never let her go to school or sleep on a bed, she had to sleep on the floor. The aunts 2 daughters were given royal treatment while Teresa was kept as a slave. Three years she lived like this before the grandmother found out and brought her to Fiwagoh.

Every child here has a story. It breaks your heart to think of the scars they carry with them. God redeems his people and he created each of these kids for purpose. If they carry on in the footsteps of Jesus they could be the vessel that saves thousands of lives like Joseph and probably like Pastor Benson and his wife. We are so thankful to be here and to be a part of these precious lives. They all wrote us letters that we have and have prayed that we will write them back. I do hope we can continue in relationships with these awesome kids and that their faces and stories will never leave us.

July 7th

July 7^th

Today was impossible and I was ready to call it quits...I think we all were.

We had a very tearful depart from Fiwagoh this morning and headed to Grace of God chidlren's home.

First of all, we were told it was only a 2 hour drive at the most. Everytime our sweet driver Daniel called them they said we were 20min away. 4 hours later we arrive. The pastor met us at the gravel road and he drove us a long drive down to the school on a dirt road. He said if it rains that it is immpossible to drive on. Guess what......thunderclouds started to loom right as he said that. Come to find out the people at the church thought they would take us on the scenic route. Yes, Kenya is the prettiest place I have ever seen. However, the roads are terrible and we could have done without 2 extra hours of driving.

The whole thing was disorganized from the beginning. Visting Orphans has never sent a team to Kenya so they do not have reliable relationships with some of these contacts. We really don't know what to expect at any of these places we are visiting and staying in Kenya and we have been very fortunate so far. This was quite a bit different. FYI...we all know that outhouses are gross but outhouses in Africa are pretty rough. We have had to use them more than we anticipated. The kids at this orphanage/school did a little singing and dancing for us while they served us lunch at 2:30. It seemed like the whole town came out to see us. As we were in there it started to downpour. Our driver told us that we needed to leave if we ever wanted to get to our hotel in the daylight and more importantly, not get stuck on the mud road. We felt awful at first because we just arrived, ate their lunch and now we were leaving. After we spent some time with them, we saw that God protected us and was watching out for us. This place seemed “off” from the beginning. There was even the question as to whether these kids were even orphans or if it was just a government run school. It was the first place I felt like our skin color was a dollar sign to them.

They reluctantly let us leave. Our bus driver did an amazing job on that awful muddy road and I was almost in tears a few times when we were sliding and tipping. I thought for sure we were going to tip. There is 22 of us plus our driver. All of our luggage is strapped to the top and so it makes it pretty top heavy on these bad roads.

3 of the church members drove in our bus with us to the town of Eldoret where they booked a hotel for us. Seriously? This place was scary. There were people everywhere and I did not see one woman. The hotel was so disgusting and the way to access it was through the scariest back alley I have ever seen. The people with us were shocked that we didn't want to stay there. We all spoke up and said we wanted out of here ASAP. We are such a target wherever we go. Even if you didn't see 22 white women on the bus, you could just look on top of the bus at our luggage and know we were from the states.

Our strange friends would not take no for an answer. They said things like....”what is wrong? Do you need to stay alone and not in a large hotel? We will find you a new one nearby”....and my personal favorite....”we already paid the deposit”.

They couldn't get it through their heads that we were scared and putting ourselves in a dangerous spot and that our luggage was surely to get stolen. Not to mention the fact that we were all women staying by ourselves. They didn't tell us that this city is also known for a lot of fighting and public disturbances between two different people groups that don't like eachother.

The last visitors they had were in 2008 so they were desperate for us to stay. If we skipped out on the nasty hotel and went to search for a new one, that one could be nasty too and then we would have nowhere to stay and it would be dark (never wise to venture out at night but especially in Africa). We all made the decision to just go back to Fiwagoh. They were still not getting it. “If you go back to Fiwagoh that will be such a long drive for you to come back in the morning”. We are not coming back. Then the pleading began. We threw some money at them and then their care for us actually seeing the children dissipated. That was like my 12^th clue that I didn't trust these people. We had a bag of donations for them but it was on top of the bus. We realized then that they were sticking around until they got it. They said they would drive with us to Fiwagoh so we could unload our luggage and get it for them. Nope. We pulled over at a gas station and got it down for them and they can keep the luggage it was in.

Pastor Benson graciously said we can stay there tonight and tomorrow night. This is such a blessing. Now we can just go straight to the airport Saturday and not stay at one more unsure place. Fiwagoh has been the nicest place and we are hoping to be able to bless them tomorrow. We are going to go shopping for food and cleaning supplies. While the kids are in school we are going to clean their bathrooms and hopefully have some fruit waiting for them.

We have been driving longer than anticipated and I think we have driven at least 6 hours today. What a waste of time. We could have been hanging at Fiwagoh and helping out where we could. It is now 9:15pm. We are all so excited to see the kids at Fiwagoh but hope we are not keeping them awake. Last time the older boys grabbed our luggage and ran to our rooms. We are so thankful we would sleep in what we are wearing and deal with luggage tomorrow.

We are 5 mintues away and the police pulled us over to check our bus. One guy went in the back and flirted and another one talked to our driver in Swahili. He asked him for some tea. Apparantly, he was asking for us to give him money and that is the code words police use. Our driver assured them that all our money was above with our luggage. Then he asked where we were staying so he could come on the bus and go with us! What? Our driver Daniel told him we were all lesbians and did not like men and that is why we are all traveling together without men! He quickly walked away and let us go. This place is lawless when it wants to be. I will continue to be praying for the leadership of this country, of Uganda and Africa. Without the raising up of Godly leaders, this continent will never change.

All of the kids are still waiting up for us and it is now 9:30pm. We are all so tired!!! I would pay money to be on a flight back home right now. I am missing my family. Good night.

July 6

July 6^th

7:00am devotion in the dining hall. Joshua Mwaura spoke about not forgetting where you have come from in order to be thankful and a blessing to others. Joshua was one of the first kids Pastor Benson rescued and he is 17 now. He is a tremendous leader and shepards this flock very well and with a sweet, sweet spirit.

Pastor Benson took 4 of us to exchange money in the town of Gilgil. We stood in line for quite some time exchanging US dollars to Kenyan Shillings. It is a very nerve racking experience. There is a lot of money being exchanged with a lot of Kenyan eyes watching. Several team members also had a lot of Ugandan Shillings that needed to be exchanged for Kenyan Shillings. We had to go to a different bank for this exchange. It was hard to do all the conversions and keep everyones money in order. The Kenyan exchange is 85 shillings per 1 US dollar. For example, something that costs 17,000 Kenyan shillings would be equivalent to $200 US dollars.

Our other team members had been outside playing sports games while we were gone. We ran out of bottled water a day before. Some people looked like they were going to faint. We had not had water for a day.

We did rotations of 6 stations with all the kids for a few hours until they ate their lunch/supper. They only have 2 meals a day. They feed us 3 meals and give us delicacies that the kids do not get like fruit, sugar, bread and oatmeal.

After lunch the kids took us on a walk to Lake Elementaita. The Fiwagoh mission sits on this lake and there are flamingos on the shore. They enjoyed showing us “their lake”. The older boys are assigned to leadership roles. Joshua had a large stick in his hand like he was sheparding his flock. He told all the kds to not run ahead so we could get our pictures and not scare them off. The kids loved chasing after them and making them fly off.

They then took us on a walk through the forest by their house to see the monkeys. We did see them way up in the Acacia trees. It was pretty neat and such a beautiful walk.

Showers and then devotion and dinner after our 6 mile trek!

During dinner Pastor Benson and wife Florence shared their story of how the orphanage came to be and what he went through living on the streets with his 4 brothers at the age of 9.

After a full and amazing day we were ready for bed and off to Grace of God in the morning. Out of all the places we have visited so far, Fiwagoh has been the most like home.

July 5th

When we drove up to the orphanage the children were waiting, screaming and jumping up and down...all 180 of them. We said hello and the older boys ran all of our bags up to our rooms. We got there in time for their evening devotion where a 13 year old gave one of the most amazing sermons I have ever heard. They sing so loud and powerfully and most of us were so touched to hear them singing old hymns. When you hear the stories of what these young ones have gone through, hearing them sing Amazing Grace brings on a whole new meaning.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind but now I see

Humbled is not the word. These kids were faithfully praying for us for months. This was the day they had been waiting for. They praised God for answering our prayers of getting here safely and that they lived to see this day come. We do not deserve such adoration. We all wish we could give more and do more. However, it is our presense they desire. Isn't that so much like our heavenly Father?

Pastor prays for food everyday for his children, staff and himself. The kids would eat in the cafeteria and we would eat in the home of Pastor Benson and his wife. They welcomed us in, they made an abundance of food for us 3 times a day (the children only eat twice a day). He refused to allow us to pay for anything. There is an abundance of avocadoes and bananas in Uganda and Kenya. I could live and eat well here. Besides mango, there has not been anything I have not enjoyed. They eat a lot of rice and beans and seasonal fruits and veggies. After dinner we all shared a bunk in a bunk bed – 4 to a room for a restfull, much need sleep.

July 3rd and 4th

3 and 4^th of July

Pastor Samuel had the most amazing church service. We were so grateful to be able to attend. He also had a yummy lunch for us that his wife Sara said we all had to eat or we would offend them! So, we all ate this egg roll type thing that was huge and so yummy and some flat bread. They eat a lot of potatoes, peas, collard greens, and lots of rice and beans and posho. For breakfast there is always coffee, tea and fresh eggs. Most everything we have been served has come from their own gardens.

We had a really long day of traveling today. We left Kampala, Uganda to go to the airport. The airport is not that far away and we got stuck in 2 hours of stand still, turn off the car traffic. We thought for sure we were going to miss our flight but when we got to the airport they held the plane for us and basically escorted all of our luggage through. It was a miracle for sure. A miracle that probably would not have happened in America. The people here are so friendly and accomodating.

So this was our day.....

2 hours of traffic getting to the airport

2 hour flight from Kampala to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Layover in Addis airport and depart at 11pm for Nairobi, Kenya

2 hour flight to Nairobi

1 hour of finding and loading all our luggage (thought we lost a bag)

3 hour drive to North Kinagop and the Hope Community Center Orphanage

Arrive at 6:30am on NO SLEEP

Nap until 11 and meet the kids at 12

Kenya and Uganda are very different even though the countries border eachother. Kenya has paved roads, more industrialized (especially in Niarobi), most places have electricity as well. Unfortunately, some of the back roads that have once been paved have been forgotten to be repaired and are very, very bumpy to drive on with large pot holes to avoid. The landscape is so incredible in Kenya. Acacia trees are everywhere, the ground is not red dirt like Uganda. There are less people in the streets as well as children just by themselves. We are in the countryside which is surrounding by mountains, lakes, farms, flower farms, pasture land and so many beautiful trees and cactus. This is exactly what you would think of when describing Africa. It is so, so beautiful.

We were very tired after arriving but wanted to meet the kids and start playing with them. The kids are always SO excited to see you when you arrive. They have been waiting for us for months and praying for us daily that the Lord would bring us here safely. They are so thankful for us and thankful to God for answering prayer. We are now part of their family and they continually ask us when we are coming back.

HOPE COMMUNITY CENTER – North Kinagop, Kenya

HCC was started by Lucy or “Mama/Madame” Lucy as the kids and staff call her. She was living Nairobi by herself when she took in her first child. Jerome was only 5 when she found him living on the street. She asked him if he would like to stay at her home for the day while she went to work and he accepted. After sometime he told all of his friends and they all eventually settled at her home as well. They moved to a church and outgrew that space. They then purchased a half acre 2 hours away from Nairobi in a beautiful country area surrounded by mountains and in the Riff Valley. A half acre of land grew to 18 acres and plastic roofs turned into 3 story cement dormitories among several other permanent structures. Lucy currently has the highschool under construction, another green house and a nursery to house more babies. Lucy adopted the first 3 babies that came to her. They are now 5 and named Henry, Mary and Alan. Lucy prays that the nursery can get completed quickly so she can save more babies lives that are dying in the hospital and the surrounding areas.

Jerome was her first orphan to live with her. He is now 25 and has graduated from college. Jerome has gone to study to be a pastor and came back to be the pastor at Hope CC. What started with Jerome has grown to 173 children, most of whom are true orphans (both parents have passed away). They really live like they are all brothers and sisters with Lucy as their mother. They do everything without complaining or arguing and they have such solid faith in Christ. The bible says that the prayers of the righteous availeth much. Here are the righteous. They pray without ceasing,

I loved teaching them how to play kick ball. It was so fun seeing them grasp the concept and then give it everything. We sang songs with them and did devotions and crafts with them. Mama Lucy wanted us to share in front of the kids a “word of encouragement”. They meet 3 times a day for prayers and songs so we had several share from our group. There were 3 Candian gals there and that was so fun getting to know them and make new relationships.

I was so impressed by how Lucy manages donations. She wants money that is donated to go directly towards a project of the donors choice. We gave her money as a team for room and board. She wanted to know what project we wished to donate towards and if we could help start the construction while we were visiting. We were so excited to donate towards a baby nursery and have the opportunity to plant that seed. She got on the phone right away and the gravel was delivered the next day. We were also able to donate towards a greenhouse. The temperature here is so mild that they can grow sustaining food all year round. Some of the vegetables like tomatoes and kale need to be grouwn in a greehouse. The boys went out and cut down small trees and two of us girls carried them to the spot where the boys were securing the posts for the greenhouse. It was so awesome to be part of a project that looks visibly different and at least underway when we left. If we get to come back the nursery and greenhouse will be done! She likes to do this to because when the children look at these projects they are reminded to pray for those who contributed to them. Her saying is “Welcome Home” or Karibu (welcome in Swahili).

We had worship with them in the morning, worked at the greenhouse, fed the children breakfast (I was thankful to be able to scoop and serve the 173 kids what tasted like cream of wheat), played games, took showers, ate lunch and then headed to Naguru for the Fiwagoh orphanage about 2 hours away.

Baby Cottage Pics!

These babies were so adorable! Sweet Simon and Jennifer were some fan favorites. Kimberly was attached to Vincent and then there were the twins Mary and Martha. Their mother passed away giving birth to them and they have been at the orphanage since.

What you see when you drive in Uganda

Life in Uganda! Lots of bicycles carrying things and ladies balancing things on their heads with babies on their backs and walking for miles....

More pics

Children's prison
We gave them tshirts and let them paint on them. Little Joseph was so thankful and proud of his shirt! I loved spending time with him. We played soccer here as well.

Africa Pictures!

Remand Home for kids. I showed the boys a thing or two about soccer (or maybe that was the other way around!)

Day 8 July 2nd

July 2^nd, 2011

We woke this morning and took a boat ride on the NILE!! It was so beautiful. We stayed at the King Fisher Resort for a couple of nights in Jinga and it is located at the source of the Nile. I am not going to type all of what that means but you can look it up. Basically, there is Lake Victoria and then there is the Nile. We saw where the Nile starts. It goes for 4,000 miles from where we were and it is the longest River in the world. The weather here has been really perfect. It is sunny everyday and a little humid but not too hot. It is much hotter in Tennessee.

Our tour guide Joseph was a great guy. There were several birds on the shoreline. He said he sees a lot of hippos but we didn't today. We did see a large lizard that looked like a small alligator and we saw a monkey in a tree. The Nile is full of cobras and pythons. I was hoping this rickety boat would not fall apart. There was a prison across the river we saw. Joseph said that no one has ever made it alive while trying to cross the river and escape because of all the deadly snakes and things in the river. That made me want to end this little boat tour :)

We spent the day at Amazima ministries with Katie Davis and her feeding program. If you haven't heard about Katie Davis, look up www.kissfromkatie.blogspot.com

It was really neat to be able to meet her and see the great work she is doing among these people. Every Saturday 400 kids hear a bible story, give thanks, get fed, play on her huge playground and take a bag of food home to their families. These kids are doing so much better from when they first begun the program. They are all going to school and are being sponsored. It is awesome how healthy these kids are and that they are being fed spirtually most of all. Katie will tell her story in a book coming out in October titled Kisses From Katie. We played with the kids for a while and then headed back to our first hotel guest house called Namiriembe. The staff workers were so glad to have us back! They said we made them happy.

Pastor Samuel met us at our Guest House to talk about his ministry called Return Ministry. It was so great to hear from him and he brought his beautiful family. We are excited to go to his church service in the morning and then off to Kenya tomorrow.

Day 7 July 1

July 1, 2011

Today was pretty awesome in the spiritual sense but difficult to see people so destitute. We went to Pastor Andrew's Church. The Full Gospel Church of Jinja. Pastor Andrew ministers to children in the Karamajong tribe as well as to their families and mostly their mothers. The Karamajong is the least of the least in Uganda or at least Jinja and the surrounding areas. It is a community of mostly widows or divorced mothers that are trying to care for their children by themselves. They are very, very poor. They grieve the loss of a spouse by death or divorce and the loss of the bread winner in the family. Several tribes do not appreciate women and cast them out of their tribe when their husband dies. If their husband left them money or land, often times it is stolen away from the mother and her children. The only place to go is to the slums where they band together in their own society. Unfortunately, they have very little resources, education and sometimes hope. Pastor Andrew has a heart for these mothers and their children. He wants to bring each child “home”. Andrew grew up in his uncle's home where he saw the love poured out into his cousins but was always treated as an outcast. He longed to be home like when he was young and being loved by his own parents. There are so many children that are orphans but much more that are just plain unloved by the single parent that cares for them or the other relatives that they live with. They are seen as a burden and an extra mouth to feed and extra school tuition to pay for. In Africa if you do not have shoes and a uniform you cannot attend school (in addition to the fees for school...minimal as they are compared to our school fees).

Pastor gave us an introduction to his ministry and how he hopes to bring life to these women. He wants the children to remain in the home and have a full ministry with the whole family being restored. He is helping the women learn vocations such as weaving and jewlery making to support themselves.

Our team of 22 broke up into 3 different teams. Jacky, Dorothy and one other sweet girl led us to these villages. We were thankful to be in smaller groups and to have interpreters. We never split up for safety reasons but Samuel assured us we would be fine and when to meet back on the bus.

My group got out of the bus and walked behind some corn stalks to this really dirty village of super small dwellings. We walked to the back of the village, smiling, holding kids in our hands, passing out silly bands and equipped with a new money making idea for the ladies. We knew that some of them already made bead necklaces and did some weaving. We brought a lot of different thread for them to learn how to make necklaces. We had some instructions but were mostly just showing them how to do it since they did not speak English. Jacky was a great interpretter. They women had already settled us all under a tree with benches and they showed their guests the royal treatment. They were so excited that we came to visit them. In their culture, when a Muzungu (white person) visits you or goes into your home it is a great honor. I can understand how they were astonished that people from across the globe would come visit them but their own city will not.

We all sat down and Jacky told us that they wanted us to preach to them. We weren't prepared to preach but they were sitting all around us waiting. Jenny spoke about being a single mom and the difficulties that she has overcome through Christ to get her where she is today. I wanted to speak as well. I was really overwhelmed and humbled to be able to “preach” to them. God definitely gave me the words to say. In John 15:16 it says, “You did not choose me but I chose you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last”. Many of the deaths around here are by disease, mostly AIDS. I was able to tell them that my father died of disease as well and my mom was supported by the government. She worked hard, took night classes to learn a skill and then went to work. God took care of us. We attended school, played sports and went to University (what they call college). Regardless of how far apart we live, we are one by God's spirit. We have gone through similar things although my conditions in America are much different than here. I told them that we could give them money and provisions but those things wear out. The only fruit that lasts is God's word and that is the only source of life, joy, hope and peace. In verse 17 it says, “If the world hates you, remember that it first hated me”. It was so awesome to be able to look in the eyes of the poorest of the poor and tell them they are loved by their Father. He created each one with purpose and that he does not make mistakes. He is their only hope, not us and not money. If I lived in Uganda, I would have grown up in this community and that really hit me hard to think about as I looked around. The homes are made of mud, sticks, plastic tarps for roofs, holes in the ground for toilets. The kids have no shoes, barely any clothes and the ones they have are so tattered. There was 15 year olds boys there that cannot attend school because they do not have shoes. They wanted to learn how to do the craft we were teaching the women just so they could learn something. They are so eager to learn and they pick up on things so much quicker! A sweet lady named Marion caught on so quickly. She was probably 65 or 70. She worked on that bracelet and immedietly wanted to give it to me. She made it for me she said. She was so proud of it. Her face shined. They wanted to know when we would be coming back. That is so hard. You can't say that you are coming back, even though I want to. I am glad to know that Visiting Orphans will send other teams there. Their faces just radiate. They want to give you all that they have and walk you back and see you off and know about you, ask you questions about your family. One sweet mother named Annette had the exact ages of my kids and I was so encouraged to know that her older two were in school that day. Pastor Samuel is doing such a great workd at his church, with the children and attempting to send them all to school as well as ministering to the mothers. If the mothers can learn vocations, they will not delve into the sex trade or cause their daughters to go down the same road. It really is changing lives.

Our tour guide Jacky took us to her mothers house whose name is Ann. Ann volunteered to make her backyard into a bakery. This is another way these widows earn money is by cooking and selling their goods. Finding a market is always difficult. I would love to take their items and try to market them here. This is something I am going to talk to Kirk about and pray about. When you see the jewelry, and you know that you are directly supporting these women to survive, I am sure you would see it to be a very worthy cause!

After that we had a fun time shopping in Jinga and using their internet cafe. We went back to the hotel for some dinner (we had pizza for the first time and it was amazing!). They have very little sweets here. I miss chocolate and pizza and a few other things. I have drank a great amount of water (all bottled of course). I will be thankful to drink out of the sink again! We brush our teeth with bottled water as well. We had a nice time sharing as the 3 groups shared about all of our different experiences. Our reminder as Christians here or elsewhere is that WE are not the answer. We need to point people to Christ. We will always fail others and let them down. We can never fail if we just keep pointing up. The hard pressed want help. They want a Savior. Too often they feel like it is going to come from Americans. We have gotten a lot of those types of questions....how do I trust in God in these conditions? Can you just stay and minister to my kids? When will you be back? What are you going to do for us when you get back? The real answer is that we don't have the answer. “Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength. In all your ways acknowledge him and HE will direct your path”. You want to give them answers but HE is the only answer and we need to trust that he will take it from there.

Day 6 June 30th

Thursday June 30^th 11:16

I have not gotten used to the smells, the driving, the bugs or sleeping under mosquito nets.

I do love the people. They are usually very friendly, generous and hospitible. I love how affordable everything is. But most of all I am so encouraged by the faith in Christ these people have shown us. They truly worship Jesus. Our hearts were all deeply moved yesterday by the chidren in the prison worshipping Christ. They worship God in song, dance, in servitude and humility and the most spirit led prayers. The fall on their knees.

My senses are challenged being here. I enjoy cleanliness around me and everything is dirty. I enjoy taking a shower and feeling clean but within minutes I feel sticky, dirty and itchy. I have a hard time with foul smells and to be honest, there is a lot that smells bad to me. There are hard things to see, feel, touch, taste and hear for sure. At this time in my life God has not called me to live in Uganda but I do love the people. I especially love the 3 men that I met today.

Today we went to Pillars of Hope. Please look it up and consider giving to this ministry.

Godfrey, Peter and David warmly greeted us today as we came to their facility. They are AMAZING men of God with HUGE hearts for the children that are living on the streets of Jinga, Uganda. A few years ago they saw this need and God told them to do something about it. Just like God finds us out, they go to the children in the evening or at night and speak to them and love on them. The children have now begun to recognize these evangelists and call them “Uncle”. The children here will call you “Auntie Rebecca” or “Mama” sometimes. They call the men they love “Uncle”.

As you can imagine, the kids on the street are very vulnerable. They do not go to school. They beg for money, steal, or “scrap” (they find things to sell like metal scrap). They are exposed to violence, abuse, kidnapping, death and drugs. Most of these kids have been abandoned, orphaned or with a parent that cannot support them at all. Alex was in school and at home doing well. His father could no longer pay for school so Alex went and lived on the streets to see if he could make money to pay for his own schooling. The children are taken advantage of so easily and Alex started using drugs. David and Godfrey started to minister to Alex and he is now a leader among the other children at Pillars of Hope.

Mission of Pillars of Hope : To empower street kids, orphans and vulnerable children as well as the most disadvantaged people in order to become self sustaining and live a life for the Lord.

Several of the mothers of these street kids are prostitutes. Pillars ministers to the whole family and have led some women to Christ and they are now out of that profession and making money weaving or jewlery making. They believe that what the child hears and sees greatly affects their character. They are praying for a place to house these children. They currently send them to school and then they come to the Pillars of Hope facility. But, they go home to sleep. If their mothers are in the sex trade business, these men are in their homes and the kids are getting abused. The work Pillars does could have a much greater sustainability if the kids were not in those awful living conditions or just back out sleeping on the street.

There is also a lot of witch craft in Uganda. Street kids and orphans are being abucted at night on the streets and beheaded for sacrifices. There are child sacrifices here. THIS IS REAL. The devil wants to destroy this place and from the looks of it he is doing a good job. BUT, there is so much good here as well. He has perfectly ordained fearless, Godly men and women to do his job here on earth.

Day 5 Wed June 29th

Today was a very difficult day. We went to a children's prison. They ranged in ages from 8-18. Yes, there are 8 year old kids in prison. They have very, very little. They have some girls but mostly boys for a total of 150 or more kids.
Yesterday we went to the Remand Home for kids. The prison today is where the kids go once they have been sentenced in court to serve their time. We were told that details were not to be shared on blogs.
When we first arrived they led us in song and praise and worship. We were all in tears that these kids are leading eachother in worship and praise music for us and then closing with an open time of prayer on their knees with their hands lifted high. We were humbled and thankful for the witnesses to Jesus that we saw there.
We brought them all varies colors of tshirts and thankfully we had enough. They painted whatever they wanted on there and a lot of them wrote their names or drew pictures. They held on to them or wore them immediately. Their clothes were rags and it was nice to leave them with colorful shirts.
Sadly, there were several very small children there. Apparantely, the prison also gathers all lost, abandoned, abused and or street children as well. Last night they gathered 220 kids. They screened the kids to see if they were able to be allowed to stay based on health qualifications I believe. We did not see all 220 but we saw enough from the ones that were already screened to know their conditions. They were so dazed with sad unsmiling faces. They just walked around and stared at you. It was as if they had been left for weeks without anyone to care for them and now they are at a new place and are just so confused, skinny and so dirty. One little kid was maybe a year old and he had a very tattered, very dirty shirt on, no shoes and no pants. His shirt barely covered himself. The little ones do not stay at the prison but they stay there until they are transferred somewhere else. In some cases, they are found by relatives.
Thankfully, the yard was different and more alive when we left than when we came. Soccer and kick ball was being played, the kids had chalked up the facility and were playing with bubbles and jump ropes as well as wearing very bright colored shirts.

After leaving very sadly, we came back to our guest home and went to Royal Hope Academy which was started by Rebecca Sorensen. She is 27 and originally from Tennessee. She came to Uganda in 2007 and by 2009 had started a school. She started her school with $200 and they operated out of a shack with a plastic roof with 30 kids. By the end of her first year she had 250 and she now has 400 kids attending school. Schools here are very, very different to say the LEAST. Roads here are non existent and mostly unpaved. They are usually just deep pitted holes in the ground or grooves so big you cannot drive through them. We have been very blessed not to get stuck several, several times. There are no speed limit signs, no stop signs, no stop lights, no road signs. It is total chaos when you drive.
We see so much in one day it is impossible to write about. Imagine miles after miles of shacks with 1 and 2 year old half dressed "playing" outside while someone watching them is gathering water from a jug, carrying it back on their head and boiling it for baths, drinking water and cooking. You see kids EVERYWHERE.
Back to Rebecca's school. When we arrived the children all sang to us on either side of the roadway "Welcome to Africa" as we walked through them. Picture walking on a dirt clay road towards a school made of wood sticks and a tin roof with 400 children singing to you. It was pretty overwhelming. The kids immediately grabbed your hands and wanted to be held. Your hand was never free. If one let go, there were 3 or 4 more right behind them grabbing at you. We stayed and sang with them for a while and they did a traditional African dance for us. They even grabbed some of us to try and do it with them. I was cuddling a little super tiny 2 year old at the time who would cry when I put her down. I was enjoying the moment.
After we hung out with them for a while and they showed us around the classrooms, we went to Rebecca's house and she served us dinner. Rebecca fosters 17 orphans at her home. She calls them all her sons and daughters but has not made legal proceedings. She has 12 daughters and the rest boys. A few of the boys are older and help her run the orphanage and another sweet lady named Charity who helps her run her house and is a great cook. They served us first and all of the children and Rebecca and the staff ate after us. We had rice, meat, potatoes, peas, greens, squash, watermelon and pineapple. We were very thankful that she invited us to her home.
My Father's House is the name of her ministry and she needs sponsors for her kids to attend her school. She has 30 out of 400 currently being sponsored. Sponsorship is $35 a month if you are interested. These kids need to be in school. They are learning about school, the Lord and being fed. We painted the girls toe nails and gave all of the kids flip flops. The teachers on the team donated a bunch of school supplies as well.
When we left it was very dark and there are no lights anywhere. The only light comes from our bus. You do not want to go out at night. The roads are so bad that there is a lot of traffic waiting for a break to move through or around the person in front of you. Tonight we were on back roads, with bad roads and in the dark. When we would stop, men would approach our windows. We do not see very many white people around here so when we are on our bus we get a lot of stares. They yell "Mazungu" (white person). In the daytime that is great because they usually point and then wave but at night we stick out like a sore thumb and all of our fears on these roads are that we are going to get stuck in the clay and have to get out of the bus and push. Thank God we have not had to do that yet. Please pray we won't have to. We also got stopped on the road twice with random police checks. They come on the bus and ask where we are going and ask our driver for his permit. I am glad they have been friendly. Today left us all heavy and in tears.
Tomorrow we go to Pillars of Hope in Jinja, Uganda which is a street ministry and sort of like an after school program for kids and former prostitutes. We will be going to a different city tomorrow and staying at the King Fisher Resort. We will not have internet access probably until Saturday or Sunday. Love to all. If you are reading this, please continue to pray for our safety and that we will find joy amidst what we see. That we will be confident in the God that saves, redeems and heals all situations with these kids. He is their only hope.

Day 4 June 28th

Day

June 28^th, 2011 Tuesday

Today we went to a Remand Home for children between the ages of 12 and 18. This is a jail for kids. There were about 150 kids there ranging in age and only 10 or so were girls. The boys and the girls are hard to tell apart when you are far away because they all have the same short hair cut. This was located about 25 minutes from where we are staying. It would be a lot less of a drive if traffic was not so bad. There are few paved roads to drive on and the ones that are have so many people on them.

We got to the home at 10am and stayed until 1pm. They were waiting for us in an outside covered cement structure sitting on benches. We went to the front of all of them and each one of us introduced ourselves. They were very interested in knowing about us, where we were from, our age, our name, if we have any kids, if we are married and if we go to school. They gave out some loud claps for the girls that were under 20 (I think they thought they had a better chance with the younger ones...ha!).

After introductions they brought out drums and sang for us. We then sat with them and taught them 2 different bible songs and did a bracelet craft with them that they could then wear. They were excited to get anything. Just like ducks that swarm at you when you are handing out bread...if you hand one of them anything, they all ask for something. I even saw kids putting the left over plastic bags from their craft in their pockets. We took pictures with them and they showed off their bracelets proudly. They were then pretty warm to all of us and loved seeing the pictures after we took them on our digital cameras. They started doing silly faces and wanting to take their own pictures and look at themselves.

We didn't have a lot of open space to play around in but we ended up have 3 different areas where we played Twister, soccer and just free play with the balls, jump ropes and balloons that we brought. It was so interesting to see them playing soccer and holding on to their balloon because they didn't want to let it go. It was so fun to play soccer with them. I set up 3 vs. 3 and when a team scored, the losing team went off and the winning team stayed on. There was a lot more rotation that way. It was fun to see them getting into it and they enjoyed me playing with them. When I wasn't in a game I was juggling with some of the other boys. This was a great opportunity to talk with them and learn a few words in their language of Luganda (even though the national lanuguage is English only the older ones speak it well and the younger learn in school. “Waybelay” means thank you and “Ya” means ball. I don't know the spelling but that is the way it was pronounced to me.

There were only a few standoffish kids that did not participate. Most of them wanted to participate and talk and some spoke English and some didn't. There was a great kid named “R” (for the sake of his privacy). He did not talk much until he started playing soccer. It was really neat to see him open up. He asked me how many languages that I knew. I told him only one. He laughed. In Uganda there are many different languages and he said he knew 4 and was working on his French. R is 17 and had been at this facility for 2 months. His mother died when he was 8 and his father when he was 12. He said he was watching sports on the tv out somewhere and the police arrested him and took him here. He had such a contagious smile and soft heart but downcast eyes. R told me about the demon possessed men that roam around Kampala. I told him we actually saw a guy walking down the street yesterday naked. He said that we saw someone that was “mad” and that demon possessed people only walk around at night. This provided such a great chance to talk about God and how he is always with us and always hears our prayers. He said he believed in God and Jesus and I asked him if I could pray for him. It was so awesome and I was so thankful for the opportunity. I was glad that I held it together and didn't break down crying. He thanked me. I tried to encouraged him to maintain his joy, his smile and his hope. I also challenged him to be a helpmate to the younger kids in the facility and be a leader.

Please pray for “R”. God knows who he is! I pray that he will finish school and go on to college (University) as they call it. He said he wants to go to Canada because he heard there are a lot of sports there. These kids are sweet, friendly and open to the gospel. There was never any fear being there. They seem like everyday normal kids to us without our provisions. They tell jokes, they make fun of each other and they like to learn about us.

“K” was a funny kid. He wanted to know if I drove a porsche, mercedes or a BMW. I told him none of the above and he seemed surprised. He also asked me where I play soccer for money and what team I am on. Ha! They all stared at my nike running shoes, my watch and my necklace. They even asked for my sunscreen just so they could have something to keep from us. One boy touched my spikey unshaven legs and they all laughed.

They were very respectful and wanted to know if we could come back tomorrow. It was the first time Visiting Orphans had been at this facility and I know it will not be the last. A worker at the facitily asked us if we were social workers and why did we come here? We came because God loves us and we want to share that with others. Wow, he said....the Lord will bless you for this, doing this out of your own generosity. Comments like that just make you think, there is SO MUCH more we COULD be doing. Just showing up is a blessing. God blesses us materially and we can bless others materially. The boys were so excited to be able to keep the balls and other games that we brought. BUT, those things will wear out and I pray that we will not forget to PRAY for these kids and show up wherever that need can be met. Sometimes that requires just listening to their stories.

We rest and eat dinner tonight and off to a prison tomorrow where there will be more restrictions on the kids and us. We will then head on to our first orphanage.

Day 3 June 27th

Day 3

June 27^th

We just landed in Ethiopia and are awaiting our next flight to Entebbe, Uganda. We were in the air for 12 hours. There were so many people on the plane and with all the luggage I just don't see how a plane can actually fly with all that weight.

I rotated between the in flight movie selections, games, music, sermons, reading, snacking and taking several “walk abouts”. There were some really adorable kids on the plane. We met 2 different families that were adopting daughters from Ethiopia. It was so awesome to see their anticipation. They both got off the plane and went straight to the orphange to bring their babies home.

Addis Ababa airport allows smoking and there are couches and arms chairs just around for people to sit at. We don't have a lot of room to spread out so we are parked right in front of the security gate. We are inches away from men and women taking their shoes off and redressing their belts. It is kinda stinky.

We start boarding shortly for Entebbe. We will then have a 2 hour flight and a 2 hour car ride to get to Kampala. We are greatful to be off the long flight and a bit exhausted.

4pm

We had a very easy flight from Entebbe, Uganda to Kampala, Uganda. We had to wait for a long time on the plane after we landed and then again at immigration and then again to get all our luggage and load it on our bus. Our bus driver's name was Abus :). His assistant was so sweet and hugged each one of us...except me. Our luggage drove in a pick up truck while we drove a really nice passenger bus with the windows down.

We finally got our first glimpse of Africa as we drove to Kampala. The dirt is orange and the grass is green. There are a lot of pretty trees and so many people. Little shops, shanties and store front line the side of the road. They sell anything from dresses to chickens and hanging meat. There were several cows and goats either right next to your car eating grass or tied up to a rope by a stick in the ground.

I saw so many kids playing alone, with other kids or just so dangerously close to the road with no adult around. I saw kids with no shoes, no clothes and seemingly nothing to do. There are a lot of people that are standing around, walking, biking or on a motorcycle. It is kind of crazy to drive on the opposite side of the road with no real concern for anyone else.

We were told not to take pictures of policemen. They are around everywhere with machine guns slung around their shoulders. We are sitting in our hotel now that overlooks Kampala. There is 4 to a room and a mosquito net on each bed. Dinner at 7 and off to bed. We go to one of 2 children's prisons tomorrow.

Day 2 Sunday June 26th

We woke up at 5:30 and met downstairs at 6:30 to head to the airport. We had to take 3 shuttles for the 22 of us who have at least two huge bags and several carry on bags each. We are all wearing our Visiting Orphans t-shirts and have had some great conversations while waiting, and waiting in long lines. It is 10:30 and we start boarding our plane at 11. Our flight on Ethiopian Air will be about 12 hours and we will get there at 7:45am.

Day 1

Day 1

June 25, 2011

8:40am

Arrived at the airport with lots of goodbye hugs from the girls and Kirk.

We made it with time to spare but the lady checking us in was a little moody. There are 7 of us flying out of Nashville. At least half of us had tears flowing!

It took a while to get us all checked in because of our weight limitations on our luggage. We were allowed 2 bags weighing 50lbs each and a carry on. Well, we have so many donations and our own clothes that a few of us were over the weightage. If you go over it would cost $200 per item over, per flight ($400 total for our flight today and tomorrow). I had to take out some books, velveeta cheese, chocolates and journals. I can't believe velveeta weighs 2lbs and so did my hershey kisses. Trust me....neither are my favs...but they were requested by some of the missionaries there.

Ms. Moody check in lady sent all of our luggage directly to Uganda and not to DC as planned. No big deal but we do need a change of clothes, toiletrees etc. As we are looking out our plane window I think the issue is corrected and they are retagging all of our bags. We walked directly to our gate and never sat down and walked directly to the plane. We were glad we were not late and also glad we didn't have to wait at all. We are on a mini plane though...not so fun!

4:00pm

Arrived in Dulles aiport in DC with lots of luggage. I felt bad for the tiny guy putting all of our 50lb bags on the luggage rack on the way to Embassy Suites. We ate some lunch, went to Kohls for some last minute things and are now just relaxing and will probably sleep before our 8pm dinner and meeting with the rest of the team members and off to bed.

Africa # 4 "Kids talk"

Logan: Mommy, why are you going to Africa?
Me: To be with children that don't have mommies and daddies and to love them and tell them Jesus loves them.
Logan: Well, I am going to miss you. But, I won't be sad. I will have fun with my friends and other people when you are gone. I will miss you though. I will always miss you because you are my mommy and I love you. If I have another mommy I will love her too but I will always love you because you are my mommy.
Me: Logan, that is so sweet. I will miss you so much and you be good for daddy and be a big girl while I am away. I love you.

Meanwhile.....

Lilly: Mom, will you bring us presents when you are in Africa?
Me: I will bring you something Lilly but isn't it great that I will be home soon. That will be kind of like a present since I will have been gone for a while.
Lilly: No, I want presents.
Me: Lilly, would you rather have me home or have presents
Lilly: Presents
Me: Lilly, that isn't nice.
Lilly: Well, you leave all the time and are always gone for so long.
Me: What are you talking about silly head?
Lilly: You are always gone for a long time.

I think I need to talk to Logan for the "feel good" conversations prior to leaving. Lilly just makes me feel bad!!! Ha. Stinker!!

AFRICA: Leaving in the morning....so much to do....

So.....I leave at 6:30am to fly to Washington DC and then on to Ethiopia the next day.
I wanted the last few days to be relaxed. It was not. I am a dreadful packer. I hate it. The thought of packing for a trip that lasts over two weeks without the hope of a laundry is daunting to me. Not that I have a lot I am wanting to bring, it is just that I have never been there and I don't know where to start or know what is important and what isn't.
The girls were not particularly helpful lately. They were fighting a lot, over tired and crabby. However, that sounds a lot like me as well and I am sure they feed off of my stress and lack of attention I am giving them and that they deserve. Needless to say the last few days have not been relaxed. They have been stressful. Within the last few days I have had a bug bite turn infected, Logan struggling with bloody noses, a speeding ticket, going to bed between 12 and 2 and waking at 6, Kirk trying to get deadlines met before he is Mr. Mom for 2 weeks....amidst a few other dramas. BUT.... I have also had a tremendous outpouring of well wishes, I love yous, donations, offers to help with the kids, meals planned for me etc, etc, etc. It WELL out weighs the minor irritations.
LOVE LOVE LOVE to everyone that made this possible: KIRK of course for being excited for me to go (and is looking for an opportunity and a friend to go to Africa with in the future), awesome friends that the Lord has blessed me with, a great family near and far and many, many prayers. I know this is not for everyone and that not everyone supports this trip. I would be foolish to think so. I do know that God is good. He does not show favoritism and he created every person in his image. I know that he cares for orphans and knows the very hairs on their heads. I know that if they feel worthless and alone, it is a lie. God is with us, for us , behind us and beside us. He created me, you, them. If they have not heard of his unfailing love, I pray that our team of 23 women can be the broken vessel to tell them. All of us have felt unloved and abandoned. Thankfully, most of us have moms and dads, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles to tell us they love us and care for us. A lot of these kids do not. They are never alone, never forsaken, never abandoned, never forgotten, never unloved. God is with them as he is with us. I pray that our team will show the love of Jesus to these precious ones as he has so faithfully shown to us.
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last".
I pray that we will bear fruit that lasts by sharing Jesus unashamedly and boldly.

Africa #2 - 3 more days!!

We leave in 3 more days for Africa! I really can't believe it! I have my bags packed and ready to go. I need a few more essentials and I should be good and can close up my suitcase. I am getting donations from people daily so I have left my "donation" suitcase on my dining room table to keep filling up to the last minute. We have a 50lb weight limit so we will see about that!

I had some friends cook meals with me today for Kirk that I put in the freezer for him to pop out later. We also made some desserts and muffins too. Cooking with friends is way more fun than doing it together!

The girls keep telling me that I am gone too long already. I am so THANKFUL for the volunteering of several friends to help out with the kids while I am away. I think Kirk will have help every work day while I am away. I have been worried more about packing details and taking care of details for the girls and Kirk then I have been excited and anticipatory. I will be glad to officially close my suitcase today and focus on time spent with my family before I leave.

I am so humbled and grateful to be able to go to Africa. I don't know why in this point of my life that I have the blessing of being able to be there. I wish Kirk could go with me as well. He is sacrificing his time, money, efforts, energy, work schedule etc for me to go and for him to watch our girls and he is doing it willingly. Thank you Kirk. I KNOW how much work, effort and sacrifice it takes to allow me to go. I am praying for his opportunity to go as well when I get back. With all that being said, we are so very thankful I will be able to go with Kimberly and thankful that she pursued me to go with her!!

To: Nicky Love -Lilly