25

The countdown has officially begun. . . . only 2 and 1/2 weeks until my(AmyRose) July 1st return to the States!!!

I'll be honest--I have to the very best of my ability attempted to be fully present during the entirety of our trip here. I have purposefully neglected counting days left or days-to-go. But, at the 2. 5 weeks left mark, I have finally found it quite impossible to NOT count down the days. So, 20 days it is :)

20 days until my 19hr. layover in London, England. 21 days until I fly into KCI airport and then race straight to Des Moines, IA to be in my best friends' wedding. 21 days until I see my dear Tommyboy. My nearest and dearest of friends. My family. And while 21 days gets me quite excited, to the point of consuming my daily thoughts at times--I have found myself quite torn concerning my return to the States.

As absolutely stoked as I am to see everyone again, and especially to see my best friend marry the man of her dreams--I must say I am absolutely terrifed. I am not simply coming back to friends and family and good milk and Sonic and the ability to drink tap water without becoming ridiculously ill. I am coming home to unemployment. I am coming home to a car that will be costing $1,500 to fix in order to pass inspection. I am coming home to ZERO health insurance. I am coming home to college loans. I am coming home to a quite large, unpaid hospital bill due to a discrepency with my last insurance company. I am coming home to LOTS of white people. But mostly, I am coming home to uncertainty.

I don't know much about my return. I know who I want to see, but that's about it. I don't know what I will drive or where I will work. I don't know where I will live. I don't know when I will get to come back to my home for the last 6 months.

And yet, in all the uncertainty, I am overwhelmed with Peace. God has said, time and time and time again, "AmyRose. Please, BE STILL. "

Being still is far from easy for a wanderlust soul.

It is hard to be still when ever time I we go to Abba Home my heart breaks a little more when I realize within less than 3 weeks I won't be a 5 min. boda-ride away from 31 children who have completely stolen and broken my heart. It is hard to be still knowing that although I came as I had promised, and although I loved and served and gave--I will be leaving orphans behind. And beggars. And witch doctors. And widows.

It is hard to be still when visions of HIV/AIDS patients, 8lb. 8month old babies, and children with tropical ulcers covering half their limbs haunts my mind. It is hard to be still knowing most of those left with a month supply of vitamins and 20 tabs of pain killers, but short of that not a hope in the world.

It is hard to be still, most of all, when I am uncertain.

I am uncertain of whether or not Abba kids will ever be adopted, or what/who they will grow up to be. I am uncertain that HIV+ Emily from SSanyo babies' home will live past 2 yrs. of age. I am uncertain whether the lame beggars in Kampala will eat a single meal today, or tomorrow, or the next day. I am uncertain of where I will be upon my return. I am uncertain of where I will work, live, love.

It is quite a deal easier to be still in Uganda, 3 months in. It is simpler when our days consist of playing with orphans and reading on the beach on Sundays and waking up every morning to the best Kenyan coffee you've ever tasted, the brightest sun you've ever seen, and not a care in the world other than loving whomever may draw near.

It is not so easy to be still in the States. It is not so easy 21 days away from more uncertainty than I ever knew possible.

And yet, He continues to whisper, and sometimes scream at the top of His immortal lungs, through their dark chocolate arms and thankful eyes,

"BE STILL."

So much to do, so little time.

Things have been absolutely crazy lately...Sorry that it takes so long to update our blog...we need to get better at this but I think by the time we do, we will already be home!!!

We had a team come in from the States under the organization called House of Friends... The director John Gross and I have been friends for quite a long time and he is actually how I got connected to come to Uganda three years ago. He became a non-profit status about a year ago and have been doing incredible works for the Kingdom!! They have raised the funds for an orphanage (Abba Home) which has been up and running and housing 31 kids since July of 2008. They now have recieved the funds to build house #2 and we are really excited for it to be built so we can meet the new children that will be coming in.

When they first came in, we were able to assist Alex Bennet in leading a 4 day, 3 night childrens camp. Expecting 400 kids the first day, registration began at 2pm and by 5pm there were only a handful of kids. Knowing that everything starts later in Uganda, we were not discrouaged. About thrity minutes pass and kids began flowing in from all over Entebbe. We had three hundred kids arrive at the church and from there, we made the march all together to the camp. The march was about two and a half miles and if you have never walked that far with three hundred kids, I believe you probably shouldn't try it. :-) What an adventure!!!

After getting to the camp site, we met up with another three hundred kids and by this time, it is well after the sun had gone down and now all of us volunteers are trying to get everyone rounded up for a meeting before bathing, dinner, and lights out. Keep in mind that none of the kids can speak english very well so it makes this entire camp extremely challenging!!!

The camp overall went so well and AmyRose and I had the opportunity to tag team preach about the miracles of Jesus three different times over the course of the four days. The 600 kids that came to the camp were all between the ages of 3 and 16 so to keep the attention of all the kids was almost impossible, but with God, all things are possible and He made a way for us to make it exciting enough that ALL the kids paid attention!!!

During this time of the camp, it was all very exhausting for both AmyRose and I for we were both infected with parasites once again. AmyRose with Bilharzia and I with Giardhia, we were treated and are feeling more normal again. Just keep our health in your prayers!!

AmyRose had the opportunity to venture off with John Gross' team to Busia where they are hosting a medical mission for nine days. I talked with AmyRose a couple days ago and I am sure she will elaborate further upon her return, but she has said they are seeing about 200 patients a day and as I was speaking with her she had an elderly woman to the left of her clawing at the ground in a fetal position because she was in so much pain and a one year old to the right of her weighing a whopping four pounds. She also had the opportunity to witness a grown man in so much pain that he was weeping more than she had ever seen a grown man weep before. His thumb was the size of her wrist and was abnormal in color. The interpreter said that as he was working on the farm, he jammed something up his thumb..which would make sense for how big his thumb was...but after they numbed him they sliced his thumb open and after digging around for several minutes found out that he did not jam something inside his thumb...he jammed his thumb. So she had to hold together the skin while Dottie-a nurse from Texas- sewed him back up.

Meanwhile back in Entebbe :-) I have been doing a various amount of things!! Such as going out to Abba home and getting all the children's stories together along with pictures of each child. Right now, they have a very basic response to questions they have been asked such as when all the children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, almost all 30 kids replied with "Doctor". As I was asking the kids questions, I got a much different response than I was even imagining. I asked Irene, if she could remember a childhood memory and she immediately shook her head. Moments later, tears began streaming down her face as she recalled a memory from her very haunted past. Every child after Irene had much of the same response as Irene. I believe that most of these kids have never been able to share these stories with anyone and they are definately in need of release. So you can continue to pray for the hearts of these children that they will understand the importance of healing and how Jesus desires them to be set free.

Kelly and I went to Ssanyu babies home again yesterday to find that two of the babies had died. They were not sure what they died from, but it devestated both Kelly and I to hear that they died. Eighteen are in the process of being adopted out of Ssanyu and eight new babies have just arrived, three of them being newborns!! They are just absolutely precious!!! So if anyone is wanting some babies...just let Bethany Hartzler or Amy Shackelford know, and they can get your adoptions started for you!!!

I have also been getting the guest house ready for the girls to come, which they are coming in tomorrow and we are so excited and so ready to have them come!! Well you can continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish off the remainder of our trip!! See you all in a month and a half!!!

This Wretched World In Time Has Become Blind

Across the sea she came to live alone
To find her soul and learn to love and live
And when she came she saw the broken shone

And it was not enough to simply give
But those whom she thought well would soon taste death
Locked inside a pit of flies and fumes
She crumbles to the ground and gasps for breath
For such injustice why has been made room?
As salty swamps do form beneath her feet
Now crouched within the stench of purest heat

Lost wonder creeps into her restless mind
This wretched world in time has become blind

* * * * * * * * *


I was feeling a bit poetic today, so I thought I would share with you all a little--or I suppose very large--piece of my heart. The other day Stacie and I had a short but informative meeting with our dear friend Jackie, whom helps oversee Abba Home orphanage. She is mostly in charge of the finances and looks after the general well-being of all the kids placed there. As Jackie was sharing with us various needs concerning the financial situation of the Home, such as the fact that the aunties whom look after the 31 children 30 days a month are payed only the equivalent of $60 USD, the subject of health made its way into our conversation. Stacie asked Jackie if any of our Abba children were HIV+.

We were not at all prepared for the answer we received.

Jackie informed us that Enoch is HIV+. Now I know that 'parents' are not supposed to have favorites, but I think I can safely say for the both of us, that Enoch holds that status. A sweet-spirited, thoughtful, friendly young boy of about 11 or 12yr., Enoch captured our attention as well as our hearts from the beginning. Of all the Abba children, Enoch just so happens to be the photographer of the crew. He is the most likely to coerce Stacie and I into handing over our cameras as he pleads with his most innocent brown eyes, "You please let me take photos?"

And I must say, he is quite gifted. One of my favorites of Enoch's photos was taken back when Stacie and I still lived at JjaJja Alma's. It was the day Ivan had come over to shave the kids' heads, and Stacie decided the best way to keep the kids entertained was to bring out a handful of balloons. And oh, how right she was! The kids went crazy. I don't know firsthand, because sadly I was in the shower during this event, but I can only imagine from all the crazy pictures Enoch took of the chaos. My personal favorite was a photo he took of Irene. She is an Abba girl probably about 13yr. old. It is a profile photo of her holding a incredibly inflated, bright orange balloon, and she is standing against a red brick wall. The photo is simple. It is nothing out of the ordinary. African child. Red brick wall. Orange balloon. But for some reason, that photo captured my attention.

Enoch is not the only HIV+ Abba Home child. Irene is as well. Technically she has never been tested, but both of her parents were HIV+, and every time she is taken to be tested, she refuses. Obvious denial of the situation. I don't blame her. If I were dying at 13yr. I too would rather pretend that I am not. I knew about Irene. I knew when I noticed her arms were the same size or smaller as that of the youngest children in the orphanage. And I wondered when we commented on her size why she did not crack a smile. Perhaps I too was in denial, of recognizing some of our very own Abba children were not well.

I think I know now why that picture captured me the way it did. Enoch took the photo; and he took it of Irene. The dying was drawn to the broken. He wanted to capture her beauty. He wanted us to see her as she really is. Beautiful. Whole. Innocent. But all the same, broken. He wanted us to recognize the beauty through the pain. He wanted to capture the moment and make us see it forever. So that when we come back to our comfortable homes in the States in a matter of weeks, we will remember that oceans and miles away-- there is a young girl who once held as tightly to a tangerine orange balloon as she held on to life. And as she stood against that red brick wall and stared off into the distance, completely unaware that she was being watched, and photographed--all the while Enoch knew. He knew that one day we would gaze upon Irene and her balloon, and remember that while we embrace our parents whom are still alive, and our boyfriends whom we hope to marry, and our friends whom we long to see . . .

His friend Irene is dying; He dying. And desperately hoping we will remember the days we spent beside them, holding them, loving them--that we may continue even at a distance the great work our Father has begun.

"God Cares. This I am sure"

We were robbed.

Yes that is right. There we were, walking three of us girls-Kelsey, AmyRose and Stacie all walking along in the middle of Kampala headed to the taxi park. I don't think we have elaborated on what it's like at the taxi park. You see, There is a big dip in the ground in the middle of the city that is crammed with hundreds upon hundreds of taxis all sitting and waiting for people...as a taxi is filled, then it will attempt to make its way out of the crammed taxi chaos out onto the crowded streets of even more taxis and people dodging the taxis not to get smashed. Thankfully, we have not witnessed that. However we have witnessed a bicycle flying down the main highway road which was sloped, allowing the bike to glide freely down hill. The courageous gentleman on the bike was even leaned down to make himself go quicker. As the traffic backed up, we bagan to slow, but the bicyclist was in no hurry to put on his breaks, so he slams right into the back of a vehicle...possibly not seeing the bright red car parked right in his way. We weren't sure. We think he made it up okay, but the traffic began to pick back up so we were not able to check.

Back to the robbery. There we were walking towards the taxi park when all of a sudden this gigantic semi comes down our road forcing us to get off the road due to the monsterous size. A man on the side of the road notices a)we were in danger and needed a very kind man to assist us in our trouble or b)there are three white girls that I can pick-pocket and they will be so concerned with getting off the road that I will have plenty of time to check all of their bags. If you thought a...that is what we obviously thought as well...however this kind man who swooped us up from the road to get us out of the way of the semi darting right at us had b in mind and was able to reach inside both AmyRose's and I's purses and take both of our phones. We both felt sick all day. To make things even worse, we were not able to find a taxi that would take us back to Entebbe to our homes...And the sun began going down and we did not want to be stuck in Kampala by ourselves after dark. So after we walked about ten miles all over the city we finally found a taxi that agreed to taking us to Entebbe. I could not think of anything else other than what I could have done differently that day to make all the terrible events that happened, not happen. It was consuming me and making me feel even more nauseated. As soon as I got on the taxi I saw that an adorable little girl-probably 2-was sitting in the lap of a couple people over from me and was excited to see that she could cheer me up. But as soon as I smiled at her, she began bawling and thought to myself, the one thing that could keep me from crying is now crying and that was when the tears began streaming down my cheeks into puddles on my shirt. She was afraid of white people. The guy next to me looked at me and said how was your day. I just wanted to say to him, "Obviously by river of tears flowing down, I have had a rough day and would appreciate it if you wouldn't ask such obvious statements and not continue this conversation." But instead I half smiled at him and said, "Well, sir, I have actually had better days than this one." He just smiled at me and said," God cares. This I am sure." OF COURSE HE DOES. He cares. Even of the stupid little things that we care about. No he does not care about cell phones. But because we care about them, he cares. He cares because he loves us. He cares because he created us and wants to see us happy and wants to see that we are well taken care of and this man who was sitting next to me had no idea what a difference he made in my life with those six simple words.

Then I began thinking about the situation a little more clearly and not so emotionally disturbed by the loss of our precious communication to the rest of the world. I began to think about the man that stole the phone and how awful it must be to be a theif. How he probably has a family just like we do. He probably has a wife and some kids and hungry stomachs to feed when he got home that evening. His kids birthdays are probably coming up and he just needed money to buy the kids a nice meal of rice and beans to celebrate. If you want to know the greatest need in Uganda after being here for four months...I would have to pinpoint the lack of jobs. That is why kids are not schooling. Because they know that even if they do get the opportunity to attend school, they will still not have much of a future unless they want to become corrupt and steal and cheat to get anywhere. This man was just taking his opportunity when he saw white people. In his mind, he was thinking,"They may have something worth some kind of value and whatever they have I am sure they will be able to get again without much of a problem." Which, in a weird twisted way, I believe that we would do the same thing for the sake of our children. We would do anything to find a way to make a little money to feed the hungry...especially if the hungry are those you bore and see every day. Now I am not in any way justifying stealing. That is wrong. I just got a different picture of the man who stole our phones and my heart was changed from bitterness to brokeness. Thank you Jesus, for opening the eyes of the blind.

A blizzard...In Uganda??

Just realized it has been almost TWENTY days since our last blog...and we are EXTREMELY sorry about it!! The days have been filling us with so much lately that by the time we get our emails caught up, it is WELL past our bedtimes...well mine anyway, AmyRose never sleeps!! Also, the internet has been super shady lately and comes and goes as it pleases...

We have been taking shelter inside our home due to the blizzard of bugs that is among us here in Entebbe. There has been an insane mass release of the bugs that has been smothering our air. These dreadful awful bugs are referred to as "lake flies" and they are over-taking Entebbe. Because of their light-weight bodies, these bugs are easily transported by the wind from the sesse islands daily ...but it has not been as bad of a problem as it has been the last two days. The bugs do not move without the wind. So the wind carries them in, then the wind settles, and that is where the bugs stay...all day until another gush of wind comes to move them to their next location. They are white flying creatures similar to fruitflies...only about three times the size. The life span of these critters are about twelve hours. So they come, annoy all outside life, and then die. But they don't normally die until about 8 or 9 oclock at night so we are stuck inside all day waiting for this time of bugs to end, which rumor has it, will happen by the beginning of May. So as we make our journey out, we are forced to either cover our faces with shirts, scarves, or our personal favorite... FACE MASKS. The Ugandans think we are crazy, but we'd rather be crazy than be infested with these nasty little creatures from within. Pray that these little critters find some place else to reside so that we can move out of our home!! Also for AmyRose because she has developed an allery to these bugs and it is only getting worse...She said this morning, "I feel like death." We cannot have that happening!!

My birthday was on the 23rd so we are preparing to have a celebration at Abba home this evening...Since the flies have kept us prisoners inside our own homes, we have been busy baking away making all sorts of treats-cookies, cakes, and muffins...so hopefully the kids will not get a sugar over-load as to never having this much sweetness in one evening!!

Dumpster babies anyone??

Okay so here are a few updates---

Malaria-
After the horrendous episode with Stacies illness, Emily took a blood test which tested positive. Then AmyRose began feeling ill and we decided it would be best for her to take a test as well. Guess what?! Positive again. Then Mama Pease took a blood test, not because she wasn't feeling well, but because we wanted to find out if the test was faulty....which in turn was positive. We found out that we were reading the tests incorrectly and that Stacie had TWO lines which was in fact positive but the rest of the family had ONE line, which means we do not have to have lock-down and quarantine the entire household!! Stacie is feeling 100% better-thank you for all your prayers!!

Remand home-
As we told you in the last blog, we have been put on a program for every Saturday to go and minister to the kids in the children's prison. We have been super excited about this because most of the kids in the prison have done nothing legally wrong, they just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time!! So before going on Saturday, we stopped at the supermarket to get huge bags of candies and suckers for the kids!! We walked the rest of the way with these massive bags of candies and once we got there, we were greeted with friendly smiles of about ten people we had not seen before. The wardens assistant came out and told us we were not allowed to see the kids. With our hearts breaking, Stacie asked "Why can't we see the kids??" "Because you do not get to." "Look, we came all the way from Entebbe-which is about an hour and a halfs drive on a "taxi" to see these kids. We have to see them." "Sorry. You are not on the schedule." "Yes, we are!! We are on the schedule to come EVERY Saturday. Why can't we see them." "Well, we changed the schedule." At this point, we were super frustrated and decided to just leave before we got ugly. We ended up passing candies out to the street kids. It is always a challenge with the language barrier because we are always wanting to share Jesus, but it is so hard when we cannot speak the language. So we just pass the suckers out saying Jesus loves you...and pray that they understand. At least their tummies will be satisfied for the time being. :-)

Ssanyu-
We went to the Ssanyu babies home again today. And again we are sitting here with the stench of soured milk, unwashed, snotty nosed children and are continually reminded with every whiff of the beautiful bodies that so often go untouched and that they are so precious to Jesus. Our hearts break secondly with the thought that Emily was found only weeks ago in a dirt pit, unclothed, with no explanation. Just a bare bottomed baby crying out from hunger pains and not having a mommy or daddy to ease her comfort. Or for Benjamin who was found in a dumpster and left for death. Benjamin was malnourished to the point that his bones were popping out of his body and he was struggling for breath. For months they had to treat Benjamin with tender care in hopes and prayer that he would continue breathing. After 6 months, Benjamin is finally able to eat solid foods and is always all in smiles every time we see him. Or how about Francis' story. Francis is a ten month old who, they say, was the most malnourished kid they have ever seen. He came from the hands of a demon possessed woman who, the demons told her that if she fed her son, they would kill her. So she wouldn't feed Francis and slowly, Francis was starving to death. The police found Francis and took him to the Ssanyu. Francis has a lot of problems and needs so much care. He is ten months old and cannot sit up on his own. He does not see very well and makes no motion to sound. Please pray for Francis!! and all the kids at the Ssanyu babies home!! and all the orphans all over the world because if you want to make Jesus happy, you will take care of the widows and orphans because that is the heart of Jesus!! AMEN!! We love you all and we love the support that you give us daily!! We are so grateful to have this opportunity to serve in Uganda and see where the Lord leads!!

Healing and Ssanyo

Well the Malaria epidemic has finally taken a turn for the better! While Stacie is still coughing quite a bit (like every time she tries to laugh) and blowing quite a plethora of thick green snot on a pretty consistent basis (thought you'd love the details), she is WAY better than what she has been. Energy and health is slowly but surely returning, and she is finally able to move out and about without passing out or becoming light-headed and/or nauseated. Praise God! However, our dearest 'little sister' Emily, of the Pease family has contracted Malaria as well. She woke up feeling ill this morning, and produced a positive test result, so be sure to keep her in your prayers.

Stacie, Papa Eric, Ivan and I were able to trek out to the Ssanyo Babies' home this morning, amidst the torrential downpours and crazy drivers of Uganda. We made it safely (barely) and thoroughly enjoyed the morning hanging out w/ toddlers and babies, as well as feeding them and assisting in 'potty time.' Papa Erc personally fell in love with a young girl named Emily, who was brought in just a couple weeks ago, after being found in a dust bin. And I personally fell head over heels for a 1 1/2 yr. old young boy named David. SUCH a hilarious and adorable little boy.....as Stacie has previously mentioned, ALL BABIES ARE UP FOR ADOPTION :) :) :)

Tomorrow we will head to the Naguru Remand Home (children's prison) to love on and minister to some kids. Prayers for relationship building and effective ministry. And thank-you for all prayers sent up for Stacie's health!

Also, I have been asked to help lead Group Therapy at the Early Learning Primary School in Entebbe. Our friend Katherine Bodo is studying psychology/counseling and is 'practicing' counseling services at the school. The kids we are working with are ages 11-14yr. boys and girls who have behavioral problems and are struggling academically. We had our first session on Tuesday--and it was quite interesting. I am VERY excited to be working alongside Katherine, especially doing something I love to do. But i was rudely awakened by a dose of culture shock during our first session. There is an obvious racial barrier, a language barrier, and an enormous culture barrier. Please pray that God will grant wisdom to us as to how to best relate to these kids and how to go about initiating healing in their lives.

Thanks again for thoughts and prayers and God bless!!!

Measles...Mumps...Malaria??? No way!!

Yep that's right. Malaria. The mosquito-Anopheles- carrying infectious disease that causes diarrhea, vomitting, coughing, nausea, stomach pain, muscle aches, head aches, fever, chills, sweating, restlessness...and Stacie has developed all symptoms. Of course Stacie, who seems to be the one susceptible to getting all over seas diseases-African skin disease, typhoid, etc...-would get it even though AmyRose is the one who has been failing, consistently, to take her malaria medication and gets bit far more than Stacie does. Stacie began feeling restless and devoloping flu-like symptoms about a week and a half ago, not really understanding how she could be getting the flu when the weather is as constant as it is. She had just got back from praying with Jajja Alma-which has malaria and shared with her that her malaria began with flu-like symptoms-and on her way to meet up with AmyRose at Abba Home, found herself on the ground with people running up to her and trying to help her up. She had no idea what had just happened but she grabbed her stuff quickly and took off, far away from the crowd of people that had formed around her. She realized that she had collapsed and had not been hit, and that this illness she has been experiencing might be something more than just the flu. I rushed home where Krisann urged me to take a blood test. The first test we took came up positive for malaria and we didn't believe it so I took another one and sure enough, the results were positive.

I was very disturbed that I had malaria. I mean, it totally makes sense because lately I have not been wanting to do anything or even be here in Uganda. I have just wanted to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep. I just laid there thinking all day, okay, God why am I here when I am feeling this way. I should be out doing something, anything...but instead I am just laying here in bed and not doing enough. I blamed it on satan saying that of course satan would want me to be knocked down and not doing anything for God. Then Krisann had said, "You know Stacie, It isn't always satan that knocks us down. Sometimes God knocks us down so that we can find our rest in Him." And that is when it hit me. It was Jesus. Because sense we have been here, I have been going back and forth with the same questions, am I doing enough? What else could I be doing? Am I doing anything that is just wasting time?? Sometimes I think we can all fall into this trap that satan wants us to get in that we miss what is going on right before us. If he can get our thoughts consumed with the need to do more and more, we totally fail to miss what we are able to do for God and that we are just the tool being used. The last five days has been absolutely miserable for me. I have had to allow everyone to wait on me, which really is a difficult task for me to do, and just lay around. It has also been really good for me because I have had plenty of time to "Rest in His arms" and reflect on why I am here in Uganda and where I get my strength and who really is in control of this trip. Continue to keep us covered in your prayers and thank you for all of your support!!

A Day with the Big Brown Beautiful-eyed Babies...

First off let us start of by apologizing for such a delay in our posting. We have been yelled at by several people asking for more posts..so here you go!! Now it is your job to comment on all of our blogs...just so we know that you are really reading them and praying for us...we need lots and lots of prayer. We will go into prayer requests in a separate blog, as for now, let us elaborate how beautiful brown skinned babies are...

Where: The Ssanyu Babies home
What: An orphanage for kids under three- there are 49...ALL ADOPTABLE...children in this particular orphanage. 49 kids and very limited hands in caring for these beautiful unwanted babies.

Our Heart- When we went to the Ssanyu babies home the first time, we were in search of baby orphanages that would allow adoptions to the US. When we were there, we got hold each of the babies for about five minutes each while we fed them a bottle of milk and then had to lay them back in their crib until the next feeding time. The stench of these babies made your nose turn and be so ever thankful for our own mamas who spent much time and labor in making sure that we were well taken care of and bathed if we got to smelling that horrific. Tears came to our heart and we knew that we had wanted to come back and hold the babies for more than just five minutes. We wanted to come and bathe these tiny little ones and hold them for as long as they allowed. We just wanted to show them love. It is one thing when playing with kids whom are older and will remember who you are and remember at one time a very nice "Mzungu" came and played with us and showed us love...but it is a whole different thing when you get to hold a baby in your arms that has never felt love and will probably never remember who you are. I believe this kind of thing is much more humbling and rewarding. We are not getting praised by the kids. We are not getting a Way-buh-lay Nyabo-Thank you Madam. We are just simply doing because we want them to feel the love of Christ through our humbled hands.

Well, we got to the home and sadly found that we were too late for the bathing and their first feeding time of the day. They sternly told us that the babies do not get "disturbed" throughout the day...which means we were not able to hold them like we had planned. Heartbroke sunk in as we were led to the older class of kids. In this class of 4-9 month olds, we were introduced by the only two teachers in the room, to twenty pupils who were sitting on the ground, surrounded by toys and told we could not pick any of the kids up. We were just like, are you kidding us. We cannot hold any of these children. Appearantly in this class they were being taught how to sit up on their own and learn to play by themselves. So we, as in Amyrose, Kelsey, Virginia and I, all played with the kids while being reminded countless number of times to, "Put the children down." We are so amazed by these two women who took care of this many babies. Even with the four of us assisting the two of them we felt extremely exhausted and ready for a long nap after only three hours of being there. Running after tissues for snotted noses, trying to quiet down the screaming children, and changing soiled diapers became exhasting rather quickly.

A few days, and four showers later we continued to get whiffs of the soured milk and it brought back the memories of the snot dripping down the warted faces and how precious the tears flowing down from the big beautiful brown eyes...And how God loves all-even if their aroma is not as pleasing as we desire....We know that the faithful God we serve, adores these unwanted, untouched, undesirable babies, and that is why we are here-because God has given us a yearning desire for more of what He desires-The Orphaned.

An Afternoon in Kajansi

Monday was Mercy Home of Children day. A generous friend from back home, and former resident at Mercy Home, had sent us with $ in order to purchase a goat (a.k.a.--a meal) for the children of Mercy Home. We have never gone goat shopping. Nor have we ever purchased a live goat--or transported a live goat.

Our dear friend/right-hand-man Ivan was unavailable for the day, so we took with us our friend Geoffrey, and our day-guard, Charles. Upon arriving in Kajansi, we stopped at the nearest butcher and learned that he did not have any goat meat to sell us, and also did not have a live goat to sell us. Geoffrey, however, found a man who did have goats to sell. So we stayed behind while our two men travelled apparently quite a long distance on foot (they were gone FOREVER) in order to find our goat. We had quite a few interesting conversations with various locals while waiting. We chatted with the MTN (cell phone service) workers, handed out dumdums (suckers), stared down a crazy man, and chatted up a storm with an elderly congolese man, who upon learning he would only receive ONE dumdum, and not two, got up in a furry of rage, and hobbled off on his cane.

Geoffrey finally returned on a boda-boda with a very alive young goat straddled across his lap. Quite a sight! We then grabbed our 20 kilos of rice which had been purchased earlier in the day, and all hopped on boda-bodas to head towards Mercy Home. The journey was quick and we arrived safely, but when the goat got off the boda, he decided to become quite stubborn and hid himself in a bush, which Geoffrey had to very forcefully coerce and pull and yank him out of. The goat finally budged, and we were able to enter the premises and deliver dinner. The residents and staff of Mercy Home were all very thankful and also glad to see us. We plan to return soon in order to visit with them and also to partake of the goat feast!

The ride back to Entebbe on the taxi-van was probably the most entertaining taxi-ride we have had to date. Any sort of 'sweetie,' or candy, is popular and craved by ALL Ugandans--adults included. And we just happen to have many dumdum leftovers with us on the taxi. Stacie was able to have a nice conversation with a very friendly Ugandan woman after we passed out dumdums to the entire taxi crew. Geoffrey and Charles were also quite entertaining, as they decided to strike up a conversation in Lugandan with the conductor and several passengers, which we are assuming had something to do with us, and was probably not something we really wanted to know about--as they errupted in laughter every few seconds but refused to tell us what was being said by either party.

This is why we want to learn Lugandan :)

In other news, our Kapchorwa trip was postponed, but will hopefully take place within the next week some time. We were also finally able to meet up with the warden of the Children's Remand Home (children's prison) and set up a bi-weekly schedule to come and visit with and minister to the kids. The warden was very pleased to meet us and excited to learn that we are interested in sharing Jesus with the kids.

En Jac Ooo Sahmba!!

We have officially moved into our new home! We live in a guest house behind the Pease family. They are a missionary family from Dallas, Texas and have come under the International Mission Board in order to minister to the people of the Islands. We met the Pease family at a house church we attended a couple Sundays ago, and they have graciously invited us into their home for the remainder of our time in Uganda. They are WONDERFUL!!! Krisann and Eric have two young children, Colby (11yr.) and Emily (7yr.) who are quite entertaining and a joy to be around. It has also been such a huge blessing to be able to just live with and be with a family. Right now we are sitting down to watch the disney movie WALLE, just after stuffing ourselves full of homemade apple crisp.......

This past weekend we had planned on traveling up to Kapchorwa in order to check out the area and determine whether it would be a prime place for the future NGO. However, we both became a bit ill (never really figured out what it was) and so decided to stay home rather than attempt to travel upcountry on a bus for 7-10 hours when already feeling quite nauseous. Postponing our trip due to sickness actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise (quite a common occurrence here in Uganda) as we learned from Kelsie and Travis there is a missionary couple up in Kapchorwa who is friends of theirs, who also has an NGO and is looking to partner with another non-profit organization. So the plan now is to contact this couple as soon as possible so that when we make the trip we will be able to meet up with this couple and discuss NGO plans and visions and such.

We were finally able to purchase shoes for the Abba Home kids!!! This has been quite a hassle as shoe prices tend to vary greatly and of course b/c we are Muzungus they jack up the prices as soon as they see us coming. We tried to buy the shoes through a pastor friend of ours, but soon realized that he was actually ripping us off, rather than giving us a great deal. Not uncommon, sadly. We resolved to make a trip to the Kububu (saturday Entebbe market) this afternoon to purchase the shoes ourselves, without any middleman.

A little background on the shoes.......... because Uganda's school systems are under British influence, the children must not only have official school uniforms, but must also have black leather shoes in order to attend school. If they do not have either, they simply cannot attend. Apparently teachers are very strict about this sort of thing. You would think that because Africa is such a poor country, that it wouldn't matter what they wore to school...Oh but it does.

After walking to the market, we made a deal with Vincent, a certain shoe salesman that we would purchase 26 pairs of shoes at 16,000 UGX per pair (that is about $8 per pair, and they usually charge about $15-$20 per pair). But just after we had struck this amazing deal, we realized we had left our notebook full of all the children's shoe sizes--back at our house. So we trekked back to our home, retrieved the notebook, and that's when the ridiculous shoe-shopping process began.......

Vicents shoe stand had only about ten pairs of black shoes, which we knew that if he didn't have the right shoe size or enough shoes, than his neighbor stand would generously hand his shoes over...and if his neighbor didn't than he would ask the other twenty stands that were there at the market...and so on and so forth until all 26 pairs were found. Okay so the way that they measure feet is slightly different than the way we do it in the States. In the states, you ask someone what there shoe size is, they say it is a size 6. You ask a Ugandan child what their shoe size is and they will tell you to get a piece of paper with a pencil and trace their foot on the paper; which is what we did that for all twenty-six kids. So we pulled out our notebook with 26 traced pages and began sizing the shoes up!! Vicent had the first five pairs of shoes, but after that, he began calling out his neighborly partners and then the shoe craze started---We had about fifteen different people in our faces with their shoes hollaring out that their shoes were the best and that we needed their shoes because they provided real leather unlike the others!! It got quite insane in the market today. Not only were they hollaring because they had shoes, but they also had kisses they wanted to deliver and kept saying, "MY COLOR, MY COLOR KISS ME!" Finally, MuMu called back ENJAKOOSAHMBUH---which translated to Enlish is I WILL KICK YOU!! They back away very quickly with those sweet words.

We began hauling the twenty-six pairs of shoes off in an oversized rice bag only to find Vicent and about twenty others trailing behind us telling us to dump the shoes for counting...We were all just thinking, "Oh no!! They are going to try to tell us we didn't pay for some of the shoes or they might just try stealing some of them back.." We had no idea but we panicked..and then from out of the bushes came these military men in green with machine guns and that is when we almost ran for it, twenty-six pairs of shoes and all!! Vicent assured us that they were just counting for their own records, the military men disappeared just as quickly and as sneakily as they came, and then we packed up and left for bliss-the Peases home!!

Notice our portion size in the bowls when we had "friendly critters" indwelling us...

A day with the Abba Kids!!

The picture where all the kids are sitting in a line is at the baby orphanage!! We had arrived just in time for "Potty time" where all the kids sat on their potties and went to the restroom...possibly on of the most adorable things ever!! And then the new Mzungu in the pictures is our dearly beloved Kelsey!!

Pictures of cutting the kids hair and taking them to the clinic and blowing up 39 balloons!!

Worms, Wardens, and homeless!! Oh my...

Well here we are...reporting to you from the internet cafe!! Tomorrow will be our two-month and we can hardly believe that two months has already passed us by!! Even though we miss you all very much, we are still dreading the day we have to leave Uganda...

Over the last few days, we have experienced quite a few "mishaps" which when you are in Uganda, you just have to learn to suck it up and realize you are bound to come across the unexpected. Among the MANY mishaps we have encountered, we will elaborate on just a few (We don't want to worry anyone by telling all, we will just wait until we return safely to the states safely to share the rest :-) )

Mishap #1 If you swallow water in Uganda, you are bound to get a parasite. Who would have guessed??

Okay so far, health concerned, we have remained fairly well for the most part besides the massive ring-worm outbreaks and salmonilla poisoning. Over the last week or two Naka (Stacie) has been experiencing a major depletion of hunger. She has been feeling completely stuffed, going days without eating. Mumu (AmyRose) on the other hand has been eating her helping, Naka's helping, and the childrens food. She is still feeling hungry after eating multiple plates of food. We have come to the conclusion that we both have different types of a worm and will soon be getting it fixed. Someone should seriously look into what types of worms they have so they can get it taken care of STAT!!!

Mishap #2 The Warden did What??

We are really excited about ministering at the Naguru Children's Remand home. The last time we were there we were told to come back in the morning someday during the week to try and get put on there weekly program because the warden is only there Mon-Fri. We are living in Entebbe and the Remand home is in Kampala...It is only about a 45 mile distance, but when you are traveling by taxi----- which we have elaborated what a taxi is like in earlier blogs but to give you an idea it is an average sized mini-van that CLEARLY says on the outside of the van "liscenced to carry 14 passengers" but we never have less than 19...It stops every few feet to let people on and off...people in Uganda don't like to walk anywhere so even if they are just going down the street, they will hop on the taxi to catch a ride :-) ---- which is the public way we have to get around, you have to estimate four hours of traveling time and then be prepared for the taxi to break down at some point, or stop to get new tires put on, or run out of gas and stall on the side of the road for two hours while the "Taxi Conductor" leaves the taxi unattended to find gas... So once we made our venture to Kampala and found the Remand Home by early morning, we were told that the warden had just left for the day ten minutes before we got there. It was only ten in the morning and we could not believe our ears that after coming all that way, he was not even around...Then we remembered, "Suck it up." We made sure that we got his contact this time and will be updating on how that goes.

Mishap #3 Almost Getting The Boot into Homelessness...

So I don't think we have really shared what has been going on with the house we are living in. For those of you that don't know, we have had some pretty awful experiences with the woman we have been living with. She is an elderly woman and is used to living alone. Completely understandable. But it is getting to the point that she attempts to kick us out of her house on a daily basis and we have seen that it is hurting both our ministry and hers as well. So a couple mornings ago, she told us that she is for sure going to need us to leave as soon as possible and that she is sure God will provide. We didnt at all see that this was safe considering we are two young white girls roaming the streets of Uganda and now not having a place to live, we knew we were in trouble. That morning we were both just like, "Look, God, if you want us to move we have got to be provided soon with somewhere that is going to accomodate us safely and allow a smooth and easy transition into a new home." He silently replied, "Be Patient." That night, we were invited to a missionary family who are here under IMB-International Mission Board- for American style tacos!! Upon our arrival they told us they might have a proposition for us and to not be pressured to say yes. They told us they were going out of the country for a month and needed someone to stay at the house to keep an eye on things. Both Naka and Mumu started crying and thanking God for the wonderful way God always takes care of His children!! We told them about the situation we were having and they said,"Why wait until we leave??!! You should move in tomorrow!!" We are going to try and tough it out as long as April 7th and then be moving into our lovely new home and family, The Peases!!

We have seen God doing incredible things here in Uganda in spite of what the enemy tries, daily, to throw at us. We are comforted knowing that satan wouldn't be trying so hard if we weren't doing what we are supposed to be doing for God. We are making him tremble and working extra hard at getting us sidetracked, attempting to get us discouraged, hoping we will fail. But God is sooooo faithful and is always protecting and covering his daughters in hope and love and we cannot wait to see what God is about to do through is!! We miss everyone of you so very much and love the prayers, comments, and support!!

The Taxi Ate Our Day

Yesterday in Kampala, upon realizing that it was already almost 4PM (we had left our house at 10AM) we wondered where our day had gone. . .

"The taxi ate it," our dear friend Kelsie explained.

Apparently leaving Entebbe any later than around 8AM is not a good idea. It happened to be the hottest day in Uganda we had experienced to date, and we spent half of it in an over-crowded (about 17 people in a vehicle the size of a mini-van), non-airconditioned taxi-van. At least 20 minutes of the travel time was spent at a dead stop, engine off, bumper-to-bumper, only a few miles from our destination--but in all reality about 30 more minutes of travel time.

We spent our day at the Naguru Children's Remand Home, which is basically a children's prison. It is a sort of holding place for kids who have committed crimes, such as beating up someone for no reason or setting arson to a building to murder or something as worse as that, and are awaiting their court date. While some of them are actually guilty, others have been sent there by parents or relatives who no longer had a place for them or wanted them. One sad aspect about the Ugandan culture is that they have little to no respect for the children. Especially when a widowed man or a divorced man remarries a woman, the woman will have no compassion for her husbands kids. Most of the time the step-children will get beaten until bloody without reason, starved and often times thrown out on the streets. What we have seen and heard about the cases at the Remand Home is that many of the children are in there as a result of being a step-child. The step-mother would despise her husbands kids so much that she would make up a false accusation about the children so that they can be sent away and not have the guilt of throwing them out on the streets.

There are 118 kids currently residing in the Remand Home, only 11 of which are girls. We were able to purchase 4 board games (Ludo--a treasured African game that is very similar to our game of 'Sorry'), 4 decks of cards, and 2 bright red soccer balls to bring to the kids. We spent all afternoon hanging out with the kids, forming relationships and getting to know them. It was quite a wonderful experience, and we were sure by the time we left that we would be back perhaps twice a month, but maybe more, to continue to minister to these broken children.

We were also able to visit 3 babies' homes this week, one of which we learned facilitates international adoptions...get excited Bethany!!! This is the Ssanyo Babies' Home, in Kampala. We were able to meet several of the workers and the head administrator at the home, as well as a few Mzungus from Southern California! We met a wonderful young Christian woman named Jenny, who came to Uganda on her own and has said she has had no real 'comradery' since she's been here, as she knows no fellow-American believing friends. We became quite attached to the children there--Stacie befriended the ornery child, as usual :) Sharon was her name. She screamed loudly and violently while leaning over the short wall separating us from the napping room, and did so until Stacie finally pulled her over the wall and into her arms. Emmanuel was the next child to try this routine--which worked, on AmyRose. And now she is permanently attached to the most beautiful little boy she has ever seen, who, by the way, she would like to see adopted into the States some day (hint, hint). We also arrived there just in time for "poty time" where all the kids who were being poty trained, a total of about 14 kids, lined up in a row and sat on their poty chairs...probably one of the most precious things we had seen all day!! We also were able to hold all the newly born babies and feed them warm-bottled milk. This was very touching and difficult because the babies only get touched four times a day-the times for feeding. Many of the babies eyes were crusted shut, probably just from crying and not being attended to.

We were able to visit Abba Home and New Life School this week as well, and got to love on our sponsor kids, Kato, Wasswa, and Zion, as well as give our American friend Devin a tour of the facility. He has mentioned possibly wanting to raise funds for another home on the campus. (Praise God!)

This morning we are sitting in possibly one of our favorite places EVER--Kelsie and Travis' :) Nak is writing a special someone a letter, and we are sipping on coffee w/ the best 'aero-frothed' creamer you've ever had in your life, topped with ground cinnamon. This is accompanied with baked oatmeal, and Jars of Clay's hidden track on their self-titled album playing in the background. We are getting ready to go to House Church where we will have fellowship and a pot-luck lunch afterwards, and are pretty sure that life does not get much better than this. . . :)

On the Islands!!!

On the way to the Koone, Islands!!!

Jesus in the Villages and ...STARBUCKS

Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben are officially enrolled at New Life Boarding school! And night guard Lawrence's youngest son Zion will God-willing be enrolled as of this coming Monday. Praise God for provision and hearts for Uganda :)

We met a young Ugandan man named Geoffrey a couple weeks ago, who approached us on Hill Rd. while on our walk home, and began speaking to us quite passionately about Jesus. Throughout this short intro-conversation Naka (Stacie) and MuMu(AmyRose) learned that Geoffrey is a Mormon. As it was becoming dark and JjaJja begins to worry if we are out past dark, we explained to Geoffrey that we must be getting home, but would love to meet up some time within the next week to discuss Scriptures. Naka and MuMu were able to meet with Geoff in the Entebbe Children's park this past Thursday and had quite the interesting, two-hour conversation about the Bible compared to the book of Mormon. Geoffrey was actually incredibly knowledgable about the Bible--probably more so than any Christian we have met. However, many of the things he said did NOT in fact, line up with Scripture as he claimed, but were actually misinterpretations of the Scripture. All in all it was quite an enlightening experience--overwhelming, because we felt a bit unlearned in the ways of the Bible--but enlightening all the same. We have scheduled to meet with Geoff on Mondays at 3pm, so please be praying that conversations will continue to be blessed and the Truth will be made known to all who are present.

Friday was a fun-filled day...we were able to have lunch at an Indian restaraunt in town with our new b.f.f.'s--Kelsey and Travis Harris (whom we met at John's shop at Upland) and from there we met up with Irish James. James is a professional golfer from Ireland, who has come to Uganda for four months and has been ministering to Ugandan golfers as well as doing some street evangelism. Nak, Mu, Ivan, James and Tom (Ugandan preacher/soldier) went throughout the villages of Chitoro speaking to various villagers--boda drivers, street vendors, and random women and children. The experience was quite unique as neither one of us had ever done such ministry, but it was neat to especially watch James witness to the villagers, as he has such knowledge and understanding of the Bible. He was able to share the gospel with a Muslim Boda driver, who was actually quite receptive, and said to us that although he could not 'change [his] religion' right away b/c he didn't know much about Christianity, he promised to study the Bible if we get him one that is Lugandan. Nak was able to lead a villager woman to Christ through the gospel and prayer.

Today was a day spent with the German girls we met a few weeks ago, and a night spent with AMAZING company.....We have become good friends with Kelsie and Travis Harris, who are missionaries from Georgia; Travis is a pilot and Kelsie teaches ballet to young girls in the area. We made homemade pizza and met some other missionary pilots who also came over for pizza night. And, Kelsie was gracious enough to let us use their computer (which i am currently typing on) to upload.......... pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have felt beyond blessed getting to know this wonderful couple.

Tomorrow is church at KPC which we are quite looking forward to, as well as running several errands while in Kampala. Keep following and commenting, we love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and support!!!!

Yay!! PICTURES!!!