Givin' some lovin'

It is close to 1am, and I feel like I have blogger block, so we will see how coherent this post sounds :).

Today was super busy. We left the babies home before 8am to go to a medical appointment required to get the visa. Then, we spent the rest of the day at a pool-n-play park with almost 40 orphans between 1 and 3 years old who rarely if ever go swimming. I took one little guy swimming that was scared of the water, but by the end i had to bribe him with lunch to coax him out of the pool. We ate under a tent. I will post a picture of what the kids had to eat. The day included having the kiddos even take naps on mats in the shade. The place had loud music on, which brought out some really silly dance moves from some adorable diaper wearing tots!

As I spend more time with the orphans, I am realizing that giving love means giving my heart, of course. So, the more I choose to give, the harder it will be to walk away. Is it worth it?

I read last night in Acts 20:19 "I served the Lord with great humility and with tears", which was written about Paul. So, I was reassured to confirm that the tears of serving Jesus are normal, probably even standard protocol. Then, a little later in the chapter Paul is speaking: "In everything I did I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: it is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

So, yep, it's worth it to give love like there's no tomorrow, knowing when I can't stash 12 kids in my suitcase to bring them home with me that it's gonna hurt to say goodbye. I am blessed to be loving on some families' future daughters or sons. And this was done for my children too before we adopted them.

(the plate has spaghetti, rice, posho, which is kinda like mashed potatoes, and some meat. The other picture is of a water container for a ritzy home next to the pool.)

The least of these

I didn't have a lot of dreamt up ideas about what orphanage life is like. So, meeting about 50 children under the age of 5 who are orphans was heart wrenching to take in. The moment I walked in the room, one little guy with slightly crossed eyes put his hands up for me to hold him. It was instant love!! That has happened now with ALL the children. They are so precious! They do fight over attention and want to be the ONLY one a mile around being held. During much of their weekend time and their play times during the week, they play outside in the beautiful Ugandan weather. The mobile ones get where they want to go on the terraced yard with a sand pit and slide. The others play on a mat under a gazebo with a tiled floor. Even the newborns are napping on a blanket on the ground.

The good news is that they are fed, clothed, bathed twice a day. They go to class during the week that seems to have age appropriate activities. This is a reputable babies home that has been around a long time. They are truly blessed to be in this facility.

So, what's so heart-wrenching? Well, these children need so much love. The staff do the best they can, but the "mommas" (the women who take care of the orphans) work 12 hour shifts, often 7 days a week, getting paid about $45 a month. They are not only in charge of everything I explained above, but also handwashing all the clothes and lots of cloth diapers and the dishes and floors. Needless to say, the kids are clamoring for hugs and kisses.

One little boy was given a picture book of his adoptive family. He didn't put it down all day had showed it to everyone he saw, squealing if any other kid got close to it. This is his only possession. He does not have his own clothes, toys, blanket. But, he was old enough to know he had a family who will be coming to get him and take him home.

One boy had a severe seizure and threw up all his tummy held and blood. The bump on his head was huge. He went from being an active preschooler to a lethargic almost non-responsive child who doesn't even eat even after 48 hours. Please pray for Him to be healed in the name of Jesus. I was able to tuck this precious one in bed tonight and plead for Jesus to heal him. I also sang quietly in his ear "how great is our God".

This is My favorite time of the day with the orphans, which is after they have had supper. They are stripped for baths, given potty-time, and a quick bath by the mommas. Then, we dress them for bed and lay them down. I absolutely love tickling them, cradling them all wrap in a towel, snuggling them as I dress them. Then, I sing to them and pray over them. By name I tell them Jesus loves them SO MUCH! And I love them so much. I pray that they would choose to love Jesus all their life and that God would bring them a family fast. I sing them a song and rock them in my arms. I lay them down and put their mosquito net around their crib.

They are the least of these with nothing of their own. Even their name is often unknown and temporary. But, I pray it is only a matter of a short time until their forever mommies and daddies come to take them to their forever homes!

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

(the pictures are of the chickens at the orphanage which they paint in order to know who they belong to, goats eating trash on the side of the road, the hazy dusky skyline from all the trash that is burned)

Funny stuff

There is really so much to write, and the days are so busy that I am getting farther and farther behind posting about them. Since it is almost 1am and we are getting up early to go to the US embassy, I am just going to post a few funny things.

After a very messy supper, the orphans get undressed and then have "potty time" before they get bathed. It is SUPER hilarious to see about 30 naked toddlers sitting on little training potties! Especially since they are screaming with glee to be having a "potty party"!

The sign above the wall at the church we went to today said these rules:
1. Sit on the toilet. Do not stand on it.
2. Flush the toilet by pushing down on the lever and quickly letting go.
3. Make sure the area is clean before you leave the stall. Remember, do to others what you would have them do to you.
I actually think this kind of sign might be a good idea at our house! : )

The driving here is CRAZY! Pedestrians do not have the right away at all. So, our driver was saying that it is very common to hit someone, but to pull over and see if they are alright is not done because it would mean the driver would get in big trouble with the law. I asked him who checks to make sure the person hit is ok. He said, "People here are very friendly to people who have been hit by a car."

The last funny thing is this picture.

First thoughts extend

I have always wanted to go to africa. Yet, knowing that I was leaving my family for 25 days left me crying myself to sleep (for the one hour I went to bed :)) on Wednesday night. I keep telling God that I am not adequate to do the things that He asks of me. And He keeps telling me that "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" and "His strength is made perfect in my weakness" and "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by man. He is not served by humans hands as if He needed anything because He Himself gives men life and breath and everything else(Acts 17:24, 25) So really the journey of following Him to the places He has for me, these 25 days it is Uganda, is not about ME and what I can do, but about HIM and taking a seat in the front row to see all that brings Him glory.

So, my initial reaction to Uganda, the place that we were are going to live as a family was that it was hot and sticky at 10pm at night! Also, to see the country for the first time late at night meant that I saw people walking in busy streets and groups of them around fires by the side of the road and the night life. It shook me a bit, not leaving me feeling "safe". I started to pray that I would see through the eyes of faith. God is good all the time!

(We are very limited on posting photos of the kids. So for now I am including a picture of my bed with the mosquito net I sleep under at night and the gecko in our room.)

Travel accomplished!

Thank you for all your prayers! After leaving my house almost 35 hours before, Julie and I arrived safely at the babies home. The trip went smoothly with a layover in Minneapolis long enough that we took a tram to the mall of America where we saw Dora and the Lego store and ate a cocoa fudge sundae at dairy queen! (reminds me of my younger years when I worked there during high school) I felt like we were seeing the completely other extreme of what we would experience in Uganda as there was even a beauty salon for dolls.

Our plane trip from Amsterdam to Kigali, Rwanda was filled with people going to different places to share Jesus. It felt like a camp meeting as we talked to one Methodist team going to Sudan to encourage ministry, a Baptist team going to Uganda, a woman starting an orphanage in Uganda, and another adoptive family going to ninja for their court and others too! I felt like God was encouraging us by surrounding us with like minded people who were also ready to serve.

Just Arrived

Amy and Julie just arrived at Sanyu and will see Lucy tomorrow.  Everything went great.  FYI - they should get an internet connection within a day or so and might be able to update the blog themselves.  Sanyu doesn't want them to blog until the court has granted guardianship but they may be able to talk about other experiences instead.

Still Traveling

Amy and Julie should be landing in Rowanda within the hour and then will fly on to Uganda from there.  They should land around midnight their time and get to the orphanage around an hour or two after that (Mid afternoon today for us).  The flights have been good and there hasn't been very many delays.

Big Jesus

So today is the day we showed our house. Or maybe we showed our house. We can't tell if they came in or not and their realtor hasn't called us back. Anyway, while we were out getting doughnuts so they could look at our house Amy found a check that we weren't expecting and it was for $5 more than the cost of her plane ticket and insurance to Uganda that we paid yesterday!

Start of the Blog...

I went on a short term mission to Uganda last year (March of 2011) and God was present in many ways.  There were healings, many people coming to Christ, and so many more ways that God revealed himself to our group.  You can read about it through another blog that was done while we were on the mission here: http://showmercymission.blogspot.com/.

Since then, God has worked in the lives of the 6 of us that went on that mission.  4 out of the 6 are adopting or considering adopting orphans.  My wife and I are wanting to but we also know that God is calling us to Uganda to work with those wanting to adopt and helping them through the process.  We don't know, yet, how that will work out or who we will go through.

We have tried and struggled to find a non-profit to work through while we are in Uganda.  Most groups are trying to raise up the orphans so that they can be leaders in their communities.  In the rare cases that groups are pro-adoption, they seem to have enough help in that area already - but there are a few possibilities. 

Zooooom!  From then until now..... we've been cleaning, getting rid of junk, and making preparations to move and sell our house!  Whew!!! We actually have someone coming to look at the house tomorrow so it's crunch time - painting, cleaning, stashing... 

In less than two weeks my wife, Amy, is leaving for Uganda with my sister.  My sister, Julie, is adopting a child.  Amy is going to learn about the process first hand and to also meet with different organizations and to help with the baby.  Please pray that they both have a safe trip, that Lucy is brought home safely, and that God makes the path clear for us in Uganda.