1. Trip to Memphis to meet Lindsey and Le, Ruta, and Alazar.  So slobbering excited about that.  We’re doing the Mojo Music Bus Tour and staying right on Beale Street.  I love the blues, and I loooovvve Lindsey and fam, who I feel like are our counterparts in Oklahoma City.  Can’t wait to talk sponsorship coordinators, Uganda, Ethiopia, adoption, and do some major laughing and celebrating, all while listening to killer music and eating barbeque.

2. The final batch of Adacar profiles should arrive any day now.  I keep checking the mail to see if they’ve come.  I’m just really excited to get all the kids sponsored.  Right now I have a ton of people to follow up with, but slowly I’m seeing my database of kids be filled with sponsors’ names.  Still a lot of blank ones, but people are slowly getting their payments set up.  And we’re making progress on the CarePoint.  More about that when I have concrete info.

3. HopeChest’s partner conference followed by the Together for Adoption conference.  I’m so excited to have quality face-to-face and hugging time with the Warrior Girls and to get to see Joseph (Uganda country director) again.  And to meet more and more and more adoptive parents.  Honestly, I’m meeting so many adoptive parents these days that it almost seems weird to me when I meet a family with all biological kids.  “Like, really?  You made all of these and they all look like you?  Weird!”  Ha!

4. Back to school!  I know, it’s cruel and unusual for me to look forward to that, but I abhor summer and all things shorts and sweating.  I love getting all my high school girls back on a regular basis, cooler weather, layering clothing, and being able to take Elliott to the park without getting a third degree burn.  Fall frolicking is around the corner, and as the leaves die, I start to live.  And one of my favorite things in fall is Vertical Reality, the fall retreat with the high school students.  I can’t wait to spend a whole weekend away with them.  We’ll have so much to talk about, starting high school and all.  I wouldn’t repeat that for a million dollars, but I love walking this road with them.

5. A referral?  Fall should mean we get to “meet” our little one, at least on paper.  I’m so excited to find out boy or girl, and hopefully that knowledge will give me lots to dream of and work on through the winter until we finally get to go.  In the meantime, I am happy to report that we’ve found a delicious Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta (Thank you, Beattys!!), and I’ll be making lots of trips there to soak up the culture and shovel in the food.  As some of you know, Alex and I tried Ethiopian food years ago in Georgetown and it was terrible!  I love almost every kind of food on the planet, so I’ve just been sick about it (both literally for 24 hours after and figuratively).  I’ve been praying for God to allow me to love it, because both Ethiopia and food are such huge parts of my family.  Anyway, one bite at Queen of Sheba last week and we realized that Ethiopian food is DELICIOUS!  Our first experience in Georgetown must’ve just been BAD Ethiopian food, just like I’ve had bad American food.  Queen of Sheba was good, good, good, oh so good, and Elliott adored it, too, rising on his knees over the big family-style plate and scooping up the food with injera.

Okay, that’s enough anticipation for one post.  And just typing it all out has elevated me from my waiting funk and reminded me of what’s to come.  I also want to balance all the things to come with the things of NOW, because I don’t want to live in the future.  The now is good and is not to be wasted.  The now is digging into God, spending time with friends, kissing my husband, building really tall Lego towers with Elliott, helping unite sponsors with kids in Adacar, wearing my cute Sseko sandals (maybe the one benefit of summer weather in Georgia), and spending precious minutes with my parents.  Two of my close friends lost their parents last week, and I’m reminded that life is fleeting, there are no guarantees, and I want to enjoy every minute.  So, this post is kind of rambly, but I think I just blogged myself into a really hopeful and positive mood.

“Our child is Jenifer.  My wife and I are thrilled at this opportunity.  I lost a son 5 years ago in a plane crash in Peru.  He had spent the previous 2 years building water reclamation projects for villages in the jungle for the Peace Corps.  He originally had spent a summer in Africa building a school house in Kenya.  He joined the Corps hoping to return to Africa.  He got detoured to Bolivia, I guess by the hand of God.  After seeing the beautiful children yesterday, I knew then why my son fell in love with the people (especially the children).  In this very small way we are returning our son, his love and ours back to Africa.  I hope all the children found sponsors.  Jenifer’s picture is above this computer as I write.  Thank you for making this happen.”

I wrote him back, sobbing at my computer, and asked his permission to share his story.  This is how he responded:

“ABSOLUTELY.  We have LOST a lot BUT GAINED MUCH.  Steve always amazed me at always being able to work around problems to achieve his goals.  Steve HUMBLED his father in so many ways.  I do not want this to be about us.  It should be about the children.  Even one voice “crying in the wilderness” can make a difference.  This is so insignificant in comparison to how he lived his life.  God’s given us back some of what He took away with Jenifer.  In the process it has made me a better parent and truly appreciate the legacy of my son.  This is the time and the place to channel our love to such a beautiful child.  Somewhere in the heavens above there stands a young man with a smile on his face saying, “Dad, congratulations! You finally get it. “‘

Yes, I’m crying again.  God is continuing to use Steve’s love for Africa, his legacy, to change lives and make a difference in the world, in David’s life and in the lives of people who hear this story.  I’m so grateful to be able to share it here.  Both David and his wife, and Jenifer, an orphan, have experienced tremendous loss.  They have been broken.  And yet through their loss and brokenness, God has brought them together.  I’m thrilled that today Jenifer has a sponsor family.  She isn’t alone anymore.  She has David and his wife praying for her and writing to her and loving her.  What a tapestry God weaves!  Someday I will love to see Jenifer, and Steve, and his parents all worshipping together at the feet of our truly awesome Lord.

Then last week, something shifted inside of me.  My sense of purpose returned.  I am here to advocate for these kids, to be their voice.  I don’t get to love them with my hugs right now, but I do get to love them by telling their stories, sharing their pictures.  I love them by letting God use me to find them sponsor families.  Right now, it’s enough.  It’s what it needs to be. 

So, I started out as woo-hoo girl, an extremely excited warrior ready to beat back the forces of darkness and beat down poverty with my enthusiasm.  Then I saw said poverty and lost my woo and hoo for awhile.  Warrior Girl had to freak out and numb out and figure out.  Now, my woo-hoo is bigger than ever, my convictions stronger than ever before.  Armed with stories that I’ve seen with my own eyes and smelled with my own nose and felt with my own fingers and toes, I am reentering the battle fully submitted to the only Warrior powerful enough to love these kids unconditionally, save these kids from destruction, and call each one tenderly by name.  My God, the Rock of my salvation.  Where I am weak and self-serving, He is strong and boundless in His love.  He does not take M&M breaks (Not that there’s anything wrong with that….).

Not hurting my joy-mood in the least:  Joseph just Facebooked me this about Bosco: “I found Bosco playing soccer and running around with other boys, I mean big boys!”  Um, how much does our God love?  Bosco, who wasn’t going to live.  Bosco, who wasn’t going to keep his leg.  Bosco, who’s prognosis was doubtful.  Bosco, an orphan in a picture-the-most-remote-place-you-can-and-go-further village in Africa with gangrene taking over half his leg a few short months ago is PLAYING SOCCER!!!  My God can do ANYTHING.

Here is part of my meeting with Harriet.  When Alex saw my reaction to her name, he started filming the crazy muzungu crying and hugging the bewildered African girl.  One of the biggest lessons that God laid on my heart while I was over there is how much He loves each one of us.  There is no end to the extent of His love.  He holds us in His hands.  Each of these precious orphans is His special child. 

On the bus on the way to Adacar the morning that we met Harriet, God led me to Acts 4.  I shared with some of the team on the bus the following verse: “They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:28), saying that God had already decided beforehand what would happen in Adacar that day.  It wasn’t up to us what would happen.  God had already decided, and we just needed to be ready and willing to be His hands and feet.  I had no idea that God had decided to lead us right to Harriet’s home!

Check out the following video, which features photos from four of the HopeChest care points we visisted in Uganda.  Most of the photos are provided courtesy of Ashley Bryan from Embrace Point.

I can’t hit everything that’s happened in the last two days, so I’ll just try to tell a few stories, some beautiful, and some terrible, some encouraging, some discouraging, but all motivating.  Yesterday, we found George William, our sponsored child, who is Elliott’s age.  He was very scared of us, and I quickly backed away and tried to avoid him, because he cried and thrashed whenever I got close!  Awhile later, a young teenaged girl grabbed my hand and pulled me into a concrete building.  They had George cornered in there and were whipping him to try to make him come to me.  He was sobbing and bleating like a hurt animal and writhing on the ground.  The girls were trying to please me.  I shouted, “No-no-no-no-no!!!” But they kept on, so I left, thinking that they’d stop when I leave.  I started sobbing and Greg immediately went in and saved George.  I had to get back on the bus and put my sunglasses on to hide my tears.  I pulled myself together, took a deep breath, wiped my cheeks, and got back out of the bus.  I think everyone thought I was sad because George wouldn’t come to me, not because they’d just beat my boy!  I want to make sure and clarify that his tormentors were young girls, maybe 12-14 years old, not the disciplers or leaders of the community.  Alex went into George’s torture chamber and gave him a lollipop.  George immediately perked up and let Alex hold him for a long time.  I gave him a second pop and rubbed his back.  He’s the same size as Elliott and so shy and precious.  It kills me that he received a beating because of me.  Today I sat down next to him and tried to give him a pop, but he started whimpering and wouldn’t take it.  He associates me with his pain, probably thinks that I caused it.  I’m wrecked about it.  Alex played with him all morning, so at least he’s comfortable with his sponsor dad.  George doesn’t have a daddy here, so I’m glad that he got some quality time with the best daddy in the world.

I spent much of my time in Adacar speaking with Greg and Joseph and learning about the area, the needs here, and talking about our development plan.  There are actually three communities colliding at Adacar, so we have a monumental task ahead.  The well is broken, so we got a mechanic out today to access the damage.  First step.  I have more information and some really positive news, but I’ll wait to share everything until I have a better picture.  So far, we’ve started a daily feeding program for the kids, which includes meat once a week, we’ve hired two disciplers to work with them, and we have the money for the kitchen.  We are in phase one of a three-phase development plan.  My visit to Kayango gives me hope for the future.  Today Colleen, the nurse who came on the trip, spent all day assessing children.  Ringworm is rampant.  There was a young woman with a broken wrist, and they got her to the hospital in Katakwi to have it set.  Total cost for transport and hospital visit?  $10.  An impossible figure for her.

Yesterday, we helped cook and serve the food, including meat for the kids.  We kept scooping, scooping, scooping until we ran out of meat.  We kept scooping, scooping, scooping until we ran out of broth.  We kept scooping, scooping, scooping until we ran out of rice.  We fed 400 kids, but over 500 showed up.  Our hearts were heavy last night knowing that there were over 100 kids at Adacar with rumbly tummies.

I was on broth scooping duty, and as I ran out of broth, Joseph pulled me out and told me that we were going to see Bosco a day early.  Stomach flop, and I was immediately self-conscious of the chicken broth stains down my skirt and congealed chicken fat between my toes.  As I walked away from the feeding area, I knew that we were almost out of rice, and I walked past a long line of children waiting and the older children waiting patiently under the big tree.  Oh no.  Do none of them have plates?  No, no.   Oh no. 

Alex and I piled into the truck with Joseph and took off for Ngarium.  We arrived to find Christine, his mother, the Teso widow for the area, Joyce, and the elders of the community meeting to plan a big celebration in our honor for the following day, when we were expected.  Surprise!  We’re a day early!  We felt bad.  Everyone had pooled their food to cook a big meal.  When they saw us arrive, Christine got in the truck with us and everyone else filed away.  Meeting adjourned.  The celebration starts now.

Bosco was washing clothes when we arrived at his home, and someone went to fetch him.  While we waited for him, Christine and several elders of the community brought us chairs.  Everyone grouped around us.  I got out bubbles and started blowing them at the kids.  They LOVED it.  Oklahoma peeps, bring lots of bubbles when you go in two weeks!  When Bosco walked up, I handed the bubbles to the girl in front of me and smiled at him. 

Rather than try to describe our meeting with Bosco, Alex recorded most of it, so when we get back home, he’ll edit it and stick it on the blog.  Our time together was a dream come true, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Before, during, and after our time with Bosco, I was filled with so much joy.  I smiled so hard that my head hurt.  I was just so happy to be with him and his family.  Later that night, the hard reality of his life started to sink in.  We both held his baby brother, the one who had malaria.  Joseph said he looked worse than when he’d seen him a couple of months ago.  His hair was too light, his nose was running, he was congested, and he had a cough.  I have no idea what’s going to happen to him.  Bosco is 13, but he looks about 8.  Christine has 5 kids, and after Bosco, the other ones are spaced about a year apart.  Bosco’s leg is healing, but he still has pain near his ankle.  The doctors have said that he needs more nutrients in his diet or he will not continue to heal.  Joseph has been supplying him with silverfish, which the doctors have said will help.  He explained to me what the leg looked like when he found him, and it’s so much worse than I could have ever imagined.  It was gangrenous and open all the way down to the bone, with pus oozing out from the bone.  The entire leg was covered with 1000s of flies, and at the knee, his bone was flaking off in pieces.  All this was happening to him and he had NO PAIN KILLER.  I cannot IMAGINE his agony.  And yet, while he was in this pain when Joseph came to profile him for sponsorship, he somehow managed to smile the sweetest smile for the picture that eventually made it to my refrigerator door. 

I am so thankful for the Oklahoma City team from Lindsey’s church going in two weeks.  Our time was so short.  I hated to leave so soon, but I’m comforted knowing that an awesome church is coming to spend time in Ngarium alone.  That all their focus will be on these sweet people.  I love being part of Ngarium’s sponsor team, knowing that I can pop over whenever I visit Adacar, but that this incredible church body is investing as a community in Bosco’s village.

We spent an interesting night in Katakwi.  No one showered, the electricity and water turned off at night around 10pm and turned back on this morning at 7am.  We stayed in concrete cell blocks, and some kind of wild beast thrashed against the fortified metal gate.  I actually got my best night’s sleep yet.  Maybe I like roughing it.
 
We all pooled the money that we’d collected in donations and agreed to use it on whatever need arose during our trip.  The hardest months for the people of Adacar are May and June, before the harvest.  They are hungry right now.  We took the money that we had and bought 20 100-kilo bags of posho (cornmeal, the staple of their diet).

We talked to the leaders of the community about who were the neediest members of the community, and we made 12 care packages, each made up of a 20-lb bag of posho, two bags of salt, a bottle of cooking oil, and a bar of soap.  We spent the morning with several of the community leaders walking to each homestead and distributing the care packages, singing “We Are Walking in the Light of God” in four-part harmony as we walked.  At each homestead (mud hut), we stopped and presented the gift and spoke a blessing or prayer over the recipient. 

At our second stop, we came to a 16-year-old girl whose father had died and mother had left.  She was taking care of her three younger siblings, and still managing to attend school and win first in her class for physics.  I stood there listening to the translator talk, and I felt prompted to ask David what the girl’s name was.  He looked at the list and said, “Harriot Achom.”  Our God is so good.  Alex will upload a video soon of my reaction to her name, but those of you who follow my blog know who this is.

God continues to lay Harriot’s name on my heart.  It started at the dinner in Canton, when Brandi pulled her packet out of 150 packets and mentioned this young girl during her talk.  I felt led to search for her in my pile of profile packets.  I prayed specifically for the kind of woman that I thought Harriot needed, and God let me to Kathleen, the perfect sponsor for Harriot (Kathleen, I will call you when I get back sweet woman!).  Throughout the trip, He continued to bring her name to my mind.  Harriot Achom.  Harriot Achom.  And out of 500+ kids in Adacar and only 12 homestead visits, God led me to Harriot.  Our God knows His children, and He cares so deeply about each one.  I am so blessed to be part of His miraculous plan for her life.  He holds her so closely. 

After Harriot, we visited homestead after homestead, bringing provision.  Two stories that stick out are a young woman who had lost her husband to the Karamajong, and an elderly woman who had suffered a stroke four years ago and has not left her hut since.  If she needs to poop, she does it right there and has to wait for her elderly husband to clean her up.  She is gnarled and twisted and trapped by her earthly body.

After our 12 homestead visits, I returned to the bus to get the clothes that I had worn yesterday.  I headed out to give them to Margaret, the head widow for the district, to pass out to someone who needs them.  A few yards out of the bus, I see Harriot and her siblings.  Her younger sister’s dress is falling off of her.  Again, God provides for Harriot.  I hand the clothes to Harriot and she gives them to her sister.  Her sister smells them and smiles.  Clothes that seem dirty to me smell clean and are a blessing to her.  Harriot says, “God bless you.”  God bless me?  He is!  He’s blessing me like crazy just getting to be here with you!  Look at the lengths to which God has gone to bless you!  He teamed up a lady from Ohio and a chick from Georgia and sent the Georgia girl to the middle of Africa with provision for you, because you matter so, so, so, so much to Him!  I was able to tell Harriot about Kathleen, let her know that her discipler has her first sponsor mail from her, and how much God loves her and is watching out for her.  What an incredible encouragement from God.  I’m staring at the kids in Adacar, overwhelmed with the need and the numbers and He reminds me so clearly that it’s about one.  Each child has a name and a story.  And I get to be part of it.

The rest of the afternoon while people distributed bags of posho, I held a little girl in a tattered dress who clung to me with all of her strength.  I gave her lollipops, bounced her, sang to her, and twirled her around.  Marching for miles and singing all morning carrying 20-lb. bags of posho, followed by carrying a 35-lb. child all afternoon.  My arms feel like they’re going to fall off, but my spirit feels so good.  Now if only I didn’t have to leave.

We drove back to Soroti and had dinner at Joseph’s.  Delicious food, wonderful hospitality, and it was so nice to relax in his home and meet his family.  Our time with the kids is over.  The days were long and full, but the week has been too short.  I don’t want it to be over.

At the other care points that we’ve visited so far there have been about 100 kids. In Adecar, we have close to 400. Many of the needs are clear in the eyes of the kids, which are yellow from malnutrition. It doesn’t seem to dampen their spirits or their smiles though.

I play soccer for a while. The kids laugh at me as they kick the ball through my legs. Each child wants to challenge me to a one-on-one or a sprint. A teenager turns to me and asks that I take him to America. “Where?” I ask. “Anywhere is fine,” he replies. My heart hurts a little.

I sweat through my shirt and decide to rest and paint nails for a while. All of the kids (male and female) want their fingernails painted. One child has 6 fingers and seems shy about holding out her hand. Megan pulls up her hand, smiles and paints all six nails like nothing’s wrong. The child smiles back.

We find George. He’s trying to hide from us. Scared of the mazungos (white people), I guess. Some teens — thinking that they are helping — spank George to get him to speak to us. We run to stop them. I hold out a lollipop, and George stops crying. Candy — the international language. I tell him that I’m his sponsor and ask if it’s ok to hold him. The woman holding his hand translates. He nods his heads and walks into my arms. He weighs about the same as my own son. He rests his head on my shoulder and sucks on his lollipop. We stay that way for a while.

Lunch is served. I marvel at how hard the women work to cook for hundreds of children. I’m exhausted watching them. George hops down from my arms and runs to the front of the line. Sadly, we run out of meat for the kids. It’s the one day of the week that they get meat. With the money we’ve raised for the trip, we’re able to buy 1600 kilos of posho, which will last for a little while.

Worried about the rain, Joseph hurries Melanie and I off to visit Bosco, our sponsored child in Ngarium (they are expecting us the next day, but the roads are impassable in the rain). We arrive to see the community planning a banquet to honor us for helping to save Bosco’s infected leg. (Last year, we helped Bosco get surgery to keep him from dieing from an infected leg wound.) Unfortunately, we won‘t be able to participate in the banquet, since we are a day early, but we are able to sit with Bosco and his family along with other community members. Melanie gives Bosco a Kentucky shirt and his mother a dress and then shows Bosco photos of our family back in the U.S. as Joseph translates the captions.

And now I’m back in bed wishing I could have done more for Bosco today, but knowing that we will see each other again. Tomorrow is our last day in Adecar … the last community we will visit for our trip to Africa. I’m sad. Well, it’s time for me to go to sleep. Some animal (sounds like a lion or a pack of wild dogs) is howling outside the back gate, and bats are having some kind of mating ritual in the open attic above our hotel room. Do mosquito nets keep out bats?!

I went to bed last night feeling defeated.  I asked God for help, for a moment or a child that I could…I dunno.  I dunno!  I just felt like I needed to do more…ack, I have too much in my heart to explain what I mean.  Anyway, today God answered my prayer.  My spiritual gift is discipleship.  I love spending time investing in a few girls.  That’s where I feel I can serve the body of Christ.  So, I think yesterday was tough because I was rushed by so many kids and felt frustrated that I couldn’t invest in any of them.  Today, in the midst of the beautiful chaos around me, God brought two 11-year-old girls to me, Biribawa and Tibagalika.  They popped up in front of me and we spent an hour or two together.  They talked of their sponsors from Nebraska, asked me lots of questions in English, and then we sat down and they read from John.  They’re learning so much English, and they LOVE Jesus!  We walked down the road a bit together, and they told me about their families.  There is so much need here, so much to do, yet God met my little need of small group time with a couple of young girls.  Oh how He loves us!

After my refreshing time with these two precious young women, Shirley and I started up the bead necklaces again.  We’d learned a lot from yesterday’s bead frenzy, so we were ready today, and we got a couple of the sponsored young men to help out.  Bouncers who speak the language are a tremendous asset!  They kept the kids in lines and we passed out bead-making materials to about 100 kids.  I loved seeing all their creations around their necks.  Oh, and it was quite hilarious seeing the kids with Delta Credit frisbees around their heads, just like Elliott wears them.

There was one sweet, adorable little girl missing her two front teeth who had the most winsome smile.  She clung to me when we first arrived, and I found her before we left, picked her up, and spun her around like I do Elliott.  She loved it, squealed with delight, and I didn’t want to let go didn’t didn’t didn’t want to get back on that bus no no no not yet more time more time!!!!

She followed us out of the carepoint and I stuck my head out the window.  She gave me more enormous smiles and I really really didn’t want to go. 

But then we hit the road to Soroti.  The further out we drove, the lighter I felt, the happier I got.  You can see for miles, you can almost see to Kenya, I think.  It’s beautiful, and with the window open flying down the highway, I definitely felt a king-of-the-world, front-of-the-boat Titanic moment.  I couldn’t quit smiling.  Still can’t. 

The van broke down behind us, so we turned around to get everyone.  We loaded the van people and all the luggage into the bus, tied the van to the back of the bus with homemade rope, and towed it to a hospital nearish Bukedea, where we paid some people to keep it safe until we could get a mechanic over to fix it.

Um, is it weird that I feel so relaxed here?  I love it.  NOTHING is in my control.  I mean, at home, nothing is in my control, but America has a way of convincing me that I’ve got it all covered.  Here, it is so obvious that I am not in control, so all I can do is trust that God is and let it all go.  I feel freer than, well, possibly ever. 

Just as the sun went down (Whew!), we pulled into the Soroti house and the yummiest meal was waiting for us.  The Soroti house is rented between CHC and TCON, and it is such a homey place.  I can’t wait to bring teams from Georgia here.  Right now I’m sitting in the living room with several people.  We’re all on our laptops and taking turns with the showers.  It’s very family-feeling.  I like it.

Joseph talked about Adecar tonight to prepare us for tomorrow and Wednesday.  We’re driving up to the Katakwi district.  Adecar is very close to the Karamajong, a wild, warrior people who believe that they own all of the cattle on the earth.  For the last thirty years, they have continuously raided Adecar, taking their cattle, and raping the women and killing men, women, and children.  They have not done this for the last three years, so Mom, please don’t hyperventilate. From what I understand, the government has stepped in and the people of Adecar have been in an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp.  They now live some in the camp and some outside of the camp.

Because they are farther north, the people of Adecar experience famine during several parts of the year, and May and June are their toughest months.  Joseph talked about the men not having work, and how that has weighed on the men here, not being able to provide for their families.  Many of them have struggled so much mentally with this burden that they’ve turned to alcohol and have become alcoholics and left their families.  So the women are running the families, finding work when they can.  Many of the adults are sick with HIV/AIDS and/or TB.

It sounds dire.  It sounds impossible.  It sounds scary.  But God.  But God.  Oh, hear me when I say this.  We serve a mighty God who loves us so much, all of us.  He loves the Karamajong.  He loves the people of Adecar.  Today in Kayango I saw what Adecar’s kitchen will look like.  It’s fabulous.  And all of the HopeChest buildings will be bright orange!  So Adecar will have a bright orange kitchen, storage, and meeting facility.  The women will have a place to cook, and the children will have a place to come together.  Last month, using our sponsorship dollars, HopeChest hired two disciplers for the children in the program.  Today in Kayango I saw kids who had been discipled for about a year.  They were learning so much, most importantly, the Word of God.  They knew Scripture, could read Scripture, were so well-behaved and loving.  What we see tomorrow in Adecar is ground zero, one month of discipleship.  A year from now…two years from now…I can’t wait to see these kids grow in their faith in God and their knowledge and understanding of His Word.  The Word of the Lord is powerful, life-changing, love-giving.  I want to give our kids hope and a future.  It’s starting now.

Random off-topic note about Adecar.  We call it Add-a-Car in the States because that’s how it’s spelled.  Ugandans call it Add-a-Char.  So, take your pick.  Now that I’ve heard it the right way, I think I’ll probably start calling it that.   

Hey, sponsor families.  Thanks, you guys.  You’re making a difference.  I cannot stress enough the difference I see here in sponsored versus unsponsored kids.  Today I saw the kids in Kayango receive some of their sponsor mail.  It means so much.  These two girls who I spent the morning with wanted to know all about their sponsors, did I know them, what crops do they have in Nebraska, what kinds of flowers.  Their sponsors mean so much to them.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes now. 

Wednesday Alex and I travel to Ngarium to visit Bosco and his family at his home.  According to David and Joseph, they are expecting us and excited to host us.  I have excited fluttery feelings in my tummy.  I’ll try to tell you all about it.  If my head doesn’t explode from exuberant joy first.  Happy brains all over the place.  Sheesh, what a ride.  What a RIDE our God has us on, huh?  Who’da thunk a year ago that we’d be in a remote part of Uganda visiting our sponsor child in his home?  This time last year we didn’t even have a sponsor child.  I didn’t even think about having one.  What a ride.  What a freakin’ awesome God-ride!!!!

Bosco.  I keep trying to run through what our first meeting will look like.  I want him to know how much I love him, but I don’t want to freak him out.  I hope he’ll let me hug him.  I hope he’ll want to be near me.  I hope he’ll want to play with Alex.  So many hopes.  But…I love him because God placed him in my heart, not because he makes me feel good.  Even if our first meeting isn’t the heart-warming scene in my head, I love him.  Even if he doesn’t love me back, I love him.  I’m really nervous.  I don’t want to feel rejected, but it’s not about my feelings.  I hope he’s even a quarter as excited to see me as I am to see him.

So…we’ll see.  Nervous sponsor mom.  Crazy mizungu.