(Leah) So, as you have been reading, the last 48 hours have been crazy. First with sickness, then hospital stays, then being at Sonrise for an entire day with only Joseph and the nannies. The Lord is truly faithful!! I know Amy told you about all of the events of the past two days, but I would like to give you my perspective which is a little bit different in parts.
I started feeling bad Saturday night and immediately thought "OH NO!!" I had been trying to be so careful with the food and water. But we did go swimming and of course you do swallow a little pool water no matter now hard you try not to. Definitely NOT the smartest thing to do!! I never threw up, thank goodness! Not going to go into as much detail as Amy because I think she covered all of the bases, but just suffice it to say that I had to use my Cipro if you know what I mean : ) I talked to my Mom that night and of course she asked about my health and I had to answer truthfully and tell her that I didn't feel so great. She gave all of the motherly advice about getting lots of rest and taking all of my vitamins. Let me just say that I am HORRIBLE at taking medicines on a regular basis unless it's a prescription that I have to take. I just can't remember! I had to take care of Baby Moses early Sunday morning and didn't get any sleep after 5:00am. But I do love baby duty. It is such a joy and privilege to be able to take care of these precious children. Jesus loves the little children...I am finding that to be true as I am falling in love with them all as well!
Back to my sickness...I felt ok Sunday morning so I thought I was over it. Amy and I wanted so badly to unpack the donation bags while everyone was at church, but we were too tired. I suggested a 30 minute rest time and then we would get to work. Almost two hours later, we awoke feeling worse...absolutely NO energy. I think it was at this point that I started crying. I have always joked that my motto is: "You can either laugh or cry...it's up to you." I usually choose the laughter part. This time, I told Amy, it was a time to cry. I guess it was the exhaustion compounded with being sick on another continent far away from home. After I let it out, I felt better, at least mentally! Amy still was feeling far worse than me of which I felt bad for her. She had been up the night before sick as a dog taking care of Baby Moses and she didn't even wake me. I got onto her!! Sunday night, I decide to take a shower to see if that will help me feel better. Mark had mentioned that he hadn't been feeling so hot and I just thought, well he'll get what we have and hopefully we'll all be better in 24 hours. NOT SO!! I had just turned on the water for the shower when I hear Amy yelling..."Leah, can you get in the shower quickly?" I was thinking it was Mark needing to come in and use the bathroom or throw up. I then hear someone come in and get the bucket beside the toilet that serves as our trashcan. I go about getting my shower and can hear something going on in the room, but I'm not sure what. I hear key words like hospital, malaria, but no name so I am thinking it's one of the babies. All of a sudden the door bursts open and Amy (calm as a cucumber I might add) says, "Leah, we are taking Mark to the hospital. We think he has malaria." WHAT?? I'm asking her if anything else could possibly go wrong and she starts laughing. How she can be laughing at a time like this is beyond me...totally the Lord! I question her sanity at this point, but I guess at least she's not crying. BTW: I had NO IDEA that Mark had blacked out or was laying on our bedroom floor sick! Amy said that I should probably come along to be tested as well, but the last place I wanted to go was to a hospital in a foreign country. Thankfully, since I hadn't thrown up they didn't think that was necessary - WHEW!! I finished my shower in a hurry the whole time praying hard. I didn't know what to do!! That left Brenda and me to care for three babies - Mark, Baby Brenda, and Baby Moses. I slept with Moses and Brenda slept with Mark. That left Baby Brenda in the basket on the floor which was nearer my bed. I read some of my Bible while praying for Mark and Amy. Trying to stay calm through the whole process - not easy. Maybe an hour later Betty comes into the room letting us know that they had admitted Mark with malaria and gave me a list of items they needed to take back for their stay in the hospital. I was like a woman on a mission trying to find all of these things quickly in their different locations which was not easy with the huge mess in our room. By the time I got back into bed it was pretty late. I think I dozed for maybe 20 minutes before Moses woke up for a feeding. He ate pretty well, but then decided that he wanted to be awake and look around. He is SO CUTE which makes it hard to get mad at him. He wanted to be held which meant that I couldn't just lay down and try to sleep. Everytime I would lay him down he would start to whimper and I didn't want to wake everyone else up so I would snatch him up. After about an hour of this Baby Brenda woke herself up coughing and started crying. I had to put down Moses to get her which made him start to whimper again. Brenda likes to drink from the bottle like a cup so I unscrewed the top and tried not to make a mess...not easy or successful! Through all of this Moses starts crying, so I start taking shifts between feeding Baby Brendah and feeding Moses another bottle. I felt like I had twins!!! Maybe the Lord is preparing me for something to come...?? Finally, Moses fell back asleep and Brenda went back to bed. I lay down and about an hour later Moses woke back up ready to eat again...ahhh! I changed his stinky diaper and was about to put his clean diaper on when he started pooping again. I RUSHED to put the new diaper under him, but didn't quite make it. Thankfully, it just got a little on the sheet and his blanket so I didn't have to completely change his clothes. This was quite time-consuming and by the time he had finished his bottle about 45 minutes had passed. I think I got a little more sleep during this period of time - from about 3:00am-4:30am. Then Moses woke up again for another feeding and then Brenda as well!! I was so tired, I think I was going cross-eyed feeding Moses his bottle. I kept thinking "Lord, I know you don't give me more than I can handle, but I think this is getting pretty close!" I think I stayed awake the rest of the night and slept from about 7:00-8:00 on Monday morning. Then the rest of the babies got up which is NOT a quiet process as they have "potty time" and "table time".
Monday: Brenda, Richard, and Auntie Norah (nanny) were headed to Kampala to take Baby Brenda to the hospital for further care for her malnutrition (she had been discharged from the clinic after two days and told that she needed further care at a bigger hospital). They were also going to take Baby Mark with them because they think his belly button has a hernia because the umbilical cord wasn't tied off close enough to the body. With them going to Kampala and Betty, Amy, and Mark at the hospital - this left me and Joseph at Sonrise alone except for the nannies. The Lord gave me strength to get up and face this day. I felt a lot better physically and not as exhausted as I thought. All in all it was a pretty good day without Amy. I wasn't really worried about her not being there which was good. It was just different not having ANYONE there. I felt like I fell into a familiar routine though with them. At one point we had two volunteers drop by who were working with Give International (an organization out of Canada). I didn't know they were coming over so that was kind of weird. It was almost stressful because they had been coming over twice a week since December to play with the kids and had started disciplining them by telling them to go into a corner if they did something bad or taking them to their room when they were crying. I didn't agree with what they were doing at all!! But, they were helpful with the kids and you could tell the babies liked them. At one point they brought out some new matchbox cars for each of the kids and that was fun, but don't even ask me where they are now because it gets crazy trying to keep up with 13 cars!! During naptime, I had planned on taking a nap myself, but the volunteers stayed. I was talking with them and then they said that if I wanted to nap that was fine. I did...a whole hour!! I felt so refreshed after I got up. The volunteers ended up leaving after snack time...stress relieved! Then Joseph came up and told me that some other volunteers were coming by Sonrise. It turned out that it was some of the same ones from the previous day coming with Damali to check out a project they were going to work on...turning the garage into a room for the boys so that the current boys room could be turned into a baby room. This required cleaning out the garage, prepping the walls for paint, painting, redoing the concrete floor, and also other painting around the outside of the house. I'm glad that they are doing it...one less thing that we have to do! Amy and Mark fially made it back to Sonrise last night about 11:00pm. PTL!!!! I had been praying all day! Through all of this I hadn't talked to my Mom, but knew she must be worried about me. Thankfully Richard let me use his phone and she was able to hear my voice. Mark, Amy, and I stayed up and talked for a little while after they got home laughing about the incident and giving our views on what had transpired in the past 24 hours.
Like I said before, I really felt good about being at Sonrise with the babies. I felt like I was able to fall into a routine with them and felt more at home!! And I ate almost all of my lunch which made Loyce (the cook) VERY HAPPY!! They had been so worried about me because I haven't been eaing much at all. Part of it is because I didn't want to cause any stomach problems the other part is that the food is somewhat different than I am used to. We do have beans and rice, but matoke is cooked plantains which is interesting. I don't hate it, but I certaily don't love it either. I hated to be offending them or hurting their feelings.
Damali forced us to take a day off today which has been great. We had a rough night with the babies...the first time with all four. We ended up giving Baby Brenda to Auntie Norah for the night because she kept wimpering and crying, but she would't take her bottle. OH, after they went to the hospital for her she came back with antibiotics (for ear infection), couch syrup, iron for her blood, and multi-vitamin drops. Now WHY couldn't she have gotten this at the clinic here in Jinja?? WELCOME TO AFRICA!!!
We came into town to eat breakfast and get on the internet. We are still trying to load some pictures, but it just doesn't want to cooperate. I did get one to upload to our facebook event, but it's just of the three of us which you already have! SO FRUSTRATING!! We looked in some of the shops and may go ahead and buy some souvenier stuff today.
I have been learning to french braid. Amy wanted me to do her hair last week and I thought - I have seen Mom do this a million times. How hard can it be? It was disastrous. I didn't even finish! Amy had to kind of walk me through it and when I finished I was quite proud. It wasn't very tight which I can't seem to get right. Today, I did my third french braid and felt a lot better...it's hard to maneuver three seperate strands of hair with one hand while trying to add to it with the other hair pulling it together. Hopefully by the end of the trip I'll be a MASTER! We enquired about a safari today, but there aren't other groups signed up right now so it could just be the three of us which would make it more expensive. We have a whole month to get it done though so we didn't even book anything. THe lady at the travel office was going to forward us information about two different safari places with prices...crossing my fingers it's not too much!
Rachel and Mary Beth: Thank you for the P&P quotes on the comments from Amy's post. It totally made my day!! When we were in Mbale and Richard kept calling the mountain a hill, Amy started saying "Hill! Hill!" just like Mrs. Bennett does when calling her maid. It was hilarious!
Thanks everyone for your prayers! Maybe add to the list that we will be able to upload pictures because I would love for everyone to at leas see what our new babies look like. OH, and we found out this morning that Baby Brenda is ONE YEAR OLD. She was born 1/6/09. We found this out from the lady who went with us. I cannot believe it! This makes it even more important to get some nutrients into her. We knew she was older, but not this old. It is amazing to me that she has even stayed alive this far! I'm gonna sign off for now. This trip is truly amazing and I hope that we can at least give you a glimpse into what we are doing here.
During these past few days of sickness and stress I know that the devil has been attacking us. It has been hard to get into the Word with such a busy schedule, but I have been reminded how important that is. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world!" Praise the Lord for that truth!!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
It Is Well With My Soul.
(AMY!!!!!) So…finally a word from the Sonrise Director :) Sorry I haven’t been able to write yet. I hope Leah has been keeping you a little in touch with our trip, which has been amazing so far. God is so good! Can I just first say that IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I have missed this place and my precious babies :) When God called me to Uganda last summer, little did I know how it would forever change my life, but I am so thankful that God has!
Right now I am writing from the hospital bed at Al-Shafa Modern Medical Clinic in Jinja. It is hot here, but we have a lovely fan which has been such a blessing! Mark is lying on the other bed to my right – and I am tearing up as I write and say that he is doing so much better. I haven’t let myself cry and honestly, this is really the first time I’ve let myself think about it. Betty is lying in bed next to me – she is such a God-send, as are all of the Sonrise workers, which I now call dear friends.
Let me head back to last night: well, I could actually head back further than that (again, I’m sorry I haven’t written, as there is so much that has happened and so much to tell, but I’ll work on it today hopefully! – they just told us that we will be here for the next 10-14 hours at least letting Mark finish his 3rd iv drip.) But anyways!!! Sorry! Let me back up again! On Saturday night, Leah started feeling sick early on – around 7ish. So, I told her we wouldn’t let her do baby duty that night cause she needed sleep. Baby Brenda was still in the hospital with Auntie Norah for malaria and a very bad ear infection and cough. So, big Brenda took baby Mark for the night (he can be very active at night and likes to sleep RIGHT up next to someone! Otherwise he feels like he is all alone and he doesn’t like that at all!), Betty took Steven (who also likes to sleep right up next to someone and likes to have them blow air onto him while he sleeps! He is SO CUTE when he sleeps, as he sucks his thumb – my favorite! – and sticks his little bottom in the air when he lays on his stomach), and then I was taking Baby Musa (and I believe I have decided to call him Moses, as he looks so much like a Moses and Musa is just so hard for me to say! I don’t know why, but it is for some reason very difficult :) Leah also has struggled with it and has to think of “Musana” and then try to say “Musa” from that! So, we both decided that we should go ahead and translate Musa to it’s English form which is Moses! And seriously, he just looks like a little baby Moses, pulled from the bulrushes :) (or from the bed in the village bush – either way is fine!)
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry :) If any of you read my blog from this summer with Jessie, then you will feel right at home with my ramblings and crazy writing and terrible spelling! Again, I apologize!
Ok, so Saturday night we took the babies, got in bed after devotions, and a dinner which Brenda cooked especially for us – as Leah has not liked the food very much and hasn’t eaten much of it, which has concerned the ladies. So, Brenda made green beans, mashed potatoes, and vegetables – so delicious. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I had known what was to come though! Baby Moses, who was with me, was being so good. He has to be fed every 2 hours, doctor’s orders, so that was what my night was looking like. And I had gotten into baby mode better by that night, as the first night I slept right through his crying and Betty and Leah had to wake me up to feed him! Oops :) But he was doing well Saturday night and looked so adorable lying next to me sleeping. I so badly wanted to take pictures of him all night long, but knew the flash would go off and that probably wasn’t a good idea – but I really wanted to!!!!
So, I guess it was around 11pm when I first started feeling sick. Baby woke up, so I fed him, and then as soon as I finished, I rushed to the restroom. I hope I don’t tell you too much or too little, and forgive me if I am I give TMI! That’s what Deanna said when I was talking to her on Sunday! Sorry :) But I had diarrhea really bad. (oh, and as a side-note, I have learned how to spell that word very well, and doubt I will EVER get confused about it again! So, if it’s ever a Cranium word – let me at it!)
But Anyways, I felt horrible that night and it kept getting worse all night. I was getting up constantly and I was praying the whole whole night long. God was so merciful and Baby Moses was an angel that night. I didn’t actually vomit the first time until about 3am. I don’t know how I had any fluids in me at all. And not to toot my own horn, but I felt like Super Woman most of the night – sick as a DOG, AND doing baby duty and letting Leah and everyone sleep all night! – God was also merciful with Mark and Steven as they were great too – Mark didn’t wake up until 5ish maybe. I told big Mark – he thought HE had it bad – can I just be real for a second, and again forgive me for being too explicit, but you probably want a laugh about now, cause I still laugh when thinking about it, but at one point, I was sitting on the toilet, holding Baby Moses, feeding him his bottle, while hanging my head over the bucket next to me!!!! I honestly just laughed at myself!!!! Welcome to Sonrise Baby Home in Jinja, Uganda!!!! It was either laugh or cry and I couldn’t afford the latter!
So, after being as sick as I can ever remember, Leah got up at around 5am – don’t even know why, maybe the Lord’s prompting, but she took Baby Moses for the last couple hours until the nannies were up and could help. Lord have MERCY! And Thankfully, He did. After morning, I stopped vomiting, thank the Lord. I was able to get a little sleep once Leah took the baby, and at 7am we all woke up. And it was SUNDAY! YAY! Church! This is when Leah and I kindly said that we would not be attending – and I believe God firmly agreed with our decision. I decided that Sunday would REALLY be a day of rest. We sent Mark, Richard, and Brenda to church with the babies. (and I’ll say Baby Mark and Baby Brenda whenever referring to them, ok! To make it easier – sorry!) All of the older babies went, so Leah and I were left with the nannies (Sophia, Julia, and Loyce) with Baby Mark, Baby Moses, and Steven. Betty had to go take a church group from Canada to church in the village. (Betty, Damali, Mercie, Richard, Ivan – many of the GSF kids help run these organizations when they have mission trips with volunteers come. They are great at it, and they get paid, so it is such a benefit to everyone)
So, Leah and I stayed in bed all morning. We slept some more, and then just laid there. At one point, Leah finally broke down and cried – exhaustion and sickness don’t go well together, and I do take full responsibility. I’ll get to that more later, but I felt so badly. We stayed in bed practically all day. I think we finally got up around 4. I was so, so weak and tired, as my body had nothing at all in it. Steven came and slept beside me in bed during the day – how I love my babies, and he looked just so cute! His little thumb sucking, fat self is just adorable :)
Ivan, Godfrey and Joseph came to say hi and chat for a while. It was killing me to not be out with the babies all day, so I had them come back there to me every so often. Oh, and I HAD been in contact with Mom and Dad throughout the night – such a blessing to have communication and prayer support from halfway around the world. AND parental advice :) How I love you, Mom and Dad and have been so thankful for you this trip – so different from last time, and having you here has been beyond peaceful and reassuring. Thanks. I’ve been praying like never before on this trip of course, but knowing you’re there has been such a blessing. God has been so present and real to me, ad He is making me rely on Him for EVERYTHING lately, which has been so good for me and my soul. He knows me, and what I need more than anything – and sometimes, I just need more of Him. I’m going on another rabbit trail, but I took a walk by myself on Friday night after getting back from getting Baby Moses, and it was such a sweet time with my Savior. I walked back to the old Sonrise house – stumbled on it accidentally actually, but I felt that God just led me straight to it. I sat down in the grass in front of it and just cried and prayed. That place has so many wonderful memories for me, and it focused me on my Jesus like nothing else here could, I believe. God was with me every second this summer, and He’s with me every second this time. Such a sweet time with Jesus, and after I returned to the house, I knew he was in control and leading and guiding my every step. I listened to my ipod and the last song I listened to as I was walking back to the new Sonrise house was, “He Is” by Mark Schultz. A new favorite over the last few months, and a soul-moving song for me. “He IS, He WAS and He ALWAYS WILL BE. He LIVES. He LOVES. Ad He’s ALWAYS WITH ME.” Jesus knows what I need, exactly when I need it – praise His name.
Ok, sorry for the bunny trail :) Just want you to know that through everything, God has been beside us. So, back to Sunday: we lounged and I still felt petty terrible all day, as the diarrhea continued, but was able to get up and move around a little. Damali came with the church group volunteers for about 20 minutes (thankfully it was no longer!) and I had to rush inside to get dressed! It was so good to see her again. I saw her when she picked us up at the airport but not since then, and I was reminded of why I fell in love with Sonrise and everyone in it. She is so wonderful and such a sweet sister in Christ. She loves these babies, and has such a heart for the Lord. Bless her.
So…Leah was feeling much better after the day of rest. The day was still crazy – as every day is at Sonrise and I LOVE IT! At times when it seems overwhelming though, I just have to go grab Junior, Catherine, Ian – any one of my precious babies, and hold their face right in front of mine and smile and cry at the same time. THEY are why I love Sonrise. They ARE Sonrise Baby Home – and I love them so much. I just look at their adorable faces smiling back and me and then kissing me and saying “I love you”, and everything in the world seems right.
Oh, and that HAS been amazing to me: them telling me “I love you.” Goodness, how my heart melts. I go in at night and sing “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me” with them and then go kiss them all and say “I love you.” and when I first heard Catherine say “I love you, too” and then kiss me on the cheek, I just cried. Then, As I went around to each one of the older babies (Catherine, Nulu, Ian, Junior, Miko, Trust) and they all said “I love you” and kissed me – my goodness, how special. And Ian has started just calling me Amy, while Catherine and Nulu say “Auntie Amy” and Ali just calls me “Mommy” while Junior and Trust will sometimes say Mommy Amy. So cute! :) Sorry, I’m so sentimental and mushy. They are just so special to me.
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry again! :) I LOVE rabbit trails! So much to tell, though!!! Ok – so here’s where we get to Sunday night. Bear with me here.
We put all the babies down, we had just finished devotions, Stella had slit her fingers open on a can lid from the kitchen – so Amy got to do First Aid while Stella screamed uncontrollably – blood everywhere, and then Mark said during devotions that he didn’t feel very well. I told him to go lie down and let me know if he threw up, had diarrhea, etc. (There are just so many diseases we just don’t think exist anymore in America, and they do scare me). I also feel totally responsible for Leah and Mark on this trip and have been very concerned about them. Yesterday I sat them down and told them that if we need to take a break, we can, let me know how I can help them at Sonrise, because they are just not me. I just jumped right in with both feet this summer and felt completely at home, and I didn’t have jet lag, didn’t mind baby duty, didn’t mind loss of sleep and tiredness, and all the babies know me and are used to me, etc, but I know it can be hard to adjust to these babies as they don’t speak English, which I sometimes forget, so communication can be difficult with them. The babies love them, and Leah and Mark have been WONDERFUL caring for the babies, helping out, holding and playing with them, doing baby duty, travelling to way out there villages to rescue dying babies, etc – not many people would be able to handle all of this as well as they did and all of this on top of jet lag, time change, newness of life, weird food, etc!! all of it! They have been great. The boys just love Mark - Ian and Junior especially :) and Lan is so great with the baby babies, and diaper changes, feedings and everything! They have been so great.
So Sunday night when Mark came in my room, I got pretty concerned. Leah had gotten in the shower and I was going to get in after her. We had divided up baby duty that night, as Baby Brenda had come back home Sunday afternoon with Norah. So, we had four babies that night to look after. (BTW, we’re getting a new nannies soon, Lord-willing –pray for provision and judgment). But God has entrusted these babies into our hands and when a life is placed directly in your hands and care, a new focus takes over and life takes on a whole new meaning. So, four babies, lack of sleep, etc – just feels worth it and totally a privilege. One I wouldn’t trade for the world.
But Mark walked our girls bedroom and blacked out, dropped to the floor, and was about to throw up. Leah was in our bathroom, Norah was showering in the other one, so Mark had no bathroom to go to. Lord, That would be the case wouldn’t it? (God and I did a LOT of talking over the next 7 hours). Brenda and Betty were standing right there, Brenda holding Baby Mark and I yelled at Leah to let us in the bathroom, but Mark couldn’t’ make it. Betty grabbed the baby bath basin and Mark threw up immediately. Mom, you could empathize after your food poisoning last year, but he was (in Mark’s words) crapping all over himself, while throwing up in the basin in the middle of the bedroom. I didn’t even know what to do. I just rubbed Mark’s back and tried not to cry. I couldn’t cry and haven’t until today (Monday). I knew I had to keep in together and stay extremely calm. Betty and Brenda took one look at Mark’s vomit and looked at each other and then me. “Malaria”.
His vomit was orange and they just knew it was malaria. Earlier when he was feeling sick, I just wanted him to ride it out like I did and we’d see how he felt in the morning. But then Betty said, “Let’s take him to the clinic” And I said, “Now?!” and when she said, “Yeah.” I didn’t want to argue. Mark went to change after a couple minutes when he was able to walk again after he finished vomiting, and the girls told me to change to go. I threw on my jeans and a shirt, and went in the bathroom to tell Leah. She was still in the shower, and I couldn’t even speak when I walked in. I knew I couldn’t cry, and all I could do at that point was laugh and pray. I know it sounds really bad to say I was laughing, but I honestly knew I couldn’t cry or I would weep for hours. I knew God was in control, but I was laughing/crying as I walked in the bathroom and I was shaking my head as I told Lan we were leaving for the clinic – they think Mark has malaria. She jerked the curtain back and said “What?!” and practically started crying right there. The she looked at me and said/yelled “Why are you laughing?!” I was honestly so scared and just couldn’t believe that after all of everything lately, God was allowing this to happen. I really had to laugh at God and say, “Really? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?? I can’t handle this.” But God just seemed to say, “Trust Me.” We grabbed the bucket in the bathroom to take for Mark to throw up in, and Richard, Betty, Mark and I got in the car to leave. I sat in the back beside Mark, and didn’t even have anything to say. You would think that I could come up with SOMETHING Spiritual to say at this moment, but all of it escaped me, as I was still completely sick, dizzy and tired myself. I was just praying for God to sustain me, and have mercy on Mark, as I was at a loss. I told God I didn’t know what to do and that He was going to have to do everything – I can’t even explain how out of it I was.
Betty called Damali when we got in the car and she was going to go to the hospital with us. That made me feel so good, I almost wept right there too. We actually picked her and Miriam (a friend) up in town and headed to the International hospital Jinja Branch. When we got there, we found out it wasn’t a 24 hour clinic so they sent us to Al-Shafa – the clinic where we take all the babies. Mark was really feeling bad again by now and blacking out again, and breathing very hard. I had talked with mom several times by now, and you can only imagine how she and dad felt. We got to the clinic and got out – Mark stumbling and almost falling. He was so weak. We got him registered and were taken into a back room with the nurse. Damali was with us the whole time and her complete calmness helped. Betty and Damali were so calm and collected that it was God’s mercy they were here. I trust them completely, which is the only way I could trust them with Mark. But then, there wasn’t much else I could do. I have ever felt so helpless I don’t think. So completely helpless. We went back to the lab where they were going to draw blood for testing for malaria and typhoid. While talking to Mom on the way to the clinic, she had said to keep my eyes open and watch for where every needle, and syringe, and iv came from – make sure they were sterilized .I hadn’t even thought about this in my pathetic state, but it almost scared me more. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to be home to take him to a hospital with mom and dad and fee safe, but that was not where God had us. A foreign hospital, foreign language, weird diseases and sicknesses – so, so completely helpless- totally in the Lord’s hands. Back in the lab, they got the needles, which Mark hates, and they all came out of new packages, thank the Lord. I didn’t even want them to stick him, but again, I was powerless. And he was so, so sick. They drew blood, and them took him down to a private back room with two beds and a chair. He was stumbling into the room and sat on the bed. He threw up on the floor as soon as we sat down. I was so faint that I just said Jesus, and sat on the bed, afraid that I was going to not make it. Damali had brought an apple and some water and juices, so I opened a bottle immediately and Betty went and washed off the apple for me, which I ate immediately. That helped me a ton. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it for Mark. After he threw up in the room, the nurses laid him on the bed and finally got him hooked up to an iv. I honestly didn’t care at that point what they put in him – I just wanted SOMETHING to help him. I had just prayed that whatever they did to Mark would be guided by angels. There was nothing else I could do – and when He takes us to that state, well, let's just say He grew my faith.
Mark really thought he was going to die – he was more worried than he let on to me. And probably the same for me. But I really had such confidence in Damali and Betty’s judgment and God using them. I had to trust what they thought was best for Mark. They live here and have seen this so much, and their composure during al of this calmed me so much. Betty and Damali the whole time just kept saying, “He’ll be fine.” The nurses were the same way.
AND, above all, we had prayer cover. It was such a comfort to get texts and calls of people saying they were praying, even ones I had no clue were praying for us – God heard you and used those prayers. Thank you. I am so eternally thankful for the prayers of His people. I can sit now and write this, looking back at everything that happened last night – knowing that HE was in control and His people believed. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you everyone who contributed during this time with Mark. I can not tell you how much it meant to know we had prayer warriors everywhere interceding on our behalf. God is so good. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Once they put in the iv, Mark improved drastically. I was so, so thankful. Betty and Richard went back to the house to get extra clothes, contact stuff for me, sheets, etc for the stay at the hospital for the night. Betty and I slept together in one bed, and Mark in the other. There is a fan in the room, which was SUCH a blessing :). We slept with the light on all night, but we DID sleep, thank the Lord! In the morning, Damali and Miriam came back to check on us and they wet and got breakfast for us – “mzungu” breakfast: coffee, and BLT sandwiches! And we had more mango and apple juice. Mine was very delicious – Mark didn’t feel up to eating much, but he has since eaten a granola bar, juice, etc and we’re trying to get more in him.
Right now, Mark is having his 3rd drip iv put in and we are waiting until he finishes that to go back to Sonrise. They put the Quinine in the second drip, and he seemed to respond very well to that, so we are praying that he doesn’t have any reactions to this third drip. I still don’t feel well at all, but am praying that I will recover soon. My stomach is still very upset and I am very weak, but am praying that through my weakness, may HE be strong. HE raises us up.
All in all….It is well with my soul.
God bless you all. Love you.
Right now I am writing from the hospital bed at Al-Shafa Modern Medical Clinic in Jinja. It is hot here, but we have a lovely fan which has been such a blessing! Mark is lying on the other bed to my right – and I am tearing up as I write and say that he is doing so much better. I haven’t let myself cry and honestly, this is really the first time I’ve let myself think about it. Betty is lying in bed next to me – she is such a God-send, as are all of the Sonrise workers, which I now call dear friends.
Let me head back to last night: well, I could actually head back further than that (again, I’m sorry I haven’t written, as there is so much that has happened and so much to tell, but I’ll work on it today hopefully! – they just told us that we will be here for the next 10-14 hours at least letting Mark finish his 3rd iv drip.) But anyways!!! Sorry! Let me back up again! On Saturday night, Leah started feeling sick early on – around 7ish. So, I told her we wouldn’t let her do baby duty that night cause she needed sleep. Baby Brenda was still in the hospital with Auntie Norah for malaria and a very bad ear infection and cough. So, big Brenda took baby Mark for the night (he can be very active at night and likes to sleep RIGHT up next to someone! Otherwise he feels like he is all alone and he doesn’t like that at all!), Betty took Steven (who also likes to sleep right up next to someone and likes to have them blow air onto him while he sleeps! He is SO CUTE when he sleeps, as he sucks his thumb – my favorite! – and sticks his little bottom in the air when he lays on his stomach), and then I was taking Baby Musa (and I believe I have decided to call him Moses, as he looks so much like a Moses and Musa is just so hard for me to say! I don’t know why, but it is for some reason very difficult :) Leah also has struggled with it and has to think of “Musana” and then try to say “Musa” from that! So, we both decided that we should go ahead and translate Musa to it’s English form which is Moses! And seriously, he just looks like a little baby Moses, pulled from the bulrushes :) (or from the bed in the village bush – either way is fine!)
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry :) If any of you read my blog from this summer with Jessie, then you will feel right at home with my ramblings and crazy writing and terrible spelling! Again, I apologize!
Ok, so Saturday night we took the babies, got in bed after devotions, and a dinner which Brenda cooked especially for us – as Leah has not liked the food very much and hasn’t eaten much of it, which has concerned the ladies. So, Brenda made green beans, mashed potatoes, and vegetables – so delicious. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I had known what was to come though! Baby Moses, who was with me, was being so good. He has to be fed every 2 hours, doctor’s orders, so that was what my night was looking like. And I had gotten into baby mode better by that night, as the first night I slept right through his crying and Betty and Leah had to wake me up to feed him! Oops :) But he was doing well Saturday night and looked so adorable lying next to me sleeping. I so badly wanted to take pictures of him all night long, but knew the flash would go off and that probably wasn’t a good idea – but I really wanted to!!!!
So, I guess it was around 11pm when I first started feeling sick. Baby woke up, so I fed him, and then as soon as I finished, I rushed to the restroom. I hope I don’t tell you too much or too little, and forgive me if I am I give TMI! That’s what Deanna said when I was talking to her on Sunday! Sorry :) But I had diarrhea really bad. (oh, and as a side-note, I have learned how to spell that word very well, and doubt I will EVER get confused about it again! So, if it’s ever a Cranium word – let me at it!)
But Anyways, I felt horrible that night and it kept getting worse all night. I was getting up constantly and I was praying the whole whole night long. God was so merciful and Baby Moses was an angel that night. I didn’t actually vomit the first time until about 3am. I don’t know how I had any fluids in me at all. And not to toot my own horn, but I felt like Super Woman most of the night – sick as a DOG, AND doing baby duty and letting Leah and everyone sleep all night! – God was also merciful with Mark and Steven as they were great too – Mark didn’t wake up until 5ish maybe. I told big Mark – he thought HE had it bad – can I just be real for a second, and again forgive me for being too explicit, but you probably want a laugh about now, cause I still laugh when thinking about it, but at one point, I was sitting on the toilet, holding Baby Moses, feeding him his bottle, while hanging my head over the bucket next to me!!!! I honestly just laughed at myself!!!! Welcome to Sonrise Baby Home in Jinja, Uganda!!!! It was either laugh or cry and I couldn’t afford the latter!
So, after being as sick as I can ever remember, Leah got up at around 5am – don’t even know why, maybe the Lord’s prompting, but she took Baby Moses for the last couple hours until the nannies were up and could help. Lord have MERCY! And Thankfully, He did. After morning, I stopped vomiting, thank the Lord. I was able to get a little sleep once Leah took the baby, and at 7am we all woke up. And it was SUNDAY! YAY! Church! This is when Leah and I kindly said that we would not be attending – and I believe God firmly agreed with our decision. I decided that Sunday would REALLY be a day of rest. We sent Mark, Richard, and Brenda to church with the babies. (and I’ll say Baby Mark and Baby Brenda whenever referring to them, ok! To make it easier – sorry!) All of the older babies went, so Leah and I were left with the nannies (Sophia, Julia, and Loyce) with Baby Mark, Baby Moses, and Steven. Betty had to go take a church group from Canada to church in the village. (Betty, Damali, Mercie, Richard, Ivan – many of the GSF kids help run these organizations when they have mission trips with volunteers come. They are great at it, and they get paid, so it is such a benefit to everyone)
So, Leah and I stayed in bed all morning. We slept some more, and then just laid there. At one point, Leah finally broke down and cried – exhaustion and sickness don’t go well together, and I do take full responsibility. I’ll get to that more later, but I felt so badly. We stayed in bed practically all day. I think we finally got up around 4. I was so, so weak and tired, as my body had nothing at all in it. Steven came and slept beside me in bed during the day – how I love my babies, and he looked just so cute! His little thumb sucking, fat self is just adorable :)
Ivan, Godfrey and Joseph came to say hi and chat for a while. It was killing me to not be out with the babies all day, so I had them come back there to me every so often. Oh, and I HAD been in contact with Mom and Dad throughout the night – such a blessing to have communication and prayer support from halfway around the world. AND parental advice :) How I love you, Mom and Dad and have been so thankful for you this trip – so different from last time, and having you here has been beyond peaceful and reassuring. Thanks. I’ve been praying like never before on this trip of course, but knowing you’re there has been such a blessing. God has been so present and real to me, ad He is making me rely on Him for EVERYTHING lately, which has been so good for me and my soul. He knows me, and what I need more than anything – and sometimes, I just need more of Him. I’m going on another rabbit trail, but I took a walk by myself on Friday night after getting back from getting Baby Moses, and it was such a sweet time with my Savior. I walked back to the old Sonrise house – stumbled on it accidentally actually, but I felt that God just led me straight to it. I sat down in the grass in front of it and just cried and prayed. That place has so many wonderful memories for me, and it focused me on my Jesus like nothing else here could, I believe. God was with me every second this summer, and He’s with me every second this time. Such a sweet time with Jesus, and after I returned to the house, I knew he was in control and leading and guiding my every step. I listened to my ipod and the last song I listened to as I was walking back to the new Sonrise house was, “He Is” by Mark Schultz. A new favorite over the last few months, and a soul-moving song for me. “He IS, He WAS and He ALWAYS WILL BE. He LIVES. He LOVES. Ad He’s ALWAYS WITH ME.” Jesus knows what I need, exactly when I need it – praise His name.
Ok, sorry for the bunny trail :) Just want you to know that through everything, God has been beside us. So, back to Sunday: we lounged and I still felt petty terrible all day, as the diarrhea continued, but was able to get up and move around a little. Damali came with the church group volunteers for about 20 minutes (thankfully it was no longer!) and I had to rush inside to get dressed! It was so good to see her again. I saw her when she picked us up at the airport but not since then, and I was reminded of why I fell in love with Sonrise and everyone in it. She is so wonderful and such a sweet sister in Christ. She loves these babies, and has such a heart for the Lord. Bless her.
So…Leah was feeling much better after the day of rest. The day was still crazy – as every day is at Sonrise and I LOVE IT! At times when it seems overwhelming though, I just have to go grab Junior, Catherine, Ian – any one of my precious babies, and hold their face right in front of mine and smile and cry at the same time. THEY are why I love Sonrise. They ARE Sonrise Baby Home – and I love them so much. I just look at their adorable faces smiling back and me and then kissing me and saying “I love you”, and everything in the world seems right.
Oh, and that HAS been amazing to me: them telling me “I love you.” Goodness, how my heart melts. I go in at night and sing “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me” with them and then go kiss them all and say “I love you.” and when I first heard Catherine say “I love you, too” and then kiss me on the cheek, I just cried. Then, As I went around to each one of the older babies (Catherine, Nulu, Ian, Junior, Miko, Trust) and they all said “I love you” and kissed me – my goodness, how special. And Ian has started just calling me Amy, while Catherine and Nulu say “Auntie Amy” and Ali just calls me “Mommy” while Junior and Trust will sometimes say Mommy Amy. So cute! :) Sorry, I’m so sentimental and mushy. They are just so special to me.
ANYWAYS!!! Sorry again! :) I LOVE rabbit trails! So much to tell, though!!! Ok – so here’s where we get to Sunday night. Bear with me here.
We put all the babies down, we had just finished devotions, Stella had slit her fingers open on a can lid from the kitchen – so Amy got to do First Aid while Stella screamed uncontrollably – blood everywhere, and then Mark said during devotions that he didn’t feel very well. I told him to go lie down and let me know if he threw up, had diarrhea, etc. (There are just so many diseases we just don’t think exist anymore in America, and they do scare me). I also feel totally responsible for Leah and Mark on this trip and have been very concerned about them. Yesterday I sat them down and told them that if we need to take a break, we can, let me know how I can help them at Sonrise, because they are just not me. I just jumped right in with both feet this summer and felt completely at home, and I didn’t have jet lag, didn’t mind baby duty, didn’t mind loss of sleep and tiredness, and all the babies know me and are used to me, etc, but I know it can be hard to adjust to these babies as they don’t speak English, which I sometimes forget, so communication can be difficult with them. The babies love them, and Leah and Mark have been WONDERFUL caring for the babies, helping out, holding and playing with them, doing baby duty, travelling to way out there villages to rescue dying babies, etc – not many people would be able to handle all of this as well as they did and all of this on top of jet lag, time change, newness of life, weird food, etc!! all of it! They have been great. The boys just love Mark - Ian and Junior especially :) and Lan is so great with the baby babies, and diaper changes, feedings and everything! They have been so great.
So Sunday night when Mark came in my room, I got pretty concerned. Leah had gotten in the shower and I was going to get in after her. We had divided up baby duty that night, as Baby Brenda had come back home Sunday afternoon with Norah. So, we had four babies that night to look after. (BTW, we’re getting a new nannies soon, Lord-willing –pray for provision and judgment). But God has entrusted these babies into our hands and when a life is placed directly in your hands and care, a new focus takes over and life takes on a whole new meaning. So, four babies, lack of sleep, etc – just feels worth it and totally a privilege. One I wouldn’t trade for the world.
But Mark walked our girls bedroom and blacked out, dropped to the floor, and was about to throw up. Leah was in our bathroom, Norah was showering in the other one, so Mark had no bathroom to go to. Lord, That would be the case wouldn’t it? (God and I did a LOT of talking over the next 7 hours). Brenda and Betty were standing right there, Brenda holding Baby Mark and I yelled at Leah to let us in the bathroom, but Mark couldn’t’ make it. Betty grabbed the baby bath basin and Mark threw up immediately. Mom, you could empathize after your food poisoning last year, but he was (in Mark’s words) crapping all over himself, while throwing up in the basin in the middle of the bedroom. I didn’t even know what to do. I just rubbed Mark’s back and tried not to cry. I couldn’t cry and haven’t until today (Monday). I knew I had to keep in together and stay extremely calm. Betty and Brenda took one look at Mark’s vomit and looked at each other and then me. “Malaria”.
His vomit was orange and they just knew it was malaria. Earlier when he was feeling sick, I just wanted him to ride it out like I did and we’d see how he felt in the morning. But then Betty said, “Let’s take him to the clinic” And I said, “Now?!” and when she said, “Yeah.” I didn’t want to argue. Mark went to change after a couple minutes when he was able to walk again after he finished vomiting, and the girls told me to change to go. I threw on my jeans and a shirt, and went in the bathroom to tell Leah. She was still in the shower, and I couldn’t even speak when I walked in. I knew I couldn’t cry, and all I could do at that point was laugh and pray. I know it sounds really bad to say I was laughing, but I honestly knew I couldn’t cry or I would weep for hours. I knew God was in control, but I was laughing/crying as I walked in the bathroom and I was shaking my head as I told Lan we were leaving for the clinic – they think Mark has malaria. She jerked the curtain back and said “What?!” and practically started crying right there. The she looked at me and said/yelled “Why are you laughing?!” I was honestly so scared and just couldn’t believe that after all of everything lately, God was allowing this to happen. I really had to laugh at God and say, “Really? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?? I can’t handle this.” But God just seemed to say, “Trust Me.” We grabbed the bucket in the bathroom to take for Mark to throw up in, and Richard, Betty, Mark and I got in the car to leave. I sat in the back beside Mark, and didn’t even have anything to say. You would think that I could come up with SOMETHING Spiritual to say at this moment, but all of it escaped me, as I was still completely sick, dizzy and tired myself. I was just praying for God to sustain me, and have mercy on Mark, as I was at a loss. I told God I didn’t know what to do and that He was going to have to do everything – I can’t even explain how out of it I was.
Betty called Damali when we got in the car and she was going to go to the hospital with us. That made me feel so good, I almost wept right there too. We actually picked her and Miriam (a friend) up in town and headed to the International hospital Jinja Branch. When we got there, we found out it wasn’t a 24 hour clinic so they sent us to Al-Shafa – the clinic where we take all the babies. Mark was really feeling bad again by now and blacking out again, and breathing very hard. I had talked with mom several times by now, and you can only imagine how she and dad felt. We got to the clinic and got out – Mark stumbling and almost falling. He was so weak. We got him registered and were taken into a back room with the nurse. Damali was with us the whole time and her complete calmness helped. Betty and Damali were so calm and collected that it was God’s mercy they were here. I trust them completely, which is the only way I could trust them with Mark. But then, there wasn’t much else I could do. I have ever felt so helpless I don’t think. So completely helpless. We went back to the lab where they were going to draw blood for testing for malaria and typhoid. While talking to Mom on the way to the clinic, she had said to keep my eyes open and watch for where every needle, and syringe, and iv came from – make sure they were sterilized .I hadn’t even thought about this in my pathetic state, but it almost scared me more. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to be home to take him to a hospital with mom and dad and fee safe, but that was not where God had us. A foreign hospital, foreign language, weird diseases and sicknesses – so, so completely helpless- totally in the Lord’s hands. Back in the lab, they got the needles, which Mark hates, and they all came out of new packages, thank the Lord. I didn’t even want them to stick him, but again, I was powerless. And he was so, so sick. They drew blood, and them took him down to a private back room with two beds and a chair. He was stumbling into the room and sat on the bed. He threw up on the floor as soon as we sat down. I was so faint that I just said Jesus, and sat on the bed, afraid that I was going to not make it. Damali had brought an apple and some water and juices, so I opened a bottle immediately and Betty went and washed off the apple for me, which I ate immediately. That helped me a ton. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it for Mark. After he threw up in the room, the nurses laid him on the bed and finally got him hooked up to an iv. I honestly didn’t care at that point what they put in him – I just wanted SOMETHING to help him. I had just prayed that whatever they did to Mark would be guided by angels. There was nothing else I could do – and when He takes us to that state, well, let's just say He grew my faith.
Mark really thought he was going to die – he was more worried than he let on to me. And probably the same for me. But I really had such confidence in Damali and Betty’s judgment and God using them. I had to trust what they thought was best for Mark. They live here and have seen this so much, and their composure during al of this calmed me so much. Betty and Damali the whole time just kept saying, “He’ll be fine.” The nurses were the same way.
AND, above all, we had prayer cover. It was such a comfort to get texts and calls of people saying they were praying, even ones I had no clue were praying for us – God heard you and used those prayers. Thank you. I am so eternally thankful for the prayers of His people. I can sit now and write this, looking back at everything that happened last night – knowing that HE was in control and His people believed. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you everyone who contributed during this time with Mark. I can not tell you how much it meant to know we had prayer warriors everywhere interceding on our behalf. God is so good. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Once they put in the iv, Mark improved drastically. I was so, so thankful. Betty and Richard went back to the house to get extra clothes, contact stuff for me, sheets, etc for the stay at the hospital for the night. Betty and I slept together in one bed, and Mark in the other. There is a fan in the room, which was SUCH a blessing :). We slept with the light on all night, but we DID sleep, thank the Lord! In the morning, Damali and Miriam came back to check on us and they wet and got breakfast for us – “mzungu” breakfast: coffee, and BLT sandwiches! And we had more mango and apple juice. Mine was very delicious – Mark didn’t feel up to eating much, but he has since eaten a granola bar, juice, etc and we’re trying to get more in him.
Right now, Mark is having his 3rd drip iv put in and we are waiting until he finishes that to go back to Sonrise. They put the Quinine in the second drip, and he seemed to respond very well to that, so we are praying that he doesn’t have any reactions to this third drip. I still don’t feel well at all, but am praying that I will recover soon. My stomach is still very upset and I am very weak, but am praying that through my weakness, may HE be strong. HE raises us up.
All in all….It is well with my soul.
God bless you all. Love you.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Swimming in January...
Yes, today we went swimming. Betty and Brenda felt bad about us working so hard, so this afternoon we all went to the pool. It was so refreshing and relaxing...just what I needed! I'm not going to lie and say that everything here has been great because it hasn't. It's been tough. Since Damali is on her vacation we have been running the home, traveled twice to get new babies (all day journeys), and dealing with unexpected things that come our way. I will also be honest and say that yesterday was a really rough day. We had been gone all day getting Baby Musa (one week old from a village near Iganga - but I will let Amy tell you about that in another post coming later) and then got back and were getting the rest of the babies ready for bed. I was already exhausted and really started missing home...which sounds kind of crazy since I've only been gone 5 days. We had yet to have a full day at Sonrise since we had been out traveling. We hadn't gotten into a routine. The donation bags still haven't been unpacked. I haven't had hardly a second alone to read my Bible and spend time in prayer. Let's just say I felt like going into a corner and crying (sorry Mom if this is too hard to read). Then after the babies went to bed Amy, Mark, and I sat around and just talked about our trip so far. It was encouraging to sit down and talk through some of our frustrations, joys, and exciting moments. Then I got to talk to some of my family (skype is amazing) and felt TONS better.
BABY DUTY: Last night was my first official night with "baby duty" which means you are in charge of one of the smaller babies of which we now have three. They sleep in the bed with you and you have to get up with them to feed them and change them in the night. I started off with Steven and he woke up and so I fed him. We are trying to slowly wean him off of his bottle to get him to more solid food, so I didn't want him to drink the entire thing right away. Well, he didn't like this very much and started crying. After awhile he went back to sleep. Not more than 30 minutes later he awoke again crying because he was hungry. Betty, who is usually in charge of Steven, decided to go ahead and take him for the night leaving me with no baby. I had hopes of getting a good nights sleep. Not so!! Amy was in charge of our newest baby, Musa. Of course he woke up often since he is so young, and at one point he wasn't to be consoled. I could tell Amy was exhausted so I offered to rock him in the living room. When he finally quieted down I came back in and just took him to bed with me since Amy was already asleep. I ended up keeping him the rest of the night and got up with him twice and changed two poopie diapers - the second one I was in the middle of changing him when he decided that he wasn't quite finished and so he messed all over his new diaper, his clothes, the sheet, and his blanket. He is absolutely precious though and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I know this post has been somewhat depressing, so let me say that this trip has had many rewarding moments. Finally meeting the Sonrise babies that I had heard so much about and finding out just how precious they really are. Having the priviledge of traveling to pick up two new babies to join the Sonrise family. Being on this trip with a best friend and her brother (who I am finding more and more about-not sure if this is a good thing or not). Baby Brendah was taken to the clinic yesterday to have a check-up done (this is protocol for all new babies) and they decided to keep her overnight because of an ear infection and some malaria. We thought she would come home today, but the doctor wants to keep her again another night because he doesn't think she's well enough to come home. We went by to visit her today and she still looks small, still has the cute whimper, and looks like she doesn't quite know what's going on. I am ready for her to come back, which means we will have four babies for baby duty and four workers for baby duty, which means more sleepless nights. It has been amazing how the Lord has sustained me through this trip. I will post pictures of our new babies asap on the blog. Amy's computer is about to die so if the pics aren't up today it's because her computer died and our adaptor to charge it is broken. Thanks for all of your prayers!! --Leah
BABY DUTY: Last night was my first official night with "baby duty" which means you are in charge of one of the smaller babies of which we now have three. They sleep in the bed with you and you have to get up with them to feed them and change them in the night. I started off with Steven and he woke up and so I fed him. We are trying to slowly wean him off of his bottle to get him to more solid food, so I didn't want him to drink the entire thing right away. Well, he didn't like this very much and started crying. After awhile he went back to sleep. Not more than 30 minutes later he awoke again crying because he was hungry. Betty, who is usually in charge of Steven, decided to go ahead and take him for the night leaving me with no baby. I had hopes of getting a good nights sleep. Not so!! Amy was in charge of our newest baby, Musa. Of course he woke up often since he is so young, and at one point he wasn't to be consoled. I could tell Amy was exhausted so I offered to rock him in the living room. When he finally quieted down I came back in and just took him to bed with me since Amy was already asleep. I ended up keeping him the rest of the night and got up with him twice and changed two poopie diapers - the second one I was in the middle of changing him when he decided that he wasn't quite finished and so he messed all over his new diaper, his clothes, the sheet, and his blanket. He is absolutely precious though and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I know this post has been somewhat depressing, so let me say that this trip has had many rewarding moments. Finally meeting the Sonrise babies that I had heard so much about and finding out just how precious they really are. Having the priviledge of traveling to pick up two new babies to join the Sonrise family. Being on this trip with a best friend and her brother (who I am finding more and more about-not sure if this is a good thing or not). Baby Brendah was taken to the clinic yesterday to have a check-up done (this is protocol for all new babies) and they decided to keep her overnight because of an ear infection and some malaria. We thought she would come home today, but the doctor wants to keep her again another night because he doesn't think she's well enough to come home. We went by to visit her today and she still looks small, still has the cute whimper, and looks like she doesn't quite know what's going on. I am ready for her to come back, which means we will have four babies for baby duty and four workers for baby duty, which means more sleepless nights. It has been amazing how the Lord has sustained me through this trip. I will post pictures of our new babies asap on the blog. Amy's computer is about to die so if the pics aren't up today it's because her computer died and our adaptor to charge it is broken. Thanks for all of your prayers!! --Leah
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Day 2 at Sonrise: Will That Be Carryout or Delivery?...
After going to bed at 10:30pm, Amy and I woke up often throughout the night with Steven and Mark. We weren’t on official “baby duty” so we didn’t have to get up and feed them, but we still woke up which wasn’t fun or restful. We missed the 5:00am devotions because we were sleeping and Brenda and Betty decided to let us rest…we felt bad about it though. We got up about 5:30am because the plan was to leave at 6:00 to head to Mbale to get a new baby. Now, I was pretty excited about doing this. To be apart of bringing in a new baby seemed so exciting. We didn’t end up leaving until after 7:00am because the lady who was supposed to meet us and show us the way never showed, so we went to her house to pick her up. That’s Ugandan time for you! It took about 4 hours to get to Mbale, and Mark, Amy, and I were all squished in the backseat…no fun. There were lots of speed bumps on the roads, so it was hard to maintain a consistent speed. We stopped in Mbale to eat…the Shine On Hotel! We had chicken and chips again and were introduced to a new drink called Merimba Fruitty. It was very good! It had a little bit of grape flavor to it and kind of reminded me of one of those frozen ice pops that has melted so you are only drinking the juice. I know some of you think that sounds disgusting, but it was quite delicious. This brunch turned into a 2 hour event…the kitchen was so slow! Every time Richard would hit a speed bump, he would yell out, “Sorry, Amy! Did you hit your head?” The answer was always the same, “That’s alright, Richard. No, I didn’t hit my head.” Even though we were in Mbale, we still had a 2 hour drive ahead of us because we had to go off the beaten path to the village of this baby to get her. The roads were even more bumpy and when we reached one market, the roads were so crowded that we almost couldn’t get through. We were waving at all of the kids on the side of the road and they kept yelling “Mzungu!” which means “White person.” We parked the car and then backtracked a little to make our way up the “hill” as Richard called it. This “hill” was actually a mountain…a large mountain! We didn’t bring any water with us, so we were huffing and puffing during the hike! Mark was the official “camcorder man” so he was filming a lot and whispering about what he was seeing. Amy said it was quite a sight! The lady we brought with us was leading the way and we finally stopped to rest at the house of her mother (we think it was her mother). Boy was I glad to finally get a chance to catch my breath. We were told that the relatives of our new baby were going to bring her to us. Great…more time to rest! The lady took Mark and Amy further up the mountain to see the house where Baby Mark was from. It was apparently very steep and exhausting, so I’m glad that I didn’t go with them. Amy said she felt really sick by the time they reached the top of the “hill” – I mean mountain, the camcorder was dying, and Mark had to use the bathroom. Again I say…I am glad that I didn’t go up that far. When they finally returned, the baby still hadn’t come so we sat down and started playing with the kids who had followed us – always fascinated with the “mzungus”. They kept repeating words we were saying and Mark was hilarious! When he said “hill”, it came out “heeuwl” which made us laugh harder. They would start laughing hysterically whenever we did something: I did a fish face, Mark put rocks on Amy’s head, and then someone discovered Mark’s hairy legs. Several of the kids started feeling them and laughing hysterically. It was SO FUNNY!!! We were still waiting on the baby…one of the ladies brought out cokes and Glucose Biscuits (sounds healthy huh?). They were kind of like sweet shortbread cookies. It was nice to have something to eat since we hadn’t eaten since our brunch at 11:30am. By now it was about 3:00pm. We finally found out that the relatives of our new baby sent her with a child to come and find us. So, we took off in the general direction of her house hoping to meet up with them. Thankfully, it wasn’t very far. And then, before we knew it…THERE SHE WAS!!! Her name is Brenda. We think she is about 6-7 months old. She is pretty tiny, but was actually pretty alert. Her Mom died when she was about 1 month old (not sure how) and she was put into the care of her Grandmother. Well, her Grandmother died recently, so she had no one else to take her in. She was very quiet during this exchange except for this tiny whimper. We aren’t sure if that’s as loud as she is going to be, but that would be a huge change compared to Steven and Mark who can be quite loud and demanding. We made it back to the car where we changed her diaper and clothes while a crowd of curious children and adults looked on. It had been threatening rain all day, and started sprinkling so we wanted to get off the dirt roads so we wouldn’t get stuck. Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long. Brenda was so quiet the whole ride…she even slept through all of the bumpiness. Did I mention she is ADORABLE??!! We tried to give her some water from a bottle, but she doesn’t really know what to do, so we gave it to her from the cap. I ended up spilling a lot on her so it was pretty messy – does this sound like the normal for me though? The lady who rode with us up to Mbale decided to stay until Sunday. We were excited about having room in the car. Then we found out that her husband, who we had paid transportation to get to Mbale, wanted to ride back with us. Scratch the thought of roominess…back to squished into the back seat. But we survived. It was a long and tiring 4 hour drive back to Jinja. We didn’t leave Mbale until 5:15pm. We stopped to eat dinner in Jinja…pizza and more Marinda Fruitty drink. This restaurant was some-what American so it tasted pretty good. We weren’t very good company though because we were all so exhausted! Brenda ate about 2 capfuls of milk and then decided that was enough. We judged that to be about ½ of an ounce…that’s not gonna cut it. She does have teeth coming in though, so we hope to start her on food pretty soon with a bottle at night to fatten her up. That’s the plan now…could change though. We finally made it back to Sonrise about 10:30pm. I was sad because we didn’t see the babies all day today. Betty bathed Brenda and Amy and I took showers which was quite refreshing. I don’t mind the cold water too much because it’s so hot. Amy, on the other hand, thinks it’s a torture device. It’s almost 1:00am here so I am way past ready to head to bed. But, I did want to update you on the past few days here in Uganda. I will hopefully post pictures tomorrow of some of the happenings. Oh, you might remember me mentioning the Cure International Hospital in Mbale that I wanted to visit. Well, as you may be able to notice, we didn’t have time to stop in. We did pass it though so that counts a little, right? Tomorrow will be another busy day. We still haven’t unpacked the donation bags and so when we need stuff we are guessing as to which suitcase it is in. Oh, and we will be leaving late morning to go get another baby. He is supposedly one week old and in a village outside of Iganga. Two new babies right off the bat…this will be interesting! Thank you so much for journeying with us and praying for us. When I get some more specific prayer requests I will let you know, but please continue to pray for our health and also for strength to make it through these busy days as we are all very exhausted. Love to you all!!
Signing off from Uganda…Leah
P.S. The "Carryout or Delivery" slogan came from the fact that baby Brenda was supposed to be delivered for us as was the original plan, but we ended up having to go in search of her (hence the 'carryout'). I thought it was kind of funny and cute. I hope it brought a little chuckle to you.
Signing off from Uganda…Leah
P.S. The "Carryout or Delivery" slogan came from the fact that baby Brenda was supposed to be delivered for us as was the original plan, but we ended up having to go in search of her (hence the 'carryout'). I thought it was kind of funny and cute. I hope it brought a little chuckle to you.
Day 1 at Sonrise: The Day We Almost Quit...
We made it!!! Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog, but it has been a very busy, exhausting, and rewarding first few days here in Uganda. I will go ahead and warn you that this will be a pretty long post because there is a lot to cover…
We arrived in Uganda late Tuesday night (about 10:30pm here/2:30pm there). As a side note – this 8 hour time difference is really weird to me! Anyway, we arrived in Uganda after two 8+ hour plane rides of which we got very little sleep. The plane rides were interesting…this was Mark’s first time flying and I think he enjoyed it. We did have a pretty rough spot of turbulence that woke him up (he was the only one who actually got some quality sleep) and he said that “Whoever is driving this plane needs to keep his eyes on the road!” After we boarded our flight from London, I had to use the bathroom – which is always quite an experience on a plane – well the bathroom for our section was in the very back of the plane while we were on the second row. I had to wait a few minutes in line and then when I was finished the beverage cart was just starting up the aisle. Well, I had to slowly make my way back to my seat and what should have been a 5 minute thing turned into about a 30 minute thing…definitely a practice in patience. Amy said that she was about to send out a search party for me!!
ANSWER TO PRAYER: All 12 pieces of luggage made it to Uganda!! We were worried because we only ended up having about 45 minutes in London to catch our next flight. But we were praying so hard and lo and behold all of our luggage made it. We put florescent duct tape on the luggage so it would be easy to spot and we quickly pulled off 11 pieces. Then we couldn’t find the last one. Amy walked all the way around the carousel while Mark and I kept watching to see if it would come out…nothing. We were almost ready to give up and go report to the Lost Luggage people when we looked across the way and saw it plain as day. We have no idea how it got there because we looked everywhere for it…we can only say that the Lord brought it to us – and boy were we excited!! We loaded the van with 12 suitcases, 2 carry-on suitcases, 3 spare tires, and 6 people which made it quite squished. We stopped to eat in Kampala at midnight and ate our first meal…chicken and chips (fries) with Coke!! It was quite delicious. Our accommodations for the night were in Kampala, so we didn’t have far to drive before getting to bed. Unfortunately the gate to the house was locked, so we couldn’t drive the van up into it as planned. This meant that our driver, David, parked the van near a hostel where a security guard was on duty all night with…a bow and arrows and a dog!! We had to leave by 4:30 which meant we got less than 3 hours of sleep (still couldn’t sleep even though I was exhausted). Damali stayed in Kampala to work with another organization to give tours of local orphanages to potential donors. The drive to Jinja was a little over 2 hours and when we got to Sonrise we could hear all of the babies awake. This made us all quite happy! It was a wonderful reunion between some of the babies and Auntie Amy. They all started coming out to see what all of the commotion was about – how precious they all are!! Fred became attached to Mark immediately which was quite funny and cute. If Mark moved anywhere on the porch to even greet someone, there was Fred right beside him. Deanna, you are right – he is totally cute!! After we got everything unloaded, Amy and I went with Betty and Richard to take Steven to the clinic for a malaria shot. He had been feeling poorly and felt like he was running a fever. We were going to get him tested for typhoid, but the nurse couldn’t find his vein on his arm – she said because he was so fat – but then I felt around and found it pretty quickly. NURSE RAE, WE NEED YOU OVER HERE!! We ended up skipping the test altogether and he felt better later that day, so we are glad we didn’t go to all of the trouble anyway. We didn’t eat breakfast until about 10:00am – African tea and mandazi (fried sweet bread) and fresh pineapple from the market. It was delicious! Next, Amy went over the huge monthly grocery list with Richard while Mark took a nap. Early afternoon, Richard and Mark went to the market for everything. About 3 hours later they returned…with only half of the items because the car couldn’t hold everything. So they had to go back and get the rest. When they returned and had unloaded everything and put it away, Mark went and took another nap because he was so tired. Amy and I did get to sleep for about an hour during the baby nap time and that was really nice. During the afternoon, we played with all of the babies. Catherine wanted to do Amy’s hair so she used the comb and a clip – you can imagine the beauty that was abounding there! Amy and I were able to assemble one of the cradle swings that we brought with us. We have decided that these are one of the best inventions ever! Baby Mark loved it!! We haven’t had a big chance to try it, but he was fascinated by everything new and fell asleep in it. About 5:30pm we took a walk with all of the babies. This is one of their favorite parts of the day. They all scramble to find shoes that fit them…some of them are not successful so we have to help them…and then we set out down the road. At one point there was a cow in the road about 30 yards ahead…a few of the babies were freaking out! We ended up having to turn around and head back a little bit early. I was walking with Junior and Fred and we were lagging behind…slowpokes. They kept getting distracted by everything ; ) On our way back to Sonrise, the car pulls up beside us and it’s some of the boys who work here with a puppy – a puppy for Sonrise. Apparently, someone just gave it to them and they couldn’t say no. I am not sure what Damali will say about it so we’ll see. Dinner was next and then potty time and bedtime. I have not had a chance to experience true potty time, so I’ll go into more detail when I get more info (it’s supposedly pretty entertaining). After the baby’s go to bed we realize that Mark has been MIA since he returned from the market. He is still sleeping!! We do staff devotions after dinner and it isn’t until after showers and dinner of delicious fish and rice that he finally makes his appearance looking more normal. He said that he had been totally exhausted…he looked a lot more ready to face the day…only it was nighttime. Thanks for all of your help, Mark! Amy put all of the babies to bed by herself since the rest of us were busy with the smaller ones. She said it was a complete zoo! They were bouncing off the walls and being completely crazy. We were going to do the blog last night, but we were too tired…hence it’s a day late. Since Damali is gone right now, Amy is the “director”…or so Betty calls her. After a crazy day like today I think Amy was looking for a way to either resign or get fired. It was completely exhausting. I think we both have a new-found appreciation for our Mom’s! Thank you for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for our health and safety. Also, we will be traveling on Thursday to get another baby in Mbale…adventure here we come!
Signing off here in Uganda…Leah
We arrived in Uganda late Tuesday night (about 10:30pm here/2:30pm there). As a side note – this 8 hour time difference is really weird to me! Anyway, we arrived in Uganda after two 8+ hour plane rides of which we got very little sleep. The plane rides were interesting…this was Mark’s first time flying and I think he enjoyed it. We did have a pretty rough spot of turbulence that woke him up (he was the only one who actually got some quality sleep) and he said that “Whoever is driving this plane needs to keep his eyes on the road!” After we boarded our flight from London, I had to use the bathroom – which is always quite an experience on a plane – well the bathroom for our section was in the very back of the plane while we were on the second row. I had to wait a few minutes in line and then when I was finished the beverage cart was just starting up the aisle. Well, I had to slowly make my way back to my seat and what should have been a 5 minute thing turned into about a 30 minute thing…definitely a practice in patience. Amy said that she was about to send out a search party for me!!
ANSWER TO PRAYER: All 12 pieces of luggage made it to Uganda!! We were worried because we only ended up having about 45 minutes in London to catch our next flight. But we were praying so hard and lo and behold all of our luggage made it. We put florescent duct tape on the luggage so it would be easy to spot and we quickly pulled off 11 pieces. Then we couldn’t find the last one. Amy walked all the way around the carousel while Mark and I kept watching to see if it would come out…nothing. We were almost ready to give up and go report to the Lost Luggage people when we looked across the way and saw it plain as day. We have no idea how it got there because we looked everywhere for it…we can only say that the Lord brought it to us – and boy were we excited!! We loaded the van with 12 suitcases, 2 carry-on suitcases, 3 spare tires, and 6 people which made it quite squished. We stopped to eat in Kampala at midnight and ate our first meal…chicken and chips (fries) with Coke!! It was quite delicious. Our accommodations for the night were in Kampala, so we didn’t have far to drive before getting to bed. Unfortunately the gate to the house was locked, so we couldn’t drive the van up into it as planned. This meant that our driver, David, parked the van near a hostel where a security guard was on duty all night with…a bow and arrows and a dog!! We had to leave by 4:30 which meant we got less than 3 hours of sleep (still couldn’t sleep even though I was exhausted). Damali stayed in Kampala to work with another organization to give tours of local orphanages to potential donors. The drive to Jinja was a little over 2 hours and when we got to Sonrise we could hear all of the babies awake. This made us all quite happy! It was a wonderful reunion between some of the babies and Auntie Amy. They all started coming out to see what all of the commotion was about – how precious they all are!! Fred became attached to Mark immediately which was quite funny and cute. If Mark moved anywhere on the porch to even greet someone, there was Fred right beside him. Deanna, you are right – he is totally cute!! After we got everything unloaded, Amy and I went with Betty and Richard to take Steven to the clinic for a malaria shot. He had been feeling poorly and felt like he was running a fever. We were going to get him tested for typhoid, but the nurse couldn’t find his vein on his arm – she said because he was so fat – but then I felt around and found it pretty quickly. NURSE RAE, WE NEED YOU OVER HERE!! We ended up skipping the test altogether and he felt better later that day, so we are glad we didn’t go to all of the trouble anyway. We didn’t eat breakfast until about 10:00am – African tea and mandazi (fried sweet bread) and fresh pineapple from the market. It was delicious! Next, Amy went over the huge monthly grocery list with Richard while Mark took a nap. Early afternoon, Richard and Mark went to the market for everything. About 3 hours later they returned…with only half of the items because the car couldn’t hold everything. So they had to go back and get the rest. When they returned and had unloaded everything and put it away, Mark went and took another nap because he was so tired. Amy and I did get to sleep for about an hour during the baby nap time and that was really nice. During the afternoon, we played with all of the babies. Catherine wanted to do Amy’s hair so she used the comb and a clip – you can imagine the beauty that was abounding there! Amy and I were able to assemble one of the cradle swings that we brought with us. We have decided that these are one of the best inventions ever! Baby Mark loved it!! We haven’t had a big chance to try it, but he was fascinated by everything new and fell asleep in it. About 5:30pm we took a walk with all of the babies. This is one of their favorite parts of the day. They all scramble to find shoes that fit them…some of them are not successful so we have to help them…and then we set out down the road. At one point there was a cow in the road about 30 yards ahead…a few of the babies were freaking out! We ended up having to turn around and head back a little bit early. I was walking with Junior and Fred and we were lagging behind…slowpokes. They kept getting distracted by everything ; ) On our way back to Sonrise, the car pulls up beside us and it’s some of the boys who work here with a puppy – a puppy for Sonrise. Apparently, someone just gave it to them and they couldn’t say no. I am not sure what Damali will say about it so we’ll see. Dinner was next and then potty time and bedtime. I have not had a chance to experience true potty time, so I’ll go into more detail when I get more info (it’s supposedly pretty entertaining). After the baby’s go to bed we realize that Mark has been MIA since he returned from the market. He is still sleeping!! We do staff devotions after dinner and it isn’t until after showers and dinner of delicious fish and rice that he finally makes his appearance looking more normal. He said that he had been totally exhausted…he looked a lot more ready to face the day…only it was nighttime. Thanks for all of your help, Mark! Amy put all of the babies to bed by herself since the rest of us were busy with the smaller ones. She said it was a complete zoo! They were bouncing off the walls and being completely crazy. We were going to do the blog last night, but we were too tired…hence it’s a day late. Since Damali is gone right now, Amy is the “director”…or so Betty calls her. After a crazy day like today I think Amy was looking for a way to either resign or get fired. It was completely exhausting. I think we both have a new-found appreciation for our Mom’s! Thank you for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for our health and safety. Also, we will be traveling on Thursday to get another baby in Mbale…adventure here we come!
Signing off here in Uganda…Leah
Monday, January 11, 2010
Here We Go...
Well, the day has finally arrived. My suitcase is zipped, the donation bags(all 9 of them) are packed and under the weight limit, and last-minute errands have been run. We fly out from Atlanta tonight at 8:45pm. We will be loaded down with 12 large suitcases which will be checked luggage, 2 carry-on suitcases, 1 laptop, one backpack, and one Ugandan purse filled with who-knows-what of Amy's : ) Thankfully our families are traveling with us to the airport, so we don't have to deal with all of the luggage alone.
I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate each one of you "Prayer Warriors" who has agreed to follow us on our trip and most importantly, cover us in prayer. We know that we can do NOTHING apart from God. Everything that He does in Uganda, you will have a part of!
Just wanted to give you a few important places that you may end up reading about. You may want to find a Ugandan map, but here is a list of the places that we will be visiting:
Entebbe: the city where the airport is
Kampala: the capital of Uganda; this is where the market is, and also where we will be meeting Marilyn Skinner at the Watoto Church
Jinja: where Sonrise Baby Home is located; about 2 hours East of Kampala
Iganga: where Musana Children's Home is located
Mbale: where the Cure International Hospital is located
Gulu: where the Watoto Village is located
Some of you have asked about weather while we are there. Since they are in the southern hemisphere, their seasons are opposite of ours here in Georgia. Hence, they are in the middle of their summer. Right now it is in the 80's with the low being about 68-70 degrees. So not bad right now. Since we will be there 6 weeks total, I imagine that it will only get hotter.
Some of you have asked about our flights:
We fly out of Atlanta and take an 8-hour flight to London (Heathrow Airport). We have a ONE HOUR LAYOVER and then get on an 8 1/2 flight to Entebbe, Uganda.
On the way back we fly out of Entebbe on a 9-hour flight back to London. We will have a 7-hour layover(we are hoping to get out and see some sights) and then fly back to Atlanta on a 9 1/2 hour flight. Needless to say, there will be a lot of time spent flying which I am not looking forward to.
The TIME DIFFERENCE: Uganda is 8 hours ahead of us here in Georgia. That means that when we land in Uganda tomorrow night at 10:30pm, it will only be 2:30pm in Georgia. That is so weird to me!!
A FEW PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Pray that all of our luggage makes it to Uganda. With such a short layover it is very possible that it won't, but we really need all of these bags to get there.
2. Health - pray that we will remain healthy
3. God to open our eyes to what He would have us to see
4. Wisdom as we make some decisions regarding Sonrise Baby Home and taking in some new babies while we are there.
I am so very excited about taking this trip and know that God will use us in a mighty and powerful way. I look forward to sharing this journey with each of you...thank you for choosing to come along.
-Leah
I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate each one of you "Prayer Warriors" who has agreed to follow us on our trip and most importantly, cover us in prayer. We know that we can do NOTHING apart from God. Everything that He does in Uganda, you will have a part of!
Just wanted to give you a few important places that you may end up reading about. You may want to find a Ugandan map, but here is a list of the places that we will be visiting:
Entebbe: the city where the airport is
Kampala: the capital of Uganda; this is where the market is, and also where we will be meeting Marilyn Skinner at the Watoto Church
Jinja: where Sonrise Baby Home is located; about 2 hours East of Kampala
Iganga: where Musana Children's Home is located
Mbale: where the Cure International Hospital is located
Gulu: where the Watoto Village is located
Some of you have asked about weather while we are there. Since they are in the southern hemisphere, their seasons are opposite of ours here in Georgia. Hence, they are in the middle of their summer. Right now it is in the 80's with the low being about 68-70 degrees. So not bad right now. Since we will be there 6 weeks total, I imagine that it will only get hotter.
Some of you have asked about our flights:
We fly out of Atlanta and take an 8-hour flight to London (Heathrow Airport). We have a ONE HOUR LAYOVER and then get on an 8 1/2 flight to Entebbe, Uganda.
On the way back we fly out of Entebbe on a 9-hour flight back to London. We will have a 7-hour layover(we are hoping to get out and see some sights) and then fly back to Atlanta on a 9 1/2 hour flight. Needless to say, there will be a lot of time spent flying which I am not looking forward to.
The TIME DIFFERENCE: Uganda is 8 hours ahead of us here in Georgia. That means that when we land in Uganda tomorrow night at 10:30pm, it will only be 2:30pm in Georgia. That is so weird to me!!
A FEW PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Pray that all of our luggage makes it to Uganda. With such a short layover it is very possible that it won't, but we really need all of these bags to get there.
2. Health - pray that we will remain healthy
3. God to open our eyes to what He would have us to see
4. Wisdom as we make some decisions regarding Sonrise Baby Home and taking in some new babies while we are there.
I am so very excited about taking this trip and know that God will use us in a mighty and powerful way. I look forward to sharing this journey with each of you...thank you for choosing to come along.
-Leah
Friday, January 8, 2010
Our God is truly an AWESOME GOD!!
So, a lot has transpired since my last post. I think I could write a book telling of all the ways that God has worked to bring this trip together. This post shall be dedicated to two instances where God has brought people into our lives who have connections in Uganda.
1. I attended Passion Conference 2010 in Atlanta this past weekend. It was a wonderful time to spend with 22,000 other students praising the Lord and having a part in missions around the world. One such ministry represented was Cure International. I first was introduced to this medical mission in 2007 when I met them at Passion and helped sponsor a surgery with my sisters. I went up to the workers and started talking and they were telling me about all of the hospitals that they have around the world. Well, they have one in Uganda. I started asking further about it and mentioned that I would be there. The person that I first talked with in 2007 told me more about it and what they do (he remembered me after all of these years). Anyway, to make a long story short, we may have the opportunity to visit this hospital and make some valuable contact with them while we are there. They specialize in neurosurgery which we don't need right now, but who knows how God may use it down the road.
2. Also at Passion2010 this past weekend. One of the speakers was Marilyn Skinner who, along with her husband, started a church in Kampala, Uganda over 25 years ago. Since then, they have opened a baby home and a village for former child soldiers. Their ministry is called Watoto...does the Watoto Children's Choir ring a bell. Anyway, I was dying to talk with her and share about Sonrise, but when you are in a group of 22,000 that just doesn't seem possible. But, thankfully we serve a God who likes to turn the impossible into the very possible. I have a friend who knows some very important people associated with Passion Ministries (thanks Mike!). He made a few phone calls and arranged for Amy and I to meet with Marilyn for about 15 minutes. What a time of encouragement it was. We weren't quite sure what to say since we didn't have a lot of time, so finally Amy asked her if she had any advice for us since we had just opened in June. She answered after a poignant pause..."Never look down on your small beginnings and think that you aren't making a difference." WOW!! That is just what we needed to hear!!! She talked about how she and her husband would have done what they do now even if they knew they could only affect 12 children. Don't look at numbers, but look instead at how God is using you to make a difference in the lives of children. By the end of the conversation we were almost in tears by how encouraging the conversation had been. Add to that...she is going to be in Uganda while we are there. She told us to come by and say hello, to visit their baby home and ask whatever questions we may have (this will be a huge help), and to also visit their village in Northern Uganda to see how it is run. This is a HUGE contact to make. I left the weekend totally overwhelmed by how God takes care of us...even the tiny details.
It is hard to believe that we leave in such a short time. Amy and I were making a list of all of the things that we need to do while we are there...I have a feeling that six weeks will fly by. We will be staying at Sonrise for about 3-4 weeks straight while Damali takes a little vacation to visit some family and friends. Then we have to visit Musana Children's home, several hospitals, Watoto village in Gulu, do some fun things like safari and rafting on the Nile...WOW how will we ever fit it in! I am excited about being in a warmer climate though. After all of this freezing weather (and I usually like winter time) it will be so nice to be in 80+ degree weather. This may change once I get there, but for now I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I really appreciate it!
1. I attended Passion Conference 2010 in Atlanta this past weekend. It was a wonderful time to spend with 22,000 other students praising the Lord and having a part in missions around the world. One such ministry represented was Cure International. I first was introduced to this medical mission in 2007 when I met them at Passion and helped sponsor a surgery with my sisters. I went up to the workers and started talking and they were telling me about all of the hospitals that they have around the world. Well, they have one in Uganda. I started asking further about it and mentioned that I would be there. The person that I first talked with in 2007 told me more about it and what they do (he remembered me after all of these years). Anyway, to make a long story short, we may have the opportunity to visit this hospital and make some valuable contact with them while we are there. They specialize in neurosurgery which we don't need right now, but who knows how God may use it down the road.
2. Also at Passion2010 this past weekend. One of the speakers was Marilyn Skinner who, along with her husband, started a church in Kampala, Uganda over 25 years ago. Since then, they have opened a baby home and a village for former child soldiers. Their ministry is called Watoto...does the Watoto Children's Choir ring a bell. Anyway, I was dying to talk with her and share about Sonrise, but when you are in a group of 22,000 that just doesn't seem possible. But, thankfully we serve a God who likes to turn the impossible into the very possible. I have a friend who knows some very important people associated with Passion Ministries (thanks Mike!). He made a few phone calls and arranged for Amy and I to meet with Marilyn for about 15 minutes. What a time of encouragement it was. We weren't quite sure what to say since we didn't have a lot of time, so finally Amy asked her if she had any advice for us since we had just opened in June. She answered after a poignant pause..."Never look down on your small beginnings and think that you aren't making a difference." WOW!! That is just what we needed to hear!!! She talked about how she and her husband would have done what they do now even if they knew they could only affect 12 children. Don't look at numbers, but look instead at how God is using you to make a difference in the lives of children. By the end of the conversation we were almost in tears by how encouraging the conversation had been. Add to that...she is going to be in Uganda while we are there. She told us to come by and say hello, to visit their baby home and ask whatever questions we may have (this will be a huge help), and to also visit their village in Northern Uganda to see how it is run. This is a HUGE contact to make. I left the weekend totally overwhelmed by how God takes care of us...even the tiny details.
It is hard to believe that we leave in such a short time. Amy and I were making a list of all of the things that we need to do while we are there...I have a feeling that six weeks will fly by. We will be staying at Sonrise for about 3-4 weeks straight while Damali takes a little vacation to visit some family and friends. Then we have to visit Musana Children's home, several hospitals, Watoto village in Gulu, do some fun things like safari and rafting on the Nile...WOW how will we ever fit it in! I am excited about being in a warmer climate though. After all of this freezing weather (and I usually like winter time) it will be so nice to be in 80+ degree weather. This may change once I get there, but for now I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I really appreciate it!
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