Giving Thanks

As I sit here enjoying the first snow day our district has granted us in around five years I am filled with a thankful heart not only because I didn't have to take my AP English or Honors Trig finals today (although that was definitely a plus) but because I am here with my family, in our warm cozy house, and Uganda has been our main topic of conversation this morning.

Going to Uganda has opened my heart to so many things. It has shown me what I believe to be, the purpose of not only my life, but everyones life here on earth and that is to love. To love everyone. I never understood that before going to Uganda. I couldn't fathom how you could just LOVE everyone! It is hard to explain how I can do this now. I honestly believe it is only because I truly have my Maker living inside of my heart. He supplies me with the love to give. I am like a drinking glass. He is like the tap. The world is like a thirsty child craving a quenching to their thirst. I simply have this inexpressible joy within me and that is basically the only conclusion I can come to. How blessed we all are to be loved and used by our Father who grants us such love and passion and happiness through Him! I am truly thankful for such an amazing Savior.

I am thankful for my mom. Since she is no longer working she has been totally committed to helping my with anything Africa. From organizing a team to go in June of this year, or June of 2012 to brainstorming uniform/clothing ideas and sponsorships for the children at Rock of Ages to crying with me as I read stories from a blog written by a very strong young women leading the life in Uganda I one day hope to achieve. For teaching me to be a lady, to cook eggs, to be professional, and how to share my love. She is the most amazing PR assistant I could ever as for and although we may not always see eye to eye and she can't always understand why I do what I do she is always there to support and love me in ways words cannot express. I am truly thankful for such an amazing mother.

I am thankful for my dad who has pushed me to "Go big or go home" from the get-go. Who has helped me pull together a committed team to run our 501c3 Hands4Uganda and who has taught me to "Just do it" and who has loved me though the ups and downs of life. For always encouraging me in my faith and showing me the love a father has for his daughter. I am not sure how far my dreams of building this new school for Rock of Ages would be without him and his constant love and support. I am truly thankful for such an amazing father.

I am thankful for my little sister Hannah who as I type this now is asleep next to me cuddled up in my comforter. I am so blessed to have a younger sister in my life who just gets me. Who will just come and lay in my bed and cuddle with me on cold stormy days, or when I am simply feeling lonely. She doesn't mind listening to me ramble on about school, or trips she cannot yet accompany me on, or fundraisers she is sick of helping with. She simply sits and takes it all in then offers the few words of wisdom she always seems to astonishingly have for someone of her age. I am truly thankful for such an amazing sister.

I am thankful for my step families. They always offer a new perspective, lots of love and a little chaos. For my step dad who has loved me as his very own daughter. Who has helped to provide for me and support me through the ups and downs of being a teenager stuck at a younger age then she wishes to be. For my step mom who has taught me to be tough and get down and dirty. To work hard and play hard. For all of my step siblings who have been there to encourage me and advise me on things from my love life, to college, to silly drama, to what I should wear, to how to express myself. They have all impacted my life in very special, yet very different ways. I am truly thankful for such an amazing step family.

The Lord has blessed me in so many more ways. More ways then I could ever list. From the Hair family for welcoming me as one of their own and opening the door to Uganda for me to Pam and Paul Hunter (Mama and Papa) who have shown me that our God IS a living God and that to " Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8). I cannot express my gratitude and affections for either of these families.

So here I will conclude pondering on how blessed I am to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family and how I have been given such a wonderful opportunity to bless others and they have blessed me.

Thank you Lord. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Living my dream

A few days ago I stumbled across a blog that particularly caught my attention. I was doing some research on different programs in Jinja and found Amazima Ministries International. Amazima does a few separate things including a sponsorship program for over 400 children, a necklace program, a community garden program, a chicken program, Masese feeding program, and a medical rehabilitation project. After clicking through the site I decided to read up on some of the blogs. This is when I "met" Katie Davis. Her initial story is very similar to my own. Having gone to Uganda she fell in love with the people and the culture. She started a child sponsorship program after returning a second time to teach a kindergarten class in Canaan. Now she lives in and for Uganda. I have started reading her blog (from the beginning) and I cannot believe how some of her posts so perfectly reflect my own. I cannot believe how some of her words match ones I have said. I cannot believe how she describes Africa and the love she has for everyone there and how she enjoys simply everything about it because all of those things are a mirror image to my thoughts, dreams, and heart.
I read her story and she is living my dream. She is my role model! Everything she is, everything she does, I hope to become. Here is one of the many excperts from her blog that are like words taken from my mouth. I am sure there will be many more quotes from her to come....


"beautiful.. sometimes i am walking through the noisy market, down the dusty africa road with the hotter-that-imaginable sun beating down on my face. everyone around me is blacker than the night. everything is beautiful. despite the sweltering heat, i get goose-bumps. i live in africa. i am in africa. this is africa and this is where i live and this is where i love. this is my place, where my heart and soul are. God has put me here, a place beyond all my dreams and imagination. i dont know why me. i dont know why anything. but i know. i am certain. this is THE PLAN. this is MY PLACE. and tears of joy run down my face, in the hot, dusty, noisiness, because i am HOME."

Wow.

Tears of the Sun

Last night I was in full on "Africa mode". I was reading, thinking, listening, watching Africa. Doing everything but living Africa.

I put in the movie "Tears in the Sun" because I love watching movies on the struggles there and how some hero always brings good in the end. It is how we so often wish life to be. Before going to Uganda I, like so many others, could write off the horror of some of the movies we see with "rebel armies" and demon possessed dictators as fiction, or something that happened a long time ago in a far off land. After seeing first hand through the eyes of some of the people effected by these atrocities this is no longer the case for myself.

My normal "feel good" Africa movie is "Invictus", the story of Nelson Mandela and how he used the sport of rugby to unite a deeply divided Africa nation, South Africa. But I was up for a bit more action last night so I popped in the one other movie (besides "Sahara")that I knew could offer me a glimpse of the continent I have come to call home. I had not watched "Tears in the Sun" for almost a year and could remember faintly the details. I didn't realize what I had just gotten myself into. Bloodshed, rape, murder, dishonesty, and your basic good vs evil was right before my eyes.

How is this any different from any other war movie I have seen?

Why did this one hit me so hard that by the closing scene I could no longer hold back my tears and let out sobs of emotion?

I can tell you why. It is because these things are not fiction. These things did not happen a long time ago, but are happening today. These things are happening in a far off land, but now that far off land is much closer to my heart. You don't hear every day about the merciless killings, kidnappings, and rapes that happen to innocent people taking place in this far off land. They don't make CNN news and you wont find their story on FOX.

Why?

Why do we close our eyes to these things that are happening every day? Is it because they do happen every day and we have accepted them as the norm? Or is it because we choose to close our eyes from this incredible tragedy because our hearts may be pulled and we may feel something deep inside telling us we ought to do something about it? Whether it be from naivety, ignorance, or fear I am here to say that this is not okay. We as Americans have opportunity. Notice I said "have opportunity" and not "have an opportunity". This is because for us, this isn't a singular situation. Every day we have the opportunity to change the way this world is currently spinning.

Here we have the chance to make the difference, to be the change.

I go to school every day. That is what most 17 year olds in the United States do. I will admit that I also complain about it, something I believe most 17 year olds do as well. I hate crawling out of my warm Egyptian cotton sheets and having to uncurl from the ball of twisted down comforter and feather pillows I have become through out the night. I loathe turning on the shower and feeling the icy waters chill my hand as I wait the two minutes it takes for the water heater to kick in and make steam rise from the now scalding droplets. I dread walking into 1st hour AP English and once again discussing the symbolism behind "The Scarlet Letter" and continuing through my planned, laid out, knowledge packed (and usually homework packed) every day routine that school puts me through. It is when I look at myself like this that I see just how very conceited I myself am. I am just like any other person who turns their face from the raging wars occurring in Africa. I take for granted the things that kids are dying for in Africa.

A place to sleep, clean water, and an education seem simple.

Living-seems simple, doesn't it? Our living so often is. Their reality...well it's just not.

Why?

Because they were born there and we were here?

Basically.

This isn't fair and I refuse to let this be the case anymore. This is why I will get this school built. Education is the key to the lock that has kept the door shut on Africa. God is there. He is working. He is willing. We will open this door, even if it is for only a few children in a side-of-the-road village in Uganda, Africa.

So here we are..

I have now been home for a total of 140 days and am counting down the days until my return trip to Uganda(hopefully if all goes well there will only be 204 days until my return to the mother land).

Although Hands4Uganda has been keeping me busy and my head out of the clouds I cannot help but think about going back. There is something about Uganda that has simply captivated me. I miss everything about it. The people, the towns, the villages, the heat, the sky, the jungle, the Nile, the birds, even the dirt. I have vivid dreams that I am once again in Jinja town and walking in the market or down the street near the compound. Or that I am preparing frantically to leave the next day and I am having a horrible time remembering what to pack. For this reason I have made a complete packing list, simply so when that time comes I will be fully prepared (actually I had my return packing list made and ready to go basically by the time I got home from trip 1. I just couldn't help it!)

I am hoping to get some trip details straightened out as soon as possible. I am will be visiting with Syd either tomorrow or Wednesday about flights, ideas, organizations etc. and emailing Rufus Van Dyke in hopes of getting him fully committed to leading a team in June. Maybe we will end up having two teams go? Tomanya.