Wildlife Fieldtrip

In my house we have a membership to the zoo and go about every other week or so.  The trips are something to do and quite unmemorable.  This summer I will get to take a trip to a zoo that will be a memorable day for me and an UNFORGETTABLE day for the children that let me go with them. 

Most of the children in the village of Busega, Uganda have never gone further than the village limits or to the villages neighboring them.  Their view of the country they live is poverty and suffering everywhere they walk.  In the last couple of years, some of the children of the village have started to attend a local school and gain an education.  I wonder what they think of this education and what they will do with it.  How can they dream and imagine beyond their current circumstances if they never see it with their own eyes. 

Pastor Samuel, from Return Ministries, and I have been planning a trip for some of the children while I am visiting them.  We will be taking the kids about an hour away from their village to Uganda Wildlife Education Center.  A day to see the beauty of the country God has placed them in, to see the beautiful animals that inhabit their homeland, to be kids, and most importantly to start launching some dreams withing them. 

This past year has been spent trying to meet some physical needs for these children in the way of food and clothing, but when I am there in person I have another need I would like to address.  I have been reading a book about poverty, and it described the greatest needs being of the psychological and social kind.  While these children live everyday feeling left out from the rest of society, on this zoo day they will simply be another group of children in awe of the animals and having a picnic lunch together.  This would be nothing to my children at home...this will be everything to these children in Uganda. 

I'm not going with a missions group to Uganda this year, I am going there on my own.  However, I will never be alone.  I will be well taken care of by Pastor Samuel and his wife Sarah.  Going on my own has some great advantages, but one of the disadvantages is funding an outing like this with a team of one.  We have priced it out and with the cost of admission, bus rental, adult supervision, and a simple lunch it comes out to be roughly $20/kid.  $20 for a day they will NEVER forget!  We set a goal of 30 kids hoping I can raise enough to fill that bus.  That comes to $600 and I have already had some wonderful donors that have covered half of that!!!  We are $300 away from all 30 kids going.  We can take as many kids as we get sponsored to go, but I am really hoping to at least get these last 15 kids covered. 

If you would like to sponsor a kid for this unforgettable day, simply hit the Paypal button on the top of this page and put in the comment "Zoo Day".  Just $20/kid

I can't imagine how spectacular the pictures from this day will be!!!  

Packing 101

As I prepare for my missions trip this summer, I have to pace myself because I get so excited that I just want to pack my bags and get on a plane!  However, there is still a bit of planning to be done before the fun can begin.  Speaking of packing bags, that will be the hardest part for me.  We are allowed 2 fifty pound bags to check and one will be filled with dresses headed to Uganda from In My Mother's Honor while the other one will be filled with things for the ministries we will work with in Ethiopia and gifts for some kids over there sent from sponsors here in the states.  Where will my two weeks worth of clothes and things be packed?  Those will be in my carry on and a backpack.  Okay, I know if my dad just read this while drinking coffee, that coffee has now been spit all over the computer and I'm sorry about that. 

These trips are all about being stretched.  Stretched emotionally, spiritually, physically, and evidently I am going to working on my traveling skills A TON this year.  Let me share a little story with you.  Twelve years ago (today in fact) Neil and I were married.  We headed out on our glamorous honeymoon to Jamaica with all five pieces of our new luggage for our one week vacation.  When we arrived in Jamaica, several Jamaicans laughed at us asking if all that luggage was for us.  We didn't get the joke...now I do.  How silly we must have looked.  What an embarrassing display of Americanism we were. 

The years have changed me a lot and I will be so glad to show up in Africa with four pieces of luggage and having almost none of it be for me.  So when you see pictures this summer and I'm in the same outfit again...and again, you will smile at all the growth that is happening in me. 

The Gavel is Down and the Numbers are in!

I am seriously blown away by the results from the online auction for my missions trip this summer!
First let me talk a little bit about the auction.  Without awesome donations of auction items from Abbadabba Bags, The Painted Piano, Family Christian Bookstore, In My Mother's Honor, Starbucks, and Jump City this would not have been as much fun.  I loved seeing the chatter between bidders and I'm really going to miss seeing that tomorrow on my facebook feed.  I saw bidders that were new friends, old friends, lots of family members far away, in-laws of my family members, friends of friends, and even an old co-worker of my sister's.  This reached way beyond what I ever could have dreamed.  I no longer felt alone in this.  Watching the bids was greater support for my soul than any amount of money could ever have been.

If you had asked me how fundraising was going this time last week, I would have said that I really wasn't sure how I was going to get to this seemingly insurmountable goal.  Not only did I have the expenses with the Visiting Orphans team, but also for my work in Uganda.  It is with great joy that I share these numbers with you tonight.
My numbers are still a little rough until they purchase our tickets this week or next, but this is a close guess.

Last week I was approximately $1600 short
In my wildest dreams I hoped to raise $500 from the auction
In reality, you all donated $1306!!!!!!!!
Now I am approximately $300 short.  Wow!!!

If any of you bid, didn't win, but still wanted to donate, please feel free to hit the donate button on this page :)
Anything raised above my trip costs will go to a project I'm working on in Uganda.  The pastor at Return Ministries and I are working on a field trip for about 30 kids while I am there.  These children live in a beautiful country and most have never seen past their small village.  Our goal is to show them a bit of the beauty God has blessed them with.  We are going to take them to a zoo/safari park about an hour away.  It will be a carefree day of play and seeing the most amazing animals.  My goal is that they would stop seeing all these Americans coming to visit them and dream of someday going to America thinking that is their only hope.  For many of them, this may never be an option.  I want them to see the beauty around them and start to dream of a better life within their country.  The cost is $20 per kid which includes the bus rental, lunch, and pass to the park.  We will take as many kids as we can afford to, but our beginning goal is 30 kids.  If that is something that you are interested in supporting, just put "Uganda safari" in the memo line when you hit the donate button on this page. 

The generous hearts that are obviously all around me have me in tears tonight.  I always knew I was going to Africa, but now I can really say, "I'M GOING TO AFRICA"!!! 
Thank you

Confession

Last year as I prepared to go to Africa for the first time, I was nervous and afraid.  I had no idea what to expect, no idea if there would be anything there I would eat, and no idea if I would like the people (or more truthfully if they would like me).

After my trip last year, I was amazed at how comfortable I was there and how I connected with people.  I was also surprised that I was dreaming about Sarah's cooking! It's been a heck of a year looking back to see all God had in store for me on that trip.  It is also cool to look forward and see the amazing and previously unseen adventures He has in store for me this summer and in the future.  I love my new friendships that have grown over the last few months.

Here's my confession:  This year's trip is technically a "short terms missions" trip, but in reality it feels like I'm going to visit family and some of my favorite friends :)  What a difference a year makes.  It's absolutely unbelievable to me that God could use an ordinary, kind of boring, nothing special (by worldly standards), person with no special talents like me to do His work!!!!!!  I had heard that this happens to other people but always assumed they were secretly really cool and talented before.

I'm here to tell you, all you need to do it SHOW UP and cool things happen.  You, yes YOU, are one of the people who can be used to change others lives and your own in the process.  Just show up somewhere you might be nervous and bit afraid to go and see what happens :)

Step One: Complete!

I am so excited to hit the first financial deadline of the trip with three days to spare :)
This first deadline was half of the money due, so it was the largest and most intense one.  I'm one step closer to putting my feet on African soil again and could not be happier to think about that!

I have been working hard on a fundraiser that will happen this weekend at a children's consignment sale.  Glad for all the donations of children's clothes, toys, and furniture that people have given for this event and I'm praying that big things happen on Friday and Saturday to give me a jump start towards my next deadline. Next deadline is to be at $3200 by May 19th. 

In May I have an online auction coming your way.  I'm excited to share these great items with you.  I have items I picked up in Africa last year, passes to local kids venues, and a few friends are joining in the fun like Abbadabba bags!!!  This is going to be fun, so get ready for it!

Exclamation alert... I'm excited!!!

**WARNING: there will be MANY exclamation points in here!!!!**

I am so excited to announce that I will be returning to Africa this summer!!  I never could have imagined the adventures God in store for me when I went last year.  I was stretched in ways I wasn't sure I was flexible in anymore.  The living conditions, restrooms, lack of creature comforts, and not having things sanitizingly clean were things I always imagined would bother me.  In the states I won't even go camping in a cozy sleeping bag after eating yummy smores over the crackling fire, but in Africa it seemed just fine to sleep with cockroaches, take ice cold showers, and use squatty potties.

Korah

After having my eyes open to how many others live, the old me would have said "this was a nice experience but I'm not going back again."  The new me says, "can I go back now?!"  After meeting the wonderful people I spent time with in Africa, none of those details mattered.  I'm excited to spend time in both Ethiopia and Uganda again with the majority of the time being in Ethiopia in my favorite place... Korah.  I will be going with Visiting Orphans again and we will be serving with Project 61 and Mission Ethiopia while we are there.  I am ecstatic to be able to spend a week with my sponsor son, Teshome!!!  Absolutely a dream come true!

The first day with Teshome

The other dream come true is that I get to take this journey with my best friend, Kendra!  Last year, as I was spending time with kids, I would literally be thinking "Kendra should be here."  This year she will be!!  Some girl friends take trips to Napa valley, spa weekends, or maybe a cruise.  We are choosing a girls crazy adventure week to a leper/trash dump community in Africa and could not be happier about it!

Can't wait to walk these streets in Korah again

Vanessa

After Ethiopia, Kendra and I will part from our group and head to Uganda to visit with Return Ministry for a few days.  This could be challenging for two gals who get lost going to places we go to all the time :)  It will be neat to see Africa outside of a big group.  Can't wait to spend time with Pastor Samuel and his family, visit the little girl we sponsor, spend time with the women making the beautiful jewelry I have been selling and have time with the children we have been feeding. 

Village of Busega

If you want any information on the organizations I am serving with or ways you could get involved, please let me know.  Otherwise, I'm sure you will hear from me over the next few months as I prepare for this next great adventure.

In My Mother's Honor

What I am about to write about brings me so much joy!

This summer while I was in Africa I would text home everyday where my mom and Neil were taking care of the children.  On the day I texted Neil about wanting to leave my sneakers for Teshome, I knew something interesting was going on in my mom.  I texted Neil about it because he had just purchased me those shoes, but when he read the text aloud to my mother, her immediate response was to leave them and she would replace mine before I even got home.  Now, my mom is a generous person, but this quick response made me think, "could Africa possibly be stealing my mother's heart as well?"

 

Coming home and starting to share stories, my mom wanted to hear every one of them.  One afternoon after retelling some stories at her kitchen table with her neighbor, they came up with an idea to sew dresses for the girls in Africa.  She texted me to see if I knew somewhere they could send them, and I was thrilled beyond belief!!!  I sure did know where!  The village of Busega in Uganda had me wrapped around it's finger and I thought of the children wearing ill fitting clothing, tattered clothing, and some no clothing at all.  The wheels were set in motion, my mother's sewing machine started smoking pumping out all these beautiful dresses, and the two friend's vision In My Mother's Honor was born.   

 

Miracle after miracle started happening.  People stated donating money for sewing supplies and eventual shipping, donating fabric, and even dresses they made themselves.  After every phone conversation I would have with my mom about this, we would just be in awe of what God was doing.  It started with a brainstorming session at my mom's kitchen table and ended up with these beautiful dresses for the girls in Uganda!! 

Total: 108 dresses and 40 pairs of short... all handmade and in about 4 months time!!

 

In this picture above, two things stand out to me personally.  The dress in the front with the bird on the pocket was made by my wonderfully talented sister, Monica.  She was the only one paying attention while my mother was sewing and what a beautiful way she chose to express her love though this dress on this sweet baby!! The second thing is the girl in the second row with the light color flower print dress.  This is our sponsor daughter, Vanessa.  Vanessa lost her mother a few weeks ago and is now an orphan.  My mom was able to bring sunshine through her talents to Vanesssa just like she does for my boys here in the states.  She's a good grandma :)

 



Pillow case dresses were the way to go.  Easy to sew, or so I'm told since I can barely replace a button, and super cute.  They can also grow with the children since the ties are adjustable.

This is one of my favorites.  Think you don't have money to give to big organizations so you can't help?  All you need to do is exactly what God had already given you the talent to do!  In fact you can use what you already have on hand to get started.  These beautiful dresses were made from my mother's curtains... how Sound of Music is that?!!!  Melts my heart.

Girls are girls all over the world.  A new dress that makes them feel pretty will also make them a bit giggly.



Okay, it doesn't get much cuter than this picture!!  Don't you just want to scoop these three precious babies up?  

Here's one of the most precious parts of the dresses.  Each one has a tag saying "Made just for YOU by Jeannie" (or whoever made the dress).  My mother and her neighbor had read some articles about children being kidnapped for the sex trade.  In the article it talked about children looking like they belong to a group greatly diminishes their chances of abduction.  Dresses of the same style and same tags are one step closer to this.  What an awesome idea they had!  Instead of placing the tag where the children could not see it, the loving hands put the tags on the front, near the bottom, and facing up toward the child so they could read everyday that someone had made their pretty dress just for them.  It's important that they feel someone cares what is happening to them...that they are not forgotten. 

 

Since receiving these pictures this morning and posting a bit on facebook about it, more people with big hearts and a talent for sewing are offering to join the cause.  I hope to personally take the second batch to the village this summer.  I can't wait to see what God does with these next few month and the newly energized Jeannie.  I have always had so much respect for my mom, but I am so truly HONORED to be her daughter now!

 

What talent do you have that could be used to touch another corner of the world?