Because of one

Before leaving for the safari park yesterday, I had taken a moment to look around at all the things in the Village. I was struck with the realization that all that I saw at that moment was the result of one....one person who simply said "Jesus, what do you want me to do" and then simply abandoned all, not giving in to limitations based on what could rationally or humanly could be done but just followed His leading step by step. And He pared her (Cindy) up with another "one" (Rose) who had already been loving and counseling these children to do what could only be described as miraculous.

And now, because of one:

- there is a Village- with 6 homes, each with two "moms" to care for the children, 2 school buildings, acre upon acre of farming, clean latrines and shower areas, a "football" aka soccer field, two homes for the staff, several cement huts for staff and visitors, a solar powered well pump,....and so much more just in the past three years.

-154 children now live in safety and freedom, no longer having to scrounge for food...or love
-154 children have a school to attend and a hope for the future
- 300+ children still in the refugee camps have a hope of something better to come- and are reminded of this hope over and over again as visitors from America come to ensure them that they are indeed not forgotten
- these children who have suffered tremendous loss and abuse and have seen things with their innocent little eyes that no one should ever have to see much less experience first hand, now have joy and freedom
- these children who have been brainwashed and forced to kill, now are gentle , kind, and oh so loving.
- the children still in the refugee camps have not formed gangs, have not resorted to violence and stealing as is so common in the other camps with children who have not recieved the love of the Father through one of His humble servants

And because of one, my heart is no longer the same. As these children continue to capture more and more of my heart, there is less and less room for greed and selfishness and self-centeredness, and much more room for real joy and freedom and love.

I pray the same for each of you, whether your experience is first-hand or through the writings on this blog. May your heart also be changed, and may you become another "one" through whom the King works His great miracles as you step out and simply say "Lord, what do you want me to do".

A mixture

Pictures:

- apparently stickers and paper airplanes are universally enjoyed

-Donna hanging out with some of the kids

- me with Jacinda, a precious girl who suffers from eye pain of unknown origin. After praying for her, she's experienced relief of the pain in her right eye, so we are continuing to pray for full healing of the left eye too!

- "dress rehearsal" dance

- Abbie and Hannah painting the name of this newest house ... "Victory"!

Our last day at the Village!

Hard to believe the time with the children is coming to an end so quickly again. The last two days since I've blogged last have been full of fun and laughter. The children have a dance, song, and music competition next Saturday for which they have been practicing hard every day. On Saturday evening, they gave us a "sneak peak" dress rehearsal of their program and it was great! I preferred their singing the best- no music, no instruments, just a wonderful blend of voices. I wished they would have performed their whole song but they said they needed to practice more. After the dress rehearsal in which the dancing was east African type of dancing, they "kicked back" and started their Acholi dancing with which I'm familiar by now (and is by far better than the east African dancing!). I of course, showed off my rhythm-absent dancing skills to which the children laughed quite hysterically. Hannah caught a little on film- I do believe the word "blackmail" might be apt in the not too distant future :)

Yesterday (Sunday) we have church (or "prayer" as the children called it) and again, it was wonderful. The songs of the children were beautiful and the presence of the Holy Spirit was tangible. Our team led a short drama in which we used some of the children as characters in the story of Samuel hearing from God, but first mistaking God's voice with Eli callling him. I then gave a brief message on hearing from God, reminding these children that God has something to say to them every day, and that His voice is always kind and gentle and loving, never scary or unkind (as many of them have experienced fearful voices and visions from the enemy). I do believe that God's heart just delights in revealing Himself to these children and it was a blessing to lead the children in a time of listening.

After church, we rested and relaxed, and then played some more with the children- relay races, several rounds of London Bridge, and a time of guitar playing and teaching the kids some new songs (courtesy of Abbie who can actually play the guitar whereas I just pretend).

Today I'm working a lot in the medical clinic, trying to gain understanding of how things are done, why they are done that way, and attempting to help in some organization aspects- quite a large task to try and tackle in a day for sure!

Today is a mixture of emotions for me- part of me is ready to come home (what is up with the homesickness this year? Apparently many of you are swell enough to miss after being away for 2 weeks :) ) and part of me longs to stay longer in order to build more of a foundation of trust in the relationships with the children and to remind them of the great love the Father has for them, to encourage them in who they are as children of the Most High King, and to watch as they bring His Kingdom here. But this time has all been entrusted to the Lord and we are blessed to be a part of this piece of His plan here at the Village for this short time, knowing that we see only a fraction of what He is doing at this time.

Tomorrow we head to the safari park for a boat ride on the Nile and a drive through the safari park. Looking forward to seeing the majesty of the great animals again this year! And let's not forget actual showers...

Love you all and so grateful for all who have been praying and interceding for us. Will be excited to share more with you all when we return..but first we must get through this whole leaving thing tomorrow. Pretty sure tissues (or a t-shirt sleeve) will be needed upon our departure.

Cultural comments

Traffic:

-It is crazy beyond anything I’ve anything I’ve ever seen, in Kampala that is

-Riding in the back of a dump truck is a perfectly normal and acceptable mode of transportation

-vehicles are built with the driver’s side on the right and are meant to be driven on the left side of the road, but it is more a matter of personal choice

- there are no rules

-stop signs are placed along the side of the road and have nothing to do with intersections

- the one who avoids the most potholes and passes the most vehicles by driving in the “wrong” lane constitutes the best driver

- in the bush, the most common jams are caused by cows and goats

-turn signals are used by do not indicate that one is turning, but are rather used at night to signal that one is passing or that there are police up ahead

Bathroom:

As I (Hannah)just returned from a late night run to the pit latrines, I will take this opportunity to briefly discuss the bathroom situation. First, I must say that they are better than expected – I was anticipating a squat pot- aka a hole in the ground, but several of the stalls actually have toilet seats over the pit. Secondly, I shall say that despite the fearful walk to and from the latrines, I prefer going at night for two reasons- flies and smell, both of which are bad during the day and essentially non-existent at night. There is however, an element of hilarity (which seems to be present in everything Ugandan) in that once you cease “going” (whether peeing or pooping) there is about a 3 second gap until the sound ends (if peeing) or is heard (if pooping) due to the fact that the holes are 35 feet deep- definitely not a familiar phenomenon.

Benefits of pit latrines:

-no potential for splash back after dropping off some big kids

-plungers are never needed (for which Tanya is very grateful)

- explosion of gas does not result in echo due to the lack of parcelin dome

Surprises of pit latrines:

- sound delay is a surprisingly difficult nuance to which to adjust and may instill an element of fear or heightened anxiety in the novice latriners

- handwashing is actually an option as there is a “sink” (aka barrel of water with faucet) and soap, although shaking of the hands is the only drying option

Addendum to “The Art of the Bucket Bath”:

-Tip of the day: never look at the color of your water in the basin.

These thoughts and comments are brought to you by the combined mental geniuses of Hannah and Tanya

Recap of the days, and pictures to boot

Greetings again, American friends and family. Currently, I am typing this as I sit in Cindy's hut with Hannah, along with 6 very handsome boys :). They stopped by to visit and we are having a fun time of hanging out and reading (and maybe eating some peanut M&Ms that Mama Cindy has stashed here!).

Yesterday was a good day of varied non-scheduled activities. Our team dispersed into activities of their choosing. Donna spent a lot of time with "her" girls, being taught some using Ugandan songs and dances of which she was required to perform in their entirety in front of the girls. She will be performing shows upon request when she returns to America.

Abbie and Hannah painted the name of the newest house "Victory" on the side of the house. It took them 4 hours. If it were only Hannah the perfectionist performing this task, she would still be painting as I write.

I spent some time in the medical clinic, attempting to aide in the organization of the medical supplies and increasing the efficiency of the inventory keeping, a mighty task to be sure. It seems that there is a general sense of disorganization of when it comes to handling large numbers of things, likely as there really haven't been large items of things to compile and manage in the past.

This morning, our team and a few others took a ride in the back of the dump truck to the Nile river where we were blessed to experience a dugout canoe ride across the river, sitting just about eye level with any potential crocs (thankfully, we didn't run into any, literally). Mike, the missionary man here at the Village, took the task of scooping out the water with a plastic bowl as it trickled in via several holes in the wood.

This afternoon promises to be lots of fun as it is Saturday and the children do not have school. There is the potential of a "dress rehearsal" of the song and dance competition, and relay races are also being hinted at as well. My heart is so full right now. What beauty and joy surrounds me right now!

ps. note the glitter on the children's faces in the first picture with me above---a result of the object lesson on handwashing...very nice :)

Guest post from Abbie

Being the ‘newbie’ on this journey my eyes have been opened and my mouth has been shut. I feel as though I can empathize with Mary in many respects when she “cherished these things in her heart.” As I listen and watch all the children and events around me, I consume in order to take in deep the life found here. Everything is bigger here, even bigger than Texas. Just yesterday I attempted to catch a cricket, a menial task in the states- but I failed as I aimlessly swung my hands towards the red dirt. And as the cricket bounced away I believe it laughingly chirped at me.

My life up to this point has seemed so small, this I even knew before coming to Uganda. What caught me off guard was the smallness of my own eyes and heart. Joy and pain of this magnitude doesn’t give you much leeway. You either dive in or run for the hills. And I laugh as I remember; this is exactly how Jesus is to humanity. Accept Him or you deny Him-there is no room for fence sitting here in Uganda or with the Son of God.

Two days ago we traveled to one of the many IDP camps where a host of orphaned children still live meal by meal. Hundreds of faces with not so hidden pain look quickly at us in expectation. A few of these little ones are missing clothing, small portions of cassava root covered in flies and dirty from head to toe. And the thing which strikes me the most (or maybe the least?) are the missing families. No more are the parents to each of these children. And where is the help for the little boy with bowed legs and a broken foot? Just maybe I’m the answer to this prayer.

As the school children began singing for our team-the very small babies, not yet even speaking, held onto us. Never letting go, these infants’ hands gripped our legs, pants and hands. For it might have been weeks, months or even years since they have been held…

While the storm rolled in we quickly began to pack up in order to head home. Here most of the youth must walk for miles in order to go to school and tonight, walked miles simply to greet and sing to us. We began to head towards the van and as you walk away, the little ones holding onto me refused to let go. My heart tore in two, as I had to pry their tiny fingers away from mine. Stoic faces remained as we pulled away. In this moment my world grew bigger.

the art of the bucket bath

For those of you who may be bucket bath naive, we thought we would document for you the art of taking a bucket bath.

Step one, fill your bucket about 1/4 full with water from the jerry can sitting outside of your hut, placed there oh so nicely everyday by the workers.

Step two, carry your bucket along with your towel, toiletry bag, and clean clothing to the latrine/bathing area.

Step three, hang said belongings on the few nails on the door of the bathing stall (using extra caution to secure them well- especially if they happen to be of white color)

Step four, scoop the water out with the cup and rinse off the first layer of dirt.

Step five, lather with soap (one would normally do this without clothing on but because Hannah's parents will likely be reading this blog and it is a family friendly blog, we opted for clothing on for demonstration purposes).

Step six, repeat steps four and five multiple times, concentrating on the areas normally closest to the red dirt of Uganda aka the feet.

Step seven, attempt to put on clean clothes without them falling in the wet/dirty floor.

:)

Our thanks to the lovely Hannah Bingham for the free use of her modeling skills for this learning experience.

You've got mail

"Hey Tanya, you've got mail!" were the first words I heard this morning as I came to breakfast. Mail? Yup, from one of the children! He had it "delivered" this morning as he came by to school. How much did I delight in reading this beautiful letter this morning?!! It was from Joel, one of the young boys, who wrote of how he loved me, how he is glad we are here, and how he is praying for me and our team (actually it was more like, "Hello Tanya. I love you so much. You are friend. I am prayer for you. I will prayer for you in America too, and with your families..."). The children LOVE to write us little letters and notes and are always asking us to spell our names for them.

Yesterday and today have been fun-filled packed days of teaching and playing with the kids. Yesterday I taught an object lesson on hand-washing using glitter. I had the children each place their hands in glitter as they came in and then had a rousing game of simon says and as you can imagine the glitter was everywhere! When I started the lesson and asked what if all those pieces of glitter were germs, you should have seen them start scrambling to wipe it off their faces and clothes! It was perfect!

Abbie has taught on dreams and what big dreams and plans the Lord has for them and today she will be finishing that lesson by having them draw a picture of their dreams for the future. I can't wait to see what they draw! Abbie has also taught a bunch of the children a chant/song about our mighty God and it is fabulous to hear the children singing from across the compound!

Hannah has given some of the children cards made by children in the US and had the children here make cards to send back to the US with us. It was priceless to see what they children wrote to one another! What little ministers of the Gospel we have!

Donna led the children in making personalized bookmarks and again I was amazed! What creativity and personality shown through their crafts! And so many added special meaningful scripture to their bookmarks. It was again very moving!

We've been enjoying fellowship with the staff here and today I just led a bible study for the house moms. What a taxing job they have in caring for so many children and it was a blessing to spend time with them, encouraging them, hearing their concerns, and praying for them. They are very much and an encouragement to me as they selflessly serve these children.

We continue to enjoy scrumptious food and today for lunch had quite the spread- rice, beans, spaghetti (what?!!), fried potatoes, chipote (woohoo!), watermelon, cooked cabbage and goat. So good! Good thing Abbie and I have been able to run a few miles on some of the mornings here are the Village to burn off some of those calories!

Thanks again for praying for us! I'm trying to work on pictures, but the dang computer is fighting me today! Hopefully soon!

The fighter, the compassion-filled, and the practical

The fighter, the compassion-filled, and the practical

How does one react when having the realities of war and evil thrown in your face in the haunting eyes of orphaned and abandoned children? In having some time of reflecting and sharing on our experiences in the refugee camps a few days ago, we realized that we can react in a variety of ways. For some this time, a sense of anger and fight welled up- a desire to fight hard against the enemy and the injustice and evil that he brings. For others, an almost overwhelming sense of compassion and heartache wells up as the emotional reality of what these children endure slams us in the face. And still others focus on the practical- what step can I take next to end this tragedy and bring about God’s Kingdom here for these little children?

And although seemingly very different, these responses all have one thing in common- we each respond in our different ways because we have asked to have the heart of the King. And the King fights for His children with holy and just anger, His heart breaks for His hurting children, and He uses everyday, ordinary people to make the practical steps necessary to care for His beloved. Cindy shared with us that when that task, the practical aspect of caring for the children, seems to big, too overwhelming, she thinks about their individual faces and is reminded that she is doing all of this for them….one step at a time.

Join us in the fight for these precious children, one child at a time. www.villageofhopeuganda.com

Pics and a call for snack mix

Here are the pictures I promised earlier:

-Cindy and Abbie having a lighthearted conversation about spiritual warfare and the state of the people in northern Uganda

-Rose and Cindy (directors and founder of Village of Hope) modeling the tie dye aprons the child mothers are making (anyone want one? :) )

-Our group on the new Land (minus the pyramid I wanted everyone to make..sigh).

-Two of the blessed children in the refugee camp we visited last night (I wanted to sneak them in the van and take them to the Village with us!)

SNACK MIX REQUEST:

Dear Kathleen Blazey from Aldersgate UM,

Our team is in dire straits. Yesterday we ate the last of the snack mix you made for Abbie and we are unsure of how we will continue on now. We dread our trip home without the mix to sustain us through the trials and tribulations of the 18 to 24-hr trip as it had sustained us on our journey here and we can not imagine the sorrow in the upcoming days as more and more time passes without the delight of the snack mix each day. We would like to request a few bags to be overnited to the Village in order to avoid such catastrophic consequences. But if for some reason plan A falls through, we will settle for plan B which is snack mix available to us upon the arrival back on American soil. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Ugandan team currently in snack mix mourning

A day of mending

We are back at the Village today after a busy, adventure-filled two day trip to the town of Gulu. We left the Village Monday morning and drove the two hours north to Gulu, stopping at the new 50 acre plot of land that was purchased 1 ½ years ago that will eventually be a second Village (Hopefully the picture of our group on the Land will be posted soon. I wanted to make a pyramid but no one else would ablige J ). We continued on to where some of the child mothers are learning to tye dye fabrics and make beautiful bags, scarves, aprons, etc with the fabrics (some of you may be recipients of their talented work J ). While the fabrics were beautiful, the eyes of the child mothers were sad and lifeless. These young women have been victims of rape by rebel soldiers and had become pregnant as a result and you can see in their eyes the effects of trauma and rejection they have sustained. But God can take the worst of messes and transform them into beautiful things and He certainly has done that in the beautiful babies He’s created out of that trauma. Our prayers are that that same beauty is felt and becomes real to the mothers too as they embrace the Love of the Father.

That evening we went to our first IDP (refugee) camp to visit some of the children who are still displaced. This camp had very young children and it’s always a bit harder to visit the young ones as they are visibly so much more vulnerable. The children sang for us and we were blessed to praise the King of Kings right along with them! The enemy clearly did not like what was happening and one of the women there began exhibiting signs of demonic influence. Cindy, Abbie and I and several other women began praying over her and after a time, she was delivered and set free. Yay Jesus! (And for those of you who doubt that satan is working still today, let me assure you, he is very much alive and well).

Tuesday we met up with a dear friend of mine, Lindsey, who is also in Uganda. She is in her third summer of doing a 6-week teacher exchange here in Gulu and our team was super excited to hang out with her all day. We took bata batas (hopefully a photo will follow) on a 45 minute trip to the school where she has taught the past two summers. It was lots of fun and we extra blessed in receiving a dust facial during the ride J. Our dear Hannah exhibited the dust in it’s fullness on her rather pale skin J

That evening we visited the second IDP camp and again the children were quite young and it was all I could do not to sob as my heart broke for their situation. I realized, though, that the Lord placed us with them for that small amount of time “for such a time as this” and so we took advantage of it and sang and prayed with the children and what a blessing it was! I also got to meet several of the children my family and friends are sponsoring and so I’m excited to share photos and stories with you all!

Today our team is tired –physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And so we are planning for a day of slightly less activity and prayerful mending of our hearts and minds. We have a few fun things planned to do with the children here and we want to bless them. I have a handwashing lesson and toothbrushing lesson to teach – oh how the nurse in me is thrilled with this!

Thanks for continuing to cover us in prayer. Our team can truly feel your prayers and God’s presence is thick and tangible despite the enemy’s attempts to thwart His great plans. “Greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world”! Can I get a “woot woot” on that?!!!

pictures!!

The first picture is our new hut...cement floors and solar powered electricity (gasp!)! No more worrying about termites eating through any luggage accidently left on the previously pressed dung (aka cow poop).

The second is the kids lined up on the road into the Village as we drove in....singing "Welcome welcome we love you..."... Ahhh, so great!

The next picture is me and Caesar. Caesar is a beautiful young boy who my sister and little nephew Noah have been praying for so this is to let them know that he is an actual person!

The last picture is our team!! We are standing on the beautiful shores of Lake Victoria. Donna, Abbie, Tanya and Hannah (left to right).

Spoiled without a plan B

Greetings from the Village!! I know some of you are waiting eagerly to hear from us and we've been so busy I haven't had time to blog. I'm working on pictures, but it's slow going. (Who can blame it though..I'm typing from a solar powered computer on a modem internet card in a hut in the middle of the bush in Uganda! Crazy!)

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve done so far:

We arrived Friday night, tired, but in good spirits. Stayed overnight in a quaint little “beach front" hotel overlooking Lake Victoria, woke up Saturday and made the 5-6 hour journey to the Village of Hope. We made several along the road stops to pick up various food items such as pineapple, mangos, and of course, live chickens which we just had for lunch today (well, they were no longer live, of course :) )

As we drove into the Village, I immediately welled up with tears as the children lined the road and were singing "Welcome, welcome we love you...". I got to hug all 154 of them when we stopped and it was glorious! Our team got a walking tour of the Village and again I was overcome with emotion at the progress since last September- a solar-powered water pump (no more little fingers pinched while pumping water from the well!), the start of the secondary school building, another house for the children (named Victory!), new cement huts for us instead of the former mud huts and of course, 100 or so more children living on this Land in freedom!

Today we had church or “prayer” as the Acholi call it. Another wonderful time of simplistic worship of the King with singing and dancing and a beautiful message on forgiveness. So simple, yet so powerful!

Our time here so far as well as our travel to get here has been nothing but absolutely stellar and we've been spoiled by the King of Kings in so many ways already. He just seems to want to keep pouring His love and blessings out on us. Imagine that! In the material sense, the blessings have come in the form of our “bedroom” now being a cement hut vs the former mud hut- goodbye pressed dung (aka cow poop) floors, goodbye not being able to set things on the ground for fear of termite investation, and hello spacious hut equipped with solar powered electricity and even a light switch (gasp!). It truly looks more like a mini-vacation dwelling than a hut (but no worries, we still have the pit latrines and the bucket baths).

In a deeper sense, I've been learning how much the Lord delights in spoiling us when we don't have a plan B, when we trust Him completely, even when it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for Abbie who formerly has experienced severe motion sickness and vomiting whenever she flies to still heed the Lord's call to come on this trip and in doing that, experience a complete healing of any trace of motion sickness. It doesn’t make sense that a place that houses 150 former child soldiers or “wives” of soldiers who have been brutalized in horrendous ways is a now a place of great, almost tangible, peace. It doesn’t make sense that the faces of these children now shine with a pure and radiant joy.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense that the Creator of the universe stepped into humanity, taking on flesh and bone and enduring the Cross on our behalf either. Good thing it doesn’t all have to “make sense”.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! They are definitely being felt in very tangible ways!

ps. sorry for the delay in posting. Internet issues! Will try to post more frequently in the future!

Spoiled without a plan B

Greetings from the Village!! I know some of you are waiting eagerly to hear from us and we've been so busy I haven't had time to blog. I'm working on pictures, but it's slow going. (Who can blame it though..I'm typing from a solar powered computer on a modem internet card in a hut in the middle of the bush in Uganda! Crazy!)

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve done so far:

We arrived Friday night, tired, but in good spirits. Stayed overnight in a quaint little “beach front" hotel overlooking Lake Victoria, woke up Saturday and made the 5-6 hour journey to the Village of Hope. We made several along the road stops to pick up various food items such as pineapple, mangos, and of course, live chickens which we just had for lunch today (well, they were no longer live, of course :) )

As we drove into the Village, I immediately welled up with tears as the children lined the road and were singing "Welcome, welcome we love you...". I got to hug all 154 of them when we stopped and it was glorious! Our team got a walking tour of the Village and again I was overcome with emotion at the progress since last September- a solar-powered water pump (no more little fingers pinched while pumping water from the well!), the start of the secondary school building, another house for the children (named Victory!), new cement huts for us instead of the former mud huts and of course, 100 or so more children living on this Land in freedom!

Today we had church or “prayer” as the Acholi call it. Another wonderful time of simplistic worship of the King with singing and dancing and a beautiful message on forgiveness. So simple, yet so powerful!

Our time here so far as well as our travel to get here has been nothing but absolutely stellar and we've been spoiled by the King of Kings in so many ways already. He just seems to want to keep pouring His love and blessings out on us. Imagine that! In the material sense, the blessings have come in the form of our “bedroom” now being a cement hut vs the former mud hut- goodbye pressed dung (aka cow poop) floors, goodbye not being able to set things on the ground for fear of termite investation, and hello spacious hut equipped with solar powered electricity and even a light switch (gasp!). It truly looks more like a mini-vacation dwelling than a hut (but no worries, we still have the pit latrines and the bucket baths).

In a deeper sense, I've been learning how much the Lord delights in spoiling us when we don't have a plan B, when we trust Him completely, even when it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for Abbie who formerly has experienced severe motion sickness and vomiting whenever she flies to still heed the Lord's call to come on this trip and in doing that, experience a complete healing of any trace of motion sickness. It doesn’t make sense that a place that houses 150 former child soldiers or “wives” of soldiers who have been brutalized in horrendous ways is a now a place of great, almost tangible, peace. It doesn’t make sense that the faces of these children now shine with a pure and radiant joy.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense that the Creator of the universe stepped into humanity, taking on flesh and bone and enduring the Cross on our behalf either. Good thing it doesn’t all have to “make sense”.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! They are definitely being felt in very tangible ways!

ps. sorry for the delay in posting. Internet issues! Will try to post more frequently in the future!

Countdown to Africa adventure, take III (June 2011)

This is my unsuccessful attempt at photographing myself amidst the myriad of supplies ya'll have donated (I finally gave up and just took a photo of two of the full bags). Once again I am humbled and in awe of the crazy generosity all of you have shown in supporting the children with material supplies, finances, and prayer. Without all of your support, this third (yes THIRD!!) trip to see the Village of Hope children would be, well, essentially pretty lame to put it bluntly!

So thanks again for supporting the children and our team. There have been several prophetic words given to this all-female-no-Y-chromosomes-allowed team regarding this trip and we are all pretty dang excited to see what the Lord does this time around! We have several things prepared to do with and teach the kids, but as always, we leave the final agenda to the One much smarter than all of our neurons put together!

Stay tuned for updates and hopefully pictures (beware of the sheen aka perspiration effect on our faces, however. It is only several degrees off the equator, after all). There are rumors of a dance/music competition to be held while we are there- for the children, of course, not for this rhythmically-challenged white girl or her comrades :)- so sit back and enjoy another adventure with us as we depart in two days!