Saturday Night Thoughts

I'm supposed to be working on grad work.  Final projects due, uh, tomorrow.

I am working on it. Truly.  

Having a hard time focusing, but my night-person self is just gearing up for the evening.

Totally ignoring the fact that, uh, Sunday is kind of a big deal in our family and I'm usually in bed by this point on Saturdays.  And, I'm teaching the 3 & 4-year-old class tomorrow.  I LOVE them and LOVE teaching them. But, can I keep up with 8 or so preschoolers on 5 hours of sleep?  

I'm thinking a lot of coffee is in store!

Y'all know that I was in Africa for two weeks in February.  My heart will forever be changed.

  You simply cannot walk away from so much poverty and injustice and orphans and not be.

While we were there we met so many awesome girls and people who are living there, serving Him, and truly making a difference.  For example, Katie Davis with Amazima Ministries.  

She's in her early 20's, has adopted several beautiful girls, and runs a feeding program that serves over 1,600 children every week!

Seriously, she's making a difference. A radical difference!

And, that's been my prayer since I got back from Africa.  

That I would make a difference - a radical difference - for eternity.

The Lord hasn't put us in Ug@nda, East Africa.  But, He has put me here. right HERE.  with my beautiful family.  With our incredible church body.  With friends and family that love us.

So, as I've wrestled with balancing poverty and injustice and orphan care with Starbucks and Pottery Barn and Target, I've prayed that I will be radical. For the sake of the kingdom. in our little world, right here.

The Bishop of London said something during his sermon at the Royal wedding (which, folks, seriously, wasn't Kate just absolutely gorgeous?) that my heart has been contemplating.  

It sums up my prayer, for myself, my family...and you.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

Now, I'm back to my Diet Coke, popcorn, and affective needs of gifted and talented students.

Good night!

Grant

Our favorite 4-year-old. 

He loves to paint. and cut.  and use markers.

He loves to ride his bike. fast.  

but outside he promises to go *very very slowly* to avoid having to wear his helmet.  

(which he's unsuccessful at).

He loves robots.  he wants one with a remote control and that can talk and sing and blast off.

(think the Target toy aisle can hook us up with that?)

He's funny, and has a remarkable memory! 

The little man can.remember.everything.

He finds joy so easily, which warms my heart.

{maybe we should all be so excited to see a plant grow or a loved one come home from work!} 

He's extremely social, and cares about his little friends so much.

On Sunday mornings, he starts listing off the friends he hopes will be at church to play with!

he is eager to go fishing with his daddy, and thinks that all the fish we eat daddy caught.

(How cute is that?)

My heart overflows with love for this little man, our Grant.  

And now our hearts ache with prayer for him.

For those of you who don't know, months ago he started complaining of his legs hurting.

{just growing pains, right?}

Well, the leg pain persisted.  and persisted. and got more serious.

In the mornings, he started shuffling like a 80-year-old-man. 

He wouldn't climb into his carseat, and limped as he walked.

He was exhausted, all the time.

swollen lymph nodes, and intense belly pain.

Our little man was hurting.

We've now seen a specialist.  A pediatric rheumatologist.

We've started on a medicine that is doing wonders.  We are so very thankful for great treatment! 

We go back in a month and will get an official diagnosis of one thing or another.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis is what we're looking at...

but there are always prayers and hope that it's "just" some random something.

So, thank-you for praying and hoping with us.  That if this IS a degenerative disease, our sweet Grant will be protected.  That the treatment will remain working.  And that his little body is protected from long term, permanent damage.

So that he can keep on painting and cutting and using his markers.  

And playing with his robots.  

And riding his bike as fast as he can!

{with a helmet on, of course}

Grant Owen, you are loved. 

you are prayed for.

more than you know, little man, more than you know.

Africa Re-wound, Part 1

I was planning on blogging about my trip to Africa while I was there, but computer time was shared and limited. 

But, it's okay.  

Because my heart is totally still there, so sharing my trip with you now is so good for me.

It's hard to summarize a third-world country.  So much poverty and heartache.  So much injustice. 

(Children denied medical care.  Babies who are dying, literally, because of indifferent orphanage directors.  Child prisoners who are fed one meal a day.  The injustice is mind-boggling).

But Uganda is also a beautiful, beautiful country, with warm, hard-working, open-hearted people.  There's a simplistic beauty in their way of life, and my heart will be forever changed by spending two weeks holding babies, playing with orphans, and serving people living in poverty.

Here's a glimpse.  For more, you'll have to travel yourself.  Seriously - once you go, you'll never come back. {well, you might come back in person, but your heart will never be the same. I promise.}.

Really, really good coffee in the middle-of-the-night Amsterdam.  The flight to Amsterdam passed surprisingly quickly, although I can never sleep on planes.  I had a moment of panic in the O'Hare airport, that I am so, so, so thankful that I actually boarded the plane instead of running screaming in the other direction.

 

It took a bit in the Entebbe airport to gather all of our suitcases and donation conticos. How blessed we were to be able to take so much stuff with us to pass out!

Shauna, our fearless leader, and Love, my friend who led my heart to Uganda over a year ago, eating lunch on Monday, our first full day in Kampala.

Monday we went to the babies' home that will forever have me changed.  I will forever hug my children tighter, feed them more with out any word of complaint that it's their 1,123 snack for the day, and always, always, always hold and love them even more than I always have.

Do you see the metal, rusted play equipment? And dirt?   That's what these sweet children play with.  The sweet children who wear, literally, towels for diapers.  Who have food taken.away.from.them simply because the worker wants to wash the dishes right.this.second.  Who learn to comfort themselves, because the comfort is not given freely.  

I have always, always, always believed in attachment parenting, and I will forever be even more confident in that philosophy after seeing children who stop crying in the middle of the night because no one comes.  It's heart-breaking, right?  I have cried, and will forever cry, so many tears for these sweet children.

Through my tears, though, I have to trust that the Lord loves these children even more than I do.  There will be sweet babies who will always be in my heart, and I will pray for them for the rest of my life.  I trust - I have to trust - that even amidst poverty, hunger, and injustice, the Lord will prevail. That He will be glorified.  

That He will hold them tightly in His arms, even when no one else is. 

That He will love them, when no one else does.  

{Pray for them with me, alright?}

Afternoon Snack

Snacktime.

{do you know how to cut one?}

Totally missing African pineapple right now. Well, really, totally missing Africa in general right now. 

But, I'm playing with the kids.  Cutting snacks up.  Prepping supper.  

But wishing I could share my food with some of the orphans that are starving.  

Especially one little boy, who will forever have my heart.  

Praying for him, and the rest of the 147 million orphans worldwide.  

So thankful I got to hold and love a few of them!