Moving back to Jinja!

So I kept writing blog posts and then not having internet to post them so here is my week!


From: 2^nd July!!!

So i don't really have that many words to say, tonight is my last night here in Soroti!!! i have had the most amazing last couple of days which makes it harder to leave but hey it's good to end on a high!

Rose (whom i love to bits) started calling me 'auntie tee' which just break my little heart and the kids have been super cuddly, we've had lots of run chilling on the trampoline and sitting with them.



This evening the older kids did a dance for us they tied banana leave grass skirts around their waists (traditionally) and shake their butts!



 it was so fun and really great! Then all the kids prayed for us (yes i teared up) and 2 year old Cathy came and laid her hands on my head!!!



i know i should really say more but i don't have the words (shocker!) The KIds have amazing heart and the aunties do an amazing job, i am going to miss them all so much and i have been so greatly blessed these past 3 months!

oh one more thing... we got t-shirts!!!!



3^rd July!

Well it took me and Becca 8 HOURS to get back to Jinja on Tuesday, about 1 hours into the journey the wheel locked and we all ad to get off the coach in the middle of a swamp while we waited for a new coach, then they actually managed to fix our bus so we were of again. Our bus ws almost going backwards t was going so slow and we waited a Mbale (half way point) for 2 hours while we were picking up new passengers! So yeah that was a long journey but we made it and arrived with all our bags on bodas at about 5pm J





4^th of July! (celebrating not being American!!)

Wednesday we took some time to relax and catch up with the girls that were already back on base, we spent a lovely few hours at a hotel on the Nile, we sunbathed and swam and got sunburnt :/ but it was fun! And yes Uganda is nice and hot and sunny!!!!



5^th of July, Thursday’s prayer and fasting!!

We had a good morning of base prayer and fasting, praying for the team that is hopefully going to be going to London for the Olympics. We also had a great time of reflection about this year which is crazy to think about all that has happened and all that we have achieved! In the afternoon I went with the Evangelism team to Jinja Main Men’s Prison. It has the most amazing location looking over Lake Victoria. The prison wasn’t as extreme as I thought it would be, that doesn’t mean it was nice but there was a big court yard and the rooms were on the corridors that overlooked it, we went up to the 3^rd (top) floor and in the far corner in the 4ft wide corridor was church!!! There were probably about 50 prisoners all dressed in yellow having church! It was insane, they were prising and worshiping with more enthusiasm than I have ever seen in a western church. And I wanna know why, really in the west do we take that much for granted that we can’t fully appreciated what we get from God? If we were in prison would that do what it takes for us to fully understand all that we get from God rather than taking everything for granted? It makes me wonder what we think we need to bring us joy and happiness. Are you fully content with what you have or are you always wanting more. These prisoners had nothing they were sleeping on mats on the floor, with all that they owned (mainly washing buckets) piled at the end and yet from their faces you could see that they had everything! They were fully satisfied and content in Christ, doesn’t that just show you how great God is and how much he provides and satisfies you!



Friday= shopping day, truthfully I don’t have so much to say about his day! We shopped till we dropped but I think I have everything I need to take home, I just hope it all fits in my bag!!!



Saturday we had  YFG outing to the Kingfisher Resort as all of us were back in Jinja so we spent a day relaxing and catching by the pool (I promise you we don’t just relax and sunbathe ALL the time) but it was a good day and we had fun sharing, praying and encouraging each other!



So it’s been a pretty good week! Sunday the DTS returned from outreach, it was good to see all them again, hear their stories and be together again, I also went to church with Naomi, church is outside the pastors house so we enjoyed sitting in the sun string at the blue sky and being amazed at how beautiful God is!!!

Reunited with the father

They say life’s a bitch, and death? He comes like a thief in the night and takes those you love from you.

When Jesse first arrived

Yesterday we lost Jesse, at 3pm Els picked him from his bed to find she was holding a lifeless body, people had been in the room the whole time and heard nothing, he’d made no noise, there had been no fight. Jesse had been doing well, making so much progress he’d come so far we were sure he was going to be fine he’d gone from 780g to 1170g in just a week, i guess that goes to show how fragile life is, especially for premature babies. We don’t know what happened, and we never will it’s not like in the west there are no extensive checks, he was here, now his not that’s all we know.

They say death comes like a thief in the night and takes those you love from you, but I disagree.

Yesterday when I looked down on Jesse he was the perfect picture of peace, the corners of his mouth were almost curled upwards in an almost smile. Death is the most powerful expression of love the earth has seen; almost 2000 years ago Jesus gave his life to show how much he loves us, to give us eternal life and to give us the chance to live, with him, forever. Try telling me death isn’t beautiful.

We talk about someone being taken away, Jesse wasn’t ever ours to start with, we were his guardians, looking after him for his almighty father, and his father decided it was time to have him home, he wasn’t taken he was returned, he went to a better place. Does that mean it hurts any less, that I haven’t asked myself a million times why him, that I’m not angry or upset? No. I had to say goodbye to a beautiful baby boy, goodbyes are hard, I don’t understand why he had to go. But I know God’s plan is bigger than mine and he knows what he is doing. I will see Jesse again, and on that day when someone has to say goodbye to me, I’ll be safe, I’ll be home, I’ll be celebrating with him in paradise.

See how big he got!!

Death isn’t about pain or suffering, Jesse isn’t hurting anymore, he doesn’t have to be tired and exhausted after feeding, he doesn’t have to struggle for breath or fight to keep is warm. Jesse’s face told me he was in that place with no more pain, no more suffering, where no more tears will be shed; he’s where he belongs, with his father.

We mourn the lost, but we will not lose hope.

I wanna run on greener pastures,

I wanna dance on higher hills,

I wanna drink from sweeter waters in the misty morning chill

My soul is getting restless for the place where I belong,

I can’t wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song.

 I will not be afraid.

Rest in Peace Jesse, I love you, I miss you <3

Miracles and Medicine!!!

This past week I have been reminded that Amecet is a very special children’s home and we have the ability to care for children in extraordinary ways!!! Yes working with HIV positive children in Africa you expect illness and we’re often treating fevers and making trips to the clinic for malaria tests, however the house (well at least the medicine room) now looks more like a hospital than ever!!!



Evalyn trying to drink from a bottle
but she was to weak

I can’t even tell you how it all started the last week has become a bit of a blurr, so I guess well just start with the smallest! Amecet not only takes in HIV positive children but also babies who have lost their mothers, last saturday Els came bac from the hospital with the tiniest baby I had ever seen (at that point) Evalyn was born at 7months and was already 10days old, her mother has pre-eclampsia and so the birth was enduced to save the life of the mother, fortunately both mother and child survived the birth however the mother was paralysed down one side along with many other illnesses and was sitting in the ward on the floor, the baby being held by her 10 year old sister. Evalyn came into out incubator and I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to learn how to feed her. She has a feeding tube that goes through her nose into her stomac and we push milk straight into her tummy by syringe, this quite simple task can go terribly wrong if the tube is in the lungs or you push the milk in too quickly so each staff member is being trained and until more people know how this is a time consuming job.

Putting a feeding tube into Eunice

Since I’ve been at Amecet babies have been like busses we have no new ones for a while and then they arrive in pairs, and this was no exception a  few days later our second prem baby of my stay arrived, Eunice, also born at 7months and 2 weeks old, her mother was in a coma and died just 2 days after Eunice came to us, Eunice started out well and was even able to suck from a bottle however this made her tired and she too went on a feeding tube, A few days later Eunice started having problems with her gut and went from one extreme to the other, currently her dihorrea is so bad she is dehydrated and is being fed ever hour milk or rehydration fluids. She was taken for an IV however after it taking almost 15 attempts to get it in and then only staying right for 45 minuets we had to give up on that for today, her veins are so so small that the IV isn’t taking, tomorrow maybe we’ll try something different and for tonight we’re praying she stays strong and keeps her fluids.

Jesse's first meal at Amecet

Eunice wasn’t the last arrival either, bus number 3 arrived Thursday, another premature baby, born at 6 months and a couple of weeks old, his single mother seemed ignorant to the severity of Jesse’s condition at only 20 years old she hadn’t been aware of the abnormality of how small and weak  he was. Jesse weighed only 780grams (1.7lbs) when he arrived and he was almost starved to death as he was too weak to drink. In 3 days with an IV and a feeding tube he made it to a Kilo, still very small but going in the right direction! I was given the challenge/privilege/scary job of feeding Jesse for the first time through the tube, my hands were literally shaking but he took the milk really well so all is good!!!!

It is amazing babies are alive, they are 3 liiving miracles and each day as they gain strenght all we can do is be thankful that God protceted them untill they came to us, and feel so blessed that we have the opportunity to help them!

All this drama is exciting, scary and sure does keep us busy feeding the premmys (or peanuts) is almost an ongoing job but they really are fighters!!! Still while all this is going on the rest of the house is not immue to sickness!!!
Today rather than taking the children to the doctor, the doctor came to Amecet (luckily the clinic is right next door, we eben have a connecting gate!!) Mary, Musa, Rose, Sarah, Norah and Levi have all come down with Malaria in the last 2 weeks, last Sunday we had 3 children on IVs because of the dehydration the Malaria had caused, Rose made the start of my night shift fun by vomiting up her dinner all over the living room for the second night in a row, she continued to throw up after meals and now has dihorrea. Musa is in a bad way right now, he vomited on me when we went for a Malaria test and I’ve had to clean up pooop galore from him the last 2 days! He has dehydration and is just so weak a boy that would polish off 200mls in a matter of mins only drinking 40 you know something isn’t right and after a few weeks of this and 2 treatments of malaria we’re worried about him, he doesn’t seem to be getting better we can only pray his new medicines work!

As well as the malaria’s baby Benna is also suffering, and has dihorrea and is lethargic and weak, Abai, Mary and Charles have all had fevers, pains, some of the girls have bad coughs and I forget how many children are on antibiotics!!!

I also wish I had time to tell you about our adventures to the villages yesterday however I’m gonna let Els do that, check out Amecets blog: http://amecet-soroti.blogspot.com/

Once again i'm sure i've forgotten to tell you so much stuff, maybe i need to write more often, then my posts wouldn't be so long!!! And please continue to pray for all of our children and al the aunties who are dedicated to okoing after them!

That one is my prayer

Jesus,

Give me grace, give me Wisdom, give me love unfailing
Open my eyes to give and not grieve
To seek without ceasing
To serve without payment
 
Free my heart to strive and not stumble
To fly without falling
To release, not from repentance and free form resentment

Hallelujah my king my lord and my saviour,

 My comfort and shelter, protector triumphant
 
Teach me your ways Lord,
To shine in the darkness, to hear from your greatness, to see without judgement and speak fourth the kingdom.

It's all an adventure!!!

This week a few of us took an adventure up Soroti rock, it wasn’t as hard to climb as we’d expected, it only took 1 hour from leaving Amecet (at 7 am) but it was a lot of fun, when we reached the top we didn’t encounter ghosts or snakes like we were warned about, however we did meet some breath taking views! Despite how easy it seemed, there was some pain along the way (Yay for my feet growing this year and my shoes giving me blisters) ad we did feel that we deserved the treat of ice cream when we’d finished!
 

Now you might be thinking Durrrr life’s an adventure for you, NEWSFLASH you’re in Africa idiot. But I was thinking last night about how even everyday things are an adventure!!!

As I mentioned in my last couple of blogs, our awesome toddlers are all on their feet, we now spend endless hours chasing them around the compound! Those of you who are parents or older siblings will know the excitement and worry that comes from walking toddlers! This week rose decided that she likes the slide, now we don’t have one of those little kids plastic slide and there’s no soft ground if you fall off. This week I’ve anxiously watched Rose climb the steps and panic as she comes to the top and doesn’t know how to make it onto the ledge at the top, as she practiced more and more she was able to do it. For her it was an adventure, that slide was her rock and she was determined, I sat and watched her and panicked every time she wobbled almost waiting for her to fall (funny how we always expect the child to fall rather than make it?)

 

I think life is like that rock of that slide, when a door is opened we walk through it, despite the pain we are aiming for the success, and sometimes we aren’t aware of or ignore the dangers so that we can make it. At the end of the day in both these situations I knew that even if an accident happened, it wasn’t going to be life or death (unless those snakes on the rock were poisonous) despite the pain and the fears we make it to the ice cream or bottom of the slide.

 

Ever thought of God as the Auntie (well uncle) or Parent watching you struggle with the slide? Ever wondered why he didn’t come and carry you? If I had gone running to Rose every time she panicked on the slide she never would have learnt herslef. I was watching her and I was ready to catch her and give her medical attention if she fell but I also had to trust her and believe in her, I knew she could make it even if she didn’t. Sound like God yet????? Many times we wonder where God is, why we aren’t flying on his wings, but he’s there ready to catch us when we fall, when you don’t notice him, it’s because you didn’t fall, we should be thankful rather than angry really!!! He was believing in us!

Many times this year I’ve felt like I’m walking into the unknown, I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know what’s at the top of the rock or even if I’ll make it, I’ve been scared to step onto the ledge at the top of the slide because I don’t know that it’s safe and whether I’ll wobble and fall, how many things have you failed to step out do due to fear??? I’ve been reading ‘Making Jesus Lord’ By Lorren Cunningham, he talks about laying down your rights, now you might think I’ve done that, I left the comfort of my own home, culture, comforts and language and came to a foreign and different land, however you can travel and still hold onto almost everything. Laying down your rights is the ultimate test of your sense of adventure and trust that God is the loving parent watching over you. I realised I have to lay down my right to be afraid, because fear stops me doing things, it is a barrier, stopping God calling me into places I don’t want to go. Fear is me holding onto my plans instead of following Gods adventure!

Now I’m not saying this because I’ve got it all sussed, I’m not ready to walk in front of the firing squad,  I’m challenging myself, and I’m asking you to join me in the climbing the mountain to lay down your rights, because with every step we take; our burden becomes lighter, our God provides our strength and we get to see God using us in amazing ways!!!! I CAN DO ALL THINGS IN CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH. (I just have to let him!)

There’s a plan and a bigger picture, Jeremiah 29:11!!! “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, not for disaster but for hope and a good future.”

The world tells us we have to make the plans, God tells us he already has, which path do you want to take? What’s holding you back?

 

We can make our own plans

But the Lord gives the right answer

People may be pure in their own eyes

                But the Lord examines their motives

Commit your actions to the Lord

                And your plans will succeed.

And for those of you who read my last post.... We survived the night shift, the kids with Malaria recovered quickly, I even managed to make porridge, and get the kids dressed, medicined up and ready for school on time, PTL!!!!

A bit of a catch up

So the last week or so has been busy and exciting.

Kids wise they are progressing so much, Rose is standing by herslef lots not and  is even taking a few steps here and there, Rafael has finally made it to standing solo and Nelson is the happiest little boy!
The toddlers all love the swings and often will crawl of of the veranda over to the swings to give us the hint that they wanna swing- the beauty of swing is that often the kids smile and laugh and then fall asleep! rather than be cared for,
In the last blog i told you a little about Apio Ruth, she is doing so well, sitting without support, eating proper food at meal times, the other day she drove me crazy. Every mouth full she would shake her head viciously, then when i fnly got the food in her mouth she would put her hand into her mouth pull the rice out, look at me smile and then drop the rice on the floor!!! I've never seen so much rice all over her- however although she annoyed me, i was also incredibly proud of her fighting, it shows her growing up and taking initiative, being cheaky is massive because it shows so much brain development!

We have a new boy, he is very weak and very sick, he has HIV and TB and wasn't being looked after, we are really praying that he grows and gets strong while he is with us so he can return to his uncles. We also have 2 new babies, i don't know if i told you about Benna and Sarah, they are both too cute! They are doing really well! Unfortunatly we found out this week that one of the babies we have is probably deaf and blind- this is major, it is also scary, children here are often expected to be the carers not cared for, this little boys will need lots of time and money, his futuer is scary and he ned lots of praying for! Another sad note, is that one of the babies who went home 3 weeks ago has died, little patrick had malaria and wasn't given medicine, it's sad but it is the reality for many babies, medicine is money so they just don't get helped the way they need to be!

On a happier note, i spent the weekend back in Jinja it was good to see the girls and rest hve a screaming/crying free weekend, Friday night was fin night on the base, Me, Tss and Naomi did a tongan dance i learnt 30 mins before and had done twice, it was pretty funny, i guess i realised that beng at Amecet i had started to run on grown up sensible mode ( i didn't think i had one) so crazy dancing was a breath of fresh air! I'd missed the girls lots, but i also missed the children while i was away! The cries of "Auntie, Aunite" as i walked throug Amecets gates made me pleased to be back!

And now, i'm working a night shift, we had 2 children with malaria, lots of babies who don't want to sleep and 3 white girls who don't know how to mke porrige! I'll let you know how it goes!

A love i don't deserve

Boom.
As i was reading this is 2 Timothy 2:11-13, all i thought was BOOM!
Sometmes i think i've got it all figured out, i understand it, somehow i've made sense of it and then BOOM. i realise actually i don't get it at all....

For some of you, you will have been asked to imagine your whole life, everything you've done wrong, every thought, action, word being played in the movie of your life, and everytime you CRINGE! If judgement really was like this i would never want to die. The truth is we've all messed up and done stuff wrong, and if the people around us new everything we had done wrong friendships, families and relationships would probably  be very different. At least i don't think i would choose to be friends with myslef. But the truth is even without a movie of my life, God knows it ALL, and if there is one person that will never leave us it's him, now try and make sense of that!

But not only does he continue to love us, he continues to forgive us...
"A thousand times i've failed still your mercy remains, should i stumble again still i'm caught in your grace...."

Have you ever been really mad at yourslef? When you do something stupid, you weren't thinking, you just got caught up in it all? Sometimes it can be realy hard to forgive yourself. But God forgives us freely, unconditionally and eternally, he doesn't sit there are think hummmm nahh i don't think i want to forgive you this time, or well maybe you just went too far today. He forgives us over and over and over again. And the reason that he can do this is becuse he sent his son to die, for me, for you, for every person who ever walks this earth, he paid the price. How someone tell me how that is fair or how it makes sense?
It doesn't. But it happened, because God loves us that much.

We've all messed up and done stuff wrong, which means we can't go looking the creator of the universe in the face for every long...

I don't understand it, sometimes i find it hard to accept it, if i've let myslef down, i sure have let God down, and i don't want to face that. But the truth is i can beat myself up about it or i can let it go and experience the truth and the freedom that comes from the mystery, and it comes with 2 small words... I'm Sorry.