Blog from 7/19/11

We had an amazing day at Return Ministries today. We had a ball with the kids. We did animal balloons, painted nails, did face painting, sang songs and did lots of dancing and loving on those sweet kiddos. There are so many kids there. There had to be over 200 and most of them were pretty little. So cute!!! There was one little girl named Hina who latched on to me pretty early on and would not leave my side. I was trying to help the team and formulate a plan for what to do with the kids but I just really had to stop and love on her. She seemed so much in need of that. I ended up picking her up and she grabbed on to me with both arms so tight. I started praying for her and got overwhelmed with emotion. I don't even know her story but from her tight grip around my neck holding on to me and not wanting to let go - I just sensed she had a lot of pain in her life. I asked one of the ladies later and she said her father died and her mother takes care of her. But that's as much as I could get. I finally got her to let go of me and do some coloring. She gave her picture to me. After awhile, she made her way to the area where the kids her age were all sitting cause they got called down for lunch. Me and Sarah got to go around and wash the kids hands. They hand out a big bowl and a water jug and the kids put their hands out over the bowl and you pour water on and they rub em together to clean them. It was neat being able to go around and do that. For lunch, they had rice and beans with some veggies in it. Some of the older kids formed an assembly line to pass the food down. The smallest kids were served first. After lunch, I didn't see Hina again so I think she went home. Most of the kids live in the neighborhood. Only 15 actually live at the home. The rest are local kids. It's such a great outreach to those kids! There was so much joy. It was seriously like the most fun I've had in a long time. They sang us songs and danced. And then we sang some songs for them and danced. They taught us some dances. Then we taught them the song I always hear in Haiti - "I am not forgotten - God knows my name". Then we did the hokey pokey, father Abraham and head shoulders knees and toes. Oh and not to forgot the makerena:) After that, they just had music playing and I started dancing with the kids. I pulled out any zumba move I could think of. They stood there and imitated all my dance moves and they were awesome. They are such good little dancers. It was like heaven - that's a highlight for me to get to be surrounded by kids and making up dances! The team got some videos of me being silly with them with all my zumba moves. Everyone had so much fun with the kids. We are glad we get to go back tomorrow morning. We will go back in the morning and then head straight to the airport from there after an early lunch. We fly to Ethiopia tomorrow night. Hard to believe our time in Uganda is almost over. It has flown by. Probably because it's been so jam packed. I love the people here and the culture. There's such a sense of community and love! I hope I will get the chance to come back again. It's been an amazing first week. And I trust that God has amazing things in store for us in Ethiopia too. 

9 of our team members went with Sixty Feet today to the children's prison. They brought light, I am absolutely sure of it. They had a great day but a hard day. But they went and they loved on some kids that very much needed it. We are going to have dinner shortly and have a time of sharing about our day with each other since we split up today. 

Thanks for praying. We need the prayers and so appreciate them. 

Ethiopia Day 2

I've been typing up blogs on my laptop but can't add them cause the wireless internet isn't working. So I am using the computer at the Ethiopia Guest House where we just checked in this morning and will stay the rest of our time here. I know alot of my team has family and friends checking this blog so I like to update it as often as possible so they know we are all safe. I'm hoping I can upload my more detailed blogs soon so you can read about our experiences here and in Uganda. It's been a great trip and we still have 5 days to go. We spent the day at Korah yesterday. Today we are going to Restoration Orphanage. One of the vans broke down so we are waiting for a new van to arrive to pick us up. With 24 of us, we travel in 3 vans. The ET Guest house staff are awesome. Even though we couldn't stay here the first 2 nights - they still provided transportation and guides for us and they are great. So thankful for them. We have stayed in 4 different places now so I'm really happy to be staying here for 4 nights in a row. 

Hopefully the wireless will be working tonight and I will upload my blogs from the past few days. Thanks for praying! 

Made it to Ethiopia

Internet was down the last day and a half at Adonai in Uganda so we couldn't get on to update everyone. I typed up some blogs that I will upload later but for now - just wanted those who are checking my blog to know that we made it safely to Ethiopia. We are totally exhausted after hauling our bags today and dealing with the craziness of these airports but all is well. We arrived at the guest house we are staying at for 2 nights and the staff from the other guest house we will spend the rest of the week at is providing transporation and guides for us. They picked us up at the airport and helped us with our million bags. I will write more soon but for now, I am about to fall over tired so I'm signing off. We are all safe and all is going well. Thanks for the prayers!

Back to Kampala, Uganda

It is almost 5pm here in Uganda - we got up early to say goodbye at Canaan's, eat breakfast and head back to Kampala. We stopped to exchange money and do some shopping on the way. Wow - exchanging money took FOREVER!!!! Then we headed to the children's prison in Kampala - only as it turns out - it wasn't the one we were supposed to go to and that one is 2 hours away. Soooo... we called Moses from Sixty Feet and let him know of the mix up. He's going to join us for dinner tonight at our guest house where we just checked in about 2 hours ago and had our first REAL team debriefing. The first few days were incredibly busy - it just felt so jam packed and it went by way too fast. Plus with adjusting to a different time zone - we were all pretty much exhausted by nighttime. But it's been great. We absolutely fell in love with the kids at Canaan Children's Home and Pastor Isaac who is the papa there, along with his precious wife Rebecca. They have huge hearts and quite a story. You should check out the Canaan Children's Home website! There are children that still need sponsors. What joy we saw there. Even with the tragic backgrounds these kids have - they still have joy. Pastor Isaac shared some of their back stories with us last night. Heartbreaking and hard to believe these joyful children have been through all that they have. He told us Canaan's is a place of healing and when teams come, it helps them heal. What an honor and a joy to be one of those teams!

Tomorrow we spend the whole day at Return Ministries. We get to meet the papa there - Pastor Samuel - he and his family are going to join us for dinner tonight too. 

Thanks for all the prayers. We so appreciate it!

Heading to Kampala, Uganda in the morning

We have been in Uganda 3 days and it's gone by way too fast. It has been a jam packed itinerary and I wish we had more time with the kids at Canaan's. Love them all!!! Our team is amazing - what a great group. I am so blessed by then. We went to Amazima yesterday and spent the day there. Today, we got to have church at Canaan's and teach a VBS story and craft to the kids before attending regular church. We got to hear the kids sing and then we got to hand out many of the clothes we brought to all the kids, along with some toys. It was a good day but went by too fast. I can't believe we are leaving here early in the morning. We are heading to Kampala and going to minister at the children's prison with Sixty Feet on the way, then the next two days we will be at Return Ministries and then we fly to Ethiopia. We are having a great trip. Thanks for all the prayers!

Love,

Autumn

Safe and sound in Uganda

After a long 24 hours plus of travel, we just arrived shortly ago to Canaan Children's Home in Jinja, Uganda. It was a 3 hour drive from the airport. We mostly all slept the whole way. We are pretty tired but super excited to be here. We made it safe, as did all our luggage. Internet access is very limited so I probably won't update as much as usual during these first few days but wanted everyone to know we are safe. Thanks for praying!
Autumn

Why Wouldn't I?

Last week, the Visiting Orphan staff drove to Louisville, Kentucky for the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit. It was the first one for me and several of our other staff members. We were all impacted greatly by being there, hearing testimonies, stories, learning how to do what we do better, sharing ideas and getting to meet so many people with a heart for orphans. The worship was amazing, the speakers were awesome and I was moved. We had a staff meeting today where we were supposed to share what spoke to us most from the conference - what the highlights were. For me, the thing that spoke loudest was adoption. There were two on-stage radio interviews from Focus on the Family that were being recorded at the event - both with families who have adopted a bunch of kids. One family has 14 kids - some biological, most adopted and they have an income of roughly $65K a year. Wow - that spoke to me. Yes, I may be single and I may not make a ton of money but if they can care for 14 kids at 65K, I can find a way to care for at least one. I can cut some things out, make some changes, I can make it work. Even as a single. Another thing that I had my eyes opened to was domestic adoption and fostering. I honestly had never thought much about it or knew much about it. But I kept running into people who were talking about it, who had or knew someone who had adopted from fostering and I even had the opportunity to attend a breakout session about fostering to adopt. I learned a lot and I felt like this may be a good thing for me to look into. Since I've been home, I have started looking into it. And I am definitely open to it if that's where the Lord leads me. I'm also getting more and more ok with the idea of adopting as a single. A friend said the other day that she has a single friend who adopted and she once said to her, I can be ok without being a wife but I can't imagine never being a mom. That's how I feel. I want to be married and I still hope and believe God has that for me. But... if he doesn't, I could live with that. But I cannot even fathom going my whole life and never being a mom. I have felt like I was meant to be a mom since as long as I can remember. I know it'll be hard. I know it'll be an adjustment, especially if I'm doing it as a single. But I also know I have amazing friends here in Nashville who would be a huge blessing and help. And I know I have a God in heaven who has adopted me and He has given me a heart for children. I also know having His people take care of His little ones is so very close to the Father's heart. There are some definite things I need to do to prepare my life for such a change. Some things need to be paid off, some plans need to be made in advance. And of course, I need to continually be seeking the Lord on what He's saying and what His perfect timing is. But when I went to that conference last week and I heard the song title "Why Wouldn't I?" by the amazing Peder Eide who led us in worship - I felt like that question was for me. I was reminded how many millions of orphans there are in the world - precious little ones who just want someone to love them, hold them and never leave them - why wouldn't I say "here I am Lord, use me"! Why wouldn't I adopt when I have a mothers heart already and a lot of love to give and enough money to make it work and a house with enough room and a great support system? I can't think of any real reasons not to. 

Video of the song "Why Wouldn't I" and Peder Eide telling the story of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQC_9sstfs&feature=share

Our VO staff with our "I Am" signs from the conference. They told us to write down what the Lord is saying about us, who we are called to be and/or how He sees us. I wrote "I am a mother" and cried my eyes out.