christine

the precious girl we sponsor in uganda wrote us a letter :) 

(there was quite the delay in receiving it) 

so happy to hear from her

i think of her so much
looking back at pictures from my time there
the people
the sights
the sounds
the joyful happy people
who need our love and time
almost 40 orphans living here
one "mom"
astounding

 i can't wait to go back and see these girls

sarah, christine & faith

god bless them and keep them safe, well fed, loved and strong in their faith

i pray they are learning to sew

 christine was so excited to learn when i was there

she has the prettiest smile, sings like an angel, and gives the best hugs

If you are lead to sponsor or donate to ms agnes' orphange in Uganda here is the link to go...

Please go to fairhavensministries.com

be a good steward

wednesday

i talked to my sister in law today

it had been too long

made me miss africa more

we have that bond now

i love love love that

i knew it was a good idea for her to go

with me

who is going next year?

hmmm, i wonder

we already have dates from kelly green global

for 2013

i kid you not

the trip is for one week or two

i wish it was 10 days long, but i could  

handle 14 days

someone has been a really good boy

at school

so he earned a BIG surprise

a new bigger bike

i think he likes it

golly he looks so grown up
he's tall
and a cutie pie

coloring in their room after school

i'm all for anything that isn't video games all afternoon

which is more typical then this

so i had to take a picture

it's been a good day!

africa

africa is happening! SO EXCITED to share this adventure on my blog.

Here are some of the sweet little faces waiting on us:


my amazing wednesday morning bible study group donated $715 to my expenses. so generous!

i'm reading this book called a hole in the gospel... i am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed to be called to go to africa. but oh so blessed to go.

little by little i'm checking things off the packing list.

praying for more funds for all of us. and generous donations for supplies.

how sweet it is

last Friday was the 100th day of school. they celebrate that day big in kindergarten!
the boy's teachers texted me this pic. they aged a bit for the day. lots of creative ways to teach the kids just how much, how long 100 is. little guys this age are still learning to comprehend time. :)

we had a super fun date night with our sunday school class friends. watched the movie Courageous in their in home theater. good times!
more africa shirts out the door. so happy others are showing off they have a heart for africa too!

speaking of africa... tomorrow i'm going for my first series of shots.
africa is happening!!

hello monday

the weekend is over. boo hoo.
on friday i made pioneer woman's spicy pop pulled pork. so darn good! i bought a pork butt shoulder roast at HEB. They had some really big ones or a few on the small side. I think the one i got was about 3-4 pound roast. cooked it for about 4-5 hours in the oven. It made plenty for the 4 of us for a few meals. the chipotle in adobe peppers give it the best spicy flavor. YUM i added some new artwork to the boy's room. i think they have outgrown the stage of taking it all down. fingers crossed kept cooper home on friday cause he was coughing and congested over night. it was fun spending one on one time with my boy. and he especially adores having my undivided attention.
i think he's ready to learn to tie shoes. however, he doesn't have any shoes that tie. so he's learning on mine. his bestie Alex at school learned how to tie his so he must keep up. so competitive, this one. deciding what to do with my collection of bottle caps

have a great week!

Hearts for Africa

lots of talk about africa going on here. lots of reading about east africa for me.
i've been stepping out asking ladies at church to help me make it to africa in July.
my weekly bible study class is taking up donations. so sweet
but there are others on my team who also need to raise funds to make the trip possible. it's a lot of money.
i'm blessed to know that it's an amount our God can provide.
and until it's time to begin filling out my volunteer application, sharing my testimony and paying that first deposit in less than a month, i choose to sew something to help raise awareness for Africa and money to pay for travel expenses.

i saw this shirt idea online, and decided to make some for us.
ALL OF US!
let's share our hearts for africa by wearing these shirts. i'm sure when you wear it someone will ask you about it and you can share the story that you are supporting christians who are going to africa this summer to serve at an orphanage, and provide basic medical attention to some very needy.

i have ALL sizes. Adult to infant onesies. know someone who just had a baby? perfect gift with proceeds going to a heavenly cause :)
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happy birthday today to my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
we love you dearly!

africa mission trip

i'm going to africa in july.

i admit i'm still battling some nerves as i begin to share the news with others. the furthest I've traveled from the comforts of home is the Carribean, and it certainly wasn't travel for the purpose of serving others but to be served and pampered on vacation :) i've never even been on a mission trip. visting East Africa will be a whole new world for this spoiled city girl. certainly a leap out of my comfort zone!

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

let me give you a little history to fill you in on how this desire came about....

last summer a dear friend from our sunday school class, and her son traveled with kelly global to uganda, africa for her 3rd year to serve, among others, an orphanage of children with AIDS. they travel with doctors and dentists who set up clinics in very remote areas to offer medical care to very sick africans who may have never received medical attention in their life. they also spent time in the schools speaking about AIDS awareness, abstitence, and sharing God's word.

our sunday school class gathered vitamins, shoes, and clothes to send with Jen and Robert last summer. i helped Jen sew small stuffed bears for each of the 40 children living in the orphanage. it was truly heart opening for me... to think something I cut and sewed from my fabric stash would end up in the arms of a precious orphan child half a world away. touched me BIG.

growing up my mom and paternal grandmother were excellent seamstress. mom made me and my siblings matching outfits. and she even went on to own a quilt shop or two, and is an excellent quilter. my grandma Mandy made doll clothes for us, and worked at a fancy dress shop in Springfield, Mo up until the day she passed away. needless to say, i have picked up their love of sewing.

when Jen returned from africa she set up a slideshow to share pictures and stories from their trip to our sunday school class. after the presentation I told her I wanted to go back with her to teach the girls in the orphanage how to sew. Jen smiled so big! Ms. Agnes, who runs the orphanage, mentioned to Jen right before she left that she had two sewing machines in storage, but no one knew how to use them. ironic? uh no, for sure a God thing!
i want to go to africa to be stretched beyond MYSELF. i would be honored to have the opportunity to serve others in a third world country. share the gospel, lend a hand teaching young girls to sew, hug a child or fifty, give my time to a country who suffers greatly. in short be the hands and feet of Jesus to a small amount of God's african people who suffer much, and have so little. jen says we're even planning to build the orphanage a chicken coop. amazing! i believe this trip will be life changing for me and my family. i will have the gift of an experience like no other to share with my boys, and in turn minister to their hearts what it really looks like to give of yourself to be more Christ-like. they've seen pictures. they are getting it. they are blessed beyond the majority of other children in this world.
as many of you know my family had a tough year in 2011. adam was unemployed for 6 months, my brother and nephew were critically wounded in october... economically almost everyone in my family has struggled this year. but yet we are still blessed beyond comparision. none of us are homeless. we have clean running water, electricity and at least a few meals a day.
i share this here on my blog to ask for your prayers and support. prayers to calm my fears of the unknown, and a peace that only faith in Him will provide. prayers to willing lay down my rights on this mission journey to comfort and the norm, and wholly give up to God permission to do anything He wishes to me, with me, in me, or through me, that would glorify Him. (paraphrased/quote from Kelly Green release of rights)
it's going to cost a minimum of $3,500 for me to travel there. this includes airfare, transportation, and modest accomodations and food while there for 10 days. in addition, i will need funds to receive necessary immunizations for yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, Malaria, Meningitis, Rabies and Typhoid fever. a cost that could be as much as $1,500.
if you feel led to make a monetary donation on my behalf i would be so grateful. all donations are tax deductible. (you will receive a statement directly from kelly green at the end of the year.) please make checks payable to Kelly Green Global , put my name in the memo portion, and mail them directly to me. this will allow me to keep track of funds raised towards my trip costs. i will mail your checks directly Kelly Green Global. i will also be collecting vitamins to take. i will happily take those any way you can get them to me. click the Email Me link at the top of my blog front page and i will provide you my mailing address. look for lots more information about this mission trip in the coming weeks and months here on my blog. i have several other ideas in the works for raising funds, including photography mini-sessions in february, march and april. {fun photo shoots centered around celebrating valentine's day, easter, mother's day}

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Jesus loves all the little children of the world {Uganda, Africa}

last month a dear friend in our Sunday school class made her third trip to Africa. she travels with a group called fair haven ministries. this year her 12 year old son made the trip with them. the team sets up medical clinics, delivers hundreds of pounds of food, clothes, shoes, eye glasses and vitamins to sick and orphaned children in Uganda. a highlight of their trip is visiting Ms. Agnes' Children's Care in Jinja. Ms. Agnes cares for 50 orphaned children, many strickened with HIV or AIDS.
in preparation for their trip, we as a sunday school class collected items to send to Ms Agnes' kids, and Jen and I sewed a teddy bear for each child. our children helped stuff the bears, and pack the items at a packing party a few weeks before they left. each child also got a blanket, new bed sheets and a bed pillow. jen and robert had to show them what a pillow was for.
it was an honor to be serving God by making little bears for these sweet children. i cry when i think about something i cut out and sewed being in the arms of children half way across the world who have so very very little. my children are so blessed.
these children need everything we have and take for granted in america. most of them have no parents, little food, no air conditioning or clean water. no corner stores, cell phones, clean clothes, paved roads, cameras. and to boot they are sick and need medical care. what an inspiration Jen and Robert are for traveling half way across the world to share the message of Jesus and expand God's kingdom! they are passionate for these children. they are living witnesses to what it means to be His disciples. i'm so inspired to do more. spend more time teaching my boys the importance of doing for and praying for those less fortunate. i'm praying for a way to go with Jen next time. needless to say, it seems way beyond my comfort zone. though we are weak, HE is strong. but the passion is in my heart now. if i'm meant to go God will make a way. He will take care of all the details. He knows the desires of our hearts. He can calm the storm in my mind about making such a trip. until then i pray for these sweet children to know God and know they are loved just because.