I Love You!

   I woke up today and smiled. Although today was my last day at City of Lights Baby Home here in Tororo Uganda, I was still smiling at all the amazing things that God has done while I was here. First thing in the morning I went to Smile Africa to see all the children and spend one last day with them. I was able to play with the kids for a little bit, but I also had a lot of last minute things I needed to finish before I left.

   One of the most important things I needed to do was to take pictures of all of my beautiful babies! It is my hope that we will be able to find sponsors for all of these babies in City of Lights Baby Home quickly. This home is going to fill up quickly with many babies that need our help and I want to be able to give them all that they need.

   City of Lights Baby Home has 2 rooms for the babies, 1 room is for the younger babies (newborn-2 years old), the other room is for the older babies (3 years old- 5 years old). The older babies can talk pretty well, but the younger ones are still learning. Today I wanted to teach them all to say "I love you!". By the end of the night all the little babies were running around saying "I love you" to everyone. It was perfect.

   After a lot of work at City of Lights Baby Home and Smile Africa Ministries it was time for dinner. It has kind of become a tradition that we have a big dinner with my children on my last night in Tororo before I leave. So tonight, that is just what we did. We enjoyed dinner together. I love spending time with all of these kids. Pastor Ruth's daughter, Esther, also really loves the company when I bring the children over. It was good family bonding time.

   After dinner we had to take them all back to Smile Africa. I hugged Bogere and told him how much I loved him and how proud I was of him for all that he is doing in school, with the babies, and for just being him. I then hugged Caleb and carried him to City of Lights Baby Home. I told Caleb I loved him so much and that I would come see him as soon as possible. As I handed him over to the nannies who work at night, he screamed and cried as he reached for me. It was heart breaking, but I know that he is in good hands and in a beautiful new home. I then hugged Betty and told her that I loved her, I was proud of her, and just how beautiful she is. 

   I walked into the younger babies room and smiled at all these babies running around as they were getting ready to bathe. All of these babies were, at some point, were either abandoned, abused, or forgotten about. Now these babies are so loved and adored! I watched as the nannies were throwing them in the air, telling the babies that they are loved and important. I quietly thanked God for bringing them to City of Lights Baby Home where they are so treasured. As I walked out the door I yelled, "I love you!" And I heard 10 little baby voices say, "I love you!"

"Thank you Jesus for loving us. Thank you for giving us a second chance at life. I pray that you will continue to watch over all the babies! Please keep them safe. I pray that you will bring sponsor to each of these babies and they will be blessed! I love you! Amen."

Baby Cobra

   Since my time here is coming to an end, I tried to get as much done as possible today. First thing in the morning I went to town with Pastor Ruth to pick up things that we needed for the baby home. There are so many little things I did not even think about, so we were trying to get most of the things today. Also, now that we have this beautiful baby home up and running, it needs to be licensed. There are certain things that we need to have in order to be a licensed baby home. So today we did a lot of those things.

   The baby home, because of its size, needs 4 fire extinguishers. So today we purchased very large fire extinguishers and we also needed to have proper poles and wiring for hanging clothes. The ones that we had before were rusting and falling over. So we purchased all of those things. Those were the main things that the health inspector said that we needed. Tomorrow the health inspector will come to City of Lights Baby Home and let us know if there is anything else we need to get, but if we have everything we need…THEN WE CAN GET OUR LICENSE!

   Just as I was getting everything ready to move children in the proper rooms I heard loud screaming. I ran outside to hear what was going on. Right outside the boys dorms there was a baby cobra slithering around the concrete. Some children ran far away and other ran close to it. I was telling all the kids to back away from the VERY POISONOUS snake! Finally our security guard came running over to handle the situation. He quickly killed the snake and I was relieved. There are too many babies running around this grass to have cobras around. 

   Finally a gentleman came to install the fire extinguishers! I was so excited! We are now one step closer to getting licensed!

   After we got all of that stuff done, I still had one piece of unfinished business to attend to. It is custom here to give a gift to the man who built your home. I needed and wanted to give a gift to the engineer of City of Lights Baby Home. The home is absolutely beautiful and this man did a great job. We have purchased a very fat goat for this man to take home to his family. That wasn't exactly the gift I had in mind, but here, that is a VERY amazing gift. So I grabbed the goat and handed it over to the man who worked so hard for all the babies that would grow up in City of Lights Baby Home. 

   I can definitely say this was a new experience for me. But I am so glad that I could bless this man. I am beyond grateful for all the work that he has done for City of Lights Baby Home. 

"Thank you Jesus for an amazing, productive day. Thank you for keeping my children safe from the cobra. I pray that you continue to watch over my babies as they are running and playing in the grass. I pray that you bless this man that worked so hard on City of Lights Baby Home. Thank you for loving us and keeping us all safe. I love you! Amen"

Practically Perfect

   Today I promised Bogere, Betty and Caleb that I would take them to play with some old friends of ours, Jesse and Rachelle and their 3 kids. They are Americans living in Tororo doing missions work. I got to know them very well in 2012 while I was living in Tororo. Betty has been asking me for days if we could go play with Rachelle's kids. After the long day we had yesterday, I thought today would be a perfect day. First thing in the morning, while the kids were at school, I went to visit with Rachelle myself. We were talking and catching up on all life events. It was good to visit with her again.

   I then walked to Smile Africa to pick up Bogere, Betty, and Caleb. We all went back to Rachelle's house to play with the kids. As the kids were playing, I was keeping Rachelle company as she packed. This family is leaving to go back to America for a 8 months or so, so there was a lot of packing to be done. Every now and then I would go and check on the children and they all were getting along great! Legos seemed to be the game of choice today.

   It was so great to have a day where all the kids could play together. Bogere seemed sad yesterday after all the drama with his aunt, so I was happy to take him here and see that big smile on his face as he played with his friends. We stayed for a couple hours and then it was time to go back to Smile Africa so these kids could have dinner. Once I dropped them all off at Smile Africa, I went straight to Pastor Ruth's house to have dinner and discuss things about the baby home. 

   Once I arrived at Ruth's house, it only took us about 2 minutes to start brain storming about how we were planning to make this home practically perfect. Our conversation went on for several hours. We discussed different ideas of how to best help all the babies that will be calling City of Lights, Home. It was a very successful time brain storming and I feel like we got a lot accomplished. 

"Thank you Jesus for allowing Pastor Ruth and I to work together as a team! Thank you for all that you are doing in the lives of these children. I pray that You will continue to protect them as they grow up. I love you! Amen"

An Act of Manipulation

   I woke up dreading the day I was going to have. Today was the day that we went to see Bogere's Aunt's home in Mblae. I did not want to go see this woman, I did not want leave my children with her, and I did not want to just give in to her ridiculous demands. I went to Smile Africa first thing in the morning to get Bogere, his sister Gloria, and their baby brother Philip ready for the journey ahead of us. I quickly bathed them all and dressed them in comfortable clothes. I was rushing to pick everything up so I really did have time to be sad, or really think about what was going on. As soon as the van arrived, the children and I got inside and drove to pick up Pastor Ruth. Ruth wanted to also take Esther with us, so we all got ready and we left for Mbale. 

   As we began our long journey to Mbale the children just played in the van. They were laughing and playing games with each other, all except Bogere. Bogere just sat quietly next to me. He is old enough to know what is going on and I think he was a little scared as to why we were driving to see his aunt. To be honest, I wasn't 100% sure why were doing this either. I knew that she was just trying manipulate us and use us. This aunt does not actually love these children. I know it for a fact. 

   All of a sudden it started pouring rain! I have never seen it rain this much. We could barely see out of the windshield and everything was really slippery. Then it started to hail! I held onto the children tightly as the van made its way through gushing streams of water. Ruth was a little scared that we would get stuck, I was scared we might tip over, but thankfully we made it out.

   Finally we arrived safely at Bogere's aunt's home and we all got out of the van hesitantly. We made our way to her home and we all sat down on the couch. I was looking around and I saw 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, so I thought "ok, I guess this isn't THAT BAD." Ruth and her were conversing in the aunt's local language and then all of a sudden Ruth stood up and said, "This is not her home!" And she demanded that we see her real home. We walked around to see Bogere's aunt's home and I was surprised. This lady is the biggest liar I have ever seen. First of all, she wanted us to believe that the nicer home was her own, lie, she also told us that her children have grown and so now she has room for Bogere and his siblings, another lie! This lady has 10 children and the youngest looks to be around 2 years old. Something fishy was going on here. 

   We took Bogere, Gloria and Philip to see the home. I couldn't believe my eyes. This lady was sleeping in a very small room with her husband and her 10 children! And on top of that, she wanted to take 3 more children into her home?! NO WAY! I was angry at her selfishness. 

(Click to Enlarge)

   After we took this picture it started to rain again. Bogere and his siblings rain to the van to wait there for us. I did not want them to be near this lady anyway. Once we stared talking, it was all a bunch of demands from her. She wanted us to build her a home, or pay her rent, or do this or do that, then eventually she told us to take her twins back to City of Lights Baby Home. It was just one demand after another and we had to refuse everything she asked for. Had this lady had a different approach other than manipulation, I would have helped her with her children, even though she tried to put me in jail 2 years ago. However, with these demands of hers, I have to refuse any help. Ruth got very annoyed with her and we took our children and we left. It was obvious that this lady was not acting out of love, but out of greed. 

   It was a very long day of fighting for my children. I needed to protect them and I will do that until the day I die. I love these children more than words can describe and I will do the best I can to not let anything bad happen to them. On the drive home Bogere seemed sad. We talked a little bit and he told me that he did not want to stay with his aunt. I told him not to worry, I would not let that happen. Bogere put his head on my lap and fell asleep the whole way home. I held onto him tightly and prayed for him and his siblings the whole way home.

"Thank you Jesus for your strength! Thank you for giving me a fighter's spirit. I pray that you will continue to protect these children. I am going back home in just 3 days, so please keep them safe while I am away from them. Help them make good decisions and please help the aunt know that what she is doing is wrong. Thank you for your love and your grace and your patience. I love you! Amen."