I believe in miracles...where you from you sexy thing, you sexy thing you

Living in poverty, holding our breath for the provision of the Big Guy, is a very exciting time not short of causing absolute ulceration(the causing of ulcers). I swear to you, we are stressed. But, in the same breath I am telling you it is nothing short of phenomenal to watch everything unfold. The God we serve is a living and breathing Spirit that provides angels when we need them, healing when we ask for it, and food for our survival. He takes away things we become dependent upon and allows us to be tested and go through trials; always bringing something good and beautiful out of the ashes.

In the past 9 months I have seen miracles. I want to share a few! Sit down and go back with me...

Mid-day a few months back Chris and I were picking up necessities from town. We pulled out into traffic only to be hit by a boda boda driver. FYI: when driving in Uganda and an accident occurs, it is advised to “hit and run” or kill the victim. Why? You ask. Welp, mob justice is brutal here. For hitting someone the entire village may kill or beat you. If you hit vs. kill someone, you are better off when drug to court of paying a flat funeral fee then paying for the care of an injured person.
Of course we disregard these heartless instructions and are immediately surrounded by the entire town. Yelling, shouting, and lots of Lugandan voices. I am imagining the worse. I look out my window at a man standing right beside the passenger window(on the left side). He looks at me and smiles, “Don't be afraid”, he said, “it will be okay”. He tagged along with us to a hospital to translate and help us out. He would accept no payment for his time and was such a joy to have around. I have never seen him again.

For four weeks I had a nasty infection. It was mostly stress related, go figure. But I had awful sores on my feet that refused to heal and new sores popping up every day. Each sore would get infected immediately, growing bigger and more painful every minute. Lymph nodes I only knew existed from nursing classes were inflamed. I could hardly walk or continue to work. I was useless. I put off going to the doctor for lack of money and fear of looking like a wimpy baby mama. But eventually, the infection wore me completely down and I gave in. Money was deposited in my account the day I decided to go without my knowledge. I ended up going to a British clinic I swore I would not return to. I walked into the doctor's office. I told him of my symptoms. He asked me what I was doing in Uganda. He asked me how? He then said, “I hope you believe in God.”
The next thirty minutes I was in tears as he instructed me to hand over all my worry and stress to Him. He told me that God is our Great Physician. We had such an amazing, uplifting conversation that when it ended I almost walked out of the office, paid my consultation fee, and left. He put some bandages on my wounds and prescribed me an anti-biotic. After four weeks of infection, I healed completely in four days.

Besides angel encounters, moments of provision happen everyday it seems. Sunday we were out of food and money. Two boys from the village came by with sweet potatoes from their garden. That evening, a friend gave us 20,000 shillings. Often times, we are on our knees praying for something to happen. The next hour or day, money is deposited into our bank account, or visitors show up with donations they are excited to give.

wee little update

Saturday is a day of hand washing clothes from the week, dancing to the beat of traditional African drum beats, watching a movie in the beautifully and newly finished library, and now, eating matoke and rice! While this may seem quite unexciting to some of you, matoke and rice once a week for two meals straight is a real treat after a long week of posho and beans every meal. (Please do not think we are mistreating our children here. Posho and beans is the country wide standard diet) When the money is there, the kids even get to eat meat! Saturday is the day of the week.
Sunday the kids dress in their best. Shoes and all! We then walk together to church down the road. Chris and Frank have began involvement in the prison ministry with the church. Chris is preaching and sharing many skits from our years in camp. Frank has a real heart for ministry!
Our bore hole is up and running perfectly thanks to you! We are having no problems and only having to pump 100 or so times to fill a jerry can instead of over 400 pumps! It is a real back saver. Don't worry, we are having the kids do push-ups to make up for the exercise lost! Just kidding!
Juliet, Meeme, and Mohamed are studying hard to prepare for their exams. Meeme is in P.7, Juliet in S.4, and Mohamed is in S.6, all levels in school in which exams are extremely important and weighting on ones future education. They will sit for their exams at the beginning of November. Mock exams take place soon! Please keep them in your prayers. As far as the schools are concerned, we are near completion of licensing Kampala City School and keeping it open! A friend's nonprofit is looking over the possibility of taking on a project to build onto Kampala City School and build a classroom for St. Thomas Primary School as well. Kampala City School is in need of dormitories for borders and two more classrooms as St. Thomas is lacking a P.5 classroom. Let us pray this takes place and building begins in January as planned.
Health update: No recent malaria cases! Although, worms are a big problem here. A few of the boys are dealing with the stomach pain worms bring. We are treating them case by case to the best we can with the resources we have. Scrapes and cuts happen daily and due to the tropical climate during this rainy season, healing takes a bit longer. With the rainy season also comes more coughs and cold symptoms, which are are treating as well. To reduce on the amount of sickness that goes through these precious kids, it is our hope to get a water purifier at the home. This will decrease on the waterborne illnesses that are so rampant. Water purifiers are $125 designed by a professor at Makerere University here in Kampala.
A new cook has arrived! She is notoriously fabulous and loves the kids as well as gets along great with our matron. Both women, Beatrice, the cook, and Vitas, our matron, are a huge blessing to our home and the children here.

September 26th ish...I've lost track of days

I am dirty and worn out. My head is aching, my stomach is cramping, and I am chilled. I have joyfully worn myself out today; all with a smile upon my face. Today after African tea with Ellan (a sweet friend of mine who works at our shop), hours in town, and lunch with Chris, wrestling needed to take place during a jakfruit feast. A mission then went underway. We went on a search for sugarcane. Only minutes into our journey the drops of rain that soak like water balloons were falling from the sky. As we ran upon the red dirt becoming a dark mud slide, in between brick stacks, cement and plaster houses, and clothing lines beginning to droop; smiling faces turn back at me attached to little dirty black bodies. Their laughter and voices tell me that this timeless moment, this place in eternity, is freedom. Pure joy. The weightlessness of being a child. A child with no shoes, no parents, broken teeth, two changes of clothes, soaked from head to toe with mud and rain; yet a child all the same. No different from the next. And this. This is where real happiness lies. In this moment of dirt and poverty.
We return after an extended run through pouring rain and slippery mud slides with three stocks of sugarcane; our treasure! I hack and hack, preparing pieces of sugarcane for each child. Of course a bit of bickering over the largest piece takes place....but what are children without that? We tear into the stock nearly breaking my fragile teeth. The children, of course, have no problem. Amidst spitting and yelling for homework to be done, I search for small shillings to cover the cost of firewood and charcoal for dinner tonight.
As the smoke sneaks out of our makeshift chimney, my dirty fingers point to number 3 of Sebuma's math homework. I find myself becoming frustrated with myself for being frustrated he does not know 33/3! Who is his math teacher anyway? Ha ha. I failed them somewhere didn't I....?
All in all, life is flowing and lovely. God is ever faithful and I am learning and growing each day. Growing is not always an easy task and many times pain is involved, but looking back, the change is always beneficial and beautiful. I am thankful for every experience.
I do have to say I am looking forward to coming home. Leaving is going to be a heart wrenching experience, but returning home will be so refreshing.
That is all for now. Please continue to check out the more readily updated blog at http://dorcaschildrenshome.blogspot.com
Much better! ha ha