Mission Malaria

Linda at The Surgery receiving fluids to treat her malaria!

This is Hope! The girl I requested prayer for the last several weeks! She is making a lot of progress!

Crazy how you think everything is going ok...and whammmm everything changes! A lot of changes have taken place in the last week in about every area that they could here. As much as I enjoy change not everything has made me the happiest person. But God has been so faithful in loving me and telling me in so many ways that He is right beside me and that He will help me thru. He has brought much healing to my broken heart! Psalm 139 has been my comfort the last several weeks! What a comfort to know that God's hand is always there to reach out and hold on to.

For the last week and a half Linda and I have been living out at Suubi Babies Home until this last Thursday nite. We were in Kampala for 2 days and then got back out to Suubi around midnight Thursday nite and that is when it started to get a little crazy! Linda was up coughing a lot and her temp was really high. And then around 3AM we did a malaria tests after some phone calls and the test was positive. So a driver came and picked Linda and I up around 4AM and took us to The Surgery in Kampala and that is where we spent our whole Friday! They gave her lots of fluids and started giving her treatments! Not the easiest thing to see your friend laying on a bed all day long feeling miserable! But she was able to come back to the apartments around 6PM then and I had quickly went out to Suubi to pack all our belongings up and move back here.

Did not get to bed till midnight last nite! I now know that I can stay up for 40 hours straight! lol I did some laundry and ate some supper and then slept till 11AM this Saturday morning! Linda has been doing a little bit better however the doctor said that she will have fevers the next 2 days as her body keeps fighting off the malaria parasites! So just continue to pray that she can rest a lot and that she can keep drinking lots of fluids and keep those down!

Hard to believe April is right around the corner and I only have a little over a month left! I see big things happening in the month of April and pray that my focus can stay on things above!

For the children, Kara

Do I See April??

Rubi

Kids playing outside of Suubi Babies Home

Preemie baby-Kenneth

So it is getting close to a month since I have posted! Please do forgive me! I always have good intentions of blogging and then I just never do! :) The last several weeks have been different for me as far as my work schedule goes! Last week Linda and I worked a crazy 16 hour shift for 3 nights! You go into work at 4:30 pm and leave at 8 am the following morning! You try and nap here and there but it does get very tiring! The one nite was a little crazy! A girl by the name of Hope was hanging on by a string for awhile! Thank you all at home that were praying for her! Hope was able to pull thru however she still has some health issues! She is approx. 2 years old and is severely malnourished and was dehydrated as well! Another baby by the name of Kenneth is in our preemie room and he had some spells where he stopped breathing. I should mention that while we were on nite shift we were able to work in the preemie room and feed and hold these dear ones! It was so special...and just to think how fearfully and wonderfully we are made!

So now I am to this week and am currently living back out at the Suubi Babies Home for a period of 2 weeks before finishing my remaining time in Kampala at the Bulrushes! It is not always for me to live out here but trusting God to give me strength! Seems everytime I come out here I can me an emotional mess! But I know better days are ahead! Hard to believe I will be coming home in 41 days! Not sure where the time has gone but it has been an incredible journey and I know God still has great things for me in the next month!

Please continue to pray for Hope and Kenneth and should I say all the babies in general! I am so excited to see the journey God is going to take these amazing children on in their lives! It is such an honor to get to play such a small part in their lives! They have truly been a blessing to me and have taught soooo much!

Another prayer request I may add is that with God on my side that I can defeat Satan daily! I have really felt the presence of this greater force surrounding me the last week or so! It is very scary at times! Satan knows how to get you when you are weak! A friend of mine shared 1 John 4 with me and that was so encouraging to my heart!

Much love to all!
For the children, Kara

God is FAITHFUL!!

Team from United Dayspring that came to work at the children's villages!

Opening of Suubi Babies Home! Babies all dressed in Watoto shirts!!

Kayla and I at Grand Opening!

All babies currently at Suubi Babies home!

It doesn't matter what trials I am going thru God always reminds me that He is right beside me! These past few weeks have had many challenges! My emotions have been all over the place. I will recap my life a little since it has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged!

The team from Dayspring Church arrived safe and sound and had a wonderful 10 days here in Uganda! It was quite different sharing a little bit of my world with people from home because at times it feels as though we live in two totally different worlds! And what they find to be so new and a crazy style of living I have become adapted to and call this the "norm." I was very happy that Linda had time to reconnect with her family during that time. It was an excellent opportunity for her to share with them what she has been involved with and to show them where she lives etc. But with all good things there must come an end, which meant sending them back to snowy Ohio!

Speaking of which I cannot believe I am missing history at home! From what my family tells me there has been crazy amounts of snow. And as happy as I was to miss out on the whole winter season this year, just hearing about it makes me at least want to be home for 1 day to enjoy the beauty of it! I do miss home on and off! There are def days when I feel like packing everything up and flying away. But that would be taking the easy way out, and I know God is not yet finished with me here in Uganda!
Hard to believe that tomorrow marks 4 months that I have been here! What an incredible journey! Like the anticipation to go home and share with everyone all the great things that God has been doing in me and thru me sometimes keeps me up at nite! In the last month God has been teaching me so much about my speach and how to love people! And even better about not holding back about how the Holy Spirit has been working in me! The power of our testimony is beyond amazing and can impact the lives of so many! The other week during our cell group here at the apartment had a wonderful time of sharing about how God turned our lives upside down and how we got saved! There is no doubt God can take the weak, the cold hearted, the ones that you would think are so far into sin and He refines them and today they are something so beautiful!! Like words cannot describe it until you here about it!

Other challenges that were brought my way include the illness of my Uncle Gregg! He still stands in great need of prayer! A volunteer that I work with shared a passage from Mark 5 with me that renewed my confidence in the healing power of God! Gregg has been hospitalized for close to 2 weeks now with numerous problems! As soon as I think he is getting better I recieve a text saying that he is ill again! I was so happy I got to call him and talk with him and Aunt Irene for awhile! Made me feel like I was able to "visit" him. I am sure he would covet your prayers!

For the last week I was living our at Suubi babies home with some other volunteers! Living in the village def has a different feel than living in the city! :) On Monday we celebrated the grand opening of the new babies home! Pictures are featured above!

There is a possibility of me going to Gulu, which is in northern Uganda for a couple weeks! It is very up in the air but excited about the possibility to see the work that Watoto is doing in other parts of Uganda! I will keep you posted on that though!

Just a word of encouragement to those reading this to fully rely on God! It sounds simple but we so often forget to do so! He is our Rock and our Fortress! Our strength comes from Him! He deserves every part of us! Don't wait to make Him first in your life! Today can be the turning point for YOU!!

I love each and everyone of you deeply! But remember most importantly God loves you!!!!

For the children, Kara

Greater Things Are Yet To Come!

Amidst everything that happened in the last week or two I always know God has greater things in store for me! The last several days have been filled with lots of positives for me! The Saturday evening service I think was exactly the thing I needed to restart the fire within me! This month at Watoto Church Dr. Katrina Keiser and other speakers are sharing information about Understanding Islam! Very powerful testimony she shared with us at church about how she was a Christian and slowly fell into the Islamic faith and how the power of the Holy Spirit brought her out of it and she is now traveling worldwide teaching about the Muslims and their beliefs and practices and just helping up to understand them better! My views have changed a lot towards them as a people group. The Muslims have a vision for themselves and I realized we as Christians need to have a vision as well to stand our ground!!!!!!! My desire to dig deeper with God and His Word keeps on increasing as well! The power of people's prayers are def being felt! There is power in prayer! I am not sure what the next step of the journey God has for me, but I want to be ready!!

This week is my first week leading our cell as a leader! Pray that God will work thru me and give me words to speak and be able to be open with the other volunteers in my cell group!

Tomorrow a team from United Dayspring Church from my hometown is flying into Uganda in the evening! Linda's parents and sister are on the team along with other church members. So we are anticipating their arrival! Will be so nice to have a piece of home here for a couple weeks! And to top it all off they are bringing a whole bunch of fun stuff from my family and friends! So excited about that! If you could breath a prayer on the team's behalf that God would grant them safety traveling to and from Uganda I am sure it would be appreciated! Excited to see how God is going to use their time here in Uganda to futher His Kingdom!

Until next time may the love of the Father fill your mind, soul, and spirit in the week ahead! Never forget that we have the power to love because He first loved us!

For the children, Kara

**Featured in the pictures above are: Oscar, Chris and I, Linda with David Blake and Obama on the swing, Rose, and Patience

Chris

John

Chris and I right before we left!

I sit here and ask God what am I supposed to learn from this? Why now?

This week has had plenty of ups and downs for me. I have reached the middle mark of my time here in Uganda. Wow what a journey God has taken me on already! But now it seems rough...I am starting to feel homesick at times and then realize if I go home I have to leave Uganda and all the wonderful parts of it! Cannot believe I have lived here for 3 months! This week has had its challenges and it is not over yet. Friday, January 29, John went to be with Jesus. I would never ask for him back because I know he has no pain and it is sitting with Jesus, but it is hard. John was between the age of 18-24 months old and was welcomed at Baby Watoto two weeks ago with severe burns all over his back along with a whole list of other problems. He was such a brave soul though. Each day I would go into the clinic and talk to him and had the honor of taking him to surgery one day as well! I look back at those times and realize that God gave me those moments while John was still here on Earth to love him the way God loves his children. After years of neglect and living in a cold emotionless world John got to get a taste of heaven here on earth! John's funeral was probably the hardest thing I ever had to attend. I had never been to a funeral for a child before. But it was a beautiful day and I know God sent the sunshine and the birds to sing their song for us as we remembered that time that we got to spend with John. John you will forever be missed!

Other happenings this week include my "son" Chris returning to live with his birth mom and dad! Today I traveled with Chris to start his new life in the village. Very bittersweet but really trying to embrace the fact that he still has a mom and a dad and how much progress he has made since entering the babies home as a VERY sick preemie baby! Chris has taught me so much! But the one thing I learned the most from him is patience! Please pray that this transition time for Chris will go smooth and that God will intervene and make the bond between Chris and his mum Betty!

My roommate Kathy will be leaving this week as well! Yes that is 3 important people leaving me in less than one week! Ugh hope to never have a week like this again! But I have been so blessed by Kathy's time here and the many great chats we have had! God has truly blessed me with so many great women from all around the world. Even though we all come from such different cultures we all have one thing in common and that is to serve the Lord!! He has brought us to Uganda for such a time as this!

Please continue to pray for me that I can accept the things I cannot change! I want to learn from each situation that I encounter! God has been so good to me and for that I want to give Him all my praise!

For the children, Kara

I Have Been Blessed!!

I am back from Suubi Children's Village!! What a wonderful wonderful week of lovin on these kids and the opening of the new babies home! Feel very honored that I was able to welcome the kids to their new home. All 19 babies are adapting very well to their new surroundings and things seem to be running smoothly. Don't forget this is Africa so of course there are a lot of little problems that are forever coming up. :) Linda and I really enjoyed our time away and enjoyed the quietness of the mountain as well!

As of now we are back in Kampala and working at The Bulrushes again for awhile! We are anticipating the arrival of the team from Dayspring arriving in February. Will be nice to see familiar faces from home!!

Last night Baby Watoto welcomed 2 new children into their arms! John is between the ages of 2 and 3 and is malnourished with severe burns all over his body. His weight is about 6 pounds at the moment. John does not move and he is pretty much in a daze! Pray that God's will would be done in his life and that God would restore healing to his body. Pray that God would give wisdom to those providing care for John and for Moses. I am reminded daily that God has a plan for each of these abandon children and that He has placed me here to continuously pour out His love to them and to enrich their lives while I am here!

Thank you for your love and prayers!!

For the children, Kara

Welcome 2010!!!

We are already 11 days into the new year and soooo much has happened and is continuing to happen!! This year has been full of excitement! Weird to think that at the end of January I will be half ways done with my time here in Uganda! I wake up everyday wondering where time is going! But I am anticipating God to move in some powerful ways in the coming months amongst His people here.

Reflecting back on 2010 and where God has taken me already I am understanding more and more what greater things God has in store for me! I have been on an emotional ride the past couple of weeks with different events happening but God has remained faithful to me and continues to lift me up!

As of tomorrow morning Linda and I will be moving to Watoto Suubi Children's Village to help with the opening of the new babies home! Very excited to be a part of this! When I was in Uganda back on Feb. of 2009 this babies home was being constructed and to see how far it has come and just how beautiful it is is just WOW!!! We will be living out there till Monday of next week and return back to Kampala to continue working at the Bulrushes. 19 babies will be moving on Wednesday morning to Suubi babies home. Would covet your prayers during that move and during the week that I spend there! It will be very long working days and always being a call to help where needed! Pray that God will grant Linda and I extra strength each day to be an effective part of this transition for these toddlers!

Some not so happy news to share was the day that I posted my last blog and requested special prayer on baby Chris' behalf was the day that Chris went to be with Jesus! Twas a very sad time and please pray for the staff that are effected by this. Chris has a twin brother Victor that remains at the Bulrushes! However in the last week we did get a BEAUTIFUL girl by the name of Esther that was welcomed at the babies home. She is a toddler and wow cannot believe how a little TLC makes the biggest difference in the life of a neglected child. She is in our clinic right now. She is an HIV child. Esther I believe is at level 3 or 4 and her chest x-rays came back clear and we are just waiting on some other results to come back as of right now. But do pray for her body and that with the help of staff at Baby Watoto and the local doctors that God would heal her body and keep her strong! I sense great things for this girl and just love her to death!

Prayer requests:

* pray that Suubi village move would go well and that babies adapt well to all the change around them and for safety traveling to and from the village.

* pray for those affected by the death of Chris and for his twin brother Victor.

* one of our nurses is really struggling right now! She acidently pricked herself with a needle that was used on one of our HIV babies and so it has been a big scare to her as to whether or not it has entered her body! HIV scares are a big deal and please join me in praying a sheild of protection around Rachael's body and continue to pray that until the results come back that she could have peace about it!

* pray for Watoto Children's Choirs that leave on tour this week! There are several choirs that have been training for months and pray for traveling safety and that God was use them in a powerful way to spread His love and also raise awareness about the millions of orphans all over Africa that are affected by war and HIV/AIDS!! They changed my life when I heard them 6 years ago and know they are changing the lives of many others!

Oh how could I forget to share that in the last 2 weeks three of my beautiful babies have taken their first steps. You know I hear mothers at home talk about their babies and how they started walking and I was like oh yeah that must be great now they can get into everything now! But wow I never knew it could be sooooo exciting!! Guess you can call me a "mom" now! :)

Thank you for taking time to read my blogs and for caring and praying! Means more than you will ever know!

For the children,

Kara

*pictured above is Esther and I!