Merry Christmas and a Joseph New Year!

Where to start...this Christmas I think can go down as one of the best ever! And I cannot believe it is already 2010!!!! God has been so faithful to me in the last year! When I had doubts about how I was going to be able to leave my job and be able to suuport myself financially while I am here in Uganda He reminded me to let Him be in control and to have faith! For the first month of living in Uganda I really did try to do it on my own and take care of myself...but God soon showed me I was not going to make it by living my life like that! Now I am at the end of my second month here and wow what a difference it makes to fully rely on God!!

This Christmas Watoto Church put on a Christmas Cantata called "The Journey." What a wonderful presentation of the Word of God brought in the form on a 200 person choir, lots of dancing, and awesome props, and sweet lighting effects! Some of us volunteers took the special needs children to enjoy it and it was so special to share that moment with them.

Pastor Gary and Marilyn Skinner hosted a party for all international volunteers and Watoto staff in appreciation for spending our Christmas here in Uganda! That was very special and felt like home spending an evening with my family and Santa even arrived! :)

We as volunteers had many Christmas parties and one of them was spent with a team from Hillsong London. That was so much fun and there was lots of Western style food! What is not to love about that!? :)

Spending Christmas day at the babies home was such a rewarding experience as well! To share God's love with these babies and toddlers at Christmas and be their family made me realize how blessed I have been to spend Christmas with my family for the last 20 years. Now for the 21st year I understand that not everyone has had the same opportunity and for that I am so happy that I would not have wanted to spend my Christmas any other way than right here in Uganda with God's precious children.

Prayer requests:

-Recently we have had several cases of TB at the babies home. It can be a very serious thing for some of our most vulnerable babies. Baby Chris has a blood transfusion the other day and has TB as well. He is in critical condition and could really use some extra prayers. Just pray that God's will will be done in his life! Claire is also another one of our toddlers that was diagnosed with TB. She is also one of our HIV babies! It is hard to watch little children like them suffer. You just want to be able to give them your healthy body!

-Continue to pray for Watoto Child Care Ministries! There is so much happening and choirs are going to be sent out soon around the world to raise awareness about the ministry and new babies homes are going to be opening. Lots happening and that means lots of prayer needed! Pray for strength for those leading choirs and heading up projects here in Uganda!

-On a personal note pray that I can continue to have faith in every step that I take! There are days where I wonder why Africa? Why did God call me here? What is the greater thing I can take from here? It may seem like an obvious thing to some but for me it can seem a bit blurry!

Wishing everyone a powerful 2010!

For the children,

Kara

What is love?? What isn't love?? 1 Corinthians 13

I keep pondering on what our cell group discussed this last Wednesday nite about what love is and is not. I went away thinking how to I portray love to those around me 24/7?? Love is patient, love is kind, love never fails, love never remembers wrong,....it goes on and on. What kind of love are you putting out?? Is it a Christ-like love??

This week has been full of new people coming and going, volunteers leaving, smelly diapers, traveling around, and Christmas celebrations!! On Sunday evening all the international volunteers are the apartments has a wonderful Christmas party with a lot of Western style food and a secret santa exchange!! That nite truly felt like I was at home with my "family" enjoying a winter evening together! Yesterday Linda, Lucy, and I went shopping around Kampala and bought some Christmas CDs and other holiday stuff to stay in the Christmas spirit while enjoying some Good African Coffee of course!

There is going to be so much new stuff happening beginning of 2010!! Suubi Babies Home is going to be opening and kids will be transferred there from the Bulrushes! So if you could please pray specifically for the whole babies home project as a whole that things will get completed in time and that there would be no stress :) I no the last part of that is not really being realistic! :)

Today was a rather emotional day for me overall! My "son" Christopher is going to be going back to his mother the beginning of the year! I am excited for that to happen however not sure how I am going to give him up! I feel so connected with Chris and today his mom showed up to try and connect with Chris. It was hard for me to watch cause it felt like I was giving my "son" to another mommy! His mom is a beautiful woman and has a glowing smile and I can def see the connection between the two! He resembles her a lot! Just an inner battle going on with my heart and I really have been praying that God will help me give him up and that he can reconnect with his real mommy again cause all I want is the best for him! So if you all could remember me and pray for me in that way in the coming weeks it would be greatly appreciated!

Another prayer request would be for Patience. She is one of the toddlers in my room that I assist with. She is a very sick little girl right now and was diagnosed with Pneumonia this week and has been loosing weight. At her last check up doctor said things looked better! However she is a small little girl! Trusting that God will heal her! :) **Patience is in the photo above**

One more thing I should mention...Christmas is exactly one week away!! What have you done to prepare for the wonderful celebration of Christ's birth???? Exciting stuff ey????

Much love to all who are praying!!!

For the children,

Kara

I'm dreamin of a white Christmas...jk

Well I am already seeing the end of another week in sight!! Really trying to figure out where time has gone...Christmas is ONLY 15 days away!!!! I kind of forget what season I am in right now! It just does not seem normal to be enjoying really hot weather and not one snow flake in the sky and trying to celebrate the Christmas season all in one. I was talking with a friend last nite about how different the Christmas season is here and he brought up a really good point. In America so much hype is put into the shopping and going to concerts and getting together with family, etc. that often even I forgot what the real meaning of Christmas is about!! Then there is Uganda...where there are hardly any Christmas decorations...some Christmas songs in the air...but overall they put their main focus on the reason for the season and that is Jesus' birth!!!!! So even though I will be a little sad I will not get to be with my family I do feel that spending my Christmas in UG will be good for me to refocus on what Christmas is really about.

So aside from that let me see...what all have I done in the last week...

1. Got to attend the World Aids Day Dance Competition at Watoto Church

2. Went to Ndere-African culture nite...again

3. Did some Christmas shopping for our secret santa exchange at some nice craft markets

4. Purchased some items from Living Hope's store...FYI very cool place and amazing beautiful crafts! And all proceeds go to benefit Living Hope women!

5. Hosted a BBQ at our apartments for all the volunteers and some other Watoto staff

Babies home update:

Beginning of 2010 Lord willing Suubi Babies Home will be up and running. This new facility will be able to provide care for approx. 100 babies. This is very exciting to be able to see continued growth in this area! There will be a lot of changes and babies getting moved from the current babies home in Kampala to Suubi. So a lot of prayer would be appreciated as staff and volunteers prepare for this. Another babies home is being constructed in Gulu. Completion is not expected until closer to March of 2010.

One of the girls in my elephant room started walking this week. Lily just keeps on growing and learning new things. It is encouraging to see these children taking new steps into their future. My little boy Chris is going to be moving back with his mom end of the month. I am very sad about this and yet happy he can be reunited with his mom. He came to Baby Watoto as a preemie and just cannot believe how far he has come looking back at the pictures of him when he first arrived!! God is doing a great work here!

Looking forward to our apartment's Christmas party this Sunday and the Christmas Cantata that Watoto Church is presenting next week!! There will be quite a few volunteers packing their bags and heading back home and new ones coming!! So it will be a bittersweet time!!

Continue to pray for protection and good health amongst the staff and volunteers. We do have several babies in isolation right now cause of a nasty rash that seems to be spreading amongst the babies! We are praying that this will be the solution to this problem!

Much love to everyone at home!!

For the children,

Kara

**featured in picture is Lily

This has been the most powerful week of my life!! God has spoken to my heart like never before!! This past week Linda and I were working nite shifts at the babies' home. Each nite was so different and it really gave me opportunities to connect with the nannies and get to know them personally. More than anything I have learned that the power of one's testimony is more than amazing!


On Friday nite Watoto Church presented "Daughter's of Destiny." What an honor to be seated amongst 100's of women praising God in such harmony!! These women have a heart for worship!! That nite there was a guest pastor from South Africa who spoke on the passage of Scripture about Mary and Martha and the significant roles that women play in the church and in society as a whole!! Wow we are something so special and I think so often we tend to forget about that! Some very special guests that were in attendance were the women from Gulu that are part of Living Hope. Such a great outreach that Watoto started in delivery hope and restoration and believing in these women that were abducted from their homes at such a young age to be sex slaves to the Lord's Resistant Army (LRA). To know what these beautiful women went thru and to see them crying out to God and giving up all of themselves and singing of God's greatness...God you are sooooo GREAT!!


This morning's Sunday service I think has changed my heart forever! Today was Living Hope Sunday in which 2 amazing women shared their story of how they were abducted, beaten, forced to marry men 3 times their age, and be sex slaves for soldiers that were part of the LRA. One of these beautiful women shared how she was Joseph Coney's wife for 11 years. She was abducted when she was 12 years old and excaped when she was 23. Today she is 27 and living her life for Jesus!! AMEN!! To check out more about Living Hope visit... www.watoto.com/livinghope


This weekend we are celebrating WAD...(World Aids Day). Please consider taking time out of your day to join us praying for those who are battling the war against AIDS.





Specific prayer requests:


*Pray for the women and children that have been abducted from their homes by the LRA. Even the ones that have been able to escape find life difficult living outside of captivity!

*Pray for the political leaders of northern Uganda (Gulu)



Much love to all!!! Please take time this week to thank God for the many many blessings He has given you!! Don't let Thanksgiving be the only time of year to reflect on that!



Kara

What A Week

Wow this week has been full of ups and downs!! I have been working the afternoon shift this week. I go in to the babies home at 11 and work till 6:30 pm. It is nice to be able to sleep in in the mornings and get stuff done here at the apartment. Tuesday nite I went bowling with the volunteers and some other Watoto staff and that was great. It was good to all be together outside of work. Wednesday nite Linda and I went to the airport to welcome a new volunteer to Uganda. Her name is Paige and she is from Canada. Great to have another new face in the house. Then there was Thursday!!!! Linda, Hannah, Tifarah, and I went to the Nile to go white water rafting! Best experience ever!! Words cannot describe the thrill of going thru grade 5 rapids and being tossed amongst the waves. There were two moments when I actually thought my life was going to end but it was worth it. Us girls are planning to go again!

I have been amazed at how God is really using my time here to mold me into the woman He created me to be!! I have been praying for a lot recently and asking so much of Him and the other nite I found myself just taking time to thank Him for everything I have been blessed with instead of always asking for things! I have found it to be so rewarding in doing so!

Sunday morning around 7:30 am Baby Zach went to be with Jesus! He had received a blood transfusion on Saturday and after that everything seemed to go downhill from there! Come Sunday morning he had stopped breathing but his heart continued to beat for about 4 hours and they feel this is due to the adrenaline they had given him! To say the least it was a very long drawn out evening for the staff at the babies home. Please do pray for the nannies, volunteers, and staff that played an important part in Zach short life here on Earth! Pray that God would bless them in a special way for all their hard work!

This is the start of week 4....hard to believe! Much love to everyone!

Kara

Finally at Home

Each day I experience here is getting better and better. Uganda is finally starting to feel like home! God has been proving Himself so real to me though in the last several days! Since I have been here I am have been trying to make it on my own. And slowly but surely God has a way of saying in the nicest way, "Kara, please just let me help make this experience easier." It is once you surrender that part of you things just fall into place. This is no longer about me, this is about making a difference in the lives of others to make a difference for eternity!
Words cannot describe the children that I work with everyday. Yesterday while holding, Eva, I was reminded of God's love for His children. We can love someone only because Christ loved us first! When I think about this it just blows my mind of how significant each person is and the value and purpose they serve in the eyes of our Maker.
On Wednesday nites we have cell group. This is basically like a small group meeting with the volunteers to just reconnect and spend time in prayer. I was sad that I missed communion at my home church this last Sunday evening and what do you know this week at cell Edith had us all take part in communion. :) It was fruit juice and bread! :) But you know I have never experienced what I did that night before! I was so humbled that nite at the thought of all Christ has done for His church and for His children. Have you really stopped and thought about the fact that Christ died on a cross so that WE can be SAVED!??? At times I think we go thru the motions of communion and don't actually take the time to realize what it is that we are remembering! I Corinthians 11:23-34
Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for baby Zack. He is a very sick malnourished infant that was brought into the babies home this week. Each day that he lives is considered a miracle right now!
• Continue to pray for Susy and her family. It has been a week since her father passed away. She finally made it home after a lot of hassle in trying to get her passport back. But God is good and she has made it safely home. She is planning to return back to Uganda soon after Christmas. We miss her a lot here at the apartments!
• Continue to pray for all the volunteers here. Even the ones that have been here for awhile have been having rough periods in watching old volunteers leave and it is taking a toll on them. We know that part of coming here is having to leave at some point and return home but it is hard.
• For the most part Linda and I have been in good health! PTL We have found that certain foods still do not agree with us but we are thankful that God has been granting us healthy bodies aside from that.
• Above all else pray that we do not lose focus. It is easy to get caught up in our day to day routine just like at home. Pray that our ultimate focus can be on drawing closer to Him and thru that we can bring glory to His Kingdom because He is alive within us.

Again thank you to all who are praying for us here!! Never underestimate the power of YOUR prayers. I love and miss you all very much!

For the children, Kara

A Call for Prayer

This morning as I was getting ready for work my roomie (Susy) comes out of her room with tear filled eyes mourning the loss of her father. She just recieved news this morning from Canada that her Father passed away. If you could please just lift her up in prayer the next few days that God would grant her safety as she flies home in the next day or so and that she would recieve guidance as to whether or not to return back to Uganda to finish her stay.
It will be different not having her around here at the apartment. We LOVE you SUSY!!

So Day 1 at the babies home is complete and am now enjoying my first day off! Got 12 hours of sleep last nite and have just been chatting with my roomie this morning! Not really sure what I am feeling today!! Not really sure when it will phase me that I am actually living in Uganda! :) But I am truly loving it! Yesterday Linda and I worked at the babies home from 11 am-6 pm. Got to change lots of messy diapers and feed and play with all the little ones!! They are more than precious!!
After work our rommie Hannah took us to the mall to do some grocery shopping since we get to make all of our own food! :) We will have to see what different things we come up with!!
Please keep praying for us that we can catch on soon as to exactly what our role is here and catch on as to what we are to do at the babies home and be comfortable with what we are doing! I hate standing around not knowing what to do next but that is just part of starting new some where!!

Blessings, Kara

You know I am convinced that everything happens for a reason!! And God has proven that already to us in the first leg of our journey to Uganda!! Upon our arrival in Amsterdam Linda and I were having complications printing out boarding passes for our next flight! So we approached the customer service counter only to find out that we had an overnite stay here at the airport. At first my initial reaction was to be frustrated cause I just wanted to be in Uganda...however God has other things instore for us. We found a room at Yotel Hotel and the woman working there was more than helpful!! We got a perfect room and were able to have it for 24 hours. With free internet service and a full service bathroom we enjoyed browsing facebook and catching up on current events. Linda had the opportunity to catch up with her CAVS and we watched some YouTube clips.

Waking up this morning at the airport we feel totally refreshed and ready for our next 8 hour flight. Reflecting back God knew that we needed some extra time to rest cause we were both having some stomach pains due to lack of sleep. We live in a world where we think everything revolves around us and our plans! Lesson learned our lives revolve around God's plans!!

Continue to pray for traveling safety for our last 8 hour flight and the drive from Entebbe to our NEW home!! Linda and I are enjoying our time together and are so excited for this intense spiritual journey that lies ahead of us!

Much love, Kara...and Linda

Today Is The Day!!

Sitting in my room right now reflecting on how God has taken me on a crazy spiritual journey this far in my life! The amazing thing is I know the best is yet to come!! Today my dream finally comes true!! So many emotions going thru me right now as I think I leaving this beautiful place and flying overseas!! I know these 6 months will go so fast and just want to soak it all in!! Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!! So excited to be used by God to further His Kingdom one child at a time!

Listed below is my flight schedule!
Date: Sunday, November 1
Departs: Akron/Canton Regional, OH (CAK) at 11:50AM
Arrives: Detroit-Wayne County Int'l, MI (DTW) at 12:49PM

Departs: Detroit-Wayne County Int'l, MI (DTW) at 5:55PM
Arrives: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) at 7:55AM on Monday, November 2

Date: Monday, November 2
Departs: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) at 10:50AM
Arrives: Entebbe, Uganda (EBB) at 8:50PM

For the children,
Kara

Counting Down the Days

In February of 2009 I had the honor of traveling with a local team from Ohio to Uganda, Africa to construct a teacher's home for Watoto Child Care Ministries. Watoto provides holistic, residential care for orphaned and vulnerable children with the core vision to rescue a Child, raise a Leader and rebuild a Nation. The vision this ministry has is beyond amazing!! They take in these orphans and widows and provide them with a home, a new family, an education, food, and daily continue to pour out the love of CHRIST to them!!
I first found out about Watoto when one of their children's choirs first came to the area and I got to enjoy one of their awesome performances!! That night I signed up to sponsor a child by the name of Miriam Nantanda! My dream that night had been to travel to Uganda and visit Miriam!! I had to wait a long 5 years but it was all worth it!! When I met Miriam at her village it just sent tingles thru me cause we had been friends for so long but never talked to each other in person!! We were able to spend about an hour together and it seemed like we knew each other so well and really connected!!
Another thing I got to experience while I was in Uganda was a day at Baby Watoto!! In early 2007, Watoto started a home for orphaned and vulnerable babies. The facility called the Bulrushes, is located down town Kampala and provides a loving safe haven for babies to be restored physically and mentally. Babies 0-2 years old are rescued and nurtured until they are ready to either graduate to a Watoto Children's Village or to be reunited with existing relatives. Words cannot describe what I felt walking into this facility!! Tears poured over my heart as I watched all these little babies crawling all over the place and knowing that they were safe and being loved!! It was then that God really grabbed on to the reins of my heart and my focus was no longer on me and what I wanted but what He had in store for me! So after returning home I applied to return to Watoto and serve at the Bulrushes and what do you know here I am today preparing to leave in a little over 40 days! Actual departure date is November 1st!!
One of my dear friends Linda will also be joining me to go back to Uganda!! We are so excited to experience more of the African culture and be a part of this wonderful ministry!! But above all we are thrilled to be doing the will of our Heavenly Father and furthering His Kingdom!! Linda and I will be volunteering our time at the Bulrushes as nannies for a period of 6 months, Lord willing!
I know so many people are praying for me now and will continue to do so while I am serving! Thank you all so much! The power of prayer is becoming more and more real to me each day! I am so grateful that our God has time for each one of us and is never too busy for us even when at times we think we are to busy for Him!!! I will try and keep this blog updated as much as possible and have a list of prayer requests too!! Thanks again for all the support everyone has given thus far spiritually, emotionally, and financially!! I am so blessed!!