Let the Waters Rise by Mikeschair

Home

I have been home since Wednesday of last week. I have mixed emotions about being home. I love being with my family and friends but at the same time I really miss being in Uganda with those precious children. Being home for a week I feel like I've had a great time with my family and now am ready to go back. But I have to go to school and live here for awhile before I can go back.

I realize that I never posted anything about the Safari that I went on a few weeks before I left. The safari was a 4 day thing. Each night we camped out in different places. My favorite night was the night we camped out on the Delta. When we pulled up to our camp site there were about 10 giraffes surrounding us! The next morning we got up early to do a game drive and saw a lion like 100 yards away from our camp site. Everything about the safari was so much fun! Here are a few pictures..

Weekend Adventure

Yesterday we went to one of the Mama’s Kwanjula ceremony. This is like an introduction ceremony back home except completely different. We left the baby cottage around 11:30 this morning and drove in a Coaster for about two and a half hours to a village. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1 pm but we are not on American time here so 1 pm really means 5:30 pm. We didn’t arrive until about 3. When we arrived we were sent down the road a little bit to greet all of the women taking part in the ceremony. All the men were back where the ceremony was taking place. We ate lunch with the women and mingled for a little while and then we all headed back to get ready for the Kwanjula. The way these things work is that the family of the husband comes to the village of the wife’s father. They all sit in a special place under a tent, and then the family is introduced. Sometimes they make it funny and go around and ask the people why they are there and other silly things. They introduce the brothers first and they greet their guests and tell them how happy they are that they are there. Next the sisters are introduced then the aunties and the uncles. After that they introduce the grandfathers and grandmothers. And last they introduce the father and the mother(s). All together there are about 30 people introduced. After all of this takes place the groom’s family presents the bride with gifts. And to close everything up they serve a big meal. This lasted about 3 hours.
On the way the landscape was breathtaking! We went through a lot of villages but we also traveled wide open fields. They were unbelievable to look at. Everything was so beautiful. On the way back I was thinking I wouldn’t be able to see any of this anymore because it would have been so dark. But I was wrong. I got into the Coaster and we started our journey back home and the first thing I noticed were the stars shining so brightly through the blackened night sky. In every direction, for as far as you could see, you saw billions of bright shining stars that lit up the wide open fields we came through on our way in. Then I look to my right at the fields and see hundreds of fireflies lighting the way, I look to my left and see the very same thing. I wish you guys could have been there to see this view! There is nothing that can capture its true beauty but your own eyes. When I looked up at the stars and found different constellations I thought about how you can see the very same stars in the very same patterns back home in Nashville. It is so hard to understand how you can see the exact same thing in Africa and in Tennessee. The only way to explain it is the One who created it. Looking up at the stars and seeing their beauty and vastness I don’t understand how people can say that there is no creator. If there was no creator then how is it possible that you see the same stars from opposite sides of the world? If there was no creator then how can there be land as far as I can see in any direction filled with fireflies dancing in the moonlight? All these things had to be created to exist. This world is so beautiful there is no way it just happened by chance. It had to be created. And I know the One who created it!

A Few Pictures

Jonah fell asleep on the boda

Susan!

Beautiful Eve

Dinner time with the toddlers.

Baby Helen

Waiting for dinner

My Heart in Song

You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.
All my needs you have supplied.
When I was dead you gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?
And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
Use my hands, use my feet
To make your kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until your work is done'Cause Faith without works is dead
And on the cross your blood was she'd
So how could I not give it away so freely?
And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
I give all myself.
I give all myselfI give all myself... to you.
And I give all myself.
Yes, I give all myself.
And I give all myself... to you.
And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
~Follow You by Leeland

Sufferings

There is a reason for struggles and suffering. They are not put in our lives just to make our life miserable (believe it or not). God places them in our life so that we can grow and learn from them. One thing that Christians forget most of the time (or try not to remember) is that Christ tells us that we are to share in his sufferings. For the longest time I thought that it meant that we were had to suffer a painful death to share in His sufferings. But that’s not true at all. The way one person suffers or struggles is completely different than the way someone else will suffer or struggle. It doesn’t mean that our suffering is going to be extremely painful but it does mean that our suffering is going to be difficult. Difficult for you may be different than what is difficult for me. And a struggle today may not even be considered a struggle tomorrow. But the point is that we are put through these situations so that we can grow and in our growth bringing glory to God.
These past few weeks I have been going through some things that are a struggle for me and one day I feel as if I can’t handle it anymore and the next day it doesn’t even faze me. This is something I was not even considering would be difficult for me here. But in being here during this situation has helped me so much. If I was going through this back home it would be so easy for me to avoid and just not deal with it, but being in Africa it has forced me to come face to face with this struggle. But good has come out of my struggle. The power of prayer has become more relevant to me. I have always known that God answers prayers but never really focused on how much that is true. Each time I pray about this situation I can literally see it getting better and much easier to deal with.

My Life in Africa

Ok, I know, I’m horrible at updating my blog! Sorry!! There has been lots going on around here but it is just hard to put it all into words. Let me just give you a picture of what a typical day for me looks like:
I am working with baby A which is the newborns to about 9 months.
~I wake up (depending on the amount of sleep I get) between 6:30 and 7:30. And eat breakfast which consists of eggs toast and fruit. Then I have a little time to myself where I can do my devotion.
~I go to work with the babies at about 8.Baby A is split into two rooms, one for the older babies and one for the younger. I will walk down into the older room and say hello to everyone and make them laugh and play with them for a little bit. Then I go into the younger room and get whoever is awake out of their cribs and change them and then play and dance and sing with them.
~They get fed every 3-4 hours depending on their age so I will start feeding about 9.
~After they are fed I keep them up for a little bit and make them laugh and keep them entertained until they are tired enough to sleep until their next meal.
~They get fed again about noon and then they go down for another nap and I get a break.
~My break is from 1-4. Usually we will eat lunch together and then head into town or take a nap or read during this time.
~From 4-6 we do outings or projects.
~Outings consist of each of the volunteers here taking a kid and going into town for a soda or a sweetie or going for a walk. Projects are things like scrubbing the cribs or cleaning the rooms, or organizing things.
~Then from 6 till about 7:30 we feed the kids and bathe them and brush their teeth and put them to bed.
~On Saturdays we are basically free to do whatever we want. Usually we will go into town. Sundays we each take a kid to church and then go out for lunch.
So a typical day is a lot of work but it is not too bad. Some days I have had to go to Kampala to take a kid to the doctor which is about a 2 hour drive so that takes up most of the day and then when I get back I am exhausted.
I have seen God in so many different ways here it is amazing! I love being here and meeting all new people and hanging out with the other volunteers. They have become such great friends of mine and we all get along so well! Right now the thought of leaving this place someday soon is heartbreaking. I don’t even want to think about it. As much as I miss my family (especially my sister) I am so in love with everything here it’s going to be hard to have to leave it all. But for now I am thankful for everyday that I have here!
Thank you for all of your prayers! Please continue to pray for the Keck’s, Mayernick’s, Oatsvall’s, Doyle’s, and Hannah’s as they are all in the process of adopting.