It's all my fault!

I am single.... and it is all my fault!

For many years, I have gone through times in my singleness and wondered what is wrong with me?  What am I doing wrong? I have since realized that it is not what is wrong with me or what I am doing wrong but what I am doing right!

Today I realized... it is ALL my fault that I am single.

It is my "fault" that I chose to follow God instead of man...

It is my "fault" that I am stubborn and won't settle for less than God's best...

It is my "fault" that I see many men as brothers in Christ and not necessarily as husband material...

It is my "fault" that when God says go... I listen and obey even if it means to the other side of the world...

It is my "fault" that I have guarded my heart and won't give it to just anybody...

It is my "fault" that I desire to love and be loved second only to God...

It is my "fault" that I won't allow a man to belittle or abuse me...

By this point you are probably curious what brought this tangent on today... After church today a friend and I were chatting in my parlor and I made the comment...Be on guard... he's looking for a wife... the friend responded... "I am not sure why that is a difficult thing.  When I made the decision that I didn't want to be alone any longer I have had no problem finding someone to be with."

It got me thinking... I have had some amazing guys in my life that have showed me glimpses of what I want in a husband but it is my "fault" that I have put God first.  When I made that decision to follow Christ wherever he called... that is exactly what I planned to do. 

I have recently joked that my future husband is going to need to be a fast runner to catch up with me and have very strong arms to hold on to me.  I am running this race set before me with all the strength and joy coming from Christ alone. 

So if you ask why I am still single... I will take all the blame...

It's all my "fault"... I am waiting on God's best... because He loves me more than I can imagine!

And just to clarify... this entire post was meant to be tongue in cheek.  I was laughing when I put it together at all the comments through the years that I have received from well meaning people desiring to see me get married.  After my friend left today, I was washing dishes at the sink and it hit me.... that my singleness has been my choice to follow where God leads over what people say I should/shouldn't do... so when I make that choice... I am the only one to "blame" or at "fault".  Love the feedback because it shows me that someone is at least reading my blog!!!  LOL!

Answers

God's word says "seek and you shall find...ask and the answers will be given to you".  Well for weeks I have been petitioning the throne of grace for answers to the direction he ultimately wants me going after grad school is finished.  Even though the answers I received last night look nothing how my minds eye thought they would and I know that some people in my life will be overjoyed with the decisions and others may not....I am at peace with the answers and know they are from my heavenly Father.

These answers came when I least expected in a form that caught me off guard.  Wisdom and suggestions from spiritual family was what God used this time to bring answers.  God is so faithful to provide when we ask and I am blessed!

So just in case you're wondering... nope I am not sharing my answers at this point... just that I got them and I know that all will eventually come out but at this point ... the answers aren't finished baking and I don't want to serve a half baked cake.

My wilderness

Tonight I spent some serious time with my heavenly father having a heart to heart chat.  Ultimately it started with me asking for direction and then led to all the things that I am grateful for.  I was again reminded so very gently that if it was good for me to know at the moment then I would have the direction I desire. So I guess I am still in the holding pattern of my wilderness. 

Nabisooto has become my wilderness of sorts... you know in the biblical perspective of where God leads you to grow you closer to him...to prepare you for the promised land set before you.  It has been a place where God has stripped me of my pride and selfishness... it has brought out more  weaknesses than I can count... it has led me on a quest to have a quiet and gentle spirit especially when times are tough.  It has given me solitude but not loneliness.  He has been by my side every step of this journey.  It has confirmed the true desire of my heart. It has taught me to love the unlovely. To give until it hurts. To have my heart broken when there are situations that I can't fix.  It has given me greater hope in what He is doing. 

Every aspect of this has been about Him... I can't take any credit except that I listened and obeyed.

I am grateful for...
People that believed in me even when I didn't or don't....
Those friends that keep the notes, letters, and cards coming...
Time to write...
Moments that I can dance with my brown eyed cuties...
Endless amounts of time in the evening to study God's word and pray
Prayer warriors in my life that stand in the gap for me when I don't have  the strength to fight...
Not being able to thwart the plans of God even with my strong will and stubbornness...
Obedience  in others to listen when God speaks and come along side to assist...

'I don't understand your English'

While I was cleaning up chiildren's chuch this morning... two boys came wandering up. One I recognized but it had been awhile...the other I had not met. I stopped my work to catch up with the boy I recognized in the red shirt... the other boy cowered in the shadows...curious but never coming forward. 

After a few minutes of casual catching up... how are you? What grade are you going into? And other like questions.... I turned my attention to the other boy standing before me asking the same questions....  the boy in the red shirt answers for him... "he does not speak...his mother died 5 years ago...his father two years ago...he doesn't go to school"... the boy is probably around 7 or 8 if I had to guess.

So after hearing all of this I asked... who does he live with...his jaja(grandparent)?... the response was.... all the jaja's died... in order  to lighten the mood that just got rather heavy... I asked... where does he live? Does he sleep in the matoke tree?...the boy in the red shirt looks at me very puzzled and says "I don't understand your English. Look at his clothes... he didn't have so I gave him some of mine.  We take care of him. God said we need to take care of others"

I agreed with him and told the boys that God loved them and so do I.  Within a few minutes they wandered away and it hit me...  These little ones may not understand my English at times but they understand my heart.  They are real!

All of this coming from a young man going into P5...equivalent to a 5th grader.

Treasure not trash

Numerous times in scripture children are referred to as a blessing or a treasure... even Jesus made time in his schedule to spend time with the children.  And I know I am not a parent and some people say that I don't understand but I would beg to differ.

It is appalling to me how village children are treated.   They are 'created' to work and nothing else... if education interferes with the work then it is education that is stopped.  They are taught how to dig, fetch water, and keep their compound clean from the time they are young.  They are not taught things like responsibility or the importance of maintenence of what they have.

Which brings me to the situation today that left me furious...not because it happened but because it happened TWICE!  One of our staff has her 2 year old grandson living with her.  The child is rather fussy when he doesn't get his way so needless to say anytime he whines and fusses he gets whatever he wants.  The staff's housing is about 100 yards from my apartment and the clinic... not a far distance but there are several obstacles that limit "keeping an eye on the child".  The first time the child came up to the veranda and just sat down... no words... just a pouty face.  So after several minutes I put down what I was working on and walked to inquire of the staff what the little boy needed knowing full well... he doesn't speak English and I don't speak 2 year old Luganda.  I was given the answer... he just wanted the ball to which I responded "and how am I to understand that is what he wanted?  Next time he needs something one of you get up and accompany him."

Two hours later, I am sharpening colored pencils for the classrooms and I hear a little one crying and continually say the Luganda word for Nurse....the kind of crying typical of a child getting a shot.  Knowing it is a clinic it didn't bother me until 15 minutes went by and this behavior is still going on... I again left my apartment and went over to the clinic and found the same little boy just sobbing and standing in the middle of the clinic by himself.  This time I stepped out of the clinic and saw that the staff along with two others were sitting on their front porch just chatting and having lunch.  I asked in a rather loud voice why the little one was in the clinic all by himself crying?  The response ... he is looking for the nurse.  So I went back in to the clinic to see if the nurse was in there and I got no response so I picked up the little boy, calmed him down, and we walked again to the staff's house.  I explained the situation that the nurse was not in there and the little boy had been crying and screaming for about 15 minutes.  The response was... he was supposed to be calling the nurse for lunch.  We didn't know she was not there.

Urgh!  I deposited the child and walked away before I could express what I really wanted to say.  Yes I was irritated of my work being interrupted but more bothered by the fact that this 2 year old is wandering around for 15 + minutes by himself and the only response I get is we didn't know.  This is not a one time occurance but happens numerous times a day where parents are not aware of where their children are.  Children as young as 2 and 3 are left to wander from the time they get up at 6am til dark. 

Crafting and more brown eyed cuties

Well the past two months... I have been on "summer break" from school.  My days have been spent writing policies and procedures... putting teacher and family handbooks together... and getting things ready for our 2nd year at Integrity Primary School.  The afternoons/early evenings have been spent hanging out with the brown eyed cuties.  My evenings have been spent writing and crafting!  Just some simple picts from the past couple of weeks!

Inspired by light covers at a friend's house in Kenya... I made my own!

My mat is still going... 2/3 of the way there!  Very time consuming.

My darling brown eyed cuties trying to be muzungu... we were playing with chalk!

Just absolutely precious!  Started a children's church on Sunday mornings.  Been having around 20-25 children and this is one of them enjoying her biscuit for snack.

The last of my sunflowers... harvested the seeds and roasted them... the kiddos loved them!

Sheba helping me knit a washcloth!

Ivan really wanted a pict with me so I let one of the other children take the pict with my tablet... this is the only one where our heads weren't completely cut off... and Harriet's face is adorable!

White lady...black heart

It has been 4 months since I was introduced by the well intentioned village pastor at church as ... "this is Mamma Angela... the white lady with the black heart".  Since that moment the kids no longer call me muzungu but mudugav (their term for black).  My actual skin color has only gotten lighter as my sun exposure has been limited but my 'black' heart is seeping through.

At this moment my black heart is breaking... a war is going on in there over trying to be tough and not think about what is going on around me versus the sensitive side that wants these children to survive and thrive.  I am realizing that one of the reasons I was put on this earth was to be an advocate for children.

These children are a daily reminder of how Jesus desires us to be... open, loving, and real with one another.  I have had some humbling experiences this week that have brought me on my knees before the King of the universe asking why I deserve the sweet, precious moments I have with these little brown eyed cuties.

Tears are welling up in my eyes as I am thinking of a few nights ago when two of the little brown eyed cuties came to my window after dark asking 'Mamma Angela May I please have food?'...they were so desperate to ask they came after dark so they wouldn't be seen and get punished.  After checking into the situation... today I find out there is no food at home... their source of food and income has been ruined by the recent drought... and they are living off of sour cassava which tastes so horrible that it is being burned as kindling by our school cook. 

The humbling fact is my cat get better food than that and on the particular night these little ones came to my window I had just given Sheba the leftover chicken scraps from my dinner.  Jesus called us to take care of the widows and orphans... he also said that we were to feed and clothe those in need.  There were no stipulations attached.  How many times do I 'need' to go to the store because there is nothing to eat... when my pantry is filled and my refrigerator and freeze are stocked? 

There are times my heart inwardly feels trapped in this 'small' apartment... maybe 300 to 400 sq ft...  but then one of older brown eyed cuties makes a comment like 'doesn't it get scary and lonely in that big house all by yourself?'...to get me to realize that he is one of 7 that live in a mud hut the size of my apartment bedroom (around 100 sq ft)... so my apartment would seem huge to him.

I am really not trying to be the voice of conviction... just sharing the cultural as well as personal struggle that life in the village is causing.  I am realizing more and more that God has brought me to this wilderness to open my eyes and strip me of my selfishness.  When someone asks what my needs are and I can only come up with necessities for my brown eyed cuties...I know God is doing an amazing work because I am a very selfish person and without Jeaus my heart would truly be black!

Muddy living

After downloading some books by Beth Moore the other day, I started reading one tonight.  It was a Bible study I had done many years ago but in book form entitled Believing God.  Since that has been my struggle lately in a couple of areas of my life I thought I should read it.

I got the book barely started and this story of ducks playing in a mud puddle when there was a clean pond within sight caught my attention.  That is where I stopped and had an aha moment.

Let me try to explain the background of my aha moment.... since before the new year started I have been praying for God's guidance and direction in my life.  There have been some promises spoken during my quiet time with Him that I have been trying to figure out how they will be fulfilled.  There have also been numerous dreams that I am trying to get clarification on.  For whatever reason...the date of January 10th kept coming to mind when I sought answers so silly me thought there would be something in the line of direction given by this date. Well the day came and went and even though it was a good day... there were no answers... not a single one.

This got me thinking.... what if I tried my options and did things my way?  So for the past two days I have ben pondering how to get the ball rolling so that I can get what I want.  (Now that I just wrote that down it sounds very selfish...but I am being honest!).  I had come up with a couple of ideas and was going to start 'working on' them this week.  Which brings me to this evening... here is why the above story in the book convicted me...

Why am I going to settle on a muddy puddle when there is a clean pond just ahead?  Yes the muddy puddle is cool and convenient but the pond is clean and comfortable...clearly God's best is worth taking a few extra steps and waiting just a bit longer.  I understand this concept in the brain God gave me but my heart is acting like the little girl off of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory that cries...'but daddy I want it NOW!'.

One of these days God is going to give me exactly what I think I want but there will be consequences attached as I didn't wait on His timing and His best.  I am going to end up muddy and limited in my space where God desires me to have plenty of clean water to swim around in.

So for this moment I choose to wait on His timing and believe that He will provide answers when I am good and ready.  Until then I will put my ideas and plans to jump ahead of God into the muddy puddle in the trash.

Muddy living

After downloading some books by Beth Moore the other day, I started reading one tonight.  It was a Bible study I had done many years ago but in book form entitled Believing God.  Since that has been my struggle lately in a couple of areas of my life I thought I should read it.

I got the book barely started and this story of ducks playing in a mud puddle when there was a clean pond within sight caught my attention.  That is where I stopped and had an aha moment.

Let me try to explain the background of my aha moment.... since before the new year started I have been praying for God's guidance and direction in my life.  There have been some promises spoken during my quiet time with Him that I have been trying to figure out how they will be fulfilled.  There have also been numerous dreams that I am trying to get clarification on.  For whatever reason...the date of January 10th kept coming to mind when I sought answers so silly me thought there would be something in the line of direction given by this date. Well the day came and went and even though it was a good day... there were no answers... not a single one.

This got me thinking.... what if I tried my options and did things my way?  So for the past two days I have ben pondering how to get the ball rolling so that I can get what I want.  (Now that I just wrote that down it sounds very selfish...but I am being honest!).  I had come up with a couple of ideas and was going to start 'working on' them this week.  Which brings me to this evening... here is why the above story in the book convicted me...

Why am I going to settle on a muddy puddle when there is a clean pond just ahead?  Yes the muddy puddle is cool and convenient but the pond is clean and comfortable...clearly God's best is worth taking a few extra steps and waiting just a bit longer.  I understand this concept in the brain God gave me but my heart is acting like the little girl off of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory that cries...'but daddy I want it NOW!'.

One of these days God is going to give me exactly what I think I want but there will be consequences attached as I didn't wait on His timing and His best.  I am going to end up muddy and limited in my space where God desires me to have plenty of clean water to swim around in.

So for this moment I choose to wait on His timing and believe that He will provide answers when I am good and ready.  Until then I will put my ideas and plans to jump ahead of God into the muddy puddle in the trash.

Muddy living

After downloading some books by Beth Moore the other day, I started reading one tonight.  It was a Bible study I had done many years ago but in book form entitled Believing God.  Since that has been my struggle lately in a couple of areas of my life I thought I should read it.

I got the book barely started and this story of ducks playing in a mud puddle when there was a clean pond within sight caught my attention.  That is where I stopped and had an aha moment.

Let me try to explain the background of my aha moment.... since before the new year started I have been praying for God's guidance and direction in my life.  There have been some promises spoken during my quiet time with Him that I have been trying to figure out how they will be fulfilled.  There have also been numerous dreams that I am trying to get clarification on.  For whatever reason...the date of January 10th kept coming to mind when I sought answers so silly me thought there would be something in the line of direction given by this date. Well the day came and went and even though it was a good day... there were no answers... not a single one.

This got me thinking.... what if I tried my options and did things my way?  So for the past two days I have ben pondering how to get the ball rolling so that I can get what I want.  (Now that I just wrote that down it sounds very selfish...but I am being honest!).  I had come up with a couple of ideas and was going to start 'working on' them this week.  Which brings me to this evening... here is why the above story in the book convicted me...

Why am I going to settle on a muddy puddle when there is a clean pond just ahead?  Yes the muddy puddle is cool and convenient but the pond is clean and comfortable...clearly God's best is worth taking a few extra steps and waiting just a bit longer.  I understand this concept in the brain God gave me but my heart is acting like the little girl off of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory that cries...'but daddy I want it NOW!'.

One of these days God is going to give me exactly what I think I want but there will be consequences attached as I didn't wait on His timing and His best.  I am going to end up muddy and limited in my space where God desires me to have plenty of clean water to swim around in.

So for this moment I choose to wait on His timing and believe that He will provide answers when I am good and ready.  Until then I will put my ideas and plans to jump ahead of God into the muddy puddle in the trash.

Responsibilty

As I am laying here stretched out on the living room floor my mind is reeling over which topic to write on first...  so I think I will do the events of the afternooon and then will breach the topic of muddy living.

It is Sunday evening.... the day has been one filled with laughter, connect 4 matches, and singing of Bible verses.  At any given point of the day I have had 15 to 20 children on the veranda playing.  This is one day of the week that there are really no rules on when they can play. 

By the afternoon I get called out by one of the ladies asking why the older boys have the ball and I realized they had taken the little girls playground ball and were using it as a futbol.  First of all the boys were told not to take the girls ball as it is not made to be kicked as hard as they do and second the big boys had been told that in order to get the real futbol I needed permission from this particular lady.  (They had been dodging work to play futbol.) Unbeknownst to me a basin had gotten broken last night while these boys were playing and no one took responsibility.

When I pulled these boys aside and said that the basin needs to be replaced before the ball can be given out... the excuses started flying...I didn't do it... I don't have money...etc.  so I told them I don't care whose fault it was but responsibility needs to be taken if anyone wants the ball back. If money was an issue I am sure we had some digging  that needed to be done so they could earn the money.  If they were interested they could come by in the morning and jobs would be given.

The basin is only about 6000 UGX to be replaced or about $2.50 but it is the principle of taking responsibility for actions.  I desire these boys to be responsible young men who do what is right!

Everything you ever wanted to know...

about sending things to Uganda!!!

Providing mattresses, bed sheets, and
mosquito nets to Kenneth's family!

I have been overwhelming blessed by the number of people who desire to come alongside and help with the ministry here...  whether through prayers, encouragement, financial support, or school supplies.

Our goal is to provide the basic necessities to families in need and to give them the hope of Jesus!  We do this by providing education, medical care, and the message of salvation and that someone loves them within the village.

Instead of sending you on a wild goose chase through my hard to follow blog... I thought I would put all the links in one place so that any and all of your questions could be answered (I hope!).

As you are going through past blogs, there may be a line through some of the school supplies.  Even though these are crossed out it is an on going need as well as financial support for our building projects and sponsorship for our children (you can find children that need to be sponsored on my facebook page).

As the upcoming school year for Integrity Primary School starts on February 3rd... there are some goals that I have set for the upcoming school year...
Goal 1:  Make sure each teacher is equipped and provided for...  I am in process of going through supplies and preparing for each classroom as well as for staff development. (Our teacher's make equivalent to about $75 per month... and that is considered decent pay here in Uganda but it leaves very little room to buy much needed supplies out of their pocket!)  When we start we will have baby class, middle class, top class, P1 and P2... so 5 classrooms of little brown eyed cuties or about 120 children at this point!  Always need things like crayons, colored pencils, and other educational supplies.
Goal 2:  Set up a small library for the children to come and "check-out" books. I am looking for some library pockets to go in books so that the children can borrow them along with note cards and a date stamp.  Can also always use more children's books.
Goal 3:  Make resources that will last long past me being here... in order to preserve posters and other items we need contact paper and big rolls of wide clear tape.
Goal 4:  Finish writing all the policies and procedures along with the teacher and family handbooks.  One of the things I noticed to ensure security on campus is needing name tags for visitors or some sort of visitors pass.

So here are the links of previous blogs... this is where it all started... HOW CAN I HELP??
http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-can-i-help.html

After visiting Uganda and seeing first hand what was needed... this list was compiled...
http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/04/updated-needs-for-uganda.html

Some other ideas with putting together supplies for the classrooms...

 http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/10/adopt-classroom.html

http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/10/updated-needs-list.html

And last but not least... some ideas on how to assemble a care package...

http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/06/care-package-101.html

If you are planning on hand delivering items... check with the airlines on how much you can carry internationally as sometimes special exceptions are made when they know you are bringing "humanitarian supplies" to a 3rd world country.

Other ways you can help...make a financial donation to the ministry at https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/InTheFieldMinistriesITFM/donate2.html

Should you have any questions feel free to contact me directly.

Victories in battle

As I have sat here pondering how to even start explaining the events of the day , it finally hit me... we don't fight against flesh and blood but against the enemy in the spiritual realm. 

For the past few weeks I have been reading how when the Isrealites went in to battle ... if the LORD was on their side they were always victorious.  Even when Gideon's army was cut down from 32,000 men to 300 they still won because the LORD wanted the victory.

This post is not so much on the spiritual battle and war that is being waged over the hearts and souls of this village but on the victories that have been won today!  I will preface what I am about to say with this... spiritual battle is real and if you call yourself a Christian and have never experienced a spiritual attack or believe in spiritual battle I ask you to examine your faith.

After a couple of weeks of discouraging events... being told that I am being a distraction to the children by allowing them to play games or kick the ball around... being told that I need to stop spending time with the little brown eyed cuties so they can work... being told one thing in meetings but then the opposite taking place... and being blamed for not stepping up to do things that they were "expecting" me to do... I had just about had it and was ready to throw in the towel.  (This was exactly what the enemy wanted.) Anyway I have prayed about what God has me here for and it is these children so I am ignoring those trying to distract and focusing on what He has called me to. 

Today was to be the first Sunday of hosting children's church on the veranda outside of my apartment.  Long story short... the village church had a time for children's church but needed some assistance as the program was down to just a couple of children plus I was being a huge distraction to the entire church as the pastor felt like he had to preach to me in English leaving the others struggling to get the point of the message through a translator.  So the Pastor and I met about these things and I offered to start training some of the women in the church how to teach the children. 

So the victories of the day...

Children's church was to start at 10am... I had little ones at my window at 7am wanting my attention.  They were eager to get started andin aculture where everyone is late to have group of children ready to start before 9:45 was amazing!

We ended up having 20 children come to children's church not including those across the road slowly doing their chores of getting matoke so they could hear the bible lesson and not get in trouble for not working.

Jen (the girl from Another brown eyed cutie story)  had told me earlier in the week that her parents weren't allowing her to come because she was Catholic... she was so broken hearted about not being able to come... so yesterday Hannington and I walked to her house and talked to her dad and Jen came to tell me this morning that she will come every other Sunday to children's church here and the other Sunday's she will go to Sebanda to the Catholic Church.   She was so excited!

Hannington and I were also able to discuss with the families about why we are here as a ministry and that we as a community need to work together.  It is not my goal to distract the children from work but to encourage them to finsih their work in order to come play... the issue came down that the children weren't telling me the truth about being done with their work.  So we came up with a solution and all is good!

So I am counting these victories as blessings and reminded that spiritual battles are not fought on our feet but on our knees and that we aren't called to go into battle alone!  Thank you to the prayer warriors in my life that help in waging war!  You are appreciated!

Fearfully and wonderfully made

As today is the first day of a new year and many women (and men for that matter) set losing weight as their top new year's resolution.. I want to challenge you with this idea.

Recently a friend posted how her 6 year old daughter was already making comments about her body image and that to hear this from a mother's heart was devastating.  This got me thinking as to what our culture is teaching our girls. 

I grew up with the mindset of thin is in and that no one would really love you unless you were 'perfect'.  Needless to say I struggled for more years that I can count with all of the negatives about my body along with a food addiction.  For generations American women especially have strived to starve themselves...try every diet known to mankind... and when these aren't enough going under the knife to sculpt the body to perfection.  Not really going into who is to blame but what we as women can do to fight this cultural espionage so it doesn't continue to destroy our young girls.

Currently I am living in a cultural where big is beautiful and where 'fat'is a complement rather than a jab.   To be known as 'fat' or 'big' here means that you are provided for.  Men are not looking for skinny women as they are not able to produce babies and be strong enough to work digging. Honestly it has taken me time to get used to some of these remarks as it still stings to be called fat even though it is said with tones of admiration.

So as the battle wages on the western front to be thin... I want to challenge each mother, grandmother, aunty, and woman  that you are perfect the way God made you...thick or thin... short or tall... Your body was meant to serve a purpose and we should be working to keep it healthy not a particular size.  Stop wasting money on diets and pills and start investing in living intentional lives.

My body may not fit into my cultural norm but it has done some amazing, powerful things and has the potential to do more.
...these legs have carried me across the finish line of the Honolulu marathon and up to the peak of Mt. Sinai.
...these arms have rocked countless little ones to sleep, have comforted numerous hurting friends, have carried loads of brick, rock, and firewood, and have played games of teeball, football, and catch with some of my favorite little ones
...these hands have made blankets, scarves, scrapbooks, and a variety of other handiwork to pass on to others, have written notes of encouragement,  and have provided pats on the back for a job well done
... these feet have carried me more places than I have room to mention, have walked many miles with friends just talking story, have danced praises to my Lord, have stood firm as an advocate for ones with no voice
...this body may one day carry the life of a child... or have to support an aging parent... or have to walk hand in hand with the one I love down the beach at sunset.

I want to live a healthy life so that I am able to do these things and so much more.  There is a world of possibilities that our bodies are capable of and this is the legacy I want to leave  ... not an obsession with the number on the scale or a particular size.  The goal is to eat healthy and exercise regularly to feel goodmand be happy.  The girls in my life will know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.  We are unique and special and the God of the universe desires to use you.

Another brown eyed cutie story!

All of these little brown eyed cuties are very dear to my heart.  Since all the children are home from school for the holidays I am getting to meet more of the older siblings.  One of these children is 10 year old Immaculate Jenifer N.  She is the older sister to some of the little brown eyed cuties at Integrity Primary School.  Her family lives across the road from where I live and her family has one father and  a couple of mothers so I am really not sure who are true siblings and who are half siblings or cousins.

For the past several evenings we have ended up coloring or playing games on the veranda while talking.  Yesterday she came to my apartment twice during the day... she always calls me to the door by saying..."come to the door and open it so I can show you the surprise I have for you"... very articulate young lady! So the first time she came bringing mangos and then the 2nd time to bring dyed reeds for the mat I am making.  Earlier when she saw the mat... she told me it was the best one she had ever seen...

This morning as I was making breakfast she again came to the door with new year greetings  and a surprise... the surprise was a hand written letter in a hand made envelope.  This is what the letter said...

Dear Angella,

Praise the Lord our God.  It's nice that we have successfly completed the year 2013 with God's protection.

I, Immaculate, am very glad to write to you thanking you for the things you do for us like- giving us bop it, colours to shade, Jenga, etc.  May the Lord reward you.  I conclude by wishing you a happy new year's celebration. 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Your loving friend,

Immaculate N.

She also gave me a color picture where she drew me as her best friend.  Will have to post the picture as it is a great representation of me!  You can truly see the hearts of these children and how truly dear they are to my heart.