Think about this . . .

A mom gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but is suffering from postpartum depression.  She lives in a small village where most believe a woman struggling after child birth has been possessed by demons and therefore do not seek medical help for her.  Her husband leaves to go work every day and she cannot cope, so she beats her newborn mercilessly.  The husband realizes what she is doing and chases her away.  But, he still has to go to work so he leaves the baby at home alone when he is less than 7 months old.  Villagers report a baby crying, alone, inside a home every day.  The police get the baby and can tell something is wrong with him, so they take him to a nearby baby home for care.  This is the story of Hassan.  His mother beat him so badly

Well, we knew it was inevitable and figured Cole would be the first victim and we were right!  Jiggers . . . fun little creatures (fleas, actually) that dig themselves into your feet.  Many ministries actually require all visiting teams to wear closed toed shoes at all times to prevent anyone from getting jiggers.  We think it is too hot for that, but have tried to be good about at least keeping shoes on our kids. . . it is about as effective with a 1-year-old as you can imagine.  So, after 9 months in country, we have our first jigger.  We know they get bad and can cause serious problems if you don’t get them out quickly, so as soon as Matt saw it last night we knew it had to come out.

Matt tried to get it out just based on how we had heard people describe the

I realize that when it comes to raising children, I am completely dependent on the Lord.  If I neglect to train the children given to me by God to care for, then I am placing those children before the Lord in my life.  My goal will always be to bring my children into true worship of God so they can be free from selfishness and live life with a heart that is in full repentance to God.  To accomplish this, I will intentionally bring my children up in the ways of the Lord rather than getting caught up in disciplining them.  I will not use fear, lies, or half-truths to try to force my children into obedience.  My tongue will not be used in the place of discipline.  Every time I ask a child to do something, I must see that they obey – even if that obedience comes

The immaculate grounds and pristine facilities can be seen from a mile away.  There is no trash to be found.  The kids walk in a straight line with their family mother from their “cottage” to the dining hall for lunch.  After lunch, all 102 will return home for a mandated nap time.  Rules are strict and enforced.  Order and discipline are not options.  House moms keep a notebook to record the disciplinary actions they take with each child in their home.  House rules are clear and posted.  The children must memorize them and when a rule is broken, the house mom can point to the rule that is broken and enforce the appropriate punishment.  A rigid schedule is followed every day.   All staff, students, workers, and administrators do the same Bible Study each week so that they are brought together cross-culturally by the Word of God.  There is

We set out early Friday morning to drive to Kampala and begin our tour of other children’s villages.  After applying all my anti-motion sickness remedies, I was ready to handle a day sitting in the middle of the bus on not so good roads.  So as not to cause problems, I am going to leave out all the names of the villages we visited.

What they all shared that I loved and want to see as a part of Abaana’s Hope:  a primary school that serves children in the community in addition to the children under the care of the organization, and all base their goals and ministries on God’s Word.

What I did not like about them:  3 of 4 did not have a father figure living in the home.  One ministry said they do not have dads because they are the reason for broken families?!?  Shouldn’t that be more

“Unless something is built on the Word of God, it will fall.”  We firmly believe that statement and are so thankful that our training at New Hope has given us such a wonderful example of what it means to truly do everything based on God’s Word.  One aspect of the vision of Abaana’s Hope is to move toward self-sufficiency.  No, I do not mean that we think we can do anything apart from God or that we are relying on our own strength, skills, or wisdom.  Self-sufficiency means to have all that you need; to be adequate; not looking to others to meet your needs.

2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us that God’s power has given us everything that we need for life and godliness.  He HAS given – past tense . . . we already have everything that we need.  Nothing that we accomplish is about us – it is

After a year of envisioning a full-fledged internship program, we have our first group set to arrive in 30 days!  10 awesome, Christian, college students will join us at our house in Gulu on June 1.  They will live with us and minister with us as we learn together about the needs and skills of the people of Gulu.  Many plans and preparations still need to be made . . . like we need to move into the house ourselves (May 26)!  And they have a book to read and questions to answer (“When Helping Hurts”) in addition to packing, fundraising, and preparing themselves for life in Africa.  But, we are all so excited that the day of their arrival is close enough to count down to.

We were blessed with more interest in the program than we had available slots, so the interns had to fill out a fairly

Last week was a week full of suffering . . . at least in class.  (We actually had a wonderful week as a family, so do not get worried!)  Did you know that one of the themes of Bible is the unrighteous persecution of the righteous?  When you think you are alone in your suffering, you should pull out your Bible and see how God always uses suffering for His glory . . . even when it is hard to see or feel.  God never promises us that He will give us the “why” behind our suffering, but He gives us a firm foundation to stand on to deal with our suffering – His Word!

One of the biggest things I learned is how inadequate my view of suffering is.  I have always buried my own suffering – preventing God from guiding me to proper recovery, which has also prevented

Imagine this . . .

You are at home at night, trying to bathe your kids and get them to bed when suddenly there is a knock at the door.  You go to the door and it is someone you have never seen before.  You say “hello” and they say “hello” and then just stand there.  What do you do?

This is how the scenario would play out in Uganda:  They begin to take off their shoes to come inside – you still do not know who they are, but – you welcome them in by saying “You are most welcome.”  You pull up a chair for them, offer them a drink and something to eat, and then proceed to introduce yourself and hear them tell who they are.  Keep in mind that you still have no clue why they are at your house and to ask or hurry them along