Well, I just spent over an hour writing a post and when I added the photos I lost everything.  I don't know where it went, but I guess it was not for today. 

I hope you will enjoy the pictures of the new building and land that will one day provide the space for educating, discipling and providing hope, healing and sustainability for the village of Kamiigo and the surrounding villages.   May your day be blessed.  

We are in a busy season of getting ready for a family wedding next month.  I've been trying to get the house ready and then head out of town today.  Late yesterday morning I realized I hadn't gotten much done yet for the day.  As I was talking with a family member who's here helping me this month, all of a sudden out of my mouth came, "I didn't make my bed this morning."  She was a little confused, so I pulled up a video I had seen a year or two ago that is probably one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen.  It is a message to a Texas university by a Navy Seal Admiral. I hope you'll take time to watch to it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sK3wJAxGfs

We listened to the video while standing at the stove making breakfast, and then I went upstairs and made my bed. The rest of the day went so much better.  

The lessons in this short video are so powerful.  You will be so inspired after you watch this.  

I want to leave you with a few powerful quotes from the video.  

"If you wanna change the world, start off by making your bed."
"If you wanna change the world, don't back down from the sharks."
"If you wanna change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart not by the size of their flippers." 
"One person can change the world by giving people hope."

God bless you today.  

Hello Everybody!!!  It is hard to believe it's already been three weeks since we got back from Uganda.  There is so much that happens when we are over there that it is hard to know where to start.  I've posted photos on the facebook page, so I hope you'll read about our trip as you look at the photos.  https://www.facebook.com/That-The-WORLD-Will-Know-420502065123464/?modal=admin_todo_tour

The greatest thing for me this trip was taking my special needs daughter.  How she responded in Uganda would determine the future of ministry there for me.  Alyssa is very much a routine person.  Autism doesn't allow for much flexibility, so I knew it would take a lot of prayer and God's grace for her to thrive in Uganda. 

One of the things I struggled with beforehand was, "what if she couldn't handle it?  How would I be involved long-term if she couldn't be part of that, since I'm her guardian?  What would that look like for Kamiigo?"

God had opened the door to Africa for me after 35 years, and I knew it had to work for Alyssa as well.  All I could do was pray and trust that whatever happened it was in God's hands.  As always, He accomplished exceedingly abundantly beyond all I asked in that regard. 

Alyssa has a heart of compassion and the gift of mercy. She can see pain in people and minister without words.  I wondered how her heart would react to so much pain and if her heart could handle it.

It was really amazing when Alyssa saw the children in the village for the first time.  Instead of seeing pain, she saw special needs, like her. She did not see poverty and pain. She saw herself.  So she decided to adopt all children as "her children."  She was up every day ready to go see "my children" as she called them.

Her role became passing out sweets. As I was siting one day watching her pass out sweets, it hit me that the picture I was observing was the same picture I had in my mind as a teenager when my desire was to live in Africa.  Since I had never been there, the only picture I could envision as a teenager was sitting on a stump feeding the children.  And here was Alyssa, sitting in a chair wherever we went, passing out sweets. 

To see Alyssa have such purpose and such joy fulfilling her purpose was more than I could have hoped for.  She was created for Uganda.  She grew in so may ways while we were there.  It was beautiful to watch her, and she asks continually when we are going back.

Like Alyssa, every one of us has a purpose and every one of us has special needs.  Regardless of what our "special needs" are, God has put His seed in us.  We are to water it with our works and He will do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we can ask or think.  We will thrive in the purpose He set out for us.

I look forward to the time Alyssa will be able to go again and see "her children."

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoy the photos and stories.  God bless you.  

"Eclectic - deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.”
Wow, what a life! I don't quite know where to begin. Every day I wake up to a new day that will be different than the day before. If there is one thing that is certain in my life it is the uncertainty of each day. 

Someone I considered a friend once said to me "you're so electric. You never stick with anything.” It wasn't meant to be a compliment. So I meditated and prayed on that thought for some time, wondering if something was wrong with me. Why can't I stick with something?

I came to the conclusion that being eclectic didn't mean that there was something wrong with me. It meant that I view life through a lens that there is so much to see and do and learn and experience in God's world that I want to experience as much of it as I can while I'm on this earth. My soul is not satisfied, as someone else’s would be, to do the same thing each day. 

During the years when there have been seasons of wandering in the wilderness, where it was hard to see and learn and embrace all the newness in each day, it caused me to have to work hard to still see. To see God's hand, even if I didn't understand it. To know He's there, even if it didn't seem like it. To trust Him no matter how hard life was because there was nothing else certain in life that I could trust in. To never give up because I knew God would see me through. And He always has. There was always a sliver of His glory peaking through and I’m so thankful for those slivers that kept me going and kept my faith in God.

And so I love being eclectic. I love that I am in a new season of life. I love the newness that each day is bringing. Every day is filled with so much "new" that by the time I want to write a post I've already had a hundred new things that I've done or learned, and it's hard to go back when there's so much going forward.

I love learning new things. I love meeting new people. I love watching each of my unique children learn and discover what drives and motivates them. I love discovering how to run a different type of business than the one before, or a non-profit for the first time. I love experiencing different cities and states and towns and countries and the amazing people in each of them.

So for however long this new “eclectic” season and this new journey take me, I want to learn everything my Creator has for me so that I can use it for His glory. 
Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men..." Berean Study Bible.

I pray that verse for each of you reading this today. Whether you are just getting through the day with your sanity, or you are needing to slow down long enough to smell the roses along the way, or raising little ones that zap every ounce of energy you have, or teenagers who cannot appreciate your sacrifice, or trying to figure out your purpose in life, whatever your days may bring, I pray you will work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, knowing that there will be a season when you look back and see all the ways He used each and every new thing in your life. 
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Well... that was random and not at all what I was planning to post today. I guess someone needed that reminder today. I know I did. Have a blessed week!