Go Go Go Joseph!!!

For our Bible study on Joseph we had each Amani child play the part of Joseph and create a beautiful coat of many colors. The beautiful coats are actually cheapo market T's with strips of African fabric glued on. These kiddos would have thought it was the real deal though! They were so very proud of their beautiful coats and were sure that their brothers would be jealous too if they were the real biblical Joseph.

At Canaan


We couldn't afford to buy 180 T's for our wonderful Canaan kids, so they created sticker coats. They loved using stickers and were equally as proud of their beautiful coats!

Update

Things are getting closer to normal as Arielle's parents and sister prepare to leave tomorrow and we are done hosting. It's been great having them here to visit and they have really embraced Amani life. Today Arielle's mom cooked all morning with mama cook and we all served the mamas a special lunch. They were so grateful and excited. Her mom, dad and sister Bri have loved spending lots of time caring for the babies and the kids have grown to love them lots! Things at Amani are good...no new babies but some room switches and goodbyes have happened. We said goodbye to two big boys a couple weeks ago. Jimmy and Junior have outgrown Amani and have moved on to a wonderful new home, New Destiny. It was sad to say goodbye to them and Amani is definitely different without the two of them around, but we are all confident that they have many new friends and are healthy and happy. They could usually be seen helping the grounds keeper, Joseph, push the wheelbarrow or working on something so I'm sure he is also missing his two little helpers. We also said goodbye to Amberly (Olga) as she left for her new forever family. Happy news for her and her family, but again we were sad to see her go! Hannah and Brian moved out to the toddler house and are doing great. Both are happy and seem to be talking so much more already! Ruthie Lucy is walking pretty well now which is great, but we are all missing her cute little scoot a little bit. That's about it for Amani news...we'll post soon about school and Bible study and our other Ugandan daily happenings.

To love is to serve

We know it's been a while since we've blogged but we've both been busy happily hosting- Rachel's boyfriend Nap is here and so are my (Arielle's) parents and sister, Briana. It's been great having all of them here and having them share in our life here. We've gotten to experience some really neat things since they've been here and I think they are all falling in love with Uganda just like us!
Yesterday we all went to a village about 15 minutes outside Jinja called Masese to hand out more shoes for "Shoes Across Uganda". My parents and Nap were able to bring about 150 more pairs of shoes that people had donated. Thanks again, so much, to those who donated shoes for us to give out! Without all of you, we would never have been able to do it! We were expecting about 150 children but, of course, word spread quickly and there were at least 350 children there! It was crazy and chaotic and we were so thankful to have Nap, my family, and a few friends along to help us attempt to control the crowd of desperate children and mothers. It was really sad to realize as soon as we got there that we didn't have nearly enough shoes for everyone but we also knew that regardless of how many pairs of shoes we would have come with, there would never have been enough. Children would have just come from farther away. It was just as chaotic as our last "massive shoe dump" and it was a bit overwhelming trying to literally hold back the crowd while trying to get the shoes passed out. As the pile got smaller and smaller, children and mothers got more and more desperate because they knew that if they didn't get shoes soon, they wouldn't get them at all. I can't blame any of them for pushing, shoving, and throwing their babies at us, completely ignoring our repeated demands to back up and form lines. It got so out of control that we finally had to pack up the remaining pairs of shoes and take them back to the van. We later gave them to a town official who will finish distributing them for us.
In addition to shoes, we also came with lots and lots of beans and chapati so that even if all of the kids didn't get a new pair of shoes, they could at least have a free, nutritious meal. With the help of some town officials, we organized all of the children into a massive line and served them all. They were so excited and grateful for the small meal that we were able to provide. It took some stretching at the end, but we were able to feed all of the 350 children! They each took their tray of food, found a spot on the red clay ground amid their mud huts, and happily ate their food, flashing their gorgeous smiles in our direction every once in awhile. What started as a very chaotic, sometimes helpless situation, ended much more calmly and we were all able to truly enjoy this wonderful opportunity to serve.
We love this country, culture, and people so much and sometimes it's easy to get lost in the chaos of everyday life. Yesterday was a time for us to embrace the chaos, see past it, and remember how awesome our life and experiences are here!

Canaan School

Along with teaching Bible study twice a week in the afternoons at Amani, Arielle and I have begun teaching twice a week at a village/orphanage school called Canaan. At Canaan we have about 85 children in our class. All of them were eager to learn about Adam and Eve and Noah this past week and loved our Noah's Ark puppet show and creating their own arks in their school books. Although none of the children speak English, we have a translator who works alongside us. Many of these children are sponsored to be at school and therefore know that school is a big deal here in Uganda. We are thankful for this opportunity and are happy to be a part of Canaan school now!

Things are going well at Amani. We have enjoyed meeting 3 new babies since coming home from Sudan. Monica, Benjamin, and Malachi are all sweet and adorable! We are always excited to watch them grow and come out of their shells. Babies get happy so fast when they know they are loved!
We said goodbye to Dan on Thursday. Dan was the last of the original 12 Amani babies when Amani began over 4 years ago. Dan went home with his new dad and will live in America with his dad, mom and siblings. It was truly a joyful time to see him go home. Everyone who has ever known Dan knows he is one of the most special little boys in the whole world. Dan is bright, handsome, kind, silly and sweet. Although we will miss him like crazy we are so happy for him and his new family!

Jimmy's smarter than Adam!!! (as in the first man)

Ar and I bought a children's Bible the other day in Kampala so we could do little Bible lessons with the kids a few afternoons a week. Of course we started with Adam and Eve. After reading the story, we demonstrated the temptation that Adam and Eve had by hanging Tootsie Rolls from a tree, symbolizing the fruit (thanks for the idea Sudan). We had two volunteers, Jimmy as Adam and Melody as Eve. Arielle played God and I was the serpent. Arielle explained to our Adam and Eve that they should not eat the candy. I, on the other hand, told them it was okay and that if they really wanted to eat the sweeties, it was okay. With that Jimmy walked toward the sweeties and was about to grab them. "God" gently reminded him that he wasn't supposed to eat them, and he turned around and was firm in his decision to turn down the Tootsie Rolls. Melody pretty much stood on the side looking like a cute little Eve. We explained to them the importance of obeying God and that everyone sometimse makes mistakes, but God forgives us all the time, all we have to do is ask. All the kids loved our Bible study and were thrilled to receive cookies at the end for being such good listeners. Noah's Ark comes next and it's going to be sweet!

Shopping Spree for Sudan!

This Christmas, my extended family took up a collection for Rachel and I to use sometime during our time here when we found a worthy cause. People were extremely generous, and Rachel and I are so grateful that they saw our work here as something they wanted to contribute towards! Being here, it's sometimes hard to decide what constitutes a "worthy cause" because there seem to be worthy causes everywhere you turn. So many people are struggling, whether it's to get together enough money to send their children to school, someone is sick and needs medicine, or rent has increased and they don't know where they are going to find the extra money. Sometimes it's overwhelming because there's no way you can help everyone. As soon as we got to Sudan and spent a few days at St. Bartholomew's, we knew it was a place that we were supposed to do something for. We were very impressed at the progress that has been made at St. Bartholomew's in the past 5 months since the babies home opened but we also saw it as a great opportunity to use some of the money that has been donated to help make some improvements.

We spent all day yesterday in Kampala, the capital, shopping and deciding how the money could best be used to get things that would be useful there but also be fun for the kids. We were able to buy 4 baby bouncy seats, 3 outdoor baby swings, and 5 boda-bodas (little ride on motorcycle toys) for the kids at the babies home. In addition to providing some entertainment for the kids, we hope that these things will help the kids spend less time in their beds and more time interacting with the staff. The bouncy seats will make it easier for the mamas to bring the babies outside when they have to do work outside and will offer some stimulation. The baby swings will be perfect for the older babies who are just beginning to walk and love spending time outside. We thought it was really important to get some things for the older kids, as well, because they work so hard and although their needs are provided for, they have nothing as far as toys or things to do for fun. Despite this, they are some of the happiest kids I've ever met and have so much fun playing with each other, singing, dancing, and playing games in the dirt. Yes, they are lucky in that they have food, clothes, safety, a place to sleep, and someone to take care of them when they are sick, things that we may take for granted but are luxuries for children in a country like Sudan, and they are so appreciative of everything they have. They never ask for anything and are so grateful for even the smallest things: an afternoon treat of chapati or mandazi, or an offer to come and do artwork for the afternoon. Although they didn't need any special toys, they deserve because they are children and children deserve all that is possible. They deserve to get excited about a gift and have something special that is just for them. We bought a basketball hoop and 2 basketballs for the older boys, some hula-hoops, and multiple packages of string and beads for the older girls to make necklaces and bracelets. The older girls loved doing artwork while we were there and we thought they would have a great time making jewelry that they could then wear! We gave them to Caleb, a volunteer that will be heading back up in the next week and we are hoping the kids can get their new toys on Easter. We also bought some candy that they can have for a special Easter treat.

We had so much fun shopping for these kids and are so thankful for everyone who donated to make it possible. We're bummed that we won't be there to see the look on their faces when they see all of the new things and realize it's all for them, but we know it will be a great day for them!