My heart has been taken.

Bethany loved the fruit snacks that Uncle Mark sent...they have no idea about the M&M's that Auntie Rita sent! I have a feeling that will be a fun day!

Luke might just be the love of my life. In his two years of life he has fought two battles with malnourishment and severe malaria. He has an IV in his hand so he can go often to get an antibiotic drip. He loves white people! Damali said she just doesn't have the heart to tell him he isn't a mzungu (white person). Maybe when he's five, she'll tell him!

Beautiful Masese baby who was so confused trying to figure out why everyone was trying to make her look at the crazy white lady with the strange contraption!

She made it on the blog twice! Whoops! I don't think any of you mind looking at her two times though!

My sweet new friends in Masese.

She proudly showed us where she and nine other people live. This isn't just the view from the front door. It's one room, with not even a blanket for them to sleep on.

This sweet friend was chosen for the program. She has a hurt, possibly broken leg, and no one will do anything for her.

Another sweet friend who started the program today!

The little girl in the red t-shirt realizing that her picture was one of the 12 on the paper. Each picture was a head shot of each little girl chosen for the program.

Me doing my best to be Ugandan!

Hey everybody! I know that some of you have been anxiously awaiting this blog, so here goes…

My first day in Uganda was one for the books! I got to attend a traditional pre-wedding ceremony for Damali (director of Sonrise) and her fiance Felix. Not only did I get to attend as a sister of Damali, but I got to have a Ugandan make-over! I got to wear a traditional dress, which was made out of about 10 yards of crushed velvet! Can you say HOT! Underneath the dress, I had to have another layer of material wrapped around, tied, and then folded down. This extra layer was to make me look bigger because I was told I was not fat enough…have I mentioned just how much I love Uganda?! It was fun spending the day in the village where Damali is from, learning more about the culture, and getting to meet lots of new people.

While I’m at Sonrise, I am living in the guest house with Stella (who keeps up with the house) and Tracey (she is one of the Sonrise babies, but she has a sickness that is possibly contagious to the other babies). Stella is such an example of what true love looks like. As I write this she is cleaning the kitchen and singing hymns in Lugandan to Tracey who is sitting on the floor giggling her heart out. It doesn’t matter to Stella that Tracey isn’t her biological child or that Tracey is not hers to keep, Stella still loves her with everything she is for the precious time that Tracey has been given to her.

I got to experience something yesterday that I will not be forgetting anytime soon. I got to go into the Masese Village with Damali’s brother, Daniel, and his brothers in the ministry. We went to tell a group of special little girls that they had been chosen to participate in a new program. They will get picked up in the morning and taken to a house where they will get to shower and eat breakfast and lunch. They will also start school at the ministry. Daniel’s desire is that as he raises money, he can prepare the house for the girls to live there permanently and also pay a woman to live there with them as their mama. Now for the hard part, what makes these girls different from other girls in the village? Most of these little girls have no parents, and the ones that do are absent or severely dependent on alcohol. These girls have no one to care for them and are victims of sexual trafficking within the village. This is why Daniel is so passionate about preparing the house for them to live in it. He is so pained with the idea of having to drive these precious little girls back to the village every night where they will be taken advantage of. With everything I just told you, can you imagine the excitement that these little girls were showing when we told them they had been chosen.

I also got to visit Home of Hope also yesterday, this ministry was started by a lady named Edith. She opened this home so she could take in children who have cerebral palsy. The worst thing about their sickness is that it stems from unrecognized or untreated malaria. They have twenty children with ranging severities of palsy. Most are bound to wheel chair and some are bed ridden. There is even a full time physical therapist who lives there and his love for the kids was so evident. Edith is passionate about serving these children and equipping parents in the surrounding villages and cities who are willing to raise their children. Edith has even started a medicine program that provides medicine to children living at home who suffer from epilepsy. This passion comes from her own son getting malaria then palsy as a toddler. I wish you all could have been with me to meet her, we could all learn a lesson or twenty from her!

Uganda is quickly stealing my heart and staining my feet…I guess it’s a package deal! For the first few seconds of every shower I’ve gotten, the water is red washing all the dirt off. I don’t think the soles of my feet will ever be white again. And that is something I am okay with.