Prayer Needs

Prayer Needs

We have had a lot come up lately that I feel burdened about and I believe I need to share with you as my friends and prayer warriors. I am not usually the one to share my exact needs with everyone but I am learning that it is good to do, so that people know specifics to pray for.  So, this time I am asking that you pray for each thing specifically with me. Prayer is powerful! 

1.       Baby Mukulu is due at the end of May (4 months away) and we need $800 to cover the cost of the hospital stay/medications. We are also in need of all baby items.
 

2.       Our rent is $200 a month.
 

3.       We are trying to come to the states for fundraising at the beginning of September for several months. Please pray for Ivan’s Visa to be accepted so he can get into the country. Pray he only has to apply 1 time and there are no issues! Pray that all of the baby’s paperwork/passport is taken care of with no issues.
 

4.       Ivan’s Visa will be $160 each time he applies. I have to change my Visa name for $120. Baby will have to be declared with the states as a US citizen plus have to get a Passport as soon as baby is born for $320. Then have to get a dependents visa pass for the baby for $100.

5.       Once we have the visas, the booking process begins with churches, schools, bible studies, and organizations to speak at. Plus host homes to stay with. Please pray that all goes well with the bookings!
 

6.       We need help with our plane tickets to get us to the states and back for the fundraising. We need approx. $2,500 for each of us. A total of $5,000. Baby is free! (:
 

7.       We need a good 4 wheel drive vehicle to get around the rough roads here.

8.       Need to find a new home to rent for Sonrise Children to house 40+ children before September. The home is maxed out right now with 30 children and by next January, we will have 10-12 more joining us. We need more room. With us hopefully being in the states at the beginning of September and not getting back until the beginning of January, we need to make sure we have a place for the children ready to move into before we go. Rent will be around $800 a month.
 

9.       Pray for each of our children at the home to be fully sponsored. Each sponsorship helps keep the home up and running. It also builds a relationship between you and your sponsored child!  You can see each of our children at http://sonrisechildren.com/sponsorchild/

10.   Pray for all of our teams coming this summer that God will use them while they are here for His Glory!
 

11.   Pray for us as we have a lot to prepare for and accomplish before September!  

Thank you for taking the time to read and pray about these items. I know God will provide! 

Holidays

Thanksgiving and Christmas

This holiday season was so different than what I am used to! I missed sitting in the kitchen with my mom and sister days ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas preparing all the yummy food and desserts . We would feast the day of with the entire family and have left overs the week after. I missed the big turkey, the chatter, and the family time. I missed the nieces and nephews running around. Things just were not the same.

With thanksgiving, we were so busy with the Children’s Home, Church, and other things plus I was sick all the time from the baby that I didn’t have the time or even feel like cooking. I wanted to so bad but just couldn’t. The day came and it just wasn’t the same, I was looking at facebook and seeing all the posts of family together and all the food. I really haven’t been homesick until this season. This is where it really hit. I a message from a missionary friend down the road asking if we were doing anything that day. We weren’t. (: So she invited us to a lunch with a bunch of other local missionaries. We went and it was so good! Finally felt like a thanksgiving with family! I didn’t know most of the people but it was the family stile gathering and food that made it feel like a thanksgiving. I am thankful for friends and changes. Although the changes are hard, I am glad I am able to spend my time here with my new family, new culture, and new ministry. I wouldn’t change that.

Christmas was different as well. I knew it would be. (: BUT, we had a huge Christmas planned for our children and workers this year due to our Christmas volunteer team and many, many donations from churches and friends in the states. Because of everyone’s hard work and generosity in the states, everyone was able to have a fabulous Christmas! We made sure that the children’s home and girl’s home had a tree that was decorated. Ivan even found us a Charlie brown Christmas tree! (: A great church service in the morning! Lots of food. All the babies, boys, girls, and children all received amazing gifts and everyone was so happy. The volunteers brought gifts for all of our workers as well. Some of them had never had a Christmas or received a gift EVER! The shouts of joy were the greatest. It was so great to see the happiness from everyone that day. We received so much that the team was not able to bring EVERYTHING on this trip but they are dispersing it to other teams that are coming to make sure it all gets here eventually. Christmas will just be spread out (: It was an exhausting but amazing Christmas with friends, family, and children. 

Overdue update

Update

It’s been a long time since I have written due to teams and sickness from baby/flu. Now, time to catch up a bit!

Last I wrote, we were talking about a lady named Rehema. We are so grateful that the funds that we needed came in for her surgery! We took her to several doctors to double/triple check and see what the doctors think she needed to do. The infection had gone down and she no longer needed the surgery and she was recovering just fine.  

The day after we found out we received a call from a local HIV clinic and they asked for Ivan and I to come down immediately. We met with a nurse there and she told us about a 12 year old boy that they have been treating since he was a baby for HIV. He later contracted TB and with that he lost his eye sight. She said that he has been complaining of a headache for a long time now so they took him to Kampala to get a scan of his brain where they found that he had a brain aneurism that was about to burst and if he didn’t have a surgery to fix it within the next 2 days he would die. We had the money that was supposed to go toward Rehema but she no longer needed it. We asked how much the surgery was and it was the exact amount that little Jacob needed.  We went into the village to go see him, take pictures, and to pray with his family. Found out that his dad is no longer there and the mother is trying to support Jacob and 4 of his little sisters on her own. She has no money for the surgery. She has to guide Jacob around because he cant see. Doctor think that the vessel in the brain may also be a cause for part of his blindness. After we prayed for him, we decided that we wouldn’t have time to write to the people who gave and that we had to make a quick decision. We decided that Jacobs surgery was important and that they could use the money that was given for Rehema. We gave the money to the hospital and they immediately transported Jacob to the hospital for the surgery. We prayed and prayed knowing that there was a chance that is could burst during surgery and he might not make it. We prayed that he would be just fine and would recover quickly. We received word 2 days later that little Jacob was doing great and could now see shapes! He had been asking to see us to thank us. He is such a happy boy now. His mother said he is so different now and she thanks God for the special donars that Jacob had in his life! So THANK YOU to each of you who gave and prayed for Rehema/Jacob. I pray that God blesses you greatly! Here is a before picture of Jacob with his mother…can’t find my after ones but I will keep looking. (: