Cloth Diapers, My Thoughts

I've been meaning to blog for awhile, in fact I have a nice post, half written, waiting to be posted. It's not the time for it yet though. Today diapers are what's on my mind. As I stood over a boiling pot of cloth diapers I composed a post in my mind. Yes I'm cool, I know it. Before I lose most of you just let me say that blogging about diapers is my cop out when I know I should be blogging about other things. It's easy to blog about diapers. It takes time and thought to blog about submitting my will to Gods and how stubborn I can be. It takes effort to blog about all the real things that are happening in my life. It takes a lot of thought to blog about the books I've been reading lately and what I've been learning. It takes organization to blog about exciting business things happening in my life. I'll get there, bear with me. But for now, enjoy reading about cloth diapering children:-)

I've been convicted that cloth diapers are the choice for this family, and I'm really happy with the result. My initial concern was the health of the environment, then the health of whichever kid is in diapers at the time, and the bonus of cloth diapers is the cost savings.

Here's what diapers I use. Cloth pre-folds called Econobum, Cottonbabies sells them. K, now that I'm typing this I feel like I've posted about it before, oh dear this life of mine! I use a Snappi closure on the prefold. I love how it makes the diapers fit on babies bums. I use Kawaii snap diaper covers. They work great and are fun colours. I have had to re-sew the bias tape on a couple diapers, but at 4.15$ a pop, I could care less about spending 60 seconds at the sewing machine. The pre-folds were 2$ each. So each diaper combination is less than 6$ because I use the covers a few times before washing. I love pre-folds because you can be pretty aggressive to get all the yuck out of them. Like boiling them. If you're a cloth diaper user (for your child) you know that they get a smell after awhile. A punch you in the face ammonia smell like you could never imagine. That's build up of bacteria and soap residue. In the summer I don't have that problem because my husband hung a laundry line for me. Yup, he knows how to romance this womans heart. Did I mention that it goes from the deck to the back fence so I just stand on the deck and away I go? Swoon. Ok, so hanging them in the sun does the trick in the summer. But last week it rained. All week. I've noticed "the smell" again, so into the huge stock pot they go 5 at a time for 15 minutes, then into the washer on a rinse/spin cycle. I have to do this every couple months in the winter. It's annoying, but really not that bad. I do it on a day when I'm putzing in the kitchen anyways.

I use Rockin' Green detergent, however I'll just use Norwex once I run out of Rockin' Green. I rinse wet diapers before putting them in the pail. Soiled diapers get a good swish in the toilet and a rinse before going in the pail. I use a typical step on garbage can with a liner bag in there. I spray Norwex Sportzeme on the diaper that's going in the pail to start breaking down the dirty yuckness. Some people have those fancy spray things hooked up to their toilets. My husband got just a cheap kitchen spray attachment from a friend to make our own fancy diaper sprayer hooked up to the toilet. It never got finished. However, I used one at someone else's house last week and didn't even like it. I'm very happy with our families cloth diaper set up. It took 3 years or so of trying new things. Cloth diapering has come a long way. There are amazing options out there. You don't have to spend tons of money on it, and it doesn't have to be intimidating.
Thanks for reading my awesome post about diapers. You guys rock. Especially you Ryan (if you made it this far).



Eeeeewwwwwww! See the saggy, drooping walking toilet? Yes, this is my disclaimer. I buy compostable diapers or "green" diapers to use on the little meatball for night time. My kids have all slept really well through the night I never wanted them waking up from a wet diaper. I know I should use fleece liners or something to wick the moisture away, but heck I'm lazy ok (ha, kidding). Anyways, 31 diapers a month is a lot better than 150 at this stage (up to 300 at the new born stage, PER MONTH!!!!) I'm sorry if I'm sounding preachy. This is what works really well for us, and I wanted to share because I've been thinking about it for awhile and this is my space to talk about dumb things that thrill me. Also, I know that you don't see the gross diaper when you look at this picture. You see my sweeties being sweet and silly, and that's what I see too.

My Days At Home

I spend most days at home with my kids. I don't do a whole lot. Well, ok, I keep the house tidy, I keep good food on the table, I kind of school my children, and recently I've been trying to generate a bit of income besides what my hubbie makes. But really, our days aren't filled with activities and the things we do don't feel busy or stressful.

When I first came home from Uganda my days at home loomed long and boring ahead of me. I couldn't believe that I had stayed home all day everyday with the kids before the trip and I was ok with that. I felt restless. Like I was missing something. I felt that life in Uganda was moving along without me, and life here in Canada was just stuck. As I started processing the trip more I kind of got out of my funk. I realized that there is a lot that can be happening in Uganda, and if I take it a step at a time I can still be part of it. I don't know what that will look like yet. It's pretty simple though, it's just praying about it and saying yes when God gives me the opportunity. I'm totally in love with Uganda and a little obsessed when random strangers visit and I somehow get to see their pictures on facebook. Someday I would love to go back and hug those kids and pray for those families.

BUT I'm here now. So now what? Well. I spend most days at home, and that can seem pretty boring at first glance. But what if I let God take that and use it for His glory? That is my purpose here on earth after all. My life brings glory to my God, my creator. My actions, words, attitude, choices, they all mean a lot more than just surface stuff. What if I decided to visit my neighbour who just lost her husband to cancer? What could God do there? I don't know, but I'm sure going to find out. I can go hug her and pray for her and I bet you my heart will be filled to overflowing, just like it would be if it was a cute black kid in my arms.

What if instead of belitting my child for getting the windows smudged yet again, I patiently took their hand as we helped each other clean it up, while I joked about the pet spiders crawling outside and up their arm (and of course start a tickle fight).

What if I told a new friend about my awesome church family and how they helped us out when my husband got his tools stolen, and how much love we felt because of that? What if those thieves were prayed for and loved instead of hated?

What if I prayed to commit a new business venture to God and His glory and immediately see him bless it by doubling my income overnight?

The point I'm trying to make (to myself more than anyone), is that I can say yes to God, and see Him work, and get goosebumps when I see the Spirit at work, no matter where I am. I did go and visit my neighbour, and it was great. I know it's just the beginning of something amazing because it's totally the Spirit guiding my words. She commented that there was something special about me. Someday I'll tell her that that something different is my Creator, Saviour, Lover, God living inside of me and He's her creator too and He's drawing her and wanting to woo and love her.

There is no way that on my own strength I can happily keep my household running and skip around the neighbour hood spreading warm fuzzies (believe me I've tried, it's not fun, there is a lot of pressure and sadness). But thank GOD that it's SO much more than that. When I live for HIM it clicks, makes sense, and it's sheer joy to serve Him. Even in sorrow we can walk with Him, even if it just means telling Him how mad we are. Realizing my purpose, and changing my perspective makes life worth living.

This post was supposed to be about a typical day that I spend at home. It was supposed to be peppered with funny things the kids said recently, and how much fun we've had frog hunting and planting seeds. I have thoroughly been enjoying my days at home, and I was going to write all about that. I would still like to write about that someday, but I'm glad that at least for today it turned into more. God is definitely doing a work in my heart and I just love it. I love Him. So I guess for now, I'll just go enjoy one more day at home and see what else happens on this blog another day.

This picture was taken at the airport when they came to pick me up after my trip. I was tired, and happy.

Home

Yes I'm home, and have been for more than a week! I haven't decided what to say yet about being home, about being gone, about missing Uganda, about what I do now that I'm back in Canada. It's hard to know how to sum up what went on over there, what I learned and saw. For now I have a kidless afternoon in which I will crank the Worship music, hulahoop and dance like the weirdo that I am, and try to get some thoughts in order.
In the meantime, can we all just be super giddy and excited about this photo?!?!? Mama Florence's old building was torn down while we were there and the new one started. Now this updated photo from Godfrey is where they are at in the building process. We were able to send funds so Godfrey can put beds, cribs, mosquito nets, shelves, and whatever else in the building so it can be up and running. SO crazy exciting! I just wish I could see it with my own eyes. Matthew and I are praying about another trip next year, so hopefully I will be there soon enough. My heart yearns in a way it didn't know how to only a short month ago.

Where to Start?

How do you sum up a trip and experience like this? The words to describe it all just aren't coming to me, yet I feel I need to update you before I head home in a couple days. It will be so hard to adjust my brain to home mode. There are so many things I totally love about being here, most of which are impossible to incorperate into daily life in Canada. I would love to go for two hour walks in the morning before the heat of the day sends us into the shade with mango juice in hand. Ummm yea, that's not going to happen in Canada for a long time. I would love to openly talk about Jesus and what he did for us with just any random person I meet. People here are so open and most people know Jesus and are excited to talk about him. People here are eager to greet us because we are visitors. I love walking down the street and being able to wave and smile at everyone and have them warmly greet me. I would get some strange reactions in Canada for that behaviour. The pace of life here is slow and relationships trump that "to do" list. Oh and obviously I would never get sick of coming home to a clean house, meals on the table, and laundry done for me everyday. The girls at the guest house are amazing! Thanks for listening, this is helping me sort out my thoughts and feelings.

The past few days we have been in Kamengo "working". Ha ha, we haven't really been working at all. We've been sitting in Mama Florences house sewing with the ladies, playing with the kids, taking lots of pictures, and watching the progression on her new building. It's hard for us because a lot of times we feel like we want to do more and hurry things up and accomplish more. But I know God is working on us, and through us and we can just trust in that. Even if we don't feel like we're working hard enough, we are here for a purpose and He is faithful.

Today we are driving up northwest for about 5 hours to get ready for Safari day tomorrow! I was hesitant to book the safari because I was feeling guilty about using up basically two days to be frivolous. But I definitely see the value in taking a day or two to adjust and start thinking about home, and obviously to enjoy the country we came so far to see. People here really want us to enjoy our time, it's funny. Everyone asks what we have done and they want to make sure we enjoy it, they all want to plan different outings for us. I can see how easy it would be to spend months here doing little trips and outings. So I'm really hoping to see some elephants, lions, giraffes, and hippos tomorrow. We will also get to see some water falls. Then we have a long drive back to Kampala on Friday. Saturday morning we will go out to Kamengo to see the building again and buy some crafts from the ladies there. Then hopefully we can do some shopping for jewlery and local crafts. We fly out late Saturday night. I think once I'm on the plane I will start getting super excited to come home. Right now I miss the famliy like crazy, but I know they are safe, happy, and we'll be together again, and that makes such a difference. Sometimes I wish I was just going to pick them up from the airport and we can all just stay here together. I wasn't quite prepared for how much I would love it here. I think Matthew and I will start planning and saving for another trip very soon:-)

I'm not sure what life will be like when I get home, but I expect to hibernate a bit. I will want to spend a lot of time with the kids, plus the fact that it will be freezing cold outside, lol. So be patient with me if you don't hear very much from me in the next couple weeks. I love you all and can't wait to share with you more about the trip. Thank you so much for your prayers. Please keep praying for us, for flights, and health, and connections with the people we've made here. Talk to you again on your side of the pond!

Amazing Opportunities

Here are a couple amazing stories that we have gotten to be a part of this past week. On Wendsday we went to the slum with Frontline Ministries. While we were there our friend John Mark noticed a baby laying with his mother that didn't look good at all. The baby is 10 months old and has measles. This wouldn't be a big deal in Canada, we would probably take care of the child at home until they recover, or worst case seneario we would have to drive to the hospital and wait an hour to get in. This mother wouldn't even consider going to the hospital because for one, how would she get there, and for two she wouldn't be admitted once she was there anyways. When John Mark saw the baby he made a call to the hospital he works at and arranged for her to be admitted. We had just been at the hospital the day before, so we were shocked to hear that she had been admitted so fast. This hospital is insanely busy. But once she got to the hospital she didn't have anything for herself or the baby, the hospital doesn't supply anything. So we were able to go through our suitcases of donations from YOU! I picked out some blankets, baby p.j.'s, snacks, towel, and cloth. It was just amazing to actually pick something out to send and bless this mother. Thank you all so much for your generous gifts and donations, it has been amazing to be able to bless the people here, I only wish you could all be here with us.

Today we went to the drop in center again that Peace for Children in Africa has. Andrea and I were able to watch the older boys play football and had a great chat with Freddy the whole time. The people here LOVE to talk. They talk about where they went to school, where they grew up, what they do for work, the infrastructer of the city, how to help things improve, and of course they ask lots of questions about us. While we watched football (soccer) Ruth went with John Mark to buy food for the center, it was an incredible experience for her, I'm jealous! They went to a very busy down town market and bought enough rice for at least a month, some veggies, and MEAT!!!!! This was the most exciting thing for them to have meat for the kids. These kids NEVER get to eat meat, they were SO excited! We also bought a little stove and two huge cooking pots. Once we all got back to the centre we started the cooking and did lots of playing with the kids. The main point of the centre is to show the kids the love of Jesus. They also want to give them a bit of their childhood back, living on the streets doesn't allow a person to be childish for long at all. Something John Mark said really stuck me, he said he loved bringing his friends into the slums because it gives the kids something to dream about, something to aspire to.

Otherwise their dreams are very small, if they never see anything but the slum, how are they supposed to aspire to be anything outside of the slum? When we first got back from watching football I saw three girls hesitantly hanging around by the entrance gate. I asked them if I could put nail polish on for them. Who knew that a simple bottle of nail polish would make such a difference in someones life. From that first moment the girls just attached themselves to me and i was more than happy to spend the day with them. We played the "cup game" I'm sure many of you played it at camp growing up. One girl drew a picture of me to take home, so cute! Then we did a skit for everyone and taught them "My God is so Big". I was so happy to teach them this song. By the end I was feeling very emotional because these kids are just going back into such a desperate situation. But to know that they have this safe place to come, and that they can hear the gospel, the TRUTH, that is my peace. That's the only reason I was able to leave today. Two of the girls had never been there before and they met with the social worker today and filled in all the info. I'm praying that they will come back again and again. I'm praying that these kids would know that my God is their God, he is so in love with them and I'm praying that they will reach out and accept him. Please pray for the kids at PCA, especially the girls Nanteza Irene, Nawgwa Chrezer, and Rehema. My heart breaks especially for them because girls can have such a hard time living in these conditions. These girls actually live with their grandmother but they are not in school because she can't afford it. I would like to be able to pay their school fees. It is about 450$ per year per child. It would make such a difference in their lives, to be off the streets, to be given the chance at a future! Since I'm here I can go to their schools to pay the fees to avoid any confusion with the funds. Please please help me in this, I can't do it alone! If you donate here on my blog we can access the money and help change these girls lives forever. I'm so excited about all these opportunities coming up.

I can't remember if I've already blogged about Mbazira, but he's another opportunity that has come up. He is a young man desperatly wanting to preach the Word of God, but isn't able to get the training. We exchanged contact info and I'm praying that we can somehow get him into a good school. Tomorrow we go to Kamengo! I can't express how excited I am about all this. I could seriously just live here, it's so great, I love it! Thank you all SO so much for being involved with this. Please keep praying for us. Today no one got sick or hurt, this was amazing, thank you for praying! I can't remember if I've blogged about my toe. I cut it pretty bad, but so far it is clean and healing well. Pray for all these people that we are meeting, that we would have wisdom with the funds we are sharing here, and mostly for the people's hearts. That they would know how much God loves them, and that their hope would only be in Him.

I'm Finally Here!

So here I am in Kampala Uganda! It's hard to believe I'm actually
here! The flights went well, with a minor hiccup with the other girls
being delayed and me trying not to panic when they didn't show up.
We've been here since Sat night and so far it's been quite the
experience. We have gone to church, gone to a couple different
markets, a concert, cuddled babies in an orphanage, done lots of
driving and looking at the sites and had some meetings to set up
plans. It has been such a learning experience and I'm madly in love
with this country already and wish I could just move here. God is
opening up SO many opportunities. Here is one quick example. Last
night we were with our friend John Mark and his car broke down. We
were crossing a busy intersection and a chunk of his car actually fell
off. So after an interesting experience waiting on a busy road we got
picked up by his acquaintance Mbazira in his taxi cab. Now tonight
Mbazira picked us up again for the concert and we had a great talk.
He really opened up and shared his heart, he is a born again Christian
who loves the Word of God and is passionate about learning more. He
really wants to go to a good bible school and has pursued some options
in the states and Japan, but is frustrated that it's not working out.
People don't take him seriously when the only thing he can do is write
a letter. But tonight we really got to see his genuine passion and
excitement to study the Word so he can do Gods work with his people
here in Uganda. So we exchanged contact info and he was really
interested in our own experience at bible school. So who knows what
God has planned for Mbazira, I don't want to give him false hope. But
to be honest I'm dreaming about somehow getting him into bible school
somewhere, and wouldn't it be amazing if it was PRBI?!?! It's about
us saying yes to what God has planned and allowing his plans to come
to life.

Tomorrow we are going to the drop in center for boys that live on
the streets. The Frontline team works with them and has quite the
program set up so it's easy for us to fit into what they already have
going. After that we will go to the slums with the boys to see what
their world is like and just spend some time there with them. I will
try to take some amazing pictures. John Mark has a dream of putting
together a photo exhibit to show how the boys live and raise awareness
and money to help them.

Please pray for us, that God would continue to give us
opportunities and that we could keep being faithful and not get
overwhelmed. Also pray for our health and energy, we haven't been
sleeping great and the heat is very tiring. Pray for John Mark, he
has been such a blessing to us. He is a doctor and has such a passion
for helping people, he needs supportive people behind him to back him
up on his big dreams. Pray that God would provide Aggies Home for
orphans with funds to finish some projects. Pray for us tomorrow as
we are with the boys, that their hearts would be open and there could
be a response as we show them Gods love.

Thank you all so much for your love, support, prayers and
everything we need you! I can't wait to show you pictures! I forgot
my camera cord, so it will have to wait sorry. Love you and miss you!

God is our Provider

I have learned more about God and experienced more of Him during the planning of this trip than I have in a long long time. It has been such an adventure to see Him provide and feel the excitement that comes with saying YES to Him. You guys are part of that and I am so thankful for your generosity in donations, food, flights, support, prayers, etc. The past couple days have been a big struggle for me, and I'm about to be very open about that. Satan does not want the work of God to happen, and he has been attacking me and my family this week. He is crafty and gets me in ways that he knows will work. Like losing my patience with the kids, stressing about money, feeling dis-connected with Matthew, and sickness. Satan also wants me to keep silent and suffer alone because he knows I'm a control freak. But I'm choosing to let God take control, and asking my support network for help. Please pray for us! We also still need help with finances. Matthew and I have no money right now and expenses for the trip are coming up. I need money once I'm there to pay for a hotel, driver, and food. We also really wanted to be able to put beds and cribs in the building for Mama Florence. If we raise enough we can host a meal in the village for all the people, and buy a bunch of mosquito nets, medical supplies, blankets and whatever else comes up once we're there. I'm not trying to pressure people, but if God is asking you to give, please say Yes, it's always fulfilling to say yes to Him. It's been a struggle for me to leave this in God's hands and I'm being really honest in saying that. I am trusting Him to provide, and we've already seen SO much answer to prayer in this way. Thank you Lord!
p.s. 10 sleeps until we fly out!!!!!

Whooohoooo! Three Grand!

Yup, it's official, we just got the rest of the money for the building in today, whoohoo!!! Thank you everyone so much! We still need donations to be able to provide meals, medical supplies, and whatever other needs come up while were' there.
K, one cool story then I have to jet. So in my head I was kind of thinking I really wanted to send the money, or at least have the 3000.00 all together by Monday, today. I've been praying a lot and trusting this all to God, and obviously he pulls through and provides. Today my sis-in-law came over and said she still wanted to donate and had a number in her head after she had prayed about donating. So she asked how much we still needed and I said "Oh I don't know something like 440.00" Then another friend texted to say there was a donation of 40.00 on the weekend. So then we laughed because her number in her head was exactly 400.00. That is no coincidence! We weren't even really surprised, we just laughed and thanked God. He's so amazing! To provide the 3000.00 to the last dollar like that, so amazing. That's not to say that we are limiting him though. We know that more can come in for other needs, it's in His hands and it's SO exciting to watch Him
work!
So now what? Well the money goes to Uganda and Godfrey sets up a crew and buys material to start this building for Mama Florence! When we get there we will help finish it up, get it cleaned up and ready to start using! I get chills when I think about actually being in the building and knowing what this means for the people that live around there. Thank you all again SO much for being part of this. I can't wait to show you pictures of what we've been working towards!

Tickets are Booked!!!!!

Well the tickets are booked, this makes the trip seem SO much more real! I'm giddy with excitement, and can't even believe this is happening. We fly out of Calgary Feb 24th and return March 11th. I've had the biggest smile on my face every time I stop and think about this:-) So now that we're reeeeeeeeaaaally doing this it's time I introduce you to the team. I don't even know where to begin. It's been truly amazing to see God bring this team together. We have already been learning SO much together. These girls are amazing it's hard to use words to explain, so just bear with me.

I'll start with Ruth because in my mind she's our unofficial leader. She brings such maturity and insight to our times together. Her focused attitude towards doing Gods will drives us and continually encourages us. She has always wanted to be involved in missions and finally now God is putting things together and she's being faithful in that. Ruth has been contacting Frontline Ministries in Kampala and setting up some opportunities for us there. She has such a heart for the people living on the streets. She is also raising money to provide HIV tests to a doctor in Kampala once we get there. If you want to donate HIV tests please do so! You can just let us know to designate your donation for that cause. She is also looking forward to snuggling adorable little black babies:-)

Next there is Andrea. At one point in all this trip planning I thought I was going to end up going over to Uganda alone. I kept asking God to just put people on my mind and I would ask them to come too. God put Andrea on my mind, and I dismissed it because I didn't even really know her, how crazy am I!? BUT I got a second chance. The next week Andrea found out about our trip through her parents (her dad is our pastor), and jumped at the chance to come along. When we finally connected I got goosebumps because it was NOT a coincidence that we were put together like this! Andrea has also always wanted to do something like this, and now things are really just falling into place perfectly. I dub her our enthusiasm leader, because she brings such excitement and joy to our group, it's contagious. While we're in Uganda she's looking forward to getting a feel for the need there and helping out where God would have her be. We will also be keeping on eye on her to make sure she doesn't smuggle a baby home;-)

Then there is moi. I have loved Africa for as long as I can remember. My sister went to visit my Auntie in Kenya about 15 years ago, and I always wished I could go SOOO bad. I'm thrilled that it's finally being put in place and working out so well. I've been learning to listen and obey God, submit to Him and His plans, and rejoice in seeing His hand in my life. I sooo look forward to meeting the people over there, meeting some practical needs, but mostly just being the church with them and for them. I don't want to get into a theological sermon her about Christ loving the church like His own beautiful bride. I just want to say how much I look forward to meeting other people no matter where they are in their walk of life and walking with them. Oh, and I should also mention that the cute black babies will very much be affecting me too;-)

So there we are. Three girls who have always had this desire from God to go and minister to people. After all these years God has brought us together, and now off we go. There is no way we would be doing this if it wasn't for the desire God gave us, and now God putting things into place and working it all out. We are also so thankful for the support we have, we just wouldn't be able to do this without our peops. We all have wonderful families and friends backing us up in enthusiasm, prayer, and love. We are also super thankful for people donating to the Mama Florence project, may you be richly blessed in this! If you want to donate to the building project or HIV tests we still need more and we're trusting God to provide. I have a pay pal button or you could mail cheques in to Box 501 Sexsmith AB T0H 3C0, make the cheque out to Pathway Christian Communities. Any money raised above the building project and our HIV goal will go to meals, mosquito nets, medical supplies, blankets etc. Thanks again SO much faithful readers, we love you!

Let's Raise Some Money!!!

Official Fundraiser Day, whoohoo! God is moving and putting things into place. We have seen His hand and faithfulness as He shows us His plans, brings people together, and meets needs. You are being used by God as you give towards a delivery room for Mama Florence in Kamengo Uganda. We are giving people a better chance at life, right from the very beginning. By providing this building it is allowing for healthier babies, and who knows what they will be capable of as they grow up. We are not only meeting physical needs here, but we are showing Christs love.
I am so excited to see that thermometer go red over the next few days. As soon as the 3000.00 is raised the money will be sent to Uganda and the building will be started! Any amount helps, don't feel like you have to give a ton. If a ton of people give a little we will make a huge difference! Thank you all for joining with us in this project!

There are so many other things that we can help with in the future. Most people, especially in the villages depend on agriculture for their income and well being. This is another area we can equip these people with, with tools, information, etc.

This is the bed in the current delivery room at Mama Florence's house. Very humble. The new building will have three beds.

A typical Kamengo house, this would be for about 6 people. It's probably the size of our bathroom.

Let's Build It!

This is Mama Florence standing at the door to the current room she uses for delivering babies. It is the middle room of her house. The new building will be very close to her house. She is raising her three grandchildren, so she needs to be close to home. This picture was taken by Kelties friend Tanya who was just in Kamengo last month. She has been a huge help as I've asked her hundreds of questions.

What are we fund raising for?
Project: A building to be used by Mama Florence (a mid-wife) to deliver babies. This building will have a roof high enough to feel like you can breath in the building, it will have three beds, two cribs, and shelves. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? Compared to the 8x8 room with low tin roof that is used right now, it is far from simple. The building will get started as soon as the money is raised, we are hoping it will be done by the time us girls visit Kamengo next month.
Place: Kamengo, a remote village 45 km south west of Kampala Uganda
People: Mama Florence is the midwife, she delivers 3 to 4 babies a week. She is a woman who loves the Lord and His word. The women that come to her live very simple lives. They are happy people, and don't need lots of "stuff", they do need some basic needs met, like regular healthy food, and a safe place to deliver their babies. Godfrey is a man in Kampala with a very big heart. He is the one who will actually be getting the building done.
What's your role?: We need to raise 3000.00 to get this building started. It will only take a couple weeks to build it. I'm asking that you join me and get excited about this project. Look at the pictures and think about these people. If you can donate money then great! If everyone donates even just a bit we can get this building started no problem. I made it really easy to donate, look over there to the right, a paypal button! How convenient!

Ok, now I'm going to blab a bit. Actually not that much because I have three kids running around the house and I need to get this done. Just a quick update on how the planning for the trip is going. We now have a team of four women who are leaving Feb 10th and staying in Kampala until Feb 22. There is myself, Keltie, Ruth, and Andrea. I really believe that this team is handpicked and this trip is being planned by God. We all have different interests and abilities and putting us together makes for a well rounded group of individuals willing to let God be the guide. We all feel like this is the first trip of many like this. Who knows who will be coming on the next one, wink wink nudge nudge. We want to go and do a few different things on the trip to see what the needs are over there. There is orphanage work, street ministry, medical training, and spending time in Kamengo. I will post more of a schedule after our next planning meeting, but for now that kind of gives you an idea of what we'll be up to. Because the building will (hopefully) be done before we get there, we will spend our time in Kamengo playing with the kids, sewing with the ladies, getting the building cleaned up and set up nice, and hosting at least one community meal and a celebration for the completion of the building. I want you guys to feel involved in this, so shot me your questions! I'm hosting a supper fundraiser this Saturday night, come! I'll be doing a short presentation, showing some amazing pictures of the village, and of course there will be good food! Here is the facebook invitation, check it out for more details on the fundraiser. If you can't come, you can still be involved. I will post the pictures here on the weekend and there's that special little button over there too;-)
I'm bringing a suitcase of stuff to share with the people there, here is a list of items that would be great to bring over. Drop them off at my house any time. We are flying out of Calgary, so if my Calgary peops want to send stuff over drop them off at Felicia's house, ask me for more details on that if you don't know where she lives.

baby blankets
baby hats
children's clothes
children's underwear
baby washcloths
sandles
sewing supplies (needles, thread, buttons, ribbons, scissors, embroidery hoops)
small rubbermaid containers for Mama Florence to store supplies in
sheets (single bed size)
towels
tank tops (the kind with extra support in the top would be great)
hankies, farm supply stores and I think Marks Work Wear House sell these
deflated soccer balls and hand pumps for them

I also have a sewing project that I would love to delegate to someone, if you're a sewer and want to help out with some stuff, let me know and I'll send you the info on that.
Now for some pictures! These were taken by Charity, a lady that was there last summer for adoption. This first one is the children in Kamengo. I'm not sure what they were doing, but she said at the beginning of the day they had about 100 children, and by the end of the day 400-500!



Mama Florence, I can't wait to meet her!


Godfrey. They carry their water from a well, usually they carry it on their heads. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken last summer, the day they got their new well. I saw a picture of the old water source, it looked like a dirty pond. Soooo thankful it's no longer used! Godfrey really has a heart for this village and we couldn't do all of this without him.

Uganda, the journey in my heart

Africa has always been on my mind and heart in some way. Now here I am in my 30th year of life and I'm praying that I will finally get to GO! I want to share with you this past year, the journey in my heart.

March 7 2011 - Sad but true, my story kind of starts at McDonald's. Some wonderful ladies from church got together for lunch and play time for the kids. I asked my friend Keltie about her experience in Uganda because she had recently adopted two children from there. As our kids played we got talking about this wonderful place and how amazing it would be to go and love people there. We started dreaming and praying about a trip there in the next year.

Oct 2011 - Since March I've had a really totally crappy time. Through many trials, (death, bitterness, and depression to name a few), I have been drawn to God as my only strength. I am so thankful to come through this hard year, knowing more about God and his incredible love for me. This is important to note here because God has been laying the ground works in my heart for this journey. Around this time Keltie and I started writing back and forth about our Uganda dream. Dream. And prayer. That's what it was at this point, but God knew our hearts, and He had a plan.
Dec - One week before Christmas and Keltie calls to say there are seat sales in Feb to Uganda. That was just the fire under my butt that I needed. It really got me into action. Got me on the phone to our pastor to ask for prayer, help, and support from him and the other leadership. Keltie and I got together with her friend Ruth to talk about the trip and what we would be doing. Like I said, Keltie has been there before and knows wonderful people there that we could stay with, help, bless, be driven around by, etc. God has been giving her the desire to bless Mama Florence, who is a midwife in a small village Kamengo. There are also a couple different orphanages we could help out in. We would want to be in country for at least 10 days. We want to be as much help to people there as we can in such a short time.

New Year 2012!!!! And with the new year, new plans. Keltie can no longer come on the trip:-( I was so disappointed to find out, BUT I was still totally in if that's what God had for me. I really believe that God makes his will known in the Bible. Back in October I read James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" We are also told to love our neighbour as ourselves, and how many references are there to feeding people in need? God gives us all different abilities, interests, talents, and desires. So following His will may look different for different people. This wasn't meant to become a theology discussion, I'm just trying to say that I'm trying to be faithful and let God ordain this trip. I want to stay within His plan as I follow His will. So in the last week I've really been talking with God a lot, asking for His guidance and asking Him to please take over. It's been amazing to watch it all come together. When Keltie first told me she couldn't come I thought of a few other people I could ask. In my circle of peeps not many people can just drop everything and run off to Uganda with me for a couple weeks, heeehmmmm next month! I wrote to my good friend Lindsay, who is also my #1 fan of this once lonely blog:-) She lives in England and it would be so amazing to meet up with her there. Then just today I get a call from Pastor Dean saying his daughter might be interested in coming. Are you surprised to find out that she was someone on my mind last week when I went over my list of possible travel companions? Well you should be, because I hardly know her and it's totally a God thing that she was brought to mind at all. So we got together and acted like giddy school girls looking at pictures of Kamengo, dreaming, and trying to come back down to earth.
So now what? Well by the end of the week I'd like to know for sure if I'm going, and who else is coming. Then we need to get tickets, which is another cool story for another time. Then I'd like to raise money for a building for Mama Florence, but that is also another story. I will keep you all posted on up coming events in this wonderful journey that is going on. Oh one more note before I head off to sweet beddy by. My mother-in-law was in Uganda when our eldest Munchkin was born. She brought back a necklace (I think it was supposed to be for the Munchkin, but I claimed it, ha ha), it's a green stone cut out to look like Africa. I've been wearing it a lot lately, and I LOVE it. God is amazing and I marvel at how he gets people involved in things like this in such different ways. So I'm asking you to be involved and excited with me for this journey as it goes from my heart into the real world.
* Disclaimer: This last paragraph used to be pretty good and eloquent before it somehow got erased. Now the hour is late and the thinking things inside my head aren't working so well. Goodnight:-)

Summer is not for Sewing, so I Cheated.

Here's a couple projects I did a few months ago. I've been saving these pictures to blog about during this craft lull to make myself feel better for doing nothing in my poor abandoned sewing spot. Soooooo here's my sweet little Princess and Prince. I was inspired by this blog post to make these fun crowns. This was a fun spontaneous project and gave me great satisfaction to finish both of them. I spent two afternoons working on these. Now that I've made them I could do another one super fast. These would be a great birthday present for people who would appreciate them. Some people would not like this style, even Miss June Bug isn't totally crazy about it, but she does like the fact that it won't get stepped on and broken like the cheap loonie store ones. I like run on sentences, sue me. Moving along now.

 

I made Prince O's crown second so it's a lot better. I didn't follow the instructions, it's just not how I roll, but they worked out great anyways.

 

The Princess wanted lots of sparkly beads on hers and even helped me sew them on, she's getting really good at hand sewing and embroidery.

 

I love this wonderful friendship they have, they worked so hard on getting their arms around each other just right for a picture.

 

Here's my segway to my next project, new chair covers. Our chairs came with off white, which looked super great for the first five minutes. Then we blinked, had three kids, and booom our chairs looked so bad they would make Monica (from Friends) have a hissy fit. So I got this great oil cloth and my wonderful hubbie took the chairs apart which forced me to have to finish a project, yay!

 

Cute foot on pretty chair

 

The monkey fell asleep on the pretty chairs one day, such a funny kid. He doesn't really nap anymore, unless he just falls asleep in his creative spots, like the big toy box.

 

Seeing him like this just makes me want to curl up in my comfy bed. He slept like that for about 15 minutes!

 

Here's June Bug working away writing the names of her family. She has memorized everyone except the 'lil meatball.

 

Such a sweetie. Hubbie likes to buy camera equipment a lot, which normally really bothers me because it's expensive and he really doesn't even use it all that often. However, his newest purchase is a new favorite for me. A 1.8 50mm lens gently used for only 50$, boo yeah.

 

Another project by June Bug, for some reason she is always the biggest person in her family pictures. I wonder what the meaning is behind that. We also have a dog in this picture, which we don't have in reality. It's a little easier to decode that meaning: June Bug wants a dog.

 

Even though it kinda looks like he's pooping in this picture I included it because it really shows what the 50mm lens does. Love it.

 

And that's it for fun pictures. The fam has fallen into a great summer routine this month. Lots of backyard play, watermelon eating, gardening, and trying to stay on top of keeping the house at least tidy and some kind of decent food on the table a few times a day. I was debating on doing this blog post or doing a special one for baby Eva, but I guess I'll do that one next week. Most of you know what's going on with her anyways, so for now I'll just say how happy I am that she is doing SO much better, praise God! I'll go more into depth with it all later, it's been an emotional couple weeks that's for sure. Gotta go to bed, so sleepy, night!

While the Cat's Away

My sweet girl just finished up pre-school this week. It has been so good for her to get out and do her thing, I feel like she thrived in that environment and gained a lot of confidence with the interaction. (Here they are after her pre-school field trip to the fire hall.)

 

Poor Monkey Moo on the other hand did not like his big sis ditching him all the time. I really tried to avoid the temptation of having him watch T.V. all the time, which is the only thing he really wanted to do. So instead of me having that chunk of time to bake, sew, or whatever, I was stuck playing lego, cars, toss the ball, chase, you name it. Ok I'm not actually complaining, it was fun of course. It was nice for him to have Mommy all to himself ('lil Meatball naps in the morning still so he's a pretty boring play mate). The best time I had with Monkey during the last few months was when he asked me to paint his face like a pirate. I had remembered this blog post I had recently read, so I wanted to make his life as a pirate a little more realistic. I didn't do nearly the quality job that Dana did, just a blanket pinned to the wall for a sail, and an empty toilet paper roll for a telescope. He didn't want a patch, so that made it easier too. Even though it looks like he had fun, it was just different without his sister to play with. Poor little guy looked pretty lonely in that ship all alone.
"Land ho!"

 

Using the crib, his quilt, and a "sail" made it feel totally authentic, ha ha.

 

"Arr!"

 

His pet pirate monkey

 

How can a pirate even be that cute?!

 

Even pirates need to pick their noses, especially bored lonely pirates.

 

Pirate popcorn, because pirates have to eat a lot of coconuts on all those tropical islands. We saved the rum for mommy and daddy, ha ha. I just melted this coconut stuff with butter and put it on their popcorn, it was super yummy.

 

Of course when June Bug got home she wanted to dress up too. And yes, pirates are still tuff whilst drinking milk from a sippy cup.

 

Look at those sweet pouty pirate lips! So sweet.

 

Sweet angel face.

 

And how could I do a post with no baby in it? Here's the cutey looking at a stuffed giraffe rattle I made him. It was a quick satisfying project, sorry it's blurry here I don't actually have a good picture of it.

 

Here it is unstuffed to give you a better idea of what it looks like. I love fast projects that actually make me feel like I accomplish things.

 

Well the sweet boy is awake now so off I go.

More on Gardening

Ryan just bear with me, I promise I don't try to bore you to death. My poor brother likes to complain about my blogging if I drag on too much about boring domestic things, like gardens. Well I just wanted to finish talking about my garden because I kind of got cut off from my last post. I also wanted to clarify that the photos of the beautiful green luscious gardens are from last year. AND when I said the beds were 4 feet deep, I meant deep as in that's how wide across they are, not how deep the dirt is. Does that make sense? Matthew finished my second box today, so now I have two that are 6x20, one that is 2x20 and a massive one out at the farm that's about 7x30. It's the most garden I've ever had, I hardly know what to do with it. Other than go to the Farmers Market this weekend and buy more tomato and pepper plants because I didn't have my act together in April to actually plant those things ahead of time. Ok, so now that I've totally bored Ryan to death, here's some pictures for you.

This is what my one garden bed looks like right now, there is one exactly the same right next to it. Not very much happening here, but yet still so exciting. Some dill, garlic, and some random flower or something are coming up from last year, eekk!

 

Last weekend my neighbour and I decided to ditch the kids and jet into town for some trees. We came back with some great stuff. I'll start with our yard, which is this picture. The front big tree is a Shuburt something berry, can't quite remember. I also got Lilacs, Hydrangeas, a dwarf cranberry bush, and another bush with white stuff on it. I'm going to fill in the spaces with colourful flowers. My husband got rocks to intersperse into the beds, he was quite proud. Next door (which our neighbours rent from us) we got a Hawthorne, a Muckleberry plum (with pretty pink blossoms) and some cool bushy shrubberies. A Shrubbery. Thanks Montey Python. Anyways. It's been fun to get some stuff put in and get things looking nicer. Matthew and I have lots of plans for the yard and house. We want to make the pillar on our deck look chunkier and more Craftsman style, and of course we'll one day put rock instead of that ugly paper stuff with the spray painted house number.

 

This is my rough sketch of our yard 'n stuff. Don't know if you can see it very well. We want to eventually build a patio around the fire pit. The area out side our fence isn't ours technically, but man we get a lot of use out of it. We call it "the back 40" even though it's only 10 feet squarish.

 

Here's part of our backyard. You can see into "the back 40", it will have a gate going out there soon. Gates! Can't wait. That's an apple tree. Real apples, not crab apples, I'm excited to see what we actually get. I'm so excited about all the things we can grow up here now. Apparently we can even grow grapes up here! They work on different varieties of plants and make them hardy for our climate, love it!

 

Beer can chicken on our new (free) BBQ. This is a super delicious and easy meal to make when we're out in the yard all day. Our neighbours put this bbq on the curb for town clean up day, intending to send it to the dump. That is, until my wonderful hubby spotted it. We replaced our older crappier, but also free bbq with this one instead. Oh but it gets better. The next weekend we sold our old crappy bbq for 5$ at the garage sale, ha ha. So sweet!

 

And here is the number one reason why the rest of the garden isn't put in yet. He's well worth it though, don't you think. He actually really loves it outside, but he just doesn't last out there as long as the "big" kids do. His favorite thing about outside is eating grass. At first I tried to stop him, since he doesn't even eat real food yet 'n all. But he doesn't choke on it and it's almost impossible to stop him from eating it, he just loves it. So I don't try very hard anymore to prevent it. What a funny kid, love him!

 

Well friends, I'll be back in blog town in a couple days. I have tons of new pics on the computer now so I have lots to blog about. I have to do it fast because the kids change so fast and there is more fun to be had. Oh and a brief explanation about the chicks is in order I guess. Fran (from "the farm") is wonderful and lets me raise chickens with her every year, even though it means she gets stuck with most of the work. Last year she got some wonderful heirloom birds which means we could save their eggs and let them hatch instead of getting them new from the hatchery. So I got the pleasure of having the incubator here so I could take on a bit more of the work load. Let me tell you though, they aren't a lot of work at this point. It was amazing to watch them hatch, I had never seen that before. The first day I was downstairs the whole time and had half the neighbourhood over to watch. It was incredible! Now they're getting stinky and loud so I'll kick them out to the garage at some point soon. I have another batch in the incubator now, so pretty soon I'll have about 60 chicks all together, yikes! We'll take them out to the farm when all their feathers are in and they're ready to be outside. Anyhoo, that's all for now, happy spring everyone!