BEST birthDAY EVERRR!!!

1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called his children! And that is what we are!

Can you name the movie that the title of this post is quoting? If you know me well, you totally can and you are laughing right now;). I just had the best birthday ever! And I have had some pretty spectacular birthdays! I love birthdays, Jesus's birthday, your birthday, my birthday, America's birthday...love.them.all! I just love a reason to celebrate! I also LOVE a reason to host a good party and show people some love! I also LOVE giving gifts:)! Let me first tell you about some of my amazing birthdays and then you can get a picture of how GREAT this birthday was:).

Disclaimer: I was/am spoiled. It's not my fault...please choose to love me still:). 

Ok, on my 6th, 16th, 18th and practically 23nd birthdays, I received cars as gifts, (one of them was a life-size barbie corvette, but still...). At least two of my birthdays involved a limo or a limo-bus. Starting at 13, every year my mom gave me as many roses as I was years old. On my 21st birthday, I was skiing in Vail and my awesome friends gave me a shot of water at midnight:). The next night, my dad's old business partner in Denver took me and three friends out for my birthday on a progressive kind of schedule, one place for drinks, one place (my favorite place!) for dinner and then for dessert we went to a place where all the waiters sing songs from musicals (beautifully!), are you kidding me?!! One year, some fabulous friends and I rented out the little room where you sit on the floor in a Thai restaurant on pillows and then I got to talk about all of them, how I knew them and why I loved being their friend! SO FUN! I believe that same year, two sweet friends agreed to do an improv skit for me after dinner, hahaha! Yes! Last year, I woke up to balloons and flowers in my kitchen and then drove with one of my sweetest friends to Des Moines to hang out with MORE sweet friends and then onto Colorado where I was covered with love from family that I love! Aaaaah, I am blessed! But this year has been the best so far:).

The start of the day was sweet! I was excited to wake up and hang out with my favorite guy (Jesus:), I knew I'd have to get up early to get some quality time with him as the country director's kids stayed the night in the house where I live, plus his niece and nephew...that's 8 kids and 4 of them are crazy early risers! So, while it was still dark, I started my birthday in the stillness with Jesus:). I had been saving my last Starbucks instant coffee for this day:). Then, as I have been doing for the last few years, I read Oswald Chamber's, 'My Utmost for His Highest' for January 9th. I'm sorry, but January 9th is the best one! I'm sure your birthday's devotion in Utmost is great, but mine is the best:). My favorite part reads:

Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies – "Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature – Thou Who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at – my God, search me out."

http://utmost.org/classic/intercessory-introspection-classic/

So sweet:). Then I spent time thanking God for this last year, for every difficult blessing and every easy blessing, for all that he's taught me and is teaching me. For keeping me in him thus far and praying that each year I would be closer to him than the previous; each year, that I would be closer to being the woman he created me to be:). It was a sweet start to the morning as the sun started to rise:). Then the kids also started to rise! 

Everyone was greeting me and saying happy birthday, so fun! Then this thing greeted me on the way to take a shower! Ew. It took two books and two shoes to kill that bad boy (I like to stand at a distance and throw things). Yuck. I've killed some of his brothers...his smaller brothers, apparently I missed one. 

Anyways, then it was time to prepare for the party. As I thought about what I wanted to do on my birthday here, I got super excited about the idea of having a giant birthday party at one of the care points in which we celebrate ALL the kids birthdays of 2014, give them cake, cookies, juice, meat, good food and GIFTS! AAAAAH!! SO FUN!!! So, I spent aaalll the week baking and chasing down precious ingredients! I made 5 cakes and 200 cookies (Annie's Ma's Cookies, to be precise;))! It was so fun! Even the one night, when I had just mixed the vanilla cake and the strawberry cake at the same time, so I could marble each of them...and then...the power went out. And it...was...dark. Ha! I fumbled around and found my computer and got a light. Then I started making dinner in the dark, with a candle...then my candle went out and wouldn't light anymore, ha! So I was trying to pound garlic without loosing it and chop a tomato and not my finger! I was praying...'God, I know it's kind of selfish, but please turn the power back on...' And the power came back on! It was hardly even out for 30 minutes! Yes! That never happens!! Anyway, so I did a lot of baking and shopping for party supplies. I also had an African dress made and one of my friends/co-workers took me to get a pedicure (it was $2...no way). 

SO, the morning of the party, I filled 200 water balloons and made sure all the supplies were ready to go and made sure there were people to bring the cakes later, so they wouldn't melt. In Africa, they make the frosting on cakes a certain way so it gets really hard, I suppose so it doesn't melt. I just made good old powdered sugar frosting and so...mine would melt, ha! 

Grab a sponge with your mouth race:)

The party was awesome:). The kids were there already singing praise and worship when we arrived! After praise and worship, I made sure they all knew that it was THEIR birthday party!! Not just mine and that my birthday wish was for them to have a great day and to celebrate their birthdays!! We played tons of games in competition for the team that would get the cake cutting privileges. Water balloon games, racing games, water bomb games...I love water games:). It was so fun! We did face painting and team cheers! 

Demonstration from the referees.

The best picture of cake cutting as we were trying to avoid rain! :)

The CHC staff!

The kids got to eat dried meet (like beef jerky...kinda). They ate cookies and drank juice! Then they got to eat rice, beans AND meat:)! Then it was time for cake cutting, so the winning team came up to the tables and they put on hats, grabbed knives and some of them twisted 'party poppers,' that blow shiny confetti into the air (AWESOME!) I was like a kid at the fair! Then every kid got a good-sized piece of cake:)! At Christmas, all 200 kids share one small cake and I just wanted them to have an abundance, because they are soo special:)! So we cut cake, we ate cake! Then it was time for gifts!! For gifts, they got school books, laundry soap and smearing cream! All things they realllly need and usually can't manage themselves. They got two new footballs (soccer balls) for the care point as well, which they loved:)! The whole Children's Hope Chest office staff came, which was awesome and the kids LOVED IT! AND one of the kids that I sponsor gave me a chicken for my birthday! Gifts like that make me so happy and so sad at the same time, because I know I've never sacrificed anything like that myself. The kind of sacrifice where you literally give up an opportunity for your family to eat meat, simply to honor another person. Wow. And it was definitely the first time I've received a live chicken for my birthday:). It is now happily running around the compound outside my house...for now.

Lilian with her gifts! (ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST!?)

My Christine and my CHICKEN:)!

Look at those sweet faces...and look at those sweet clouds behind them!

THEN THE BEST PART! It poured rain!! I know that doesn't necessarily sound like a good thing, but wait! The morning of my birthday, my friend Mercy told me that in Africa, people pour water on their friends heads when it's their birthdays! Well, Mercy didn't pour any water on me...but God did:). Because he loves me so. He DUMPED out his water on my head. It is the dry season here, not the rainy season and it didn't rain at the office in Soroti...just the side where we were:).

God has been reminding me this year how much he loves me. I know that God loves me...but by the way I think, I don't always live like I believe that. The way I think is more prone towards being the best so that He will love me. I know that I can't do anything to earn his love or to earn salvation, but my actions sometimes suggest otherwise. Honestly, I have a hard time singing the song 'How He Loves'...because I'd rather sing songs about who He is, than about who I am. I believe God loves other people! I tell them all the time! As I look back on this year, I can see his love and provision in my life so evidently. In things different people have said to me, in the way different things have played out, in my travels, in my different jobs, in my relationships, in the weather, in the sunrise and sunset...and of course, in His Word.  He really does love us so. He really is working all things for our good...and for His glory. I feel like my time here, spending a lot of time alone, has been a sweet time to become friends with Jesus, to really learn to trust him and who he says he is. And most of all, to confirm in my heart, that I really love him most. More than anything! More than anyone! I feel like at the same time, he is also teaching me to graciously except the gifts he places in my life, because he loves me. And not to be a prideful kid who refuses her dad's sweet gifts of joy, but to accept his gifts...and to share them; to use them for his glory.  

And of course, I come home to a million (exaggeration:)...posts and messages from my family and friends who love me...which was awesome, thank you:). 

Lastly, God gave me the snapshots below. He knows I love me a little African sun in the evening:). God, you are so good to me. Thank you for all of the ways that you have blessed my 27 years of life and challenged me to be the child that you created me to be; thank you for choosing me. And, Father, thank you so much for those sweet kids and the joy I got to see you put on their faces today:). 

Thank you, Abba Father. I love you. Amen. :)

Fearless

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.  James 5:17a

This is a great sermon by Francis Chan. So challenging to live fearlessly like we actually believe that the God of the universe is our Shepherd.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhci_wIjvNU

I Was Once an Orphan

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." -Jesus (John 14:18)

Meet Immaculate (10, right) quiet, humble, hardworking, helpful, motherly, obedient, joyful. Samuel (8, left) quiet, sensitive, thoughtful, playful. Richard (6, middle) sweet, loving, quiet, shy. These children just lost the only parent they had in the world, their sweet mama, Janet. Janet had been sick for a long time; her kids spent a lot of their time caring for her. She passed away in their home a couple weeks ago. If you have kids, or know kids around this same age, can you imagine them caring for their mama at such a young age and then having her pass away to leave them alone in the world? Can you imagine them being so young and having their mama pass away in their house? Can you imagine being so young, that they think their mama is only 'resting' for a couple of days, until another adult from the community demands to be able to go in and check on their mama, only to find that she had been gone for a couple of days already? I would say that I can't imagine it, but it just happened to three little kids that I know and love. Thankfully these kids have their own plot of land and a good house to live in and they're part of a program through Children's Hope Chest and so they won't be forgotten; they'll be cared for, clothed, fed and loved. Some kids aren't as fortunate as these. Some have their parents pass away only to have their father's brother kick them off their plot of land and send them to fend for themselves. Some are abused and taken advantage of and some starve or die of preventable and treatable diseases. I don't tell this story to make anyone feel guilty or to incite emotions; I tell it simply because it's true.

I also tell it, because this true story points to another true story. It's the story of Jesus and his Father's plan to redeem his people; all those who are 'orphans' in this world. This true story is the reason that I am in Uganda. I'm not in Uganda because I am wonderful or special. I'm not here because I have a bigger heart than someone else or because I'm crazy (well…maybe that one;)), I am here because I was once an orphan too. I wasn't an orphan in the sense that Samuel is an orphan, because I have loving parents on this earth. I was an orphan in this world, because I didn't know the love of Jesus and what it meant to be a part of God's Kingdom; His family.  I don't want to share about my time in Uganda only so that people will know the plight of the children of Uganda. I want to share about my time so that people will know who Jesus is! I have complete confidence that if people knew the Jesus that I know that it would change them. It's impossible to truly know Jesus and stay the same. 

The truth is that God is completely loving and completely just at the same time. He loves his creation and sent his only Son so that we could be in His family; so that we could be saved from an eternity of being separated from him. You see without Jesus we are separated from Him. He created his world and set up some guidelines for us to live by based in His great love for us; rules to keep us safe and at peace. But in our willful disobedience and pride we have been separated from God (Romans 3:23, 6:23). The Good News is that in God's abundant grace he decided to make a way through Jesus. The bad news is that without Jesus there is eternal punishment and separation from God. I don't share that to be a downer, I say it because I love you and I want you to have abundant life now and forever!

Jesus came to bring life and life to the full. This life is offered to anyone who might hear his inviting words of redemption, believe and turn towards him in repentance. I am here in Uganda because of this abundant life in Jesus. I am hear because he first loved me and now I am freed to love others. I am here because ultimate joy and satisfaction is found in seeking his face alone; in being where he is. 

Just so we're clear--I am no where near perfect :), I am still being transformed by His grace. I don't want people to get the wrong idea; that I am just floating around all day holding children and planting seeds of joy. I hope that, by God's grace, there are some seeds planted, some comfort given and joy administered…but the truth is that I can be irritable and impatient. I often look out for my own good before everyone else's. I speak without thinking and often hurt others. I am still as in need of God's grace here as I am anywhere else. I'm finding it difficult to express myself in words when it comes to Jesus, his kingdom and the Gospel, which maybe makes sense since…'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love…' (Galatians 5:6b) and…'Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth…' (1 John 3:18). 

All that to say…I love following Jesus:)! It's wonderful and exciting and you never know what is going to happen next:)! God is faithful and trustworthy; he keeps all his promises and one day all of this mess will be over and everything will be made new! Wooo hoooo:)!!! Until then though, sometimes you'll be in Africa with a bacterial infection in your intestines, intestinal worms, and fleas all at the same time (not that I know anyone who that has happened to, haha;))!!

Not a perfect picture, but pretty accurate:). 

Just look at those awesome faces! I hear they could use some help, because most of them are living with only one parent (if any) and I think maybe in all 200+ kids at that specific Carepoint, maybe 5 have a father in the home (that is probably a high estimate). Without a male in the family to provide it is very difficult for a mother to work, care for and feed her family. It was crazy as I compiled this data I felt like I was  becoming numb to how many times I was typing the word 'deceased' under the heading 'Father.' I would automatically type it and then have to go back and change it after reading the information, if in fact the father was still living, but that didn't happen very often. Many of the current care takers are actually living with HIV/AIDS themselves. 

They love to sing songs to God and pray to him.

I am trying to help raise funds for a medical fund for this care point. We are shooting for a goal of $5,000 and are just over halfway there. I know we can do this! It seems so simple a thing, but probably only because I've taken access to medical care for granted so often! Please help me to help my friends:)! 

Also, it has been such a sweet experience to sponsor a couple of these kids. It has been fun building relationships with them over the past couple of years and to know I am helping a real friend. God is bringing hope to these kids and he wants to use us to do it:)! So, if you are interested in investing $34 a month into the life of one of my friends in Uganda, please let me know:)! It would be the greatest privilege for me to be able to tell them personally all about their friend in America who wants to help them!! 

If you're interested in giving toward the medical fund, click on the link below to visit my fundraising page. If you're interested in sponsoring one of these kids, just send me an email or facebook message (jessh4@gmail.com). Thank you!! :)

http://donate.hopechest.org/site/TR/Events/CommunityPages?pg=team&fr_id=1180&team_id=1650

Merry Christmas from Uganda!!

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."   (Matthew 1:23) Amen!! :)

An Update of Sorts

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5-6 

My favorite time of day in Uganda:).

Ok, you got me, I have finally started a blog. I have had a few requests to blog about my time here, but my reverse humility (aka pride) would not allow me to do so. So, today I am blogging, because I get to be in Uganda and I want you to be here with me:). One of the sweetest things about being a part of the body of Christ is that we get to participate in Christ's love with people all over the world doing all kinds of different things! So today, please be a part of what God is doing in Uganda! 

Disclaimer: I am an expert in the art of 'typos.' There will be typos, grammatical errors, missing words etc. The few times I have made a status on Facebook, I have had to delete it and retype it after posting and finding an error, so please extend grace to me:)...and feel free to laugh. I also have no idea how to format a blog...so here goes nothing...:)

I'll just try to briefly fill you in on what I've been up to for the last month! I've kind of been 'on call' to go and take care of health issues in the field as well as accompany kids in our program to a clinic or the hospital when necessary. This has been interesting as things work a little differently here. I try my best to advocate for the kids, double check their plan of care, make sure they have someone to take care of them while they're in the hospital (nurses have too many patients here to be able to care for each one very much), and I try to follow up with care after they've been discharged/after a clinic visit. 

The first wound I took care of and this was it after it started to get better!

This is the hospital 'hallway' (?) The signs say, 'Mortuary' and 'Male Surgical Ward'. 

These are patients waiting for surgery, the girl in purple is Rose, she is a child from our program.

I get to travel around to the 10 different Care Points and teach lessons on basic hygiene, basic healthy behaviors, basic first aid and we always get time to talk about Jesus and how much he loves them.The Care Point is the place where kids gather to eat their daily meals, be taught about Jesus, play and connect with the staff. I am usually spending time with the older kids teaching these lessons, so they're currently going through the phase where some of them think they are 'too cool' for certain things. I like to tell all of them that life is too short to be 'too cool.' One day they'll wake up and realize they were 'too cool' to enjoy their lives! We have a lot of fun together:). (I don't have pictures of this on my camera, but someone else has a few and I'll try post them soon, they're fun!)

And of course…I get to play with the children! We sing, we dance, we run around and play! I have been trying to get more creative these days. Sometimes I travel to the different Care Points when the CHC Program Coordinator has meetings with community members. I go to play with the children of course, but sometimes those meetings last forever! We call them 'short African meetings' :). So lately I've been bringing coloring books, crayons, sweets and fingernail polish. The other day, I helped the kids act out the story of the good samaritan…it was really fun:)! 

Literally, the only space to see what we're doing is from the top!

Me and my Karamojong friends that are sometimes at the Care Points

This little boy stole my heart, Gideon. :)

This sweet thing looks like she's seen a monster! Nope...just me! :) They either love me or they think I'm some strange white thing walking around!

Little Gideon with his little brother on his back.

I sometimes get overwhelmed when I am with the kids and I pause to step back for a minute. We play and have fun just like normal kids do…and though these kids are 'normal' in every aspect of the word as far as kids go, they lead the most difficult lives of anyone I've ever met. When I think about that, my heart hurts. It happens when I see the 4 year-old carrying the baby on her back, caring for her little brother like a mother would or when another 4 year old sits with a sobbing 1 year old on his lap, looking helpless as he tries to console the inconsolable baby (no parents in sight). It happens when I see them eating their one meal of the day and I really think about that. I think about how these sweet kids are so thankful for this one meal each day. That one bowl of posho and beans is it…for the whole day. And these kids are the kids who are being helped. And often, they share their one bowl with a younger sibling who isn't in the program and they are always concerned for me and invite me to eat with them. 

Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by the need and feel very helpless and I just want to give them everything, but am not sure how! Then I remember who my God is…and though my heart is still broken for these small ones (the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, according to Jesus), God doesn't leave me in a place of despair, but teaches me to trust him. Yes, I am to be his hands and feet and yes the need is overwhelming, but my God is the owner of all the world's resources and he is in control. All that I can do is to point people to real hope in Jesus and try to meet physical need wherever God gives me opportunity. And I can pray that God would take care of them and use me however he sees fit. I am reminded that even if I am only helping one, it still makes all the difference to that one. I can also invite others to join me in helping these sweet ones;).

And lastly, I get to spend time reading and writing and sitting at the feet of Jesus. He has been teaching me about his gospel and about what's important. I know I'll spend my whole life trying to figure out 'what's important,' because I don't want to waste my short life on this earth. Right now though, he has been reminding me about the power of the gospel; the truth that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and it is finished. I am free now to love God and love others, because God first loved me. I can't add anything to the gospel and I can't take anything away from it; It remains the Good News even among my failures. Jesus came to bring life and life to the full!! I want to be a part of this full and abundant life with Jesus! I want to wake up each day and choose thankfulness and joy, because that's what God created me to do in Christ Jesus. It's WHO I AM as God's child! (1 Thess. 5:16-18) 

I am so thankful for these truths, because they don't become any less true the minute I set foot back in Iowa. I also realize that I don't have to choose one or the other, I can love people in both places regardless of where I am physically located! Each day presents an opportunity to decide to think about someone else more than I think about myself; to show them love. It's kind of exciting!! Each day, new mercies; new chances to be Jesus to someone…or to love someone as if I was encountering Jesus himself! I assure you that I have plenty of failures each day. I fail to be thankful or joyful or patient or to think about others first. I fail a lot…and am reminded that I need Jesus…which reminds me to be thankful…and then my heart is filled with joy and peace…and I wake up to his new mercies…and get to try again.

As the Christmas Season closes in, would you consider giving to help my sweet friends? I'm trying to raise money for a country-wide medical fund this Christmas. I want to give them the world, but I can't give them much on my own. I need your help. Please join me in blessing these little ones, the greatest in God's Kingdom. A medical fund doesn't seem like much, but to them it could make a huge and lasting difference. To give, just visit the link below. If you'd like to help me raise money for my friends, you can 'join my team,' start your own page and start raising money for my friends as well:). Thank you so much:). 

http://donate.hopechest.org/site/TR/Events/CommunityPages?team_id=1650&pg=team&fr_id=1180

Sweet Lillian:)

'But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.' Psalm 8:18