Little Bitty Update

I am posting a tiny update because I am too tired to go into detail...not because of our new house mates, but because of all of the holiday preparation etc!

Tracy and Churchill arrived, a few minutes ahead of schedule (unbelievable!), at about 9:15 on Christmas Eve. We were expecting their plane at 9:30 according to the monitor, but I spotted them on the escalator 15 minutes early. Rehema ran to the bottom of the stairs and started yodeling...Tracy's face immediately went sour. She was so embarrassed! But she got over it quickly and Churchill's grin was big enough for both of them. There was a lot of hugging and laughing and the woman behind me said, "Oh my God! I don't even know them and I am crying!" It was truly a sweet reunion.

We didn't stay up long when we got home...they ate and bathed and everyone went to bed so Santa could come. Christmas morning was probably a bit overwhelming. Tracy shook her head and refused to believe that Santa left her the gifts we told her were for her. She got a baby doll with a stroller, that we had to show her how to use. They carry their babies in slings in Uganda, not strollers. She also got two Barbies, a white one and a black one with several outfits. She insisted that they were all named Meagan and that the black one really was white. She also says that Rehema has turned white since she has been in the U.S. and wonders if she will turn white too.

They have taken the past couple of days to try to turn their body clocks around, since our day is their night. They are still up tonight at almost 8:30. They are in the family room watching Despicable Me and I hear Tracy laughing out loud every once in a while. A good sign that she is loosening up and becoming more comfortable around us. She is pretty shy and prefers to speak Luo to English. She is sure that she will find a black person in Austin to speak Luo with besides her mother and her brother who promises that after the new year, only English will be spoken.

Well, I hope to post more soon with some pictures of the reunion. I hope that you get to meet them soon. They are really beautiful.

By the way...if anyone has any size 10-12 girl's clothes to pass down, let me know. Tracy is much taller than we expected!!

They'll Be Home for Christmas!

Yesterday we purchased tickets for Churchill and Tracy! They will be coming in at 9:30 on Christmas Eve. I have talked to the principal at the elementary school and they are expecting Tracy next semester. I now have to talk to McCallum to see what to do about Churchill.

While we were filling out all the info for the plane tickets, I got to find out the kid's birthdays. We thought Churchill was 18 and Tracy was 8, but they are actually 17 and 7. Ugandans don't keep track of age or celebrate birthdays, so I taught Rehema how to count out their ages. I am relieved that they are younger than we thought...I was worried about Churchill being too old for high school and that Tracy would look too old for the grade she will probably fit best in. Also, Graceyn really wanted a 'little sister' to take care of...now that she knows Tracy is 2 years younger, she can feel like 'big sister' to her.

Now we have to get busy and figure out immunizations, health insurance, sleeping arrangements, Christmas presents, warm clothes, and who knows what else. If anyone has information on health insurance for children residing temporarily in the US on 12 month visas, please contact me!!!!

Needless to say, we are going into this with a lot of prayer and trust in God's provision. Please pray for all of us as we go through this transition. There will be lots of adjustments to be made on everyone's part, but Churchill and Tracy will be going through enormous cultural changes. Pray that their youthfulness will make it easier on them than it was on their mother. They have never seen many of the things they will encounter on their trip here, alone. They do not celebrate Christmas in the same materialistic way that we do in America. School will be completely different. And even though they speak English, they will have to get used to the very different accents. (When I have talked with Tracy on Skype, she asks her mother to tell me to please speak English!) Oddly enough, one of the things I worry most about is the temperature difference from their home. Rehema wears hats and coats in the summer and she has been here for a year and 1/2! They will be coming in the beginning of winter and will never have felt temperatures this cold before...even though we consider our winters to be mild.

I am looking forward to posting about their reunion with their mother...they have not seen her in 1 1/2 years! Can you imagine? It's going to be a party...I better alert the security at the airport :)

Tracy, Churchill and Advent

In my last post, I talked about Rehema's kids and the possibility of them coming to the US to be with their mother. I have wanted to post updates many times, but haven't had the time to sit at the computer to do it. A LOT has happened since my last post...

First of all, thank you to those of you who were moved to want to help bring Churchill and Tracy to Austin. Your prayers have helped us to see God's hand moving. Both kids have been granted US visas for 12 months, which apparently is very hard to get in Uganda. They are free to come and join Rehema as soon as we can get them plane tickets. Since it is the holiday season, airfare is very high. Yesterday all we could find was tickets that would cost about $2400 one way for the two of them. It looked like we were going to have to wait until February when the tickets were about 1/2 that price. But today, Rehema found airfare that would total about $1700 for the two of them and they would arrive around midnight on Christmas Eve.

There are still many unknowns and complications about caring for them once they get here, but God is showing us that it is not impossible. I just finished talking and praying with Rehema about making the decision to purchase the tickets. Please join us in praying for God's timing and direction in all of this. I really want to just get out of the way and let Him do His thing. It's a very hard thing for me to do! I want Rehema to be reunited with her children, but more than that, I want God to get His way.

I was reminded tonight how much this is like advent. We are waiting and anticipating Churchill and Tracy's arrival. As much as we are excited about that, we agreed that we were much more excited about the anticipation of the coming of our Jesus. And not just the anticipation of the anniversary of him coming to the world as a child, but the anticipation of him coming to the world in Glory! As much as we long for the day that we will be with Churchill and Tracy, we long for the day we will be with Jesus so much more.

Devin and I would like to host a small fundraiser to help Rehema with the costs of bringing her kids here and for caring for them once they are with her. I am not sure when that will be, but I will post about it here and try to get the word out through Facebook and email too. This is such a busy season for everyone, but we will see what is in store for us.

If you have been praying for this situation, please continue! If you have just learned about this sweet family, please add them to your prayers. I hope one day that you will meet them and that you will be as blessed as we have been to know them.

Harriet Called Tracy

Rehema has 3 children. There is 18 year old Churchill who is from her first marriage at the age of 14 to the commander of the Ugandan army; 24 year old 'Big' Harriet whom Rehema adopted after the death of her twin brother; and 7 year old Tracy, who is also named Harriet but they call Tracy. In our family, we have begun to affectionately refer to her as 'Harriet Called Tracy'.

About a month to 6 weeks ago, Tracy's school had an outbreak of conjuctivitis. As we know here in the states, it is a highly contagious, but reletively easily treatable infection in the eyes. You apply a opthalmic antibiotic a few times a day and it is taken care of. Other than an itchy inconvenience, it is no big deal. But in Uganda, it is a whole different story. Because they aren't aware of exactly what it is, no measures are taken to keep it from spreading and extreme measures are taken to get rid of it. Rehema learned of the outbreak from an online newsource. In the report, over 100 children in Tracy's school had pink eye and in extreme cases, they were resorting to cutting out the children's eyes.

Hold the phone!!!!! Cutting out their eyes???? For Pink Eye? This is the point in time when I said, "We have to get Tracy here....soon." I told Rehema to tell her sister to keep Harriet Called Tracy home for a while until the outbreak was over and in the meantime, we would start the process of applying for a visa so she could come and be with her mama. We started asking around to find out exactly what had to be done to get her here and how to apply for passports and visas. Paperwork was started, money exchanged hands (everything requires a bribe in Uganda) and things got going.

Then the Kampala bombings occurred. Churchill is in University in Kampala and when the bombings happened, he freaked out. He asked his mom on skype, "When are you going to get me out of here?" And so we added Churchill to the process.

We have sent our end of the paperwork to Churchill and he is filling everything out for the American Embassy in Kampala in order to get visas for himself and Tracy. Ironically, Tracy now has a case of conjunctivitis!

This is what must happen in order to get both of them here:

1) We had to write a letter of invitation for both children to stay with us saying we would provide for them while they are in the United States.

2) They must provide specifics about what schools they will go to and where they will live while they are here.

3)They must be able to state who will provide plane fare for their trip to the United States.

We have taken the responsibility for them in all of the paperwork, but honestly, we do not have the cash laying around to buy two plane tickets from Uganda to the U.S. I am trusting that God will provide, and if He doesn't, then it's not in His plan for them to come to our home. This post is not a plea for support, but if you feel led to do so, please contact me to find out how you can help to bring Rehema's children to her in the United States and out of harms way in Uganda.

I know all things are possible for our Heavenly Father, and these children are more His than ours. I trust Him with them and with their situations.

This is what it would look like if they were to make it here to Austin....

Churchill would go to McCallum High School...probably as a senior.

Tracy would go to Robert E. Lee Elementary with Graceyn...probably as a Kinder or 1st grader.

They would live here in our house with us and their mother.

They would have 'adopted brothers and sisters' and a huge extended family.

They would have an amazing church community.

They would learn all kinds of things that they never would have experienced in Uganda.

They would teach us things we can't even imagine.

We would absolutely fall in love with them.

Perhaps Graceyn would stop asking me on a daily basis if God had spoken to me about adoption....that would be a bonus for me.

I am hoping that we can hold several fundraisers to get Churchill and Tracy here. One idea is to hold a penny race at Graceyn's school. They already collect books for Libraries of Love which builds libraries for schools in Uganda and provides them with books. And they hold Geography Day every fall in which the whole school is transformed into a small globe for one day and children get to spend a whole day in a different country, learning about the culture, history, food, and people. Last year they added Uganda...hmmmm? Their radar is tuned in, so it should be a no-brainer. Hopefully we can arrange a skype date with a child in Rehema's family for Geography Day (probably her niece Precious...Tracy is too shy) so we can make it real for the kids. I also wanted to hold a semi high-end garage sale to raise plane fare.

If any of this touches your heart in any way and you want to help out in getting Churchill and Tracy to our home, please contact me. Devin has a 501C-3 set up that we can run everything through. If you want to give treasure, great! If you want to give time, great! If you want to give talent, great! These are two lives...three really...that you can help make a difference in. What our Father considers pure and undefiled religion is taking care of the widows and orphans. Rehema is a widow and neither of her biological children knew their fathers. I think God would qualify them.

Another Little Story

Here is another little story that Rehema told me this morning.....

In Uganda, people ask their friends to contribute to the expenses for their weddings, much like we ask for people to contribute funds for a mission trip. Rehema had been asked to contribute by a woman back home. Right now she is living off of a stipened from the Ford Fellowship Foundation, the organization who granted her scholarship. She doesn't have much money, and much of what she has, she sends home.

Still, Rehema considered what she could contribute and decided she could give $50 for the woman's hair-do. Right away, she began to pray for God to provide that for her. Two days later, she was sitting in class and a boy who is a classmate, but who she does not know, came up and put a $20 bill in her hand. The next day when she was on the bus, a girl sat beside her, they said hello to each other and at the end of the ride, the girl put $5 in her hand. Rehema asked if this was for her and the girl said "God told me to give it to you."

This is such a simple illustration of how if we rely on God, and not ourselves, to provide for our needs, He can and will through people and circumstances in our lives. Rehema's faith is child-like, just like we are called to be in our faith. She doesn't question whether God will provide, just how He will provide.

Rehema Gump

There is evidence of God's hand all over Rehema's life. She definitely has his favor and there are so many stories I could tell to prove it. The fact that she is even alive at all is proof. But this morning she shared two very recent events that point to God working in and through her.

When President Obama was planning a trip to Austin to speak to students and faculty at UT's Gregory Gym, just about everyone in town knew about it. Hardly anyone expected to be able to be in the gym to actually hear him speak. But when Rehema received an email sent by the university to the student body saying there would be a limited number of tickets available, she told me she wanted to try to get one. I knew that if tickets would be available at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning she would have to be in line hours earlier to have a chance, but when I told her this, she wasn't discouraged. She was determined to try. Long story short...she arrived at 6:30 on Saturday morning to a very long line that wound through the UT campus. She was told to go to the very end of the line and so she jogged the 1/2 mile or so to the end. She made friends with the people around her, like she always does. Someone shared their water bottle with her, and someone else shared an apple with her...she was provided for. When she finally got to the front of the line a couple of hours later, they made the cut off for tickets. Imagine, you have waited in line for a two hours, you finally are the next person in line, and they cut you off. But remember, this is Rehema and she has God's favor....so a minute later they open the door and say, we can take the next 10 people. So Rehema comes home with one of the last 10 tickets to hear President Obama speak! Obama, who is the first black president of the United States; whose father is from Kenya, Uganda's neighbor; and whose tribe speaks Luo, Rehema's language. She is beyond thrilled! I am in disbelief.

The day of Obama's speech, Rehema dresses up in her traditional Ugandan dress. When she wears this, it is impossible not to notice her. She looks like a queen in her bright yellow skirt and blouse and matching head wrap. I tried to coach her on how to behave so as not to freak out security... I was really afraid she would yodel, which is the way they show appreciation or celebrate. Well, she did yodel and thank God, she wasn't tackled and arrested by the Secret Service!!! But she did get the attention of a reporter, and as she was leaving the gym, he stopped her and interviewed her. When she told me about it, she was a little worried that the Ugandan government would see the article and be unhappy with her comments. But she didn't get the name of the publication, so there was nothing to do about retracting them. I assured her that no one in Uganda would ever possibly see this article, and forgot all about it.

Fast forward to this morning...the first thing Rehema shared with me, even before her good morning hug, was an online article about Obama's speech in Austin, Tx at Gregory Gym. Her son, Churchill, who is in Kampala, sent her the link to it. At the end of the article was a paragraph that included comments from who else, but Rehema Apio! This was the article by the reporter who had interviewed her...and her son had seen in online in Kampala. We would have never seen it had he not seen it first. CRAZY!

This is just one thread in the tapestry of events that God is weaving to make up Rehema's life story. There are so many more that carry much more weight than this one, but this was immediate and on my mind, so I thought I would share. Hopefully, God will give me the time in my life to share some of the more monumental stories...the ones that involve life and death and take a certain amount of faith to even believe. Rehema is truly blessed and I am blessed to be able to share her life with her for a short time.

The Beginning

So since I didn't start this blog from the beginning of my relationship with Rehema and since there are so many stories worth sharing between then and now...I think I will attempt to write a current story one day and a previous story the next. If I am even able to keep this up for any length of time! It may be a little confusing, but along the way I may be able to figure out how to sort them chronologically.
For the first post, I think I should start at the beginning....
I met Rehema at church in September of 2009 through a mutual friend whom she had met running. (Rehema is a long distance runner, a coach and a teacher.) Sitting next to her in the service that first day, I felt like this was a person I wanted to know and to be around, and we hadn't even had a conversation yet. Her spirit was eminating from her and touching my heart in such a way that I just knew I would enjoy being friends with her. I was having a terrible morning and had just griped God out in my journal. The next thing I knew there was my friend Barbara and a beautiful, tall, black woman dressed in a traditional Ugandan dress a high pointy hat and a huge smile. I motioned for them to sit next to me and the worship music started up. We sat next to eachother for the whole service without saying a word and at the end, I couldn't wait to find out all about her. I didn't realize that it would be the beginning of a deep and beautiful friendship with one of the most intersting and Spirit-filled people I had ever met.