Life With Rehema: Tracy, Churchill and Advent

Introduction

Welcome. My name is Catherine Garza and Rehema is my Ugandan friend. I wish I had begun this blog from the very beginning because the journey of our friendship has been exciting and full of stories. When I met her, Rehema had just come from her home in Lira, Uganda on a Ford Foundation scholarship. She had just begun to work on her graduate studies in Health Education here in Austin at The University of Texas. There is a huge gap in our story from then to now. She is currently living with our family and continuing her studies. I often wish I could share our days with friends and family so they could experience the richness of living with someone from such a different culture, country and environment. Hopefully, this blog will give those interested a taste of our experiences.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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.