The life of being an auntie!!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry it has been so long, but I have been super busy lately! I have had a request to share what I do during my day at Amani. So... this is how it goes! We start walking to work at 8:30 and get there around 9. We then go to our cottages or preschool (I'm in cottage C). I have 8 little boys that I take care of on my own until 10. I take off all of their shirts and leave them in their diapers, give them their snack of porridge and then strip them down to put them on the potties for 15 minutes. Then I re-diaper them and clothe them. We go outside and play until 12 when it's time for lunch. We repeat the same pattern except just re-diaper them and put them down for nap from 1-3. After the 'babies' in the cottages get done eating their dinner, my 7 older boys eat their food and then will wash off, go and sit on the toilet, and then come into the room to also lay down for nap. During that time us volunteers get to eat our lunch and take a break. During our break most of us end up in the nursery. Once 3 o'clock hits we're back in our cottages for 'cactus time'.. We wake the boys up, give them a snack, and potty and dress them again. We either have activities, outings, or 1 on 1 from 4-5:30, or we just play outside until 5:30 when we get off work.

Since I last updated you I have gone on my first boda ride, gone to 2 church services, had an entire week of work, met some amazing missionaries at different ministries in the area, went to watch Martha and Florence's band's first 'gig', went on a boat ride on Lake Victoria, saw my first monkey in the wild, gone swimming with some kiddos, and started doing homework with 2 of our boys who are actually in school. I am loving absolutely every second of being here. I find myself totally in awe of this life I am living and the fact that God allowed me to be here. I find myself loving God more and more and I know that it is a combination of me being here because it's where God led me to be, am surrounded by His beautiful children, and amazing missionaries who love Him with all that is within us! As one of my fellow roommates put it "God seems so much bigger here. So much stronger and more powerful. And maybe it's because I spend my days around missionaries, who are poor and have given up everything to be here, or because I spend my days with orphans who by only works of God, are living and thriving, and joyful."

Today when our boys were outside playing I happened to come inside and found one of my mamas finishing up the dishes in our room after the morning snack. For some reason I felt God tell me that I really needed to talk to Mama Georgina more than just the few words we have gotten to speak while the kids are around. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing our conversation was. I was completely lifted up and had tears in my eyes as she was telling me stories and talking about God's love for us and all that she knows about the Bible. One of the first things she said to me was "You girls, you aunties come here from all over the place, especially America..and I know that those flights are not cheap. They cost a lot of money. The fact that you come here means that you have the love of God in you. No one would willingly want to come to a poor country like ours when you come from having so much. You come here and I have already seen how much you love God and how much He is in you just from the look you have on your face and the love you have shown through your actions with our children here." I just wanted to cry, because I just never realized how much some people can really see God in us. We then had an amazing talk about how our children are at our home because God has chosen them to be there. God has chosen them to go through such bad things before they come so they know just how much God truly loves them when they come into such an amazing and Christ centered home like we have here at Amani. She kept asking me, when you go home after being here and doing all that you have done here, do you know how much God is going to bless you? ABUNDANTLY!!! God will bless you more than you think He could, which we always somehow underestimate even after He has done everything for us. She then pulled me over and sat me down on the table and looked me in the eyes, and told me just how much God loves me, loves her, and especially loves our children...HIS children!! After she looked me in the eyes she turned my attention to the walls that we have in our boys' room. On the wall we have the Bible verse of 1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" She then went on to explain just how important this verse is and how much it applies to each and every one of us, especially those of us that have given up everything in order to come and serve Christ at our orphanage. We are a chosen generation. God has chosen us to do His work because right now we need Him more than ever. We are royalty because we have Christ's blood in us. This is a holy nation because God is everywhere! We are His own special people because again, we have His blood in us! By us coming so far to serve Him and loving Him with all that we have, we are proclaiming the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light!!!

My wish for all of you that have read this, is that you will know just how marvelous you are and just how mighty God is and understand His love for us. I pray that you will accept this and take everything in. Christ died for us who deserve nothing, all so that we can join Him in His marvelous light! He loves us so much that He gave up His everything for us..so why should we sit at home in our comfort zones and not go out and do His work for Him? God has a beautiful and amazing plan for each and every one of us! Why, oh why, would any of us want to stand in His way of what His plans are for us? I pray you open up your everything and give it all to Jesus. Yes, EVERYTHING!! I pray that you may be broken completely so that you may gain it ALL! Please understand just how special you are and how much God loves you. We do not deserve it, but Jesus gave it to us anyways!!

Until next time!! "Auntie Jennifer loves you, but Jesus loves you way more than auntie ever could. Why? Because God made you SPECIAL!!"

Loving Jinja

Hello again everyone! I just wanted to update you all. Yesterday was a great day. Usually on Saturdays we have a project day and just do different work around Amani, but we had yesterday off so we could just start to get go know our children in the cottage we are going to be working in. I happen to be in Baby C. Baby C holds 16 boys right now that are 1 to 5 years old. Right now it is just the 2 C mommas and I working in that room, so it will be a handful. There is one little boy who has especially captured my heart because he has been classified as being on the autism spectrum! He usually attaches himself to one auntie while they are there, and he found me instantly! I know God placed me in the cottage and with this little boy for a reason and I am loving every second of it! Most of the boys in my room are older, so they go to preschool for most of the morning. So that's the main reason why I'm the only volunteer in the room since there are fewer little ones to take care of. I'm getting ready to go to my first African church service and I am extremely excited! Thank you all for your prayers, God Bless! :D

A few pictures!

 Here I am feeding Baby Ann

 Baby Ann was pulling on my hair during this picture

 Baby Jane!! She is actually 5 months old right now..but is so tiny she looks like she isn't more than 2. Her grandmother couldn't feed her any more than avocados and water for the first 4 months of her life, so she was severely malnourished.

 Baby John is just over 2 months old. He came at 3 days old and weighted 3 pounds. He is now up to almost 7 pounds! :)

 We took our preschoolers out into the city for a little fun afternoon of painting, drawing, getting their faces painted, and drinking orange juice!

These are our preschoolers!

I have arrived!

Hello everyone! This story or rumor you might have heard happens to be true...I AM HERE! We may have had a few bumps in the road and delays along the way..but we made it. We made it through the airports, 18 hours of flying, 7 hours of layover, a 2 and a half hour drive to Jinja starting at 2 this morning, arriving and unloading our luggage at the baby cottage, repacking, and then going to the volunteer house and unloading again. We finally got settled around 6 and 3 of us slept for 4 hours while Mariah is still without sleep so she could go and see the boy she has been sponsoring for the past 7 years. Our surroundings here are beautiful. The front yard is nothing but green, trees, flowers, and the Nile. The babies, children, mommas, and other volunteers are amazing! I keep thanking God for giving me this opportunity to serve Him here of all places. Thank you all for your prayers, support, and thoughts. I appreciate it more than you even know.

Traveling

I just wanted to update everyone as I am in the vehicle right now with my parents while traveling to Minneapolis, MN. We are looking at stopping around Des Moines, IA for the night tonight. We will continue on to the airport where Mariah and I will meet up to go through baggage check and security together and get on the plane to depart on our first flight at about 3pm Central time. We appreciate everyone's prayers and support throughout this time. Thank you all and God Bless!! :)

John 14:18

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

God is good! ALL the time!!

Today I was in Wayne, NE just checking out all the stores of my future home...and we happened to walk by a store of new and secondhand items for children...my mother and I of course stopped in and started picking up clothes for me to take to the children at the orphanage. Well the owner of the secondhand store wasn't around but someone was working in Jacob's Room..he told us that the secondhand store only took checks or cash..and I didn't have enough cash on hand because it's all just been in my savings account until I go over to Uganda..we asked if they would take my out of town check and he called his boss..his boss didn't actually own the secondhand store..they just wanted to make sure people could get in there if they needed to..she told him on the phone to have me just make the check out to her and she would cash it on Monday to give to the owner of the other store..and kept asking him if she was making a bad choice with the chance of the check bouncing...we told her multiple times it would not bounce and kept re-assuring her I had plenty of money in my account and told her what I was doing with the clothes and this mission trip I am going on...her attitude instantly shifted and I heard tears in her voice...she then gave us 10 baby books (a $70 value)..and anything else we would like to take that had a duplicate of for up to $50 in value...it turns out that she lost her son...and that's why she opened the store in the first place...God is so amazing for who He places in our paths..at all times...and we don't even have to meet in person! Thank You Lord!!!!