Meet Ivan

Meet Ivan

A number of years ago, God placed "the orphan" so heavily on my heart I could scarcely think of little else.  I read amazing stories of adoption, read blogs concerning orphans, prayed for and helped friends financially who were in the process of adoption and humbly asked God to make adoption a reality in our family.

I meditated on James 1:27

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.

At that time, it was estimated that there were 143 million orphans worldwide. There is no way one cannot be astounded by such a number.  (See the rice post if you want to have a visual of 143 million).  I read a couple days ago the number is now hovering around 163 million!!

My heart aches for ALL these children who do not have a family to call their own.

The prayer became, "Lord, use us to reach the orphan."  Making a difference to one or a few of them is what each of is called to do.

Over the years we've met, hosted, sponsored and cared for orphans as God continues to bring them into our lives.

Our first encounter was with a group from Childcare Worldwide in 2006.  If you're not familiar with Childcare Worldwide, definitely check them out.  They're listed with a 5-Star rating from Ministry Watch.com

Childcare Worldwide formed the Ugandan Orphan's Choir to "bring a message of hope to American audiences through the traditional rhythmic dances and songs of Africa."

Back in September of 2006 our church scheduled to have the choir perform.  To defray costs, the choir asks churches to host the chaperones and kids.  I literally JUMPED at the opportunity when our pastor asked for volunteering homes.

After the church service, I walked up to him as a line of other interested families was forming.  I quickly let him know I sensed they were SUPPOSED to be at our home.

He agreed.

All five boys and the male chaperone to the choir were placed with us for a 2-3 day stay.

We cleaned,  readied our home, and welcomed the boys with open arms.

Little did I know, 2 days with these kids ROCKED my world.  My heart's desire to live out James 1:27 was fueled.

These boys arrived with nothing but a backpack, but they exuded JOY like I'd never seen before.  All of them had lost one or both of their parents to the AIDS epidemic. They were delivered from near disaster and placed in a Children's Village where they now received housing, food, clothing, character development and an education.

Prior to being rescued by Childcare, some of these young children (under 13) are found caring for their younger siblings because their parents have died.  Some of these children bury their own parents.  Some are left in the care of older grandparents who do not have the means nor the strength to care for them.  It's heartbreaking!

Childcare Worldwide steps in and offers these children hope for a better future.

One of these boys in particular found a place in our hearts.  His name is Ivan.  We were able to spend Christmas 2006 with Ivan and another boy from the choir, Alex. Both boys are dear to us.

Christmas 2006

With Alex

With Ivan

Alex helped me roll out lefse while the other boys played.  Sadly, we have not heard from Alex since his stay with us.

Alex: "This Chapati?"  Me: "No, this is lefse.  Another flatbread."

Although my husband has not received a heart for adoption as I have, when he met Ivan he said, "He would fit in our family."  Ivan's photo is on a shelf in our family room with other family photos.  We will forever think of him as a special member of our family.

This is the photo we received last year from Ivan.
He has GROWN so much!

Adoption of the kids from the choir is not an option, and adoption from Uganda is difficult to say the least, but we've been blessed to have the opportunity to stay in contact with Ivan and hopefully one day we will meet him again.

We've never learned much about Ivan and his life prior to coming to Childcare. What we do know is he has a genuinely kind disposition and became instant friends with our oldest son.

We got a letter from Ivan this week.  Ivan's now 16 years old and loves to play soccer.  He's doing very well in school.  Childcare Worldwide's goal is to have the children receive quality education and training in a profession so they may not just survive, but succeed!  I think Ivan will break out of the cycle of poverty and succeed in whatever he chooses!

If you feel a tug at your heart when you see kids like Ivan, do something about it. Visit Childcare Worldwide's website.  You never know when you'll get to meet your sponsored child.  We were able to meet our sponsored child, Caleb last year.  That's another story and another post.

Have a blessed day!

Chicken & Rice Soup



As promised, here's a blog on our homemade chicken & rice soup.  I make this almost every time we have a roasted chicken in the house.

I grew up in family that didn't let much go to waste.  Perhaps that is why I cringe when I see people throw away bones with meat still left on them.  I think, "There's a whole meal to be created there!"

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can roast your own chicken at home or use a Costco rotisserie chicken.  If you're using the Costco (or similar rotisserie chicken) don't throw away the carcass or any of that yummy juice in the bottom of the container.  The juice at the bottom and the skin add delicious flavor.

The carcass

Place the carcass in a large soup pot and add water.  Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer.  Simmer for hours, adding water if necessary.

After hours of cooking your chicken stock is ready for the next process.  Why is homemade chicken stock, or bone broth, important? 

According to Sally Fallon, author of Broth is Beautiful, "Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily- not just calcium and magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals.  It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons- stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and join pain." 

She continues with fish broth, "Broth and soup made with fish heads and carcasses provide iodine and thyroid-strengthening substances."

And to think we throw away all this nutrition!

Simmering Away.

After your chicken carcass has cooled, remove meat from the bones.  Discard bones and skin.  If there is excess floaties on the top you don't care for, just skim that off.  Add chicken meat back to pot. 

At this point, if you want only chicken broth, chicken meat and rice, you can add 1/2-1 cup of rice depending on how much broth you made.  If necessary, add salt and some pepper to taste.  Before the rice, I usually add chopped onion, carrot, celery, and peas to the pot.  Cook for about a 1/2 hour.  Then I add the rice.  I've been using brown rice, and it turns out great.  Cover pot and let rice cook.  This is such a simple clean soup, I usually don't add many seasonings.  The kids love the simpleness of it.

I once made this soup when we were hosting 5 Ugandan girls at our house.  I bought two Costco chickens and just put them directly in my biggest soup pot.  It's a BIG pot.  I cooked the chickens and then just added rice to the broth.  It was a very meaty rice soup.  The girls were crazy for it!  One little girl, after she went for her fourth serving said to me, "Mom, this soup is not good...OPPOSITE!"  She was a cutie!  She loved it.  Who knew a little body could hold so much soup?

Here are some photos of our precious five!

The Ugandan Girls and our Girly- All Girls!

Helping in the kitchen.

Fun times!

Precious Children

After the vegetables have cooked, the soup is ready to be served.

Enjoy!  Your joints could quite possibly thank you!

Trying to Find Crazy Love Through a Baggie

The Baggie

I have a large gallon-sized baggie in the car.  The kids brought it home from church a couple weeks ago.  It is filled with hand sanitizer, snacks, personal hygiene items, and a Bible verse.  We prayed concerning the baggie asking God to allow this simple gesture of giving to bless someone.  We've been carrying it around for over a week now in the hopes of finding someone who may be in need. 

I'm going to be quite honest for a moment.  Don't pass judgement.  Thoughts that run through my head might be familiar thoughts that run through the minds of many Americans.

Before we had the baggie in the car, it seemed daily we were coming in contact with homeless people, or maybe they're just people with signs trying to look very pitiful.  To be quite honest they kind of annoy me.

One guy who sits at the post office is probably in his 20's.  He holds a sign that reads something like, "My wife and child are in a motel please help."  He actually used the word "Motel."  Motel just sounds bad.  Motel makes me think of dirty and gross.  It makes me think bed bugs and cockroaches.  Hotel sounds like a much nicer place.  Hotel sounds like crisp, white sheets and continental breakfast.  I wish he said his wife and child were in a hotel.  I wouldn't feel so bad for them.  I really wanted to go up to him and say, "Join the military, be a man and get a job."  I wondered if he really did have a wife and child in a motel.  Okay, maybe I'm heartless, but I'm being honest.  He looks workable.  When I see him, I'm dropping off packages of items I've sold on ebay.  I don't make a ton of money, but I do what I can to help our family out.  I'd pick weeds or clean toilets if it would help our family out.

Then there's the guy by the gas station who holds the sign, "I WANT BEERS."  That's honest.  I'm not giving him any money.  We heard a representative from The Lighthouse Mission speak a few years back about people with signs wanting money.  He cautioned us not to give them money as the money given might buy them their last drink.  He also told us there was help if they truly desired it, but they'd have to get cleaned up.

There's another lady at the post office who has her young child in the stroller.  She just says, "Peeese.  Peeeeeeeeeese."  I feel for her and her little one.

There's another guy at the post office I kind of like.  He's always looking for plastic and glass bottles to return for the deposit.  He's always got a smile on his face.  I overheard him talking with another guy one day.  They were talking about tough times.  Yes, we are in tough times.  We gave him food.

Then there are the people we see in front of grocery stores collecting money for the homeless.  I don't really like that they sit in front of the grocery store.  To be honest, I'm not sure about the motives.  We've seen them collect money, then put it in their own pocket.

In front of one of the major shopping areas in our town there is a guy who stands in the median and then comes up close to your window.  Pressure.  I feel like he invades my space.

So at what point do I look them in the eye, show compassion and give.  A huge part of me is reminded of the gypsies we encountered in Italy.  Okay, I was told they were gypsies, but can't confirm.  All I know is there was trickery, deception and theft going on.  We were told to beware.  In public places they would offer to sell you a magazine and the next thing you realize, you've been robbed. 

I just finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  A couple things stand out.  The book is about living a Christian faith that is sacrificial, loving, giving, different.  He calls Christians out from living lukewarm lives just giving God your leftovers into a faith that is surrendered.  He challenges Christians who think they're living a healthy faith and compares them to the Laodiceans, "who thought they had everything until Christ told them they were poor and wretched.  They were all about declaring, 'Look, we are healthy, have good families, or we go to church every week.' Obviously, it's not what you advertise that counts; it's what you are really made of."

He continues, "God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward.  He measures our lives by how we love."  Furthermore Chan states, "True love requires sacrifice.  And our love is shown by how we live our lives; "Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (p. 119 Crazy Love)

I love.  I love the orphans.  I love kids.  I love to give to organizations that help kids who are impoverished, destitute or who need support.  I love Childcare Worldwide.  They're a great organization that genuinely helps children survive and thrive.  I like giving to Childcare.  I'd sacrifice for Childcare Worldwide and orphans.

But am I willing to sacrifice for people who annoy me?  Do my actions show Christ's love?  My compassion meter doesn't go off when I see those mentioned earlier.  I'm being honest.  It's honesty Wednesday.  Are those folks just looking to take advantage?  I don't know.

I think back to one Thanksgiving when our small group collected and gave a large Rubbermaid bin full of food and household items.  We were all so excited collecting items for a family in need.  I had visions of a family that would be blessed and grateful to receive a healthy Thanksgiving meal.  (Maybe I've watched A Christmas Carol one too many times).  I was in charge of delivering the goods.  The address I was given was to a room in a Motel.  Yes, it was a dirty, gross motel.  I knocked on the door.  One person answered.  I introduced myself and told them I was from the church.  I glanced around the room and there were people laying on the bed.  The room was stuffy and stinky.  Fresh air was greatly needed.  I smiled and told them I'd return, but might need some help.  They all just laid there.  I went to the car and carried the bin inside.  Still they all just laid on the bed watching me.  I dropped off the remainder of the items and left.  No thank you.  No nothing.  I drove away thinking, "These folks took advantage of giving."

Later, when discussing the matter with others at church the consensus was, "Yes, they may have taken advantage, but we have NO IDEA how Jesus will use this time to bring about His Glory."  God may have used this as a seed to bring those folks closer to him.  Maybe they had no hope to even get off that bed or no joy to smile and greet someone.  We don't know their circumstances, but I need to trust that some good came from it.

So now the challenge for me is from page 118 of Crazy Love, "How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as Christ--the person driving painfully slow in front of me, the checker at the grocery store who seems more interested in chatting than ringing up my items, the member of my own family with whom I can't seem to have a conversation and not get annoyed?"  I'd like to add the person I come in contact with in the median or in front of the post office holding a sign wanting something.

Strangely enough, since we've had the baggie, we haven't run into anyone.  I've got the eagle eye out wondering who might need to be blessed with a baggie of hygiene items and snacks and we haven't seen anyone. 

Lastly, I'll share this quote from Crazy Love,

"But God doesn't call us to be comfortable.  He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through."

Where would you be if you went out of your area of comfort and sacrificed, waiting for God to come through?

Dental Visit

Edward is not very excited about this adventure

At the Park

Photos from First Night Dinner

Saffina and Edward


Kalim (on left), Dennis (on right), Edward (back right)

Our Visitors Have Arrived

We are now hosting our 4th group of kids from the Ugandan Children's Choir. What a blessing!!
I picked them up on Sunday and the group of 10 kids were split up between four families to spend their vacation break week. The two chaperones are with a separate family so they can enjoy rest and relaxation for a whole week.
We have three boys with us, Kalim, Edward, and Dennis. They are a little older than the boys from previous choirs, but so much fun for our kids. They love basketball, soccer and of course...the Wii. They've had quite a competitive Wii FIFA Soccer Tournament going on.
This group of boys has specific dietary requests that we haven't had before. One boy doesn't eat meat, only fish and another loves potatoes and would prefer rice or potatoes with every meal. Previous choirs have been voracious eaters, but its taken me a bit more time (actually just one day) to figure out what these boys might like to eat.
Fortunately, I've discovered some wonderful Asian markets here and yesterday I took them to find something they might like. After wandering the produce section and the beginning of the meat section, they said, "Mum, this store is like Uganda!" We found jack fruit, which apparently they love, mangoes, pineapple, cassava, fresh tilapia, rock cod, and more. The tilapia was fresh and packed on ice. The boys picked out a fish then we had it cleaned and fried on the spot. After the frying they'd walk behind the cart enjoying the aroma. It was a BIG hit and we'll be going back for more fried tilapia this week.
After the good eats it was time to head to the dentist. I've met a friend here whose husband is a dentist. He offered his services to the kids free of charge. Because the kids have a lot of dental needs, he took care of the most pressing issue. Two of the boys had cavities that made it to the root of their teeth and one boy just had little cavities and received fillings like sealants.
The whole experience was a bit traumatizing for the boys. I think after the tilapia, they were pretty excited about this vacation week, but then came the dentist. Edward was the most concerned of all. I prayed with him prior to his dental work. I wish I had an interpreter with us to explain how important it was to take care of these issues. His most serious cavities were between his two front teeth. On one tooth the cavity had spread to the root. I know they may have some pain today.
I have major dentist anxiety and when I saw the sweetheart sitting on his clenched hands I knew how he felt. Because we went to the dentist's office after hours, we got home at about 8:00pm.
I quickly fried up the beef liver with onions and tomatoes for the boys. They love liver...not so much a favorite among anyone in our family. We also had fried cabbage with onions and rice. The two older boys were still a bit numb and didn't eat much dinner.
Let's hope for more enjoyable days for the boys while they're on vacation:)

The Big Day Has Arrived!!

After many months of waiting and planning, today's the day I pick up a few Ugandan kids who will be staying with us for the next week. They are members of the Ugandan Children's Choir and most, if not all, are orphans. This has been our way of responding to the Biblical command to serve and care for the (widows &) orphans. And to be completely honest, I think we've been more blessed through this opportunity than any of the kids we've met.
This will be the fourth group of kids we've hosted and it's been an amazing adventure getting to know them. We cannot even comprehend what kind of life experiences they've already endured in their 10 (or so) years, but yet they are filled with joy and compassion for others. The smiles on their faces and the joy they exude shout to the world that Jesus is alive, He saves, He restores, and He has a plan for each of our lives. It's just absolutely AWESOME!!
We will have three boys staying with us. Here is how they are described to us through an email...
-Kalimu is our oldest boy, does not eat breakfast unless potatoes are involved, is a hilarious and respectful young man.
-Edward does not eat meat, except for fish, or anything that meat has touched. He is shy at first, but so warm and so loving.
-Denis is our youngest boy (by a few years), and as a result sometimes acts out to get attention, but you will also see how loving and grateful he is to you.
Good thing Momma here likes to cook a variety of meals. Looks like I'll be buying lots of potatoes and fish. My mom would love the menu!! Fried potatoes for breakfast and fish for the rest of the meals.
Time to get the room ready for them. I'll post photos as we take them.
Pray for safe travel as I head out about an hour drive to pick up six of the kids and deliver them to their host families, and prayer for a smooth, fun-filled week!

"Bleeding Hearts of the World, UNITE" ~the grinch

When I was a kid one of my favorite stories was The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson. I'm not sure a little kid can have a more morbid story to choose as a favorite, but I somehow connected with the story and had such compassion for the little girl who sat freezing, hungry, and ignored by those passing by. I wished someone would notice her, care for her and then at the end of the story she would survive. But instead she tries to warm herself lighting her only possession, matches, and dreams of a warm stove, food, Christmas and her deceased grandmother. She asks her grandmother to take her away from the miserable existence she was living in.

Now maybe there's another meaning to this story, but since I'm literal girl, all I can see is a freezing, hungry, little girl, on the street, being passed over by many adults who don't have the time or the compassion to offer her a warm shelter or a morsel of food.

This breaks my heart. Moreover, this happens day after day around our globe.

How can we as humans turn our backs or a blind-eye to the suffering of the little children? Are we cold-hearted? Where is our compassion? How can we look on the tragedy in Haiti and not have the Holy Spirit tug on our hearts? God's children are living in MISERABLE conditions. They are surrounded by death! That alone should prompt us to want to do something.

I read a Fox News report this morning by Adam Housley. He describes orphans living on a front lawn sheltered by only a tarp, with the dead around them. They have only a brown-gravy type porridge to eat. Such a sad description.

So, I may be a Bleeding Heart. I think the heart of God has a HUGE amount of compassion for these kids too. He tells us over and over again in His Word, as believers it is our RESPONSIBILITY to care for the widows and the orphans. I'm not sure what caring for the widows and orphans looks like in your life and to be quite honest I'm not sure what it looks like in my life. I know what I want it to look like, but I need to wait on the Holy Spirit.

So, I continue to wait, listen, and do what I can. For many it's donating money to a reputable charity. To some it may be offering time on a mission trip. To some it's adopting one of these little orphans and providing a true opportunity to experience the love of Jesus, sacrifice and family.

My prayer is that we don't just walk by the little one freezing on the street and turn away so as not to be bothered.