Introducing Annie . . .

I wish you could meet Annie. Actually, I wish I could meet Annie! And I'm planning to, next weekend. Although I haven't met Annie face to face yet, I know this about her:

Annie is a high school senior who has a heart for missions. In fact, she wants to be a missionary nurse. She's not just a talker. She really means it. Annie wants God to use her.

For her senior project, she chose to do something that would make a difference, something that fit in with her passion. So next weekend, this teenage girl, not yet out of high school, is putting on a fundraiser to raise money for medical needs for orphans in Africa. In fact, she was in my son Justin's junior high youth group, and knew that he is involved with Redeemer House Orphanage, so she is choosing to donate her funds to Redeemer House for the medical needs of our kids!

Wow! What Annie didn't know when she chose Redeemer House is that we have a little girl, Sarah, 6 years old, who needs extensive dental surgery. She has three rows of teeth coming in, one behind the other, and sometimes it causes her a lot of pain. When I found out about her teeth, I had no idea how we would pay for the surgeries that needs to be done, but she is one of our kids, and we need to take care of her. We just don't have the funds for something like this, so I asked the Lord to provide it. Next thing I know, Annie is planning an amazing fundraiser! She had no idea what a direct answer to prayer she was. But God - God knew! We have no idea how much Sarah's surgeries will cost, or how much Annie's fundraiser will bring in, but if is more than needed for Sarah, we will have funds for the rest of the kids' medical needs. They are often sick, partly because they were so malnourished before they came to Redeemer House. They all get malaria, and last year three of them were so sick that if they has still been living on the streets, with no medical treatment, they almost certainly would have died. But God had other plans for them! Their medical needs have been a big budget item, in a small budget. Yes, those funds will be put to good use!

Annie is planning a Black Tie Pancake Supper at the Community Center in Yreka, CA, next Saturday, February 27. There will be an auction with some great items and a slide show, and she has asked me to share a few words about Redeemer House. It has been a big job to put it all together. She has some great people working with her to help make it happen. She has spoken at area churches, schools, and service groups about her project, which she calls Change for Children, and the local media has shared her project. If you're anywhere close, please join us. It's gonna be fun! And please pray for Annie as she finishes up all the last-minute details!

It's amazing to see how God is already using Annie to make a difference for the kids of Africa. I can hardly wait to see where her heart to serve God will take her. I will be watching, and I will be praying for her and for those her lives will bless. Like mine. Like Sarah's. Like all the kids of Redeemer House. You never know what God will do though you when you say yes. I'm so glad Annie said yes. And I'm so glad I get to meet her next weekend!

Heading to Uganda, Needing Some Prayer!

Because of some developments at the orphanage in the last several days, it has become evident that I (Kathy) need to travel to Uganda to deal with some issues over there. I had not planned to return to Uganda for a few months, and had hoped to travel with a team, but to tell the truth, I am really excited to be heading over soon. I will be working with a lawyer to finalize our registration as a Ugandan-recognized NGO (non-government organization). I will also be dealing with the issue of whether we will be staying in the house we are now in, or moving to new quarters, along with getting paperwork in order and a few other of the many things that are so hard to deal with from this side of the ocean.

 

Elysia, our American gal-on-the-ground in Uganda, recently contracted malaria, and has come home for a couple of months. She is enjoying some much-needed time with her family. Please pray that this would be a time of real physical and spiritual refreshment for her before she heads back to the trenches, back to the kids who have grown to love her so much.

 

Some specific things you can pray about with us:

• Wisdom for the issues we will be taking care of while we are there.
• Wisdom for the Board as they make the decisions that guide our ministry.
• Good contacts in Uganda with people who can come along side Redeemer House as ministry partners there.
• My travel arrangments. I purchased a ticket to leave March 4th, and just received notice that the flight has been cancelled. I can't deal with it until business hours tomorrow.
• My job situation. I have asked for a leave of absence from my job. (I work as an RN in a small community hospital.) If my employer can't grant me the leave, I will be resigning my position so that I can go, and then looking for work when I come back. (I plan to be gone about 3 months.)
• Finances, both for me personally and for the orphanage. (I recently read: "If it's God's will, it's God's bill." Redeemer House is His orphanage, and I know He will provide!)
• For our Ugandan employees who care for the children, and of course,
• For the kids themselves! I am SO excited to be seeing them soon!  

If the things that we will be dealing with while I am there were easy, I would not be heading over now. God never promised that following Him would be easy, just that He would always be with us. He is The Faithful One! He has called us to follow Him, to stand up for justice, and to care for the orphans of this world. May we be faithful in doing just that!

Troubles with the Landlady

It has been hard to do a second post - almost as hard as the first one - because I have a hard time knowing where to start. It seems as if everything I could say is somewhat like coming in halfway through the story . . . and so, I haven't been posting. But today, I have an urgent prayer request for Redeemer House, so . . . here goes!

I received a call early this morning from Elysia, the young American woman who is working at our orphanage. We rented a private home as our orphanage last October, and the transaction was handled by a man named Patrick at a property management agency. The owner, a Ugandan woman, has returned from Ireland and now wants to evict us so that family members can live there. We signed a one year lease, and we paid six months at that time, so the rent is paid through March 31. Although she apparently can't evict us before then, she wants us to leave ASAP, and has said she will not refund rent.

The real problem is that there were some structural problems with the walls in the house, which Patrick noted and agreed to fix, but which have not been fixed, and have deteriorated. There were also some other minor problems, which he denies were there at the time, although we have a written list of them. Patrick now is claiming that he never agreed to fix the walls, saying there was no damage when we moved in, and denying he knew there would be 15 children in the home. The landlady, who has seen the house briefly once, is coming within the hour to inspect the house and is planning to level HUGE repair fees. Patrick's comment was that it was really not that much for an organization to pay. Of course, we are a bare bones operation and don't have the money for substantial repairs of the nature he is trying to make us responsible for.

Please pray that the landlady will be reasonable, that she will believe us and not Patrick, and that she won't hold us responsible for the poorly constructed walls. Also pray about us finding another place to live. I have asked Elysia to try to contact a couple of Ugandans to have them present at the meeting with the landlady, to be our advocates, and we are trying to contact a lawyer there. Most of all, we are trusting God to be our advocate.

I contacted my son, who is on the Board of Directors, and he just sent me a text that said "Read Psalm 34". Just a few verses:

7) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.
15) The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16) The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17) The righteous cry and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

What great truth to rest in while we go through this! Thank you for praying!

And finally, a blog . . .

This is my initial post for Redeemer House, a small orphanage in Uganda, East Africa that was opened in October, 2008, with 7 children. We now provide a loving, Christ-centered home to 15 children. These beautiful children, along with our wonderful care providers, Ugandans Gracious and Noah, and Elysia, a young lady from America, make up the Redeemer House family.

My connection? While in Uganda in 2008, asking God to show me how He wanted me to serve His children there, I clearly heard Him ask me to open an orphange. On the morning I left, 10 days later, we dedicated Redeemer House to the glory of God and the rescue of Ugandan orphans. Gracious and Noah have done a wonderful job caring for the children, while I have been able to share here in America and help raise awareness of the plight of orphans in Africa. God has provided for the orphanage in awesome ways, including sending sponsors for each of the children. I returned to Uganda in September, 2009 with Elysia, a young lady from Prineville, OR, who is doing an amazing job as Country Director, care provider, and tutor. We were able to move to a beautiful new, larger facility, take in more orphans, and hire 3 women to help part-time with cooking, laundry, and gardening. I am currently working as a nurse in America, helping with the financial obligations of the orphanage, but my heart's desire is to soon be working alongside Gracious, Noah and Elysia in Uganda, caring for the children God has entrusted us with.