Faith Journey's

On 16th December, Lutaaya took a big step in her own faith journey.

She was confirmed!

She confirmed her faith in front of family, friends and our church family.

It was such a beautiful day, which she shared with my God-Daughter and our Auntie!

Such precious memories were made to treasure forever.

So thankful all these special people, and many more, could share the day with us.

My Auntie then invited us to join her for a family meal to celebrate. 

A wonderful ending to such a special day.

Christmas!

I have to apologise for the lack of recent blog posts.  We have had a very lazy Christmas.  Lutaaya, along with a variety of other family members, has been poorly with any illness currently doing the rounds.  So we've spent our time off work/school getting cabin fever in our house, slouching on the settee and watching every Christmas film imaginable.

Buy hey! - The big guy in the red suit still showed up Christmas Eve, so my girly woke to an abundance of gifts Christmas morning.

The delight on her face when she woke up.  I can hand on heart say, that even though this is her third Christmas at home, this felt like the first that she could truly appreciate.  She knew the routine, had expectations of the family traditions (e.g. sacks off grandparents after lunch.....)  and truly felt like she belonged.  It was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

Here's a few snapshots of our day for you to enjoy.

Lots of new gadgets to play with

My sparkly Christmas Princess

Taking the mess gifts to Auntie Andrea's

SMILE!  It's Christmas!

Yes - she is in the sack!

Dancing Queen

The new disco ball

My gadget girl

Who needs a guard dog, when you have Gypsy????

From our house to yours,

Merry Christmas!

Remembrance Day - We Will Remember

11^th November is always Remembrance day here in the UK and the Sunday nearest to that date becomes Remembrance Sunday.  This year, both fell on the same day. 

We have always taken part with our church for Remembrance Sunday so it has always been a part of my life.  I have heard the stories of my great grandfather being in the war and being captured as prisoner of war.  I have also heard my Grandfather’s stories of his time, doing his service in the army.  They are real stories by real people but this year, it seemed more relevant to me.

The weather was lovely for our Remembrance parade to the local cenotaph, this brought out people in our community.  The church was packed for the service and it was wonderful to see so many support this day.  The thing that struck me however, was the fact, so many younger people attended this year.  From children, to teens, to young adults.  All present to pay their respects.

I hear in work of one little boy’s Dad serving in Afghanistan on the frontlines and it makes it real. 

Then on a day like this, I see a young man, who was once a young person I worked with as his youth worker, turn out in his uniform.  So proud to see.

It makes it real. 

These men and women are putting their lives on the line for freedom. 

The service men and women of our country make it real.  They bring it home.  They are the friends and family we know and love, and they risk their everything to serve our country.

If the smallest gesture we can do in support of them is turn out on a glorious Sunday morning and show our respect, then I pledge to do just that! 

Help for Heroes is one of the biggest growing charities of our country and I know why.  Suddenly service men and women are a part of our communities again.  We want to support them.  They may not have world war status, but still they fight.  They are the real men and women of our societies.  They are the men and women who lay it all down for us. 

So check out what’s happening in your local area for Help for Heroes or the Royal British Legion, and get behind our armed forces. 

Gotcha Day 2nd Anniversary

I can't believe the time has come to write about a second anniversary of Lutaaya's gotcha day. 

Yes that's right - 2 years ago today Lutaaya left life in an orphanage behind and joined a family - a forever family. 

In a sense it feels like only yesterday and in another it feels like she has been a part of my life forever. 

Lutaaya has been a part of my life since 2005 when I first met her.  In fact, before anyone knew, the adoption plans were happening since 2008.  So she has been part of my life for longer but this day was special.  This day was her homecoming.

It was a very emotional day and there were so many highs and lows.  I remember loving taking her out that very first night for food and then returning to the guest house, where she snuggled on the sofa, in her brand new nightie ready for bed.  And then that special moment of tucking her in for the very first time, in a bed of her own, and sleeping in the bed next to her.  That moment of relief, knowing she was finally my daughter. 

The lows were the fact that as one child left a horrible orphanage, others remained there.  You can't help but think, how do these adoptions affect each of these children who hold on to every hope that maybe next time, it'll be their turn to find their family.  And that sadness continues still.  Recently we heard of two of the children leaving and being adopted by their new parents, one awaiting a visa, the other arriving home in the USA.

But still some remain......

some that have been there from the first time I visited.  Some even longer.  How can we, as a society, close our eyes to this?  How can we think that it is all good and positive for Lutaaya to finally be home, and yet not pray for the same to happen to the children left behind?

Heart breaking.

Today we spent a lot of time together making even more happy memories.  Gotcha day this year also coincided with Remembrance Sunday, so we attended the church service and procession in our town - more on that tomorrow.  Lutaaya laughed first thing this morning, as she recently saw the episode of Jessie, on the Disney channel, where the family celebrate little Suri's gotcha day.  Quite an extravagent celebration.  I stood at the bottom of the stairs as she came down for breakfast, with party poppers awaiting her.
(A bit of added drama as Benny cat decided to eat the streamers as they landed - hoping they exit him soon, urgh).
We had our Sunday lunch in my parents, which Lutaaya loves every Sunday.  Then she had a special meeting to go too.  In the next few weeks, Lutaaya is attending some study sessions in church so that she can be confirmed in December.  This evening she asked if she could finish her special day with some chinese food - and gotcha day girl got her wish. 

My crazy upside down gotcha girl

Happy Gotcha Day girly!  So glad you are a part of my life, for now and forever. 
Kwagala Lutaaya xxxx

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child appeal each Christmas time, has a special place in my heart and in our household.  You may also know it as 'the shoebox appeal'.

A few years ago during one of my visits to Uganda, one of the older boys (9years old-ish) was walking around wearing gloves.  Proper woolly gloves for winter.  I was really confused as to why he had them on all. the. time?  They were black in colour and had the grips on the palms.  He was so proud of them.  In the hot Ugandan sun, during a trip to the pool that we had fundraised for, he still walked around wearing his gloves.  I took the opportunity to go sit with him at one point in the day and ask about his gloves.  As I asked his face lit up.  He beamed with joy.  He was so so so happy.  Then he explained......

'They were in my box Auntie.  I had lots of gifts in my box but these are my favourite.  They are like footbool goalie gloves and this part (pointing to the grips) help me with my football skills.  Now all the boys say I am the best goalie. I love them and the boxes.  I hope I get one next year Auntie.  They bless us so much.'

Such a small gift from our part and yet it meant so much to this young boy who had very few posessions in life.  For him, the arrival of this box meant that someone, somewhere, cared.  They cared enough to lovingly pack this box and put in, along with other things, those very special 'football' gloves. 

This year, we were able to take part in operation Christmas child again.  Lutaaya loves packing the boxes as she knows that very possibly, her friends back in Uganda will be receiving them.  She took so much time and effort in picking out the gifts to fill the boxes and them put them all together. 

We spent an evening packing our boxes.  We decided on one for a boy and one for a girl.  We love picking out things for the older age catergory as we know all too well, that they are the children often overlooked and forgotten about, when babies and toddlers steal the limelight. 

So if you are looking for a special thing to do this year, I would encourage you to also support Operation Christmas child.  All you need is a shoebox then fill it with gifts that a child would appreciate this Christmas.  You can find out all the details here and then get packing.  If you're local to me, give me a shout and we can tell you where to get your box too as many local schools are collecting for the next few weeks.

What are you waiting for?  You can put a smile on a vulnerable child's face this Christmas!

Dreaming BIG!!!!

I was going to title this blog 'No Opportunities in the Valleys' but it didn't reflect the hope and optimism I wanted this post to entail!  So here goes.....

In the past few weeks a new TV series has started called ‘The Valleys’.  It’s a reality show that expects to give some young adults, from the South Wales valley areas, new opportunities by offering them work in the city.  I tuned in for the first episode and then deleted it off my series link as it frustrated me so much.

The young adults were all referring to the city as this place where the pavements are paved with gold and making it sound as if it were the other side of the world.  In reality, the city is a maximum of a 40 minute drive from any of their home towns!  

They continued, throughout the whole of the episode, to state that there are no opportunities in the valleys!

It annoyed me so much.  There are plenty of opportunities here if you look for them and go out and find them!  With the city being a 40 minute drive away, further opportunities are in our midst if we want them badly enough.  Why did these people need to rely on this TV programme to create their futures?  Why could they not get up and create the opportunities they wanted to experience for themselves?  

The benefits system in this country drives me crazy on times!  I appreciate we need it for the hard times, but to hear of people aged 25+ who have never worked since leaving school, and don’t intend to work because they rely on these hand outs infuriates me.  Surely this system should be there in cases of emergencies?  Fair enough to those who suddenly find themselves out of work through no fault of their own, support them while they find a new vacancy.  But for the people who depend on the systems, and manage to holiday every year, drive a nice car, etc.  Is this a fair society? 

Benefits should be a short term fix and should not provide for life’s luxuries, after all, what’s the point of working if they do?  When you hear of families who get hundreds of ££££’s going into their house each week/month and their children still have inadequate clothing or no beds, then there is something wrong with that system!  Something needs to change!  

As for anyone thinking there are no opportunities in the valleys, why not book a trip to Africa?  Take a look at the prospects most children living in a third world country have and then grumble about not having opportunities!  

You see, on each trip I’ve made to Uganda, not once has anyone ever said to me that they lack opportunities.  When you meet orphaned children, village children or former street children, they don’t dwell on the negatives in their lives but they hope for the future.  They want to reach their potential. 

Even when there are no school fees, they dream of becoming doctors, nurses, social workers, dentists, lawyers…….  They all hope to gain enough sponsorship to attend college or university.  And even when that dream falters and sponsors are lost or placements break down, they still have hope.  They dream of a better tomorrow.  They dream of families to call their own, for a job that will provide for their futures, of having a nice home and to provide for themselves.   They don’t want to survive on handouts, so why should we?  

Future doctors, nurses, lawyers, etc

I remember during my first visit to Uganda, we visited a slum.  I had never been to a place like this before and nothing could prepare you for the sights and smells.  Unbelievably, the group organiser bumped into a young man who had been a former child in the care of the orphanage.  A little piece of my heart broke that day, seeing this young man back in the slums.  It made me realise that after care support is just as important as the support during care.  He had been a street child, then institutionalised in an orphanage and all for what?  Sponsorship programmes had gained him nothing, other than returning him to the slums!  Then I realised I had measured his success by my own value base.  He was so proud to see us visit the area he now called home.  More than that he was so proud to show us that he had a place to call his own.  It was nothing more than a tin hut, but it was his.  He had paid for every inch of it, with money he had earned from being a barber in the slum area.  

Outskirts of the slums

During a visit in 2010 we stayed in a beautiful hotel for a few nights, having a little bit of a holiday during our time in Uganda.  The pastor we partner with asked if he could bring two of his daughters to see our hotel room.  I didn’t know what to say.  I had no reason to stop them but I thought it was a little cruel showing them such luxury for them to return to their hard beds later that night.  Here was this family, living in relative luxury in a mountain village by the fact they had concrete flooring and electricity, to bring them to by Ugandan standards a hotel that was a 5* hotel, I couldn’t see the logic.  I asked him what he hoped to gain by bringing them here.  His reply – ‘I want to show them what they can aim for in life.  I want them to dream big.’  

5* luxury in Mbale hotel

Our little visitors to our hotel for a day by the pool

Enjoying the poolside fun

I want that attitude in all I do.  I want to dream big!  And when times are hard or life gets me down, I want to dream bigger!  

I can't wait to see what BIG dreams these kiddies turn into reality

Such sweet hearts :)

We need to become a nation of dreamers.  We need everyone to dream big!

A Happy Day

We are so thankful that this week we shared in the news that one of Lutaaya’s friend’s from her former home can also now refer to it as her former home too.  She was finally united with her forever family.  

They are currently in Uganda awaiting her Visa so they can travel home to America.  Please keep them in your prayers as they adjust to their new family set up and go through all the trials and challenges that waiting for a Visa  in country brings. We need this precious girly home as soon as possible so she can begin her new life and thrive.

Please also remember those children who have again watched one of their friend’s leave institutional care, while they remain there.  Another loss in their young lives, another grief to experience and another set of questions as to why not them?  Let’s work together and give these children hope that they can be resettled, fostered or adopted, whichever is the best option for each of them. 

Our girls November 2010

Every child deserves a family to call their own, whether that be birth family, in country or internationally, regardless of culture or colour.  Let’s give these children what they deserve – a place to call home, settled with their forever family.