Blessing bags

A few weeks ago we headed to London for the day. The night before leaving we had a family project to do. 

It all started with a zip lock bag........

And a whole lot of items. 

We put some little essentials together and created blessing bags for the homeless people of London. We knew we'd see one or two homeless people while there as the bright lights attract so many people but we weren't prepared for the amount of homeless people we actually saw. 

Our blessing bags blessed a few of the many. We know for next time to make a few more. 

It was a little project we could do together that we could see the instant results of. It put love into action and helped us see how fortunate we are to have the home comforts we enjoy each day. 

Sometimes we can overlook the small things we can all do in life to bless someone less fortunate than ourselves. We can all make a difference to someone else's day. We just have to make the decision to try. 

Christmas Blessings from our house to yours

Proud Mammy Moment

I can't quite believe I've been a Mam for 3 years now. Doesn't time fly?

My girly makes me proud every day and sometimes I take for granted what she does each day. I forget it's only been 3 years. I forget how much she's learned and how far she's come. She takes everything in her stride and brings so much joy to all those lives she touches. You can't help but smile when she's in your presence. 

A few weeks ago it wasn't only me singing her praises. She won an award for 100% attendance for the whole academic year of 2012-2013. Our local education department celebrated every child who gained this achievement with a wonderful evening of celebration. 

School attendance is so important and we always strive to do our best, after all if you're not there, you're missing out on your education. My girly takes it to an even higher level though. She is so conscientious in attending each and every day. I am so fortunate that she has this attitude. There are never any grizzles or groans in the mornings. She aims to be there every single day. Even on those days when she feels a little under the weather, she always motivates herself to get in to school. 

School isn't always easy for her but still she goes, aiming to try her best every day. She never wants to let her friends down and has come on leaps and bounds in the last 3 years. Her confidence is flowing and there are glimmers of dreams and aspirations brewing. 

Gotcha Day Anniversary

Yes it really has been 3 years since we got that ‘YES’ from the Judge in Uganda.  In one sense it feels like it was only days ago and yet in other’s it feels as though Lutaaya has been part of my family forever. 

 

To me Gotcha Day is more special that our adoption day.  Adoption day was simply legalising everything.  Gotcha day was the day Lutaaya’s life changed and she moved in to a guest house with me, not quite on home turf yet but part of a family nevertheless. 

 

Happy Gotcha Day Lutaaya.  Love you more each day xxx

Did I Tell You.......

Did I tell you we went to Florida this summer????

 

Did I tell you we got to meet up with that very same family we were with three years ago?

 

Did I tell you these are our a.m.a.z.i.n.g. family across the pond?

 

Did I tell you we got to meet the whole family.....including new additon Lyrick and Gigi!

 

 

Did I tell you how we met just in front of the Magical Castle?  How wonderful!

 

Did I tell you we got to spend some precious time with this little girl ?  Oh. My.  How shes grown and changed.   

 

Did I tell you we had an amazing few days our forever friends, forever family?

 

 

 

 

 Did I tell you we also got to meet another of Lutaaya's old friends? 

 

 

 Did I tell you that us two Mama's had never met but we each knew each other's daughters?

 

 

 Did I tell you the last time these three little ladies were together, my little lady handed a tiny bundle of joy over to join her forever family?  Did I tell you, neither thought they would see each other again?

 

 

Did I tell you that Disney really does make all your dreams come true?

 

 

30 days of thanks.

This time 3 years ago we were stuck in Uganda . It really did feel like I was never coming home! I had my girl, we had met some wonderful people who are now like family on the other side of the pond, we were entertaining each other to while away the days and yet we waited for a visa.

It took a month for us to finally make our way home. Within that time we spent the whole of November in Uganda . I didn’t realise how precious those days were but it enabled me to spend time alone with my daughter. It was our time. There were no interruptions from the outside world. It was, for the main part, me and her. It was a time we needed.

Our new found friends then introduced us to Thanksgiving. It was a bitter sweet time for them as they reminisced on the Thanksgivings of the past. They talked of all the traditions and celebrations. They knew their two young children left in the States would be going through the traditions without them, while they too waited in Uganda for their daughter’s VISA. Instead of sitting around thinking of all they were missing we turned our day into a positive and had our very own Thanksgiving Feast in Uganda . I don’t think the waiters knew what was happening when we ordered an array of food at the one food court. We ate all day, even splashing out for ice creams in the afternoon. It was our first experience of Thanksgiving. It wasn’t by any means traditional but it does bring a smile to my face when I remember that special day with the Gaddis family.

This year, we decided that we would join in with some of the traditions in our home. We have joined the 30 days of thanks dare challenge. You can find it here. Each day, we look at the list and think about what we are thankful for. Each item we think of (3 per day) we write on a little strip of paper and add it to a paper chain. By 30th November we will have a very decorative piece, all full of thanks.

We will remember......

‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’

Remembrance Sunday saw a huge gathering of people and community groups at our local cenotaph. You couldn’t have wished for a nicer day for the act of remembrance. The air was cold but crisp and the sun shone down on us all. Our town really does know how to come together for times such as this.

It makes me think of how relevant Remembrance Day is for us now. When I was little I didn’t really get it. I saw the poppies and knew that we remembered the men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom in past wars, but still it didn’t relate to me so much.

Nowadays, through local media coverage, we hear so much more of the current conflicts and wars. We hear of our current armed forces fighting in countries near and far. We see the photographs of the men and women who pay the ultimate price in the name of our country. You probably don’t have to look too far to even know someone in our armed forces who puts their life on the line each day.

It is real.

It is VERY relevant.

It is NOW!

Young people I work with know the value of the day. Many dream of serving our country themselves. They will become the service men and women of the future. They will stand proudly to remember the fallen. They will question when others undervalue the day and choose not to remember and this makes me proud. They ‘get it’, they know the sacrifices some pay. They will remember.

‘When you go home, tell them, for their tomorrow, we gave our today.’

Trick or treat

I think we can safely say that Halloween has become a festival all of it's very own. The shops are full of party items, decorations and lots of Halloween edible teats. 

It's funny how the first Halloween Lutaaya was home for, everything was kept low key. I wasn't sure how my new little girl would react to the scary costumes and talk of witches.  Yes Halloween can be a scary night and is often linked with witches, bats and black magic.

Halloween can however be fun.  It's a reason for fancy dress and lots of laughs.  It's also an excuse to party.  

That's exactly what we did this year.  We partied the night away with some trick or treating and then lots of fun and games.  

Here's our night in photos. 

The decorations are up!

Put my craftiness to the test with these little treat bags. 

Even Gypsy got in on the fancy dress act!

My scary prom queen playing pumpkin bowling. 

Our Halloween treat table. 

Bring on the mummy game!

All mummied up!

Halloween just isn't right without ducking apples. 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Happy Harvest

So this Sunday we celebrated Harvest in our church. 

Harvest-a time to be thankful for all the good gifts around us. 

This year our Harvest collection was for our local food bank. It gave us an opportunity to be blessed while being a blessing. 

So we packed our hamper full of foods the food bank needed. Buying cheaper brands meant we could buy so much more. A little money can go a long way. 

And when we all stand together, our little hamper, alongside everyone else's gifts, becomes a Harvest blessing in abundance. 

Blessed to be a blessing. 

Happy Harvest everyone!

Fundraising Friday-an update

There is a lot of excitement in a little mountain village in Uganda. All due to a building that WE built!!!!

You can see the results for yourself. Next stage is to put the roof on and then the pit latrine toilets are complete. We hope this part will happen in the next few weeks as the rains are heavy at the moment. Already rains meant the foundations had to be moved so we don't want this good work to be washed away. Let's get this roof on and give these children the toilet facilities they need and deserve. 

Be my parent

Did you know that there are over 4000 children right here in the UK waiting for a forever family to call their own?

Over 4000!

That number is unimaginable for right here in the UK!  That means tonight, over 4000 children from babies through to teenagers, go to bed in the care system.  

No, the adoption route is not easy and it's not for everyone but 4000 children need families RIGHT NOW!  

Be my Parent is a website that advocates for waiting children here in the UK. It's a website set up with public profiles of children who are needing adoption or permanent fostering. These children have waited as long as they should have too and are all ready to meet their new families.  This means these children need families who have completed the home study process and are waiting on being matched with their child/ren.  

If you think you could offer a child a forever family and grow your family through adoption, contact your local social services fostering and adoption team. They'll be able to put you in touch with a social worker in your area who can come out and talk to you more about the process and everything involved. 

Food for thought.

Around the country food banks are becoming a means of survival for families in crisis. Hunger is not just becoming something related to poor countries, it is here, in the UK!

As we start a new school year, so many families here in the UK will be struggling to make ends meet. So many children will be going to school with empty tummies.  The UK's current economic climate means that families who are used to working and providing for themselves, find themselves in trying times. They find themselves in need of a helping hand from the government and charities working in the area.  The facts speak for themselves: 

13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK.

And just because that child going to school on an empty stomach is not mine, does not mean I can sit back and think this is not my problem.

We can all sit back and judge, but that is not what we are called to do.  If we are in a position to help, we should do just that. 

Over the past few weeks I have been supporting my local food bank.  It provides food parcels for families in need in my local area.  The thing is, I haven't had to do a lot to take action and help someone in need.  In fact it's cost under £1 each week.  You see all you need to do to help is purchase a few extra items in your weekly shop and donate them to the food bank.  My church has become a collection point so I just take the items along each week and then they get collected with everyone else's donations.  It's amazing what you can pick up for under £!  One week I managed to get tinned potatoes, tea bags and beans!  

There are food banks all around the country. To find your nearest food bank and collection centre look on Trussell Trust website here. www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects 

Colour coding

We stumbled across a great idea to help children learn new timetables for school and therefore minimising the fall out of change. 

Colour coding. 

This is an amazingly simple idea that takes two minutes to create. It works wonders for children who struggle with change, including those showing autistic tendencies. 

Simply group subjects into colours. You could have fun with your child in choosing what colour each subject could be.....could Art be bright pink? Maths blue?  It's that simple. As long as you repeat the colour each time the subject appears on the timetable. 

And no your child doesn't have to be autistic or adopted for this method to help them. It's a neat little tool for any child to help them learn new routines. Remembering the colour patterns of the day helps them remember the lessons. 

Hey presto. Change - 0 Mama - 1

Changes take us back to square one!

Sometimes on an adoption journey you take three steps forward and then two steps back.  Certain times you feel like you have taken a giant leap back and have ended up back at square one. 

Change is certainly a factor to this.  Whoever says 'change is good' needs to try parenting a child with autistic tendencies or who has suffered trauma. 

Children who have suffered trauma love consistency and routine.  I'd go as far to say all children work at their best when there is a consistent pattern and routine to life.  As adults we like to know what's coming our way and can settle into a comfortable, predictable way of life.  Children who have suffered trauma seem to hang on to this routine more so than others.

When routine changes, so does behaviour.

It's usually the main care giver (Mum or Dad) who take the brunt of this behaviour change, even though, the changes may be very much out of their control.

There have been a lot of changes we have recently had to deal with.  Changes most children would cope quite well with and probably go unnoticed.  A change of school start time, a change of school uniform, a change of form tutor in school, a change of timetable, a change of school dinner menu.  Too many changes, too quickly for some children to cope with.  A time when there is a sense of 'losing control'. 

It's tough on kids who need the stability of constant adults in their life to suddenly have a change of faces.  A simple comment of, 'I'll be with you, to support you right the way through school' is a forgotten statement when schools adjust staff to meet needs but yet confirms again that maybe not all adults can be trusted.  It wasn't meant in that way, but has been perceived in that way.  It gives the idea that maybe a child needs to push away at all the boundaries trusted adults in their life set, just to see if they are keeping their promise, that forever means forever.

Its in the little details of keeping days 'normal'.  Sticking to a routine.  Being a parent who can juggle the inconsistencies and make them as foreseeable as possible.  Even an unexpected trip out can turn a child's world upside down.  It's about warning lights that may trigger in that child's behaviours and demeanours, to stop that child from getting stuck in a melt down.   Sometimes you have to see the storm brewing and put in the mechanisms to cope with the fall out.  Sometimes you may be lucky enough to even prevent that fall out happening.

In those three steps forward, when we are parenting effectively and making progress, we plan and prepare for those two steps back.  We learn as we go along.  We build relationships with our children and we rely on support networks around us to help us support our children while keeping ourselves supported.  This stuff is draining and easy it is certainly not.  The parenting magic wand is very needed in these situations, but for those of us who still haven't found the magic wand, we keep going, we continue to try new methods of moving our children forward and we walk alongside our children.  Even if we only make it off square one and onto square two - it is progress.  This step could be HUGE!  So pat yourself on the back and keep going.

And for all those looming challenges (changes in routine) that will happen due to summer holidays and the start of a new school term in September - bring it on, this Mama is ready and waiting!!!!

An Update from Uganda

Well the community in Buweri have been very busy relocating the pit latrines.

Here is the new site.

Look at all the building materials WE bought - can't thank you enough.

And the best picture of all........

The work has started and soon there will be a pit latrine for the children in the Primary school.

All thanks to you.

IF campaign, have you got yours?

So the G8 summit is looming and we still press on the World's leaders to make a change so that no one in years to come, will suffer from hunger.

Imagine this......

The Hunger Museum

You can sign the IF campaign in advance of the G8 summit, to get your voice added to others and lobby our leaders and you can show your support by wearing an IF wrist band.  You can buy then online or pop into your local Oxfam shop and buy one there. 

Proudly wearing my IF wristband - get yours today!

And just in case you want some famous faces to encourage you to support this campaign.........

Pit Latrine in progress

I'm sure many of you are wondering why there hasn't been any mention of the pit latrine for a while. 

While we were in Uganda we were able to visit the big pits that had already been dug out ready for  building work to start.  The day we visited the pit was the day the heavens opened.

We trudged through the mud to see the pit and here it is in all it's glory.

Unfortunately the rains became even heavier after we left the village.  Pastor James and Robinah had organised the pits to be dug in advance of the rainy season.  This way the ground would be soft enough to dig.  The rains make the ground become clay-like and no one would manage to manually dig the soil. 

What they hadn't expected was for the rains to be so heavy that they would make the pre-dug pits collapse before any work had started on them.  And that's just what happened......


So now we await for the rainy season to stop, where new pits can be dug in a new (hopefully safer) location around the school, and the work can begin.  The money is all ready and waiting in Uganda, so as soon as the pit is relocated, building work can start and the children will get the brand new toilets they so desperately need.  As soon as we have any updates, they will be shared on here!

Where did Top Gear go wrong?

For those of you in the UK who saw the recent Top Gear episode that saw them stay the night in a very crummy guest house in Uganda and thought 'No way would I EVER want to go there!' We thought we would show you some alternative accommodation:

 

Our room was huge at our Kampala guest house



 And then for those of you who want that extra bit of luxury.  This is the hotel where we paid that little bit more to have that holiday factor!  This hotel is a 4 hour drive from Kampala, in the Mbale region, though there are hotels of the same branding in the Kampala area.

What a reception area!

 

So there you go!  You can stay in fabulous places in Uganda!  You can have a family holiday here!  It really is an amazing place to visit.  And for those of you travelling to Uganda and want to know more about the hotels and guest houses, drop me an email at natashas.africa@gmail.com and I can get more details to you.