"Amazing Grace"

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  John 14:18

We've been busy.  I don't know exactly what we've been doing but I am tired.  We had the SOZO fundraising weekend last week and it was amazing!  Joel didn't get to come like we had hoped but that just means God has something else planned.  I talked with Joel a few days ago.  I know he was disappointed but in "Joel style", he claimed the blessings that the Lord has given him and didn't dwell on the embassy's decision to tell him to travel other places, come back to Uganda, then reapply to the American Embassy for a visa.  It doesn't really make sense to me but in this day of post  911, it's what we have to work with.  There are still more children that need to be sponsored.  There are many suffering beyond comprehension.  Before I went to Africa, I pondered the fact that Joan and Derrick's birth mother and birth father are not dead.  "Are they really orphans?", I would ask myself.  The answer is yes, they are are orphans of orphans.  It's hard for me to comprehend the emotions I have about Ronald and Jalia.  I do know this...I love them.  I pray for them.  I will raise Joan and Derrick to love them and pray for them to come to know the Lord.  Maybe they already know the Lord.  That's not really for me to judge.   I don't know if I will ever see them again.  I would like to.  I would like to make sure than when Joan and Derrick get to heaven, they will be there with them.  I pray that their decision to surrender their children to our family blesses their life abundantly like it has blessed mine.  I pray that through this journey of adoption the pain from the suffering that the people of Kabalagala endure subsides enough so that they will know they are loved and they are also God's chosen people.  I pray that they know that God will not leave them as orphans and HE will come to them.  Maybe they already have...I can only pray that they experience HIS Amazing Grace!

In His precious name,

Amiee

p.s.  Let me know if you would like to sponsor one of Joan and Derrick friends through SOZO. I can help you get started :)