Prayer for Eye Glasses leads to Miracle Find!!

Have you ever prayed, "Lord, help me find.... or Help me Lord to figure out what to do about...."

This past Saturday, I was in town with my missionary pastor and his wife, getting a keyboard to play at church on Sunday's. We decided to go and get some lunch before working on songs for Easter. As I jumped out of the vehicle, I dropped my eyeglass case I was holding with my purse. I was at the time wearing my prescription sun glasses and had my regular glasses in the case. I was in the cafe and had barely set down my purse when I realized my glasses were not in my hand. It was less than 30 seconds time before I turned around and rushed back out toward to vehicle to find them. They were of course!! Already gone. The street children I was sure had saw me drop the case (which was a soft sided brown case resembling a wallet) and grabbed it and ran before I could turn around and rush out to find them.

I was devastated over this. I sat there in the Cafe and said, "Lord, What am I going to do?". I had just purchased them this past October just before heading back to Uganda from furlough.

They were expensive and I had NO way of replacing them. I grieved for a bit and I prayed for a couple of days asking God to show me what to do. I had even texted messaged my friend Angie back home and asked her to contact the Vision Center where I had purchased them to see if anything could be done to help me!! I pretty much had resigned myself to the fact that my glasses were gone. Fortunately, though, I hate wearing them, I had a pair of contacts I was able to wear. I have reading glasses that replace the bifocals that are on my glasses but not on my contacts.

I went to Pastor Terry's tonight to discuss service for Easter and their upcoming furlough. He was so excited, to tell me something. Him and his wife went over to their bookshelf and picked up a pair of glasses and asked me "Are these your glasses"??

You are NOT going to believe this. But Terry (who could sell Beach Front Property in Arizona) never gives up and went back and to the Parking Attendant to ask if he had seen them. or a street kid with them. He was able to find the Street kid who stole my glasses (The case long gone) and the kid was wearing my glasses. Terry paid an "Appreciation Finder's Fee" and talked the kid into giving him MY glasses, UNSCRATCHED AND UNDAMAGED!!

Can I just tell you, someone could have driven a truck through my dropped jaw!!! I was completely dumbfounded and did not believe he had been able to get them back. Of all the places and all the street kids that roam Main Street, to have the exact parking attendant say, I saw a street kid with glasses on go and get him and bring him back. For Terry to take the initiative to go back and even do this shows how very much he loves us and serves us here.

I can only say Amen and give God the Praise. "God you truly truly blew me away with this one. You Knew God, that I could not afford to replace my glasses, you used Terry and Debbie to get them back to me and show me ONCE AGAIN, how great and marvelous are your works. Your name will continually be on my lips. Praise you for this amazing amazing and completely shocking and funny turn of events". Just goes to show everyone, that God truly does hear our prayers and want us to trust Him!! What a story to tell!!!

Oh and FYI, the picture above is NOT a picture of the Street Children who took my glasses, but a picture of what all street children look like.

His Praise is Always on my Lips

My mother has spent the last month in the hospital. First she was hospitalized on Sunday March 8 for Pneumonia and struggled for several days to breath. She was at a small County Hospital and they worked hard to get her well. During this time she had a blood vessel in her abdomen rupture (she was on blood thinners for clotting disorder) and came close to bleeding to death. They removed her from the blood thinners, stopped the bleeding and she began to quickly recover after that from the Pneumonia and the bleeding after being given blood transfusions. She went home and then barely a week later she was rushed again to the same hospital now with Blood clots in her legs and severe enough that she had absolutely NO blood flow to her legs and feet. A Colorado storm whirled around and grounded out the hospitals ability to air ambulance her out to a larger medical facility. A final break in the storm allowed them to flight for life her to Grand Junction where there is a Regional Medical Center and a Cardiovascular Surgeon at hand to care for her. It looked as though she would lose her feet and quite possibly her left leg. Praise God the Surgeon was able to save her leg and her feet. She spent three days in the CV ICU ward and last night she was transferred to the Regular Cardiac Floor for care. Last night, I was finally able to speak to her on the phone.

Being here in Uganda affords me a great opportunity to trust God wholeheartedly. I love my mother dearly but I have had to leave her in His hands and in the care of my brother and his wife. I know that God can perform miracles, but I was taking it out of His hands and worrying that I wouldn't get a chance to see her again. Perhaps I wont. I only know that I love God with my whole heart and Praise Him in the Midst of the Storm. As much as I love Uganda and what God has called me to do, it is very difficult for me to be over here completely powerless to do anything to help in the care and concern for my mother. I am very thankful for my brother and his wife and for my daughter who waited on the Grand Junction side to receive her when the chopper arrived with her. They are my heroes. God is my rock. I am thankful for all of them. I am thankful for the health care and medical treatment my mother is receiving and that she is improving slowly bit by bit. God you are so good. Thank you for my mother's health and Thank you God for the strength you give me to leave it in your hands. Being 12,000 miles away, I can do nothing but you are everywhere and can do great and mighty things. I will always Praise you. May it ever be on my lips!!!

Added Ministry

It seems forever since my last update, and in fact it was February 8. Since getting my computer up and running that very day, I have had scetchy internet and little time to access it. But, I am hoping you will forgive the long interval. It is difficult sometimes to do this, and in fact this very update has taken me two days to complete. The internet, power and signal has gone down three times while writing this. I have had to start over each and every time.

I have had an additional responsibility added to my ministry duties. In addition to being the Medical/Health Coordinator, I am now also the Volunteer/Communications Coordinator. That means after the volunteers have been approved stateside and sent in their applications, Pastoral reference and parent permission forms and been given the green light for the time frame, I take over. I oversee their housing, scheduling, assignments and any issues or problems that arise during their stay with us. Problems are rare, and I love the interaction with these great people, who come to us and work hard, doing whatever is asked of them, wherever the need.

It is wonderful to have these individuals come and work with us from anywhere from two weeks to 10 weeks. One of the things I have them do is a work project and an official outing with the toddlers on Saturdays.

On one of those Saturdays, we scrubbed the toys, to sanitize and clean them up and sort through the junk, throwing out those that were broken up and of no use. The picture below shows how hard they were working sitting out on the back lawn. They scrubbed, sorted and cleaned for 3 hours and then were given a break for 4 hours and then went on an outing which was a boat ride.

I hope you can see the Malachite Kingfisher in the second photo. You may have to magnify. It is a beautiful small bird (but larger than a hummingbird). They do not usually stand still long enough to get a good photo, but this one did.

As you can see in the third photo, we were pretty crowded in the van taking the children down to the launch site. Several people are not visible in the picture but were indeed in the vehicle.

The children and the volunteers had a wonderful time. I enjoyed it too because we finally found a decent boat man to take us on this smooth part of the Nile River and slow down or stop when there are amazing things to view. No one was able to get a picture of this but we all saw a Monitor Lizard the size of a full grown Crocodile. The most enormous of the indigenous lizards here I have seen.

I am amazed that God is using me in such a way that I am priveledge to wittness some amazing things of Nature like this.
Bless you all this day and through out this next week.

Siouxanne