Adjusting

Well, Nap was right.  I spent the first few days waking up at unholy hours like 2 AM, only to stare at the ceiling and debate with the fan over what I should be doing...folding laundry, taking a shower, editing photos, making lunches...

And Father Michael was right when he said the third day would be the worst.  I spent the whole day 3 fighting sleep, only to make it through one soccer practice, and crash in the kitchen.  Literally, Paul came home to me asleep on the kitchen counter with dinner in the oven.  And I just went upstairs, passed out, and woke up like normal at 5 AM.  Praise God, I am finally caught up.

Now, if I could only get caught up on cleaning, laundry, and organization, I would feel like the regular me.  But, one step at a time.  For today, I was content with spending two hours talking to the Holy Spirit Academy Home-School group.  It makes me so happy to be going through all of my pictures, and re-telling the stories of our Anawim trip.  It is as if repeating the stories over and over in grains them in hearts of the people around me, just as they are engraved on my own.

I can sit and talk to the 8 year-olds in Mrs. B's 2nd grade class, and watch their expressions as they flip through pictures.  I can see those students attach their little hearts to the children of Uganda.  I can listen to their questions, and give them the answers that their little ears need to hear.  "Ms. Russo, now if there are no rocks to cut the children, then they cannot make each other sick and spread infections as easily right?"  Right Max, you gave them a floor that was safe for their knees, and safe for the rest of their bodies, and it made their hearts happy to know that someone they do not even know, loves them enough to sacrifice a few dollars.  I was so proud of their brilliant little questions and I was so proud of how smart those children were, and how giving their hearts are.  Laura Thomas looked up and said, "Ms. Russo, I cleaned my room this weekend, and I can give them some dollies that I do not need."  Ahhhh, I love you.    Because of this trip, I can teach children about the needs of people their age, I can show parents how much their little children can love, and I can give them tools to help support this generous side of their children's lives and hearts.  HE always makes the sacrifice worth the reward when you do it in His name.

I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity to take this trip at this time in my life.  And now random people have seen the video clip from WSFA from an interview we did with them for "Family of the Year." (Here is the wsfa interview.)   It has been so strange for us, to be some place random, and to have people approach us and talk about our mission of love and service, but ultimately it has opened the door for us to talk about the needs of the people around us, the needs of the people in Uganda, and little acts of charity that are so easy to perform with little time or with little money.  We have been blessed with a very small platform, and hopefully we are being good stewards with what has been given to us.

 My first morning back, when Ms. Ceasar asked if I could say something about the trip, I thought I would cry.  I ran through a little list of what their money bought, and I tried to tell the kids how these few things changed those Ugandan students lives, but I just choked up.  How can you express how your heart is changed by making such huge changes for others?  How do you express your disappointment with yourself because you take too much for granted?  How do you thank these little tiny people for being so open and so giving to people they do not even know?  You can't really.  You can blog, you can present pictures of children and their living conditions, and then you shoot Him a prayer and hope He makes the mark on their hearts that is necessary to invoke life long change.

Hopefully change will come when I give each student here, a picture of each Ugandan student there.  I will be printing out a picture of every student at the school, that Maria and I took on our first day there, and each student will be paired to a Ugandan student, so that they can love and pray for a real person - a real face...not some far off idea on a map in their classrooms.  That is my mission for this weekend.  And next week, I will begin the rest of my classroom talks - completing them all on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving....so that each child will hopefully feel truly thankful for the gifts that God has bestowed upon them.

Yay God!