Uganda take 2!

I am so excited to say that I am back in Uganda!
I love this place!  I feel so at home, except for my family not being here to experience this peace with me.
Our trip here was very uneventful thankfully!  I slept a lot on the planes, which is unusual and a HUGE blessing...thank you Lord! 
When we arrived we were able to get out of the airport with little problems from customs.  They did open a few of our boxes to be sure we weren't bringing expired medications, and then let us go on by without much fuss over our 22 pieces of luggage, not including our carry ons and purses!  It was a sight to see for sure!!
The weather here is beautiful!  It has been raining alot, which is unusual from what we hear.  This is usually the dry season.  But the rain has made the temp really nice with a cool breeze.  The rain is very short lived and then the sun comes out.
It was so awesome to get to see the Segner's and hug their necks.  The kids have all gotten so big!  I love the hugs I always get from them, and to hear them call me Auntie Rachel just warms my heart!  Love this family so much!!
Tonight we went to the Segners and celebrated two birthdays!  Apio, the Segner's housekeeper and dear friend, and Emma, the nurse that has the clinic in Mafubira and is partnered with the Segner's.
We then all worshipped together, and since we don't have Dawson this time, my phone came in handy with a few songs.  Janell led us in an amazing devo, all about divine appointments.  Her words were perfect, and truly inspired.  It is incredible how the Lord places us in specific moments in time for His purpose and calling, and I am so thankful that He chose me to be here, to lead this team, and to serve Him.
My prayer is for His glory to be done in everything we do while here.  For our time to be productive and useful to the Segner's and for this team to leave changed and broken for the people here, and for Healing Faith ministries.
I am so thankful for this team and excited that He did place us here, at this divine appointment, and I know there will be many more to come in the days ahead.

15 days!!!

Wow!! Is it already that close??  It has snuck up on me!  I am so so excited to be headed back to Uganda, for soo many reasons. 
We are preparing a skit for the kids, so I am truly looking forward to loving on some kiddos!  I am so excited to see Kari, Jason and the kiddos!!!  I cannot wait to give big bear hugs to all the Segner littles!!  I cannot wait to have coffee with Kari and sit down at the Source Cafe and talk about our lives and catch up! 

Man I am just so ready, at least emotionally!  Lol!!  I am not ready as far as packing goes! Ha!!  I am going to be a mad women these next two weeks!  But man I cannot wait!

Please be praying for my team as we continue to prepare this next two weeks to go, as we travel there, as we serve, and as we travel back!

Please follow our team blog at: winterinuganda2012.blogspot.com

If you are able and want to we would love for you to "join" us through a donation, which you can do through our team blog (tax deductible!), every little bit is helpful!

Thank you so much for all of your support through my crazy journeys!

Another big area in my life that is exciting is my photography!  I have officially gone from a hobby to a business!  I have a DBA, EIN, and Business bank account! Whoop!!  Check out my website/facebook page if you haven't before;)
www.ImaniPhotog.com
www.facebook.com/ImaniPhotography

Love y'all!!

Rachel

Wow, these changes have been so good!
I have gotten to spend some good quality time with my family, we have gotten some pretty awesome things done around our house, and I have been able to dive into helping Healing Faith!

I started doing the alpha lunches, (you can see what I have done so far on instagram #alphalunch), and the girls love it!!  It is on pause for a couple of weeks because of things going on in our house, such as wedding showers and remodeling our downstairs bathroom/hallway/entryway!  But it will be picked up again soon! 

Myself, my sisters and KK:)

One of the pictures from our vaca that will be hung on the wall in the bathroom

And the even bigger news!  I will be leading another team to Uganda in December!!  Dec 27th- Jan 10th to be exact! 
If you or someone you know is interested PLEASE contact me asap!! We only have a few spots available left and I want to fill it up quickly so we can get those plane tickets bought! 
I am so very excited about seeing the Segner's again!  I cannot wait to hug them all!

Right now, the big thing stateside with Healing Faith is the Benefit!  We are in the process of planning the 2nd Annual Benefit!  I am so excited to see how many things the Lord has already placed in our paths to make this successful!! He has some big things cooked up for these crazy Segner's and I cannot wait to see what happens!
Last year we had in attendance 240, this year I think we can double it if not more! 
I will be posting more about this soon, but for right now, just know I will probably contact you in the near future regarding this! :)

Be praying for the Lord to continue to bless me with Joy, and be praying for the Lord to be with Jason, Kari and their 4 kiddos as they serve Him in Uganda, and also please be praying that the Lord continue to show favor on this Benefit and that His Glory is shown thru it!

Changes, and my first ministry

This past month and a half has been a little hectic!
I have changed a few things in my life, moved some things around, done a little spring cleaning if you will:)

This summer, I spent some time in Uganda, if you have read my blog at all recently you know a little about this trip:) 
I love Healing Faith (www.healingfaithuganda.org), the ministry that we visited who are friends of mine.  Jason and Kari have an amazing servants heart and I was so blessed to be able to lead a team to them!
They were one of the major driving forces behind why I helped found Imani. 
But over this past year, I have come to realize that my time with my family was suffering in a big way, and it wasn't getting better.  I also saw that the vision of where Imani was headed was a different way than I originally thought.  Not bad, just different. 
After much prayer by myself and with my husband (who is an amazing man and supports me in my decision), I decided my time with Imani was coming to an end. 
(The Lord has still provided me a way to help with Healing Faith though!  Stay tuned for more info on that!!)

So at the beginning of August I resigned my position with Imani. 
As sad as it was, I know it was God's divine plan for my life.  I know I was not giving the attention to my first ministry, my family, that it deserved.
So this year, my insane instinct to dive in head first, full force, is going to be concentrated on my family!
I cannot tell you how excited I am!

I decided I needed to do something fun and creative for my kiddos for school.  I have done it a few times in the past, but this year I'm going full force!
I have started to do Alpha Lunches again!
If you have no idea what I am talking about, I am going to send the girls with lunches that are based around the letter of the alphabet.  And today being the first day of school, I started with A!
I am going to do this, and I would love to see some of you join me!!  I am putting them on instagram everynight and tagging them #alphalunch, I also add a note in their lunch:)
Join me!

#alphalunch

First day of school: Mattison 1st Grade, Kennedy 3 year old class, and Reagan 3rd Grade!

The last ministry day...

Here is our team video!  Please watch and share, my friend Jenny did an amazing job on this!!
http://player.vimeo.com/video/45912586

The last several days have been amazing!  This week has just flown by and I cannot believe that today was our last ministry day.
In the last several days we have visited an amazing orphanage, and the Mafubira village.
The orphanage was a really unique experience.  We were able to see the ends and outs of what it took to run a Ugandan orphanage.  They had 74 children some of which were disabled and some who were babies yet HIV positive.  Really sad situations.  But the director of the orphanage is an amazing woman.  She is very supportive of Healing Faith and encouraged us all to share about Healing Faith and their ministry to as many as possible for prayers and to encourage others to support financially as well, something that I thought was very admirable in her.
We were also taken on a tour thru the childrens hospital.  This is the 2nd African hospital I have visited and was definitely as heartbreaking as the first if not worse.
I saw children lined up with their mother waiting to be seen by the Dr with an IV of blood in hand waiting for them to connect the transfusion!  And many other horrible sights.  It was so dirty I wouldn't want my animal to be taken care of there.  The families are required to bring their own linens, feed themselves and their children in care, and camp out in the yard of the hospital.  The children were several to a bed and no sign of sterility was to be found.
It was a sobering sight.
Emotionally and physically our team was worn out.  We were able to leave around 4:30pm and went home to nap.  We ate dinner and then crashed!  We prayed for energy so that we could give our all the last two days, knowing that we were nearing the end and exhaustion was setting in, we didn't want Mafubira Village to suffer for our lack of energy.
Our prayers were answered and we were all able to sleep well that night, waking up refreshed and ready for the day.  Another bonus was that we didn't have to leave to go to the Village until 10:30am so we were able to sleep in some too!
Yesterday we went to the Village and did home visit assessments.  We were given a questionnaire by Emma (known as Lufafa by some of you, the nurse that Healing Faith is partnering with in some capacity), we had to examine their home and whether it was safe, whether they had proper arrangements for Latrines etc.  We also made comments about any health issues they may have had and prayed over them.
Before we started the home visits they sweet people of the village asked if we would like to see the project they were working on.  So we followed them deep into the jungle of Uganda, all the while our guide saying in his lovely Ugandan accent "Your in Africa now!!" lol!!
When we arrived, we saw that this village was quite innovative!  They dug out a pond and were planning on filling it with fish as a way for the Village to make money!
After the assessments we went back into town and visited The Keep.  An awesome Muzungu (white person) restaurant  and ate amazing westerner food!  I got a spicy burger and spicy fries!  It was deeelish!!
Today we again were able to sleep in, not quite as long but still!  We went back to Mafubira and this time it was a work day!
The clinic was dirty and dingy and there was a huge pile of bricks in the back.  The yard was full of trash and not kept well.  So some of us painted, some of us raked, some of us moved bricks and some of us picked up trash!  We worked really hard!  But the place looks awesome!
We are now back at the guest house resting and taking showers.  We will be headed over to the Segners tonight for dinner.
It feels weird that today was the last official ministry day.  It is so bitter sweet.  I am so ready to see my family, but I love this beautiful country and am so sad to leave it.
We will be leaving early Sunday morning to head to the airport.  Please keep our team in your prayers as we travel home!
See you all soon!!!

Miracles

Well, first I apologize for not blogging on here since I have been in Uganda!  It has been amazing.  This ministry is near and dear to my heart and I am so excited to be serving alongside them for this short time.
If you would like to find out about our first couple of days you can check out our blog at missionuganda2012.blogspot.com.
For now I will talk about today.
Today has been an emotional roller coaster.
This morning I woke up early and went to the Segner's house to do family pictures of them, got some really good ones:)
Then we came back to the guest house, picked up the team, and headed to shop.  Jason met Kari on main street to get her to help with a burn victim (a 2 or 3 year old baby girl) they had treated the day before.  She had been dropped in a vat of boiling grease and has 3rd degree burns on 80% of her sweet body.
When they got there they realized it was much worse than they thought.
They took her to the local clinic and were told they didn't have the supplies to treat her, at this point they made the decision to take her to Kampala to a burn unit.  Kari called me to tell me the situation and asked that we pick up the kids and her mom, Bonta.  At this point Jonathan, and Dawson decided they should join Jason, who is obviously emotionally strained and then Kari arranged for a driver so Jason wouldn't have to.  I asked the team to come pray over Jason, Jonathan, Dawson, baby girl, momma, and the Dr's.  We prayed for peace, we prayed for a supernatural relief of pain for the baby, we prayed for the Dr's who will greet them that they will have open arms and hope.  We prayed for the trip and safety, we prayed hard.
We left the boys and headed to eat lunch with heavy hearts.  Today was our fun day and we had swimming and a boat ride planned.  Man was it hard to go from that emotion to trying to wind down and have fun.
But we prayed about it, since there was nothing we could do at this point other than pray and my team needed a little rest even if they didn't want to.
We then met up with Kari at Arise again and Jason and the guys and momma and baby were there as well.  First thing we are told by the guys is that a miracle has already happened!!  For 3 weeks (that is how old the burn is at this point, which Jason could not believe she had made it so far) and from what we were told she has not been able to stop crying this whole time.  They arrived to pick her up and she was sitting up in bed eating!!!!  You cannot imagine the emotional wave that was sweeping through our team.  We gathered around the van they were about to drive to Kampala in and prayed again for their safety, for baby and for Dr's.
Again transitioning from emotional roller coaster to trying to have fun was so hard.  But I tried to set an example, getting right into the pool and swimming around, and soon we were mostly all laughing and playing with the kiddos.
We ordered our food and then headed to do something that I have dreamed about since I was a girl.  We got on a boat and rode around in the Nile river!  I got to visit the SOURCE OF THE NILE!   The Nile river is an amazing thing.  To me it has always been something incredibly magical and amazing.  To think of all of the historical moments in time that have taken place in the Nile.  I am so thankful and blessed for this amazing opportunity to enjoy another beautiful piece of creation.
When we were done we walked back up to the resort we were swimming at and had already ordered our dinner.  They had several tables set up for us.  It still took at least an hour or more to get our food!  But it was really good!
Then once we were done it was 9 at least, maybe later.  We had originally planned on leaving by 8, but the food took so long it was later.  So we called our driver to let him know it would be later and they said "no problem, Jeffrey will be there to get you" who is not our normal driver.  Well we get out to the parking lot to load up and we don't see the bus!  So then we realize it was there but they had sent an 8 passenger van!  We had 20 people!!  He said "I'll take half of you and come back for the other half" it's pitch black by now and we are a good 15 minutes at least from the guest house which means it would be at least 30 minutes probably more to getting the second half.  We were thinking about calling a Matatu (basically a taxi van), and then Kari and I looked inside the van and we decided we could fit everyone!  And we did!!!  We literally fit 17 full grown adults and 4 children (including driver)!!  We made it back all in one piece and didn't get stopped at the police stop!  Whoo hoo!! There will be a great "clown car" video later:)
We got back and Kari called Jason to find out how things were going.  We had found out earlier that they had made it to the hospital and were able to be seen and things were looking good.
The guys had planned on staying the night in Kampala because it is dangerous to travel at night.
Dawson answered the phone when Kari called and he informed Kari that the guest house that had been arranged and they found was either not the guest house they were supposed to be at or was and there was no way they were staying there.  Apparently it looked like an abandoned warehouse in the middle of crazy bars!  So they had started to make their way back to Jinja.  This of course concerned Kari and Michelle!
So first things we did as a team was to sit down and pray for the guys.
Then we had an incredible time of testimony and devotionals.
About 10 minutes later the guys pulled in.  As they walked in I was beginning this blog, so there is some new information!
They walked in and said, the story was much worse than originally thought.  The momma told the driver on the way there that she was a co wife.  She said that she had been in an argument with the other wife and that the other wife had intentionally poured boiling grease on her baby girl!  My heart just literally dropped into my stomach at hearing this evil!  I cannot fathom causing this innocent sweet baby girl harm for any reason much less over something so trivial as an argument!
But then they went on, it was only the story that was worse.  They said when they arrived they spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out where to take this baby.  Jonathan described the hospital in this way:  "The worst hospital in America, in the middle of the slums would look like a 5 star hospital compared to what I saw tonight"  He went on to describe blood on the floors and people with chunks of their legs cut off waiting in the rooms while this sweet baby with open wounds was waiting to be seen!
They said they were told several times to go to another area of the hospital until finally a Dr saw her leg and the wounds and asked them what happened.  They explained the situation and he said follow me.  From that moment on they were escorted to the front of every line!  She was seen and the Dr is certain she will survive!!  The hospital may be a horrible one as far as cleanliness, but it has a burn unit, dr's who know how to treat it and are optimistic as we prayed for, and because it is a public hospital all of the treatment will be free!  PRAISE GOD!!
Then this is where I am just continually being amazed by the Segner's,  as they leave, Jonathan describes Jason as emotionally and physically exhausted but instead of succumbing to that, he begins to witness to the driver of their van!!  He begins to explain Christ and what it means to be a follower!  Getting this mans number and explaining to him how to except Christ as his personal savior!!
To say that I have seen God working today would be an understatement.  We witnessed miracles today.  We have seen what Healing Faith is here doing and I for one know that I want to support and help them as much as I possibly can.  To see their faith and their compassion and willingness to serve those they do not even know is incredible!!  God is so good.
If you have made it this far I am incredibly thankful for you.  I want to ask that if you haven't yet, you please visit Healing Faith's website at www.healingfaithuganda.org.  They are incredible and I ask for your prayers for this amazing family and their ministry.
God Bless!

Blessed...

For the most part my blog is about my ministry in life, and lately I have been really bad at that, busy is an understatement for my life as of lately!
But today, I wanted to get a little personal.
Yesterday was the 4th of July, Independence Day.  And for us we were so blessed that Chris and I were both off of work for the day and got to spend it as a family out at my dad's house.  The day was relaxing and so much fun!  There were water balloon fights, redneck snorkeling (that is, Chris went snorkeling in the pond!), riding lawn mower wagon rides, and fireworks galore!  It was a fabulous day!
I forgot my camera at home (GASP!!), and for some of the night I was sick that I did that, but then at the same time, I was able to better enjoy my family because I wasn't glued to my camera!  I have these amazing memories of playing with my family, and that will be with me forever.
I tend to be a very sentimental person, and with my departure to Uganda right around the corner, I am even more so!  Yesterday I cherished every moment with my kids, and as the moon rose and firecrackers were popping, kids were laughing and I was feeling very blessed.  I love my family, and I thank the Lord He blessed me so incredibly.  He has been so faithful even when I wasn't, blessed me when I didn't even begin to deserve it.  I am so thankful I am given the chance to serve Him.
I am blessed to work for our church, and family comes first, right under God:)  We were of course given off for the 4th, and then Pastor Will told us he wanted us to have off Thursday as well.  What great timing!  This is giving me a little extra time to cuddle and play with my girlies!! And gives me extra time to get everything ready for my trip.
Today we woke up at 9 (sleeping in for us!), and instead of doing our normal rush rush to get out the door, we just took our time.  I made Egg's Nest (for those that don't know what this is, you should!!  Make a hole in a piece of bread, put some butter on a pan, put your bread and bread hole on the pan crack an egg in the hole and turn to cook thru, add some cheese on top to make it even better!! YUMMMO!!!), then we set up the kiddie pool and splashed!!  We ended our play time with some trampoline jumping:)  I wanted to play with my kids, so often they ask and I tell them, later sweetie mommy is tired.  But lately, I have really been convicted to actually play with them, so thats what I am doing!
We came inside, made yummy grilled cheese, and sat down to watch....STAR WARS!  Yep, thats right! LOL!  I love the movies, and the girls were pretty entranced, until Matti asked to go watch her movie in her room, to which I obliged in the hopes of her actually falling asleep, naps are necessary in my household!

These moments are the ones I love creating.  These are the moments my children will remember.  I hope so at least.  I hope they forget about my less than perfect mommy moments, and remember those moments when I truly tried to be the best mother I can be.
Reagan has agreed to write in a journal to tell me about her everyday while I'm gone.  I love seeing what a beautiful little women she is turning into.  Her love for the Lord is so precious, I love teaching her about missions and why I do them.
And Matti, she has such empathy and love for others.  Those who children would normally shy away from she goes out of her way to make friends with.  I was telling my sister about this one day, and Matti heard me and she chimed in, "Because everyone is beautiful mommy!" awe!  Melt my heart!  I think Matti will end up being my missionary, I think the Lord has given her this heart to love everyone for a purpose, and I love nurturing her.
Kennedy is my firecracker!  She is charismatic and loves life!  She has a way of making you laugh like no other!
Blessed does not even begin to explain my life.

Now, a few words about my ministry:)  I am leaving on Monday, for two weeks to Uganda.  I am so excited to visit my dear friends the Segners.  The Lord has big plans for this team.  Please be praying for us as we travel and as we are there.  I will update as much as I can while there, and you can also check out our team blog at www.missionuganda2012.blogspot.com
If you would like to make any last minute donations towards our team, you are more than welcome to, just visit www.imani-africa.com or find me! :)
Thank you for your prayers!

These past few months have been a whirlwind! I have neglected my blog a bit, sorry about that!
The latest thing around here is the Imani Interns have made their way to Kenya!!  They left a week ago today, and arrived in their apartment on Tuesday morning (our time) at 9am, 5pm for them.  
They have already had an incredible time and I cannot wait to see what the Lord will continue to do thru them on this trip!  Please keep them in your prayers while they are there for 2 1/2 months!  You can follow them by going to our FB page at www.facebook.com/imaniafrica  they blog regularly and post pictures regularly!
Getting there was an adventure in and of itself!  There were 5 total, with three 50lb bags, a carry on each and 2 guitars!  When they arrived at the airport last Sunday there was a slight setback.  The amount we had budgeted for the third bag had changed thru the airport.  It was $50 more per bag than we expected! Ouch!  Jenny and I scrambled to make it happen, but that also means that Imani suffered because of it.  Obviously for a good cause and we are so thankful that we were able to do that, since the other option was to leave bags in the airport!  But with that being said, this also means that there is concern for our other teams and the budgets already set for them.  If you are able, I would like to ask that you prayerfully consider helping to support our teams by donating ANY amount towards our ministry bags and/or teams. Every little bit helps, no donation is too small!  
You may ask, "why don't you just take less bags?" 
Here is the breakdown of what we take when we go:


1 50lb per person for personal items (such as: clothes, shoes, toiletries etc)


2 50lb per person for ministry bags (such as: medical supplies, preventative medications, like the    medication for malaria, or de worming, or even things like tylenol and motrin! toys for the children, school supplies for the children, even things like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and personal items that the missionaries themselves cannot get, or in our teams case, homeschool supplies for the precious Segner children and items they weren't able to bring over with them when they first moved in January)


1 carryon each for personal items (cameras, change of clothes in case of loss of bag, snacks, flash light, blanket, travel pillow, toiletries etc)


Each of these bags are needed.  And going for a good cause!  The life change that will be made through the physical healing with the medical supplies will correlate with the life change that will happen while ministering to these precious children of God about the Master Physician, the Great Healer, our Lord of Lords Christ Jesus!  The items for the missionaries are necessities because they have given a great sacrifice to move far far away from their friends and family to live in an unknown land where electricity isn't necessary and the XBox has no place.  They gave up these things because they were called to spread the word of Christ to a people they don't know, and because of that I want to make sure their needs are met, which as believers of Christ and followers we are called to do: 


Matt 10:9-10  Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.


Therefore I believe it is very important to support these ministries in any way we can, and sacrificing a little so they can have the things they need is something I feel called toward.


If you would like to know more about the ministries we work with, please please visit our website at www.imani-africa.com.


The interns are in Kenya visiting REAL (reach east africa lives) 4 Christ Ministries
My team is going to Uganda to visit Healing Faith
And I will soon be talking about another trip that Chris and I feel called towards, and that is in Burundi visiting The Cries of a Child ministry


So, if you have gotten this far, first thank you!  I know I can be long winded sometimes!
Second, if you feel the Lord tugging at your heartstrings to support these ministries through our teams, please consider "joining" us on these trips by donating towards them!  You can donate right now! I have a donate button on my blog that will take you directly to our secure donation page!  
Thank you again for getting this far, and if nothing else, please support us through your prayers!  Those are the most precious thing you can give us!

**All donations are tax deductible through Imani's 501c3 non profit

Mission Jinja 2012!!

My dearest friends and family!!!
I am so very excited to finally have the time to sit down and put into words my feelings and emotions and thoughts!
I once again have been called to "Go to the Nations!"  This time with the unique experience of leading a team!
Last year, I was called to an amazing opportunity.  I was called to leave my family and home for 2 weeks and travel to Mombasa, Kenya with an amazing ministry called REAL4Christ (www.real4christ.com).  While I was there, if you read my previous blogs, the Lord scarred my heart.  I was exposed to things that I had never been exposed to.  I left knowing I wanted to do more.
During the preparation for Kenya, I was also called to start a non profit.  I co founded Imani Tumaini Upendo (www.imani-africa.com) last April (Imani for short!).  Imani Tumaini Upendo means Faith Hope Love in Swahili.  We have just begun, but the Lord is blessing our movements!!  If you would like to be added to the newsletter for Imani to find out more about what is happening, please let me know!!!  Email me: rachel@imani-africa.com!

I have always loved missions.  I have felt in the past a call towards them.  But, as most of you know, I chose a different path for my life in the early years.  I didn't follow the calling, I ignored the Lord.  When praying and thinking over this blog, I was led to the story of Jonah.
Jonah was called to go, specifically by the Lord.  However, Jonah ran.  Not only did he run, and therefore missed out on many blessings that could have been awaiting him, he ended up on a boat with others who didn't even call God their god!  But, God had a specific purpose for Jonah and wasn't about to let Jonah just walk out on this purpose.  God turned his life upside down!  He created a storm so bad that ultimately caused Jonah to be thrown overboard, left to drown.
Instead of leaving him to drown however, the Lord sent a fish to swallow him whole.  You may be thinking, the fish was a blessing?? What??  YES!!  The fish saved Jonah, in more ways than one!  This time of solitude, left in the belly of the fish, gave Jonah some much needed one on one time with God.  And like a good time out for your kiddos, left him to think about his actions and whether he truly wanted to ignore the Lord or not!  Jonah decided the Lord knew best, and ended up doing what he was called to do.
My life was like this.  I felt the call, but I ran.  I look back now and see the storm the Lord created in my life.  A storm so severe that everyone in my life wanted to throw me overboard!  I remember feeling as if I were swallowed by a whale, by myself, alone, and scared.  Many nights of tears and repentance!
The Lord then offered me a second chance, just like He did for Jonah.  I changed my life, repented and never looked back!  I am not perfect however, I will never claim that, I am still a human with a sin nature and struggle against it daily.  But I now look to the Lord and His calling on my life instead of my own wants and desires, my life looks nothing like it did even 5 years ago.  THANK GOD!!!

Last year I was called to go on a team.  Then start Imani, but the next chapter begins with me leading a team to Jinja, Uganda with another amazing ministry called Healing Faith (www.healingfaithuganda.org)!!  They are personal friends of mine and they have an amazing heart for the Lord!! Go check out their website and read their blog!
The process has already been challenging, but rewarding!  I am growing spiritually now more than ever before because of my obedience.
I am writing all of this because I need your prayers and support!  Knowing that I have powerful prayer warriors who know me personally, behind me, praying for my leadership and my team.  Praying that satan has no place in this journey, means so much to me!
There are so many of you who have helped me in my journey whether you know it or not.

If you have made it this far, THANK YOU!  Thank you for taking the time to love me and my family.
I will be posting updates on here, and we will have a team blog set up soon, so that while in Jinja you can keep up with what we are doing!

If you would like to donate towards my trip, you can do so by going to www.imani-africa.com
Or by mailing a check made out to Imani and sent to the Imani office at: 216 W 26th St, Bryan, TX 77803

Imani is a 501c3 non profit so all donations are tax deductable!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!!  I cannot wait to see what this journey has in store for us as a team!

Rachel

Long time no see!!! :)

Well hello!!  It has been a little while since I have blogged!!
I have been pretty busy with so much!  Working at Brazos Fellowship (if you could call it work, best job EVER!!), Imani and all the planning we have been doing with that, plus my new obsession with crafts and my old obsession with photography, and then of course my wonderful amazing husband and our 5 adorable children! Lol!!  I have been one busy girl!!

First thing is first.  My position at the church has shifted a bit!  I am now with Ministry Teams, which I love.  It's so different from Children's Ministry, which is what I had done for so long, but in a really good way.  I love getting to see all of the new faces that come into Brazos, and getting to know all of the amazing volunteers that give so graciously of their time every week, cannot be thankful enough for them!  You never realize how many volunteers it actually takes to make a Sunday morning happen until you are in charge of scheduling them!  I am really enjoying getting a different view of the ministry.

My husband and I also lead a Marriage Small Group which we have just renamed to "Real Marriage", focusing solely on marriage.  We have a bit of a rocky past, and have come out of it by the grace of God, and we want to share what we have learned in the process and what we feel the Lord has shown us it takes to make a marriage not just work, but heavenly and something that brings us joy!

Imani.  Meaning Faith in swahili (in case you were wondering and were unfamiliar with the non profit I started along with two of my dear friends, Jenny and Kaylene).  It has been a crazy ride so far.  We have two ministries that we have "joined forces" with!  REAL (reaching east african lives) 4 Christ Ministries located in Kenya.  And Healing Faith located in Uganda. I had the amazing blessing of getting to visit Chris and Lisa of REAL 4 Christ this past summer.  Their ministry has grown by leaps and bounds since they began in 2007!  You can check out their website at www.real4christ.com. 
I have also been blessed as well to know Jason and Kari Segner of Healing Faith for about 3 years now. They just officially moved them and their 4 beautiful kiddos to Uganda...Wednesday!!!  To find out their whole story you can visit their website at www.healingfaithuganda.org.
Imani is planning several mission teams to both of those locations, so if you or someone you know is interested in visiting Africa (I highly recommend it!! It is amazing!!), let me know!!!  You can also visit our website at www.imani-africa.com.

Now onto my new craft obsession!!  Have you heard of Pinterest???  Well if you haven't checked it out you should!! I started crocheting and knitting and many many other crafts!!
I now have wayyy to much yarn, in every color just about!  Burlap, sowing kits, knitting needles of all sizes, crochet needles of all sizes, ribbon and many other random craft supplies!! I love it!!
My newest creation is a bow holder and a cute message board.

This is the bow holder.  Isn't it cute!!! Super super easy!!  I just purchased the frame from hobby lobby (in the back section without glass or anything, 50% off this week!), ribbon and attached the ribbon to the frame and Voila!!

Then there was the Message Board:

I saw this on Pinterest (again, if you are not on pinterest, you should be!!), and was interested in how to make it.  It took me to a blog written by an adorable wife about her, her husband and their 2 month old baby called The Content Wife http://thestewartestate.blogspot.com/ check it out if you have the chance or want to make this, it is really good!  This board was created by her.  Her husband leaves for work at 6am, leaving her to sleep until the baby wakes up.  She wakes up in the middle of the night for feedings, so she is exhausted of course and her husband sweetly lets her rest instead of waking her up to say good bye for the day.  So she came up with this board, a sweet easy way to leave each other love notes!!  She leaves notes in the middle of the night for him to wake up to, and he leaves notes in the morning for her to wake up to!
Well I thought this is perfect!! My husband leaves at 5:30 in the morning, and if you know me, you know I hate the mornings!!  So he does the same thing, he says he kisses me goodbye every morning, but I honestly have no recollection of such things happening:)  So I thought, what a perfect way for us to start our days!  I am a night owl so I am usually up later than him, (I always go to bed with him, but many nights I get up once he falls asleep because I can't yet), and he wakes up earlier than me.  I am so excited to try it out!!!  I didn't do it exactly like hers, but very very similar.  I put my own spin on it:)

So as you can see, life is good!!  The Lord has blessed us abundantly and I couldn't be more thankful for those in my life keeping me going:)