Let's get a little personal...

Earlier this month I got an unexpected phone call from Kim Schams.
Kim is the Founder of Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach (APO for short), for those of you that aren't aware of who she is and the incredible work she does.

When I first met Kim, she was running APO out of her home as just a way to help unwed pregnant teenage girls find the resources needed to make a decision on what to do.  Her hope was to prevent abortion, and if wanted, to connect girls to great adoption agencies that could help them find potential adoptive parents for their unborn children.
Since then she has turned it into a full blown adoption agency!

For those that don't know me incredibly well, you are probably wondering when this was and why.
Well, at the age of 17 I found myself pregnant and very confused as to what to do.
I was scared and I was hearing opinions from everyone.
I was told to get an abortion so I don't have to deal with it.  I was told to consider adoption, to think about the unborn child and her life above my own.  I was also on the other side told to keep the baby, that I would regret giving my child away.
Thankfully, no one really pressured  me, but were just offering their loving advice.
I am a Christian, and while I was obviously not following Christ very well at that time, I knew I couldn't have an abortion because of my belief that it is murder, that I knew I couldn't live with.
However, I wasn't sure I could give a baby up for adoption either.
But my mom had learned about what Kim was doing and talked me into at least going to see what she had to say, to maybe help me make sense of it all.
So I did just that.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I remember her house, I remember what my ex was wearing and I remember the truck we drove up in.
I remember sitting down with her.  She gave me several brochures to look at and explained that the word adoption has so many negative conotations to it, but that the adoption of today has changed.  It is no longer this hush hush thing, where the baby is swept away from the birth mother never to be seen or heard of again, and everyone acts like nothing ever happened.  No.  Today there are many options as a birth mother.  You can still choose a closed adoption, where you never see the baby again.  Or you could choose an Open adoption.
This peaked my interest.  What was an open adoption?
Kim explained that in an Open adoption, I could remain an active part of her life.  How active would be discussed with the adoptive parents.  But it could be as little as receiving pictures once in a while, to even seeing the child.
I was still very confused but I felt like I had a better grasp on what my choices were.  I went home and prayed.
I wanted to keep the baby, but had no idea how I would take care of her.  I knew my parents would help, but all I could think of was how would I ever get out from under them.  How would I become my own person and what kind of life is that for my baby.  Not a bad one of course, but not the best one.
At this point I just didn't want to make the decision.  I was probably 7 months along when I made a "deal" with God.  You can laugh here, because we all know how those end up! lol!
I prayed and told God "Ok if this is your will, then you will show me an adoptive couple that I know without a doubt will take care of my little girl"  In the back of my head thinking, there is no way I am going to find that in any of those books the adoption agency would show me.
And thats when He did a miracle.
My mom went to visit with her best friend while her children were having their piano lesson at my old piano teacher, Jenny's house.  Once the lesson was over, Jenny normally would continue on with another student and not have time to chat.  But today there was a leak in her yard.  She had to come out to look at it and in the process got to visit with my mother.  In the course of the conversation Jenny asked about me, and my mom told her what was going on.  She said that Jenny then began to tell her about her own personal infertility issues.  They have one daughter, who at the time was 9 years old. It took some intense fertility treatments and new procedures to be able to have her.  They had been trying for another child for some time and she had gone to Houston that morning to meet with an infertility specialist and were planning on trying in-vitro one time.  It was very expensive and the chance of her conceiving was very low.  When my mom mentioned I was thinking about adoption, she said I will need to talk to Tim (her husband) but do you think Rachel would let us adopt her baby?
After discussing it they called my mom and said yes, would she ask me.

I came in that evening and went straight to the kitchen for something to eat.  I don't remember what I did that day or who I was with other than my ex.  But I do remember standing with the freezer open (maybe for ice cream?? lol not sure why!), as my mom explained what happened.
I immediately began to cry, because I knew.  I knew that it was an answer to my prayer.

And that is a small snippet into the story of Rachel Faith, my first born daughter.  She just turned 11 this January...which is crazy!!  She will probably be taller than me, and is incredibly smart.  She is a performer and loves the stage.  Most of all, she is a believer and is happy!  Her older sister EB, dotes on her and loves her so much.  I am so happy she has such an amazing big sister.

Kim called me this month to ask that I share my story in a little different way than I have in the past.
She explained to me that the high school girls they are in contact with now are dealing with the pressure in a different way than I did.  They are being told that adoption is a bad choice.  That they must not like their child if they choose it.  They are looked down on if they choose this option.
I was in shock and so hurt for these girls.
In this age it has become so normal for high school unwed girls to get pregnant and raise children.
To me, the choice was not about my feelings, had it been about that she would be with me still, I did not WANT to give my baby away.  I felt it was the best possible decision for her.
So today I sent her a couple of pictures.  And I hope that my story helps for other young girls to see that life does go on.  That adoption is a good thing if they choose it.  And that it just might be the ultimate sign of love for your child.  Giving them a mother and father able to care for them in a way you can't right now.

We have a very open adoption, and I thank Tim and Jenny from the bottom of my heart for this.
Here are a couple of pictures:

My last Dr appointment before Rachel Faith was born
My mom, Me, and Trey (Rachel Faith's biological father)

This weekend, they are family and came down for Easter.
Me, Rachel Faith, Jenny and Tim.
EB had to work:(  We missed you!!

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!