Praise GOD!!!!

Faithful God!!

I just talked to my little brother on Skype for the first time in, what? 3 Weeks? How long has it been now!?!?!?!

God is GOOD!!!!!!!

NEVER give up on the power of prayer!!!! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you God!!!

Edrine on Skype just now, SOOO happy to be back with his daddy!!!!

I KNEW the lord had this worked out from the beginning!!!

Keep praying until we get him back to the USA!!!

Thank you for your prayers everyone!!! As you can see they DID make a difference!!!!!

WHY?

As we sit and wait for what seems like decades, sometimes I feel like stopping and asking,

"Why?".

"Why us?"

"Why now?"

"Why would this happen to a.n.y.b.o.d.y.?"

"Why would we have to wait 2 1/2 years, finally get a child, and have this happen!?"

I think there has got to be a good reason.

But truth be told, I realize I truly know the answer to that question, even if I don't like it.

The answer is Satan.

Satan does. not. want. these children taken care of.

He doesn't want them in loving homes.

He doesn't want them to be loved, happy, and protected for the rest of their lives.

And he will do everything he can to stop that from happening.

As I come to that realization, I remember something else.

Satan isn't in control.

GOD is in control.

Of everything.

Of every situation.

And God has a plan.

I know who's in charge.

And it's not the devil.

God won this battle, before we knew anything of it.

Before it had even begun.

I know he will get us through it.

I know God already has this taken care of.

I know my little brother will come home with us.

I know it.

How do I know that?

Because Satan doesn't want these kids loved.

But God does.

He want every child in a loving home.

And again, God is in control.

Satan is not.

It's really that simple.

Although sometimes that's hard to remember. Right now that's all we know. But that's all we NEED to know!

Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone praying for us right now.

Pretty sure it's the only thing keeping us from losing our minds :)

Oh! And before I forget, Zai's surgery was moved to today so PLEASE pray Isaiah!!!!

The funds aren't completely covered but I know God will provide! (Please continue to donate if you can)

Thank you to everyone who has donated!

(I don't know who has right now so just thank you to everyone :) )

Just keep praying!

Miscellaneous Uganda

***Read: A bunch of completely random pictures from our trip that really don't go together at all, all in one blog post*** (That didn't fit in the title)

Uncle Inno, Edrine, and Daddy in their smart clothes. 

*Dog comes around corner*
Me: MOM THAT'S STANK!!!
Mom: Oh we have to get a picture for Harry
*Hands me her phone*
Me: Stanky!!!!!!
*Runs to where she walked away and takes a terrible picture blurry picture because she wouldn't stop* 

Edrine and I on the swing at Flavours (He walked away and came back with our sodas, haha)

Me with little Sue! (AKA Sue-Sue/Sooki)

Dad snuggling with Kevin. (He has gotten SO BIG he's WALKING!!!!)

Me, Agre, Lindsey, and Babs. Our first day in Jinja we went to her house to bring her some presents from home, fun times!

Edrine break-dancing with his backpack on :)

sitting in the shade under a pretty tree with pretty flowers at the guest house in Entebbe on the first day

This is NooNoo (yes, that's her name...) She is one of the kids who hangs out at SASCU sometimes, she's CRAZY, and I mean that quite literally, at one point she acted like.. well it can only be described as something like a rabid bunny.

Henry's Tom and Jerry picture... Jerry makes sense, I'm not really sure what Tom is doing...

I just had to put this picture in, this is the sign for the bathroom at one of the restaurants we went to, it's lit up, and it moves. xDDD

So that's all folks!

A bunch of pictures that don't go together, fun stuff :)

Please help this precious treasure!

This is Isaiah ("Zai") 

He is a 4 yr old boy at SASCU. (Edrine's old orphanage)

He is super sweet and incredibly precious.

This little cutie NEEDS YOUR HELP! 

Zai had something TERRIBLE happen to him at some point in his life.

Someone (no one knows who) for some unknown reason (Ugh, there is seriously no good way to put this) cut off his entire "boy parts".

Does that not just make you want to puke/cry/both!?

He is having a surgery on Monday to create an opening so that he can empty his bladder effectively and reduce the risk of life-threatening infections and to protect his kidneys.

The orphanage he is at does not have the resources to pay for the procedure.

We are asking for donations to help pay for this surgery and the many to come.

This will be Longgg road for little Zai, getting over this physically and emotionally. 

Every time I think of this beautiful, sweet, precious, amazing little boy, I'm always close to or in tears because of his terrible situation.

Please please please please pray for this little one and consider donating any amount at all to help him.

Also share his story to everyone you know.

THANK you to everyone that has shared it on FB already! We need everyone to share it and spread the word!!!

It is honestly a miracle little Zai has lived this long without getting an infection.

The Lord has protected this precious child's life up until now and I am sure he has great plans for Zai in the future!

We also work closely with this organization and are positive that any money donated to help Zai will go directly to him and will not be used inappropriately. 

Please help, I mean how can you POSSIBLY resist that smile!?

How Court went.

So today I thought would let you know about how Court went yesterday.

Alright so when we got there we waited for a little while. I don't know how long because we were talking to another Mzungu (But Ugandan, they live here) family the whole time so it didn't seem terribly long.

They called us and we went straight into the Court room.

We got it.

Judge: "I see you have the medical report"

*Paper flipping*

He said yes.

We leave.

And before that the judge (Who was being completely serious) said "Young man." And Edrine spun around, grinned and gave him a huge thumbs up and everyone (including the judge) cracked up! 

The whole meeting was about a 2 minute process.

We didn't say a word besides thank you!

As we walked out the people in the hallway who saw us walk in looked at us stunned and said "That was quick! Good?" We say yes and we get many congratulations.

Before we left we went in and told the people we'd been talking to that the judge said yes! (They jumped a little when we tapped them on the shoulder and said the same thing "That was FAST!")

Before we left we called Bobbob and Granjan. 

We told Edrine we were calling them and he kept saying "BobBob, BobBob!" over and over! He answered and we told him to say "Hello my name is Edrine White." Soooo sweet!!!
(Oh ya, Edrine now associates ice cream with Bobbob after we told him how much he loves ice cream, it's hilarious. We were talking about it and Edrine said "Bobbob ice cream!"

We also called Mamaw after that.

Edrine: "I love you Mamaw."

***Sweetness OVERLOAD***

(This is how he was standing while talking to mamaw, hilarious!)

Thank you to all those who were praying!!! We have an amazing God!!!

So..... Without further ado....

Please meet my newest little brother, Edrine White!!!!

Okay, okay, here it is!

I have had many people saying they wanted to see my little brother's sweet face.

I apologize, I had NO idea THAT was what you wanted to see!

Hahahaha yes I did, I'm evil.

So I got on my laptop and took another picture you might like. 

Okay...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

So there you go!!! 

Satisfied now????

What!? This isn't satisfying either!?!?!?

Ugh. You people are so hard to please!

P.S. Just saying, blame Linny at APCS For teaching us the art of the tease!

It's Edrine!

We are finally in Kampala Uganda!!

After what seems like countless hourse of doing nothing on a plane we are FINALLY in Uganda!!!!

We are at the director of Mister Edrine's orphange's house with Edrine!

It's SOOO amazing to see him again <3

He loves his mommy!!! And he was so happy to see us again <3

I've missed him SOOO much :)

He's so funny :)

We go through the picture album we brought him and ask him "Who's that?" "Austin, Harry, Mummy, Molly, Daddy"

There are some pictures in there with some of the other kids at SASCU and he starts identifying the other kids in the picture :)

I bet you want to see pictures, huh????

He loves to color! After he finishes coloring part of the picture he'll say "Mum! Daddy!" and they come to look at his picture :)

He loves to play on daddy's phone, and he LOVES crackers!!!

He had new shoes, he LOVED to make them light up!

 Putting stickers all over his hands :)


More pictures coming soon :)




 Wait, wait, were those not the pictures you wanted????

You wanted to see his face?

Ohhhhh

Hahahahahahahaha

Maybe later

:)

Getting ready!

Wow, this trip seriously sneaked up on us!

Alright, not really, I have been counting down the seconds since over 3 weeks ago :)

But still, I can hardly believe it! 

We leave Wednesday!!!

Getting ready to go!! 

Lots of packing to do!

Christmas bags for the kids at SASCU about ready to pack!!!

(Thank you everyone who helped us make the bags and gave us stuff to put in them!!!)

In 2 days we get on a plane.

And in 4 DAYS I will playing with these kiddos again!

Look at those smiles!!! You just cannot resist those smiles!

I'm so excited!!! 

(See Aubrey, you were right, haha)

<3

Some sweet kiddos

Usually when I post something on here it's because I have something important to share

Today I just wanted to tell you about some of the sweet kids we met on the first day we started building (helping to build) the wall.

For the first little while while we were mixing cement we noticed some kids by a house nearby watching us while we worked...

After a little bit a little girl walked over to where we were working (okay, I'll be honest, at that time I think we were just playing with the boys)

Sylvia <3

A little while later she was followed by a another little girl, quite a bit younger than she was

Rita! Isn't she adorable!? I think she was about 3 :)

A few other kids followed much more slowly behind them, standing a long way off, taking a few more steps, stop, look at us, walk a little bit more. I smiled at them a few times and then walked over to where they we're standing at the time and told them they could come over and they walked back with me. 

This is Sylvia with Shammie, one of the kids who came over next.

She was very sweet but and so shy :)

This is Baby Zai, he came with Shammie :)

Here is Shammie, Sylvia, Rita, and Zai :)

Kate came a little while later 

Photo by Rileigh Shanks

Paul was actually there before Sylvia playing football (soccer) and frisbee with us and the boys.

Ven <3 Isn't she beautiful?

After Sylvia, Shammie, Kate, Rita, and Zai, A bunch of kids just started slowly walking over. 

The kids kept coming slowly like Shammie and Zai, but there were so many kids after that, I couldn't tell who came when!

By the end of the day there were a bunch of kids there!

At first they seemed kind of scared of us (well not exactly scared... just kind of shy I guess....)

But by the end of the day they were playing with us and sitting in our laps and smiling and laughing!

Photo by Rileigh Shanks

It was like this by the end of the day :)

After that day only Sylvia Shammie, Kate, Rita, Paul, and Zai came back

But they were SOOO sweet when they did! 

They didn't just want to be there, they wanted to help us!

They wanted to help us move bricks! 

Even little Rita didn't want to stop when we told her she didn't have to do that.

A couple of times the younger kids tried to take 2 bricks at a time and we told them they didn't have to do that and helped them with one of them.

Zai was to little to help and Granjan held him a lot of the time when he tried to stand over by where we were passing bricks and he got upset when we tried to move him because we didn't want him to get hit in the head

I loved playing with these kids and watching their determination to help us even when we told them they didn't have to do that

I don't know for sure if I'll see them again on the next trip but I really hope so!

Going home!

They say home is where the heart is.

Meaning obviously, Uganda is home <3

Yes, we just got back from Uganda about a month ago.

I thought (hoped) maybe I would be going back soon.

As soon as next spring maybe?

Wouldn't that be awesome!?

I can't say I really even dreamed that I would be back home only 2 months after I got back to Kentucky.

That's right, I'm heading back to Uganda!!!

I've told everyone that I can't wait to go back.

Did I think it would be this soon?

No.

Am I pretty stinkin' excited!?

You bet I am!!! 

Okay, that's an understatement, But I really can't put into words how amazingly, incredibly excited I am to be going home!!!!

Me and dad will be there a long time. (probably 4-6 weeks)

Mom told me that if I'm there that long than she doesn't think I'll ever come back! Uh, so?

Innocent has told mom and dad that the kids have been asking when Molly was coming back, and that they are pretty excited. *Heart melting* 

I can't wait to see those kids again! 

To see their smiles when they see the picture I took.

To hear their laughs when I play with them.

I also cannot wait to hug my babies again!

 To walk with little Sue.

To tickle Matthew until I'm laughing so hard at his cute little laugh that I have to stop.

To see Rebecca's dazzling smile when we get to the baby home.

I can't wait to play with the sweet kiddos at the children's home.

To see beautiful Esther and hold her until she'll let me put her down.

To play game after game of duck, duck, goose and red light, green light with the big girls.

I can't wait to look tan, even if it's just dirt.

I can't wait to hear their beautiful accents.

I can't wait to hear "Mzungu, Mzungu!" everywhere I go.

*Sigh*

I may have just go back, but this trip could not come fast enough!!!

Uganda, Here I come! (Again.. :D)

Send them with Future Hope Ministries!

Hey so remember those kids at Save Street Children Uganda that we were trying to get to school???

Every one of those kids is going to school!!!

Yippee!!!! God is good!!!

But the needs don't stop there! 

Right now there is a serious need for clothes!

So if any of you have clothes or know anyone who would have any summer clothes they have out-grown or don't want anymore please please please let us know!!!

We need sizes 6-Small adult (although if you have clothes smaller than that we can find use for those too! :))

It is hot all year there, but they do wear long sleeves and sweaters so ANYTHING is appreciated!

If you can even donate 1 or 2 items that would help a lot!!

There are 70 kids who need clothes so we really need your help!! 

We CAN do this!! If God helped us get these kids to school than we can get clothes!

Share with everyone you know!!!

In the words of Harry "Goodwill is for squares! Send them with Future Hope Ministries!" (notice I gave you credit for the quote Harry?)

If you don't have clothes to donate (or even if you do!) the next need is for prayer that we get plenty of clothes!

Thanks to everyone!

:)

Wasn't expecting another "gift"

We've been back from Uganda 3 weeks now.

Let's just say I wasn't quite expecting another Ugandan "gift" by now. 

But last Monday when Granjan got home from Uganda (She stayed another 2 weeks after we left) I noticed something for the first time really on the corner of my toe.

I was looking at it and wondering what it was, so I asked Granjan to look at it.

After a few minutes she said "Well it kinda looks like a jigger"

Say What!?

Jiggers are little bugs in Uganda that bury themselves in your feet.

We (not me, Granjan, Cameron, and Lori) helped to remove them from kids feet in one of the villages.

[Photo by Rileigh Shanks]

The kids getting jiggers removed

[Photo by Rileigh Shanks]

(waiting to get jiggers out, looooong line)

I'll admit, my first thought was "No way we've been back long enough, we would have noticed it by now!"

But over the next week I started to believe it.

And I must say my toe didn't look pretty....

We were at Granjan's house this week so she decided to get it out.

I didn't watch, yuch.

haha

But really, I wasn't gonna watch that!

My cousins were all excited and their face were about a foot from my toe.

My aunt just about threw up watching.

And yes, it was a jigger. nbd

My cousin videoed the whole thing, I still didn't watch it.

But if you want to see it I can get you the video, loljk

We're not that close

JK, it was just gross

I got the play-by-play

Although every time they said something I was just like "Didn't need that! I'm good without knowing!"

I really couldn't feel it most of the time she got it out

Until she used her nail to make sure she got everything out, uh ow!

(My feet today, after the jigger was out)

I didn't take a picture of just my toe because, well it still does not look wonderful.

But you can kinda see that little dark spot on the corner of my big toe on my right foot. (Click the picture to enlarge it)

That would be the hole where the jigger was just yesterday.

Hope I didn't gross you out too much with this post, just wanted to share one of the joys of Uganda!

Speaking of which, anyone wanna buy me a plane ticket to Uganda?

C'mon, please! My birthday is in 2 months!

Ugh fine :(

They need YOUR help!!!

Today I wanted to tell you about the precious, sweet children at Save Street Children Uganda (The orphanage my newest little brother is at right now)

These kids were the sweetest

Most loving

Moat adorable kids who just wanted be loved

One of the little girls holding Austin's hand

You'd have a small mob following you around pretty much all the time <3 

 Harry playing soccer with the kids

All of the kids loved having their picture taken!

Harry with a small group of the sweet kids

They all loved to be around you Alllll the time!

Now comes in what this post is really about

Most of the kids (About 76 in all) are school-aged, meaning it cost quite a bit to send all the kids to school!

 We sent them a good amount of money on Wednesday for school fees 

Innocent (The man who runs SSCU) called Dad yesterday morning (via Skype) in tears thanking him and told him he had been upset earlier in the week because he wouldn't be able to send any of the kids to school this year. Then later when we called to talk to Edrine a bunch of the kids were in his office and they were thanking mom and dad for sending them to school! 

But here's the catch: The money we sent only covers half of the kids.

That's where you come in!

They still need $1,700 to send the rest of the kids, by tomorrow.

That may seem like a BIG goal but remember, we have an even BIGGER GOD!

So what are you waiting for!? These kids need YOUR help!!!!

How can you say "No" to those smiles?????

Don't YOU want to be able to say that YOU helped send one these precious, beautiful, loving, sweet, incredible children to school?

I know you do!

So c'mon guys!

EVERY cent of every donation will go straight to sending these children to school!!!

Contact me or my mom ASAP if you want help!!!

PS If you've already donated, you can still do more! Share it on Facebook and Twitter! Tell your friends! We may have a big goal, but we can do it!!!