An Honest Look

I’ve realized a lot of things since starting a blog, and one of them is that I so appreciate honesty….even when it’s not necessarily pretty. I think that’s one reason why I love this blog:

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

I’ve been wanting to post about this blog for awhile now and I am just now getting around to it. This 21 year old girl, Katie, is living in Uganda, caring for the sick, dying, malnourished, unloved, children…some who have been left on dirt roads to die. She is also the main caretaker for 14 Ugandan girls who live with her and call her ‘mommy’. I cannot even describe how this girl’s posts touch my heart. Her words are full of truth, gut, honesty, and most of all, they are biblical. She is living out the verse: 1 John 2:5-7 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Every time I read one of her posts I think that it was the best one she’s ever written….until the next one, and the next one. Her life is inspiring, her biblical wisdom is unreal, and her faith is put into action every moment of every day. I hope you will start tuning into her posts if you haven’t already. They are intense, but give you a great perspective on life. Here is a little excerpt from one of her recent posts to give you a glimpse into her life in Uganda:

Last Thursday as I was meeting with some women in the village of Masese, one of them got a call from her brother that there was a child dying near the local steel mill and did she know anyone who could help... So it was off to the steel mill where I met the sickest little boy I have ever seen (I know, I know, I say that every time, but I am serious.... God just gears me up for it a little at a time...) David looked merely dead, breathing shallowly as I took his naked, 15 pound, 4 year old body into my lap. His mom was "scrapping", or digging around the steel mill for nickel-sized pieces of scrap metal that she may be able to sell for 2 cents. As we waited for her to come back, I felt sure that this child was going to breathe his last at any moment. When she got back to their closet-sized home, she explained that her husband had left her for another woman last year when she miscarried (often viewed as a curse in rural villages). Since he has been the only one providing an income for her, David and her other 3 children, and since she had never been to school, she began the practice of picking scrap metal. In just 30 minutes in her yard, WITH shoes on, I cut my feet twice... It broke my heart to think of all the physical pain she was having to endure every day as she cut her hands and feet trying to find this metal that may sell for enough to buy them a small sack of corn flour. She cried as she explained that they had not eaten in three days because no one had wanted to buy her metal. I felt certain that David would not make it through the night, and I am guessing I do not have to tell you what happened next. I scooped him up, put him in the car and took him home where my sweet, loving girls welcomed him with open arms, and we gave him all the ORS and Pediasure he wanted :)

And, that is just a quick glimpse into her everyday life. She’s living a very purposeful life, and I think once you start reading, you will be hooked and forever changed.

Also, from Katie’s blog I started following another blog of a family who adopted one of the little girls in Katie’s care. One day on this family’s blog, the mother did a post about the unpredictability of Uganda adoption, and she could have literally stolen the words right out of my mouth as it compares so much to Ghana adoption! If you are interested in reading that post, you can click here:

http://joiningthejourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/home-sweet-home.html