My Life - His Mission: Contented Monday- (1000 Gifts)

Today I am thankful for these girls.

The girls: (from l to r) Jessie, Deanna, Amy, me, Emily, Paige, Jodie and Shelby

These girls are my rock and my inspiration. They have believed in a vision since the beginning and we have worked so hard together to make things happen. Not for us- but for orphans and for the people of Uganda. I had this crazy dream a few years ago. To found an organization to raise money and awareness for the the plight of the orphan in Uganda. I got some of my friends to join me in my crazy dream and we started doing fundraisers. We got people talking and got people thinking. We began to dream about finding an orphanage or a ministry that we could come along side of to help. We wanted to find a place that truly needed our help, not just some organization that already had 100 other churches pouring resources into them. But we also wanted a place that we could truly have a stake in- that we could have a relationship with.

Well, we found it. We found it in Kupendwa.

God has done amazing things in these past few months. I could tell you so many stories but the one that stands out is the story that unfolded over this past week. Last weekend, Easter weekend, we had a yardsale. We collected people's junk (I'm not being mean- that is the definition of a yardsale!) and we sold said junk to other people. The money literally started pouring in. When the weekend was over we had right around $1000 for Kupendwa Ministries. But we didn't know what they could do with it.

Amy Washington, the founder of Kupendwa, came to town this week to meet us and when I told her about the yard sale she was so excited. She said that she has been wanting to buy some land for a while now. She wants to be able to grow some vegetables to feed her own family and the girls in her growing maternity home but she also wants to be able to make some money so that the ministry can move towards being self-sustaining. I asked her if our $1000 would help. She said that in Uganda she can buy 1 acre of land for $1000. Y'all that's a lot of corn, or potatoes or whatever she wants to grow. An acre. Can you believe it? I never dreamed that our little yard sale would amount to all that.

But God knew what Amy needed. He is so good. I am so in awe that He is allowing us to be a part of this story. It is truly the coolest thing I have ever been a part of.

If you want more information about Kupendwa or the work they are doing there please visit www.kupendwaministries.org