Shots and Donations

Yesterday Liz and I went to get our shots for the trip.  Liz only had to have two, while I had to endure four (and four more later).   Can I just say OUCH!  We’d appreciate it if you would pray for us that we not get sick from all of these diseases we just had injected into our bodies.  Also, I have heard scary things about the malaria medication that we will be starting to take, and would appreciate prayers that we do not experience any unpleasant side effects from that either.

 Some of you have asked how you can help on our trip.  Below is a list of some of the needs that some of the orphanages we will be visiting have shared.   If you would like to donate anything, we will be taking two suitcases that can weigh up to 50 pounds each.  Just give us a call if you would like us to pick anything up, or you can drop donations by the school, Chris’s office at church, or our house if you’re in the neighborhood.

•  cough drops,
• pain relief syrups and tablets.
• Anti-itch cream,
• multivitamins,
• Anti-fungi creams,
• Anti-biotic ointments
• Anti-malaria medicines 
• Sanitary pads -   Sanitary pads for girls  
• Clothing, shoes, sweaters for boys and girls ranging between   2-16.
• Soccer balls and educational materials for schooling
• Warm cardigans/sweaters (some children suffer from asthma in the winter)
• Children’s Meds (Children's cold/cough syrup, honey lemon menthol cough drops, mentholatum, Tylenol syrup, Tylenol tabs, medical tape, band-aids, gauze, hydrogen peroxide, Adult extra strength Tylenol and aspirin, Pepto bismo tabs and other anti-acids)
• Several containers of Clorox wipes
• School Supplies: Pens, composition notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, 
• Art Supplies:  Colored pencils, crayons, markers, colored construction paper, white paper, watercolors, paints, art pencils for shading, pastels, paint brushes, etc., beads, thread, jewelry making supplies, stickers, colored feathers and other materials for arts and crafts)
• Towels
• Pillows, sheets, blankets

How it Began

I have wanted to start a blog about Liz and my trip to Uganda this summer, but am not very tech savvy.  We got our itinerary today, which makes everything seem very real, so I decided now was the time to figure out how to do this. 

I want to start by explaining how we got to this point.  The high schoolers at our church have the opportunity to go on an international missions trip the summer before their senior year.  Liz kept delaying signing up and missed the deadline, which was right before Christmas.  My sister gave me a book, Kisses from Katie, which I read during the Christmas break.  It is an amazing book  (which I recommend for everyone to read) about a young girl who went to serve for a year in an orphanage in Uganda. To make a long story short, three years later, she had adopted 13 girls, and started many other ministries in the area where she lives.  Liz has always wanted to go to Africa, so I felt like this was a sign for us to go.  I wanted to take her to visit Katie and her ministry, but her website referred us to the Visiting Orphans ministry.  They had a team going to Uganda in July, and after talking with Liz, we signed up.is is kind of a long beginning for a blog.  Hopefully future posts will be shorter.

 

Our first job was to raise the $3500 we each needed to pay for the trip.  We sent out support letters and were amazed by the generosity of our friends.  Included in the many gifts, was an anonymous donation of $2000 each.  We still have no idea who sent that money, and we are extremely grateful for all of you that have shared in  helping us on our journey.

Our journey begins on July 20^th when we fly to Washington, D.C. to meet up with some of teammates.  The rest will join us at the airport on the 21^st where we will board Ethiopian Airlines at 11:15 a.m. for a very long flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  From there we take a much shorter jaunt to Entebbe, Uganda arriving at 1:05 p.m on July 22.  We will spend the next 10 days visiting several orphanages in Uganda.

Next on our agenda for now is to get our shots (Yuck!) and appropriate clothes for Africa.  Women in Uganda wear dresses below the knees-- no shorts or jeans.  Needless to say, this means Liz will need to find some new styles to add to her wardrobe.  Luckily long skirts and dresses are coming back in style.  My sister gave me several skirts that she keeps specifically for mission’s trips, so I’m pretty set.

This is kind of a long beginning for a blog so I will stop for now.  Hopefully, I will be able to continue to keep this updated as the time draws closer for us to leave.