A New Year, A New Beginning

It is the eve of 2013 and though we sit looking back over 2012, it's difficult to spend too much time reflecting on the past when a trip with so much promise sits just 6 calendar squares from today.

Four Chayah board members and five adventurous, Jesus-loving, mission-minded, servants are making lists, gathering supplies, checking passports, filling needed prescriptions and praying at every turn that God's will and plan will be accomplished for 19+ anxious children in Kakira Uganda.

You would think great anticipation would be tempered by nerves and an insecurity about our ability to assist a mighty God in such a fete, but tonight for the sake of this small tribe of children, we couldn't be more motivated to tear away the last page of 2012 and finally get to this new month of great beginnings.

The Lord has blessed every big and little thing in this journey. I cannot even begin to describe how much better He does things than we would have ever done on our own. Our greatest desire is that each child would know that the one true Savior, Jesus, came for them and only that he sent a few Americans to help them move.
We have met as a team and will complete our official pre-trip planning and scheduling. If a gust of wind, on the runway of any of the five airports we touch, happens to blow away our schedule, its just as well. We go with open hearts, open arms and ready to serve this new family as best we can and as each need arises. Plans will give way to what works best and if the two overlap it will be a surprise to all of us.

What we do know and plan, is that the first 2 days will be meetings, planning, and arranging for all that waits to be "ferried" and purchased and bought and moved in. Bunk beds have been built, a dining room table completed along with a smaller version for the smallest members of the family. Two staff members to assist have been chosen, one is ready, the other has yet to be approached.

Day 3 and 4 involves stepping into the plans that have been made, and cleaning, moving, purchasing, arranging, and assembling. Day 5 will be spent in the village itself. Church on Sunday Jan 13th and visiting the most desperate. This day will include packing up and moving ("shifting") Janet, our house mom, and the 7 children her current 300 sq ft protects.
Monday morning, the 14th of January, the first group of Chayah children will be ushered from their current situations to the hospital for complete physicals and then welcomed "home".

Tuesday the 15th, we complete the family's tree with the second group. Wednesday brings fun, crafts, games, stories, and comfort, joy and celebration. Thursday we will give Janet and her staff some time with their new family as we visit a nearby orphanage "Sonshine Baby Home" complete with 50+ orphaned infants/toddlers. How we leave them is yet to be discovered, but God will show us, lead us and comfort our hearts.

Your part can be best spent in prayer for us. Rejoice as we record our joy, petition our God as we report our sorrow. Appeal to the one who knows all for wisdom in confusion and comfort in frustration. We know He is real. We have seen His hand, heard His plan and are confident in His plan. 2012 will be surrendered into the history books with the title "Well, we didn't see that coming!"

2013 begins a chapter in the lives of Chayah children called "New". The author is a Savior who values the orphan, and has proven his commitment by submitting to a cruel death which allows each of us to follow His leading with great joy. As you reflect on 2012 and all that has been accomplished in your lives...be confident that anything you have given away, at any cost is immeasurably more valuable than what you have gathered or kept. The best part of this life is that part you give away for another...a humble savior proved it...don't live another day without believing it.

We are so grateful for you!

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR CHAYAH FAMILY

Chayah Family,

The Christmas season is here and in this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, we are so so grateful that you have each supported us in the birth of Chayah Children's Home. Family sponsors, child sponsors, key sponsors and those of you who have prayed for us...we don't know how to thank you for your incredible gifts.

Grace was born in a lowly manger over 2000 years ago and with the first cry of that tiny baby Jesus, the world was offered new life and new hope. Its impossible to miss all of the celebration during the season, but its also so exciting to consider the new life and new hope that 19 children in Kakira Uganda are about to experience.

The new year holds great promise. On January 6th, board members will leave from LAX, travel for nearly 48 hours and begin several days of planning, organizing and preparing to furnish Chayah's first house. We'll work closely with Janet, our house mom and make arrangements for the rest of the team's arrival on the 10th. Bunk beds, mattresses, sheets, tables, towels, pots, pans, stove, refrigerator, mosquito nets and more will be moved in.

As soon as everything is ready, we'll arrange to pick up the children and take them right to the hospital for a complete check up. When everyone has seen the doctor, we will take this tiny tribe to the house and once they arrive...Chayah becomes a home. Janet plans for the cook to have their first meal ready for them when they walk through the doors. We plan to stand in awe of the amazing grace and provision of our loving Father. What God has planned for that day is yet to be seen, but surely it will be a day that is more than we could ask or imagine. It is His way, after all.

The days following move in will be busy with activity. We plan to get each child registered for school, buy uniforms and two sets of other clothes, shoes, socks and bed clothes. We'll play with, wrestle with and do crafts with them; help them label their clothing, learn to make their beds and make a plan to keep 24 toothbrushes from get- ting mixed up. We're taking tools and the older boys will get to build something together with the men. Somebody will be going with a Ugandan friend, Solomon, to find the perfect van to shuttle this new family around. We'll attend church with them, go to the village marketplace with them and make sure they have the 2 brooms and 4 rolls of toilet paper required for the first day of school.

They will be uncertain, perhaps fearful, maybe grateful, and begin feeling the first glimpse of hopeful. We will be prayerful and excited, patient and anxious all at the same time. None of us have walked this exact road before and in our own strength, we'd be sunk. But God has already proven that he is more invested in these children than we could ever be and we know he is faithful to complete the work he has started.

As the days fly by during this busy month, we will be wrapping gifts here and trying to wrap our minds around the tasks ahead. We'll sing carols and hang ornaments, mail visa applications and collect things to take.

We consider it such a privilege to be allowed to see this through, to be able to watch God pull together so much in such a short time and to be part of rescuing tender young lives for the Glory of God and all He has planned for them.

We are so grateful for your partnership, for your encouragement and for trusting us to take what you have sacrificially given to the other side of the world. Chayah's house mom, Janet, has said to us over and over again..."I do not know how to thank you or have anything to give you. I can only pray that the God who sees will bless you for all you are doing for these children". We cannot say it any better. We pray that the God who sees will bless you, our Chayah Family, for all you are doing for these children.

Merry Christmas, 

Chayah

*Meeting the Chayah Kids