One of the great ironies about this Compassion blogging trip is that I haven’t been able to actually read any blogs. For one thing our internet connection here has been approximately the speed of Ye Olden Dial-Up Of Yore, and when you combine the slow internet speed with about fifteen bloggers who like to post LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES, you pretty much have a prize-winning recipe for How To Make Sure You Can’t Read The Blogs.
Which reminds me: have I mentioned that I haven’t been able to check my blog email for five days now? Well, I haven’t. I can’t even log on to the site. I’m hopeful that the twitching will subside before I arrive home.
I would also like to report that as far as I can tell, there is not a single diet Coke in all of Uganda. Nor is there any fried chicken.
Needless to say, it is only by the grace of God that I have not had to enter some sort of emergency 12-step program for my addictions to caffeine and hot peanut oil.
However, we have three days left, so we TOTALLY still have time for that to happen.
I may require some intercessory prayer, my friends.
And in addition to all the sort of trivial stuff, the fact that any of us has any presence of mind at all is nothing short of a miracle. We are all operating on an average of 3-4 hours of sleep, not to mention some completely jacked up emotions. Right now it’s about 1:45 AM Uganda time, and Shannon and I are sitting here typing on our computers like we’re a couple of college girls who have nothing to do and nowhere to be. Neveryoumind that we have to wake up at 6 AM. We’re in total denial about that whole sleep deprivation thing.
After all, there’s plenty of time to sleep when we get home. Personally, I’m thinking of sleeping through the rest of February. And perhaps into March. I will be sure to let you know when I finalize my sleeping goals.
Because the truth of the matter is that this week has had an emotional and spiritual impact on me like I could have never imagined. I feel like someone has taken my safe little suburban world, turned it upside down, shaken it like crazy, and then spun it around two or fourteen times for good measure.
So my safe little suburban world and I, we are reeling. I think it will take me months to process everything we’ve seen and experienced. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell all the stories.
But I want to make sure to tell you this: your comments and your prayers have ABSOLUTELY helped sustain us this week. Really, you have no idea how much.
Earlier tonight I sat in the lobby of the hotel with Brian, Anne and Shaun, and I read them a lot of your comments from the last couple of days.
We celebrated every single time one of you mentioned that you had decided to sponsor a child. I even did some clapping.
Or maybe I was just slapping the mosquitoes off of my legs.
But still, we were absolutely delighted.
And here’s a really cool thing that happened.
Anne was trying to find out if there were any children in Uganda who had been waiting for a sponsor for more than six months so that she could post about those specific kids on her blog. She found three kids. She resumed writing her post, and when she went back to the Compassion site to copy the link, one child’s picture was no longer there.
Because during that ten minute time span when Anne was working on her post, somebody stepped in and stepped up for a precious Ugandan girl. She has a sponsor now.
In a word: awesome.
And get this. I just went to that same page because I wanted to link to those remaining two children who have been waiting so long. And now? Only one child is left. In all of Uganda, there is only ONE CHILD who has been waiting longer than six months on a sponsor. You can see her information right here.
And if you click over and that little girl’s picture is missing, that’s great news. Because it means that someone has stepped up and stepped in for her as well. In two words: super-awesome.
(I have never uttered that expression in my life. I am somewhat ashamed. But I’m going to go with it because, as you know, I like to roll with the cheesy from time to time.)
So thank you, thank you, thank you. A million times. For what you’ve done – and what you’re going to do.
Thank you, sweet internets.
I can never say it enough.
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She’s mine now. :) I’d been waiting for the right moment to sponsor a child and this was it. Thanks, Sophie & Shannon.
Just wanted to let you know she’s already gone. I checked because as soon as my hubbie gets home from his business trip we’re going to find another one to sponsor! My thoughts and prayers continue to be with you guys on this awesome adventure.
That little girl’s picture is gone! Praise the Lord! I’m praying for all of you over there, and little 10 year old Mark who I sponsored today, and the rest of those beautiful children. You all have made me smile and made me cry (God bless Troy, wherever he is!) You have no idea how many lives you have touched with your stories. Thank you!
Good to hear today’s update. I check a few of the compassion bloggers blogs several times a day looking for updates from one of ya! :)
LOLing at you and Shannon still being up. Maybe it’s better that way so you won’t have to adjust to the time once you get home next week?!?!?!
You’re in my thoughts and prayers. Oh, and by the way, up until these past few days, I’d never really left comments on your blog, except for when I participated in the Christmas Tour. I’m gonna comment a lot more from now on, if that’s okay.
Hugs to you….
I wanted to say thanks for doing something you were afraid of and sharing it with us. I think we’ve all sat here reading this in our comfy homes and little by little it’s seeped into our day, making us wonder what we can do to help. Thanks for the inspiration.
I just opened a Diet Cherry Coke in your name. Here’s to you girlfriend!
What you are doing is truly amazing. We are now sponsoring a precious little boy from Uganda named Emmanuel. He will have a family in Atlanta loving and praying for him! God Bless you Sophie and the rest of the blogging team as well.
Sophie, my hubby and I are enjoying reading your updates. We’ve been sponsoring a little girl from Ecuador for about a year now. Seeing your pix, reading your words, and hearing your stories make us so thankful we can help her even just a little. Thanks for the love you are sharing on this Valentines Day. Y’all are in our prayers!
I am thrilled to say that I am sponsoring a little boy who had been waiting for 6 months! I’m anxiously awaiting my package to learn more about him!!
We’re waiting for Compassion to choose two for us. We’re asking for an older girl and an older boy. I think it will be a great addition to the family.
And darn it. I’m gonna take one for the team.
I hereby commit to drinking a huge Diet Coke for you and Shannon. With fresh lemon.
It will be worth the 8 horsepills, I mean Renagel, to kill the phosphorous off.
See how much I love you?
(However, someone else will have to take up the cross of fried stuff.)
Awesome. She’s gone already.
(If you get desparate, there’s sometimes diet coke at the Shop Rite at Manda Hill. If it’s a lucky day.)
How in the WORLD are you still clever and even downright funny with all you are going through!!!!!
You were cracking me up and we should be lightening YOUR load!!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day BTW :)
I’m getting ready to head over to Compassion’s site to sponsor a kiddo. I can’t wait :)
We sponsored a little girl today … Lucy. I sat down with my 6 year old and we searched for a little girl in the entire Compassion site that had the exact same birthdate as my daughter. The site brought up ‘Lucy’ from Uganda. And, she was the only one, so we were (are) so excited!!!
Thank you so much for bringing her to us. I linked to your site (as well as others) as well as Compassion on my blog.
Still praying for you…..
I just signed up to sponser a 3 year old girl from Uganda — my daughter is 3 and we thought it would be neat to have a child the same age to pray for, etc.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. (So sorry about the Diet Coke! I’m sorry but I had one or three today… Do they have Coke Light there? It’s the same thing.)
Her picture is gone now. SCORE!
Hey Boomama!
Thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and traveling across the globe to bring our attention to these little ones. We had a Valentine’s dinner tonight with our kids. I told them some of your stories and suggested that one of the best things we could do to show love today would be to help one of these precious kids. Our kids jumped right on the idea and we are now thrilled
to be sponsoring Opeoun from Uganda.
Shoot! I wanted to grab her up, but someone else already had! Please keep us posted. I am going to go back to the Compassion site and find another one to sponsor. I can’t wait to get our 3 year old involved. Much love and prayers!
Sarah, TN
She’s gone. I already took one yesterday…but had she been there I think I would have taken another. I confess though, I chose a child in Kenya just because we know a pastor there who has had to flee his home due to the rising violence about the political situation. Bless you!!! We are praying for you!
Here’s how to make a “sort of” diet pop. Take a bottle of the carbonated mineral water (fizzy water) use 1 cup mineral water to 1/3 or 1/2 cup fruit juice. Start with 1/2. Later you can diminish the juice. It isn’t bad…and less calories than the “real” thing!! Since you’ve been without for awhile, you’ll probably like it –sort of. (It’s an acquired substitute) But by the time you read this — you’ll be back home!!!
Blessing!
You guys are making such an incredible difference in so many lives. You have transported us to a world we don’t know, and you’ve made us love the people (especially the children)you are meeting. Thank you for moving us out of our comfort zone and for making us glad to be out of it.
It’s been six years so it could be gone by now, but we used to go to a place right on the main drag (Bombo Road) called Nando’s. Nando’s is a coffee shop (best in town) but there were a couple of other little fast food places in the same spot, INCLUDING FRIED CHICKEN!
I’m LOVIN’ your posts, and am following the others, too. Makes me wanna shout “Hey mzungu!” :-)
God is good all the time. All the time God is good. (Heard that yet?)
BooMama- Thanks to you and your group. AFter reading a post on Sunday night, and heading over to Shaun’s blog, I decided to sponsor a child. I went with a child from Mexico, because that is where my mother’s family is from. And I found a little boy who is the EXACT SAME AGE as my oldest. There, but for the grace of God, goes my boy. My son is so excited! He wants to write to our Compassion child in Spanish because he is learning it at school. (He knows Hola, and how to count to 10, but that’s enough to communicate for a 5-year-old.)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for opening my eyes!
What an amazing Valentine Post. V-Day is actually my birthday and I’m usually a bit “anti-Valentine’s Day”…but after reading about your amazing love for the compassion kids, I can’t think of a greater Valentine celebration. We do have a compassion kid, Jessica, from Guatemala. My daughter picked her out from their website (It was my husband’s idea). And my little 5 year old prays for her faithfully. I can’t wait to take a trip as a family some day to meet her. You’re trully an inspiration. Keep up the good work…Keep up the great God work! =)
We’ve got a day off tomorrow, so the whole family will be home from school. We’re going to sit everyone down at the computer and choose the child God has for us to sponsor.
Thanks so, so much for all your updates this week. I’ve been touched to the depths of my heart.
Praying for you and the team.
Praise the Lord!!
So today I’m leaning towards giving up my YMCA membership to sponsor a child! Even if my thighs remain the size of a couch, a little child will be blessed, right?
Still praying, girl.
As we were on our knees at the front of the church at Wednesday night”prayer meeting” I was praying for my favorite blogger friend, Boomama and her trip to Africa.
Although I did have this passing thought that most of our older church crowd would wonder why their pastor’s wife was praying for someone she knows only by the “internet” (gasp) I decided that it no different than praying for missionaries I do not know! And you are missionaries this week! God continue to use you for His glory while you are there! I’m praying for all of you!
When I went to see if she was still there….she wasn’t! She wasn’t there!!!
Hallelujah! Someone grabbed that darling girl up!!!
We can’t thank you enough for encouraging us all to step up and just do what Jesus would have us do. Its not about me!!
Praying for you guys! I’m posting all about Compassion and ya’lls blogs tomorrow. You’ve blessed us to death.
well, I went to yank her up…she was gone!! Awesome!!!
I want them ALL!!! EVERY single one of ‘em!!
Can’t wait to talk to you when you get home!
xoxo,
J
We first encountered Compassion over 20 years ago at a Michael Card concert; we supported a young Ugandan lad and loved him ’til he graduated from the system. He is now a pastor. We have sponsored our 2nd Ugandan lad now for 3 years; he is 10. We did it to give our kids some perspective on the world (our kids are grown and out of the house now) but I know that God was really trying to stretch my heart. Oh my, can you imagine the hugs and tears in Heaven someday when all the Compassion Family gathers for one huge homecoming?!?!?! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR – SPONSOR A CHILD TODAY and give up the Starbucks just 2 days a week.
BooMama, you rock!!!!
This may sound crazy, but it has been good to see everything “real.” Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder if all of those pictures are posed next to the worst background possible. But to see ya’lls pics this week…it’s real. I know it’s real, but sometimes I want to deny it because it hurts. I have been teary eyed everytime I read your posts this week.
We are starting to sponsor a child this week! Thanks for giving us a glimpse into Uganda. My life has been changed this week.
I can’t even express how much the pictures, the video, the words have impacted me this week. I’ve sponsored through Compassion for nine years and have seen in my own sponsored kids the difference it makes… but nothing like seeing Uganda through yourall’s eyes.
I thought I was well acquainted with poverty. I’m an early interventionist and work with toddlers in their homes. Here in rural Appalachia, the poverty seems dire. I’ve been in some pretty awful homes… some I never would have known could possibly be habitable until I set foot in them. But compared to these “closets” in Uganda, even the most impoverished homes I’ve been here are looking pretty good…
And as I browse through realtor listings looking at the houses I have on my list of possibilities to purchase, I shudder as I compare those homes to these pictures. Do I really need to buy a 2000 square foot home??? Can I not make do on much less and have that much more money to send to those in such desperate circumstances?
But like some of you bloggers have mentioned, the poverty just seems so vast and so extreme that it’s overwhelming. Can we really make a difference? (I know we can…)
I heard a statistic recently that said Americans spend $20 billion a year on ice cream, and that it would only take an additional 11 billion a year to what is already being provided to give the entire world enough food, clean water, health care, and sanitation, which would save the lives of about 11 million young children a year.
Can we give up only HALF of our yearly ice cream to save the lives of these little ones?
If the answer to that is no, how can we be so selfish?
you guys are doing an awesome job. thanks for using your platform to tell the world about Compassion & all that they do. have you asked for coke zero?
We sponsored a beautiful little girl yesterday.
Three words for you: Boo, you ROCK!!
your updates and shannons have really moved me this week. i am tearful every time i read one of your posts.
You all are in my prayers as your group travels home!!!
It’s hard to find, but occasionally you can get Coke Light- it’s made in Saudi Arabia for sale in East Africa. It comes in a silver can- good luck! And don’t worry about sleep- you have 30+ hours to catch up on the way home!
Keep up with the posts- we don’t need photos to see what you are seeing. Even though I’ve made several recent trips to East Africa, and thought I’d already seen it all- you’re posts have brought me to tears every time…
God bless.
Thank you for sharing your trip with us — and for inspiring us to sponsor a child today. It is just the right thing to do on Valentine’s Day. I’m going to search for a little one who will become our third ‘grand-daughter’. Bless you and the whole team as you prepare to say good-bye and leave. I imagine it will be bittersweet. God bless and keep you safe!
I already have two sponsor children; one in Uganda & one in Brazil. So if you end up in the Entebbe region, say hi to Kundakwe for me! She has the most beautiful smile. I just got my fiance to sponsor a little boy in Thailand earlier this month.
I love reading the blogs you guys post from your trip. It’s amazing to see Compassion in action and my reward is seeing all of their smiling faces.
Thanks!
We have thought about adopting a child through Comapassion International several times over the past year or so, and well, we just haven’t done it. Well today was the day we did what we should have done a long time ago! My son choose a little boy from Uganda, who is 5,the same age as he is.
Praying for you and the crew in Uganda. God bless!
I’ve been reading all week, and God’s been tugging at my heart. I sent some links to my husband and made him cry right along with me. There is no way that I can NOT sponsor a child now. No matter what it takes, we will do it. I want to sit down with my kids this weekend, as a family, and select a child for us to sponsor.
The love and respect and gratitude I feel for every one of you over there doing this, it’s beyond my ability to put into words. Know that you are being loved on and prayed for from a small corner of Oklahoma.
Boo you are worth your weight in fried chicken and I would be happy to buy it for you when you get back! I would eat some in honor of you but the whole flu thing is preventing that.
My husband is at his grandfather’s funeral but as soon as he gets home we are picking out a sweet child of our own. He seems wierd enough to have a problem with me picking out a family member without him. Men, go figure.
I have been profoundly touched this week by yours and Shannon’s blogs. Tonight, my husband and I chose a little 5 year old boy named Okalany from Uganda. I am so excited and can’t wait to receive the packet!
I have known for months that I love your website, but now I know I love YOU too. I hope that isn’t too wierd for you :) What all of you are doing is amazing. You have touched so many people that really had no idea what was going on in the world or what Compassion Internation is. Like several others commenting, I will be sponsering a child too once my hubby gets back in town next week. But do you know what you all have done???? A couple of days ago I looked at the kids and thought–pick ONE out of about 2100—how??? Well guess what–now there are less than 1600 left!!! You bloggers are FANTASTIC!!!! I can only imagine how God is smiling down on all of you!
Do you know what I LOVE about you, BooMamaBoo? You are a delightful mixture of hilarity, honesty, humility, and… contemplativity (doesn’t start with h, isn’t even a word, oh well)
Ya make us laugh one second, cry the next. Roll one second, sniff the next. And I see Jesus in every part of you.
Love you!
I looked up “compassion” in my concordance tonight so that I could pray specific scripture over you and the bloggers and the precious precious people that you are serving. God showed me Psalm 86 and I have been praying it, paraphrased as a prayer interceding for all of the precious ones you all have shown us through your blogs.
Hear, O Lord and answer them, for they are poor and needy.
Guard their lives, for they are devoted to you. You are their God; save your servants who trust in you.
Have mercy on them, O Lord, for they call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servants, for to you, O Lord, they lift up their souls.
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear their prayers, O Lord; listen to their cries for mercy.
In the day of their trouble they will call to you for you will answer them.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
Teach them your ways, O Lord, and they will walk in your truth;
give them undivided hearts that they may fear your name.
They will praise you, O Lord, with all their hearts; they will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward them; you have delivered them from the depths of the grave.
The arrogant are attacking them, O God; a band of ruthless men seek their lives – men without regard for you.
Bur you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Turn to them and have mercy on them; grant your strength to your servants and save the sons of your maidservants.
Give them a sign of your goodness, that their enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped them and comforted them.
Praise God. Praise His holy name through all the earth. Bless you. We love you.
I’m in shock about the Diet Coke…not even Coke Light? I was seriously thinking I should email you to see how that was going. I noticed Coke bottles on the tables in some of the pictures on Flikr…but no Diet Coke. I’m so sorry!
I know for a fact that there IS fried chicken in Uganda because I’ve eaten it there. Tell them you want “chicken and chips.” (of course that’s only if you are eating out somewhere as opposed to what people are serving you) Blessings…thanks for sharing your journey.
I am so pleased that your world has been rocked.
You’ve done the same for so many of us!
Blessings,
K
We have two Compassion children from last spring–one in Rwanda and one in Ghana…and you know what?? During this 2 1/2 months with no job and no income? God has provided enough, so that we have not missed one month’s payment! Isn’t He awesome?
I think as a thank offering, we will sponsor two more when that new job comes in honor of you all and to bless those dear ones, who Jesus loves more than anything!
Continuing to pray… get some rest, sweet friend!
So I clicked. She was gone. I bawled. What is UP with me these days? Can you say “Holy Spirit”?
Ok, well, I just sponsored a little girl by the name of Naume Elizabeth. Her birthday is just a week before my youngest boy. Just so you know, I searched by Uganda, Longest Listed, and it returned no results, so I think the one’s who’ve been waiting the longest have now been sponsored :) I’ve never done anything like this before. Perhaps because I was always mistrusting of the information? But you guys are just regular mommy bloggers like myself, and not out to promote corporate gain – so here I go.
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