Getting antsy.

In less than 1 week I will be in Uganda. 

In less than 1 week my life is going to change radically.

In less than 1 week I am going to see God in a way I never have before.

Friends, I am so excited. I'm all immunized and ready to go. I even have a little pile of clothes that I have been placing to the side in anticipation to pack right next to a couple of books and my malaria medicine. 

I keep going back to James 1:27 in my bible. 

I plan on living out this verse to the extreme while I am in Uganda.

It's amazing that this opportunity has even happened. There are times when I think back on how lost I felt just a month ago when thinking about how the future would play out and how badly I wanted to go to Uganda, but was unsure of when it would happen. 

This is my beautiful friend Sara that I get to embark on this adventure with. You should follow her blog and learn more about her AMAZING story here :  http://ssdowning.blogspot.com/

Sara mentioned this in on of her most recent blog posts..for me to be able to go with her now... it's truly a miracle. I want and need to be there for my friend during this amazing and emotional adventure. I want and need to be there for others to help and document the adoption process and way of living to raise awareness. I want and need to be there for myself.  But most importantly I want and need to be there to help and love on the people of Uganda to remind them that Jesus loves them...although I am sure they will be the ones reminding me more than I do them. 

Maybe this is something that ignites something in your own heart. Maybe you aren't exactly able to travel thousands of miles right now to visit the villages of Uganda and help out in the orphanages...but you ARE still able to help.  Sara and Shane have designed an awesome shirt and all the proceeds go to the adoption/orphan care. We are also hoping to fundraise at least $1000 to bring to the nursery to help purchase a dryer for them! If you would like to purchase a shirt or donate money for the nursery, please seek the information down below. 

I hope to be able to update while I am in Uganda...although I plan on getting to know the locals and dive into the culture more. =) I will have SO much to share when we return! 

beauty through others.

A dear friend of mine wrote me a sweet text message recently. He said " Oh and like it or not, you were put on this earth to make people feel beautiful". It was simple and sweet but floored me at the same time. All I want is to show people how beautiful they really are. While I am grateful I get to do that through photographs, I also get to do that every day through relationships. I know what makes me feel beautiful. It's not when a guy says he thinks I'm pretty or a friend tells me I am having a good hair day, it's when I am reminded that I am loved. 

My best friend growing up would always laugh at me and the intense sentimental side of me that I have always had. I don't hold anything back...I like sharing my emotions with others. So when our birthday month of April rolled around and I would hand her my present to her with the card adorned on top..she would always laugh because there would be a novel inside. Really...had that much changed from our 12th to 13th birthday? No...but my love for her had grown significantly every year and I believed it was important for her to know. It was something I was never ashamed of...everytime she opened her card, she knew she would have a heartfelt message telling her how grateful I was for her and hopefully feeling very loved and very beautiful. This is something that I have learned to bring into my every day life...reminding others how much I love them and care for them and hopefully that shows them how much Jesus loves them.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel beautiful...and I can understand how vain that can sound...but give me a second. Beauty seriously comes from the inside and it comes from your heart. To love and be loved is a beautiful thing and I have learned, through alot of low points in my life, that I am loved no matter what by God. The love He has for me is unconditional and so undeserving. When someone loves you...all you want to do is love them back and love on everyone around you because its the best feeling in the world. 

And that is why I have been put on this earth...to love others like He loved me first. It's not easy but it's the best duty one could ever have. Thank you to my friend for reminding me why I was put here on this earth. The opportunity I have been given to be able to document people is one I cherish but I also cherish the fact that I get to interact with people and remind them that they are truly loved and ultimately the most beautiful person in the eyes of their Father.

my heart has been restored and made anew.

the beginning of something big.

Friends, have you ever had that feeling that something huge is about to happen in your life and things are about to radically change? Whether it’s a physical change, emotional change or a spiritual change? I have that right now and my heart is on fire. 

This feeling has been brewing up for the past few months with certainties of what it could possibly be about confirmed here and there. For a majority of the time though, I felt completely lost. I felt this calling for something big but had no idea what it was. All I could do was run to God.

My prayer to God everyday for the last 3 months has been “I am yours God. Use me however you need to. I trust You”. There have been a couple of cases that my constant prayer and trust in God has helped me figure out what direction I need to follow, what’s really going on and what I need to do.

One of those situations I have prayed about daily is the desire that God has planted in my heart for Uganda. My good friend Sara and her family have been in the process of adopting from Uganda for over a year now. We all know that the adoption process is never an easy one and things are constantly changing or sitting still. Well, Saras process has been alot of both. Starting off wanting just one child and now having a verbal approval for a sibling set of 3 kids! In October, Sara and her husband Shane brought up the idea of me traveling with them to document the process and I felt like my prayer was answered! This was the “something huge” that was meant to happen. Not only was this an amazing experience I could document for my friends but it would allow me to follow through with some passions of my heart as well! 

When we were supposed to go has been up in the air as the process has changed alot since October for Sara and Shane and all I could do was pray for patience in the process, for not only them but for me as well. Things felt like they were sitting still and unknown for awhile but meanwhile this seed in my heart for Uganda was growing! It was looking like it wouldn’t be until late spring until we would be able to go to Uganda to bring their kids home and I knew I needed to get there sooner. 

I started looking into some mission organizations and was seriously praying over one called Visiting Orphans. Their mission statement is amazing and all I want to do is go and love on the children of Uganda and that is exactly what they do without the bells and whistles. There was a trip in mid March and I started to wonder if that was the step I should take to get to Uganda…to get my feet on Uganda soil. 

Well…God is funny in His timing and over the course of a few events, He brought up an opportunity for Sara to go to Uganda in early February with a friend from her adoption agency. Like me, Sara just wants to get to Uganda and see what it’s all about and how she can use her gifts to help the people over there. She has a huge heart and ALOT of passion and drive and I knew the wait until late spring/early summer was hard on her. Soooo…Sara jumped on the opportunity to go in early February. Not only would she see the inside world of the agency she works with and meet other families going through the process but she would also get to meet her kids!!! When she told me she was going I knew that was it….that was my chance too. So I simply asked her if I could come too and she said sure! 

So here we go. It’s looking like February 4th we will be flying out of Tulsa, Oklahoma and making our way to Uganda. I am so excited….all I can think about is the beautiful smiling faces we will be greeted with once we roll into the villages. I can’t wait to see Sara put her arms around her children for the first time. I am excited to love these kids like Jesus. I am excited for my heart to be changed radically. I am ready for God to use me however He needs to. I know opportunity will arise from this experience and I can’t help but wonder what it is…I am just so excited. 

Over the past few months, running to God soley, not trusting in my own will to make my “dreams” come true but rather PATIENTLY waiting for His answer has been the most amazing experience ever. He has guided me through a couple of amazing challenges and it all comes down to Him reminding me constantly that He is taking care of me. How did I get so lucky???

I will be documenting this whole process…not only with photographs but journal entries, random experiences, organziations that I am drawn to, scriptures that I’m getting lost in, etc. I am in the midst of working on a personal blog and website for my travel photography and daily experiences and thoughts but for now I will be updating this tumblr to get the ball rolling. 

If you have ever been to Uganda or Africa or can relate to any of the experiences I have shared…I would love to hear from you, I would love for you to share your story. If you asked me 4 months ago…I would have never thought up this adventure I am about to take in just a few weeks but the more I tell people about it…the more they can relate to it! I believe in the community of God and I would love for this to be a place where we can come together as well. 

=)

links:

Check out Saras journey here! : http://ssdowning.blogspot.com/

Visiting Orphans : http://www.visitingorphans.org/