Dear fellow bloggers!
Please forgive me for not posting in what seems like forever. Life just carries me away to crazy places these days, and blogging is normally one of the last things on my mind (no offence, friends). Wow, I have so much to tell… I feel like there is SO much to say and I just don’t have to words, or maybe it’s that the hour is late and my brain is not fully functional at this time….haha, who knows! Or, maybe it’s because life is so incredibly hard these days that I don’t even know how to express what my mind is attempting to process… But, none the less, I’m going to give “blogging” a go tonight…

Well. I’m sitting here watching an IV to drip on one of our new little boys, Sam! I picked him up today, along with another little girl (Diana) from a health center about 3 ½ hours away…he was so dehydrated that I hooked him up to an IV, and we rode home with a bag of saline hanging in the car window. We got some strange looks, but hey. You do what ya gotta do in an emergency. Praise God that we were prepared with the necessary supplies; we weren’t really planning on filling our car with vomiting, IV needing children today, but lately almost everywhere I go I am met with “Oh good. I’m glad you’re here; I have a patient for you.” Today I was brought 5 cases of moderate-severe malnutrition, and if I hung around for to much longer I would have undoubtedly been handed many more. Almost daily I get a call about “a sick baby”. Or, they just show up at my door…and they don’t normally come alone…no, no. Come one, come all! Haha.

In the last 35 days we’ve had 20 new kids come into the Serving His Children Malnutrition center. There always seems to be one more, just one more sick, starving, dying baby. Our 14 bed center is currently filled with 32 people, everywhere you turn there’s someone sleeping on the floor. Yep, I’d say we’ve made it to the full line! Maybe gone beyond it…but somehow we keep finding a little more space, a few more blankets, and lots more love. God keeps sending kids, so I keep saying “yes”, who am I to say no?

Some people say I’m insane. Well, folks, I would have to agree with you. Some days I think that I’ve literally gone insane. Do you know what the actual definition of “insane” is? I didn’t, so I looked it up “In a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill.” Yep, that’s me. Insane. Great. But, right after I looked up the definition of “insane”, I looked up “normal”… “Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical”. Yeah, I think I would rather go with the insane label. I feel like as Christens, we are called to live an “insane" life. I life set apart, a life that is not “normal’ by any sense of the word. I life that would cause others to wonder “what the heck? Why on earth would she do that?”

Now, I hope you understand that a life on insanity is often very exciting! By obeying Christ’s call He blesses you with so many amazing things, and fills your life with so much joy!! Example A. My incredible, beautiful daughter!! I mean I get to be a part of children returning to wellness and going home to their families! Children who should have died. I get to watch Mom’s finally get it; finally understand things they have never before comprehended. Christ allows me to be a part of nursing children back to health, and I'm given the opportunity to marvel at the progress they make everyday. I get to see them smile for the first time. I get to watch them gain enough strength to be able to sit up. I get to watch them start to feed themselves, and with a LOT of prayer, eventually I get to see them run and play! It's such a joy! But, along with those privileges comes a lot of the hard stuff too. A lot of challenges. Just in this last month, I held 2 babies as they took their last breath, I watched them die and there was absolutely nothing I or anyone else could do about it. Nothing. I had to comfort 2 mothers after the death of their babies; I had to try to explain that God is still good, he still cares for them, and that the God of the universe is indeed still in control! Last week I had to let a mother take her baby home, home to be with her co-wife who is a witch doctor and has been chanting death over her baby boy since birth. I so desperately wanted to force her to stay. I desired her to stay in the place where 24 hours a day people were praying LIFE over her baby’s weak body, I wanted her to stay because I thought it was best, but I had to let them go. I had to trust. And then, 2 days later I received a phone call…and like that he was gone. Gone to be with Jesus. Everyday I’m learning to let go. Whether letting go of a small, trivial task or a big task, I’m learning to release and trust. Release and trust. Release and trust. For there is no other way. “Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and He will direct your path.” I learned that verse in Sunday School when I was about 5 years old, and when I memorized it I really had no idea what it truly meant, or how hard it would be to live out those words….

It’s an absolute honor to be a part of what Christ is doing in Uganda! My prayer is that as I labor I will be constantly drawn, pulled more and more towards Jesus. And that as I am pulled closer to Jesus, He will be made known in a more real way to others!

Well sorry for that scattered mess of jumble, hope you got something out of it…ha.

Serving,
Auntie Renee