A Grateful Heart

I am sitting on the porch early in the morning getting ready to write this blog. To the left of me is a young guy probably around 18 years walking about 15-20 steer, not cows, down the road to the grassy area around the corner. The area is a small square surrounded by a busy street, people walking, kids going to school and small rows of shops beginning to open. It isn't anything that we would experience in the US. Actually most everything we see and do in Uganda isn't anything we would experience in the US.


     I had the opportunity to visit with Edith and Derrick's brothers and mother yesterday. I want to share some insights with you but there will be times I am vague out of respect for them and the possibility they might read this one day. ( For those reading this for the first time Edith and Derrick were adopted from Uganda this same time last year.) They have two brothers here Eddie, age 9, and Usher, age 12.
They live with a gentleman named Abbey. Steve and I sponsor them so that they may continue to go to school. Hadija, their mother lives in a village about 45 minutes away from them. We all traveled there to visit with her and to get some additional information about Edith and Derrick's past.


    Her accommodations are a one room dwelling with a curtain for a door, no running water and no electricity. Abbey mentioned how fortunate she was in this place because she actually had a mattress to sleep on. I showed her some pictures of the kids and how much they had grown. She seemed so excited to see them and laughed at what she saw. I see so much of Edith in her. She laughs and smiles the same as her mom. I was able to gleen some invaluable information from her about the kids ancestors and their dad, Joseph, who died when Edith was 2 and three days after Derrick was born. I also was able to get a picture of him. This was a miracle as far as I was concerned considering she has been somewhat transient and at times was homeless with the kids. It was the only one she had. I hope this information will help the kids understand more of their heritage and background as they get older and have questions about where they come from. There were two things that I will share about some of the things she told me. One is that she is now a "born again" as they call it here in Uganda. She had grown up Muslim and her dad had many wives. Edith has asked several times about this and said if her mom wasn't a Christian how would she see her in heaven. I can't wait to get back and share with her that isn't a worry any longer. She will be with her biological mother in eternity.


     She also told me that a pastor has prophesied to her many years ago that Edith would not live in Uganda but go to America. I was shocked because if some of you recall the blog from Dec. 2010 tells you that when I first met Edith in the orphanage that the kids sang a traditional African song and they have to say where they are from. Edith was the youngest in this place and when they got to her after hearing all the other kids say their prospective villages she said she was from "America." This same pastor told her when Eddie was missing for some time from the home he had been sent to that he had not been sacrificed (lots of witchcraft here that involves child sacrifice) but that he would be found.


  There were any mixed emotions for me as I sat with her. She kindly refers to me as "their mom now" and I wondered how I would feel seeing her again or how she would respond to me. I feel such love and gratitude for her gift to me, but great sadness for her as I understand I've been entrusted with two children in which she gave birth. I know she's thrilled Edith and Derrick have been given an opportunity for a "better life" than what she could have provided for them.  I am thankful for her willingness in allowing me be "their mom now" and share in their lives. They're amazing children and Steve and I are blessed by them and all they teach us on a daily basis.


What a blessing it could be if contact could be maintained with Hadija for regular updates regarding the status of the children.  It's important for Edith and Derrick to continue to grow in their knowledge and appreciation for their native land such that they recognize the blessings they've been given, in order to one day "pay it forward". They are American citizens, however, their ethnicity will always be African..."Ugandans"....and this should never be forgotten.