What A Momma Means

My Mom

Always there ~A protector ~A helper ~A comforter
~ An example of Christ~



Many people in Africa cannot say that.
Many adults still desire that kind of relationship.
Grown women still want a mom.

At the Hope House in Uganda something got me.
It was not the conditions of the way people live.
It was not the fact that many of these women have had to sell themselves to survive.

It was when Maureen was beaming as she introduced her mom to the group.

It was when two grown women introduced themselves
and ended with "and I want a mom".

Then there were the little ones without mommas

In Uganda half of the population are about 15 years old or younger.
There are 2 MILLION orphans, this means 2 MILLION kids have lost either a mother or a father. Unfortunately, many of them have lost both.

In Uganda only 2% of the population are 65 years old or older.
They have no older generation to pass down wisdom learned from a long life.

We met and loved on many orphans while in Uganda.

They are precious and though many of them needed and wanted material things,
their need for attention was much greater.

Even big boys need a momma.

I pray that God will speak this over them:

"As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted...."
Isaiah 66:13


Little boys need to be protected.

These little ones are loved and they know how to be big helpers.

They are in a good orphanage but yes it is just that; an orphanage.
They do not have a mommy or daddy.

I fell in love with the girl in the middle. She is so precious!
When I asked her how old she is she said, "I don't know".
She is a smart girl and she has a great education.
She has a safe place to live with great caregivers.
But she doesn't have a mom or dad to care for her
and she doesn't even know her age.

This was a great orphanage.
The kids here took a while to warm up to us.
They are bonded to their caregivers.


This was a much different picture than the first orphanage we visited.
The first one the kids would go to anyone as long as someone would touch them.
The first orphanage the mamas can get kind of mean.
The first orphanage was so hard for me that I told our group,
"I hate it and I don't want to go back".

Well guess what,

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!

It is hard at that home.
I was uncomfortable.
I don't like getting yelled at by a momma.
I don't like seeing babies dying from something that could easily have been prevented.
I don't like seeing 53 little children age 3 and younger packed together every day of their lives.
I hate showing up and seeing a baby a couple of hours old and finding out he was just found in a pit latrine. He had maggots on his eyes and umbilical cord.

I HATE THAT I CANNOT FIX IT!

But I can do something.

“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (NIV)

1 John 3:17-18

I can pray~I can give money~I can give time~I can share Christ's love

~I can share their stories so they aren't forgotten~

This Mother's Day

I can

~thank God for my mom~

~and I can pray that children will be united with the family God has designed for them~

"God sets the lonely in families..."

Psalm 66:6