It’s funny to me how incredibly perfect God’s timing is.

I all to often forget about that truth, but in these past weeks I’ve been heavily reminded.

I was supposed to come in the middle of September to Uganda.

But then, one day Emily just texted me that I should come in August.

So I did.

And I was able to help everyone when this little guy very suddenly passed away.

And then I so desired to go on safaris and explore this country.

But then this little guy fell real sick.

And had to stay in the hospital.

And God knew all along that Ekisa needed an extra person around to help with hospital stays, medicine, and encouragement.

So once again, the timing in it all was perfect.

And now Zuenna is in the hospital.

And I’m a little sick myself.

But just looking back at it all, I’m overwhelmed with the reality that I’m part of God’s perfect plan.

And if we open our eyes we will see that we all are.

And that truth will enable us to carry on in life, I do believe.

So i just want to encourage you to look at each moment given to you as a moment perfectly planned out before the beginning of time.

There’s a plan in everything - even if we don’t see it at the moment.

He knows.

My oh my does He know.

much love :)

May we never forget.

May we never forget that there are absolutely no ordinary people in the world.

May we never forget that each soul is created for an eternal existence beyond this world.

May we never forget that there are absolutely no mere coincidences in the world - 

that each moment has meaning and purpose if we just open our eyes for a glimpse of what is truly before us.

May we never forget that love isn’t a word, its a lifestyle.

And that hope isn’t simply a thought, but its what we are invited to fully submerse ourselves into and swim around in -- we are invited to live IN hope. 

And with that, may we never forget that to “live” isn’t something we can do twice.

We are given one shot at our pass through on earth.

So may we never forget that it is never to late to start living. really living. 

For in truth, we are supposed to begin living each and every new day we are granted.

Each morning, full of grace to start anew.

And may we never forget that life isn’t ever truly full until we let go of living for ourselves.

For its when we take ourselves out of the center of our story that our eyes are given room to see.

And may we never forget that “to see” is a mystical act much deeper than the physical beings our eyes are beholding.

To see-- to truly see-- is an act of the soul.

And from the core of our soul, may we never forget to see that life truly is full of mystery.

Full of wonder.

Full of life.

And so very full of adventure,

for each and every one of us.

So dear God,  please help us to never forget that there are no ordinary people in this world. So that our eyes may be opened to the wonder that You so marvelously display.

Day by day.

Amen.

The Rhythm of Life

All of life is a song.

The rhythm of our breathing, even, is a melody in itself.

Steadily going in and out, ringing on a scale so beyond ourselves.

The rhythm -- perfect.

The rhythm -- unbeatable, and so very unique to every single soul granted life.

Breathing.

Each sound, each glorious sound, is a note bringing us back to life --

each. time. it. plays.

Each time it silently echos in and out is a reminder of miracles.

The miracle of our Sustainer, granting this each and every note of life -- of glorious, remarkable life.

And maybe, just maybe.... we would be overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude and beauty of life if we remembered.

If we remembered that this melody of life came from THE Life itself. 

Breathed into the nostrils of man at the very beginning of creation. 

Breathed from the very breathe of God -- the rhythm of life so powerfully existent before time itself.

Infinite.

For we are living out the music of the infinite...each.time. we. breathe.

May our gratitude be extravagant.

May our focus be outside of this world.

May our hearts be full and our lives be wild.

For we are living instruments, breathing the music of the infinite.

Play on, music. 

Play on.

Play on.

Home is wherever we are if there's love there, too.

Sam. 

A 7 year old little guy.

Who came to us in May with his little brother, Elijah.

Sam.

A 7 year old little guy who’s past is, at the moment, beholding a lot of unknown and unanswered questions for us.

Sam.

A 7 year old little guy who came into an unfamiliar home with a lot of unfamiliar kids -- his only familiar face being his little brother who came to this crazy house with him.

Sam.

Well, Sam just began as most kids do in their natural resilience and ran around the yard and played with the other kids a little bit.

Slowly warming up to his new surroundings.

I wonder all too often what this must feel like.

You see, for me as a child I sometimes felt a bit awkward jumping into new scenes at school or other social settings, but I always knew that I had home to go to afterwards.

I always had home.

And here here was, another child that didn’t have a home to look forward to after being introduced to a strange place.

This strange place for now, would be his home.

And so he did what he knew.

He adjusted.

Quiet, he was. 

But he was adjusting, nonetheless.

And my oh my was he cute.

Day by day, he continued to grow and to love.

And he found a new best friend.

Walter.

This is one thing I love about Ekisa.

Although, they do not desire for ANY child to stay an any sort of institution or orphanage long term, they do the best they can.

They turn this place into a family.

Into one big house of dear friends.

And Sam found his buddy. And Walter found his buddy.

And a little innocent 7 year old boyish friendship was developed.

When Sam was admitted into the hospital last week, Walter immediately kept asking where Sam was. 

He was missing him and making sure that he was coming back.

When I went with Erika to stay with Sam at the hospital for a couple of days, Walter sent us with some toy trucks to give Sam to play with.

I wish you could have seen the look on this little boys face when we gave him the trucks.

And the fact that Walter gave them to him.... his face literally bursted with joy.

And the trucks haven’t left his side on that hospital bed yet.

The boys had a skype date at the hospital.

And they mostly just waved and shared long stares.

I guess that’s what you can expect for two 7 year old boys to do on skype.

Stare, and show off their toy trucks to each other.

But this little skype date.. you see, it made both of the boys gleam.

Because they know now what its like to have a best friend.

And they know what its like to love.

Two little boys brought to Ekisa by pretty horrendous circumstances.

But both were brought here at two separate times for a purpose.

They would meet, and slowly without even knowing it begin to heal each other’s hearts.

Because friendships are healing.

We were created for relationships.

And they are getting a glimpse of that now.

So I could sit here and tell you all of the insane things I’ve been learning in the past couple of days.

And I could type out every little thing that’s been happening lately to remind myself that we can only rest in grace alone apart from any circumstance on earth.

I could sit here and tell you all of the incredible things going on here.

And I will.

But in this post I just want to take a moment to praise this place that I’ve gotten to spend the past year with.

Ekisa.

It’s a home that turns strangers into friends.

A place that literally turns sadness into dancing...lots of dancing.

It’s a place of healing and a place of hope for most of these kids who never knew hope.

It’s a place of love, a love of such magnitude that it can overwhelm me sometimes.

It’s a place where kids are protected and loved when all they were exposed to prior in life was abuse.

It’s a place that restores starving bodies, but also by the sheer Grace of God restores starving souls.

It’s a place that’s not perfect.

And it’s not even claiming to be.

Running a house for 23 special needs kids is not so easy.

Not so easy, at all.

But its a place that does the best they can day by day.

And never goes a day without smiles. And laughter. And dancing.

They are doing the best they can one day at a time.

To use this home they have to shine a greater good to the world -- and the community here in Uganda.

To shine THE only good.

So I just wanted to put it into perspective a bit for you.

Sam now has a best friend thanks to God’s perfect placement of him in this home.

And Walter now has his best bud, too.

And even though Sam is going through immense unfathomable pain in the hospital, he know that he has a whole army of people fighting for him.

He knows that even when the shots hurt him, he has someone now beside him holding his hand.

He knows that when he’s hungry, he has people around him ready to help him eat.

He knows that even when he has to go to the bathroom and can’t walk, everyone around him with help him do even that.

Sam knows love.

And by that, he is showing all of us way more about love than we can ever show to him.

His love is raw.

real.

and pretty amazing.

I don’t typically like to ask for money, but I do know that we need your help.

Help with medical bills.

And other expenses as well.

So if you would like to donate, please email me at jakins92@gmail.com

or just go to www.ekisa.org/donate and the instructions are there you can follow for a donation.

It’s not about money.

It’s not about numbers.

It’s just about what we are all representing, giving, and showing in this life.

Whether it be by giving a check or by giving a toy truck as a gift, it’s all the same since its about the heart behind it all.

And its just about lives -- being lived under the surrender of the author that’s telling everyones story, afterall.

So thank you thank you thank you for just prayers.

They are needed and they are so so heard.

much love :)

A good visitor.

“We are all just visitors here on earth. And JoJo was a good visitor,” she said in her heavy Ugandan accent as she stood during our last minute morning memorial service on the porch.

We were all there, crammed on the front porch...kids, staff, and friends....celebrating the life that had been taken away early that morning under the cool breeze.

“We are all visitors.” 

She sighs. clasps her hands together. and looks down.

“And JoJo was a good visitor.”

She sits as we soak in silence the words she just spoke. Words smothered in grace that came at just the perfect time, perfectly in tune with the heart of God.

We sang one last song as we stared at the tiny coffin before us. Still in shock of the morning events.

I was on the couch all night with another little man who’s been real sick. He was asleep and I was just drifting off into sleep at around 5 am.

And then I awoke to one of the night workers.

“Auntie. Auntie.”

They seemed calm but urgent at the same time. 

All three of the night workers, standing over me all in a blurr due to my sleepy eyes.

I sit up.

“Yes? What is it?”

“JoJo, he has died.”

Sure that they were just confused on their english, I asked them to repeat what they had just said. I had been in that bedroom just two hours before and JoJo was there completely fine and healthy and cute as ever.

He was totally okay. and alive.

They repeated, “JoJo, he has passed away. I am sorry.”

I stumbled into the bedroom he was in and the breath was taken away from me. My legs fell weak and were shaking.

To see a child and wait for him to breathe, and then he doesn’t.

The stillness quite surreal.

Not knowing what to do, and unable to make out any words, I ran to get Emily. 

And it went from there.

A life, taken away from the earth just like that.

With no sickness or warning sign.

She said there was no struggle, that it was almost as if the breath was literally peacefully taken from him. 

We sat in the room where he was prepared, and glanced over his still body in a coffin that seemed to small to be real.

We sat there while worship music literally blasted from our speakers.

There we were, those who have all loved JoJo as their own, singing and grieving over the loss of this guy.

Not sure of how to handle the shock, we just sang.

The sadness of it was looming over the house all morning.

And then she spoke, 

“JoJo was a good visitor.”

The words kept ringing in my head.

It’s almost as if the breeze was singing these words into my ears.

Into my soul.

“We are all visitors. And JoJo was a good visitor.”

And that just made perfect sense.

We can mourn death.

But we can’t rest in the sadness if we truly believe that we are but visitors here.

But how often do i hold SO tightly to the things on earth?

How often to i claim that I am in control?

Way too often.

And it was a blow to the face.

A humbling one, that I have no control over people’s days they are given to live.

JoJo could have been me.

Alive two hours before, and just like that, gone.

At first, it began to terrify me how fleeting it all is.

And to be honest, it still does.

But it challenged me.

How am i living my days and moments?

How am i loving others?

How am i choosing to live?

You see, JoJo chose to live simply.

He was given to this earth to remind us all of the beauty of living simply.

To simply love.

To simply live.

He never needed much, or asked for much except for a good hug.

He never really complained.

He always embraced who he was.

And he was gifted with his disabilities, I believe, to remind me of the simple.

So i encourage you to learn from this.

To not just be saddened, but encouraged and challenged.

To love.

To LIVE.

and to never forget the simple.

Days are fleeting.

And life is short.

So, what are you living for? Really....

What am I living for?

Because our time too, will soon be out.

And i too, desire for it to be said that I was a good visitor.

And i think that deep down, we all do.

“We are all just visitors here on earth.

And JoJo was a good visitor.”

Perfectly. Said.

Props to you little man for the time you spent here.

And thanks to God, for gifting the earth with Him.

And for giving me the past year to spend with him.

And thanks to God for his perfect timing. For his master plan, even amidst the ugliness of the world.

There is always thankfulness to be had.

And there is always a plan. Always.

So lets go for it.

One day at a time, be a good visitor.

http://vimeo.com/32978797 (copy this link into a browser to see a pretty amazing video made about JoJo about a year ago...)

much love :)

Waking up and playing.

So far on my trip.

After an eight hour flight me and dad checked into 24 hours in Amsterdam.

I've never visited a city more beautiful and horrible at the same time.

Then after a night at the hotel, we had an amazing breakfast (one reason i love hotels) and headed on our walk towards the airport.

2 mcdonalds fries and 1 latte later we were on the plane.

Dad caught up on all of his movies.

I read a whole book.

We saw the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen from thousands of feet in the air.

I never knew a shade of orange like the one we saw even existed.

Then we landed.

And the smells of Africa in all of its glory hit me immediately.

There's not much better than the smell of that fresh air.

Then we made our ways to get visas, luggage, and found our friend Job who was taking us home.

I talked on the way home while dad snored and slept talked in the back seat.

We arrived at the house at around 1 in the morning.

It was quiet which was a bit strange.

Dad went to sleep. And i stayed up until 5.

And then fell asleep on the couch.

And woke up an hour later at 6, covered in mosquito bites and freshly woken up kids.

Then we played all morning.

Then i went back to sleep.

Then woke back up and played some more.

Dad woke up at two :) 

Got him all settled into his hotel,

drove back to the house,

and caught up with all of my best friends here.

And then i took a cold shower, but quickly decided to not wash my hair.

Because well, i forgot how much of an inconvenience washing my hair can be sometimes.

And then we went out to dinner and ate....

chinese food.

And then the car broke.

And dad fixed it.

And then we came home and watched our cat play around with mice in the kitchen.

And then we all went to sleep.

And woke up again to a house of 23 kids beckoning for help that they cannot offer themselves.

And so the day continued.

And we healed some scraped toes with band aids.

Healed some busted lips from some wrestling matches.

And put kids in time out for throwing fits.

We played frisbee.

And soccer.

Went around town and ran into about 3847928374 people it seemed like who wanted to catch up.

Then we went to the market.

Got some vegetables and chicken.

And made dinner for everyone.

And then ate some ice cream while watching some movies in the quietness of all of the kids being asleep.

And now here i am, sprawled out on the couch typing this out.

To hope to give you a glimpse that life is all about what you make it.

And the way you decide to tell your stories.

Because some days will consist of just waking up and playing.

And that is so okay.

Because its all about how you see it.

"Light is sweet,
    and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. 
⁸ However many years anyone may live,
    let them enjoy them all." Eccl.11

much love :)

On the road again.....

Well its time to head off to Uganda again!!
Yep, for the third time I am setting off to one of my very favorite places on earth.
Eating breakfast in an amsterdam hotel, and waiting to leave for the short walk to the airport towards my final flight.
And my oh my, I must say that Amsterdam food is delicious and they know how to make some darn good (and darn strong) coffee. Hallelujah for that -- thanks to glorious jet lag.
Anyways, a special guest has chosen to join me this time, and yes it is the one and only Brad Akins!
I'm so pumped to have my dad come out with me again for a week. He was so incredibly amazing down there last time he came to visit, and I know the exact same thing will happen this time and he will continue to be a blessing to everyone that he meets and encounters in Uganda.
SO with not much time to say much, I will say that I am very excited and thankful for this upcoming trip. It came at a perfect time and I'll keep ya posted on life to come.
Thank you everyone for your humble support and prayers.
They mean more than I can express, really.

Toodle-loo!
      and
Much love