Returning from {Uganda}

I have been back from Uganda for almost two weeks now...physically, at least. Mentally, emotionally...that's another story. I feel that part of me lives there.

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These people, this nation, is a part of me. I am fully content with my family and calling here in Colorado and oh how I love being reunited with my kiddos!
But there is a piece of me that longs to be there. I know that many who have spent time there feel the same way.

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God is doing wonderful things in Uganda. Amidst poverty and hunger and hurt and pain...there is joy. There is freedom. There is love.

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I am so thankful that I've now been able to go two years in a row. I am so SO thankful that Brad and our oldest two children came this year! We built some wonderful memories and I believe God did some things in my children that will last forever. THANK YOU to those of you who supported us and prayed for us and helped us go. YOU invested in us, especially our children. YOU invested in the people of Uganda.

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I will share more in the upcoming weeks...I am still gathering pictures to share with you. I am not going to rush because I am also still learning and processing through what we experienced.
I will say it was exactly what I expected and not at all what I expected. It was extremely fun and challenging. We took part in the planting, watering and harvesting of seeds. I was uncomfortable and at the same time very much at home.

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Our team was incredible--hard working, joyful and pure in heart.

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I think we accomplished both goals of short-term missions...we left lasting change in Uganda and we left with lasting change in our hearts.

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Our homecoming is not the end, but only the beginning of many God-adventures. I am so humbled that He has chosen me...Andrea, wife to Brad, mother of five, to experience such amazing things. My heart is full knowing that I am merely answering the call...and that it isn't to the exclusion of my roles as wife and mother. No, it is becoming even more clear that ministry, prayer, worship, caring for people in need...this call is all wrapped up in my calling as a wife and mother. I'm learning that one is not as strong without the other pieces. They all go together like a perfect, God-planned puzzle. I only have to watch and obey as each piece is put in its place...

photo credit 1~Krista Bobo
photo credit 2~Cameron Daniels