Kalimu, always smiling!

Greetings!  It is my great pleasure today to share with you a bit about Kalimu (pronounced: Ka-reem), our oldest boy on tour!  Kalimu is 13 years old, and is a great leader for his younger choir members.  He makes us laugh, helps his younger friends, and sets a great example for all the other kids to follow.  It is truly our privilege to have Kalimu with us on tour!

Kalimu has neither his mother nor his father.  He has many siblings, all older–so many siblings that sometimes he has a hard time counting them all!  He tells me that he has 4 older sisters, 2 older brothers, and 2 other older brothers who have died.  Kalimu loves Ugandan gospel music & Ugandan reggae music, but he loves American music, too.  Kalimu’s favorite things to do here in America have included: rollercoasters, playing soccer & basketball, and seeing the many different types of cars we have.  Kalimu’s favorite American foods are hamburgers & french fries–but of course, Kalimu loves potatoes of all kinds!

Kalimu washing the bus!

As I mentioned earlier, Kalimu sets a great example for his younger choir members.  When it comes time to perform a task or other job, Kalimu is always first to volunteer to help and share the heavier loads.  When we washed the bus last month, he just hopped right up on the hood and got to work!  He understands and accepts his role as the oldest in the choir, and he treats his younger friends with respect and grace.

Kalimu at Christmas

All that being said, Kalimu is still quite the comedian!  He loves to make his friends (and Uncle & Aunties) laugh with his many impressions, tying ribbons to his head, whatever it is that he thinks we will enjoy.  Kalimu is always smiling and thinking of new ways to make the rest of us smile, too.

Kalimu dances in "Lunyege Dance"

In our performances, you can’t miss Kalimu.  He may stand near the back during many of the songs, but you always know what he is doing.  He sings, drums, plays the tube fiddle, and is a very gifted dancer!  Perhaps you have seen him in “Lunyege Dance” with his feet in a flurry.  He has been sick, tired, but none of it has stopped him–he loves to perform, and you can see the love & excitement pouring out of him his entire time on stage!

Kalimu playing drums for "Kiganda Dance"

Kalimu, like any of our other kids, has deep love and appreciation for his sponsor.  Kalimu’s family has been sponsoring him for over 3.5 years now, and they’ve had a chance to connect several times during Kalimu’s time here in the States.  Kalimu prays for his sponsor often, and writes to them.  He can’t wait for the next time he can see his sponsor family!

Kalimu and his sponsor family!

As we go on with our tour, we will continue to Thank God for Kalimu, his life, his spirit, and everything he brings to this choir.  We know he has blessed many families along the way in our last 5 months, and we are so Thankful for him to be able to do so.

Kalimu and all of us know that his visit here, his education, and his well-being would not be possible without the relationship he has with his sponsor through Childcare Worldwide.  To learn more about what this relationship looks like, and even possibly begin a relationship with an excellent young man like Kalimu, or a beautiful girl like Jackline Nagadya, in one of our countries around the world, please visit our website and contact us.  You can make the difference in the life of a child living without hope, to the kind of joy you see here:

Kalimu Abudul Tuliya

Hello, everyone!  Wondering where we’ve been?  Me too!  Since we all took some time off for the holidays, I got behind on some other things and haven’t been able to catch up on the fun stuff, like updating the blog.  Well, here we finally are, and I can let you know what we’ve been doing to kick off 2010!

First of all , we had an amazing time in Anza, CA for the Christmas holiday.  We were hosted for the entire week leading up to Christmas by Anza Baptist Church at the nearby Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times.  We were so blessed to have been able to stay all together for the holiday!  Thanks to Pastor Bob & Celena at Anza Baptist, and Brad & family out at the camp for welcoming us to Anza and making us feel right at home for Christmas!  Throughout the week, we took a break from school & work so that families from the church could come up and spend time with the kids.  We decorated a tree, made ornaments, watched Christmas movies, and even went for rides in a fire truck!  Brad & his family at the camp had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals with us and we hope that they felt as blessed as we did for sharing in celebration with them.

The church even donated some great gifts for the choir–including dresses & art sets for the girls, and new shirts for the boys!

The choir looking sharp!

The boys decorated themselves with ribbons and showed off some of their new shirts!

Jackline & Peninnah checking out their new markers, crayons, & pencils!

We were also blessed by a great organization called Soles4Souls, who donated brand-new shoes for everyone on the tour, including all of us on staff!  Thank you to Silvana Clark for making this happen for us!  The kids were thrilled!

Ronald, Saffina, & Brendah with their new shoes!

Jackline, Frank, & Peninnah showing off their new shoes!

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to our Christmas celebration.  We had the best time we could have imagined.  You all come together and blessed us deeply & richly–a Christmas that surely none of us will ever forget!

More importantly than the gifts, of course what blessed us most deeply was the outstretched arms of the Anza community.  We felt as though we were right at home with family to celebrate the holiday.  The choir was unable to attend the Christmas Eve candlelight church service, but I was–and I felt like I was sitting in my own home church.  As we all know, what is most important for a holiday celebration is quality time with loved ones.  We hope that you and yours had a peaceful & blessed holiday.

Greetings and Merry Christmas to all of you!  We hope that all of you had a blessed & peaceful holiday season, filled with feasting, good cheer, and quality time with loved ones.  We have had an overwhelmingly joyful season, capped by an amazing Christmas Day and other great events!  We hope that you will keep reading to hear about all of our Holiday celebrations, but for now we will just share with you some of the things we experienced leading up to Christmas that made our holiday season so special!

We performed at Grace Community Church in Sanger, CA, and were deeply blessed by the entire Sanger community, especially Pastor Sam Estes, and Jackson Elementary School!  Pastor Sam engaged our choir in a way we hadn’t yet experienced.  He arranged for us to be a part of Jackson’s school day, activities for all of us, and even an appearance at the 84th Annual Trek to the Tree ceremony at the General Grant Tree in King’s Canyon.  We unfortunately were unable to attend the Trek to the Tree, but Pastor Sam understood and even performed some Christmas Carols with the choir on Sunday morning!

Singing "Angels We Have Heard On High"

Thanks again to Pastor Sam Estes and all of you kind people in Sanger for such a great weekend with Grace Community Church!

After Sanger, we moved on to Easton (Fresno), where the world-famous Christmas Tree Lane is hosted!  We were all lucky enough to stroll through and see all 10,000+ lights!  Thank you to all of you from Immanuel Lutheran Church and First Christian Church Academy for taking us to see Christmas Tree Lane!

Two host families from Immanuel Lutheran and the kids at Christmas Tree Lane!

Ronald, Uncle Fred, Frank, & Edward at the end of the Lane!

And YES. . . amid all this fun we were having, we did find time to perform a few times!

Performing in the beautifully-decorated chapel of First Christian Church Academy in Fresno. Go Flyers!

We had a wonderful few days with the great folks at FCCA.  When we arrived in the morning for our mini-performance for the kids at their daily Chapel service, Lisa Pielstick informed me that they had a check to present to CCW & the choir afterward.  I was glad, but had no idea how glad I should have been!
Mrs. Pielstick shared with us that the young students had been giving offerings for CCW & the choir since September, and had combined that with a 10% tithe from the profits of their major fundraiser–resulting in a gift of nearly $1,200!  We were shocked and humbled by this incredible gift from the students at FCCA!  We could see first-hand the generosity of even the youngest of Christians here in America!  FCCA showed us a great time and even invited me to join their faculty Christmas party.  Thank you to all of you at FCCA for all you did to bless us!

Finally, we arrived in Anza at Anza First Southern Baptist Church for our last Sunday before Christmas.  This church housed us over our break for Christmas (tune in soon for a post about our Christmas), but first had a standing-room-only Sunday morning worship service with us.  They showered the children with love & appreciation, the church responded in a huge way to our invitation to become sponsors of children in need, and in all ways blessed our time in Anza!  Thank you to Pastor Bob Reece, Celena Gregg, & all of you in Anza for a truly blessed and joyful Christmas!
To run the sound equipment for the performance, I actually had to sit behind them on the stage!  It was funny, but I did get an opportunity to take some photos from a new vantage point!

Performing "Kiganda Dance"

Performing "Akuna Mungu"

Thank you all for following us through the holidays!  We hope you had as much fun as we did this year.
Check back soon to see what we did for Christmas and Boxing Day!
Peace and blessing to all of you this holiday season.

Jackline Nagadya

Hello and welcome to the First of our Meet the Choir series!  It is our great pleasure to introduce you to one of our five girls, Jackline Nagadya!

Jackline is 10 years old, full of charisma, and by far our most adventurous member.  Whenever a new opportunity or challenge is presented to the choir, Jackline is always the first to try!  She is willing to try any new food, any new instrument, and any new thrill.  She keeps us all laughing with her wide range of funny voices, impressions, and songs!

This is Jackline's most common expression: Laughter!

Jackline hopes to become a teacher when she grows up.  She hopes to help other kids as she is able to, and that desire in her heart is a major reason why she is on this tour.  Jackline has lost both of her parents, but she does have three older siblings, one of which (Edward Ssempanji) is on tour with us right now also!  Both Jackline and Edward work very hard to be able to perform with power every time they are on stage!

Jackline & Edward performing Kiganda Dance

In our performance, Jackline sings, dances, and plays Pan Pipe Whistle.  As you maybe can guess, any time another choir member is unable to perform, Jackline happily volunteers to carry their solos or drumming!

During our free time, Jackline loves to ride bikes, play cards, put puzzles together, paint the girls’ nails, and watch her favorite movies: the High School Musical series!  Her favorite American foods are french fries, hamburgers, and waffles.  Her favorite things here in America have been: seeing the big churches, meeting American children, and swimming in pools.

Jackline giggles as she speeds around on a scooter!

We are all so pleased and Thank God for Jackline and her presence on this tour.  If any of you reading have met her, you know what a joy she is, and how she only spreads laughter and joy around her!

Please continue to pray for Jackline and all the rest of the choir, as we continue on our mission to share the good news of the work of Childcare Worldwide.

Peace and Blessings to all of you!

As we’ve been on this mission, we have seen first-hand how overwhelmingly generous everyday folks can be.  They open their homes to us, treat us to each and every thing we need, and don’t let us leave their homes without exhausting all their energies and resources to make certain we have been well taken care of.
Along with that, these communities we step in to support our ministries of the AIDS Orphans Fund and Child Sponsorship with such astounding generosity, that sometimes we just have sit and say, “Wow.  Thank you, God.”

This has been a real eye-opening and enriching experience for all of us, Ugandan and American alike.  But the generosity doesn’t even stop there, if you can believe it!

We have been approached by a few folks in the creative world, and they have offered up their services to the choir and to Childcare Worldwide as gifts for us.  We met Jeff in Bellingham, who is a professional-level photographer.  He offered to shoot the kids in a studio-setting so we could have some great portraits for our publicity and other uses!  Check out some of the great work he did for us!

Ssenyonga Frank

Ssempanji Edward

The Choir!

What a great job Jeff did with our kids!  He made the kids very comfortable, had fun with them, and gave us so much of his time & energy to make this possible.  Thank you so much, Jeff!

And as if that weren’t enough, we had what one of our Ugandan tour staff called “a golden chance” to have the choir recorded professionally and mixed & mastered in to a professional recording!  Robin Yeager of Tres Virgos Studio saw our performance at Urban Grace Church in Tacoma, WA, and responded byoffering his services as a professional producer!  This is an opportunity we have all been praying for, and Robin very graciously responded to our prayers in a huge way.  We came back to the church and had an all-day recording session, which will bear the fruit of a professional recording, which Robin says “will take the listener on a journey through Uganda by way of the music.”  The recording is in post-production and will be made available to the public when it is finished.  Robin is also coordinating duplications on CD for us so that we can begin distribution immediately!  Robin has international childcare missions in his blood, in his heart, and we could truly see how much of a pleasure it was for him to be able to offer us this incredible gift.  We have just a few photos from that amazing day:

Saffina & Brendah giving us some vocals!

Eseza & the boys giving us some rhythm!

The Choir with Robin Yeager, our master producer!

Again, we cannot possibly Thank Jeff & Robin enough for their generous and amazing gifts!  We have been truly blessed every step of the way with every aspect of this tour, and these particular blessings being especially humbling.  It is so encouraging to see the generosity of every day folks every where we go!  Thank you Jeff, Robin, & all of you–may God bless you and give you Peace.

On the 17th of this month, we had the great privilege of touring the Washington State Capitol in Olympia!  While we arrived a little late, the gracious folks in the Legislative building (the Dome!) whisked us around the building and shared with the kids about all of the historic documents, symbols, and gifts on display.  We also had the opportunity to meet WA Secretary of State Sam Reed, and WA Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen!  We even gave a mini-performance for anyone who would come and join us in the rotunda, under the dome itself!  With the 7-second echo, the kids really sounded great!  Thank you to all of you in the Capitol who made this a very special experience for our kids from across the globe!

Choir with Sec. of State Sam Reed

The kids were very impressed with our state seal

Peninnah plays "Amazing Grace" (self-taught) on the piano in the Reception Room

Choir with Lt. Gov. Brad Owen

Performing in the Rotunda

They looked so nice in their Sunday best!

We all made sure to rub George's nose for good luck before we left!

We haven’t been able to show you many of the fun things we have been doing recently!  While we have been in our busiest stretch of the tour, we have had our opportunities for fun times and to connect with important people!

We are about to take a short breather from the tour and have nothing but good times. . . but in the meantime, please enjoy some of the photos chronicling our recent fun activities!

Jackline got to play an organ in Vancouver! Thanks Joanne for teaching us how to play!

Joan got on the organ too!

 While we were in Vancouver, we were hosted by Evergreen Bible Church.  The kind folks from the church and our host families arranged for our kids to be able to tour the Pearson Air Museum!  Thank you so much Traci, Sharon, and all you others!

Penny takes a test flight!

 

All of us with our hosts at Pearson Air Museum!

As you may have read, many of our choir members have been able to meet their sponsors while on tour this year.  Unfortunately, not all of our members’ sponsors live in the area; but, they of course all are excited that their child is here on this unique adventure!  Ssenyonga Frank was able to call his sponsor on my phone and the shine of his smile could have made it all the way to his sponsors across the continent!

Frank with his sponsors on speaker phone!

The majority of our wonderful host families are those with either grown children, children about our kids’ ages, or without children at all.  Sometimes we get an exception, and it’s always a fun experience for our kids to see some younger adults who care about them and want to know them!  Big thanks to Holly in Tacoma for hosting our girls and showing them so much love!  They still talk about you!

Jackline, Brendah, Holly, & Saffina

Thanks everyone for following our blog!  As always, more updates to come!

It was a pleasure to be able to share with you in The Wheel on the Bus, Part 1 the wonderful story of generosity and good providence we experienced when our bus had mechanical issues.  Little did we know that we would be in store for another experience shortly after that which would teach us even more about the strange beauty of providence and that God works through so many avenues that we may never expect!

We had a long drive from Renton, WA to Albany, OR one fateful Saturday afternoon.  We knew it would be a long trip, so we planned many rest breaks along the way for the kids.  They are all resilient and patient travelers, but they did appreciate the breaks.  We stopped just North of Vancouver, WA before the last 2-hour leg of our tour.

About 15 minutes in to driving South, I felt a strong burst from the rear of the bus, and heard a noise to match.  I thought I blew a tire, and I slowed down to make my way off of the next exit.  As I continued, the wobbling became increasingly more violent, and the noise seemed to indicate that the damage was more severe than just a blown tire.

I was able to reach the end of the off-ramp, and turned on to the next street with hope of finding a safe place to park the bus and see about repairing the wheel.  As I turned, the wobbling of the wheels let me know for certain that we had not just blown a tire—as I searched for a large driveway or public space, one of the left-side dual wheels fell completely off of the bus.  I of course pulled in to the next parking lot I saw, of a small unmarked building just about 50 yards from the off-ramp.  As I crested the driveway, the second of the left-side rear dual wheels came free from the bus and became wedged under the frame of us the bus, bringing us to a complete stop.

I told the kids to stay put and that everything was fine (they knew better), and got out to survey the damage.  I recovered the lost wheel from the street, and by the time I got back to the bus, we had drawn a crowd from the folks who were in the small, unmarked building we had unwittingly chosen to visit.  They offered to help us in any way they could, but at that time I didn’t know what that would even be yet!

The bus with one dual wheel missing and the other wedged under the frame

All of the studs were busted clean off!

After some assistance on the phone from AAA Emergency Roadside Service and the features on my GPS device, I was able to find a towing service that could tow us that evening (and to note: they did a masterful job–imagine getting our rig on to a flatbed with 1 set of wheels missing), and a shop that could get us squared away as soon as we could get the bus to them.  Now that just left us with the small matter of making the last 2 hours of our journey down to Albany and our new host families anxiously awaiting our arrival and performance the next morning. . .

. . . I called the pastor of the church and explained our situation.  I had a few solutions in mind of how to get us to Albany (all costly and inefficient), but he interrupted me before I could mention them—he said to me, “Well, we’ve got a 22-passenger shuttle here at the church, and we could come and pick you up.  Does that work?”  I of course was dumbfounded.  This was our 30^th church of the tour, and the 1^st to own a vehicle of this size.  I could already see the machinery of providence in motion.

It would be about 2 hours and 30 minutes before they would be able to reach us, so that just left us with the matter of what to do with the choir until they arrived.

It turned out that the small, unmarked building we arrived at just so happened to be a Share House (Share Vancouver), and they had community space available for us—places for us to rest, watch a movie, and have a meal.  They welcomed us in and drove us personally to go pick up dinner for the kids.  As the evening progressed, more folks who were involved with the Share House programs returned, and were obviously surprised to see their guests!  After we ate, we had the kids sing a few songs for the kind folks at the Share House. 

Singing at the Share House

They were blown away and of course immediately fell in love with the kids.  They were sad to see us go when we finally were on our way!

It is clear to all of us that God worked in his strange manner to deliver us to the Share House in Hazel Dell, Vancouver, to share our gifts with them.  We are so thankful to all the great and welcoming people we found there and we hope that we were able to return the blessing they gave to us.

I’m very pleased to share with you that we of course made it all the way to Albany safely, and were able to fulfill all of our performing commitments in Oregon.  Under these circumstances, we have faith that God protected our safety as our vehicle failed us–the wheels could have come off much more violently, causing a major accident.  We also have faith that God’s presence guided our vehicle to the place it did, to meet the people that we did.  We also have faith that God even protected our time & money, because if our exposed hub had dragged on the concrete for even the shortest of distances, our repairs could have taken many days and cost 5x as much as they did.  We are Thankful for God’s merciful hand for all of these reasons.

Our bus was repaired in a timely and thorough manner, and in the meantime a special Thanks needs to be given to Derwood from First Church of God in Albany, who drove all the way to pick us up, and then brought us all up to Beaverton the next day!  Our kids could not do what we have been called here to do without your generous giving of time and energy.  As I mentioned in church that day, sometimes the answer to prayer is something as simple as driving a bus for a couple hours.  Thank you Derwood!

Derwood and the kids--Thank You so much!

We are so very glad to now be driving a bus we can trust, and for these experiences that teach us about how sovereign God really is, and that we can relax & have confidence in his providence and orchestration of this tour—and our lives.

As many of you know, the relationship between a Sponsor and a Sponsored Child is unique and very special!  When a concerned individual is compelled by God to make the decision to bring a child from around the world in to their heart and in to their family, there is no real way to know how the blessings will flow from that relationship.  What we do know is that every Sponsor is blessed in a special way that only God can determine!

When this Choir was selected and set to arrive in the U.S., we contacted all of our U.S. sponsors and told them that their Sponsored Child would be here and available to meet their Sponsor if they’d like.  I have had the distinct pleasure of being present when many of these meetings have taken place.  It is true magic!  As I share at our performances, I can honestly say that it is impossible to tell who feels more blessed by the relationship–the Child or the Sponsor.

On a Sunday morning a couple weeks ago in Lynden, I was approached by a woman and her family after our Sunday morning performance.  She informed me that they sponsor our oldest boy, Kalimu (pronounced Ka-reem)!  I asked if they’d like to meet him, and of course they said “Yes!”  I ran to find Kalimu, and told him that his Sponsors were there.  His face lit up like Times Square, and we eagerly made our way through the folks at the church to find them.  They were all a little nervous, but so overjoyed.  Kalimu was able to spend the afternoon with the family, and we even made arrangements for him to spend another evening in their home before we left the area again.

As I came to pick him from their home, I asked how long they had sponsored Kalimu.  They have sponsored him for over 3 years.  I asked them if, when they made the decision to sponsor a boy in Uganda, if they ever imagined he would be sitting in their living room in Bellingham.  They both exasperatedly shook their heads and looked at Kalimu in awe & wonder & love.  It was such a special moment for them and for Kalimu to share a meal, a hug, and some quality time.  It was an up-close-and-personal testament to the power of this Sponsor-Child relationship, and I am thankful to God that I’ve been able to see firsthand the impact that is made on the lives of both Kalimu and the family who sponsors him.

Please enjoy the photos of Kalimu with his sponsors and consider how powerful an impact you may have on the life of a child like Kalimu by choosing to have a relationship with him or her as a Sponsor.

Kalimu meeting his Sponsor family

Kalimu & Sponsor Family Photo

Greetings!  I want to thank you for following our blog!  We haven’t had steady web access lately, so I now have the pleasure of giving you all of our recent updates.  We are Thankful every day for your support through prayers, thoughts, and contact through our many web vehicles.  Please continue to pray for our children and for all the lives that will intersect with the choir–we are on an arduous and blessed journey, and your prayerful support means the world to us.

I have the pleasure now of sharing with you an experience we had with the Wheels on our Bus!  Way back in October, we were staying with some wonderful and kind folks in Quincy, WA–hosted by Quincy Free Methodist Church.  As I drove the bus around picking up the kids before our final school day in Quincy, I noticed that our brakes were not as responsive as they had been.  I promptly had them inspected by a repair shop in town, and they discovered that we needed to replace both sets of rear brakes immediately!  Of course we went ahead and had them begin their work, as I was not about to drive over a pass without trustworthy brakes!

Ordinarily, because we have a big rig, the procedure would have taken 6 days to find the parts, do the installation, and get us on the road.  The kind folks at the repair shop made a personal drive to Moses Lake to pick up our parts, got them installed that day, and had our bus up and ready by 6PM that very same day!  But the good providence doesn’t end there. . . not even close!

While Sherae and I were waiting at the church for the brakes to be repaired, QFMC’s Senior Pastor Bob Lenderman approached us and asked about our bus.  As we explained our situation, he then offered on behalf of QFMC to pick up our bill at the repair shop!  We insisted that such a kind gesture was not necessary, but he insisted more.  We cannot possibly Thank Pastor Bob and the rest of the generous community at Quincy Free Methodist Church enough for their incredibly generous contribution to our mission!  I am in awe of how good God’s providence is–a Pastor and a church like this is so rare.  We Thank Pastor Bob and QFMC in our prayers for their generosity, and we pray that they will be blessed in kind as well.

The Choir with Pastor Bob Lenderman