He will redeem.

Tiny 20 month old Alex snuggles up against my chest.  My heart cries out, 'why is this happening?  Why is he still losing weight after living at GSF for almost 5 weeks?  Why will he still not eat very much?  Why does he have no will to live?'  Then I stop and I remember.

Precious Alex

I remember when Leticia. '"For I know the plans I have for her", declares the Lord.'*

Leticia Before

Leticia Now

I remember Philip.  'For my plans for him are good'*

Philip Before

Philip's 13th Birthday {A couple days ago}

I remember Isma and Moses. 'For I won't let evil and disaster win against Isma and Moses.'*

Isma on arrival at GSF

Moses Before

Moses and Isma Now

I remember Richard 'For I have given him a hope.'*

Richard Before

Richard Now

I remember Gracie  'I have given her a future.'*

Gracie Before

Gracie Now

I have to think, that if God could redeem Leticia, Philip, Isma, Moses, Richard, Gracie and so many others, he can redeem Alex.

“For I know the plans I have for Alex,” says the Lord.  “Plans for good, not to let evil win against him, to give him a hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11

Please join us in prayer for little Alex.

*A paraphrase of Jeremiah 29:11, changed to add in the kids names.

Moses

We welcomed in another sweet little one this week!  His name is Moses Muwanguzi {which is a Luganda word meaning winner}.  GSF has worked with his family before and his siblings are the 2 little ones that came last week.  He is 4 years old, but is extremely malnourished and is about the same size as his 20 month old sister.
He does not move very much, but can scoot across the floor a little bit.   He has a possibility of scoliosis, which may have stunted his growth a little and made it hard for him to move.  He is not so sure about playing with the other kids yet, but loves all the new toys he is finding.  He especially likes the little baby piano and the shaker. He is settling in to his new home and is often found sitting away from the other kids or on someones lap, with his little tongue sticking out {as seen in the first picture}.  He is very shy at first, but will warm up eventually and gives lots of smiles and an occasional laugh.  Just as with all of our kids, it is sad that he had to come, because of his situation, but we are so glad he is here now!  It has been good to have the three siblings reunited, although they don't interact much.

{Sebastian and Moses will both be taken to the orthopedic hospital on Monday, Sebastian goes in just for a check up of his cleft pallet surgery and Moses will be going to get checked for Scoliosis.  Please be praying!}

+3

Today, the GSF family is +3.  Whenever new kids come in it is a bitter-sweet situation.  Bitter because of the situation of why they are at GSF and sweet because they have a good place to live now.  It's like beauty from ashes.  Meet our three newest ...

Daniel (AKA Danny)

Efrance

David

Welcome to the family!  More pictures later!

Big brothers and sisters

I know it has been a long time since I have posted, sorry.  I have been trying to catch up on school and we have been busy with lots of other things.  I have a lot I could tell you about but, I think that I will start by telling you one of the most recent things.  Maybe I will write more things later.
Two weekends ago the kids who used to live at GSF (we like to call them the 'elders' or the 'big brothers and sisters') came home for a little reunion.  It was such a great time of hearing stories from the 'big kids' about what God has done for them.  There are even a few 2nd generation GSF kids in there.  I was having so much fun that I did not really want to take pictures.  My dad took a few and I took a few.  AND ... I took a whole bunch of big group pictures.  I was just snapping as fast as I could to try to get a good one.  Here are a few of my favorites (how good can it get with at least 90 people?)  Sorry there are not that many besides the group ones.

Love this one  - Jane and Auntie Amanda

Me with sweet Allison (or maybe it is Amanda - they are twins) - the daughter of one of the 'big sisters'

Setting up (and being crazy)

Everyone

Getting the 'Mzungus' in the picture

Just the 'elders'

Both babies in this picture are kids of 'big sisters'

Maggie, Big David, little Amanda and Liz

Of course, that cannot give you a very accurate picture of this 'family'.

One last thing, I have a quick little prayer request.  Tomorrow Sebastian will go in to see if they can do the other half of his surgery.  This has been a really long journey.  I don't really want to re-write his whole story but, I will hopefully have a link on the side of the blog where you can read/follow his story soon.  Faziri is four years old.  He looks like he is about one or two years old and has a huge belly.  This is because he has Hertzsprung.  On Tuesday he will go in two see when and if they can do a surgery for him.  Please join us in prayer for these two little boys.

This is late...

The last few weeks have been so overloaded I haven't even had a chance to write about it yet. Wow ... as I think about what all has happened it seems like a long time ago but I haven't even written about these things yet. Here is a little overview of what has happened over the last few weeks. I will probably talk more about some of these things.

1. 3 summer interns have come and gone.
2. Beautiful Day of Prayer and Fasting in GSF Primary School.
3. Welcoming 4 new kids, Joan, Jessica, Joel, and Mercy to GSF.
4. SAFARI!!! (Pictures to come - if I can find the time)
   
5. The Renslow family who adopted a little girl, Zuri, from GSF 2 years ago came back for a visit. While here they adopted a little boy, Charlie (ChaChi) Zeke.
6. One of the Special Needs Kids was at the hospital for 2 weeks and the kids had a big welcome for him at his house when he came back.
7. I started online school with Northstar Academy.
8. Retreat with a team from Calvary Chapel Florida, GSF teens, and the 'Big Brothers and Sisters' of GSF.
   

The first Friday of every month is always a special time at GSF Primary School. It is a day of Prayer and Fasting. This week I walked down and took pictures - it's so amazing to see even the little ones down on their knees praying and singing. Here are some of my favorite pictures.


New Kids!!! Joan (Joanne age 5), Jessica age 4, and Joel age 2 arrived at GSF a few weeks ago. These sweet little kids have been so much fun to get to know! Jessica is on the right, Joan is on the left and Joel is in the middle.

Sisters Joan and JessicaMercy

Charlie was the little boy adopted by the Renslow famliy.

Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be to long before I write again. :)