Blessings

What is your story?

Everything!!!!!!!!!

There's joy still ahead ...

I wrote a blog post before I went to bed about frustrations with a dose of hope sprinkled in. I awoke in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to read some of a book, The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd. (A fictional book by the same author who wrote A Snicker of Magic). She has such a way with words!

Here are a few sentences that seemed to jump off the page at me, especially in relation to my experiences this week in Uganda:

"Just a pinch of wishing stardust in someones's drink fills them with hope no matter how sad their days have been"

"Because people need hope. You'd be amazed at what a person can do with just a pinch of it."

"I wanted permanent reminders that it's possible to bloom, even when you feel defeated."

"It took many years for me to see that hope doesn't take the sadness away, ... but hope reminds you there's something good in spite of the sadness. There's joy still ahead, still yours for the taking."

Tugging at my heart

I keep having to remind myself that I can't fix everything ...

And for someone who likes to put the pieces together to make things work even if it is sometimes an odd way to do it, that can be frustrating,

But it is frustrating with a dose of hope sprinkled in ...

Seeing students hungry that first day at a school tugged on my heart. I know how it is for me to focus on and learn anything when I am hungry (I can always tell when my daughter is hungry too ... her personality seems to change).  I see this to a degree in the students I teach each day ... although there is really no comparison.

The sprinkle of hope is that there is already the beginning of a plan to meet that need!  Solving problems like this can't be done by one person or group working in isolation. I have a feeling the cooperation, creativity, communication, and critical thinking will all come in to play in addressing this need.

I was already thinking of ways that I could continue doing art parties like I did to raise money for my trip to a little.

But it can't be done alone ...

Then on days 2 and 3, I found another issue that tugged at my heart ...

(That seems to be a theme for me this week ...)

On day 2, we met and talked with a groups of girls about the things that could prevent them from coming to school. The thought of not being able to afford school fees was repeated a number of times. On day 3, we heard the same thing from the parents.

The sprinkle of hope for me was that these students and parents saw the importance of education and wanted to be able to come to school. Beth Gianopolus shared with us that her group on day 2 talked not only about the difficulties students have but also about the joys they have.  We got to hear about the joys both students and parents have on day 3.  Education, friends at school, reading, and Fields of Dreams were just a few of the joys that stood out to me. That made my heart smile!

Although I know I can't tackle solving the problem of school fees myself, I do know that there is something I can do!  I can make a monthly contribution to the Fields of Dreams scholarship program.

And you know it may not be much, but it could make the difference for one student!

I may not be able to fix everything, but for me this trip has reinforced how important it is for me to be a Woman of Substance and do my part in helping others!