06.12.12

Hello everyone! I hope your week has treated you to good chats with friends, an adventure or two, and the occasional ice cold lemonade (or A&W root beer if you are like me).

Did you know I was in Africa a year ago? About this time as I type this, I was usually taking care of my babies in the baby home down the street and looking forward to a scrumptious meal of rice and beans (my favorite. For reals). About this time, I was probably stressed about the insanely hot temperature to which the orphanage workers heated the milk for my babies. About this time, my whole life was being transformed. Forever. I would not understand the magnitude of it till I got home.

I look back on those times with a fondness few can understand. I know the desperation for hope that I entered the trip with and I recall specific moments that I would never be the same from....I can't wait to go back!!!

Anyway, it is about 2am and I write to give a simple update! I am selling t-shirts for my trip which my good friend, Cody designed. They are quite wonderful and they are being sold on my Indiegogo page here! If you donate $19 or more to my trip, you get one of these awesome t-shirts to shnazzify your wardrobe! There are plenty waiting just for you :)

(Why yes, I will advertize shamelessly)

05.12.12

Well hello!

I'm aware it has been so long since I last posted and I apologize. Life has been so busy lately between school, finding jobs, church events and preparing for this trip!

As you can imagine, I'm completely stoked about returning to Africa....sinking my toes into the red clay dirt, donning my African dresses, and running up to see my babies at the Sanyu Baby Home. The babies would be just now sleeping soundly as I type this, after being freshly bathed (a chaotic nightly event, I assure you, entailing shrieks and laughs - by both children and the "mamas"). I'm ecstatic about returning to the slums and kissing boo boos and and dirty faces and handing out food to the street kids. Oh how I love those children!

I would love to be holding them and kissing their noses! Only one month, three weeks, and two days....

I'm beyond excited that it's so close! But I'm so nervous too. To be honest, fundraising this year isn't going near as well as last year and job hunting is not going well either. I have $1200 let to raise for my airline ticket alone in just nineteen days (and then another $1200 to raise the next month)! It's enough to cause one to panic just a little, but I know God can provide in miraculous ways.

This Sunday I'm showing a promo video at my church for my trip (which I will post soon)! Please pray that God will work through the video :)

Well I must go, but I wanted to drop by to do a quick post :) Hope you all are having a fantastic week!

3.14.12

Well Hello!

I hope all is well with you! Just to preface, I am enjoying a wonderful semester at Johnson County Community College (hopefully going to nursing school in the fall!) and am loving serving and leading worship at my church, Family of Faith here in Kansas, as well as surrounding myself with precious people God continues to bring into my life.

If you know me well at all, you know that missions has always been in my heart and much to my excitement, I followed that calling all the way to Uganda last summer! I had little idea of how much those two weeks would change my life. I helped build schools and remodel orphanages, I laughed and cried with reformed prostitutes, I fed the slum children, kissed their dirty faces, held sick orphans, and most of all, loved like Jesus did till my heart broke. And it was wonderful. Somewhere along the line as I shared Jesus, I saw Him in their beautiful copper-colored faces and found something I was drowning without: Hope. And I knew the moment the plane left the Ugandan ground, I had to get back. 

As I sat a few months ago, I thought very hard about how to get back to my people in Africa (after all, Jesus isn’t done with them yet). Just then, I was contacted by a family from the team I went with last year who is putting their own team together and they asked if I wanted to join. You can bet I jumped on it! This being said, I’m happy to announce that I will be returning to my beloved Africa July 5-20! I will be staying in the same place in Kampala as last year and will be working in orphanages and feeding programs in the slums, etc. What an honor!

As excited as I am to be going, I’m excited to inform you that you can be involved as well! As with last year, there are two areas in which I need assistance.

First, you can pray for me, the team, and my two friends who are going with me. We will need prayer that God will prepare the hearts of the Ugandan people to receive the Gospel and the love we plan to show them. It is no secret that we are in a spiritual battle and the Enemy would much rather us not go spread the freedom of Jesus and will do what he can to prevent it. But we know we are more than conquerors and when we are in the will of God; even darkness trembles. We will also need prayers that our financial needs will be met; that there would be an attitude of generosity among Christ’s church.

Another way you can be involved in this mission is to help provide that financial support. I have $3000 to raise; $1950 needs to be raised by May to pay for the airline tickets and the other $1050 by June 1st. Would you consider supporting me with a small donation? Even the smallest amount is a massive help. I know last year, I was astonished and humbled by the generosity you all displayed and was brought to tears many times. You all are so generous and the perfect picture of true friends. If you should decide to support financially, please make checks out to Cristina McAllen.

Whether you can contribute financially, through prayer, or even both, all of your support is truly appreciated. Though I suppose every trip is daunting, I will not give up on my calling. Spreading the Gospel isn’t just the reason for this trip. It’s the reason I breathe.

Thank you so much for reading this letter and spending time with my thoughts! I look forward to doing God's work in Uganda and letting you know all about how God has worked through His team when I return in July!

Love, Sarah Slankard 

(Insert Giggle Here)

Anyone wanna take a guess as to an upcoming announcement? Anyone? Anyone? ;)

Grace

*Deep breaths* 

So far, much of my posting has been lighthearted, or at least Optimistic so I must apologize in advance; this entry is not (my heart hurts even as I type these words) and it's also very long. As I have said before in my original blog, I have issues being vulnerable. It scares me, so just know that when I do posts like this, I often fear that you will say my emotions are silly or invalid or even unwarranted. But since this story of mine is so hard to tell, I know it needs to be told. I have contemplated telling it for a while, but have not had the courage to do so. It's a terribly painful subject for me, so much so that I haven't talked about it with anyone. I have written about it to one person only and I cried as I did. My mother even asked me about it and I could not tell her, so I'm not sure how long this post will sit in draft mode till I can finish it.....

Now that I have prefaced, I will begin.....

Early every morning in Africa, after we had all rubbed the evident fatigue out of our sleepy eyes, showered, and ate a hearty breakfast, we would walk happily (well, the morning people walked happily. In contrast, those like me looked like a jerk but truly were joyful inside) to our first God-Appointment of the day, Sanyu Baby Home. We would walk from our hotel, down the hill (avoiding the highly dangerous traffic.....they didn't have sidewalks), by a snack stand, over some trash, and up the uneven steps. Then we would sign in and proceed to go up more stairs to the home and sweep the children up into our tired, yet waiting arms.

As a rule, you're not really supposed to have a "favorite" child (whether in orphanages or in families), but from the first day, we all had at least one child who had a special place in our hearts and who we would pour our love into for the rest of the two weeks. I had several who I held dear but one of the babies could play songs on my heartstrings for hours with just one glance:

Grace. Also known as Gracie Pants, to me anyway.

Just a few months old, Grace was like a ray of sunshine with her brilliant smile, immensely joyful chocolate eyes, and her adorable little nose. Every day I would walk right to her red crib and the moment she saw me, she would light up (I know she probably did that with everyone, but leave me alone, ok?). I would pick her up, feed her, and then we would have our daily chats about her day, her nap, etc. That's how it began anyway. As I fell even more for Grace, I would sing over her and pray with everything in me that she would always live up to her name; that she would be full of grace and come to know well the grace of God. I would pray for her future family and that she would always keep her smile.

I am not a mother - though the children sometimes called me Mama Sarah in their adorable Ugandan accents - but I have never held a child close enough in my heart to feel that they were legitimately my child. She was a daughter to me. I hoped and was so tempted to beg God that she would never experience pain or see the horrors the world holds. I wanted to protect her forever, but the highest I could do was secure her mosquito net as best as I could over her crib and walk away. One night as I laid her down for bed, after giggling with her and praying with her, I stroked her face and just started sobbing. I didn't want to leave; I wanted to take her with me. But all I could do was kiss her forehead, tell her I loved her and walk away. I don't think we were even halfway through the trip yet.

Then the day I dreaded came; our last day at the baby home before we left the next day. I held my Grace, made sure she was bathed, changed her, and then began to feed her. I didn't care to talk to anyone, just to hold her. Before I knew what was happening, our team was leaving. I held her close and set her in her red crib, stroking her face one last time as tears filled my eyes. I tried to say goodbye but she wouldn't look at me. She looked everywhere but at me, which wasn't normal. I called for her over and over and over frantically but she wouldn't.....I picked her up for one more second, holding her close to my heart. Then I quickly set her down again, kissed her, told her I loved her, and walked out sobbing (like I am now as I write) as I heard her cries coming from the home. I spoke to no one, feeling as though I lost a child. I knew I would probably never see her again.

The next day, our schedule suddenly opened up to where those who wanted to go to the baby home were free to do so. I was elated to say the least. God had provided a chance for me to see Grace one last time! I couldn't stop smiling. Well people wanted to take a nap before some of us left. Ok, that's cool. I was anxious but I understood, knowing they would tell me when they were leaving. They didn't. I looked all over for them but couldn't find them. Once I found they were gone, I frantically searched for others to go (since it was too dangerous to walk alone, though I contemplated escaping), but no one could. I tried to hold it together, but found a remote room on the hotel grounds and sobbed till my head was pounding. When I thought I was ok, I read a book outside. But not really; I just stared at the pages through my tears as I listened to the sounds of the children coming from the baby home since it was so close. I spoke to no one as I imagined myself there. I was hurt, angry, and bitter at everyone in my heart, even a little at God. I would probably never see her again. Who would sing songs over her? Who would do the right thing to make her giggle? Who would love her like I did?

Even since I've returned home, I have never spoken of Grace. I can't even listen to songs that remind me of her. It's simply too painful. Even writing this is excruciating to me. I miss her so; I miss having her in my arms, I miss rubbing my nose against hers - which she loved, I miss her smile, I miss kissing her goodnight. I could probably recognize her cry even still. I know she is safe in His arms, but I would give anything at all to have her in mine

Alright now. I say none of this story to be dramatic or to gather sympathy. I wouldn't have even told anyone except I know the reason I had to tell this story is because I truly believe that God wanted me to tell you personally that His heart is the same for us when we're far off, only more so.

This dawned on me the other night as I prayed for her. Suddenly, I found myself asking, "Is this how you feel, God? The longing to hold us in your arms and sing over us? Or even me? Does your heart feel like bursting when we're far off? Is this how you love?" I know this is how He loves.

I'm telling you this story right now for one reason only: because I know that the love I felt and still feel in my heart for Grace is the same love God feels for you and I. The intense pain in my heart I feel over being away from her is the same pain God feels when you and I are far off. The same yearning in my heart to sing over her is the same yearning God feels in His heart. Only more so.

We were orphans just like Grace and the rest of the children there. We had no one. But miracle of miracles, God's heart burst with love for us and still does today. He's smitten with us! His arms ache to simply hold us....

Grace could not come home with me, but today, God wants you to come home.

(This is Grace and I. Stinky picture of me, but the only one we had)

Again, I apologize for the length. But I just want to say that this is the last regular post I will have on this blog for this season.

Hold back those tears!

I have long forsaken All Things Considered and she beckons. But I will still post here occasionally with stories or perhaps....updates on my next trip?? ;)

Thank you so much for joining me on my journey so far; we have laughed together, cried together, and I have appreciated such good company. But hey, it's not goodbye! Check out my firstborn blog and don't you worry, I'll be back ;)

Story Time - Hot Stuff

You know how I feel sometimes? If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all....

Even aside from the many flights that got delayed/canceled/missed on this trip, the sickness, etc., the airline lost my bag. With all my belongings. All my work clothes, all my soaps, shoes, underwears (or as April would say: Da-DUN-da-duns), everything (except the bag with all the Beanies and food for the kids. That came in perfect condition that would happen to me)!

I say all this to say: half of our activities were manual labor. I had no work clothes. I had jeggings, a dress shirt, a team shirt, and a pair of very cute shoes (and by day four of wearing them, I inevitably had some beautiful blisters).

"Oh hey guys, looks like I don't have work clothes. Guess I'll just sit in the shade and watch you all sweat and toil,"

First thing's first: I had to get some shoes! So we stopped in one of the shacks by the street, which wasn't exactly safe...I had to hold our leader, Dwight's hand to cross the street! By the end of our haggling, we paid about ten dollars for a pair of very used shoes - tying the laces made my hands quite dirty....but I didn't complain; I was legitimately very grateful to have a pair of shoes, even without socks.

In the van on the way to the work site, I put my shoes on, joking it up with the team the whole time. A few moments later, as we're driving, Dwight pulls the socks off his own feet and hands them to me! "I've only worn these a couple hours," he told me, "but at least I know where they've been; I don't know where those shoes have been!" We all laughed and I put them on, again, legitimately thankful.

Oh, remember what I said about bad luck? Well as I moved in my seat on the way from the shoe shack to the work site, I noticed I could barely move....my pants were caught on a sharp metal piece in the seat and it RIPPED A HOLE IN MY PANTS! *Sigh*

Wanna see the finished product of the jegging/massive shirt/man-sock/shoe combo?

Hot, huh? You know, I do what I can.

When I tell this story, I do ham it up and joke around as if I'm the victim but in all seriousness, I am so grateful for the people (who barely knew me!) who came around and bought me those shoes, gave me their socks, let me borrow outfits and work shirts and pretty much let me mooch off of them for the week and a half where I basically didn't own anything. I was painfully humbled and am still amazed by the generosity and all around kindness of my team members. I love them all and miss them dearly.....

Story Time - The Slums of Kivulu

Perhaps one of my favorite days was the day we went to the slums. I can't even give you one specific reason why.

Have you ever just looked around and thought to yourself, "Yes, this is where I was meant to be for this moment"? If so, you know how I felt that day...

First we met the children and played with them.

Then we walked with the children up to a field to play futbol. Kasim, an older boy who I don't have a picture of, held my hand all the way there and we asked each other questions and had a wonderful time.

When we got there, the boys warmed up for the big game. They don't mess around with their futbol.

While some played, others, like myself, painted their faces.

Then they painted us.

After the game, we all walked back down and we fed them beans a rice and gave a sermon. Can you spot the cross?

At one point, one of the little boys came up to me and we started dancing. After a while, he looked at me and said in his adorable Ugandan accent, "Sarah, you're my sister". I smiled happily and told him to always remember he had a sister all the way in America and that I would never forget...

I don't know his name (no one could understand the pronunciation), but I will never forget my brother, or my friend Kasim, or beautiful Grace, or any of the other children in the Slums of Kivulu.....

The Eternal Optimist

Yes, the rumors are true; I finally made it home.....

I really should not have taken a week to write this post, but between saying my goodbyes to my Floridian friends, moving, and saying hello to my Kansan friends, I've been a tad busy. But here I sit in my new room with only two boxes left to unpack; in my new home with only 345,654,476 boxes left to unpack.....

Words to describe the stories of my trip still swim about it my mind, unreachable. Some words are joyful, some words are funny enough to make you pee yourself, and yet others are so heartbreaking, I've been able to tell no one. I will, over time, write stories of the people who inspired me, stories of how "everything" went wrong, stories of the beauty of Uganda, and stories of how my heart loved so much it burst. But for now, I leave you with a story of my own (excuse the length).

Nearly two years ago, in all my pain, God made it evident to me that the theme of the next chapter of my life would be "Hope". At this time, I believed, with good reason, He meant hope for healing and restoration in me.

One year ago, I realized how amusingly selfish this was as I began to plan my Africa trip. It dawned on me one day in my all-fired frenzy to get there, that He did not mean Hope for me in this chapter, as Christ himself would always be my hope. In all actuality, His plan was for me to bring hope to others, as I wrote about back in August.

This was all well in good last summer. But when my peace crumbled before my very eyes and the skies of my life grew frighteningly dark, I begged God to give me the hope he desired for me to give others. Without it, I didn't know how much longer I could go on. Also, how could I give hope to others when I had none?

God's promise of hope seemed empty. Some nights, I would sit up crying for hours and it was all I could do to leave the house and see anyone. I wanted to seem strong and brave; I would walk with my head held high and have plenty of witty banter with my friends. But when I was alone, I would just cry. Even physically, I was falling apart. My doctor said to treat for depression.

I don't say this to gather sympathy, I promise. I just want to reveal His glory in this story.

As I wrote, I came into this trip in subconscious desperation for deliverance. In my heart, I felt that if I didn't find hope on my trip, I didn't know what I was going to do.

God tends to hide Himself in the most unexpected places. Not only is He in sunsets, but He's also in the back alleyway. Not only is He on the mountain, but He's also in the eyes of a beggar.

As I listened to the joyful laugh of a reformed prostitute, I heard the audible sound of Hope. As I worked beside people who believe that every small act of service makes a difference, I saw Hope in action. As I gazed into the eyes of a child who's lost everything and yet still has no doubt there is a loving God, and as I held the hand of the same child, I saw Hope in the most tangible form.

These people, from the oldest to the babies, they get it.

They understand that Hope isn't found in the solution or in the change of circumstance, but only in the attitude. They understand that blessing isn't always in the earthly sense of the word.

They lost everything. Life has not been fair, but cruel. They are the least of these and pain is routine. But they stubbornly believe that God is on their side. One of our team members called one little boy, "The Eternal Optimist". Rightly so.

I can't tell you when I found it, or what drew me to find it in a third world country. However, as I was supposed to be ministering to the people of Africa, they impacted me in a much more meaningful way than they could have guessed.

My Hope was not found in God's voice in the flames of a desert bush. My Hope was not found in the visitation of a glorious angel. It was found in the face of the boy in the slums who called me his sister. It was found in the persevering work of the orphanage owner who has no running water or electricity. It was found in my babies at the baby home.

I will still cry; my problems have not vanished. I would be naive to believe otherwise. But I pray my new-found Hope will keep me stubbornly believing, as my friends in Uganda do, that there is a loving God who is on my side.

Hope. A simple, stubborn, beautiful thing. Free, yet elusive. Strong, but not a feeling. Those who suffer know it well. And if they can, so can I.

Fly

It's today.

Today, I load my bags which a small child could easily fit in...hmmmmm. Today I say goodbye to those I love the most and get on a plane all by myself. Today is the tangible start of my journey to where God is calling me.

I do have a small confession before I begin my journey. Yes, my motivation which drove me with so much determination to this place was God's calling and my deep rooted desire to serve and love people with all I have.

Motivation one: be the picture of Jesus.

But there is another motive, one deep inside which I've told only a few.....

To preface, my brokenness led me to this specific, first trip (though not to the mission field itself), whether I realized it at the time or not. My own pain spurred me on. In my heartache, I was too stubborn to give up; I would show them, and more importantly I would show myself, that I was not only going to make it through, but God and I were going to do something grand to spite my dark situation. Call it pride, call it tenacity, call it perseverance. Regardless...

This being said, I realized the other night that I not only hope to find ways to love people, I seek healing. I seek God. At very least, a little perspective. Deep inside my heart, I have a deep and shamefully selfish desperation for God to bring some resolve to some issues or at least, and most likely, get my focus off of myself and onto loving people who hurt exponentially worse than I do on a regular basis. I pray that my prayers and worries and thoughts will stop being me and my problems. I'm so sick of my me-ness. If life is a play, I'm certainly not the main character I'm probably that girl who's too full of stage fright to even play a supporting character and I don't need a solution to walk in freedom or to lead others to it. I'm broken. Ask anyone who is close to me; I'm probably a pain to be around. But God always (and I'm pretty sure, only) uses broken people to heal others and bring hope in darkness.

This is my hope for the trip; that I would find God, that He would reveal Himself to me (as I know we will be working very closely on this trip), and that He would use me in my brokenness to heal others and love till it hurts.

I know this last blog post before my trip was supposed to be inspirational and peppy and such, but I felt it had to be said. Am I excited? Yes! Am I scared? Yes. How does it feel for God to bring you to the front door of your dreams? Absolutely blissful.....

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for me or supported me financially or with their words. I love you all; you hold me up when I can't stand and you encourage me to pursue my dreams and all God has for me. I have never felt loved by so many and words can't express my gratitude. I will write you when I return and tell you many stories about my adventures :)

Now excuse me. The door of my cage has opened and I will now fly away....

Tomorrow

I. Am going. To Africa. Tomorrow. No guys, you don't understand what I am telling you! IT'S TOMORROW!

Gotta grab my passport! Gotta get my Yellow Card (thank you Lexie)! Print my itinerary! Bags! Bug Spray! Water! AAAAH!

*Drum roll*

Well, my friends, the time has come to announce the winner of the Beanie Drive!! I know you have been waiting anxiously on this site, pressing refresh with an increasing impatience every hour! No need for that; the waiting is over!

..........Well let me tell you about my week first. Packing, packing, and more packing! And a little shopping. Well, a lot of shopping. But hey, I got my whole room packed to move, my sister's whole room packed to move, got all my Africa bags packed (!!!!), and graduated. And it's only Tuesday!

Ok! Now hold your breath, give me a drum roll, and here we go...

The winner!

Of the Beanie Drive!


(Receiving the lovely Show Hope shirt)

Is!




Our dear friend, Amanda Little!

She contacted me saying she wanted to sponsor Beanie Babies in the names of each of her many nieces and nephews so "when they get to heaven some child they never met gives em a big hug :) won't that be awesome!!!!"....Oh. Just melt my heart now. So sweet.

Amanda, I'm so grateful for you and I pray God showers blessings on you!

Thank you so much to the rest of you who either donated Beanies or sponsored them. I cannot wait to see the looks on the kids faces when I give them to them!!!! It wakes me up at night and I can't sleep can you tell?!! I love you all so much!

Can you believe it's just TWO more days till I'm on that plane out of America? It's insane!

I can't wait!!!

If You Give a Girl an Opportunity....

If you give a girl an opportunity.....

she will ask you if you want to share in her dream.

If you say you want to share in her dream…

she will ask you if you want to view the world through His eyes.

If you dare to view the world through His eyes…

she will ask if you want to gaze into the eyes of “the least of these”.

If you gaze into the eyes “the least of these”…

she will ask if you noticed that they have nobody to love them.

If you notice that they have nobody to love them…

she’ll ask you if you will love them as Jesus does.

If you choose to love them as Jesus does…

she will ask you if you can go there and hold them.

If you say that you cannot go there and hold them….

she will ask if you will send someone in your place.

If you say that you will send someone in your place…

she will ask if you will send her.

…if you give a girl an opportunity.

5.27.11

Hello!

In my craze of shopping for my trip, packing for my trip, saying my goodbyes, and packing up to move, I write to tell you that my fundraiser ends June 1!! If you haven't sponsored a Beanie yet, please be sure to do so because whoever sponsors the most gets this awesome shirt!

Please do what you can to send a friend to an orphan by June 1!!

"Please sponsor me to go to Uganda today"

P.S..................ONE WEEK!!!!!!

The Epitome of Bravery

Today, this will be short and sweet!

This morning, I went to go get my shots (leave it to me to wait till the last possible day)! I was pretty nervous since I heard the Yellow Fever shot's after-effects are supposed to be pretty rugged and the Typhoid is supposed to hurt worse than usual, so my friend, Becca came with me.

My doctor reeled off warnings and what to be cautious about (food water, the lovely issue of Traveler's Diarrhea, etc) and then pumped me full of needles administered the vaccines....

Getting my first shot!

Getting my second shot!

I was brave and got a lollipop :)

After that, we went to lunch at Panda Express and in my fortune cookie was this....

Fun stuff!

That's all I have for you today; It's naptime for me! Don't forget to adopt a Beanie Babie to send with me to Africa!!

10 DAYS!!

Number 12

Today, in my bottomless pit of my used, half-used, and almost-mostly-used notebooks (used for everything from songwriting, poetry, doodles, homework, and two-sentence notes), I found my Bucket List which I had forgotten all about. Mind you, I wrote this with a group of close friends, so much of it was silly things such as (and not limited to the following):

Build a treehouse.

Live in said treehouse.

Meet a lumberjack, a monk, and a detective.

Spear-fish with my friend, Maria Barker.

Join a tribe.

Ride Flipper, the dolphin.

Have the best, most profound thought ever.

Die with my eyes closed.

And finally, go back in time and tell God I need to have blue eyes.

But some of them were true aspirations of mine:

Live in the treehouse (yes, I was actually serious).

Go to Nova Scotia, Ireland, and India.

Hike through the woods and up a mountain (check).

See the Northern Lights.

Go to the British Museum.

Visit a monastery.

Become fluent in Poetry (practically check).

And, of course, play Manhunt.

However, as I read through it, one stood out to me, one I had written before I even knew all that was happening behind the scenes of my life.

12. Work in an orphanage.

I seemed to write it light-heartedly, yet as I scribbled those four words onto my notebook with my squeaky mechanical pencil, something tugged lightly in the darkest shadows behind my heart. I remember it. In the split seconds before the words of my recently chicken-scratched aspiration exited my mouth, I pictured it and I still picture it today as I share with you. I picture skipping hand-in-hand with a child who finally knows Love. I picture all of us snuggled up as the sun sets. I picture holding in my temper as one of the kids throws a tantrum and the other pees in the corner or other such nightmarish happenings. I picture my unshaven legs (that may have been the scariest thought of all), my frizzy hair and my temporarily low self-esteem. But. I also picture the ultimate satisfaction and fulfilment found in setting aside all things "self" and being immersed in the greater calling of Jesus. I have this strong image of the love of God pouring out onto this next generation and Him raising up the broken and the orphaned to lead the strong. I picture hope swelling in the hearts of those abandoned, driving them to continue the flow of love they received from us onto all those around them.

And I picture each of us being a part of it and telling our children and our grandchildren and the generations to come about all that God did to awaken His church and bring revival to the lost and wandering. I picture the children seeing Jesus in our eyes as we serve the Jesus in them. And I picture none of us being the same....

(I know I use this image all the time, but it's my favorite)

I say all this to say: Number 12 on my Bucket List, I'm coming for you in 15 days.....

An Extra Little Tid Bit.....

Hello there, everyone! Guess what.....

15 DAYS!

Are you excited? Me too. I can't wait to be snuggling with the kids and sinking my toes into the Ugandan soil.....it's SO CLOSE!

So I have some news! You see, a while back, I was visiting with my friend, Lori about my trip and she said, "Wait, I have this shirt from our fundraiser! Why don't you see what you can do with it?". And I was thinking last night as I lay in bed waiting for sleep to come, "Fundraiser......fundraiser.......*lightbulb* I know what to do!!!!".

So here's the deal. The Beanie Babies in my orphanage need to have their airfare paid soon before I buckle them safely in the airplane and bring them with me. My proposition is this:

Whoever adopts (aka sponsors) the most Beanies will receive this lovely shirt from Lori:

(Lori's fundraiser was through Show Hope and every shirt purchased through them helps bring orphans home forever!)
Cute shirt, huh? Here's a better view of how the design on it is:

Pretty awesome if you ask me (which I know you did). I thought about keeping it for myself, but I'm not that selfish too excited to give it away! The shirt is brand spankin' new and the package has never been opened! Good good stuff.

So I advise you to quickly hurry up and adopt as many Beanies as you can so that you can not only win this spiffy shirt, but also help me get to Africa to share some Jesus with some orphans! Let's have these four adopted by tomorrow, ok? $5.00 each!

(Left to right: ladybug, goat, walrus, owl)

P.S. Someone asked me how they will pay to adopt their Beanie Babies. To this, I answer that you can send your money right to:


The River Church
860 Plymouth Drive
Durango,CO
81301 
ATTN: Uganda GO team June 2011


(and put Sarah Slankard in the memo)


This way, I'm not handling the money and you can get tax credit :) Contact me though if you're adopting!

Beanie Drive!

FUN(D)RAISER TIME!!!!

Yes my friends. The time has come for an awesome fun(d)raiser (perhaps I should even say - a "rad" fun(d)raiser). What could it possibly be?? Let me explain. Well, ever seen one of these guys?

Of course you have. Anyone who didn't live under a rock in the 90's knows the craze of the Beanie Baby (and those who did live under a rock still probably had Beanie Babies shipped to them). Perhaps, if you were a geek like some of the people in my family, you collected them and are still waiting for the rad fad to come back so you can hit the jackpot and retire early from your impending bounty of wealth. Well sorry to burst your bubble but....

THEY'RE NOT COMING BACK.

Done crying? Ok. So lean in close; here's the plan (I'll let you get in on this):

I am starting...........A Beanie Baby Orphanage. Here's how it will work: I've gathered up a bunch of "orphaned" Beanie Babies collected off the dusty streets shelves to provide the opportunity for you (yes, YOU) to adopt one for a donation of at least $5.00 (please). All the money earned from the sale of these little guys will go towards the $3100 I need to make our delivery of these tiny friends and Jesus to the tiny orphans of Africa! Your adopted Beanie Baby will then travel with me to Africa and I will safely deliver it to a beautiful child in Uganda from YOU! (I promise to buckle their seat belts on the airplane!)

Snappy plan right? I cannot wait to see the faces of these children when I deliver a sweet gift from someone in America who loves them! Come on now, don't you remember the verse from the Bible, "If anyone gives a Beanie Baby, in My name, to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, he will certainly not lose his reward..."? (Sarah's paraphrase of Mark 9:41!)

So! let's get down to business. If you would like to adopt a Beanie Baby, contact me (I have received some wonderful donations, so I've got plenty) so we can send off as many little friends for the kids as possible when I leave in....18 DAYS!!!!!

P.S. Don't forget about my garage sale! Any help with this would be great!

Garage Sale!

Hello there! I know I said the next post was going to be about my fundraiser but I'm still trying to figure out the whole technological system behind it.....So once I get it figured out, I will let you know!

This will be a short post but I just want to announce that I'm having a.....

Oh yes, oh yes.

Do you have anything you'd like to donate to help me raise my support, (furniture, lamps, decorations, accessories)? Bring it on over, even the day of the sale, and I'll be forever grateful to you! Are you looking for some awesome deals? Hey, my house would be a good place to look.


We will be grilling hot-dogs and selling drinks if you're in need of lunch during your exhausting pleasant shopping excursion!


Earnings from the lunch and from specially marked items will be going toward my Africa trip. Also I have this lovely change jar I made for people who have loose change and/or generous hearts....

Whether you're looking to donate, find some deals, find some lunch, or looking for some awesome company, my house will be the place to be. Stop by on Saturday from 7am-1pm! I would love to see you there! My contact info is on the sidebar; contact me and I will send you my address :)


Ready to change the world?