Abdalah

Little Abdalah. He stole my heart! I think of him continuously throughout my day....and so do my kids. Tyler and Kenna have not yet met him face to face, but he has already found a place into their hearts as well. Tyler asks questions about him all throughout our day, and he tells others about him. I cannot wait for the day that we can all go to visit him together.

I pray that others that I know and love can experience the joy and blessing that I have, through sponsoring Abdalah.

Someone from our team captured our meeting in full. I have posted all the pictures below. It was such an emotional time.

John Michael is explaining to Abdalah, that I have chosen to sponsor him

Once he understood, he LEAPT into my arms, holding on so tight (this is where the tears started flowing)

WOW - he just held on, and so did I!!!

What a precious little man, with a precious little heart

Uganda

How do I even begin to put my trip to Uganda into words? I am not sure, but I hope to be able to give you a small glimpse into the life-changing experience it was. I could share the stories of desparation with you, for hours. And then, for another few hours, I could share with you the signs and promises of God's Hope, Love, and Mercy - how He is working in the hearts and lives of the people there, and how He needs our help to continue to share and spread His hope, love

and promises to even more people. BUT, this is only a blog, and you don't have hours. So, I will try to condense, and share with you 3 points most prominent in my mind:

Crisis - These are people and a nation in utter crisis. More than I have ever experienced. Northern Uganda is victim of 20 years of civil war, followed by years of attacks by a rebel army, the LRA. Thousands of people have been killed, villages completely raided and destroyed, the children kidnapped and raped. The adults killed. Children becoming pregnant. HIV and AIDS spreading intensely and quickly. The people fled their villages and lived in government provided IDP camps. Thousands within one camp, with huts so close together they practically touch. No money, no families, NO HOPE. There are more orphans, raising their own siblings, than we can even start to think of. There is no one to protect these children, to take care of them, to nurture them. They are left to fend for themselves. Their parents have HIV and AIDS, many of the children do as well. These people are people just like us. They have emotions just like us. They feel pain just as we do. Who will care for them, teach them, love them? How will they learn to be the next generation to lead their nation with no one around to teach them? How will they learn to have families and love their own children? It could seem so overwhelming.

Hope - As we were flying to Uganda, I was feeling very overwhelmed by the situation we were headed toward. But, as I was reading and praying, God spoke LOUD AND CLEAR to me....there is HOPE. HE IS HOPE. HE is BIGGER than any person, any problem, any disease, any war. He is LIFE. He is GRACE. He is FORGIVENESS. HE IS GOD. He is the same God that we serve in America. He is ALL POWERFUL - beyond our wildest imagination. AND, the Ugandan people do not need our pity, our saddness. They need hope, they need love, they need help, they need Christ.

Though it seems that there are too many Ugandan people suffering to even know where to begin, God revealed to me that "It just takes One". We do not need to change the entire nation ourselves. That is not our job. We need to share God's love and hope with just the people that we encounter. Through the change of heart of just one person, God can use that person to affect others. God can move the mountains. An example of this was seen in a group of 5 teenage orphans there were rescued by one of our partners, John Michael. These orphans now want to be work for the ministry, become pastors, and start theif own ministries. Just a few. Share the hope and love, God will work the miracles.

Sponsorship - I cannot even start writing this, without crying. As I sit here, the tears are rolling down my face. I did not fully understand the sheer importance of child sponsorship until this trip. The number of orphans is countless. They have lost their families to war and AIDS. and disease. Many have HIV themselves. In a country with little to no money, the government does not pay for these children to have homes, not even in the orphanage. In order for children to stay, be fed, schooled, and receive any medical care, they NEED to have a sponsor.

It was at Destiny Children's Center that God nudged me toward sponsorship. We watched these amazing 900 children praise God with all of their hearts and souls. John Michael provides an awesome home, life, education, and faith nurturing for these children. BUT, they still cannot be provided for without sponsorship. I looked through our bio cards that we had with us, pulling a few kids that I thought Tyler and Makenna would connect with, when seeing the child's picture.

I was drawn to Abdalah. Abdalah's bio said that he lost his father to AIDS, and his mother was soon to die of AIDS as well. AND, Abdalah was infected with HIV. Without sponsorship, he would not receive any treatments or medicines. HE was the one.

John Michael called him out of the crowd of children. John Michael began to explain to Abdalah, that I have chosen to sponsor him, I crouched down by him. At the moment that Abdalah understood who I was, he LEAPT into my arms, flung his arms around me, and held on with ALL OF HIS MIGHT. I could not contain my emotions, and all around were crying as well. It was so intensely amazing. Abdalah and I spent the rest of the afternoon together - hand in hand. He showed me his bed, and we just sat and loved each other. He stole my heart. I pray that he can experience of glimpse of God's love through our family, a glimpse of God's goodness, of glimpse of God's mercy for his life.

Thank you to all of you for your support - financial and prayers. I am so grateful to you! My heart and life is forever changed. God broke my heart for the people of Uganda.

There is so much more that I could share with you, but this is already long enough! I will end by sharing the below pictures. Here too, I could share so many more, but I will try to pick some of my favorites.

This is Abdalah - Isn't He Wonderful?!

This is the HIV Moms Support Group

This Group of Boys Climbed a Tree to Bring Me this Jackfruit That They are Holding

Why Can't We Do This?

IDP Camp

Pastor Patrick - Just One of the Amazing Ugandan Partners We Worked Alongside

Ugandan Children

This is Hope - She is the the Seamstress Class at the Vocational Center - I LOVE Her

Ugandan Baby

Oh, Lunch - Beans and Corn Meal - Eaten with our Fingers

Bye Bye Mzungu

Why Me?

This week has been a busy one - Vacation Bible School at Church, packing the kids for two weeks away, and packing and preparing myself for two weeks away in Uganda. During all of the craziness of the week, I have spent a lot of time processing and preparing my mind and heart for my trip.

As I have processed through my week, I have come to this....Why Me?!

1. Why has God gifted ME with the gifts that I have been blessed with?
2. Why have I come to this place in my life that I feel led to take the plunges that I feel called to take?
3. Who am I to follow some of the leads that I follow?
4. Why, when I know I have been blessed with gifts, do I often times still abuse them?
5. Why, when I know I have been blessed with gifts, do I often times still doubt them?

I feel so unworthy of His Awesomeness - His Amazing Blessings. Yet, through all of the questions and processing, I think the greastest gift I have been blessed with, is constant faith. God is always there, and He always knows best. He is always true, He is always constant. He will always guide me - it is MY choice whether or not to follow!!!

God does not call the equipped....He equips the called. I just have to follow His lead.

I am TRULY in awe of His Goodness, His Faithfulness....truly. I am so grateful for the adventure of life, for the places that He takes me....for the ride! It is an amazing privilege to me that even though I sometimes question or doubt who God created ME to be, He will NEVER leave me or forsake me.

Hold on to your hat, Amy Kahl, next stop on this great adventure.....Uganda, Africa!!!

If you feel led to pray for me while I am gone, here are some specific requests:

1. That God will effectively use me to bring the message of His goodness and mercy to the Ugandans that I encounter
2. That my heart will be fully open and willing to be used the way GOD has planned to use me while I am there
3. That I will be open and listening for God's lead
4. For my family that I am leaving behind
5. For team dynamics
6. For the preparation of the hearts and minds of the Ugandan people
7. For safe travel - to and from

Our Big Back Yard

We have really been enjoying our yard this spring/summer. The kids and I have even planted a vegetable garden that is growing like gang-busters! We are starting to be able to see the signs of the vegetables growing from the plants. YAHOO! We have been working hard, and are hoping for great results! Who would have thunk that this city girl could grow a garden?!

I am a little nervous about the potential state of the garden after being away for two weeks. So, I have decided to give you a glimpse of it now, in the event that it is struggling after my return.

Please join me on a tour of, Tour de Garden Kahl:

Welcome to our Back Yard

Entering the Back Yard

Love These Flowers

Full-View of the Garden - Against the Back Fence

Rhubarb and Cucumbers

Jalepenos

Watermeleon - SD is supposed to be the Watermeleon Capital of the U.S.

Garlic and Tomatoes

Pumpkins and Rose Bush

Onions

Sunflowers to Line the Back of the Fence

And Finally....Our Baby Birds. They're Red Finches - So Cute!

She's 2

Kenna Belle is 2 - well, not really until June 3rd - she doesn't know that though, so in our world the birthday party marked her 2 year birthday! Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts, Uncle, Cousins, and Travis Dahlke were all there to celebrate Miss Makenna's fun day.

This little girl brings so much spunk, love and life into our world. We have been so blessed by her, and she's only been here for 2 years. We cannot wait to see what more she brings to the lives of those around her in the future.

Thanks to our families and Trav for celebrating with us - Fishy Style!

Our 2 Year Old Girl

Grandmas Enjoying the Piggy Tails

Giggling with Cousin Brittney

Hammock Hog Pile on Auntie Elise

Fish Cake for the Fishy Birthday Party

Blowing Out the Birthday Candles

Watching "Kenna" Fish with Grandpa Ray

Boy Dancing

Our next adventure over the weekend was Aaron's cousin's wedding, in Iowa City, IA. The wedding was beautiful! The bride and groom were glowing, and the dancing was just what we had hoped for!

Tyler had been practicing his "boy dancing" all week. He couldn't even eat dinner because he was so excited to get on that dance floor.

Here is the video, you have all been waiting to see.....Tyler's Debut....

Slip Slidin'

Yahoo!!! Yippy!!! Wwwweeeeee!!!! Those words were frequent out of our mouths this past weekend, during one of our weekend adventures at Kalahari Waterpark and Resort with Grandma and Grandpa Kahl, Uncle Nate, Uncle Geoff, Aunt Elise, and Cousin Ben.

We had a blast! I left Kalahari with some of the memories imprinted on my bottom - ouch - but it was sooooo worth it! The kids were flying down water slides and loving every minutes....and so were the adults!

Ready to go down to the waterpark

Having fun splashing

Ben hanging out in the water

This girl is fearless in the water

Tyler went down this slide over and over and over and over

This was the kids' favorie "fast slide"

Kenna rode this one with her arms up in the air - all the way from the top, down to the bottom