Nov 5th 2013
Today is the day we open His Grace Community Services Daycare and Orphanage
The sun shines at 6 am everyday. Who needs an alarm clock when the rooster outside my window agrees with the sunlight shining through the window that it was time for me to get up. It was the big day. We were opening our gate to the community. Celebrating the birth of our childrens home and daycare. Part of me wondered had the word really gotten out there? Would anyone show up? Would too many people show up? Could we feed everyone? Was it going to rain or would the sun boil us? Deeeeeeeeeep Breath…….Coffee first, and believe that God has perfect order and none of my fears were more important than sharing his glory and vision with the people of Kamuli.
10 am and the baby beds were put together along with desks and changing tables. The paint had dried on the beautiful pictures hand painted on the nursery walls. The babies home truly looked like a home. Toys in the basket and the area rug to play on drew our young ones into the playroom. They usually played with the chickens we would eat later in the day but today they had balls and stuffed animals. The kitchen had been set up in the back building, today it housed the small charcoal bucket cooking pots and the large sacks of grain and flour. The dishes were stored in baskets as today’s food was being brought in from a local cook, prepacked as we did not have enough dishes for the crowd we expected.
12 noon and I need to lay down, stress was bringing on a headache that I needed gone before the celebration began. Closing my eyes I feel the peace that only God can give when life is beyond our control.
1:30 pm and my eyes open to the quiet before the celebration, thank you Jesus my headache is gone. I rise and change into a nice dress. Outside I see a few families sleeping in the shade of a tree in our compound. I ask our daycare director who they are, her reply, friends who did not want to miss the party. They had walked hours and arrived three hours early to be present. Wow. I tell her to feed them and take them water. I think to myself, would my friends support me like this? I am sure they would and a smile makes its way to my face as I wish they were here for this special day.
2:00 pm the tent has gone up and over a hundred chairs are set up, I see right away we won’t have enough room for everyone so we bring out mats. My friends assure me that our visitors will also have mats to sit on.
3:00 pm the gates are open and people begin flowing in, checking out our babies home and compound. Asking questions and looking for answers to the question, who will care for our children? Special speakers, a beautiful master of ceremonies (Damalie Kusaasira) and background music from a last minute add on of a DJ. The DJ and his music all work together to bring about a beautiful day shared with friends, neighbors and officials of our district.
4:00 pm I sit with the kids, my favorite part of the day blowing up balloons and watching as they play and pop them.
5:00 pm the food is served and yes we did run out of food, but we went to the market for sweet rolls and passed those around to fill the gap. Soda pop for everyone and VIP’s meet and eat in the main house where I am expected and honored to be. Visions for the future of His Grace are shared.
6:00 pm the sun is setting on our day, the guests are leaving and the tent is coming down. The day a success…….. tomorrow we truly begin our work with his grace.
sigh………..thank you God!
In his Grace Lise Sievers