Busy Days with Great Results

The last three weeks have been a blur of activity at Cornerstone.  The kids came home from the village, my mom and I made a journey to western Uganda and three trips to the doctor in Mbale (for her acute respiratory infection), I baked and delivered goods to Budaka and Mbale, Aunt Monicah and I did a program with the kids at church, and I helped the kids get the uniforms fixed (small tears were repaired, initials were sewn on each, and buttons were re-attached) and everything else ready for school this last Monday.  I do love to keep busy, and living here really fills the days for me J

         This last Wednesday, we started a new competition to see which bedroom has the most people showing the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Over the last 9 months, they have studied one characteristic each month and done activities and games themed around that trait.  The children each have a chart in their room, on which we put one sticker for each act each day.  The room with the most actions showing all the fruits of the spirit will win a prize at the end of the month.  The kids are very excited, even without knowing what prize they will earn (they will be as surprised as me, because even though I organized the competition, I haven’t chosen a gift yet, ha).  Hopefully this contest will keep them concentrated on showing all the things they have learned about!

         On Sunday, the kids came and talked to the adults at church about the fruits of the spirit.  The children shared verses from the Bible, sang “Today is the Day” by Lincoln Brewster, and talked about how they have been making better choices to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  It was great to see their confidences being built by standing to speak in front of other people, something that is difficult to do even for many adults (like me!).  Brenda 2 shared that she now shows love by “loving her room,” and Sarah said she shows peace by no longer “beating up other people.”  So glad so see that the kids are not only hearing all of us adults talk about these things, but that they are taking responsibility for their own behavior.  It’s so wonderful to see the kids maturing in this!

        

Thanks for reading my blog!  Until next week,

Abby

A Quiet Week

         It has been a quiet week at Cornerstone.  This can very rarely be said, with Cornerstone’s 30 children and 18 staff members and a neighborhood full of cows, goats, chickens…and other children, of course.  This last Monday, 26 of the 30 children left to go stay further out in the village with their clans.  They go as part of a government requirement that they spend 5 days with extended families during each school break.  Most of the kids were excited to go and see their friends and family but I have been feeling lonely without all the children and activity at the orphanage.  There IS such a thing as having too much quiet!

         Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses, however, have been around to help keep me occupied!  They are the only 4 children who have nobody in the village to go and stay with.  So, they have been getting to stay with Pastor Rogers, which is a special thing in itself.  They are allowed to stay up later than their normal bedtime, and can watch as much television as they want!  How much more exciting can things get when you’re a kid, right?  Plus, my mom and I had all 4 come and stay at our house last night and eat scrambled eggs, “sausage,” fruit salad and toast (I have to put quotations around sausage, because after all, it is Uganda), and of course, eat American pancakes this morning.  We played Candy Land, built Lego creations, watched a few episodes of Mickey Mouse cartoons, and ate bakery “mistakes” (cupcakes that are scarred by the oven rack or slightly burned on one part).  What a fun time it was together, and I can’t wait to see the other 26 come home tomorrow!  

A picture taken last week of Christine and Natasha being goofy :)

An Overwhelming Thankfulness

          The children showed a great appreciation for one of the Cornerstone employees this week. Uncle Guster, the dad at the orphanage, will be leaving Cornerstone soon, as he is going to finish his college education.  He has only been at Cornerstone since the beginning of 2012, but he has been a wonderful dad to these kids.  When we first told the children that Guster was leaving, there was silence and a lot of sad faces.  We told them that we would like for them to think of the things he had done for them, and to show their appreciation through cards.  Wow, were we ever surprised at the amount of things they thought of.  Everything from him making them bathe well to helping them with washing clothes to playing soccer with them during free time.  We actually had to put an end to the ideas because we ran out of time and free space in the cards!  How wonderful to see that the children see the impact of this adult in their lives.

         After putting the cards together, we also asked the children to consider showing thankfulness in another way.  We asked them to give some of their weekly allowance towards a few gifts for Guster to use in college.  They all agreed to participate financially (except for Isaac, whose 5 years old and apparently thought of other, greater uses for his money, like buying a Hot Wheels car).  All in all, the kids gave about 4,000 shillings (or $2 in printed Cornerstone money, which we then converted to real Ugandan shillings), and we were able to buy a ream of paper and 10 writing pens for Guster to use.  We collected these gifts and waited patiently to surprise Guster this past Wednesday night.  As he came back from town that evening, we had the children hiding underneath the desks in one of the classes.  Aunt Monicah and I asked him to come inside, and as he entered, the children jumped out and yelled: “Surprise!!”  He was definitely shocked and overwhelmed with the cards and gifts they had for him.  It was touching to watch the kids read what they had written, and present him with the paper and pens.  I think he felt appreciated, and the children definitely came away with another life lesson.  I hope that they are always thankful, not just for what they get, but also for what others do for them.  Although I have shown appreciation to other people in my own life many times, I also took away a new appreciation for thankfulness.  How wonderful to learn from a lesson that I am also teaching!

          

This is a picture of a group of kids (from left to right: Charles, Mutwahiru, Peter and Brenda 1) as they waited for Uncle Guster.  Behind them is one of the cards the kids decorated.  (I’m not sure why Peter is putting up his index finger, but there was a lot of excitement at this point, so who knows!).