Great Grandma's Dresses & 60 Feet...

Can I just say HOW excited I am to go to AFRICA!! Oh boy, oh boy, OH BOY! :) We leave in 10 days and I can hardly believe it! I feel like Shelby and I still have so much to do—which is good because it should make the rest of these 10 days fly by!! :) I just wanted to share a few pictures of the dresses my Great Grandma has made. When I told her I was taking a trip to Africa to go LOVE on all of these children, she immediately wanted to do something and wanted to give them something. So, she came up with the idea of making some dresses for the little girls. What a sweet and loving heart she has and how I ADORE her so much! She has always said, “God gave me this talent to use for His good works—so that’s exactly what I do!” She is seriously the sweetest lady ever and let me tell you all that she is turning 96 in September!!! AND she still sews!! Oh how she amazes me! :) So here are the dresses she made…there are 12 total and I can’t wait to bring them to the girls! I know 12 dresses really isn’t A LOT—but these dresses truly did come from my Great Grandma’s heart and are made with LOVE and PRAYERS—and I know whichever girls receive these dresses are going to be SO thankful and excited!! I can’t wait!!

The above picture is sort of hard to see all of them and what they look like so I snapped some pictures of a few dresses alone…

I also wanted to share with you all a little about one place where my team and I will be visiting once we get to Uganda. We’ll be going to a prison that is called 60 Feet. This is a children’s prison and I’ve actually been a little confused about what it actually is. Right away I thought it was similar to the prisons we have here in the U.S. But I am finding out that it is much…MUCH different. 60 Feet –back in the day known as “M” was a place where parent’s put their children if they were being “bad” and they’d scare their children by saying to them if they didn’t behave they'd have to go to the “M”. There are also a lot of orphans that are at 60 Feet because really—they have NO ONE else and nowhere to go! I came across another blog that did a story on this prison and it seriously is just SO SAD……..These kids—little innocent children don’t have an option and are treated SO POORLY. I was reading about “M” and I found myself just ANGRY…WHY? ….WHY can they get away with this??? Why are these children being treated as if they were stray animals—or worse, why are they being treated as if they are a NO BODY? They ARE a somebody…THEY ARE GOD’S CHILDREN. The blog that I was reading stated this, “The facility is overcrowded. The children often go without food. When they do eat, it’s one time a day. They are sleeping on 22 year old mattresses soaked in urine and feces. Many children sleep directly on the cold cement.” If reading that doesn’t start to break your heart or get your blood boiling I don’t know what will!! I am going to be HEART BROKEN after visiting this place! We need to find a way…a solution…a HOPE for these children. And this is exactly WHY we go and VISIT these places and these children…to…bring...them…HOPE! The blog that I was reading has more information at how you can help or donate to these children. If interested, please check out this blog at: http://feet2ourfaith.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-childrens-prison-post-about-60.html

The Dance from Sixty Feet on Vimeo.

Here is a video clip that was taken by a member that went on one of the last mission trips to Uganda with a team from Visiting Orphans. These boys in the cell had been locked in there for about 2 weeks...Make sure the video is loaded so you can watch the clip smoothly! This video is very touching to me—singing God’s praises and encouraging these children that HIS MERCIES are NEW---NEW each and every morning!

Holy is the Lord God Almighty from Michael Smalley on Vimeo.

So sad…and so crazy to think that I will be IN Uganda…meeting these children in a few short days! I ask that you please PRAY for these children…Pray that our team can come and bring them LIGHT and HOPE to their dark…DARK world. Please pray for strength for our team as well because I know—I can feel it—that this place will definitely have a big impact on all of us! Our hearts will be breaking…that is for sure.


Have a BLESSED day! And let’s remember to be THANKFUL for what we have!