Rachel and Rita’s story continued:

I mentioned in my last blog that their grandma (Jaja) was coming that Wednesday night, and that we were then going to search for their mother. …Well, the grandmother did not come until three days later! Pastor Jeffery did come with the girl’s father on Friday. (Seeing Rachel and Rita with their dad was very sweet - he obviously really loves them.) The two men, Renee, and the girls then went to search for the mother. (I needed to stay back and babysit.) They went to the village where they heard she was staying, but were told that she was not there, but in town (Jinja).

Upon reaching town they searched for her and found her brother who had a booth at the market. They told him that they needed to see these girls mother, and he said, “You wait here and I will go get her.” They waited and waited until finally the man at the neighboring booth said. “He is not coming back. He is only telling that woman to disappear.” As you can imagine, we were all very discouraged by this and were insure what to do next. I think the mother is afraid of facing the law for having abandoned her children.

When their grandmother did arrive on Saturday afternoon, she shared (through our day guard who often interprets for us) that she still did not want take the girls and that their father needed to care for them. Unfortunately, the pastor was not able to come back before she left to go back to her home on Bumuva Island.

When Pastor Jeffery did return with Rachel and Rita’s father, (at 3:00, Sunday afternoon – 3 hours after the grandmother left) Renee shared with them that these girls needed to be with their father. She told them that we would love to be able to keep these girls, but since we were denied that by the local authorities, they need to not be staying here. (SHC is in the process of getting an NGO (Non-Government Organization), and we could have officials stop in any time to check us out, so we needed to only have those children here that we have care orders for.)

Pastor Jeffery was not very happy to hear this because he had come with the intention of asking us to keep the girls until the end of the month to give their father some time to get his life in order (better job, finding someone to care for the girls during the day, etc.) Renee again explained why we really can’t do that, but that we love the girls and wish we could. (This whole conversation was very hard for Renee) Since we were going to be gone the next day, the girls needed to go home their father that afternoon. (Renee has a policy that children neither come, nor leave without her being here.)

Rachel and Rita left that evening to be with their dad for the night. I was so very sad to see them go, but also encouraged to see that they love him very much. The girls have been staying with him, but will soon be going to stay with a member of pastor Jeffery’s church in a more remote village while they continue to sort this all out. We hope to see them before they go. I believe that the search for their mother is still on, but we are no longer involved, and I know that’s best.

I was given so much peace and grace as they left that I never thought I would have. Even two days before I wouldn’t have done as well, but I see the Lord’s hand in this, and all I can to is trust them to His care. Yes, I miss them terribly and would have loved if they could just stay with me forever, but that wasn’t what the Lord had for these girls.

Please continue to lift Rachel and Rita up in your prayers. For protection, heath, and most of all, that that they would grow up to know Jesus.

As you also know from Renee’s blog, Chakool has gone to be with his grandmother and within the last month, Faith, Bashir, and Christina have all gone home. (Bashir and Cristina went home because school has started and Faith was just ready. We still get to see her everyday because her mother works here.) So, we are now down to just two - Nusula and Selah. I really see this as the Lord preparing us to take these new children for the pilot malnutrition program.

We are using this time with fewer children to move furniture and organize in preparation for the new program. We had hoped to have the children by now, but there is yet some paper work to be completed, but the man we need to meet with is sick. Please pray that we could get this finished quickly because the Nutritionist, Joy already has 2 children picked out for us and they are ready to come.

I've been very encouraged by the comments and e-mails in the past few days, so thank you. Email hasn't been so hard to open lately, so feel free to contact me that way.

Renee and I need to head to town so I better end here...