To be fair, I've got to say, though...

 
... that what Praise and I have been able to accomplish in the last 10 years with God's help and the help of MANY around the world, wouldn't have been possible nor half as beautiful had it not been for her other half, Moses.

Truth be told, I actually met him before I met her!

YUP!

Just the day before, but hey, that counts, right?!

😏

During my stay with the large Ugandan family I shared about in my last blog-post links, there was ONE young man who really stood out to me.

He seemed so alive, joyful, kind, respectful, outgoing, polite and peaceful. 

His posture was a reflection of what I picked up from his spirit: tall and straight.

But what touched me most about him was the way he was relating to the many children and leading them in their evening devotions.

WOW! Just WOW!!!

He was very soft-spoken and gentle with them, but intentionally ushering them into the beautiful presence of God and directing their mix of praise, worship, testimonies, sharing of memorized Scriptures as well as a message with great sensitivity and care.

JUST SO BEAUTIFUL!

I WAS IMPRESSED!!

When Praise confided to me some time later that she had started a relationship with a young man, I was OVERJOYED when I found out it was him - Moses!

FANTASTIC, I thought! He's the perfect man for her - and SOOO good with children!!!

The two met in that family home and without stealing their story from them, let me just say that Moses was so impressed with the 10 children that had been with Praise and were now in the family he was with, that he got curious and wanted to find out WHO had raised them. 

She sure must be a VERY SPECIAL LADY!

The rest is history!

They got married in January of 2014.

And since 2016, he and Praise have been co-leading the ministry.

You can read more about his back-ground here.

While she's the visionary leader, he's the administrator.

They complement each other so well.

Love God and people so well - together.

A match made in heaven!

And did I say that he's a great father to all the many children they have?!

April 2018 with the youngest adopted baby :

So, here's a cheer to you, Moses!

I know you don't drink alcohol, I know, I know,

but let me salute you and raise my virtual glass of champagne to you

(there've got to be some perks to doing a virtual celebration, aye?!😉)

CHEERS!

Praise's and my 10-year-celebration is yours, too!

I honor you for being brave enough to marry a woman with 40 children

😮

and stand up against culture and join her in her ministry

(rather than the other way around, which is a MUST in your culture).

Yebale nnyo, Moses!

Love you so much and am very proud of you!

Praise, the children and the ministry are blessed to have you.

And so am I.

This way? For reals???

If somebody had told me way back that the main way through which God was going to use me to help orphans and vulnerable children was THIS WAY, I' m not sure I would've believed it to be possible.

Imagine with me for a minute:

God was going to answer the desperate prayers of a single Ugandan girl for somebody to help her care for the orphaned/abandoned children God had entrusted her with.

photo taken in 2011 at Uganda's Prayer Mountain - months before we first met

He was also going to answer the passionate prayers of a red-haired German girl since her childhood, now in her forties and living in New Zealand, begging God to allow her to make a difference in the lives of exactly such children.

Her main game as a little girl was to pick up abandoned 'babies' from the 'streets' and care for them.

  

He was then going to move heaven and earth arrange unbelievably incredible divine circumstances to make them meet, connect and form a relationship that was going to fulfill both of their dreams and bring about His purposes for the redemption of many suffering children.

There wasn't going to be an impressive international organization set up.

(A local NGO had already been started and is still the umbrella for the ministry).

This was going to be based on ONE THING:

RELATIONSHIP!

They were going to be 

 💛Mother and daughter 💛

FAMILY!

Though they were only going to actually be in the same country/place for an average of 10 days each year, God supernaturally knit their hearts together in such a deep way that the difference of culture, upbringing, age, and the distance of thousands of miles would not compromise their bond - and their ministry together.

(for the record, most such relationships between Ugandans and Westerners don't last long)

UN.BE.LIEVABLE - REALLY!!!

And now

EXACTLY

10 years

one decade

3,650 days

87,600 hours

5,256,000 minutes have passed since the day they first met!

* September 1rst, 2011 *

A day you can read about here and here.

Thank God for technology and the internet!!!

After countless hours on video calls

some visits in New Zealand and Uganda

lots of

 talking

laughter

misunderstandings

tears

forgiveness

building trust

fun

conflict

hugs 

prayers

building a ministry together

travelling together

ministering together

with - at times - all hell breaking loose to destroy their relationship.

GUESS WHAT???

THEY MADE IT!!!

WE made it!!!

Our relationship is in an amazing place right now, despite the fact that we haven't seen each other in person for almost 2 years now!

Has it been easy?

NO!

Has it been worth it?

YUUSSSS!!!

We've had to push through SO MUCH

had plenty of reasons to give up time and again

But by the grace of God - here we are - celebrating

since the day we first met! 

Right here:

And these are our last couple of photos together, taken during our Zambia and Rwanda trip in November/December 2019:

I look back and catch myself musing:

How could God possibly be so clever to think of such a strategy for loving His suffering little ones?

That He would add this exquisite creature to my life,

and gift us with a unique and special relationship

as the key to the fulfillment of both of our dreams?

With both of us living on opposite sides of the world and hardly seeing each other?

How incredibly creative and lavish of Him!

What an absolute GENIUS!

My heart is deeply moved just reminiscing while I'm writing...

😭

💙💚💛💜💙💚💛💜💙💚💛💜

We were going to do celebrate this 10-year milestone in style!

Big time!

Richard was even going to travel back to Uganda with me for the occasion.

BUT

At the moment, travelling to and from Uganda is pretty much impossible - thanks to covid.

😭

So - here we are - left with the only option of some kind of virtual celebration.

And celebrate we will, right Praise?!!

Let the virtual celebration begin!

For each year together,

I'll put up a post on Facebook with some memories - for all to see.

And voilà: the first one!

😊

God made us family and co-workers.

Our hearts made us friends.

Nkwagala nnyo, Tendo!

Love you big, Praise!

💓