Uganda: 40 Day Countdown!

We are getting ready for a trip to Uganda.  Part of the fun of praying and planning these trips is seeing who God puts together to GO!

Psalm 96:2-4English Standard Version (ESV)

2 

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

    tell of his salvation from day to day.

3 

Declare his glory among the nations,

    his marvelous works among all the peoples!

4 

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

    he is to be feared above all gods.

I am going to use this blog space for the next 40 days to share as we get ready, set, and GO! 

Today I will introduce the part of the team (so far) that is going from the USA.  I say it like that because there are people that are just as much or more a part of the team that actually live in Uganda.  We just get to join them and walk alongside them for a few weeks to enjoy our Lord and worship Him together.  We have 7 people (so far) from 3 different states.  I love to tell the stories of who and how God put together the team each time, it's always different and so very unique and special.

Our team is:  Knees Overseas In Love

Charlie and Jenay - Oregon

This was my first time in Uganda and Charlie's second time.
  Feb. 2011.
 Adopting Esther and pregnant with Maezie.

This was the last time Charlie and I got to go to Uganda together, and we went as a family.
Jan. 2015 - Pregnant with Cellie.

This will mark 7 1/2 years since Charlie's  and Lashae's first trip ever to Uganda.  This will be his 8th trip to Uganda.

Charlie is a Ugandan in white skins as Tucker would say.  Charlie comes alive in a whole new way when he is over there. I pray each time he goes that he brings back all the wild joy and boldness and brokenness that he operates in over there. 

This is my 6th time going to Uganda.  I have children and friends that I love as much as the children and friends in my everyday life here.  I know that sounds crazy to some, but it is just what God has done to my heart. I miss my family when I am there for 2 weeks and when I am here for the other 50 weeks, I miss my friends and family there.

Charlie and I  will spend our 28th wedding anniversary in Uganda together at a Ugandan wedding.  I can't imagine celebrating what God put together 28 years ago any better than being in one of our favorite places with some of our favorite people and doing what God has laid on our hearts to do!  It's seriously better than any extravagant vacation I could ever plan.....

Charlie and I have only been able to go together 3 other times.  This trip will be our 4th, and I can't wait to see what God does! 

Brenda - Oregon

This is her second time going to Uganda.  Brenda is a treasure to me and everyone she meets.  This lady knows how to roll with everything life throws at her, and she always comes out smiling and stronger and more beautiful than before.  Brenda is a friend and a sister in Christ and I feel completely humbled that God would put us together again to GO and share and encourage and serve our Lord and encourage our friends in Uganda.  

Brenda is very familiar with serving and praying, and this team will be marked by those 2 things. 

Brenda brings a calm and a joy to every situation and relationship that she encounters.

Brenda is a wife and a mom and a grandma and a daughter and a friend, and so much more!

Lashae - Montana

This is Lashae's 3rd trip.  This girl of mine, and I have never been together on any of our Uganda trips.  Lashae was the original one that God had laid on her heart to GO, and we said NO, and God said YES!
 We got overrode, and it pretty much wrecked our lives.  We were headed one direction with our lives and the "wreck" sent us in a different direction and it has been a wild mess ever since.
  All we can think about is going back to where the wreck happened.  Jesus took our lives in a whole different direction that doesn't make a lick of sense in this world, but it is the only thing that makes any sense at all.

 Does that make sense???

Lashae and Chaney has 3 of the GRANDest children I've ever known!
Chaney will be taking care of all the GRANDS while we are gone.  Oh this is what it looks like when a family lives on mission!

Jenna - Montana

This beautiful woman is a dear friend of Lashae's, and I consider her a daughter.  She has never been to Uganda before.  She has had a year of loss and grief and heartache and she is ready to jump out of her comfort zone and see God do something new and fresh and full in her life, and the life of people she encounters along the way. It was no surprise to me that after enduring the year that Jenna has endured, God would send her to some new territory and encounter Him in a new way and serve and pray and end this year on an adventure with HIM!

Jenna and Lashae are good friends and they do life and they do business with Jesus together, and now they are ready to GO Knees Overseas  together.  They are leaving behind husbands and my 3 amazing grands, but they have so much love and support from all the people in this photo and beyond, that we know everyone will only be better and stronger and closer than ever.  We are fully dependant on the Lord for all the people going and staying!
 These 3 families know what it is to really do life together on a consistent basis, and support  and pray for one another!

Kim and Alexis - Washington

This is a mother daughter duo.  They have never been to Uganda, but they have been on mission trips and they have caught the fire that comes with GOING and sharing the LOVE of JESUS!  They know how to take a leap of faith, not having to know all the details, but knowing in their hearts and in their bones that this is the thing God has truly designed them to do.  They are Jesus loving women, from a Jesus loving family, that live this life out in a way that stores up treasures for a Kingdom that is to come.

We have known Kim for close to 25 years, and we have known Alexis since she was born, and I am in awe and quite giddy that God would bring us together for this trip. 

This family knows how to serve in every sense of the word.  They love and serve the Lord our God first and foremost.  This family knows what it is like to be on the front lines for each other and for our country. This man of theirs, Kim's husband and Alexis' dad, is a Colonel, State Representative, and a Deputy.   This man of theirs protects and serves in so many ways, in so many uniforms, I can't even begin to tell you how safe and terrified I feel knowing he is sending 2 of his most precious gifts in this world to GO with us.  Brad's first response is to pray, and then he is a man of action; he is the best kind of first responder! 

 We are going to be going with a ton of prayer on this side of the world and also the added assurance that this man is connected to God, and connected to every type of protection this country has to offer. 

Our prayer is that we GO as a body that God has put together for this mission, for this time, and we will

 GO,

 Knees Overseas In Love.

Many people go to be the hands and feet of Jesus,  I feel like He is sending us to be the KNEES this time.  

We will go and pray and serve like we have never before.

  We will

 GO

 KNEES OVERSEAS

because we are

 HEAD OVER HEELS in LOVE

 with JESUS!  

He has given us so much and we just want to GO and do something crazy and see Him work in our lives and the lives of the people we get to see and serve,

 because we are :

KNEES OVERSEAS IN LOVE.