Sonrise Baby Home

Mommy Amy is back!!

sonrise1 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:12:16 +0000

Mommy Amy finally made it back to Sonrise on January 12, 2010! (and I am personally writing this, but I just had to say that “Mommy Amy” was back!). What a blessing and joy to be able to hug my little babies and kiss them over and over. Sonrise is such a special place – divinely appointed by God to serve as His haven for these precious babies that He has entrusted to us, and it was an overwhelming feeling to be able to once again set foot on what I believe is God’s hallowed ground.

I will be posting much more i the weeks to come about the lateest news on Sonrise, the babies, what God is doing, future dreams and plans, the workers, etc! But for now, I just wanted to say, it was so good to be back. I am now back home in America, but will be writing about experiences, the babies’ funny antics, personalities, etc as I always have much more time stateside than I do while being a full-time mommy in addition to directing and running a baby orphanage (I had the privilege of running the home completely while Damali took a much needed break! What a blessing to her and me!). I can’t wait to post new pictures, stories, updates about everyone – especially the newest additions to Sonrise – Oh my, how children are precious in His sight! (and mine! ). Thank you for your support, prayers, encouragement, etc and emails are always very welcome! Thank you!

God bless you!

Auntie Lindsey is here!

sonrise1 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:10:15 +0000

Auntie Lindsey finally made it to Sonrise!

Lindsey Warren is a dear friend of Amy’s and she left the United States a couple weeks ago to visit Uganda, particularly Sonrise Baby Home and Musana Children’s Home. What a blessing she has been – and what a trooper! When Lindsey arrived, none of her luggage did with her! All 4 suitcases did not make it to the airport wjen Lindsey did, and she was forced to go without them for over a week – almost a week and a half! Bless you, Lindsey!

Lindsey wet to Musana Children’s Home first (musana.org) and was able to work with the over 70 orphans there while also doig some pharmacy/nursing work! Lindsey is a pharmacist and is in her last series of rotations in different hospitals and hospital departments before she graduates in May of 2010! And through a series of God-ordained evets, after Amy got home from Uganda this summer, she was able to tell Lidsey about her trip and all that God was doing in Uganda. Well, Lindsey’s 5 week off rotation was coming up in November, and God started leading Lindsey to Uganda during her time off from pharmacy rotations! Isn’t God good??!!!?

So, there she is – in Jinja, Uganda serving the Lord and being His hands and feet! Praise His Name! Amy just spoke wth her on the phone a few minutes ago and gave her orders for an updated Sonrise family photograph!! We shall see how she does! All babies must be smiling and all looking at the camera at the same time, while sitting quite still….we’ll see how this goes! Thanks, Auntie Lindsey!!!

Orphan Sunday!

sonrise1 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:09:07 +0000

What a blessing this lovely day was! We met up with Mandi Johnson (a new found sister in Christ who also has a burden for these precious Sonrise babies!) at First Baptist Church of Gardendale, AL on Sunday, Nov 8th after a crazy Saturday of phone tag and arranging and re-arraging plans to make this happen! Well, God ultimately made this Orphan Sunday day happen, because it turned out absolutely beautifully
The First Baptist Church of Gardendale, AL was hosting an Orphan Sunday emphasis day, as the entire month of November is orphan awareness month, and they graciously agreed to let us come and set up a Sonrise “booth” persay in the atrium area. So, I (Amy) and several dear friends loaded up into my sister’s car (bless her!) to head to Alabama to share about what God is doing at Sonrise Baby Home! We left at 5 in the morning on Sunday, arrived at the church at around 8:30 and met Mandi Johnson for the first time! What a blessing she has been! She has such a passion for the Lord and His work that is is just contagious Praise the Lord for her sweet heart. So, we set up necklaces, our tri-fold board, bags, purses, etc at our little “booth” on the tables that were also graciously provided. We had such a great time meeting the wonderful people of FBG and sharing with them about Sonrise. God moved in the hearts of His people and we were able to sell necklaces and bags and such, and also have a few baby sponsors join the Sonrise family! Praise the Lord!
We drove back to Athens, GA late that night wit ful hearts that were in awe of what God had done. We look forward to being able to continue to speak about Sonrise, and we are praying that the Lord will bring many speaking engagements along! We would love to come and share about Sonrise Baby Home to any group, organization, church, Sunday school class, etc! Please contact us if you have any place at all where we might share about what God is doing at Sonrise! Bless you!

New Addition to the Sonrise Family!!!

sonrise1 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:33:09 +0000

Welcome to the family, Baby Mark!
Baby Mark came to us on November 11th. He was born on October 30th to his 15 year old mother who died during childbirth due to excessive bleeding. Her father told her that she could not go to the cliic or hospital to have the baby because she disobeyed him by getting pregnant. I can not imagine what the father must be feeling now after the loss of his daughter, so please keep him in your prayers. I also can not imagine such consequences for my sins and mistakes, and I feel so blessed to have a heavenly Father who casts our sins as far as the east is from the west.
But by the grace of God, a woman in Baby Mark’s village heard about him and came to Sonrise to ask if we had room to take him in. Funny story, but we were told originally that Baby Mark was a girl! Surprise! Oh, Ugandan miscommunication!
We gave the lady some money for transportation to bring Baby Mark to Sonrise and were told to expect them on Sunday. Well, Suday came and went without any word on the little newborn. Then we heard that he was goig to arrive on Tuesday, but he had malaria which had gotten very bad in the last hours and the ladies weren’t sure if he would be well enough to travel. So, we bega praying that Baby Mark would be well enough to travel on Wednesday, as he desperately needed food and medicine. Baby Mark had only been fed tea and water since his birth. No one could afford any milk. And aften times in Uganda, no one wants to take responsibility for new babies, so they go unnamed after they are born. But Baby Mark was coming to Sonrise Baby Home and he was going to belong! He was going to have a name!
By the Lord’s grace, Baby Mark arrived at Sonrise late Wednesday afternoon after a very, very long journey. Betty was also visiting and helping Damali during the move, and receiving the new baby, so she was on hand to help! And guess what?! I (Amy) was also on gmail chat with Betty eagerly awaiting the arrival of Baby Mark! I was just a little excited.
So, they gave him a bath, and immediately began feeding him a bottle. What a blessing to be able to give another little baby nourishment and love. Baby Mark is now growing and feeding quite often. He also loves to cry and be held all of the time! So, nightttimes have been particularly diificult, so pray for strength and endurance for Damali, and the staff as the care for this newborn that God has graciously entrutusted to Sonrise.
Welcome to the family, Baby Mark!

Moving Day to the New House!

sonrise1 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:47:42 +0000

Moving Day has arrived! Due to problems with the old house, such as plumbing, landlord issues, using the land, etc. we thought it best that Sonrise Baby Home should relocate to another home. So, Damali and Richard began looking for houses and the Lord led them to a couple particular houses that they believed would work best. With this move would come an increase in rent, but the Lord came through in unexpected ways and the mother of a dear friend promised to pay for the rent indefinitely! Praise the Lord!!! After settling wth the old landlord, and clearing up all paperwork with the new one, Damali, Richard and staff began packing up the house to move – not an easy task with babies and toddlers! Damali said you can only imagine how crazy it was trying to pack everything up with toddlers running around pulling everything back out and babies crying and wanting to be held! Craziness ensued!!!
One rule in Uganda (and I guess in America?? I haven’t ever really thought about it!) is that when one moves from a house, it must be completely repainted! The entire inside, and because the babies had marked on the outside of the house, the outside had to be painted as well! Paint can be very expensive, and the kind that is on the outside of the house is three different types and even more expensive than the inside kind. So, on top of having to move and change locations – everyone became painters!
Now, the babies have two rooms instead of just the one. Auntie Nora is sleeping in one room with the youngest ones and then Juliet is sleeping in another one with the older toddlers. In the old house they were so squashed together in the one room so at least now they have some breathing space. With the extra space, there is room for two more bunkbeds (with room for more, but immediate space for 2!) At the moment one baby does not have a bed so we really need to buy another bed. God has blessed the home with more babies, but as of yet, not all are sponsored. We are praying that God will provide for each baby as they come into Sonrise Baby Home with sponsors to support their little lives.
This compound is much bigger and nicer than the previous one, and we are thankful! Our prayer is still that God will provide the money for us to buy land and build our own compound with room for expansion and growth into a larger baby home, children’s home and guest house for volunteers, but all in the Lord’s timing. We would love to be able to house 50-80 babies and show them the love of Jesus! Please join us in this prayer as we rejoice over God’s provision for the new house, and as we hope for new provisions for the future!

Fred

sonrise1 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:35:41 +0000

Fred is a new baby that has been at Sonrise for about a month now. His story is very sad to hear. His father was murdered (shot) while stealing and currently not much is known about his mother. We are so thankful that God has brought him to Sonrise and we are praying fervently that fred will grow in the ways of the Lord and in His understanding. We just want the best for him – to grow in the fear of God and to not follow his father’s foot steps. We believe God has a special plan for his little life. We are praying that God will save him for his kingdom at a young age and that God will lead Him all of his days!! Baby Fred has been so good and has adjusted very well and so quickly. He is so cute and has the biggest smile! Fred is such a wonderful addition to our Sonrise family and we are so thankful he is here!

Julia & Stella

sonrise1 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:34:37 +0000

Sonrise has a new addition to the family in the way of a staff member and baby. Our dear Nanny Rebecca has left Sonrise to hopefully continue to pursue her high school education. God has provided another woman to help in her place. Julia is only 18 years old and has a baby named Stella. Baby Stella has suffered many illnesses but she is one year old and she has yet to walk. She is a bit delayed developmentally because of lack of medical care.

When Julia found out she was pregnant, Baby Stella’s father run away and left Julia. They have not heard from Baby Stella’s father since then. At one point Julia thought about aborting Baby Stella but then she decided to keep her baby. She has been struggling to support baby Stella and herself ever since. They have been living deep in the village where there is not much access to food and medicine. Julia really appreciates her job and seems very dedicated. She is so thankful to join the Sonrise Staff. Please, please pray for her. She seems really sad most of the time and baby Stella is so unhappy for right now. It seems that Julia was really the right person for the job. When hiring Staff for Sonrise, we usually choose the neediest lady to come and work with us. Please pray that God will work in Julia’s life and heal her from her past hurts. And pray that we will have wisdom with Baby Stella and her medical conditions, and that God will raise up a sponsor for her.

Fazira

sonrise1 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:05:39 +0000

We also just received another child who is about 2 years and very, very malnurished. Her name is Fazira and she is from the same village that Sonrise is in and she is just so hungry. She fed the whole day that she was at Sonrise. She really loves the milk and the food ,which shows that she’s been starving. Baby Fazira is very disabled and needs special attention. Damali has talked with her mom and agrees to help with Fazira’s feeding for maybe 2 weeks or so, but this will be done by her mom coming every day to Sonrise and give her some of Sonrise’s baby food and drinks. We would love to be able to find a sponsor for Baby Fazira as well. She needs so much care. Fazira needs to be taken to the capital city of Kampala for treatment and diagnosis to see what can be done to help her and save her little life. We are just not sure how much longer she will survive in her state. We believe that God moved in hearts to help Baby Fazira in this way. All children belong to God and God provides all the food. Nothing is done without His hand of mercy and grace. Our desire at Sonrise is to show the love of Jesus to not only those babies who enter our doors, but to those in the local village, community, and beyond! JESUS SAVES!

Patience

sonrise1 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:01:34 +0000

Patience is about 14 months old. Her mother, Salima, is 21 years old and she got pregnant with Patience while she was still in school. The father was apparently a really good guy, but when Salima was 4 months pregnant she went to where he worked and he wasn’t there. No one knew any information about his whereabouts. He had apparently left. After she hadn’t seen him for a week people started to say that he wasn’t coming back, he had abandoned her and that Salima should have an abortion. Salima didn’t want to abort her baby but with so many people advising her to go through with it, she started considering the option. After praying diligently, she knew there was no way she abort her baby.

There was still no news about the father or where he might have gone. Salima looked everywhere but couldn’t find him, but she still wanted to keep her baby. Patience is a little survivor, our little miracle. Salima still had no food, no job, and no money for milk. She was still breastfeeding when she came to Sonrise because she had no money for any other food for Patience. Salima had tried to find work and earn some money, but kept getting cheated. She would work in the gardens, but then after she finished people wouldn’t pay her. She was so thankful to find Damali and Sonrise. Salima came to Sonrise and worked on very little money but she was so thankful for the job. She worked on very little money at Sonrise, but was so thankful to have a place to work and live where her baby was fed and cared for. Salima was very hardworking, smart, and godly. She cared for the babies and loved them like her own.
About 6 weeks after Salima and Patience came to Sonrise, Salima got word from her village that her grandmother was very sick. Salima felt burdened to go check on her. When Salima came back, she decided she needed to take Patience with her and head back to her home village. So, Patience and Salima left Sonrise but they have not left our hearts. We are still hoping to be able to find a sponsor for Patience. Salima was not able to go to school when growing up because her village was so far away from schools and she did not have the funds for schooling. We do not want the same fate for Patience. We want her to be able to go to school and learn. We want her to have clean water, nutritious food, and shelter. We are hoping to check on them very soon, but Patience and Salima are still very much in our prayers and they will always be a part of the Sonrise Family.

Nulu

sonrise1 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:54:06 +0000

Nulu is one of the oldest babies at Sonrise at around three and half. Nulu was born the youngest in a very large polygamous family. Her father who was HIV postive died shortly after her birth. Nulu’s mother died soon after this time along with several other of her father’s wives. All the children were left in the care of the father’s sister. Nulu grew up calling her aunt mommy. However as more of her brother’s children were left in her care, the financial strain became too much for Nulu’s family. Nulu is quiet and reserved around new people. However after she gets comfortable she can be quite silly. She is very smart and already speaks three languages. Nulu’s loves to wrap up her baby dolls and carry wrapped packages on her head. She’s loves to sing and can always be counted on to lead the other babies in a song. Nulu and Catherine have become good friends and are often seen playing quietly together.