Times they are a changin'

It's been way too long since I last posted. Many exciting things have happened, but since I'm not writing a book... I'll just talk about what's happening now. At Aggie's Arts, we have entered a new era. I have replaced myself! We now have a new Executive Director! And, unlike I have ever done, this precious lady will actually be getting a paycheck. So, this is her REAL JOB! :-) There is no way for me to fully express how exciting this is to me. I can't believe that a little idea, a little dream, a few people getting together to try and make a difference, has blossomed into what we have today at Aggie's Arts.

And you're probably thinking, "What?! Amanda Page is quitting Aggie's Arts?!" No, I'm not quitting Aggie's Arts. I'm just taking a smaller role that will be less demanding for me (and my family). I am now the Director of Banda Artisans. The Banda Artisans are the group we've lovingly called 'the ladies' up until recently. This position is basically perfect for me. :-)

Our new Executive Director is Cindy Jones. She recently finished her Master's Degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University. Cindy is a native of New Jersey and desires to dedicate her life to helping impoverished families. Cindy is a vivacious young woman with a passion for giving. She is thrilled to be with us, and we are thrilled to have her on our team!

Next week, I will be taking Cindy to Uganda to meet our Banda Artisans & visit with the students & teachers in Kisoro. WooHoo!! Cindy and I are beyond excited about the trip. We've been collecting gifts to take to teachers in Kisoro. Many wonderful men and women have given scissors, rulers, maps, and so much more! And we've gathered gifts for the Banda Artisans that I know they are going to be *thrilled* about. Thanks to several generous donors, we will be presenting each of the ladies with a Bible AND a pair of shoes! These are two things that I know these ladies are going to be shouting praises about! :) They've asked me for bibles a few times, but the timing & funding just hasn't worked out to get this done. I'm thrilled that Rivertree Church in Huntsville donated the funds to cover a bible for each lady! And the ladies have never asked me for shoes... but I have ALWAYS noticed their desperate need for good shoes. I wrote a whole blog about that here. And thanks to several generous people, each and every lady will receive a high quality pair of shoes!

I will be posting pictures on my Facebook wall and the Aggie's Arts Facebook Page, so be sure to keep an eye out in the next couple weeks. Also, in the next couple weeks I would ask that you be in prayer for us. Here are some specific prayer requests:

- Safety as we travel to & from Uganda as well as within Uganda
- Good health; that Cindy and I would adjust easily to the different foods, weather, etc. and not be in need of any medical treatment while on the trip
- Clear Communication; that the language barrier would not be a problem and we can all understand clearly all the messages between us and the people we are visiting with
- Protection; that there would be no attempts against us for evil intentions
- For our families; that our families would be at peace as we are away, knowing that God is caring for us; and that everything would run smoothly in our homes as we are away

Also, please pray that our backs can withstand the strain of all this luggage... 

Thank you all for your support and love. If you see my husband, my kids, or my parents while I'm gone, I would love for you to just give them a big hug and remind them that God will honor their sacrifice. If you feel led to make them some banana bread, a casserole, or take my kids for ice cream while I'm gone, that'd be sweet too. ;-)

God Continues to be Faithful - a follow up to Keeping me Humble

Back in 2012, I shared straight from my heart in this blog post Keeping me Humble. Today, I continue to struggle as I serve as director of Aggie's Arts, mother my children, run my household, work my part-time job, and love my husband. Life is hard. I make decisions every day that impact a whole lot of people. It's not just about me anymore. And there is no room for pride in any of these jobs.

I thank God for His faithfulness in keeping me humble. As leader of a non-profit, I have had to fall on my sword more times that I ever thought I would be willing. I've learned that swallowing your pride is actually one of the most important things you can do as a leader. I used to think being a leader meant you could make every person see and agree with your ideas in every instance. Not true. In fact, that is very far from the truth. The truth is that sometimes as a leader, you have to completely forget your idea and go with another one for the sake of unity and strength in the group. 

I have eaten my words as a mother more times than I can count. Just this week I was telling a friend how I wouldn't be one of those empty-nesters who didn't know what to do with herself. I said I would be excited when we get to that point in our lives. Then... All three of my kids left home for two nights. And I cried. Just two nights with them gone and I cried. Words officially eaten!

So, I challenge you to pray what I prayed. Pray that God will humble you. I can assure you He will. And I can assure you it will be difficult to handle. But... You will learn some terrific lessons! 

Late night thoughts

It's 10:30 pm. I have to be up at 5:30 in the morning to be at an Aggie's Arts sale at 6:15. I definitely should have been asleep already. But I decided to check 'one last thing' on the American Embassy in Uganda, which led me to their Facebook page, which led me to my Facebook page, which somehow led me to being inspired to write. 

I got my haircut today. I used a new hairdresser, and she was very interested in Aggie's Arts. She asked lots of questions, and I enjoyed sharing one of my great loves with her. As I explained what we do, I told her how our organization strives to make long-lasting impact in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Uganda. We are not a fly by night organization that seeks to fulfill our own desires for warm fuzzies. We don't just go and do what makes us feel good or something to check off a box. We are in for the long haul. 

It is my prayer that long after I am dead and gone, Aggie's Arts will still be strong and active. I pray that ten years from now, you can look up the ladies and families we work with today and find that they are better off... that their life skills, business skills, and parenting skills have been developed... And not that they simply saw a bunch of Americans come in and build a house without helping them learn to sustain it. 

Did you ever go on a mission trip with your youth group and help build a church or a school? If you looked them up today, do you think the church is full of disciples? Is the school still operating? Is it thriving? I hope so. But, too often we Americans think we are going to save the world in a week and we forget that whatever we do, the locals must maintain. We go to a developing country and pass out bibles, give out candy, or build a school. 

It's going to take more than that. Alleviating poverty is not going to happen with a one week plan. It's not even a one year plan. If we are to truly help a community, it's got to be a ten year plan, a twenty year plan, a forty year plan! That plan is fluid and we learn as we go. But, it is imperative that we are intentional to not do things just because it feels good for us. We must keep our motives in check and constantly evaluate whether we are simply feeding in to the god complex that is so rampant in our society... Or if we are doing it to truly make a long term impact in the lives of the poor we are serving. 

Aggie's Arts doesn't have a ten year plan laid out on paper. We don't have a twenty or forty year plan. But, we plan to still be there in forty years. And, so far, we have been working with our small group of ladies for seven years. We have seen growth. We have seen spiritual growth, growth in their businesses, growth in their children's educations. We have seen development. I've seen it with my own eyes. 

This kind of development requires a large investment, but the payoff is phenomenal. It is such a wonderful privilege to work alongside the incredible people at Aggie's Arts. Our team in the US is filled with people who love God, love the people of Uganda, and have a passion for alleviating poverty by empowering the poor! I absolutely love what I do. I absolutely love what Aggie's Arts is all about. And I am absolutely thrilled that I get to go visit my friends in Uganda next week for the fifth time since beginning this journey. 

Now, off to bed. Gotta get some sleep so I can sell some beads tomorrow! :-)

Oh yeah... If you want to join us by volunteering, purchasing Aggie's Arts products, or donating, please visit our website to learn more! I would Love for you to experience the awesomeness of serving with our team. aggiesarts.org

P.S. 

For more information on helping the poor without hurting the poor, check out these wonderfully insightful books: When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkart & Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton

Not Facebook Worthy

I just read an article about Facebook Envy... How we all share our finest moments and our most beautiful pictures and the envy that creates.  It inspired me to share my heart today.  This is not my finest moment... Not what I would normally consider Facebook Worthy. 

Recently, I went to a retreat where we focused on joy. At one point, one of the leaders invited ladies to come up if they were needing joy. She said if you're just not feeling the joy of the Lord, if you're wanting it and just not feeling it, come on up here and we will pray with you. I sat still in my seat. I was feeling pretty joyful. Things were great. I had just gotten back from Africa with Jason, and the business of the Fall season had not set in quite yet. So, I sat still... I even joined in when she began praying for the ones who were brave enough to stand up and admit they weren't feeling the joy. 

I'm here in my house about 6 weeks later wishing I had that group of women to surround me today. I am so overloaded that I don't know what task to work on next. My oldest child is reaching the middle school years, and we are constantly driving each other nuts. My house is always a wreck. It's been weeks since I've cooked a decent meal for my family. I feel like I'm constantly letting someone down... either one of my kids, my husband, my parents, my fellow volunteers at Aggie's Arts, and the one that makes me feel the most guilty - letting down the people we minister to in Uganda... Constantly, there is something I'm not doing well enough. 

So. Here I sit. I'm not feeling the joy right now. On the contrary, I'm feeling quite defeated. But, I know the joy is available through my Savior. I know God's got this. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I hope it brings rest. Even though I'm not feeling it, I'm still holding on to that truth that I don't have to do it all. God's got this. 

Our Trip to Africa

After six years working with Aggie's Arts and three trips to Uganda without my other half.... I finally got to take Jason with me. It was a whole new experience. I cannot fully put into words exactly how thankful I am that I got to take him. On my last three trips, I literally felt as if a part of me was left behind. I loved every trip. Loved, loved, loved every trip. But, it was always difficult for me to not have Jason at my side. When we are in the US working on Aggie's Arts stuff, he is always by my side. He reads my mind, finishes my sentences, and anticipates my needs even before they arise. So, when I'm in Uganda without him I just don't feel complete.

Saying Goodbye!

   

This is a scene from one of the markets we went to looking for supplies

On this trip, The Lord blessed us with wonderful protection and guidance 24/7. On our first day, I had a To Do list of about 9 things... All of which required a different stop. I had planned to be happy if we accomplished about half of the tasks. If you've spent much time in a third world country, you understand why I didn't think all 9 tasks would be completed that day. The thing is, you can be stuck in traffic for two hours if you hit the wrong street at the wrong time. Getting lunch can take an hour and a half. And finding a store that has just what you need and the quantity you need is much like a treasure hunt. But at the end of that first day, I marked off every single thing on my list! It was a phenomenal day. We even made it to dinner and back to the hotel before dark.

Here we are buying paper. 

Since our trip was two weeks long, I can't detail every day for you in a blog post. Maybe one day I'll write a book! But, here I will give you the highlights. Our second day on the ground began our time with the Aggie's Arts beadmakers. We gave them goody bags... I always Love that part!

These were all the things we had for each of the ladies.
Some really useful stuff and some just-for-fun stuff! 

We enjoyed going through all the items with the group. One of their favorite things was the pair of sunglasses.

After going through the goodies, I shared a word of encouragement with the ladies and we discussed our plans for the week. The area where we are gathered in this photo is where we usually gather with the ladies. The home on the left is that of Mary Alonyo. She is a natural leader and takes a leadership role with the group. As our group does not have a building in Kampala yet, we simply use Mary's house as our gathering spot. This week, however, another organization that has a building nearby was generous enough to allow us to hold meetings in their building. It was wonderful to have a room to go in and be out of the sun and have room to organize our things.

Pretty things in progress...

The rest of the week was spent working on developing new products, teaching them some fundamental business skills, and making our regular bead purchases. I had challenged the ladies to come up with some new designs to show me when I arrived. I was very impressed with all that they had for me. They really did a terrific job. 

Here is a Sneak Peek at one of our new designs!

We also worked together and came up with a design for wall art and one for pocket mirrors. I am super excited about these new additions to our product line! (The full line will be available in mid-November) as we worked on these gorgeous new items and the ladies created beautiful things right before my eyes, I couldn't help but think of where they were when we met them. Most of these ladies were crushing stones in the quarry. And they have seen and experienced atrocities of war that most of us Americans will only read about in history books or in the news... They've lived it! And look what a beautiful picture of redemption. Now they are able to sit in their homes, with their families, out of the sun, and roll paper into beautiful works of art. Praise the Father God!

Here we all are in the room where we held our meetings. 

Our week with the ladies in Kampala was very productive and fruitful.  Then, we had a day off on Sunday.  We decided to take a short trip to Jinja and see the "Source of the Nile".  This is one place I had never been, so that was extra special. :)

Standing in the Nile River

There is something pretty special about the Nile River.  It holds such a great amount of history... and we got to put our feet in!  We then enjoyed lunch at a nice little hotel nearby and headed back to Kampala.






























Finally, on Sunday night we headed to Entebbe to pick up the rest of our team for our second week, Chris & Kelly Persons.

Since our friends' name is Persons, this is the sign we
held up at the airport... because we are so funny! ;-)

They arrived safely and we headed back to Kampala for only a few hours of sleep before leaving at 5:00 the next morning.  On Monday, we drove 12 hours on treacherous roads to get to Kisoro, Uganda.  This is the area where we have a partnership with a group of 7 schools.

On our way from Kampala to Kisoro, we cross the Equator.

I am very thankful that Chris and Kelly were able to be with us in Kisoro, as Chris is our director of Kisoro Kids. He led our meetings and directed our time in Kisoro. This was a welcomed break for me after having been 'in charge' for all of our time in Kampala. It was a great encouragement to visit schools where there used to be floors of dirt and lava rocks, and to now see them floored with concrete! We repeatedly had children tell us how thankful they are that now they don't get jiggers while sitting in class. 

A Classroom in Kisoro... floors cemented by Kisoro Kids! :)

Some of the teachers helping unpack the classroom supplies.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent visiting with teachers, parents, and students from several of the schools.  In talking with the teachers and parents, we realized their great need for classroom resources. By God's perfect plan, we had brought a large selection of resources for them. The teachers were absolutely thrilled with the posters, borders, scissors, glue, stickers, first aid supplies, pencils, notebooks, pencil sharpeners, and soccer balls. Those things were a great start, but the needs at these schools are far more than what we could hold in a few suitcases. We discussed starting a Teachers Library and Resource Room. No definite plans have been made yet, but this is certainly something we hope to get going.

It was fun to watch Jason soaking in Africa for the first time. In the first few days, most of what I heard from him was, "Take a picture of that!", "Look at THAT!", "Did you see that!?" I was very thankful that his love for the country and the people of Uganda appeared to be just as strong as mine. I joked and told him a few days in that I was glad we didn't get there and him say, "This is crazy. I want to go home!" Haha. That would have been pretty awkward! Instead, Jason adored the ladies and their families. He felt honored to spend time with them and help in the work we were doing. And the same when we went to Kisoro... He did hate the roads, but he loved the destination. :-)

Jason with Helen, Susan, and Rose.  They were
buying sodas for the group.

To all of our supporters, saying Thank You seems quite inadequate. This trip was not only a greatly productive time for the ministry of Aggie's Arts, but also a pinnacle time in the personal lives of Jason and myself. I pray great blessings to all of you who have supported us through prayer and giving. 

Free Time!!

As a wife and mother of three, my time is pretty precious. I think back to the days when I was single or even when we were married and had no children... And I wish I had appreciated how much time I had to myself. Nowadays, my time is not my own. It is dedicated to my family. And my 'free' time is dedicated to a cause that I hold just about as dearly as my own family. 

My sweet three kiddos!

My hubby and kids with me at the Aggie's Arts office. 

Now that my free time is so limited, I realize how precious it is. I have learned in my old age to say "no" to things. I am actually comfortable turning people down. I don't let myself get overloaded with boxes to check off. I might be overloaded sometimes, but I am overloaded with stuff I love! 

My office! On an Overloaded day! ;-)

When I was younger, I would sit in a meeting, hear a list of needs and just feel like I had to volunteer to fulfill as many slots as I could possibly fill. I felt like if I didn't step up, then no one might, and then the whole project would flop... All because I didn't step up. 

Finally, I realized that my feeling like that was kind of prideful. I mean, really... People can't get things done without Amanda Page? Um, yes they can. I realized that I needed to focus my time on what I was passionate about and where my heart was, instead of just checking off a bunch of boxes. 

Don't get me wrong, I love to help with lots of stuff! I chaperone field trips when I can and I love to take a meal to a new mom. But, I don't do those things out of obligation anymore. I know I can say No. And I know the world will keep turning if I do say No. 

On a field trip with Mattie, my oldest. Super Fun!

I am so thankful for wonderful mentors who helped me find that freedom!  Without the freedom to say No to some things, I would not have been able to devote myself so fully to Aggie's Arts... Where my heart truly is. 

In Uganda with our ladies and their families. :-)

I had dinner with some dear friends this week. One of them (whom I have always wanted to be like when I grow up) said to me how impressed she is with how far we have come with Aggie's Arts. She said how the whole thing was a great idea, and we often have great ideas that just stay ideas... how wonderful it is that we have stuck with it and it has grown to such a great ministry. 

It's that freedom to say No... Freedom to stop checking off boxes and focus on my passion that HE birthed in me that has allowed me to stick with Aggie's Arts. I am so very thankful that God has allowed me to be a part of this beautiful story of hope and love. He has given me focus and He has given me freedom. As I prepare to leave on my fourth trip to Uganda, and finally take my husband, I feel incredibly blessed and very excited to see what God has in store. 

In Uganda at one of the schools we support!

So, I encourage you today to find your passion. Stop feeling like the world will fall apart if you don't check that box. Know that God is in control. Listen to Him to figure out where to spend your "free time". 

In Uganda with Simon & Aggie's baby girl, Ivy! LOVE!

To find out more about Aggie's Arts visit our website www.aggiesarts.org. 

The Joy of the Lord

 “For you shall go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Isaiah 55:12

Recently someone asked me what it’s like when I go to Uganda.  She was interested in where I stay, what I eat, how hot it is there.  We had fun laughing about the lukewarm showers and intermittent power.  But, what I wish I had told her is what it is *really* like.  The facilities where I stay are decent enough for any ‘not-too-spoiled’ American.  And I know now where to get some pretty good food.  But what is great about Uganda is the Joy.

I walk the dirt alleyways with my friends, the beadmakers, visiting their homes.  I get to see how their lives have changed since I was last there.  Sometimes they have added a new room to their home, or built a completely new house.  I get to be the first to see their newest designs with the paper beads.  I get to meet their children.  I absolutely love it.  It is phenomenal.  My heart fills with the Joy of the Lord!

Hilda's Home - Before & After

What it’s like when I go to Uganda… I forget all about the fact that my kitchen needs remodeling.   I forget that I have ugly pink tile in my second bathroom.  I forget all about the second-hand sofa that is an eye sore in my living room.  I realize what is important in this world.  I get a reality check…  A very serious reality check. 

When I walk through Banda, the area where our beadmakers live, I am utterly and completely filled with Joy.  It is the Joy of the Lord.  Having been to this area for the first time in 2008 and having the privilege of going back and seeing how their lives have changed… it just leaves me in awe.  I sit in their homes and ask about their families.  I hear updates of how their children are moving along in school.  I hear about medical concerns, and I pray with them.  THIS is what matters.  Loving and serving… Just as Christ loved and served as He walked this earth.  That is what matters.  And that is where we find His Joy.

So, when I’m in Uganda I feel the Joy that Isaiah describes.  It’s the kind of Joy that makes you think any moment now the mountains will literally break forth with singing and the trees will begin to applaud!  You just feel like you’re going to explode! 

If you haven’t experienced that kind of Joy, I pray that you will.  And you might find it in Uganda, or you might find it in your own backyard!

To find out more about Aggie's Arts, visit our website www.aggiesarts.org.