As you know, sponsorship is our family's passion! We have seen first hand where our sponsorship money goes and have seen the ways, big & small, that it is used to benefit the child (both short term and long term). Every trip to Africa, our goal is to recruit sponsors back home. This trip, we are praising God for 5 more children at New Hope Uganda being sponsored (currently all the kids at First Love Kenya are sponsored)....if you are one of the new sponsors, THANK YOU and May God richly bless you for stepping out in obedience to the scriptural mandate to take care of the orphans! 
Our current group of kids that we sponsor at First Love Kenya. Zablon, our oldest, came home just in time from boarding school that we got to spend the last 3 days with him! As you can see the rest of the children "look up to him!" ;)
At 6'2.5", he towers over Joey:
So blessed to call this amazing bunch of kids "ours"! Of course, they all belong to God, but He gave us the amazing privaledge of loving on them here on earth!
The girls:
This was our first trip meeting Sammy (we took him on after our older boys graduated from college):
As you can see, his smile lights up the room!!
One of the greatest joys is for us to watch team members meet their sponsored child for the first time! That moment when the child becomes more than just a photo on your refrigerator, but a living, breathing, giggling human being full of personality and spunk!
(My cousin, Diane, with her adorable little Emily)
(Berta, a new sister in Christ from our team meeting her sponsored son, Mina)
(Angie, Tom Clinton's daughter, who we got to serve with on our 1st & 3rd trips, with her sponsored daughter Felista).
I'm such a sucker for dimples!!
Each time we come to Africa, my brother sends along caps for us to pass out (which is a HUGE hit). Because of his height, Zablon loves basketball, so he naturally chose one with a basketball on it! Little did he know this was my high school alma mater! Cracks me up to see him in it!
It is such a gift, hanging out with our sposnored kids, getting to know their personality, watching them grow from trip to trip, loving on them as much as possible, reveling in the conversations (with the older ones), joking & teasing, laughing & crying, soaking up every moment!
We LITERALLY get to be Christ's hands & feet to these children, who have no parents to physically wrap their arms around. All the fundraising, planning & hard work was worth it just to take this one nap on the lawn with our youngest daughter, Hellen!
Sweetest thing ever......! After we left the First Love children's home, Hellen walked to the office to ask the director why her sponsor was crying so hard when we said goodbye. "Didn't she like the kiss I gave her? I hugged her really big so she would feel better." (Of course both things had made me cry all the harder). "Why wasn't she happy hugging all the kids at First Love? Why was she so sad?" The director said her questions brought tears to HIS eyes as he tried to explain to her that it was because I loved the kids so much and was so happy for the time we got to spend with them that I was crying because we didn't want to say goodbye and wished we could stay with the kids longer. He told her that by now (driving to the airport) I had stopped crying and was only thinking of the happy memories from our time at First Love. But she was so worried about me that he called our driver on his cell phone and put me on the phone with her so that she could hear my voice and be reassured that I was okay. I HAD stopped crying at that point but it was all I could do to hold it together, keep my voice from shaking, and not burst into tears all over again at hearing her sweet little voice saying "I love you"!!!
Such an honor that 2 of our oldest First Love sons are trying to start a school in Kibera Slum named after us!
As a child sponsor, you have no idea how far reaching your legacy will be!
Please email us if you are interested in changing a child's life, giving them hope and a future! We would love to help you get in touch with New Hope Uganda or First Love Kenya!
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