Dad's In Africa, And The Little Ones Finally Say "Da-Da"....Here Is Proof!

Chappy will be traveling to Cape Town late Sunday (our time). His reception should be much better once he is out of the jungle, so I hope he will get to see these videos. If you do, Chappy.....I'm not too happy that Hopey decided to say "Da-Da" before saying "Momma".....I'm just sayin'. By the way, Charlie, has become quite the over-achiever, hasn't he??? "Da-Da" at 15 months, wow!

Sunday will be a big day at the Hollis house. For the next four weeks, we plan to work tirelessly to raise money for the Reece's Rainbow Waiting Children, and from 2pm-4pm Sunday, we are hosting a neighborhood car wash! Hopefully we'll have several cars come through for a good wash and an excellent cause. At four years of age (Hope's age), children with Down Syndrome in other countries, such as the Ukraine and Russia, are removed from the orphanages and placed into mental institutions where they are sentenced to life in a crib. Even though they may have the ability to walk and run, these children are never allowed out of the crib for exercise. Even though they may speak, they are never spoken to again. And even though they may desire hugs and kisses, these children are never embraced again. Most die the first year. It is tragic. You saw the video of Hope above.....now imagine that sweet little pumpkin being thrown into a crib and left there to die, fed just enough food to satisfy but never enough to fill....just because she has Down Syndrome. That is what I think about, and it makes me sick inside.

Have you read the book, "Crazy Love"? (loved the book) Chappy and I hope to teach our children....and if successful, it is possibly one of the greatest lessons they will ever learn......be so recklessly in love with the Lord that you are willing to abandon "normalcy" and do crazy things to show His love to others. What doesn't make sense to the world makes perfect sense to the Father, doesn't it?

From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost For His Highest":

"If you love Me, keep My commandments" (1 John 14:15) "Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it......The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to His is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience, thousands were blessed. When God's redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces."

What is He calling you to do? Are you crazy in love with Him today? Are you crazy enough to allow His love to flow through you in a way that makes no sense to the world around you? I am. He took me through a fierce storm to toss me around a bit and shake me up, but on the other side, seeing more clearly than I have ever seen before, I am ready to be that crazy person.....crazy in love with My Father......anxious to show love to others because of His crazy love for me!!!

Meet Mrs. Ellie....

I will have a picture to share with you soon.....I can hardly wait! However, for now, I want to paint a picture with words. Mrs. Ellie, 50+ year servant of the High King in one of the hottest places on earth (105 degrees yesterday and humidity capable of knocking a person down) has a medium build and sports grayish white hair. Along with her deceased husband, Paul, over the years Ellie has helped plant several churches in the Tonga where there are many tribes and 37 different dialects/tongues. She can speak them all. The people she serves are dying of AIDS. Many believe if they rape a virgin child, they will be healed from the deadly disease; as a result, most of the children have AIDS as well. The children are either born with the disease or given the disease in a most cruel way. In spite of their death sentence, Chappy says the children are a delight to be around and are happy, "typical acting", children. Ellie ran an orphanage in the Tonga for many years, but now runs a feeding station where hundreds of hungry men, women, and children gather to be fed.

Aside from loving the unlovely, Ellie's chief mission has been to teach her people that God loves them and thinks they are incredibly valuable. In her region, the caste system is very prominent. (Class (distinction) based on birth). Since she deals with those who are considered the lowest of the low, the churches spend much time teaching that all God's creation is special in His sight.....and the lowest of the lows will be the greatest in the Kingdom that is to come! Once the people grasp this truth, they can be helped.....life becomes something that is worth living.

After leaving the jungle late last night, Ellie drove the men to their hotel and stopped at a large mud hut that housed a restaurant for dinner. When they walked in, there was a piano in the center of the room. While the others found their places around a table, Mrs. Ellie found her place at the piano. She began to play a beautiful African spiritual.....and then, the most amazing thing happened. The workers of the restaurant, even those who were cooking in the kitchen, gathered around her, and in Zulu, they all sang. Chappy said it was an incredible sight to see the natives Africans gathered around little Mrs. Ellie singing. He captured it on tape, so I will share it with you when he returns.

When leaving the restaurant, Mrs. Ellie announced she would return to pick the guys up at 5am to take them on a jaunt through the jungle to spot some lions. She has guaranteed they will see incredible wild life. Oh, did I mention she is in her seventies???? Don't you love her????

Have a wonderful day today----serve the Lord with gladness!!! Be reminded that YOU are so very special in His sight!!!

Good news: I mentioned yesterday that I had published Hope's story in book form.....40 books have already sold. Every single penny of profit will go toward either Reece's Rainbow Waiting Children OR Amazima Ministry! Thank you for giving. For anyone else who may be interested in purchasing the book, just go to the blog's sidebar and click on Hope's face; this will take you to the "Blurb" site to order.

Africa Update...

I heard from Chappy briefly late yesterday. So far, no one in the group is sick; however, from what I have been told, it usually takes 24 hours before any "flu-like symptoms" rear their ugly heads. The group will be visiting a feeding station in the Tonga all day today that is run by a modern day saint named Ellie. Her husband was tragically run over by a car last year while walking down a road......he and Ellie had worked together in the Tonga for over 50 years. Let that sink in. Can you imagine a couple giving up their entire lives to a people who are dying of AIDS, who sometimes are quite savage, and who are dirty and unlovely? When her husband died last year, she told the ministry team she is staying. Africa is her home, and the people of her region have become her family. Chappy gets to hug Ellie's neck today. I hope he hugs it tight, because today, he is hugging a high servant of the King of Kings. Awesome to consider, isn't it???

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On another note, if you'll take a look at my side bar, you will notice I have published Hope's story in book form. 30% of the proceeds from the book will go to Amazima Ministries to feed the hungry and care for orphans in Uganda Africa and 60% of the proceeds from the book will go to Reece's Rainbow Waiting Children (a ministry that finds homes for orphans with Down Syndrome Internationally). I will keep 10% to pay for shipping costs for those who are not able to order from the internet. With the holidays around the corner, you might want to consider clicking onto Hope's photo on the right and entering the BLURB site to purchase a few to give as teacher's gifts or office gifts. With an order of 5 or more books, shipping is a flat fee of $6.99. While I am not a professional writer, it is a testimony from the heart and 100% of the proceeds go to help two wonderful causes! Over the years, many have encouraged me to write Hope's story in book form, but I couldn't manage to find the energy and time until I realized I could use her story to help support "the least of these".

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Again, thank you for your many prayers for Chappy and his team.....he was unsure he would be able to contact me today, but if I get an update, I will post. The region he will be serving for the next couple of days contains the largest population of people with AIDS in the world. An estimated 10-15 children in this region die a day from AIDS, but Ellie, the 70-something year old widow saint (who has been described as a "real character"), continues to bring light and hope to those in Africa who have become "her people". Father, I pray you'll pour out your richest blessings upon Mrs. Ellie. Continue to give her good health as she literally embodies your hands and feet and serves the African people in the Tonga. May they come to know You as she ministers to them, and may thousands upon thousands enter Your Kingdom that is to come by way of the sacrificial service of Mrs. Ellie and her husband.

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"And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand." Revelation 8:4

URGENT! Please Pray for Chappy and His Group

If you are reading this, please stop and pray for Chappy and the four men who are with him in Arica right now. I just got off of the phone with Chappy, and one of the men in their group was stopped by a customs official and hassled in Johannesburg, South Africa. The other four had made it through with no problem. This particular official demanded to see the man's Yellow Fever vaccination card, but he didn't have one. In fact, not one of the five men had the Yellow Fever vaccination before going to Africa, because it is not a required shot and reportedly can make a person VERY ILL!!! Some visitors to Africa take the shot and don't have a problem, while others, for some reason, become terribly sick for days following the shot. As a result, most American doctors are of the opinion that the reaction to the shot is much worse than dealing with the Yellow Fever if you happen to contract the sickness while in Africa.

The customs official demanded to know who was with this man and acted terrible marching back and forth shouting. The four other men in the group came forward (including Chappy) even though they had already passed through customs successfully themselves, then she personally escorted them to a clinic within the airport and forced them to have the Yellow Fever shot. All of the men are upset for two reasons: first, they have mission work to do in a few hours in the Tonga and do not need to be sick from a shot; second, who wants to have a shot in an unclean airport in South Africa???

Please pray their blood pressures will not be sky high from the ordeal, the needles used were clean and sanitary, the additives in the shot will not be harmful, and they will not become violently ill from the shot. I could hear the concern in Chappy's voice. If you join me in prayer, and ask others to pray, I know our Father will be faithful to answer. I ask you to set aside any judgemental spirit that might try to slither its way into your mind; I know some might be tempted to think the group has no business traveling to Africa to do mission work in the first place. This voice is not the voice of our heavenly Father who loves the African people, especially the African orphans, so very much. Our God has power over this, if we, who are called by His Name, humble ourselves before Him and pray for our brothers in Christ who are doing their very best to serve Him. I thank you right now, ahead of time, for your prayers for my love.

As an update, yesterday was an incredible day for Chappy. He visited the mission-sponsored orphanage in Kibera.....a literal Garden of Eden built just outside the walls of the slums of Kibera. Just a few months ago, their four water tanks (that are supplied by a deep well) began to run dry. Of course with no water, the orphanage would be in major trouble; in fact, they wouldn't be able to operate. This orphanage houses 100 children at the moment and many more children come in each day from the surrounding slums to attend school and get a warm meal.

The orphans, with great faith, went outside and stood around the almost empty containers to pray. They cried out to the Lord, their Life-Giver, and begged Him for water. As you know, it pleases the Father to give good gifts to His children. Praise Him, those containers were filled within three hours.....it should have taken fifteen hours to fill them. Children who have been left behind by earthly parents who were ravaged by AIDS (the children probably watched their parents die a slow, painful death), shouted praises and love to their heavenly Father on that day. They had prayed with expectation, and in response, God provided. Can you imagine the beautiful sight?

Before leaving the orphanage yesterday, it was mentioned that one of the containers had cracked recently. Consequently, the orphanage was left with three tanks of water to supply all of the children instead of the usual four. This loss forced the Wombles (Missionaries who run the orphanage) to become more mindful of conserving their water instead of being able to allow the children to have freedom to consume as much water as they wanted. Chappy asked how much the tanks cost and was told $500.00. My sweet husband, in response, gave them cash on the spot and bought the orphanage another tank. It will be up and running within days.

When Chappy relayed this story to me, I cannot describe the joy that came through the phone. He was thrilled to be able to do something tangible for the orphans. The Wombles, in turn, wrote down each member of our family and committed to pray for us by name. They felt Chappy's love and wanted to give back. So, I am happy to announce, there is a group of orphans in Kenya who are praying for my family.....for my little Hope. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is in me......Praise His Holy Name!!!

Chappy's group is traveling to the Tonga Region today to visit an orphanage outside of Kruger National Park. This orphanage sits in the middle of the largest population of AIDS in all of Africa, and there are mass graves in this area where dead bodies are placed in large piles and then pushed into holes and covered up with dirt by large tractors. In the middle of the devastation, is the orphanage....an oasis of hope.

If you haven't placed your dot on the map below, please do so today....I'd love to see how many warriors lift Chappy up in prayer today. When I hear from him, I'll pass the word along to his group to encourage them.

"I will surely hear the cry of the orphan....." Exodus 22:22

The Kibera Slum

Chappy is visiting an orphanage on the outskirts of the Kibera Slum today. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is the second largest slum in all of Africa with an estimated 2000 bodies per acre. Kibera accounts for less than 1% of Nairobi, Kenya's size, but holds more than a quarter of its population. The density of people is 30 times New York City; literally, the people are living on top of each other with no schools, running water or restrooms. Probably most shocking: Half the residents are under the age of twelve......and 50,000 of the children are AIDS orphans.

Kibera is heavily polluted by human waste and garbage. Most often the residents defecate in plastic bags and throw the bags either on the rooftops or in ditches surrounding the community. The bags break and tear, as you can imagine, causing a major issue that leads to disease. In the rainy season, the water gathers into large puddles filled with the garbage and feces.....it enters homes and children play in it.

Chappy is on this mission trip with the "Helping Hands Ministry", and they support an orphanage, called The Kibera Kids Center Orphanage, that takes in children whose parents have died from AIDS. They housed 180 children who had been pulled out of the slums, giving the children a bed, food, schooling, medical care, and love, until this year. Due to a shortfall in giving, 80 of those children had to be turned back out into the slums. Can you imagine tasting freedom and then having it yanked away???

This story has a happy ending, however, because Chappy's group is traveling to Kibera today with wonderful, life changing news. Last week, a benefactor from the USA gave $250,000.00 to this region. As a result, the missionaries who run the orphange (The Wombles) will be looking for the 80 children and hoping to bring them back again to be cared for in the orphanage.

I am expecting a phone call from Chappy within the next few hours and will post again when I hear directly from him. I know the sight will be shocking for him today, but he has a heart for the suffering people of Kibera and especially for the orphans who are living in the streets. I expect he will have alot to share.....so be sure to check back later for an update!!!

A Snake and a Cat....

Yes, Caleb about jumped out of his skin when he pulled back the shower curtain yesterday and found the rubber snake Chappy had left for him. Hilarious. The snake had quite a busy day after that. He showed up in the girls' sock drawer to scare poor Natalie and in my bed last night (poor me). When the covers were pulled back.....well, you can imagine, can't you??? Let's just say Caleb is in a "little bit" of trouble.

I heard from Chappy at 1:30am; they had landed in Amsterdam and had a 2 hour layover before leaving for Kenya. He should arrive in Kenya at 1:30pm today (8:30pm Kenya time).

My night went downhill from there. Our 10 year old cat, Cassie, who is like a person in cat fur, decided she wanted in my room at 3am this morning. She pounded and pounded on the door (not difficult when you are a 25 lb. cat) I finally got up and let her in and jumped back in bed. Fifteen minutes later, just when I was about to doze off, she decided she wanted a drink of water from the bathroom (Chappy usually fixes her a cup of water and leaves it on the tub each evening.....I don't....so I forgot). As a result, she started banging her plastic cup all around the bathroom floor. I was determined NOT to give in to her, because afterall, she is a cat and should use the water bowl upstairs instead of expecting her evening bathroom "cocktail". God made man to rule over the animals, I thought, and she needed to learn her place. After several minutes went by, however, and the sound continued to get louder and louder, I gave in! Back in bed again, finally, I could rest. I had just gone back to sleep when the cat woke me a third time at 4:30am. This time, a neighbor's cat was in our window and Cassie was attempting to destroy the "enemy cat" by destroying our wooden blinds.....that seemed to be her plan anyway.....pow! pow! pow! (Chappy usually leaves the blinds slightly open at night because the neighbor's cat comes for frequent visits....I don't.....so I forgot).

So, tomorrow evening, after giving baths to the babies and getting everyone tucked in bed, I will remember to keep the bedroom door cracked for Cassie, fix her a cup of water and leave it on the bathtub rim, and open the wooden blinds slightly just in case the neighbor cat shows up again at 4am for a good fight! I guess the cat's in charge afterall.

On a positive note, the African food last night was FANTASTIC!!! The kids and I ate it all....even Hopey loved it!

"And God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness, and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heaven and over all the animals....." Genesis 1:26

Leavin' On A Jet Plane.....

Chappy left at 6:30am this morning to fly a total of 20 hours to Africa. The kids wrote notes to send with him, and Caleb gave him a little "extra something". Deep in Chap's suitcase, Caleb hid a black rubber snake, hoping to completely freak his dad out when he opens his bag in Africa and starts digging around. (Fifteen year old boys....what do you expect???) What Caleb doesn't know yet is Chappy found the snake when he decided to repack his bag at 1:00am this morning. I was already asleep, but was awakened by a large thud and a shriek (yes, a 51 year old man can shriek). The thud was Chappy throwing his suitcase across the bathroom floor in an effort to get rid of the snake he had just grabbed. Needless to say, it took me forever to get back to sleep, because I laughed for thirty minutes straight.

To return the favor, Chappy has hidden the snake in the shower to surprise Caleb this morning. I can hardly wait for the reaction.......I love our life!

Today, in the Hollis Homeschool, we are having "Africa Day" to celebrate Chap's trip. In addition to getting the map out and plotting his journey, we will talk about each stop he'll be making. To say part of his trip will be heartbreaking would be putting it far too mildly. I plan to journal his mission trip through the blog and hope he'll be able to send some pictures as well. I plan to share specific prayer requests over the next two weeks, and hope some of you will join in and pray for Africa with us!

Our dinner this evening will be West African Black Eye Peas and Rice with an African Banana Bake for dessert. Just in case any of you would like to pull out your pans and taste a bit of Africa with us, I will include the recipe below.

Father, I pray for safe travel for Chappy and the men of the Helping Hands Ministry team. Thank you for seeing ahead and preparing the way for them even now. Open their hearts, Father. Allow them to see the African people as you do....Your love for them, Your compassion for them, and Your desire to draw them to Yourself and save them. In turn, may the men minister through Your perfect love, reaching out to feed and provide shelter for those who are impoverished and needy, but ultimately, reaching out to fill the void in their hearts. I pray especially, Lord, for the orphan children they will visit. For the short time Chappy will be in contact with the orphans, allow your love to flow through him and be captured safely in their hearts. Supernaturally, I ask you to allow Chappy to be a daddy to the children during his time with them---may his open arms, bright smile and laughter be a tangible sign of your unending love for them. May You be honored and glorified through all that is accomplished! Praises to You, our Most High King......Creator and Sustainer of all life......our Savior.....Amen.

West African Black Eye Peas:

16 oz raw black eye peas
8 cups water
1/2 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1/8 cup canola oil or palm oil
1 onion
15 oz. can diced tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp paprika

Wash peas and boil on high for 15 minutes in a large pot. Add salt. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 1 hour stirring once halfway during cooking. Saute onion in cooking oil for 10 minutes, then add tomatoes and spices. Cook for an additional 10 minutes before adding to the black eyed peas. Serve with rice.

African Banana Bake:

5 medium bananas
1 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup shredded coconut

Cut each banana into fourths. Arrange in a greased 9 inch pie plate. Dot with butter and drizzle with orange and lemon juice. Sprinkle with brown sugar and coconut. Bake at 370 degrees until coconut is golden brown (10 minutes)