We're Going to Uganda!

Lately when I ask someone how they've been doing, the answer I get most of the time is "busy." It seems to be an epidemic! I understand. I look at our own calendar for the next few months and think, really?! But I am hesitant to say that I haven't been writing in this space because I've been busy.  Rather, I've simply had a lot of other priorities grasping for my attention. Our life has always been a tad "complex," but lately we've had all sorts of information, opportunities, possibilities, relationships, etc. jumping across our radar screens. I have needed a lot of focus and quiet for internal processing. That's the only way for an introvert like me to successfully navigate our whirlwind of a life!

But I needed to stop by here to announce that in less than three weeks, OUR FAMILY IS GOING TO UGANDA! It came up rather suddenly, when we realized that if we didn't go now, we wouldn't be able to go at all.

The following is a copy of our recent support letter:


Dear Friends,

Nine years ago two unsuspecting college students sent out a letter looking for support for a short term trip to Uganda.  They could not have imagined what would come of it!  Here we are in 2013, married, raising a daughter, running a nonprofit ministry and a fair trade business both of which are dedicated to advancing the Gospel in and through Uganda.  What a journey it has been!

We have learned much along the way, about ourselves, about missions, and about the Lord.  But one thing has never faltered:  our call to Uganda.  It is a place and people we love; a place we are always longing to return.  That is why we are excited to announce our upcoming trip to Uganda this spring!

Scott makes two or three trips to Uganda each year for the ministry and business, but it has been over two years since Jamie and Vivian  (age 5) have visited.  We knew we couldn’t wait much longer, but finding a time to travel was no simple matter.

Our family spends a great portion of time traveling for the ministry and fair trade business, KANZI.  We set up at conferences, concerts, trade shows and the like.  Summer is an especially intense season taking us this year to South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia (twice).  As we stood in front of the giant wall calendar in Pearl Ministries' office it became clear that finding a window to visit Uganda this year was going to be tough!

May 6th is our departure date, which we realize is just around the corner!  We will depart immediately after the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit in Nashville and return May 21st just in time to drive to east Tennessee for the wedding of a dear friend.  It’s going to be a little crazy, but definitely worth it!

Our family will have approximately two weeks in Uganda.  This is a short trip compared to those we have taken in the past.  This means we need lots of prayer support.  We will have much to accomplish quickly:  important ministry meetings, assembling updates on the children, vision meetings with other teams and projects in Uganda, preparing craft orders and shipments, etc. We need prayers for traveling mercies, wisdom, grace, health and efficiency.

We also need financial support as this trip is funded with additional resources beyond the regular monthly giving to the ministry.  We are seeking to raise $10,000 for the entire trip which breaks down to:  $5000 for plane tickets and trip insurance, $1500 for fuel and transportation in country, $500 for lodging, $1500 for food, and $1500 for ministry supplies from USA and in country.  Ideally, we are aiming to have this support raised by May 1, 2013, but due to the quick notice we will take any gift as it arrives.

We hope you will join hands with us as we embark. We have learned over the years that this is not something we do alone. We need the community of believers surrounding and supporting us as we serve.  We are grateful for you.  Thank you and God bless!

Sincerely,

Scott and Jamie Laslo
Co-Founders and Directors  |  Pearl Ministries

That about sums it up. I am starting to get a little jumpy realizing how soon May 6th really is. Please, when you think of it, PRAY and if you are inclined to help ship our little crew back to the Pearl of Africa, financial gifts can be given at www.pearlministries.org/give.  I hope to post a couple of times prior to departure and once we return with updates, etc.

Thank You!

Windswept at Lake Michigan. August 2012.

National Orphan Sunday 2012

Today is National Orphan Sunday, a day for remembering the millions of orphaned children struggling today. The estimate is that there are over 147 million orphans worldwide.

Take two minutes and watch the Ornaments4Orphans promo video we're releasing in time for Orphan Sunday. It would mean the world to me as I spent almost every "free hour" I had over the last six days creating it. I am NOT a techie sort of gal, so I am proud with how it turned out. I hope it can be a tool for conveying the message of our cause and gaining awareness this holiday season.

Bobsled Time

Vivian took this candid picture of me at the office last week. It makes me laugh every time I see it.  

This is the one week out of every year that almost feels impossible, the one week when we start juggling with our hands AND feet.

I won't wade into details here. I don't have time and details aren't too important.

I will say that big picture wise this week is Christmas Village, a wonderful event for us, that consists of six eleven hour on our feet workdays. It also happens that each year Christmas Village coincides with National Orphan Sunday, a special day for ministries like ours that emphasize impacting the live of the orphans. Many of our awesome Ornaments4Orphans coordinators put up their O4O trees on National Orphan Sunday so we've been bustling around the office for days packing boxes that we sent to Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire and the Carolinas!

Those are the two main dishes with side dishes piling up beside, begging for attention.

I'm not looking for pity. We know this is coming. Every year this week of Christmas Village/Orphan Sunday is a nice red block on our calendar. We prepare for it as best we can, but like bobsledders at some point we just have to jump in the sled and hunker down for the ride.

Please keep us in your prayers. I'll come up for air when I can and keep everyone posted on what is taking place in our corner of the world. There will be an Orphan Sunday post later this week which will include the new Ornaments4Orphans promotional video!  Make sure to swing by for that.

The Problem is Myself

I get exposed when I least expect it. Like when I'm sitting in my counselor's office telling her something I think is insightful and instead of nodding her head she comments that what I said sounds judgmental. I'm not a judgmental person. I'm not. I'm just not. No. What? Where the did that come from? Is that me?

God's portable cat scan machine had appeared in the room and instead of showing a thumping, vibrant thing of a heart, I saw something that looked much closer to an early scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a puny, shriveled up balloon heart. Here I am acting like Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, strutting haughtily across the restaurant, only to realize the back of my gown is missing. It dawned on me in that moment that perhaps the greatest problem in my life is actually me.

This exposure, this realization that what I think is health is actually rotten, throws me into a panic. I want to dive under a table and get myself straightened out before returning to view. I write myself a mental note: Don't be judgmental. Add to that: Plan to never be judgmental ever again. Also: Don't let anyone know you were judgmental. If you absolutely have to, put it in a nice frame so that it looks better. A generic frame that looks expensive. Then shove it in the attic once everyone's gone.

These resolutions help appease me, but the real difficulty is that I didn't realize I was being judgmental until it was too late. How could I have prevented it if I didn't even know I was doing it? My only solution starts to look very Emily Dickinsonish. Utter solitude. I will have to stop talking to other human beings altogether. It seems the only 100% guaranteed way to keep from mucking everything up.

Watch Katherine Hepburn back into a pillar, stuttering and fumbling while the crowd roars. That's me. I don't know if the crowd is roaring, but in my egocentric head it sounds that way. I will tell you that when you work full time in ministry it feels as if the crowd that is watching you is so incredibly large, and everyone is really counting on you to pull through. Keep your slip from showing, act graceful, smile. The places to take cover feel scarce, the answers you feel you must provide are numerous. What if everyone finds out you're just as, if not more so, screwed up as they are?

I have gotten tired. I am so tired of making excuses for myself, of rounding up my reasons, of attempting to fix my image, to hide the holes in my exterior so no one sees how inadequate I am. Lately it feels like all I am is one big gaping hole. I'm not enough. I am starting to own that I never will be. I am owning it, not just giving it lip service because I know I should. Isn't that what most of us do if we're honest? It's almost as if talking about how sinful we are is one of those reliable patches we use to cover our bare parts. It's insurance.

What I want to do more than anything is to stop bumbling. I want to stand up on a chair, lift my arms toward the sky and shout in my ugliness:

"Christ is my righteousness!"

He is! He really is! His righteousness envelops me like a big robe. In it I can go anywhere, I can do anything without constantly checking my behind. I can, if I'll only believe it. This is what he came for, of course. To set us free.

Two nights ago Vivian said from across the room, "I wish our life wasn't like this."

I stopped what I was doing, startled that she was reading my thoughts.

"What makes you say that? Did you hear that somewhere?"
"No."
"Tell me what you mean. Why don't you want our life to be this way?"
"Well, sometimes you be's mean, and I be's mean and Daddy be's mean. Why do we be's mean like that? Why don't we just love each other and be nice always?"

I sat her in my lap, stunned. I considered tying it all up for her in some gospel tract bow, but why? She is four and without my telling her she knows we are not the way we are supposed to be. I want to tell her I am twenty-eight and still feel the same way and I'm worried that at forty-eight nothing will have changed. My biggest problem will still be me. And she, like me, wants so very much to have it all right. She hides. She blames. She tries to look pretty.

So what I pray in my heart as I hold her is help us. Not help us do better, but help us believe. Help us cope in faith with these aches we'll always have if we're honest. Help us know we are covered at no cost and we're free. Be our righteousness. Be our peace. Be all the things we can never be. Amen.

"It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set you FREE. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be  burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

What You Might or Might Not Care to Know

So that yard sale in Atlanta I mentioned waaaaaaaay back in July? It raised $13,604. Plus there's still some trickling in from consignment and craigslist. We were pretty blown away. Thought I should probably get around to telling everyone.

Since I last wrote here Scott has been to Uganda and back. My classy grandmother turned ninety years old (and still has better posture than I do.)

My younger sister is pregnant with #2. My kid has grown an inch and now says things like "back when I was little" and "BFF." What?!

We're wearing boots and sweaters and starting to mail out boxes full of Christmas ornaments for Ornaments4Orphans. It's fun now, but by the time December 1st rolls around the sight of a Christmas tree will make my skin crawl. It's a hazard of the job.

Speaking of Vivian, we're letting her go trick-or-treating for the first time.

Me: Do you know what trick-or-treating is?
V: No. (Eyes full of wonder)
Me: You get dressed up and go knock on people's doors. Then they give you candy.
V: You go to people's houses!? Oh goodie, let's go to Polly's house.
Me: You don't go to your friend's houses. You go to your neighbors or strangers.
V: You go to strangers?
Me: Yes. With your parents. You don't go in. You stand outside the door and say "trick-or-treat!"
V: Can I tell them my name?
Me: I guess.
V: Can I meet them? Can I talk to them a while?

Did you noticed that she has said nothing about getting free candy? She's four years old and more interested in socializing than Skittles. Halloween is her extroverted dream come true. I'll be happy to take all those Skittles off her hands while she chit-chats.

I haven't read a novel in over a month. I think it's making me anemic. The longer I go without reading one the more anxious I get. Which one do I choose first? What if when I start reading I become so engrossed that my kid ends up scrubbing her entire rock collection with her toothbrush?

In other news, my library is having a book sale this weekend and I have been counting down the days all month. I'm going to purchase more cheap books that I will feel guilty and anxious about not reading.

The Vice Presidential debate is about to start so I'm breaking out in hives. Political debates stress me out. I feel physically uncomfortable for both participants. My heart rate goes up knowing how crucial this performance is, what they have at stake and how much pressure they are under as they're speaking. I walked out of the room ten times while Romney and Obama were going at it. Some may say that I have an overblown fear of conflict. I say that I am just the nicest person on the planet. Although whenever an NPR journalist happened to mention the presidential candidates rehearsing for their debate performances I got the giggles. Sometimes I laughed just thinking about it.

Lately I've not felt like saying anything. I've felt like pulling away and being alone and keeping thoughts to myself. I think that makes me introverted. Or a turtle.

Sometimes seeds have to grow a while before you can harvest them. This is also true of thoughts and words. We live in such an instantaneous age. Everyone is slinging content around, trying to be louder, righter, insightfuler. (That's not a real word?) I am trying to think about where my roots are right now and not be so concerned about my branches.  

It was tough at first and then became easier. It has been good for me. Just wanted to stop by so everyone knows I'm alright. Now to tune into the debate coverage and shield my eyes.

Yard Sale Season

I've been sucked into yard sale world! I've spent this week heading up our church's yard sale which will help fund adoptions. Then next week I am headed to Atlanta for our annual yard sale for Ranch on Jesus at Carriage Lane Presbyterian. I am up to my elbows in all sorts of things people no longer want or need yet are hoping someone else will want or need.

I have such a love/hate relationship with yard sales. A yard sale launched me into this ministry and I am deeply grateful for the tremendous money they can raise. Yet each year I forget how much work they are! It's sort of like childbirth. You forget how intense and grueling it is. And this year I'm doing TWO...back to back. Yes, I'm crazy. But oh, how satisfying it is to make a difference in the lives of children who need our love.

The Oak Mountain Church sale in Birmingham is Fri. July, 27 and Sat. July 28 from 7am to 1pm. 5080 Cahaba Valley Trace.

The Carriage Lane sale is Fri. August 3 7am to 1 and Sat. August 4. 8am to 1pm. 101 Carriage Lane in Peachtree City, GA.

Come shop with us!

And please pray for me and our family. I won't lie. I shed a tear or two on the drive home tonight. It's been an intense summer. Intense, surprising, busy and blessed. Can't wait for school to start and life to settle!

We're Crazy and We Know It

Vivian starting to feel better in the Emergency Room

When last we left the Laslo family, Scott was scrambling to catch a plane to Uganda after a drugged up Vivian was released from the Emergency Room.  Much has transpired in the weeks since this event.  Here's an overview.

Sunday, May 20 : Scott leaves before dawn cracks to catch his plane in Atlanta.  Soon after a steroid riddled Vivian wakes up surprisingly pain free yet raging.  After a long day of tearfully combating the fierce steroid monster that has possessed her child, Jamie calls her mother and explains that without reinforcements she may harm her offspring.
Monday, May 21 :  Scott lands in Uganda and Jaja lands in the Laslo's Alabama doorstep.
Tuesday, May 22 : The steroids have vacated Vivian's body.  The good news? She is sweet again.  The bad news? She's in pain again. Let the bitter antibiotics begin! An elaborate medicine taking routine is developed involving a "sin-jaringe," as Vivian calls it, M&M's and a sticker chart.
Thursday, May 24: Jaja takes an exhausted Jamie and an improving Vivian back to her house in Georgia.

Saturday, May 26: Scott travels to New Hope Uganda to see an intern graduate from New Hope's Institute and visit with missionary friends of our family.  This Uganda trip is proving to be challenging in numerous ways.  This time blesses Scott.
Tuesday, May 29: Jamie returns to Birmingham with her sister and nephew.

Wednesday, May 30: Vivian, 100% recovered, completes her 30 doses of antibiotics and goes to Build-a-Bear to purchase a bed which looks a lot like a miniature version of something you'd see in a tawdry, adult motel.

The bag is pretty fun too.

Thursday, May 31: Scott takes family friends, the Wheelers, who are visiting Uganda to see the Ranch on Jesus Primary School.

Friday, June 8: Scott flies in from Uganda, weary inside and out.  It was a long trip. The Laslo's are so glad to all be together again.

Saturday, June 9: Scott decides it wisest to pull out of an event the ministry was planning to attend that week.  Jamie had been unable to attend the wedding of her college roommate because of this wedding. All of her other friends were going to be there. Scott says, "You wanna go?"  Jamie says, "Are you crazy!?  It's in Tacoma, Washington! You just got home from Uganda!  We don't have that kind of time or money!"  Scott says, "You wanna go?"  They look online and Jamie has 41,000 frequent flyer miles in her account.  A ticket to Seattle requires 40,000.  Jamie conspires with her friend Rebecca to travel to Washington and surprise the other girls.
Thursday, June 14: Scott and Vivian take Jamie to the airport at 4:30 am.  They see a raccoon on the drive home.  Jamie's flight is delayed.  She almost misses her connection, but gets there in the nick of time.  Hours later she is waiting in baggage claim, waving at her startled friends.

Lauryn, Rebecca, Jen, Sarah, Hannah, Melody, Jamie

Friday, June 15: Dearest Jen gets married. One just can't get the full effect of her glow from a photo.

Saturday, June 16: Jamie and her friends cross the Puget Sound to Seattle, see Pike's Place, get rained on, eat, drink, don't sleep much, laugh their heads off and affirm that they have the best friends in the world.

Sunday, June 17: Scott is at the office with Vivian packing for the next event.  It's Father's Day, by the way. Jamie arrives at the Birmingham Airport at 9:30 pm.
Monday, June 18: The Laslo Family rises at 7am to leave for Louisville, KY to exhibit at PCA General Assembly. Viv is ever cheerful.

Friday, June 22: After working 8 til 11 T,W,TH the Laslo's take down the KANZI and Ornaments4Orphans booth, squeeze it all back into their minivan and travel home.

What Viv does while her parents work.

Saturday, June 23: Run a million errands and wash loads of clothes.
Sunday, June 24: Go to church, reload the van and pack, pack, pack.
Monday, June 25: Depart for Mount Union, Pennsylvania for Creation Fest East!

Tuesday, June 26: Arrive at Creation Fest and set up camp.  First time for Jamie and Vivian to sleep in a tent. Vivian also discovers Port-a-Pottys which she calls Pork-a-Pottys.

"We're on vacation!"

Wednesday, June 27: Creation Fest rocks.  Tens of thousands of people descend.  It gets hot, dusty and then stormy.  The KANZI booth is open 9:30 til 11.  Scott is there working the entire time. Jamie puts Vivian to bed each night to blaring music or cracking lightning. She sleeps right through it.

Saturday, June 30: Creation ends with a bang!  Fireworks at midnight then Scott scrambles to take down the booth.  He finishes at 2am.
Sunday, July 1: Drive home!  Jamie calls several hotels in Virginia before finding a place to stop.  No one has power.
Monday, July 2: The Laslo Family arrives home safe and sound!  Glad to have beds.  Glad to have AC. Glad to have a toilet that flushes.  Glad to rest for a couple days.  But it doesn't end there. The Laslo's leave again next week for America's Mart in Atlanta, GA!  Stay tuned!

An Update on Viv

We were all packed up and ready to leave for Atlanta yesterday, but after looking at Vivian we decided we needed to go back to the pediatrician instead. It was a two hour visit of torture. Vivian was in excruciating pain. She hadn't moved her neck in two days. Getting her to lie in her bed at night was impossible. Thursday night we left her sitting up in bed until she fell over in exhaustion.

The pediatrician had difficulty assessing her as Vivian was screaming and fighting hard. They had to swab her throat twice because she broke the first swab. As we waited for the results of her blood work she looked up at me through saggy, bloodshot eyes and whispered "We can just sneak out of here when no one is looking." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Her blood count was high and the pediatrician recommended taking her into the ER for further tests. The concern was that she could have an abscess. The high dose of Advil seemed to do little to improve her so this afternoon we spent four hours in the ER at Children's hospital. After the drama at the pediatricians I was expecting worse, but Vivian pulled through. She was so brave. As they hooked the IV into her hand she was shakily answering question about her stuffed animals.

After a CT scan and some waiting the doctor came back with good news. There was NO abscess. She had severely infected lymph nodes and her temperature was still high. So they pumped her full of pain killer and some steroids to help loosen her neck. By the time we left we saw our Vivian returning to us. She still doesn't have full range of motion in her neck, but she is more upbeat. She was even smiling when we left and told our nurse that she had fun.

Scott flies out of Atlanta tomorrow afternoon for Uganda. He was out late tonight at the office getting things in order. Vivian's situation set him behind and I know headed into this trip exhausted. Please pray for him and pray for me as I will be flying solo with our little one for the next three weeks. Thank you!