Mrs.O's writing room.

We all face challenges in life, some of which I may not be able to fathom but the most beautiful thing about it all is knowing that, through the storms and ship wrecks God is always there, He is our Strength, our Hope, our Anchor, our Everything. "The Anchor Holds". Words and music by Lawrence Chewning and Ray Boltz I have journeyed Through the long, dark night Out on the open sea By faith alone Sight unknown And yet His eyes were watching me CHORUS: The anchor holds Though the ship is battered The anchor holds Though the sails are torn I have fallen on my knees As I faced the raging seas The anchor holds In spite of the storm Ive had visions Ive had dreams Ive even held them in my hand But I never knew They would slip right through Like they were only grains of sand CHORUS I have been young But I am older now And there has been beauty That these eyes have seen But it was in the night Through the storms of my life Oh, thats where God proved His love to me CHORUS (repeat)

Today is Mich's 4th birthday. It's amazing how fast time goes by. So I reminded him about his birthday last night and he was really excited. He said "mummy, I thought my birthday would never come". He has certainly been waiting a long time, what with all the parties he has been attending. When asked what he wanted for his birthday he said sugar, sweets and cake. I found that hillarious and yet very sincere, those are the things he loves. Lately the sugar bowl has been disappearing from the kitchen cupboard, then it appears under bed covers, what do you know??? Just before I left his room he said, "but I need some presents", so I asked, like what? he said "uhmm, like a parashooter", don't ask me what that is because Sam and I are still trying to decode that one. The more farmiliar things were, a submarine (whatever for?), spiderman, batman and the power rangers. We gave him a good surprise this morning, snuck into his room and just as he was st...

So I have shared with you how I lost two children last year and how God has never been closer. I'm so excited about Him and knowing that He holds my life in His hands. God has given me a joy and a peace that is definitely from heavens throne. I have had people ask me how I can be happy and talk about God with such tenderness even with all I have gone through. It's hard to explain sometimes but I really know that God is a good God and He has the best for me. I continue to pray, "I would rather not go through these tough circumstances but if all this is so that your name is glorified, bring it on. ". Obviously thinking about Nziiza and Kwizera still brings tears to my eyes (sometimes) but more than that it brings Jesus even closer. He continues to be the center of my focus, I accept whatever He brings the good and the not so good. One day I heard this song on the radio and my expression was "what??, someone put these words to a song?!" absolutely amazin...

There are certain songs that are simply beautiful and real. This is one of them, I love it, love it, love it. When I think about modern day "King Davids", Brian Doerksen is one of the worship leaders that comes to mind. What did we do before youtube again?.

My god daughter arrived early this morning, little Alicia Ochipinti, she is gorgeous!

I came across the following excerpt from the devotional, My utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers. In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet" ( Nahum 1:3 ). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness. It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify ou...

It's amazing what happens when you purpose to look for God in the daily hustles of life. Last week I went by the Penn book store, I wanted to check out what music they had and to get an idea of how much I would spend. I found a few of the artists I was looking for but I'd not spend less than $50 on all the music. It's not a bad idea to dream, I thought well, some day I will get the music. I was looking at Martha Munizzi , India Arie , MercyMe , Chris Tomlin and some the more recent Hillsong United . Today I was rushing off to pick Mich and on the way I saw some CD's that had been thrown by the side of the road. I thought it would do me no harm to check them out and besides there was no one around so I did my business real fast. Interesting!, I found Martha Munizzi's "The best is yet to come" , Fred Hammond's " Somethin' 'bout love ", WOW 1999 , and India Arie's Testimony Volume 1 and 2. This is so cool, I'm blessed. Everyday...

Yesterday I went for a Salsa audition. Wharton is preparing for it's annual International Cultural Show and students and partners are welcome to participate. I signed up for Salsa and the African dance. So yesterday I got an email invitation for the audition and I thought cool!, finally things are coming together. It was fun, I happened to be the only partner, the rest were students but that was fine. The choreographer was very friendly and kind of put us all at ease. He begun to play the music and man! it was nice and full of rhythm. Then he taught us a few moves and we practiced those for a while. I got a hang of it. Then came part two, the couple dance. There were only three guys so all the ladies had to take turns dancing with them. Wow! I begun to sweat, all over sudden the place was crammed and hot, 'open the windows people, can't breath' (it's the middle of winter girl, you don't open windows). Anyway my issue was and still is, I haven't danced up clo...

Continued Our time in Dallas was over and we were ready to head back to Philadelphia. I was a little excited about getting back because we were returning to what was familiar. I was getting back to friends I had made, to church and Philly. My pastor and his wife had been in touch over the summer and had prayed with us. It was nice seeing them again. Then I found out I was pregnant again, yee! that's cool!. I began my prenatal visits immediately. A week after my 16 weeks (4 months) prenatal visit, I noticed something which I thought was quite unusual. I called the hospital but since I wasn't feeling any kind of pain they were reluctant to see me but I went anyway. The Doctor examined me and said my water bag was bulging out of my cervix and it was only a matter of time before I would go into labor. It was absolutely terrifying receiving this news all by myself. I almost fainted, I was mortified and in absolute shock. My body was shaking like a leaf. I just couldn’t be...

Continued Five days after we got to Dallas Sam had to begin work. He flew to Houston every Monday morning and flew back every Thursday night. For a while there I thought I would loose it, I was basically on my own. I had no one to talk to, on top of that Mich had his own issues. He wanted to play, he wanted to be carried, he wanted to explore all of Dallas, everything was new and exciting for him. I felt so drained. I literally woke up everyday for his sake, to make him breakfast, give him a bath, take him out to play, everything. That said Dallas was breath takingly beautiful, it was so green, so neat, so peaceful, the perfect place for solitude. Down by the springs was a glorious expression of God's creation. Everything was in harmony, the birds chirping, the squirrels darting around, the ducks moving gracefully, the fish and turtles in the water, beautiful!. It was the best place for meditation, you couldn't deny there was a God, but my heart was bleeding. It was a ...