Mrs.O's writing room.

Again, I find a song that expresses my disposition accurately. Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle Somewhere between my heart and my hands Somewhere between my faith and my plans Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves Somewhere between a whisper and a roar Somewhere between the altar and the door Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more Somewhere in the middle You'll find me Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle Casting Crowns

That this would be my post title! What have we come to? I'm appalled by this craze among the youth. Sexting is texting sexplicit messages or nude pictures on the phone. Apparently some high school students in America (don't know about other countries) take nude pictures and send them to friends. Girls especially, send nude pictures of themselves to boyfriends. We are talking 13 to 18 year olds - how sad! Peer pressure, admiration, worthiness, fame, fun? Indulgent nonsense - that is what it is. I read that one girl sent a naked picture of herself to a boy, it leaked to other kids who teased and laughed at her until she couldn't take it anymore - she committed suicide. Teen age is a jumbled phase in life; the confusion of finding self, fitting in, let alone the mystery the opposite sex, is a lot to deal with. Add sexting to the equation and you end up with a bunch of crazy, warped weirdos. Is it hard to grasp that our bodies are sacred, created in the image of a loving God wh

Who am I? That the Lord of all the earth, Would care to know my name, Would care to feel my hurt. Who am I? That the bright and morning star, Would choose to light the way, For my ever wandering heart. Not because of who I am, But because of what you've done. Not because of what I've done, But because of who you are. I am a flower quickly fading, Here today and gone tomorrow, A wave tossed in the ocean, A vapor in the wind. Still you hear me when I'm calling, Lord, you catch me when I'm falling, And you've told me who I am. I am yours. Casting Crowns

I was chocked with anger and rage last evening. Why?, you ask why? Well of course you ask why, and I will tell you. I spend a lot of time and energy training my little boy to walk the straight and narrow, to respect his elders, to obey and that sort of thing. It's a heavy duty assignment from my creator and I'm grateful that He helps me a long the way. A neighbours child constantly knocks on our door pleading that Mich go out and play with him. For the most part I was hesitant, but certainly Mich appreciates "little" company so either Sam or I would watch them as they played. Over time this child has left a sour taste in my mouth. You know that gut feeling that God gave mothers?. It's hard to explain, but it's there, you just know it when you see trouble, so I tried to keep Mich busy. Just when I needed a justifiable reason to keep Mich away, an excellent opportunity presented itself. After playing outside Mich was running his mouth off about many things. Like

Unbelievable! simply unbelievable - the whole thing. Lately these statements trot through my mind with more frequency;- -Less is more -The love of money is the root of all evil -"Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little. If I'm too full, I might get independent, saying, 'God? Who needs him?' If I'm poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God." Most every weekend, huge pickup trucks drive into our complex. We see people loading up their property and moving out. On Saturday the drive ways were near deserted, I hardly saw signs of life in the area. This financial crisis is really doing its thing. Leaves me in awe of how God is keeping us. We don't have much, the stakes are up against us but somehow there is peace, He continues to put food on our table and a smile on our faces. Watching 20/20 the other day, I saw people literally go from riches to rags. It's incredible the dire poverty these tough times have brought on peopl

It's good to try something different. That, for some might mean tasting frogs, bungee jumping, going skiing - well, you fill in the gap. I'm going to try my hand at writing a best-seller, no? okey a seller?!- something. Hoping that you will not delete my blog after this. It was a drab, wintry night in mid december, the air outside was choked with snow flakes and gusty winds. She clasped her hands and prayed as she looked out the car window - "Lord, Is there any chance of a miracle? a different report? You know I don't want this - No Lord, please - I'm weary". Her heart skipped a beat, jolted out of a prayerful mode by the sensation of the little life moving and kicking in her womb. She caressed her belly, "hush my little one, don't kick mummy too hard" - even though she relished being awakened to the wonder in her womb - the movements made her wince. She recalled carrying her first child and the thrill that pattering gave. Why was it so excruciat

                                                         Get up, my dear friend, fair and beautiful lover—come to me! Look around you: Winter is over; the winter rains are over, gone! Spring flowers are in blossom all over. The whole world's a choir—and singing! Spring warblers are filling the forest with sweet arpeggios. Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed, and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms. Song of Solomon 2:10 - 14 (The Message)

Ever get tangled on the fence of - the grass is always greener on the other side? Peer into your own back yard, you just might find something new. After 2 years in the United States, getting acclimatized, enchanted and offended; I missed home. I dreamed and reminisced about the unique experiences Uganda offers, so much so that I made a list of must-do's when I got back. Apart from munching on my favourite local dishes, spending hours on end with family, meeting friends and dismantling pork at Zanzi and other such places, I wanted to travel the country. When you see hundreds of thousands of people flocking historic sites - rain, shine or snow. Countless numbers waiting in line to buy tour tickets, view the Vietnam wall or the Lincoln memorial , then you will also be tempted to ask if your country has nothing to show. That, my friends is how I ended up trekking up to Kasubi tombs . The burial grounds for Bugandas Kings. I was greeted at the entrance by a young man wh

Today, I'm thinking. Thinking back to random happenstances that made my heart swell. Chance meetings with teachers from my past. My P.1 English teacher - Miss. Kabajasi She always had a smile, her face lit up every time we met. In P.2, I missed her, she wasn't my teacher any more. Each time we met on the school campus, she was curious to know how I was doing. That's how we begun playing tip/tag. If we met and her fingers where not crossed I gave her the "tip" or she me. Almost 25 years later, while walking on the streets of Kampala, some one hoots at me and stops. I walked over, uncertain of who was inside. There - Miss Kabajasi, looking pretty much the same and I, 25 years older. She called me by name, that - priceless. My primary school headmaster - Mr. A.D.Ssozi In a mass of over 1000 kids, he remembered little me. He'd wave as he rode passed on his motor cycle. 15 years later, looking a lot older, still smoking his pipe, going off to play tennis at Kampala

Americans never cease to amaze. So the other day Oprah proudly announced she'd got a new baby. I thought that's cool, she is adopting a child?! "She's a beautiful little girl", I'm thinking okay, nice. Then out comes a blond cocker spaniel (that's a type of dog - for those of you). At this point the viewers are "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing". Once we met a guy in Lancaster, real sad and miserable, when we got talking, his dog was under going eye surgery. On another occasion, while taking a walk in Philly, I took this picture. The dog was set in the drivers sit, alone, like the next minute it would flip out the keys and get cruising. I like dogs, they are wonderful, loyal creatures. In fact during my childhood my dad had 9 dogs, we played with them, taught them tricks, washed them- the works. They stayed in their kennels and we stayed in the house. When it was time to play we all went outside, no

'Skepticism' describes my attitude on hearing that Pastor Jackson Senyonga was coming to preach at my church. Pastor Rod blew for him but, "nah-uh!" My mind was clouded with the incident that occurred last year. I never found out whether or not it was true, but it was there fogging my view of the "managad"(man of God). When he got behind the pulpit to preach, his accent reminded me of Ragga Dee . I know, it's crazy. But Ragga Dee's song Mbawe where he says "My lord, my god, my gaddi" kept flipping around in my head. Anyway, too many distractions. He talked about how the devil fights christians in several ways and how once, he was on a plane to some place when "an accusation planted itself". That put me back on track, probably because he mentioned "it". The sermon was quite inspiring- about trusting God and what He has done in the passed. He's been faithful, brought us through some really tough spots, why wouldn'

It's been 3 months since I nestled in the warmth of Dallas and I'm loving it. Texans have got this southern hospitality thing going on; they are free and easy, courteous, warm and involving -the talkative library guy not withstanding. People greet, nod and smile as they cross paths. Drivers will slow down or stop just so I can cross the road. The post man calls me by name and asks about Uganda, while I'm still speechless, he asks about my husband and how he hasn't seen my little boy in a while. One can have a genuine conversation over here and people remember, in some cases they will call just to find out how you are doing. If only this was in the file of my first American experiences . Philadelphia gave me the creeps in every which way, I'm still not over it. At some point I thought I was the problem. That I was weird for wanting to go beyond the surface in my relationships. That shaking hands and giving hugs was so not right. That speaking when I hadn't been

While at the library this morning, I met a gentle man in the waiting area. As it turned out I was early, so this is what transpired over the 45 loong minutes of waiting. As soon as I sat he asked how I was doing. He was probably in his early 50’s or late 40’s; certainly could have passed for a CEO or manager of some company or the other. Then like he had been waiting for me, he spoke passionately about how he had applied for some job, was turned down and now he was upset that the ad was in the papers. “ I just want to leave this place, can’t wait to get over with this court case and I will be out of here.” Pause. “ I will probably go back to Albuquerque, the people there are a lot nicer, don’t know why I came here in the first place, no one wants to hire me. I can’t wait for the court case to be over”. I was amazed at how the guy decided to unleash on me, but I understood there was a bit of frustration. So I decided to play the shriek, “What happened? What is the court case about?” He