Have you been watching the news lately?

Have you been hearing the name South Sudan a lot more often?

I'm sure there are times when being in the news is fun.

I bet Kate Middleton enjoyed seeing her face on newspapers when she was preparing to marry Prince William.

You wouldn't mind having your name listed as a million dollar lottery winner.

But there are also times you'd rather not be in the news.

The Denver Broncos would rather have been featured in the news a little differently back in February.

No one affected by the recent tornadoes in Arkansas is glad to be in the news.

And, likewise, I'm sure the people in South Sudan wish they weren't in the news right now.

Take a moment to google "South Sudan" and you'll read words like slaughter, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.

South Sudan is the newest country in the world.  In July 2011, they won their independence after 20 years of civil war with Sudan.

However, after an attempted coup in December 2013, there has been political instability, constant fighting, and horrible atrocities committed against innocent men, women, and children.  Over a million have been displaced from their homes and thousands are dead.  

A few weeks ago our vehicle was seized by customs agents at the border.  We tried contacting the US Embassy in Juba (the capital city of South Sudan).  We were kind of surprised to learn that there's no one there.  All US embassy employees have been pulled out of South Sudan.  In fact, most ex-pats have left the country.

So how does this affect the Rackleys and why are we writing this blog post?

We believe the Lord is making it more and more clear that South Sudan is no longer a viable option for our family.  It's about way more than our safety…because if it's God's will for us to be here, there's no place safer!

We see so many areas where God is closing doors….doors that have always been open in the past.  

Financial doors.

Getting visas doors.

Vehicle issues doors.

Children struggling doors.

Border crossing doors.

Political unrest doors. 

Throughout our time here in Africa, we've had consistent communication with the elders of our church.  They have been a major source of counsel, encouragement,  love, and support.  We have walked together through the upheaval since December…sharing details about our life and struggles here.  

Once we all came to the realization that our door is closing in South Sudan….the discussion of timeline began.  When to leave?  Our decision of when to leave is based on 2 major issues.  The first is the political instability of the country. Of course, we have no way of knowing what the future holds and we aren't leaving based on fear….but we are also trying to be wise.  The second issue is the timing of getting visas.  We decided that it was much smarter financially to leave before we have to spend thousands of dollars on South Sudanese AND Ugandan visas (which have to be renewed in July).  Couple that with the need to travel when it's NOT peak travel season and we came to a departure date of June 7th.  

So how can you help?  Right now we need prayer, obviously, as we prepare to move back to the States.  There are so many decisions to be made in a short amount of time.  Also, Satan has been in major "attack" mode….hitting us with fear, despair, and worry.   

Realistically, practically, and immediately...we need to raise just over $10,000 for travel expenses.  Because we are traveling so soon, obviously we need to raise the funds in the next few weeks.  All gifts are tax-deductible and would bless us immensely!!

To give by credit card go to the Every Nation website (www.untilallhaveheard.org) and click on the "Donate" button in the top right corner.  From there, the website walks you through the steps of setting up a new donor account (or you can log on if you've given before).  Be sure to list your donation under "Suubi Family."  If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at suubifamily@gmail.com and I can get you in contact with our bookkeeper!

To give by check:

make the check out to Every Nation and put Suubi Family in the memo line.  Then mail the check to

Every Nation

PO Box 94564

North Little Rock, AR 72190

I'm sure there are a thousand things I've left out…details that I'll think of right as I hit "publish"….but they'll have to wait for another blog post.

For now, thank you for your love, support, and encouragement!

Kroger Community Rewards Program

Have you been wanting to support our family, but don't have any extra cash right now?

Do you shop at Kroger?

If so…read on!!

We were recently told about a rewards program offered by Kroger!

Basically, once you register your card….we get rewards each time you shop!!

win/win!

The process to sign up is pretty easy.  If you have a Rewards card already, you just need to register our NPO number (77884).  

If you don't have a card, you just sign up to get one and then register our NPO number (77884).

easy as pie!

Here's step-by-step instructions:

TO USE THE KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM:

1. Simply register online at krogercommunityrewards.com

2. Be sure to have your Kroger Plus card handy and register your card with your organization after you sign up.

3. If a member does not yet have a Kroger Plus card, please let them know that they are available at the customer service desk at any Kroger.

4. Click on Sign In/Register

5. Most participants are new online customers, so they must click on SIGN UP TODAY in the ‘New Customer?’ box.

6. Sign up for a Kroger Rewards Account by entering zip code, clicking on favorite store, entering your email address and creating a password, agreeing to the terms and conditions

7. You will then get a message to check your email inbox and click on the link within the body of the email.

8. Click on My Account and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step.

9. Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards information and input your Kroger Plus card number.

10. Update or confirm your information.

11. Enter NPO number (our is 77884) or name of organization, select organization from list and click on confirm.

12. To verify you are enrolled correctly, you will see your organization’s name on the right side of your information page.

REMEMBER, purchases will not count for your group until after your member(s) register their card(s).

13. Do you use your phone number at the register?  Call 800-576-4377, select option 4 to get your Kroger Plus card number.

14. Members must swipe their registered Kroger Plus card or use the phone number that is related to their registered Kroger Plus card when shopping for each purchase to count.

Dental Bill Blues

na na na na na

When we were in the States,

na na na na na

Two times in one year

na na na na na

Scott and Kelly went to the dentist.

na na na na na

We were trembling with fear.

na na na na na

But now our teeth….

na na na na na

Our teeth feel so great!

na na na na na

But oh those bills….they're piling up on our plate!

We've got the blues….

We've got the dental bill blues.  

Ok, ok….so I'm not the writer in my family!  But thanks for humoring me in my attempt! :)

To add a few details without further verses to my song:

Scott and I were so blessed to be able to go to the dentist while we were in the States in 2013!  Our teeth feel SO much better!!  BUT we don't have dental insurance and the bills just piled up.  We hate being in debt and are trying desperately to pay off nearly $7000 in dental bills.

Would you like to help us get out of our dental bill blues?

Would you like to get a tax break while doing it? 

You can make a tax deductible donation to Every Nation!

To give a safe online donation, go online to www.untilallhaveheard.org and click on the "Donate" button in the top right corner.  The website will walk you through setting up a one-time donation under "Suubi Family."  Please indicate that your donation is for dental bills.

If you prefer to mail a check.  Make it out to Every Nation and put "Suubi Family dental bills" in the memo line.  Then you can mail the check to

Every Nation

PO Box 94564

North Little Rock, AR  72190

Thank you so so much!!  I promise to update when the bills are paid in full and we can rejoice together!

Our new home….pictures included

I've been promising pictures of our dental clinic home.

And...I haven't posted them.

All I can say is, "I'm sorry!"

Life gets busy.

Unpacking, settling in, cooking, schoolwork, life….

Blogging is the first thing to be pushed aside!

But guess what?!?

I have pictures now!!

This is a view from our front door.  The door straight ahead leads to the kitchen.  The door to the left leads to the West Wing, aka The Kids' Room. Yes, our map of Africa and our stockings are being held up by strips of duct tape.  Some may mock…but others are so proud they can't stand it!

This is a view from the kids' bedroom door looking into the front room.  We have 3 sets of shelves that hold dishes, pots/pans, etc.  The drawers in the bottom of the black shelves hold the little kids' clothes.  The door straight ahead looks into the East Wing…our room :)

The next pictures are of the kids' room: 

This is a view from the door.  You can see Benji's and Nate's bunk bed on the right, Garrett's bed is straight ahead (with Nate sitting on the bed), and Laura's and Annie's bunk on the left.  In the lower left corner of the picture you can just barely see the chair where I sit each night and read to the kiddos.  So where does Melissa sleep?

Melissa has her own little cubby in the kids' room.  To give you perspective, in the bottom left corner of the picture is Garrett's bed and on the right is the Benji/Nate bunk.  Melissa has her bed and book shelf in her little corner of the room.  To the right of the book shelf is a door leading into their bathroom (pictured further down in this post).

This is a view from Garrett's bed into the other corner of the room.  The older kids store their clothes in trunks to keep them from getting dusty (and to hopefully keep the creepy crawlies out!).  There's my reading chair, too (although I now have cushions on it so it's a little more comfy!).

Here's the kids' bathroom.  That green bucket is our bathtub!  Believe it or not, it's big enough for the little kids to bathe in (one at a time, of course!).  We usually take baths/showers in the afternoon when it's about 104° F (40° C) outside.

Each room also has a closet.  This is the closet in the kids' room.  We use shelves to store school books, extra bathroom items, linens, etc.  We also have shelves designated for each child to keep special things on (toys, bags, personal items, books, whatever).


Now on to the kitchen:

This is a view from the front room looking in to our kitchen.  On the right side of the picture is one of my 2 sets of shelves that holds buckets full of "pantry-type" supplies.  Straight ahead (under the calendar) is the table-turned-into-a-countertop area.  On the left side of the picture is the sink.  Scott made it by taking our old kitchen table and cutting a hole for the sink basin in (pretty smart, I think!)

This is still from the door, but looking towards the left.  You can see the other set of shelves and you have a better view of our kitchen sink.  The trunks underneath the sink are used to store things that little mice would like to nibble on.  The section of table to the left of the sink is where we have our dishes drying rack.  That space is pretty much unusable for anything else because of where the stove is…but we can't move the stove or when nice breezes blow through, it blows the gas flame around like crazy. Since we love the breeze, we're fine with where the stove is!  

This is a view from the table/counter under the calendar.  You can see our sweet little kitchen in all it's glory. :) We love our solar fridge because it allows us to keep Annie's medicine cool.  Oh, and provides us MUCH NEEDED cold water!!  There's just something about cold water that makes life a little more bearable!

Finally, the master bedroom!  

Here's a view from the doorway. You can see a black shelf on the right that holds our movies,  books, keys, and other miscellaneous stuff.  Straight ahead is a little couch where I'm sitting now as I type this!

As you walk in you see our bed on the right.

To the left is a cement counter where we store things (clothing and tools in trunks), and the kids sit by the windows and work on schoolwork.  The breeze in here is pretty amazing!

Our lovely, no-frills bathroom...

Our closet is used for storage….toys the kids pull out every once-in-a-while, books we'll need later for school, etc.  I keep my THM foods on the black shelf.

I'll end this post with a picture of our favorite place in the house…our front porch. We love to sit out on the couches and plastic chairs and just visit. We eat most meals out here.  It's cool, shady, and there's usually a nice breeze.  We are in planning on buying a new kitchen table to be our "front porch table" where we can eat and do schoolwork outside! 

 

We don't live in The Tardis

My older children are Dr. Who fans and Melissa came up with the title for this blog post.

Apparently, the Tardis looks like a small police box on the outside...but is actually much bigger on the inside.

We don't live in the Tardis.

What you see is what you get...

all 840 sq. ft. (78 sq. m.) of it.

We are temporarily living in the dental clinic in South Sudan while we raise funds and build our house.

And we are content...

But we're also excited to have our own permanent home.

And you can help us build it!!

If you would like to give an end-of-the-year, tax deductible gift towards the building of our home, please visit www.untilallhaveheard.org and click on "donate" in the top right corner.  From there you can give online (securely) or find an address to mail a check.  We are called "Suubi Family," so be sure to mark your donation under the correct name (or put it in the memo line of your check).

We need a total of $60000 for building our house and getting solar (there's no power grid up here).  So far we have almost enough to get our solar!  Thank you so much!  We would LOVE to raise the remaining funds before the end of December.  Thanks for helping us reach our goal!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at suubifamily@gmail.com

Oh, yes, would you like to see pictures of the inside of our dental clinic home?  I promise to post them soon!  I am trying to finish unpacking and sorting and will take pictures in the next couple of days!!

Home again....to South Sudan!

We are here!!

We made it to South Sudan!

It's been a very long week...full of flying (19 hours total), driving (12 hours total), unpacking (waaaay too many boxes!), sickness (all of us have been hit with something), friendship (we've loved spending time with our new teammates), meals shared together (thank you, Emilie, for feeding us all week!), and adjusting to our new life in hot South Sudan (it's kind of funny that a huge snow/ice storm hit right as we left Arkansas and we returned to a temp of around 100°F.)

We are doing good, though....and are thankful to finally be here!

I promise to post pictures (and a video!) soon.

Raising the Roof for the Rackleys

We are moving!!

But we don't have a house.

What?!?

How can we move without a house??

We are joining a team in South Sudan and are preparing to build a home there.

Why build a home?  Can't we buy one or rent one?

Nope.  Not in South Sudan.  There are no houses there for sale or rent.

So we build....

But until we raise the money to build our home, we will be living in a dental clinic.

our 840 sq. ft. temporary home

We are ready.

We are ready to be in South Sudan.

Even if it means living in a dental clinic.

But we would really like our own home.

Maybe even just a little bigger...but not too much (we like living close to each other!)

Would you help us build our home?

Without you, we don't build.

We can't build without the money.

There's no bank loan.

No credit cards.

There's cash. Only cash.

That's where you can be involved!

Would you consider giving a tax deductible end-of-the-year donation to help us build?

Or would you like to become a monthly supporter?

It's super easy!!

Just go to the Every Nation website (www.untilallhaveheard.org) and hover on "Donate" in the top right corner.  You can click on "Donation Info" if you want a mailing address to send a check or on "Give Now" to send money securely from a credit card.

We are called "Suubi Family" at Every Nation....so be sure to write that on the memo line in your check or mark your donation under our name on the credit card donation.

We promise to keep you posted on the progress of our home.

On the home you help us build.

Thank you, in advance, for helping us take the Kingdom to South Sudan!!

Annie update!!

WE HAVE MEDS FOR ANNIE!!!

I repeat...

WE HAVE MED FOR ANNIE!!

THANK YOU, JESUS!!!

Not sure what I'm talking about?  Jump over and read this post and then come back and rejoice with us!

Thank you so much to EVERYONE who wrote to me suggesting names of people to contact, to everyone who contacted people they knew who could maybe help, to people who tried everything they could to get my sweet Annie the growth hormones she needs.

Every single one of you helped us.

Whether you put me in touch with the person who could get us meds or just encouraged us to keep going...everyone of you blessed our socks off!!

We have been accepted for 1 year into the Pfizer Patient Assistance Program.  

Annie's meds are FREE!!!

And Pfizer is ok to ship the meds to my mom's house and have her send them over with people who are coming to Uganda.

So for the next year, Annie will have growth hormones (then we apply again)!!! 

Thank you thank you thank you for walking down this road with us, for all your prayers and encouragement!! And thank you for rejoicing with us now!!!

This is Where I Live: Clouds

click on the picture to enlarge

THIS was our sky yesterday afternoon!!

Glorious!!

This is where I live

I know that I promised to start this series a few months ago.

But this is a new thing...this series.

And I've had too many new things to deal with in the past few months....so it was easy to procrastinate on this one!!

Please forgive me!!

I want to share with you about where I live.

I want to remember, in the future, about this time here in Africa.

This whole blog series began in my mind because I wanted to catch pictures of the children....every every day....that I see walking alone on the streets.  Not small quiet dirt paths.  NO!  Busy, busy city streets and highways (please don't think American highways...more on that later) that run between cities.  Little children, even 2 and 3 years old, walking alone.

I thought, "I've got to take pictures of this because no one would believe it."

And that's what God used to start this in my mind.

I'd been praying about what direction to take the blog (since I finished my Blessings posts)....and I felt like God kind of dropped this in my lap.  I began to look around at all the things I love, all the quirks, all the things that are unique to Africa and I realized that I should record it.

Now, maybe you've talked to us and heard us share about how we don't take pictures here.  So how am I gonna share pictures if we don't take them?

I still feel just as strongly as ever about not having people pose for pictures. You will see in these pictures that they are ALL taken from inside a car...as we are driving.  So please excuse the poor quality of some of them!!  

I've been taking pictures since February....of places we've lived, places we've visited, and places we've driven through.  I will try my best to let you know where the pictures were taken (Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan).

So here goes....my picture story of where I live.

Beginning with the children that walk the streets alone....

This is the picture that started it all.  We drove around this section of the city 3 times so that Benji could snap this picture out of the back of our car.  See the little boy...maybe 3 or 4 years old...walking alone.  What we couldn't capture was the traffic that is usually on this street.  Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and big trucks fly up and down this road.  And there he walks....alone.

This picture was taken while driving to South Sudan.  Again, a busy dusty road that buses and 18 wheelers FLY down all day.  This child is just walking past the woman...going in opposite directions...they are not together.


Several children walking (on the trip to S. Sudan)




This was taken on a road going towards a village near our home in Gulu, Uganda.  At least there's a young teen walking with these kiddos...but we are no where near any village right here. How long have they been walking?




Here we are in a busy "city center" (more about those in another post) while heading to Kampala.  Cars, trucks and buses will pass a couple of feet from these children... 

 So this is where it began:  a fascination about a particular aspect of Uganda.  Well, I guess technically it all began with my fascination with the Ugandan sky (still our most-viewed post on the blog)....and don't worry, there will be PLENTY of new sky pictures.  Most likely, you'll see more pictures of children walking alone on the streets.  I love them, I pray for them, my heart goes out to them, I talk to them when I can...but from the secrecy of my car I also take a few pictures of them.

Stay tuned for more pictures of where I live!!

**click on the pictures above to enlarge them**