Living water

I am so excited to announce that Blair's well is COMPLETE!! Such a wonderful blessing to have it done before her birthday on November 11 and before her little brothers birthday TBD ;-). I can't even describe the feelings I had when I saw it for the first time. Tears of joy, tears of remembrance, tears of thankfulness, and definitely some tears of sadness too because every time I think of Blair I miss her even more! But I can also say that I was very proud of my little girl as I saw her name written on this well. Her life has purpose and meaning to these people who need life and purpose every day! I can't imagine not having easy access to clean drinking water and for these people in Uganda it has been a daily reality all their lives. Until now....
Now they have clean running water EVERY DAY! Giving them another day of life that they didn't have before. All because of Blair's short life here on Earth. I have always loved missions and seeing lives changed for the good because of the great news of Christ, and while I never thought it would take losing my baby to be apart of missions, I am reminded that everything is for HIS glory.  Whether that be losing your baby, giving up your life and comfort to live overseas as a missionary, giving of your finances in difficult times, giving of your energy and time, and all other kinds of sacrifices. (Not saying that I like it or that I am OK with it, but it's my life and I want to choose to look at it through the lens of eternity). We are all called to share the love of Christ in one way or another. We are all called to be missionaries. We just have to trust Him that His plans are bigger and greater then we can imagine and be obedient. Building this well is also just another way God has brought beauty from the ashes. 

The story of how we raised the funds for this well just amazes me! I knew immediately after losing Blair that we would want to raise money toward building a well. Holden Uganda was started by a dear friend, Sarah Erwin, who was just an acquaintance before losing Blair. I had known about her loss of her little boy Holden in 2010 and was a little familiar with Holden Uganda shortly after. But as of November 11, 2011 she became someone who truly understood what I was going through and a light of Christ's hope as she reached out to me. She has walked this journey with me through losing Blair and in my pregnancy with her brother, and I am so grateful the Lord kindled this friendship. All that to say, I became very familiar with Holden Uganda and was thrilled to be apart of this awesome organization that brings hope to those who need it most. So we started an account for Blair....

I posted on my blog awhile back and spread the word by mouth about wanting to raise money for this well. Friends and family were so gracious to send money to get this started and I am just so thankful. Sometime this summer, I talked to Sarah about how much more we needed to raise and we were $100 shy of our $2,000 goal!! WOW! We had the Shaw family reunion (Clint's side) coming up in August and I thought how great it would be to get the family involved in raising the rest of the money. Sarah then mentioned the need for building an even bigger well in an area that really needed it. There are some areas in Uganda that have water pressure that is too high for a small well and would crumble if made too small, so there would need to be a multiple pipe well to withstand the water supply. However, these villages wait the longest because of the need for more funds. Sarah told us to think and pray about it and see if the Lord lead us in that direction. I agreed that we would pray and see what would happen...

So...we prayed about it and decided to mention the need for these funds to build the bigger well at the reunion, thinking it would at least help us get closer to our new goal of $4,000. And WOW! The Lord answered our prayer in a BIG way! We ended up raising $2,450 that weekend! Our family was so gracious to give to this great cause in honor of Blair and we were just blown away and humbled by their generosity, love, and support! Blair was and is loved so much!! We were able to send the $4,000 to Holden Uganda to build the well and hold onto the $450 in hopes of either starting another well or putting it toward other organizations that help those who have lost babies too soon. 

Words can't express the joy we had and still have that the Lord provided this money through our family and friends! Thank you so much to everyone who made this happen with your donations and prayers! We seriously can't thank you enough, and I hope as you look at these pictures that you feel part of this amazing project done in Blair's honor. You truly are apart of it! God bless you!!

Love seeing all that fresh water running out!!

Love this woman's sweet smile (the Ugandans don't usually smile for pictures unless instructed to because they are not used to cameras)

This picture is just amazing with the stormy clouds in the background and then the suns light shining on Blairs name, bday and verse. SO neat!!

 "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you don't see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:6-9