Merry Christmas!

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Luke 2:8-14

Merry Christmas!

Consider the Lillies

These pictures are a couple of months old, and I just remembered about them! These beautiful flowers make me thing of this verse,

Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
Luke 12:27

Ah! I love that verse! It's so wonderful!

I needed to clean my lens :)

Oh and did I mention 2 days till Christmas! How exciting!! This shall be our first Christmas to celebrate in Uganda :)

Giveaway?

I was thinking of having a '60 follower' giveaway!
But I need sponsors! If you're interested, email me at sillajophotography@gmail.com

p.s. What do you think of the new design??

I just want to say...

....That I have 60 FOLLOWERS!!! Ah! You guys are amazing! Thanks so much! Whoohoo!

Y'all are such an awesome encouragement!

Thanks <3

I'm Listening

Recently I’ve been questioning whether God is still there. If He’s still the same as He was with Adam and Eve. If He’s still the same as He was with Abraham. If He was still the same as He was with Moses. If He’s still the same as He was with Paul. If He is still the same as He was with Samuel. Why doesn’t He speak to me as clearly as He did with Samuel?

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak LORD, for your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:7-11

And I today I told myself ‘Well of course He is!” God is NEVER changing! He’s the same today, yesterday, a year from now, a thousand years from now, and a thousand years ago! But I have been closing myself up. I’m not opening my heart and letting my Savior in. I get angry because I haven’t heard Jesus talking to me, but that’s because I have so many other things blaring into my ears, whether it’s music, tv, internet, lies, even people. And I’m not opening my ears and searching for Jesus. I need to ask God to open my heart, because I can’t do it myself.

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

I need my Savior to open my heart.

After this year in Uganda, I feel as though this year has been a waste. I feel that it’s been thrown away. My mom has told me that God is using it to teach me something, “What is He trying to teach me?!” Why can’t God just throw a giant sign at me saying “I want you to (insert what You want me to do here, God)” But maybe God is teaching me something..

I need my Savior to open my heart.

It’s hard to be away from my best friends. It’s hard to be away from my family. It’s hard to be away from my church. It’s hard to away from my big brother and sister. It’s hard. But maybe God is trying to teach me how I need HIM! Even when I am away from my family and friends, all I need is Him.

If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26

God says that we should love Him so much that it should look like we hate our family and even our own life! So if my heart is attached to my family and friends in America, then I cannot fully be Jesus’s disciple. I cannot hear my Savior if I am so busy loving my family and friends that I’m not loving and listening to Jesus. I need to love Jesus more! I want to love Jesus more! I want to be able to talk to Jesus! And I know that my Jesus wants to walk with me!

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis 5:24

He wants to catch us in His arms and take us away, to be with Him! But we can be in His arms, each time we cry out to Him! Each time we pray! We just have to listen.

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.

Check out..

...this really awesome giveaway of at A Ray of Sunshine

I'm Not Very Fond of Grasshoppers

The other day (Friday I think..) was 'Grasshopper Day' in Uganda!

I woke up and heard loud chirping noises, but I didn't think anything about, I hear chirping all the time. Then I heard something banging against the window and children were screaming (not like they were hurt, but for joy!) I went outside and there where grasshoppers EVERYWHERE! Benji would kick one of the trees in our courtyard, and 50 grasshoppers would fly out! It was insane! Turns out the children were screaming because they were catching them…to eat!

So we spent the whole day catching grasshoppers for Mama Benna and her family to eat..ew.

Now I'm not very fond of grasshoppers, and Mama Benna knew this, so she kept asking me "Why are you doing this? You hate grasshoppers!" I laughed and said "It's because I love you!"

Laura and our neighbor's little girl, Abi, didn’t brave the grasshoppers like the rest of the family did (oh and Annie, she sat inside :) But Laura and Abi wore skirts on their head so that the grasshoppers wouldn’t get into their hair, and sat on the porch and shouted every so often “Grasshopper!” so helpfully :P

I sadly didn’t get any pictures, because I was too busy in the 'battle field' catching the grasshoppers, but my mom posted pictures on her blog! You should check it out HERE :D

But I did get some pictures of my beautiful sister Laura wearing her skirt on her head :)

Speech Day

On Friday we went to Vision of Destiny for ‘Speech Day’! Speech Day is when each class dances, sings, or recites a poem (or all 3). It was wonderful to see the parents smiling proudly as their children performed! And the bright smiles on the children’s’ faces as everyone applauded for them :) It was so much fun!

Onia from middle class :)
Her smile is so beautiful!

Doreen from top class :)
I love her beautiful eyes!

Middle class


My family and sweet little Kingy <3

Top class waiting for their turn :)

Middle class dancing their way out :)

The families watching their children :)

Peace from middle class

The families would give shillings, or little candies out to the children.

Mama Faimah :)

Mama Benna enjoying herself :D

All of the parents, aunties, uncles, and jjajjas (pronounced jah jah, this is the luganda word for grandparents)
:)

Jackie from baby class singing a solo :)

Baby class