Meet // Coryn Kissling // Selfless mother of Daniel (4) and Nehemiah (2)

Coryn Kissling moved to Uganda with her husband to volunteer at the Loving Hearts Baby Home as missionaries. While in Uganda, God began preparing her heart for big things and soon began connecting her with this little baby, Daniel.  Daniel was born with severe eye issues and couldn’t see at the time…yet; he would always recognize Coryn’s voice when she would come into the Baby Home.  She soon started finding herself going from volunteering a couple of days a week to showing up every day simply to love on Daniel.  There was just this unexplained connection that Coryn shared with the young boy. The Lord began moving in both Coryn’s and her husband’s hearts to officially bring Daniel into their family.  It was just this natural progression and they loved that they were able to transition him into their home while living in Uganda and surrounded by his native culture.  Coryn and her husband had their second son, Nehemiah, while living in Uganda as well.

>>>Having Daniel there for the birth was amazing because he really felt the sense that he was Nemo’s big brother. They are both our sons in every way and shape of the word.  So many times people say that he is so lucky to have been adopted by us…when the truth is we are the lucky ones.  Parenting is not always easy for sure…but it is absolutely rewarding!

What is your favorite thing about being a mom?

>>>I’m a working mom so I love when I come home after a long day of work and I walk through the door.  My boys always come running up into my arms and greet me.

What is the most rewarding thing about being a mom?

>>>Getting to see my kid’s relationship with the Lord develop.

A glimpse into Coryn’s selfless love, from the perspective of 4-year-old Daniel.

Why do you love your mom?

>>>Because I got to go and live with her (he is adopted).

What is your favorite thing about your mom?

>>>Her laugh, smile, and that she protects me from animals.

Why do you think you mom is the most amazing mom?

>>>Because she teaches me to not be scared.

Meet // Jessica Charlton

As Mother’s Day approaches, we’d love to introduce you to one of Remnant’s featured mothers who consistently exhibits a selfless love; a love that is contagious, leaving you wanting to give it and wanting more of it at the same time. Meet Jessica, mother of 2-year old Logan and 19-weeks along expecting twin boys.

A glimpse into Jessica’s selfless heart….

Jessica grew up in the church as a pastor’s daughter. Now married for seven years and having always wanted to have a family that is focused on loving other, Jessica has the privilege of being the mom to Logan and is 19-weeks along to two new baby boys. Beyond her love for her family, Jessica has inspired us with her heart for the marginalized. A few years back, she heard a man give his testimony in church. He shared how he had been HIV positive for 25 years, but never felt accepted by others or the church.  There was such a horrible stigma related to this disease that he was suffering from which lead to him feeling completely like an outcast.  Jessica’s world was rocked, as it was hard for her to believe that there could be someone in her church that felt completely ostracized, ashamed, and didn’t feel as if they had a safe place that they could talk about the things they were suffering from each and every day. Jessica was inspired to step out of the sidelines and into the game.  She quickly got involved with Saddleback Church’s HIV/AIDS Initiative.  This is a ministry that is dedicated to providing a support system for people infected with HIV/AIDS .  They accomplish this by opening up the door of communication and providing a safe place full of care and acceptance, meanwhile diminishing the stigma that is related to this disease.  While many organization’s are doing great work to combat this disease…this ministry calls for the church to come alongside of people infected with HIV/AIDS, as brother’s and sister’s, and then ultimately letting God do the work.

What is the most rewarding thing about being a mom?

>>>It is a gift and a honor to be entrusted with raising and shepherding someone that God has a plan for. Logan is God’s and it’s an honor to help teach him new things and watch him flourish. I want to instill in Logan how to view people from God’s perspective, to teach him to love others unconditionally and give of his time…by living life with them and holding someone’s hand through the difficult times>>>

What is your key to juggling everything? Or any advice for mom’s to be?

>>>Take things day by day, moment by moment.  Trust in the Lord along the way and rely on His Holy Spirit.  Be dependent on Him and give yourself lots of grace!>>>

With the launch of our special edition Carter shirt, we’d love to introduce you to to the artist, Sarah Carter. Sarah is a talented artist who exhibits her artwork nationally. This stunning woman is not just an artist– she is a wife and mother. Her husband Steve, is a pastor at Willow Creek Church in Illinois, and their rambunctious four year old son, Emerson, is secretly a superhero who works tirelessly to keep the city safe from “billains.” This lovely family is now expecting a baby, and they’re also in the process of adopting from Ghana, West Africa.

We asked Sarah a few questions about her art and the new Remnant shirt design:

What inspires you?
>>> I am inspired by open-air markets, fashion, layers and mixing of colors and textures, wide-open spaces, vintage heirlooms and modern lines… I love quirky details, little things that make you look twice. I am also inspired by people who take risks and live confidently for a purpose or cause.  Anytime I can encounter and learn from someone who is an expert in their field, I am bound to be inspired.  I carry a pad and pen everywhere so I can capture inspiration when it comes and there are bits of paper all over our home with scratches of song lyrics, lines from movies, and color combinations that grab my attention.

We recently had the amazing opportunity to spend the day at The Recreation Project (TRP). We have printed several custom shirt orders for this organization and were so excited to experience what they are about.

The Recreation Project is unlike anything else in Gulu– it is the only place you can zip line, rock climb and do fun activities in the middle of a forest in Gulu; best of all, they challenge you to find the lesson in each of the activities, so you can apply it to your personal life.

The ladies were smiling and laughing the whole day as we did several team building activities. Many of us stepped out of our comfort zones as we put on harnesses and jumped into the air on the zip line, or jumped off a giant tree on what they call “the leap of faith.”

It was beautiful to see the ladies put their all into every activity presented to them, and even more beautiful to hear them connect these activities to their own lives. They spoke of difficult times and how important it was to work together and how you need to look at everyone’s strengths and weaknesses to get through tough situations.

Thank you for an amazing day, TRP! We are so thankful to work with such an awesome organization; we had a blast and learned so much while doing it!

Check out The Recreation Project for yourself: http://therecreationproject.org/

Last Saturday, the Restore Leadership Academy was celebrating their candidates who were graduating, and we were excited to be a part of this amazing event. Bob Goff, President Restore International, was in Gulu with a team, to not only celebrate the graduates, but also to make history in Uganda.

Bob, his son Richard, and a team from the US brought a huge balloon to send in to space– something that has never been done in Uganda! The balloon was attached to a GPS and a photo of the students so they could track where the balloon landed. Whoever found it could see the faces of the ones who sent it. How cool is that?! Remnant Uganda got to play a part in making history too by printing over 300 shirts for all the students that would commemorate the launch of the balloon and their spot in history.

Congratulations graduating candidates and Restore Academy for becoming the number one school in all of Northern Uganda.

Check our their website to find out how you can be involved with the amazing work of Restore International:http://www.restoreinternational.org/

Get a preview of some of  a few pages from the Restore yearbook: http://www.restoreinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/yearbook1.pdf

Looking for a good read? Check out Bob Goff’s New York Times Best Seller Love Does: http://www.restoreinternational.org/product62.htm

Here at Remnant Uganda, we strongly believe in holistic development. We believe that educating our ladies about finances is very important now, as well as in their future endeavors. For the past few months, the Remnant Uganda ladies have been learning about poverty, debts, and budgeting. We are so excited to see them implementing what they’ve learned in their lives and are so proud of how focused they are in getting out of debt. For example, Mirriam will be debt free by November because of what she has learned through financial training!

We are so proud of Miriam; we interviewed her below to explain her journey to becoming debt free:

Q: How have you used what you have learned in financial training in your everyday life?

A: Financial training has sharpened my skills. I have learned how to budget better and how to use my money so I don’t enter into problems later.

Q: What are your goals for your finances?

A: I am planning to use my money wisely and go to the Congo to visit my family members; I couldn’t go this year but I am budgeting to go next year.

Q: What is your favorite part about the financial trainings?

A: The lesson on debt and greed.  If you don’t want to enter into more debt you avoid been greedy and avoid impulse buying.

Q:What are your hopes for the future?

A: From now on I will train myself– I will not do impulse buying, so what I have I can use wisely with myself, my family and so I can assist others. I won’t take loans and acquire interest. I want to be free. I have been delivered from greed!

Miriam says she feels very light because she had a debt of a few hundred thousand shillings, which would equate about one months salary for someone in Gulu. By next month she will be completely debt free! Through our financial training program she is being empowered to take control of her finances and now has hope for her future.

Last Friday, Remnant Uganda had a serve day! We absolutely love being a part of the community through our products, but we wanted to do more. It is our heart for our ladies to be transformed and to be compelled to be agents of change in their community. We spent our first serve day at a local hospital, Gulu Referral, picking up trash and cleaning the hospital grounds. It was such a great day and it was so beautiful to see Remnant ladies making an impact in their community.

You are an individual. We all are. Each of us have within us unique gifts and talents—skills that nobody else obtains. However, individually, each of us is also incomplete. For this reason, we need each other. We were not intended to function independently; we were created to work together.

For example, think of a body. Each part is unique and necessary, and yet no part is sufficient in and of itself. A body isn’t made up of all hands, or eyes, or hearts. Rather, a body has precisely what it needs, and each part must work together.

We are one body. Me. You. Everyone. We are unique, and yet we need each other.

Here at Remnant, we are dedicated to this idea. Our aim is to develop a cultural exchange. In other words, we are committed to rallying, connecting, and resourcing people like YOU to make a sustainable difference in the world.

Remnant International, our US partner, currently has three internship openings:

Southern CA internship app– photography and graphic design

Southern CA internship app– events

Gulu internship application

After completing our huge custom order last week, we celebrated at our favorite local pizza place, Sankofa Cafe, Gulu. Sankofa is such a great restaurant; it was so fun to reward the ladies for all their hard work with some pizza.

It was also exciting for our ladies to see the shirts they previously printed for the Sankofa staff in action!

This week, we completed our largest order to date– 800 shirts for an organization, Passion Conferences. They are currently having a world tour, with their next stop in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. These shirts were made for their volunteers at the event.

The ladies, challenged by this large order, worked so hard. We couldn’t be more proud of them! Thanks for the order, Passion!

You can learn more about Passion Conferences by visiting http://www.268generation.com.