7 children and tales of motherhood, adoption, being a wife and loving Jesus completely

He said to me:   “Mummy, you know they are safest with us, you cannot let them go anywhere else”.                                           James, Gabriel, Emmanuel and Joey (Left to right) Many people have asked me how my older biological children feel about having 5 adopted siblings.   The first time I was asked that, I wondered what exactly my response was supposed to be. I was actually caught off guard. I knew that my children didn’t really care because they were happy children but somehow that answer was not a trusted one with my friend. This friend/social worker , who asked me this, said her reason for the question was because they share everything and apparently in the end have less than they would have had because they have to share everything. When we were trying to make sense of my mums death and the situation with James, Emmanuel and Khloe- ...

Mummy, you are just a house keeper- don’t talk to me like that” said my oldest daughter Danielle. She has always pushed my buttons but that's okay, God knew i could manage as her mother. She is a lot like me....i love that about her. When I was a little girl, I saw my mum do everything. She was a single mother and did not have the luxury of staying home with us. She went to work every day. She sometimes went weeks and months away from home working upcountry or abroad. When she came home, we had all her attention. She stretched her love between 5 children and made sure we had the best she could offer us single highhandedly.   I don’t think she thought about what we were learning from her lifestyle ….her sole aim was to educate us and provide. Because of what I saw growing up, I know I can do it all. I mean, I can go to work, raise the kids, stretch my heart to bless other people and make the world a better place. I don’t commonly think there is anything a man c...

Hey Ma, Two weeks ago I had a dream of you- not the first one but one of the most significant ones since you have been gone. In the dream, you were glowing and very happy.   You were walking alongside my little sister Joy who was oblivious of your presence. She looked sad but was trying to be strong and there you were walking right beside her as she carried a candle in her hand. You and i saw each other and you smiled at me and I kept shouting mummy, mummy, mummy and you came briefly to my corner in the church where I was helping a little boy arrange his presentation and you hugged me but I didn’t feel your physical hug but the warmth in my heart….i cannot describe the feeling I got but it was one of reassurance and contentment. Then you said to me: I have sorted the matters and I have to go now! This whole time, I knew you had died but I was okay with the strangeness of the dream just so I can hear your voice and see your face. In the dream, a strange ...

My friend Daniel Ruhweza posted the above picture on his Instagram page and i could not agree with him more. Why are parents scared to discipline their children or voice their opinion towards a strange child who is misbehaving? Have we lost our moral code and don't feel right enough to discipline our children, are we too tired from adding value to the rest of the world and failing add value to our own households, are tired of being parents? What the heck is going on? Sometime back, i sat next this beautiful sweet mum while we were both attending our children's concert. Sat right above us on the upper level in the main hall was a bunch of notorious kids. They kept throwing papers and some random stuff at parents on the lower level. We were dressed nice and we not looking to be re- decorated with some random pieces of things thrown at us by these rowdy kids. I was furious at how these kids were down right disrespecting parents. This sweet mummy looks at me with all...

. 2001 I got married to George a man I was one hundred percent sure God asked me to marry. For us, it was not that first love sort of scenario.  He was working for a Church we both attended and served. I sang in the choir of the same church. We met and became friends ….he had other friends who were girls…I had other friends who were boys.  I was 20 years old; He was 23 years old we just started hanging. I had many potential suitors like all girls do at that age and I really didn’t want to go through loving a random guy who I would end up breaking up with. I prayed fervently for God to show me my future husband because I wanted to get married and get on with my life. I really wanted to get married early, have my kids and then pursue my career.   My plan was to have 3 kids maximum. 2 biological and adopt one. George was always in my circle of friends. He came to Africa Hall of residence at university as all the other potential suitors did. He never as...

James Nathan Nuwagaba Barugahare   Emmanuel Benjamin Ashaba Barugahare Khloe'Laura Owembabazi Barugahare My mum took in a little boy in 2010 and she named him James James was abandoned somewhere in Mbarara when he was 6 months old. Mbarara is located in the western part of Uganda. All attempts to trace the family by the probation officer were in vain. He was then placed under my mums care until they traced his family members who were willing to look after him but no one was ever traced. We met little James every time we went to visit mummy. Little James was very happy with mummy. He was very malnourished when he was first placed with my mum. My mum did her best to take care of him and he became healthy and was a happy little boy. Later in 2012 my mum took in another little boy and she names him Emmanuel. Emmanuel’s biological mother got pregnant with him when she was 17 years old by a casual laborer in their village who disappeared when he found out abo...

Joey was home and we considered our family complete. We had our 2 girls and 2 boys. 2 biological, 2 adopted and it was a happy feeling. Our first days with little Joey were trying too. Joey cried day and night when he got home but through our last experience with Kayla, we were stronger and wiser and we were going to manage until he settled in.   2 weeks into the adoption, Danielle, Gabriel and Kayla came home with red eyes from school. I arrange to take them to their favorite pediatrician Dr. Michael at Nakasero Hospital. It was always a treat to go to Dr. Michael. Even for me as a mum, for once I found a doctor who explained into detail the condition of my babies every time we had a sickness. We keep joking that our kids will still go to him even when they are 30 years. The plan was to go see Dr. Michael get eyes spray and then go swimming. We packed our swimming bags and with 3 little excited kids (Danielle was 7, Gabe 5 and Kayla 3 years) and a crying b...