Sometimes we can’t believe this is our life. Who knew that our family’s quest to find our daughter would end up changing so many lives? (including ours)

After a difficult labor and emergency delivery with our son, Asher, in December 2004, we (Dave and Morgan Hansow) decided that the next child we would welcome into our family would be through adoption. In 2005, we began the process of adopting a child from Uganda, East Africa.

About that time, Uganda began to take a spotlight in the media with Oprah, Invisible Children, and other celebrities. We began to read up and learn more about Uganda and the horrific civil war with the LRA rebel group and felt called to action knowing our to-be child was somewhere in that country. Our hearts just started to become passionate about Africa in general.

A year and half into the adoption process we got an email that said we were still at least 6 months out from getting to travel. And so in a single day, we made what other people might consider a brash decision - we decided to quit our jobs, rent out our home, leave our friends and family, and move to Uganda to meet our child (and start a non-profit organization in the process).

In March of 2007 we formed Light Gives Heat with the intent to 'simply go and meet real needs.' Rather than presuming we knew answers to needs in Uganda, we decided to travel first, listen/wait second, and act third (which we will have to say made fundraising initial donations a little challenging). Nonetheless, people got behind us and we bought our plane tickets (the point of no return)!

We knew that if we failed, we would rather fail having stepped out and risked than living with the 'what-ifs.' So two months later we packed up our belongings, had a couple going-away parties, and boarded a plane bound for Uganda.

We spent the next 6 months in Uganda and it was a crazy adventure. We found our beautiful daughter, Jadyn Suubi Hansow, and were granted custody of her on her first birthday. We welcomed our family to visit on different occasions. AND, after listening, we began the SUUBI(hope) project offering displaced women from war-torn Northern Uganda the opportunity to earn a consistent income each week.

Our lives were forever changed on that trip to Uganda. The women of SUUBI have shown us a great deal about what life looks like when it is lived with hope. They have proved to us over and over again that our past does not determine our future, that circumstances in our lives don’t have to affect the love and joy we live with, and that hope is a choice!

Because we were so changed, we wanted to use our platform to storytell and bring others into our story. Light Gives Heat has grown substantially both in the US and in Uganda. We've launched new projects and are continually trying to think outside the box. We're pretty humbled and super grateful for this amazing adventure that has become our lives! Join us!

The Tailors of Epoh are some of our favorite people - we can't wait for you to meet them and here the story behind the brand. Keep checking back!

We love our Suubi women and the people on the ground in Uganda that run it - so keep checking back to see the whole scoop!