Our new addition - Tabby

After finding many cockroaches in our new home, we decided we needed to get a cat. Her name is Tabby and she is precious. She loves to play and cuddle! What more could we ask for?

Some animals and bugs

 For a few weeks we got to enjoy the Sliedrechts bunnies. They got them from Pastor Richard.

 The rooster that always gave us a wake up call around 6am! He was beautiful, but I really don't like him.

 Just like a little baby.

 A dung beetle on our porch. Why not hold him?

Home Sweet Home

We are in our new home. I am really loving it. It is so different from a new home in the states. It is still dirty and there are holes in the walls and I don't have any counter in the kitchen yet. But, I do have a stove and a refrigerator. I also have a sink although it has no hot water. We always have to warm up our water or fetch it from the bathroom. I am learning to adjust to life here. I really do love it. I am realizing how many things I took for granted in the states. Things like hot water, electricity, fast food, even different foods. The Ugandans eat the same thing most of the time. I feel like I eat the same things all the time here too. It doesn't really bother me though. When the Israelites were in the dessert they lived on manna and they complained and God was angry. Why should I complain when I have way more choices than manna. God is our provider and he will provide what we NEED. He does not promise us everything we want, but he does say he will provide for our needs. Our only NEED is HIM!

Drew helped take the beds apart and he also helped carry them out! He is growing up so much.

 A truck full of things

Josh and Steve carrying in one of our yellow totes

It is a little hot here

Even the girls helped!

In our new home

Many things on my mind

I am sitting here in the middle of the night and so many things are running through my mind. I don't know how I am going to survive tomorrow on so little sleep, but I trust God with my day and I know he will give me the rest I need. 


We are getting so close to moving into our home and it is getting exciting. It is actually really bittersweet. We love living with the Sliedrechts, the kids have so much fun playing and I have so much fun having coffee with Angie almost every day. On the other hand,  we are so excited to get settled and start getting to know our new neighbors. 


The kids are loving it here in Uganda but when we move to our new house it will be an adjustment again. It will be much quieter and we will have to drive to see anyone or ride our bikes.(I am a little nervous about the bike riding here yet.) Also, I am very excited to greet our neighbors near our new home, but that will be a huge stretch for Ashley. It will take time for here to feel comfortable going out.  Please pray that I am patient with her and will give her the time that she needs. Also, please join me in prayer that God will show us the kids in our neighborhood that will be kind and love our kids even though they are so different from themselves. 


I also have been up praying for our friend Roberts baby. He is 13 days old and has been in the hospital. He is having a hard belly and it sounds like he is not having stools. This maybe sounds minor in the states, but here I don't know if he will be treated properly. Please pray that the baby will be healed and for patience for Robert. He is the general contractor for our house and I know he really wants to be both places. He is a hard worker and he loves his wife. 

 The Boys caught their first lizard. They were so excited. I am so glad I didn't find it in my bed!

 Making a bunny cage. The bunnies didn't stay in it for long. They now just roam the yard and our houses if they sneak in. They like to hide under our bed.

 Toads!  Another thing we have all over the yard. 

 Ride for Refuge in Uganda! This is Ashley with Zulea, Beckie and Betty! 

 It was a long hard trail, but the kids all did great!  I even road my bike! Drew went further than all the kids and went with Steve the whole way back to town.  I was so proud of him! 

 Lake Kyoga- this was were we stopped and had a time of prayer and of worship with the group of people from Kumunda. The kids were very interested in the fish and the boats. 

 Eating at Soroti Hotel. It is a beautiful outdoor restaurant with pretty good food. In this picture we are eating with our first Michigan visitors, Craig and Lois Lubben. We also got to meet with Jim Zylstra who is a missionary in Uganda with CRWRC. Jim and Lois are brother and sister and they are my dad's first cousins. It was so fun to meet with relatives!

Well it is now 4:30 am and I am going to have to be up in a couple of hours again. I pray that I can get to sleep now. Enjoy the pictures and I will be adding more once we are into our new home! 
Thank-you for your continued prayers, we feel them and covet them. 

Here is a picture of the house we will be renting!  It has a back apartment that we will use for homeschooling and for a office for Steve and I. It also has its own bathroom in that part of the house too. 

The front of the house has 3 bedrooms and one room that we will use for a toy room. It is a new house so things need to still be finished. This means we are going across town every other day to check on the progress.  The communication is hard here so they don't always understand what we want to have done.  

Steve and Tim went to Kampala to get our stove, refrigerator and other things we need to make it livable! It will still be a couple of weeks before we can move in.  Please pray for good communication between us and the workers, so the work can be done quickly and efficiently. We are anxious to get settled in. 

We have been so blessed by being here. We really do love it here and look forward to making a home here.  It is tiring here in the heat, but I am sure we will get used to it!

Yesterday we listened to Pastor Tom's sermon online. It was good to feel like we were worshipping with our family of God back home. He preached on the Good Shepherd and us as the sheep. He is a good shepherd and he knows us so much. We need to listen to His voice as he gently leads us. It was a great reminder to keep listening to His voice and keep following HIM. 

 Our roadside picnic on the way to Soroti! It was great eating with the cows.

 Ashley loves ground nuts! Good source of protein!

Our welcome home sign and our welcome basket from our team!

In Soroti

We have made it to Soroti and we are adjusting to life. We have been without power about everyother night and we have no water.  Our water tank broke and no the city water is shut off! We are praying that the water will be turned on soon.
There is so much I want to write, but I will wait for pictures so you can see it as I discribe it!
We did the Ride for Refuge today in Soroti. It was very fun, but very hot on the way home. It was different this year to actually ride my bike instead of doing the food! The food was also very different here than in Byron Center. We had bisquits(kind of like a graham cracker) and bananas. We also made bran muffins! I will post pictures of our ride soon, but Steve and Drew are still out riding and he knows where the cord is. Can't wait to see pictures from the Ride for Refuge in Byron Center!