Sipi Falls

The edge!

Three beautiful girls, inside and out!

This family was hulling the coffee beans!

Chris and Michele and their daughter Chloe came on a Vision Trip to Uganda to see if God is calling them long-term here. After a busy week of visiting all the ministry sites in Soroti we all went to Sipi Falls for a time of reflection and relaxation. We hiked to the top of Sipi falls, which was not relaxing, but it was wonderful. Our God is an amazing creator!
This trip brought back so many memories from when we came on our vision trip. It was wonderful to see God's faithfulness in the last 2 years. It was wonderful to be at Sipi with our kids and enjoy it the way I imagined they would. They climbed like troopers. They were the leaders of the pack right behind our guide. They enjoyed the Cameleon that Tim bought from some boys in the bush. They were covered from head to toe with dirt, just as I imagined they would be. It was so fun to see them playing in the stream and washing off in the stream water. They didn't get very clean, but it was better than before.
We slept in tents and listened to the waterfall all night long and Steve and the kids got up early in the morning to hike to the top of the falls.

What a wonderful reminder of our awesome God! He not only showed me his beautiful creation of the earth, but the beautiful creation of His people. The people live so simply in the mountains and they are so happy and content!

I wish I could write all my thoughts down, but it would take forever and I can't type as fast as my mind thinks. I really just want you all to be impressed with our wonderful Creator!! He is amazing!!

Introducing some of our friends

Joshua, Timoth and Simon! They greet me every time I drive by! "Mazungo, how are you?"

Manuel, always so serious, but a great kid!

Felix, he is a fun kid! Always pulling funny faces!

This is much more my speed! Sitting and visiting with the kids, especially the preteen and teenage girls! I love them already!

This is me trying to play futball with them!  I wiped out and I decided I am much to old to run with these kids! This Saturday we are going to bring out the wiffle ball and bat! Hopefully I can do this a little more gracefully than futball! Even though I am still bruised from my fall, it was worth every minute of fun!

Odong made a car with our trash! These kids are so creative!

Teddy is the girl in the flowered shirt!  She speaks great English so that is very helpful!

Brenda and her baby sister

Sharon

My good friend Christine, she helps me with so many things. She is such a blessing to me!

Troy and his friend Celestine

We are getting to know some of our neighbors and we are having so much fun. God has blessed us with the perfect neighborhood for our family. Right outside our gate is a large field where kids gather to play futball (soccer) and volleyball. The kids are mostly the teachers kids and they are very respectful and kind. They love it when we come out and play with them. 

It is kind of crazy though. When I walk around I see so much of my trash being made into toys. How very humbling! I don't break down my boxes anymore, because then they are useable for making toys. 

The neighborhood kids are all very interested in Ashley's hair. They want to touch it! She doesn't mind at all! She is feeling more and more comfortable here. She keeps telling me how much she loves it! I am so glad God has relieved so much of her anxiety and longing for Michigan. She still misses people so much, but is very comfortable here.

Thank-you so much for your continued prayers.  We are so blessed to know that we have a family of God back in the states praying for us. 

The joys of homeschooling in a 3rd world country!

For and art project we made a "World Cake". The fun part was that we made the cake and then power went out so Ashley had to decorate in the dark! The kids all helped. Drew helped make the cake, Troy and Avalien mixed the colors into the frosting and Ashley decorated the cake. Since Steve and Tim were in Kampala, as soon as the cake was finished we headed over to Angie so we could enjoy it together.
We are learning about our world during school this year and we get to do great projects.

Just to let you know this was a huge stretch for me.  It is hard for me to be patient as they do the work, but it was worth it in the end to see their excitement!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

For thanksgiving our team does a traditional American meal. Steve and I offered to do the turkey this year! We now have them grazing in our yard. I was excited about preparing the turkey until they woke me up the first morning!! Now I have to listen to them for the next couple of weeks! I will be ready for the big day! We will try to take pictures of the experience, but hopefully not too gruesome of pictures!

BCCS Sticker

The first thing we did when we got our new van was put our BCCS sticker in the window!

Sporting our BCCS sticker!!  Missing our school!

Our van with Soroti Rock on the background!

Bible lesson

I have just started a new Bible curriculum with my kids. Today the lesson was about Moses and the burning bush. We lit a candle and I asked the kids what was happening. It was burning, it was being consumed or destroyed. We talked about what it must have been like for Moses to see this burning bush. What was he thinking? He must have been amazed!
I started thinking about this. The burning bush is an amazing picture of our lives. God was in that burning bush and that is why it was not being consumed. When we have God as our center, we will not be consumed or destroyed. We pray and talk so much at our team meetings and as we gather together about keeping Christ in the center. We need to keep Christ as the center in ALL our lives. He needs to help us in this work and world so that we will not be consumed.
I love that God is using my kids curriculum to help me grow in my faith. I pray that I can be so excited about it that my kids will grow stronger in their relationship to our Father.