Solomon

Here are pictures of our new baby monkey!  What have I talked myself into?  The first morning we had Solomon, I woke in the morning with poop in my hair!  The monkey is now sleeping with the kittens. He is now getting more acclimated to our home and doesn't need to be held all the time. He still loves to be held, but at least he is more content now to wonder around and eat on top of some crates. I have always wanted a monkey, but it is a lot of work.  It is like having a baby. We feed it a bottle and change it's home made diapers. So crazy to think we have a pet monkey! 

Children's Ministry Training

Our Teammates Rachel and Karen lead a training for children's ministry leaders. There were 55 leaders in attendance representing churches around Soroti town. We were so thankful for all the churches in attendance. We are spending lots of time assessing the assets of the communities. We have now made connections with many churches through this training and we will now be able to follow up with them and have them help us assess the communities they represent. 

I chose to be a babysitter so that this little boys mom could really enjoy the training. 

Kenya was beautiful!  It was good to get away and have some time with the kids. We went to a Impala Wildlife Sanctuary. We saw monkeys and impala roaming free.  We also were able to walk around with the zookeeper and he let us pet a cheetah, and he also let us get very close to the lions while they were eating. It was amazing!  I almost forgot, there were also zebra's roaming free. We were walking down a path and we were startled by them. The kids thought they were so cool. 

We ate dinner at a beautiful new hotel. I was so excited, I had real steak!! It was wonderful! We would have loved to stay at the new resort, but it was $720 a night.  We decided that was definitely not in our budget, but it was sure nice to eat there. 

We had no problem getting our visa's renewed for three months.  We were so grateful for all your prayers. God blessed us with a great time of travel. (The roads were terrible, but we are somehow getting used to that!)

Visit to Amecet

On Saturday morning, we decided to go to Amecet.  We like to go with the kids, but have not had as much time as I would like to. School days get so busy and it is hard to find time to go anywhere. We were so glad we went.  These babies are so wonderful and need so much love. Here are a few of the babies at Amecet right now. Please pray for these sweet little ones that God created so fearfully and wonderfully. 

Baby Ruth- She is over a year old and has many medical issues, but she is a happy little girl. 

Rose- her name fits her well!  She is colorful and intricately designed by our Maker.

There are so many babies to hold. 

Catherine checking out Steve's white face!

Drew and Troy carrying the boys for their snack time. 

Raphael- He has the biggest smile and gets into everything and gets around everywhere by crawling.

Ashley is taken with little Catherine. She fell asleep on Ashley's lap, it was so sweet!

Charlie- so sweet!!

Sunday Hospital Visit

On Sunday, I went with my friend Christine to the hospital to visit her friend Esther. Esther is a friend from church.  On Monday she was taking her husband to the bus stop and returned late to her home. She went to bed and was awoken by the sound of someone in her home. She thought it was her husband so she went  to see what he had forgotten and quickly realized it was thief.  He ran out of the house and as she ran to shut the door behind him, he shot her in the leg. She got the door locked and then went back into her bedroom and started to send and alarm to her neighbors. No one would come and help her for fear of the thief that loomed outside. (Somehow they must have some signal to alert each other of danger.) She then realized that she was bleeding and that she had indeed been shot. One of her neighbors called the police and they came and brought her to the hospital. She has a 5 week old baby and two more older children. She is very thankful that no one else was hurt and the kids slept through it.
When we visited her on Sunday, she was looking really good. He husband told us that he was thankful that God had protected her. The shot did not injure her bone or her nerves and she survived.
After visiting with her for awhile, we went to the children's ward to look for our watchman's younger sister. She was in the hospital overnight and we thought we would try to see her too. As we were going to find her, we came upon some more friends from Christine's church.  They were visiting a preteen girl.  Christine had told me about her.  She has an enlarged heart and she needs to be treated in South Africa or India. It is basically and impossibility here. The auntie invited us in to see the young girl. She was laying on this table struggling to breath it seemed. They informed us that she can not eat anything. They try to feed her and she just vomits. She is being kept alive with IV drip. Her other organs are being affected now too.
Even now as I write, tears come to my eyes.  It reminds me of my cousin Megan!  How her family watched her struggle for a month. How, when I saw her, her breathing was so intensified. Megan was on so many machines and nothing could help her. As my Uncle Mike always says "God's will is done."  His will is not always our will. This little girl has only the iv drip and as I stood beside her bed watching her struggle for breath, I too prayed for God's will to be done. I don't know what her future holds, but I know who holds her future. Before we left, I asked if I could pray. We stood around this young girl and prayed for her.  I prayed for her healing, either eternal healing or earthly healing, knowing that only God's Will will be done!

Sometimes, I love it here and sometimes it is so hard!  I know this is where God has me and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  As I live everyday here, it is so frustrating to see the suffering and the inefficient medical care. On the other side, it is so refreshing to see wonderful people who have very little material blessings, but love and care for each other.  It is wonderful to see people outside.  No one sits in there homes!  Everyone is out living life together.

I pray that we as a Team, family and individuals can learn their culture, and bring Jesus into the deep roots of these people. I don't want to change their culture, but I want them to have Jesus!

Robert and Joy's new home

These are our friends, Robert and Joy and Godwin and Emmanuel. After Robert completed our home, he was now able to start his own home. We visit them at the place they are renting now and it is so squeezed(as they would say it).  Not only is it squeezed, but it is so loud and busy with people. Our kids love Robert and his family, but have a hard time going over to their home now. They are stared at and there is no place to go. We are so excited for them to complete their home, so we can visit and our kids will enjoy it. 

Robert and his family are wonderful, godly people that we hope to partner with more. We are in the process now of setting up a training on Family Planning. Our teammate, Jennifer(a nurse), will do all the biological stuff and Steve will do the Biblical training. Please pray for us as we work out these details. 

Joseph is working on Roberts home and he did much of the finishing touches at our home. I just love the picture that Steve took so I had to include it.

Robert and Steve are always planning something. 

Joy is so in awe of her dreams of finally having a house.  This is the first that she had seen the work being done. She just kept walking around and looking with a huge smile on her face. We are so thankful that God has blessed Robert with a great job and a heart for the Lord.  We pray for continued blessing for this family. 

This is their 4 month old, Emmanuel.  I love this little guy!  The funny thing about him is that every time I hold him he urinates on me.  O well!  What's a girl to do?  This is Africa!

Meet Godwin!  He is a very energetic 3 year old that loves his Dad and Uncle Steven's Motorcar!

Teaching

I thought you might enjoy some pictures of our classroom!  We do actually have school here.  We usually start around 9am and complete classes around 2pm. We usually have a lunch break for an hour our so, depending on what we have to prepare for lunch. 

This is about the only picture I have of my braided hair.  I had to remove it, because I was starting to have hair fall out!  It is too bad, because I loved it!

A way to cool off in Uganda

It has been so hot here and we don't have access to a pool or a bathtub.  The kids made this makeshift bathtub in our shower.  They had so much fun and felt very refreshed.  I love to see how their creative minds work.
I was lying in my room the other day and listening to my children play together.  I remember when we first moved to Uganda and how they didn't know what to play and they didn't really know how to play with each other. Even though they still fight (alot) they really have become the best of friends.  They spend hours playing with Legos and just making up fun things to do!  I am so thankful that God has blessed us with adaptable children. They are such a blessing to us.