This week has been crazy busy and full. But the Lord has been gracious to us and I wanted to share some answers to prayers and ask for more prayer.
:: Our container is at the border of Kenya and Uganda!! We are so thrilled with this news! We hope that it will be in Uganda tomorrow and that it will be cleared sometime soon! This week is wonderful because Eric is finishing his first class tomorrow and then he has a week off of teaching. Please pray that this process will go smoothly, that the container will remain safe on the road and that the agent that clears it will be honest and not charge us too much.
::We have an offer on our house in Salem! This is a huge answer to much prayer. Please pray that this process will go smoothly and that the Lord would see fit to free us quickly from this financial burden.
Those are answers to big prayers...but our loving Father has also been at work answering prayers for things that seem small in light of eternity, but as I see God working the details out I am constantly reminded that his love is obvious and his care for me is great...
::I really wanted to get the main portion of the house painted before the container arrived. The problem was that people were telling us over and over that there were a few choices of colors available here in Mbale, but that if you wanted to pick a color off of a paint chip, that you could only really do that in Kampala. That meant waiting until this next week, when Eric had off school and trying to find our way around Kampala....a huge, overwhelming hassle right now. I prayed about the whole situation and asked the Lord to work and to give me patience to wait for Him. It is instances like this, that tempt me to be discouraged...nothing seems easy here yet... But, the mantra of our training at MTI came to mind..."God help" and help he did... One of our new friends here, said to me, "I really think that there is a store here in Mbale that will mix paint...lets go check..." And sure enough! It looked like a Uganda version of Home Depot... a tiny little hardware store with a rack of paint chips, a computer and a paint mixing machine...while we didn't get a free stir-stick, I was able to get four gallons of the paint that we wanted mixed within 5 minutes and we hired a guy to paint the living area and hallways. It looks fresh and clean now and ready for a container.
::Getting curtains was the same song, second verse. There are very few selections of ready made curtains here and what they do have tends to not fit the windows very well. This same friend, on the day that she showed me the paint store, also took me to the street where all of the fabric stores are. Ah yes...Uganda's version of Jo-Anns. A little more chaotic...a little more color (if you can imagine that) and a LOT cheaper! Fabric that runs $18/yard at Jo-Anns is about $1.50 a yard here. After I found the fabric, I also found a tailor...he works in a little shop (maybe 12 feet by 12 feet?) that has about 8 people working foot pedal machines. In the end, tailor-made curtains will cost just under $10 per window (two panels). Awesome! God is so gracious to continue to help us as we learn to navigate our way around our new home. The learning curve is steep, but God's grace is greater.
::We are still looking into dogs and trying to work on the health of the dogs that we do have in hopes of hanging on to them for a little longer. Please continue to pray for this situation.
::William told us tonight, "when I sleep I think I am still in Salem, but when I wake up, I realize that I am in Uganda" When we asked if that made him happy or sad, he said with a smile..."happy..." I'm so thankful for that! Praise the Lord that the kids continue to adjust and like it here. It is such a blessing to us to see God taking care of and protecting their little hearts!
Oh, those are wonderful things to hear! Sometimes it's the LITTLE ways that God provides for us that really hit home, isn't it? What wonderful answers to prayers large and small!
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