Jimmy these days

 

Jimmy is looking awfully cute these days with his two front teeth missing!  So fun!

 

Photos from our Sunday Afternoon Visit

 

On Sunday, we worshipped in Mazimasa...a small village church about 40 minutes drive away.  (It's actually not that far, but the road that we take is completely torn up...I don't think we are able to drive above 35 mph).  The church itself is made of sticks.  It has no walls, but it does have a tin roof and they have a pile of bricks that they have started to collect in order to eventually build brick walls.  The pastor is also still one of Eric's students at KTC.

 

After church he and his family invited us over for lunch.  They have 14 kids, plus two that they are taking care of.  His whole family cannot afford to all travel to church every Sunday, but he brings as many of his kids as possible.  Part of his family gathered for a picture.  I wish I had taken the time to let them find everybody because this turned out so cute!  (unfortunantly, it was about to rain and the aforementioned road is an even worse mess when the rain starts so we were trying to get back home fast!)

 



 

 

This is his mom...the matriarch of the clan.  She was fun to meet...she had a lot of spunk still in her (she should...she had 12 kids herself!) and asked if I could take her picture.

 This is their littlest one.  Isn't she adorable?

Chickie

Talitha now knows four words:  Dada, Momma, Kity, and Chickie.

Yesterday we worshipped in a village church.  Part way through the reading of Scripture, a chicken walked into the church.  Talitha pointed, pulled out her pacifier and, with great delight, yelled, "CHICKIE!"

Answered Prayers...both great and small...

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!

Sisiyi Falls

Today was Eric's day off and so we drove up to Sisiyi Falls.  It's a lovely place to hang out.

 

Visiting Baby Dianna

The Ugandans have a tradition of naming babies after missionaries.  I knew that.

 

But I certainly never expected it.

 

So I was delighted and honored when I heard that this sweet baby is named after me.  :)

 

Meet baby Dianna.

 

Isn't she sweet?



 

 

Her daddy works for the school and her family attends the Mazimasa OPCU congregation, where her daddy also serves as deacon. 



 

 

Her mommy's milk is taking too long to come in, so she is currently being spoon-fed cow's milk.  

 

This is her auntie.  She really wanted me to take her picture.  The soft light that enters Ugandan houses and the textures that abound mixed with her her beautiful face, made her a stunning subject.  May God shine his beautiful light unto salvation into her heart.

 

And this is big sissy, Eunice.  She's such a doll!  Last year, we were able to witness her baptism.  

Getting my baby fix! :)



While we were there, Grandma and Grandpa came to say hi.  He is an elder in the church.

After our visit, we also dropped in to see a few other church members.  One of them, who is also a student at KTC, lives right by these rock.  He has many crops planted in among the crevices of rocks.  The kids had fun climbing right up.

 

On the way home, we stopped by a roadside stand and fed the entire family lunch for 5,000 shillings...

 

That's $2.45.

 

Awesomeness...

Prayer Request

We are praying that God will bless us with some new dogs here and would appreciate you joining in with us in prayer. 

Right now we have 2 very old and very sick German Shepherds.  Sadly, they really need to be put-down soon. 

Due to safety concerns though, we need some new dogs to replace them before we put them down.

Please pray that God will provide us with at least two very child friendly, calm around the family, dogs.  But dogs that will be intimidating to strangers.  Also pray that they will be very cheap.  (We found a source for breed puppies, but they are $800 a dog...yikes!)

Thank you!