Oct. 14
Grace is now 4 years old! Saturday we began the celebration. We put up decoratio
ns, went for supper, and had a party for her. Our team and friends came over to celebrate. We had cake, homemade ice cream, and of course gifts. Grace is totally different than Lydia. Lydia tells everyone it is her birthday and loves the attention. Grace does enjoy it all but doesn’t need all the attention.
Sunday, October 11, w
as Grace’s actual birthday. She did tell our church it was her birthday and they sang to her as she smiled behind Josh’s leg. We had a birthday lunch and in the afternoon the girls friends, Betty, Spe, and Abela, came over for birthday bingo. They loved it. We had fun celebrating Grace. I hope she felt special and knows she is loved. Every year goes by so fast. What great memories. Grace is a gift from God to us. She keeps us laughing. Her giggles, smiles, and songs fill our home. She loves to color and write her name on her art work. She is strong too (aka strong willed). Her voice is often heard in our home and her second name. Oh well, God can use that too. I am still amazed at the Bible verses she can learn. Last night she said 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It is beautiful! I pray God fills Graces forth year with many blessings. I pray she continu
es to grow in Him and accept Him as Lord. May He be with her and use her all the days of her life.
We also celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. Since more than half of our team is from Canada we should have a party for them. It didn’t start out so good. Josh got home from teaching, we packed the van with pumpkin pies, vegetable, lemonade, decorations, and kids, and were on our way to the party…almost. I locked the padlock to the house not knowing the keys to the house and van were in the house. Oh man! We went around to all the windows, doors, attic looking for a way in but there was nothing. The good thing is we feel safe in our home, the bad thing is our keys were still safely in the locked house. We didn’t know what to do. We really didn’t want to break something to get in seeing as how we are still fixing up the house and didn’t ne
ed anymore things to fix. We called over to Karen and asked her to send over Tim’s hack saw. With in minutes the padlock was sawed open and we were in. Yeah! Thankfully, the ordeal only cost us $4 for a new padlock. We even got to the party on time and enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner. After supper we had a time of worship around the campfire. What a lot to be thankful for!
Last week we visited our watchman, John, home in the village. I was surprised to learn that he bikes 1 ½ to 2 hours one way every day to get to our house. Wow! I was humbled. He really wants a job or really needs it to provide for his family. Would we even think of biking to work let alone 2 hours one way? I have never heard him complain about it either. I get such mixed emotions visiting the village again. It is so quiet, has all the familiar smells from Nigeria, and I wonder if it isn’t these people who seem to have no one that need us the most. But I am just not made for the village. By the time we left I was sick of the mud, bugs, and so thankful for our home. What a wimp, I know. It is good for me to get out. I am glad we were able to see John’s home and meet his family. I know appreciate it.
The kids are doing well. Grace talked to her grandparents on her birthday and even saw some of them on skype. Now they are really anxious to go to MI. Almost every morning Grace asked if we are going to MI today. Luka’s nail is falling off because of a screen door accident. Grace pushed it over his finger, ouch! He is also starting to talk like he is really telling us something. He uses his little hand as he talks. I love it! Lydia is plugging away at school. Hard to believe we less than four more weeks with Karen teaching. It has been a true blessing. Today Lydia had three tests and didn’t get any wrong! She is really reading – whole books.
Grace is now 4 years old! Saturday we began the celebration. We put up decoratio
ns, went for supper, and had a party for her. Our team and friends came over to celebrate. We had cake, homemade ice cream, and of course gifts. Grace is totally different than Lydia. Lydia tells everyone it is her birthday and loves the attention. Grace does enjoy it all but doesn’t need all the attention.Sunday, October 11, w
as Grace’s actual birthday. She did tell our church it was her birthday and they sang to her as she smiled behind Josh’s leg. We had a birthday lunch and in the afternoon the girls friends, Betty, Spe, and Abela, came over for birthday bingo. They loved it. We had fun celebrating Grace. I hope she felt special and knows she is loved. Every year goes by so fast. What great memories. Grace is a gift from God to us. She keeps us laughing. Her giggles, smiles, and songs fill our home. She loves to color and write her name on her art work. She is strong too (aka strong willed). Her voice is often heard in our home and her second name. Oh well, God can use that too. I am still amazed at the Bible verses she can learn. Last night she said 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It is beautiful! I pray God fills Graces forth year with many blessings. I pray she continu
es to grow in Him and accept Him as Lord. May He be with her and use her all the days of her life.We also celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. Since more than half of our team is from Canada we should have a party for them. It didn’t start out so good. Josh got home from teaching, we packed the van with pumpkin pies, vegetable, lemonade, decorations, and kids, and were on our way to the party…almost. I locked the padlock to the house not knowing the keys to the house and van were in the house. Oh man! We went around to all the windows, doors, attic looking for a way in but there was nothing. The good thing is we feel safe in our home, the bad thing is our keys were still safely in the locked house. We didn’t know what to do. We really didn’t want to break something to get in seeing as how we are still fixing up the house and didn’t ne
ed anymore things to fix. We called over to Karen and asked her to send over Tim’s hack saw. With in minutes the padlock was sawed open and we were in. Yeah! Thankfully, the ordeal only cost us $4 for a new padlock. We even got to the party on time and enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner. After supper we had a time of worship around the campfire. What a lot to be thankful for!Last week we visited our watchman, John, home in the village. I was surprised to learn that he bikes 1 ½ to 2 hours one way every day to get to our house. Wow! I was humbled. He really wants a job or really needs it to provide for his family. Would we even think of biking to work let alone 2 hours one way? I have never heard him complain about it either. I get such mixed emotions visiting the village again. It is so quiet, has all the familiar smells from Nigeria, and I wonder if it isn’t these people who seem to have no one that need us the most. But I am just not made for the village. By the time we left I was sick of the mud, bugs, and so thankful for our home. What a wimp, I know. It is good for me to get out. I am glad we were able to see John’s home and meet his family. I know appreciate it.
The kids are doing well. Grace talked to her grandparents on her birthday and even saw some of them on skype. Now they are really anxious to go to MI. Almost every morning Grace asked if we are going to MI today. Luka’s nail is falling off because of a screen door accident. Grace pushed it over his finger, ouch! He is also starting to talk like he is really telling us something. He uses his little hand as he talks. I love it! Lydia is plugging away at school. Hard to believe we less than four more weeks with Karen teaching. It has been a true blessing. Today Lydia had three tests and didn’t get any wrong! She is really reading – whole books.
Hey Mandy-I'm not sure if you remember me or not. We went to school together. I was Cara DeVries back then. I am now Cara VanderWerf married to Steve VanderWerf(also went to school with us-a year ahead.)We have three little girls from ages 6-11. I just wanted to let you know that steve and I have been keeping up with you and your family in Soroti and are very encouraged by what you are doing there. We love reading about your everyday, daily life in Uganda. I also wanted to share that we have been praying for years about our passion to serve as international missionaries. It has been a long wait (I'm not very patient) but we got word last week that we've been accepted with Iteams. We are looking at serving in Cochabamba, Bolivia. We are feeling very excited and nervous at the same time. But we are experiencing the peace of knowing that God wants to use us in some way. We would love to hear about the journey you and Josh went through to get where you are now. Any advice would be awesome too! Like I said, we have been very encouraged by you and Josh. God is using you in amazing ways. It gets me excited to get out there and do his work. Hope all continues to be well with you and your beautiful family!
ReplyDeleteCara VanderWerf