My Sister is Here!

We are having so much fun with my older sister Jenna here that I haven't had time to write. It is SO good to have her here! What a true blessing that after 8 years of our lives in lived in Africa she is finally here to see it. It is so special to know she now knows where we are and how we live and what ministry is like. She can now understand what we are talking about. To be honest it was getting harder and harder for Jenna and I to stay close and I think it was because so much of who I am now is because of our lives in Africa. Now that she has been here we can relate even better.

I think one of the best parts of her being here is that the three of us are together (Angie, Jenna, and I). It just feels so normal and good. We laugh, we shop, we help eachother... We know eachother through and through and it is great to be so open and honest with eachother. What a special time.

We have kept busy. We stayed in Jinja where we took in the beauty, swam, took a boat ride by the source of the Nile, and ate at our favorite places. She has been apart of our home and families in Soroti, went to each of our churches, worshiped with our team, celebrated a friends birthday with us, visited Amecet and held the babies there, met our Indian friends and visited the Hindu temple with them, ventured to market with all six of our kids with us, had a ladies day out which consisted of second hand cloth shopping at the market and lunch together, went to the blind school, the Bible college, went camping and hiking and saw beautiful waterfalls and got very, very wet and muddy...and laughted as we made great memories. Ah, there is so much but I will just have to let Jenna tell you all about it.

All of the neices and nephews are thrilled to have Aunt Jenna here too. Luka can even say her name now. It is a special time for them to have her all to themselves. The only thing that could make them happier is to have all her kids here too.

It is amazing to see God in all of this. Last Spring when we were home I talked to Jenna about coming and agreed to pray about it with her. Who knew God would make a way in such a short time. Her whole time here has been an answer to prayer. I know God has spoken to Jenna in so many ways being here. I can't wait to see how God continues to use this trip in her life. I know she will be more than ever thankful for good driving, garbage cans (she is struck by the driving here and all the trash), and water and electricity that stay on.

We also unfortunatly shared our colds around here with Jenna. Seems everyone is a bit sick right now. Our kids have had coughs and colds for over three weeks. And Josh and I are battling it too. Pray for healing and health for all of us. Tomorrow we travel to Kampala, Jenna flies out Wednesday, then we have a team retreat till Sunday, and Monday travel back to Soroti. Then we hope to stay put and enjoy some routine for awhile. Pray for strength, safety, and a great spiritual retreat with our team.

Pray for Jenna as she leaves. (Oh, tears again.) We hate to let her go and wish we could just see eachother whenever we wanted to - like sister should be able to. It has been great to have her here. May God keep her safe and healthy all the way home. And may she be blessed as she reunites with her family and shares all she saw and experienced. Thanks for coming Jenna! We love you!!!

Can't wait to have you and your family back in two years. (I'm holding you to that one.)

Thank you too Ryan and everyone else who made it possible for Jenna to come! She could enjoy everything here fully knowing her family was being love and taken care of.