Pictures (update to come)

Village visit to our friends Martin's in Obulle

Roasted Maize

Luka liked the pig!

Josh felt at Home :)

Baby dedications in our church

First Pregnant picture at 16wks

Growing fast!

This & That

July 1, 2012

I haven’t written in a while so this will probably be a hodge podge of different things.  First of all I am starting to feel better!  I am so thankful that I can almost be me again and am able to enjoy most of life once more.  There are still moments that I am reminded of the nausea but today I am 14 weeks and officially have entered the second trimester so I think I will make it.  My stomach seems to have grown in just the last 10 days making it difficult to wear some of my skirts.  Luka looked at me the other day and asked, “Will the baby be brown or white?”  I couldn’t believe a three year old has those questions.  I guess it makes sense he sees brown/black all around him and his family is white so what will our baby be.  

Last week we met the Calvin Christian High School team in Murchison Falls where we enjoyed a two day safari with them.  Our new van has a big sun roof that opens up so the girls and I road standing up looking out the sun roof.  What a fun view of the animals!  No lions this time but we saw all the other animals.  It was very green and beautiful this time of year.  We were very thankful for a couple days away.  Lydia, Grace and Luka were in the pool for 5 hours one day! 

On Thursday we headed back to Soroti with the Calvin team.  This is the forth year a team has come.  They had a big group of 21 people this year including the two teachers and their wives.  It was a great group and we are so glad they came!  Friday they went to a high school here and saw what classes are like and talked with the students.  In the afternoon we went to the blind school where we read books to them, they sang for us, and we played goal ball together (a blind game so our kids were blind folded).  Saturday they played soccer with the street kids and heard some of their testimonies and in the afternoon we helped with the children’s program at our church in Obulle.  There were probably 100 kids there and they were at the road to welcome us with singing.  The team loved the joy in the churches singing.  Saturday night they made and brought necklaces from our Uganda friends.  Sunday the team climbed Soroti Rock, went to church and had a Ugandan meal there, and heard stories from teens taken by the LRA.   It was a busy three days but a blessing too.  Our kids love having new friends and I enjoy getting to know the team and see God work in their lives while they are here.  Josh and I and a couple of our teammates shared our stories and challenged the kids to be involved in missions.  There were a few kids by the end of the week feeling God call them into some kind of missions.  We praise God for the Calvin teams visit and for the work God did in their lives.  Can’t wait to have another team next year!

Before the Calvin team came Josh and I celebrated our 13^th anniversary.  Our friends here were celebrating their 12^th anniversary so we had them over after the kids were in bed for a candlelight meal.  We did fondu and cheesecake for dessert.  It was a beautiful, fun night with our friends.  How thankful I am for Josh.  Because he puts the Lord first I know he will always love me.  He is an example of Christ to me each day.  What a gift from God our 13 years of marriage has been! 

Luka has started talking about God for the first time.  The other day he told Tabitha God is the biggest and his best friend.  Then he told me when he found a nail that the bad guys put Jesus on the cross with nails.  It is exciting to hear he is understanding and his faith is growing.  God is working in Luka’s life!

I love our kids imaginations and simplicity.  They realize through friends about handheld video games on a DS.  Our kids each found old travel alarm clocks and sit on the couch pretending they are playing on their DS’s.  I think it is the funniest thing.  Luka takes what he calls his “PS” whenever he goes to our friends house to play.  Cute, huh.  (Sorry if I already told that story I couldn’t remember.)

The girls and I had some friends over the other day to do some crafts.  I just had to share a picture of the hair things we did cause they turned out so cute.  Being creative is so much fun!

Two weeks ago we had two snakes in our yard in one day!  Thankfully our guard killed both.  He saw one come from our garage he says and killed it.  He says it was a baby King Cobra – Oh man!  Grace told me it was black and had a lump because it had eaten something.  Later that day Josh was going to the bathroom and saw a green snake in the window sill.  He went out and showed our guard who killed it.  We hate snakes!  I become so worried that one of the kids will find one someday.  Josh and I took time and prayed with the authority of Jesus that He would protect us and our home from snakes.  And we haven’t had anymore! 

Josh continues to see God at work in people’s lives as he teaches God’s Word.  It is amazing to see the change in people when they have freedom in Christ.  When they know they are God’s child and have assurance of salvation.  There is so much peace living in Christ.  Josh says the one man just sits and smiles shaking his head all class because he now know the truth.  What joy.   

And if you haven’t heard my sister Angie had a baby girl, Eliana!  Pray for them as they adjust to having 5 kids and Angie suffers from an infection.  Their two year old, Zulea, has been marching around the house proclaiming she does not want the baby.  Wish I could be there to help and hold my new little niece!  

That is all for now.  Thanks for your prayers everyone!  Every time I feel sick and just want to leave this place I know God is with me and you are praying for me.  Have a great 4^th of July.  Thank you God for our country!