Goodbye & Hello!

 

We were blessed with a very sweet couple months with Lydia before she left for South Africa to do a DTS with YWAM.  We had a special few days as a family before she flew out the end of January.  Lydia is an incredible asset to our family and we miss her greatly, but we are also so excited to see and hear all God is doing in her life!

Gotta keep laughing even if you are crying!

A beautiful last meal on Lake Victoria.

Our family had a prayer time for Lydia before going to the airport.  It was full of tears.  Grace led us in a beautiful chorus of "The Blessing" as we ended.  I am so thankful for a family that prays and trusts the Lord!

One last hug...for now.  So thankful our kids love each other!
The goodbyes were amazingly peaceful - an answer to prayers.

From a goodbye hug to a hello hug!
As I was dropping off Lydia at the departures, my parents, my sister Achia and our friends Brian and Nancee arrived.  It was a great distraction and we had a great 3 weeks together.  It has been 5 years since they were here last.  We love that they loved Uganda and us enough to come again!

Happy reunions!
I'm sure our guest were totally overwhelmed and super tired their first day in country but they were troopers.

Dad was glad to get his cappuccinos in Uganda again and Grace is always ready for coffee!
Luka is just glad to have Grandpa around again!

We spent a couple nights in Entebbe.  It was cool and rainy!  So instead of the waterpark we planned on, we went to the zoo.  Oh the memories... I think Grace was 2 years old last time she went to the Entebbe zoo with Grandpa and Grandma. 

The highlight of the zoo for Makai was the playground!

Luka's was riding a quad again!

Our van was having a major fix of everything (too many holes in the roads, speed bumps, aka mini mountains, and dust causing many issues) so the kids were thrilled to take bodas a few times.

Lovely supper together at the guesthouse.

Our next adventure took us to Jinja.  Dad and Mom lived there the 18 months they were in Uganda adopting Achia so they wanted to have time reconnecting with their friends from there.
We stayed in this wonderful home on the Nile River!

We had such a fun time together.  Swimming, sunsets, games...

The view from the house was perfect!
We spend hours on the porch enjoying the beauty and peacefulness.

A bit of paradise...

So having van trouble with guests was a bit stressful to say the least, but everyone went with the flow and prayed!  This is how 11 of us traveled around town with one van. Crazy!

Craft shopping.

We had a lot of rain - and mud.

Emalai was enjoying vacation with her drink in a pineapple we made!

We were very excited to find a new Ethiopian coffee stand in Jinja!
Memories...
Grace was not with us in Ethiopia so she was very excited to have the Ethiopian coffee experience we talk about. 

The ladies and I walked down the road to see fabric made on looms.
It was amazing and beautiful.

We had a great time in Jinja together!

Our third adventure took us home to Obule.
They spent 12 days with us in our village. A little different than Jinja.  The heat kinda took it out of everyone and we kept a slower pace - naps for the older folk. :)  Life is simple but harder in the village.

Reuniting with old friends from five years ago.

All of us agreed one of the best moments was when we were visiting and Makai says to everyone, "I have something to share."  And he went on to say his Bible verse he'd been learning, the fruits of the Spirit.  It was so sweet!  A proud mommy moment.

Hot market adventure.

Mom greeting our church on Sunday.

Brian went to youth group on Saturday with our kids so he joined their choir on Sunday too. 
They love Brian because Brian loves them!

Brian does a great job here.  He interacts and values people and that is very important here.  Brian also loves to sing and has a song to go with everything.  Whether visiting a friend, at church, ministry in the prison, or with the youth Brian would share his gift of singing with everyone.

My handsome, cool cowboys!

Easy to gather followers wherever we go.

Friends had us over for a meal.  Thankfully our guests are flexible and don't complain because we were told to come at 5pm but we didn't eat until almost 9pm.
I think having guests you see the good and bad of the culture again, the nice things and hard things about living here.  

Achia is my youngest adopted sister.  She grew up in our village but is from Karamoja.  She has a lot of disabilities but she loves people.  Her family came to visit her and my parents. (Yes, she has a family but they did not know how to care for Achia and her disabilities.  She was not always safe sad to say.)  Achia left five years ago as a toddler (even though she was 8) when she was adopted by my parents.  Now she is 13 years old, grown a ton, and is now walking.  Her parents were surprised and happy!

Achia's mother seemed so happy to see her.

Two of Achia's three sisters.  Achia is the oldest.

Moms

A special reunion.  Always hard to know how to love and help Achia's family.  They are very impoverished but also make very bad decisions.  They aren't always treated well and have no home that belongs to them.  Pray for them to return to the Lord and that God will provide for and protect them.

This is the group that journeyed to Moroto to do a crusade at the prison.  FIC teachers, former inmates, Josh and Grace all shared God's Word and testimonies of what God has done in their lives.  Over 100 prisoners gave their lives to Jesus that day!  The kingdom is growing!  The FIC teachers had discipleship the next day with the new believers and continue to go each month to teach.  So thankful for all God is doing and that our visitors could experience it themselves.

Dad, Brian and I also went with Josh to Soroti prison.  We joined the church in the prison where Josh teaches on Wednesday and Charles teaches on Mondays.  It is always a meaningful time seeing the God's children in prison worship and learn from God's Word.  Josh taught on God's comfort in suffering.

When in Uganda, why not?!

We visited Amecet one day.  Amecet is a children's home run by YWAM. (Achia stayed there for 6 months when she was starving.  They helped save her life!)  I so appreciative their work and love for sick and abandoned kids.  But it is so hard to see all the need and hear the hard stories of neglect and abuse.  Breaks my heart.  Pray for the children at Amecet and the ministry they do there.

We also visited the Freedom Boys, a ministry to get children off the streets, educated, discipled and reunited with family if possible.  We were touched by our time there, meeting the boys and hearing their stories.  Most boys are on the streets because their parents divorce and when they remarry the children are rejected or abused by the new spouse.  Then the streets are filled with more abuse, drugs and evils.  Sin is so awful!  We had a meaningful prayer time for the boys and the ministry.  I thank God for the work there.  Pray that God uses them and provides for them as they love these boys in Jesus name.

There were times we were all worn out!

My parents joined us for the FIC Uganda day of prayer.
32 teachers come together to report, learn and pray together.  It is a powerful group and they love one another.  It is always excited to hear what God is doing and where God is bringing FIC.  I am so thankful my parents to experience it too and meet our partners in the Gospel.

Our visitors brought the much prized gift, Study Bibles.  A  few of our teachers who do not have one yet received this gift.  Makai was so proud to help give them out!

Dear Brian missed out on the day because he was battling a kidney stone.  Some of the FIC teachers came to sing over him, "Let the Healing of the Lord come down" and pray over Brian.
It was a powerful time that Brian was touched by.  And from that time on he started to improve! 
God is our healing power we trust in!

We celebrated two birthdays!
Brian turned 66 and Makai turned 4!

Makai waited months for his birthday!  He was so excited.  He wanted a Mr. Grinch cake for his birthday.  So his dad even made him a Mr. Grinch pancake for breakfast!

We had one of Makai's favorites for lunch, "India Food!"

A couple months ago Makai was convinced he wanted a pogo stick.  I have no idea where he got the idea from but when Brian and Nancee asked what he wanted I told them.  And they got one!

It was worth it!
He was so happy and so funny!

Grace made Grinch cakes for birthday boy!

Lydia joined the birthday party too.

G&G got Makai a bubble gun!
Celebrating Makai is a joy!  He is so full of life, character, he's smart and adorable.  I was so blessed to be able to share him with G&G and B&N and hear them also appreciate Makai and his big personality.  He loved his birthday!  At the end of the day he looks at us and says, "Thanks for making my birthday so special."  Oh melt my heart!  You are special Makai and so very loved!

A visit to the radio station to hear FIC teach.

G&G were even here to see a cultural marriage of a friend.

Achia's mom Regina was there.

The bubble gun was there too :)

Some of the beautiful cultural "bridesmaids".

All too soon it is time to say goodbye to friends...

One more adventure to Jinja...

One last coffee and crafts...

And all too soon we have to say goodbye again too.
It is always special to have G&G visit and share in our lives here.  They came saying it is their last visit because they are getting too old, but I did hear dad say, "Well maybe..."  Uganda is in their hearts!

Luka and Grace will dearly miss B&N, playing Euchre together, their encouragement and even their teasing.

We had such a special 3 weeks together!  Thank you for coming!  It is an investment in many ways.  We appreciate your love, support and involvement.  Thank you for trusting us to do the best thing when your hearts were broken for the least of these.  Thank you for loving the God's people here.  Thank you for learning.  Thank you for loving our kids and valuing their lives here.  We were encouraged.  We have lots of great memories to hold onto.  Love you all!  All glory be to God!