Photo Update

Easter Service - Lydia Dancing

Home School Conference

May 5, 2012

I am happy to say this week Lydia said school is fun!  I had been really struggling with teaching.  I was so down about it.  I just felt yuck going into the classroom each day.  I love being with my girls but there are so many other thinks I want to be doing and need to be doing and can’t because of school.  I am so not a teacher but feel forced to do it.  I don’t read well so school feels like a lot of work.  I knew I was distracted and not being a good teacher to our kids. 

Thankfully the home school conference came at just in time.  I went in wanting to give up and came away very encouraged.  The group that came is based in England and desires to help missionaries homeschooling their children.  Two of the teachers had homeschooled their children on the mission field so they really understood what it is like.  There were 12 women/missionaries/home school teaching mommies and about 25 kids.  While the ladies were being taught the children were also taught.  Lydia loved the time with other kids that is her kind of learning.  Grace wasn’t feeling the best that week but she also enjoyed it just in a quieter way. 

I was so glad to learn I was doing the right things and focusing on what really mattered.  I realized I had slipped into bad habits and needed to stop bringing my to-dos into the classroom and just focus on school.  I was reminded to get back into manipulative with math and keep being hands on.  One of the teachers at the end said she has been observing my girls this week and that even though I feel incapable I am doing a great job.  She said I have built that foundation for years and now the girls really know their stuff.  What a blessing to hear that.  I can do this…at least until God provides help.

So I have so far put into practice what I learned and have already seen the benefits.  The girls love their new goals.  Lydia has to read 8 book and do reports on 4 of them then she gets to go out with mom for a pop.  Grace has to read 6 then she gets to go out with mom.  We also started words for the week (vocab words) and every time they use one of the words they get a sticker.  If they get 10 all together they get a prize.  I have been working more one on one with them again which they seem to enjoy.  I pray we keep up this new routine.  We should complete 1^st and 3^rd grade the end of June!

We were at the home school retreat with our teammates the Tiesingas.  They are in the process of adopting their baby girl so the whole family came.  We had a lot of fun being together.  Josh and Luka did well in Soroti too.  Josh is the man.  He spent lots of time playing trucks with Luka and even babysat a teammate’s two year old son overnight.  We were happy to see them again at the end of the week.   

From the home school conference in Jinja we went into Kampala for the weekend.  And we got our new (used) van!  We were very excited.  To our surprise it is almost a light purple color in the right light.  The AC works great, we have radio and CD player for the first time, and the kids love the curtains that move by a button.  How thankful we are. 

Lydia is really becoming a good little baker.  She loves it and so do I.  I can give her the recipe for chocolate chip cookies (which we make into bars and call I love you family bars) or the recipe for pie or pizza crust and she can do it.  She must be growing up.

Did I tell you I think I had a jigger in my foot.  It is some sort of sand flee that lays eggs in your feet.  I know nasty.  I felt a small hard bump on the bottom of my foot and thought maybe it was a planters wart but it didn’t hurt.  I of course squeezed it and all kinds of cool pus came out.  Weird.  I just had to dig more.  All of the sudden a shell or something came out and left a small hole in my foot.  I talked to our nurse later and she said it was a jigger.  Glad it was me and not my kids.

Hope all is well with all of you.  Grace had been having stomach aches for months so we took her in while we were in Kampala.  They said she had lots of yeast in her gut.  I am not sure about it but I do know after the medicine she hasn’t complained and eats normally again.  We will be in touch soon.  Thanks for all your prayers and love for us!          

Rain, Rain...

April 21, 2012

Not much to report.  We are enjoying rainy season.  We have had two days of all day rain this week.  It is so much fun.  I put on my sweatshirt.  When it really rains hard our yard is like a lake.  It feels kinda like a snow storm when you can’t go anywhere and you can just sit inside and enjoy it with a cup of coffee.  (But here our power goes out.)  The kids decided to play in the rain in mud one day.  I didn’t know their dad was going to let them jump in the big puddles and end up muddy from head to toe.  What a fun mess!  I hope I can enjoy those moments before they no longer play in the puddles. 

This week the girls and I are going to Jinja for a home school conference.  The girls are so excited to go to “school” with other kids while I am in my class.  Our teammates are going with us too so it should be a good time.  Josh and Luka will be bachelors for a few days then join us on Thursday.  We will then all go to Kampala and get our new, used van!  Pray for our travels and for Josh and Luka in Soroti and the girls and I at the conference.  Thanks we love and pray for you all!  

Kenya

April 15, 2012
We are home from our travel to Kenya. We left Wednesday morning at 7am and arrived in Kisumu, Kenya at 4pm. (We had to leave the country to get new visas.) Traveling takes so long here and the roads are so bad right now. At the end of a day full of potholes (ok more like craters in the earth) our minds and bodies were stressed and done. The border was interesting. It looked like craziness but apparently everyone there knew what to do. Thankfully the people were very nice and helpful. Unfortunately, we arrived just as a couple buses full of people did. It took an hour to get out of Uganda, visas into Kenya, and vehicle insurance for Kenya. Don’t ask what it all cost!

I like Kenya. It is nice and so are the people. Kisumu is the third largest city so it was pretty big for Africa. It was clean and easy to get around too. We stayed at a hotel in the middle of town. I loved the room. So fun to be in a nice hotel and have a great shower. Our kids enjoyed the pool but it was too cold for me. The food was really good at the hotel. We had a nice supper one night at the restaurant and we ate pool side the other night as the kids swam. A huge breakfast buffet came with the room each morning. How special!

We went to the Impala Sanctuary which was the highlight for our kids. It was basically like a zoo but all the animals were rescued or sick and need a safe place to live. And the impala and zebra where roaming freely. That was pretty cool. One of the animal keepers went into the leopard and cheetah cages for us. He invited Josh and I into the cheetah cage but animals are too unpredictable for us to do that. The girls loved it. The leopard stalked Luka every time we passed his cage. He looked like he would pounce at anytime. I loved the zebra and how we could walk by them. They were scared but we did get pictures by them. By the end of our time at the park we were so sunburn. Oops. Oh well the kids enjoyed it so much it was worth the cost, time, and now the pain.

Another funny highlight was riding in a tok-tok – basically a three wheel motorcycle that has an enclosed back seat to taxi people around. They are so cute. Our family piled into one and went for a ride. It felt like we were in Disney World or something. I thought it was so much fun. Wish we had them in Uganda.

Other than that Kisumu was just another African city. The “malls” were a huge let down. But the big grocery stores were nice I guess. We got rhubarb, grapes and strawberries!

On Friday we drove part way home. Fun fact, on the way we crossed over the equator. I thought it was cool and made Josh stop for a picture. The border only too 20min. this time and now we have another three months to be in Uganda. We stayed the night in Mbale so we didn’t have the do all the potholes in one day. We had a nice Mongolian Bar-b-q (Kids ate free -- never heard of that in Uganda.) and we had a nice day swimming at the pool.

On our way home on Saturday our van broke down. Kinda a confirmation I guess cause we were told about a van for sale that was exactly what we wanted so the whole time in Kenya we were stressed over the decision. We had just gotten so many things fixed on our van and it was running better than it ever has. Did we want to put a lot of money into buying a second hand van not knowing what we would get? Josh did not know what to do. But now sitting along the road almost half way to Soroti we knew we needed to buy the other van. Our van lost its brakes, over heated and belts were all loose inside. So we called our mechanic in Soroti and he gave us a number of someone to tow us to the next town. While we waited we prayed. Next thing you know a friend from Soroti passed by and stopped. They took the kids and I to Soroti while Josh waited with the van. By the time we got home it was dark and the kids were car sick and done with it all. Poor Josh didn’t get home till 10pm. He said it was an interesting tow job with a cattle truck, rope, and no lights or brakes. We are so thankful to be home – safe and sound.

Looking forward to a week to be home and catch up. Next week I have a home school conference and we hope to get our “new” van. Thanks for your prayers! May God be with you too.

Happy Easter!

April 9, 2012

Happy belated Easter everyone! Jesus has risen and I am so thankful. We had a wonderful Good Friday service in the village. The service was very meaningful. The girls and I did an interpretive dance to “At the Cross”, Josh preached, and afterwards the church sang and danced for joy! It was a celebration. It is finished! We are now forgiven. I wish you could have seen Lydia dance her heart out and Luka plug his ears. Then we had a meal with the church. Our teammate, who use to cook at a restaurant in Chicago, made a Ugandan/American meal that fed 190 people. I was impressed. The whole day was a blessing. We worshiped, our kids helped serve the food with us, and I love our church family.

On Saturday we had Amanda’s baptism. Amanda is Tabitha’s daughter’s child (her 17 year old who got pregnant). There were probably 50 babies baptized. Thankfully we only had to go for a short time. We are one of Amanda’s godparents I guess. Afterwards we took Tabitha and the kids out for lunch to celebrate.

Sunday we had church then had our team over for Easter dinner and a service. We even had an Easter egg hunt. Our party ended with a huge rain storm and eating grilled monitor lizard thanks to Uncle Tim’s road kill find – What?! (see pictures)

Josh had his 34th birthday last Thursday. He taught most of the day for a Maunday Thursday service but we celebrated with him in the evening. Lots of yummy desserts and treats to thank him for being a great father and husband. Because he seeks the Lord with all heart and puts it into practice we are truly blessed. We love you Josh!!!

We had Sliedrechts over tonight to say goodbye. They will be leaving later this week for Michigan for four months and we will be in Kenya for the next few days so we had to say goodbye. We are so happy for them going home to share their new daughter Miriam and have a baby, but we are also sad to be apart. Poor Grace takes it hardest. Her and Avalien are pretty close so there are lots of tears. And it makes my kids want to see Grandpa and Grandma too.

Pray for us as we venture to Kenya. Our visitor visas are up so we have to cross the border. We will be traveling Wednesday, stay for a couple nights, and return on Friday. Pray that all goes well and we return with another visitor visa. Praise God our NGO papers will be handed in later this week so we can get our work permits! Pray for a speedy and problem free process. Thanks! (The kids are so excited to get away for a few day and have “spring break” from school!)