11, Flying, MI and More

Luka turned 11 Jan. 14!
So thankful for him!  He is growing up and EVERYONE tells him how much he looks like his dad.  I told him that was good because dad is handsome. :)  Luka is a tenderhearted, fun loving, active, silly boy.  He always makes us laugh, is a kind big brother to the neighbor boys, and most of the time you can find him playing sports.  He loves the Lord and we love seeing him grow in Christ.  May the Lord bless you and keep you Luka!  We love you and God does too!

Luka's favorite job flying co-pilot on MAF from Soroti to Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Flying over Obule and our house!

Flying from Dubai to Chicago - 14 hours!

Our beautiful home away from home at Jamestown's Shalom House!
Thank you Jamestown CRC!!!

First day of school for Emalai!
Josh was giving advice to the kids as they went into school and serious as can be Emalai told them, "and don't burp in class."  Funny girl!

Luka's first day in 5th grade at HCS

First day at Unity for Grace!

So we are back in Michigan.  Thank you for all your prayers!  It is an adjustment but overall is God's peace.

I also wanted to add a praise for our New Years Eve with the youth in Obule.  There are no pictures because it was dark but maybe pictures can't capture it.  I stood there under a canopy of stars at mid night with about 65 youth singing and dancing praise to God and thought, "This is exactly where I want to be!  There is no better place or greater joy."  I praise God for the youth in Obule that we get to live life and see grow in Christ.  We are blessed each time someone in the community asked what has happened to the youth in Obule or thanks us for the work we have done.  To God be the glory in the youth and in 2020!

Wedding Day

Lydia, Grace and a few of their friends were in a wedding Jan. 4.  Emma and his wife Priscilla come from our church but now live in Soroti where they were wed.  It was a month of weekly meetings but it was worth it in the end.  It was a fun day and a beautiful wedding!

Rehearsal the night before the wedding (very American to do that!). 
It was a very organized and timely wedding for Uganda.

The girls and I did several trial hair dos the week of the wedding trying to find the right ones.

Beautiful Bridesmaids or maids as they say here.
They rented these dresses for less than $3!

Lydia and Grace with their friends Rhoda and Priscilla 

Our Obule children :)
Samson, Kokus and Tom

Lydia and Grace walked into the wedding together dancing down the aisle.

Josh preached at the wedding

Luka and Emalai looking good too!

For weddings here they change their dresses for the reception.
These are their adorable changing dresses they get to keep.

Dancing all the way back in!

Emalai's 7th Birthday!

Dec. 27, 2019

Happy 7th Birthday Emalai!  (Birthday flowers from her friends!)
You are a joy to our family and everyone who knows you.  You fill our home with laughter, Ateso singing and dancing, playfulness, and love.  You are kind and sensitive.  You love your friends and living in the village just like them.  You are doing a great job  learning to read, spell and doing mathematics in school.  Your love and faith in Jesus is precious.  You told me you want to be a disciple when you grow up so you can follow Jesus and share Him with others.  You already are!  May the Lord bless you and keep you.  You are loved and we thank GOd for you!

Malai reading her birthday cards by herself!

Everyone is excited about her present!

First dangly earring from her sister!

Grace, our decorator, using her new Christmas present to make birthday cupcakes.

Emalai wanted her friends over for her birthday.  They celebrated with games and cupcakes.  Our neighbors and some of her best friends came for supper.  Malai wanted local food - chicken, rice and chapatis.

Happy Birthday Emalai!  We love you!

Our Big Christmas Season in the Village

I love the holidays!  I love making the whole season fun and special.  Our house was full of the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas!

 Christmas Cookies

Christmas clothes
Here they celebrate Christmas with new clothes and food (meat and rice especially). 
My friend Jane does a wonderful job sewing our designs.

For school this year we did secret Santa gifts.  Everyone had to make a gift for their person.
I had Grace so I made her Christmas cupcakes.  She loves decorating cakes.

Luka had Malai and he painted her a race track for her cars.

Grace had Josh and she made him one of his favorites - maple bun bars!

Lydia made an ornament for Luka.

The kids found stocking hats at market and they thought it was so fun for Christmas - for our hot Christmas weather :) 

Every month the FIC teachers get together to pray.  For December we invited the teachers and their spouses for a Christmas party.  A small way to say thank you for all they do.

We played minute to win it games!

And we unwrapped a present wrapped in a giant ball of cling wrap.

We also had a time of worship together, ate together and celebrated Jesus' birthday with a Jesus cake.

Grace's Jesus Cake

We are very thankful for each volunteer teacher with FIC!  The family is growing and door continue to open in prisons, on radio and in schools.  We continue to offer ourselves to what God wants to do, where, and with who.
It is our joy to see people set free by the truth!

And we had to have a youth group Christmas party!

More minute to win it games.  The youth really get into it and the boys are super competitive.

We sure love the youth!  The group continues to change with some youth moving on and new youth joining us.  Sharing God's love with each one and helping them grow in Christ is a privilege.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas or Yoga Ebaga!

We had a Christmas party with some of the missionaries in Soroti. 
We played games, ate a yummy ham supper, and had candlelight Christmas carols.

My kids made a dance to Little Drummer Boy - they are so awesome!
(See the video of it below.)

We enjoyed a family Christmas party on Christmas Eve.

We wanted to have a family jumping picture for Christmas so we set the camera on self timer...
we had a good laugh at what we got! 

Got the kids!  It was so fun!

Christmas Eve appetizers

Presents!

Malai was super excited about her sandals she got - just like her friends have here!

Lydia wrote Josh and I an amazing book thanking us for our love and care.

After our presents we went to a couple neighbors who are struggling and gave them presents.
I like to say we went on our sleigh to deliver Christmas joy.  We sang Christmas carols along the way - ok Josh and I did.

Christmas Pizza?!

Christmas Day we were with our church family.
Our kids did their dance in church.

Some of the youth did a dance to Go Tell It On the Mountain.

Josh taught on the people who were there on the first Christmas Day

Drawings of Joseph, Mary, Wise Men, Shepherd, and Angel

Then the couples who have been wed were called up front with the choir to dance.
What a riot!  Josh put on such a show we were given a tip by two people in the audience
(that is what they do here to appreciate something you did very well).

After church we all ate lunch together 

And played volleyball!
They love it and it is so fun.  Fun to see the adults being playful, everyone trying, and the leader beat the youth!

And soda for a treat after the games.

We also had a Christmas Crusade at the prison.  FIC teachers and some of our church members joined us in the prison.  They were, as we all are when we visit the prison, touched by the praise and worship of the prisoners.  "They praise God more than we do as people who are free."  One of our FIC teachers is a former prisoner and he shared his testimony of how God transformed him.  Another inmate gave his testimony how he learned about truth in FIC and how he told the truth to the judge and the judge reduced his sentence and allowed him to give his testimony in the court. We thank God for the church in the prison and the 25 new believers who gave their lives to Christ at the crusade.  

Merry Christmas everyone!
So very thankful God so loved the world that He gave us His one and only Son!