Our Kiddos and Village Life

Before we leave the village for a few months, I want to share with you some of the pictures from our kid's unique life here.  I hope we never forget.

Makai is into fishing at the swampy water hole. 
They haven't caught anything, but he's having a good time.

Emalai styling a gomez - traditional dress.

Mud bath?!

Chameleons are so cool! 

Makai decided to be a woodcarver. 
He said he was making the world's biggest toothpick!

Emalai and friends enjoying jackfruit.

Makai dissecting owl pellets - my little scientist!

Our beautiful backyard owls.
People here fear these big eyed bird and believe they are an evil spirit.
No evil spirits in my backyard and nothing to fear!

Makai is very creative in keeping himself busy.
This began as scrubbing the floor, to a slip-n-slide, to a slippery dance party!

Life is good with Mac n cheese!

Good day for campfire and marshmallows!

This is where you find Luka every afternoon.

And Emalai is always with her friends enjoying the village way of life.

Bathing the littles ones

Taking her little ones to church.

Homeschooling 

Gotta do what you gotta do when it's hot.

There is a first time for everything.
Fried grasshopper anyone?!

People here fear caterpillars and here is why!

Ouch!

Grace came to help with homeschooling.

Some days are better than others!

Keeping cool...

Emalai got beautiful braids!

School spirit week - career day.

Color day and smoothing making contest.

Homemade slip n slide!

We had a couple families come to us with special needs children. They are hoping for an answer, cure or help. We try to encourage them and love on their special children. It is very hard caring for special needs here. There is basically no help for them.

This is Falista. She has severe ADHD and seizures.
Her mother loves her but is tired caring for her alone.

A gift of maze!

Roasting the maze.

New Life 

My men!

We were giving a turkey for the business we gave the hotel for the FIC Marriage Retreat.
Never got that kind of gift from a hotel before!  Luka got to drive it home on the motorcycle.

Harvest time in the village!

Makai is a funny guy. The other day he was cleaning my floor with a toothbrush and he told us he is trying to earn money.  We asked why he needed money and he said he needed a penny to ride Sandy.
(Sandy is a penny horse ride at a store in MI.)
He also says a lot lately, "I'm so confused!" I think he's feeling how we all do about a life of change and transitions.  Praying God's peace over him.

Bye again Grace!

The enemy at our door?

Oh the enemy is trying so hard!

Josh was sitting in the guest house literally finishing the last lesson on the marriage course. A big deal! He looks out the door to see a snake was crawling up the screen door! He went out and killed it.

It was a visual of the enemy coming to try one last time to disrupt and destroy Josh and this marriage course and the writing of it and production of it.

BUT he's defeated! The enemy is just a liar. God is out protector. This is God's marriage of course, this is God's will.

Thank you once again for praying for us! For praying for our protection and for praying for this marriage course!

And now poor Makai will not go outside because he's scared 😞. Pray for him too!

Pray for Us and The FIC Marriage Course

I want to start by thanking all of you who have been praying - for years - for the Freedom in Christ Marriage Course Josh has been writing.  There have been several teams over the last four years praying for our marriage, the writing of the course and all the people involved.  I am so grateful.

And that is why we are where we are today, about one month from the finish line!

This feels big.  For more than ten years people within FIC have desired to write a marriage course or started and were stopped.  Several people have said they don't know why but it never came to be.  Everyone concludes, it is a spiritual battle, interrupted by the enemy.  Marriage is designed and blessed by God.  It is an image of God and Jesus' love for His Church.  And so satan is an enemy of marriage.  

Victory is coming with the FIC Marriage Course about to be produced!

Josh and I love marriage God's way and are passionate about sharing it with others.  Marriage is a target of the enemy worldwide.  Marriage is the foundation of thriving churches and communities, and God wants the world to know Him through Godly marriages.  With this conviction, Josh was asked to write the FIC Marriage Course.

Let me just say it has been a long road.

Josh and a team began writing during covid days.  We did a pilot project in 2023 where three presenters were chosen (from Asia, Latin America and us).  We practiced and recorded at home all the lessons and in the fall of 2023, we went through the lessons with a number of FIC couples who volunteered to go through it and give feedback on each lesson.  Josh was hopefully it was ready to go, but it wasn't, and he began revisions.  We hoped to film the Marriage Course January 2025 but were unable to.  At that point we started making plans to film August 2025.  We found people to film and a venue.  

It has been a roller coaster since then.  Our third presenters told us they were unable to make August work, we found new third presenters and then their visa was denied, I made venue errors and they were unable to accommodate us so I had to find a new venue, found new third presenters...all along Josh was writing, editing and rewriting the course to put the new presenters stories in and to improve each lesson.

In the beginning Josh put together a prayer team for just us and our marriage - and I'm glad he did!

Now more than ever we are facing a lot of spiritual opposition.  It has felt heavy at times.  Josh and I have had our times of just not getting along, miscommunicating, and being frustrated.  Then we realized this isn't nothing, this is the enemy.  Things in our house started to break more than usual demanding Josh's time and attention.  Our kids were bickering more than they had been, Makai was getting more and more angry, and the girls had their struggles that needed our love, attention and prayers.  It felt overwhelming.  We were discouraged.

Then Josh shared with me that in the last month he has been having the same nightmare of drowning, and he wakes up knowing it is because of the Marriage Course.  He would pray and go back to sleep.  Then he had a night where he woke up feeling like he was being strangled.  He knew it was an attack from the enemy and prayed the authority he has in Christ.  It stopped and he went back to sleep.  He, we, are not troubled by this because we know we don't have to be afraid.  The enemy is afraid!  But it isn't what we want to experience.  Josh simply told me, "As the deadline to film gets closer we can expect more opposition not less." 

So I am asking you to pray for us.  

Pray for protection over Josh and for the strength and wisdom from God to finish writing by July 24. 

Pray for protection for our marriage, for our children, and home.  

Pray for protection over our ministry.  

Pray for the other presenters and their families and ministries.  

Pray for everyone involved in preparing for the production of the FIC Marriage Course.

Pray for the film crew and venue.

Pray for more than enough finances to be raised.

Pray for health and safety with travel and for the week of filming - August 10-16.

Pray against the enemy's desire to kill, steal and destroy.  He is defeated and a liar.  We have all authority in Christ.

Pray for God's will to be done and for Him to receive all the glory!  He is the author, designer and creator of marriage and the FIC Marriage Course.

Thank you everyone!!!  If God is for us who can be against us?!

I will try to keep you up to date as we count down to filming...5 weeks!

FIC Uganda Marriage Retreat

 Video or the FIC Uganda Marriage Retreat