"to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faithin me." Acts 26:18

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

A Little Football Action

The kids in the neighborhood love to come and play football on our compound.  Since we received a few One World Footballs...indestructible, nerf-like, solid-foam balls, we've been able to use our entire compound as a playing field.  We no longer have to worry about those pesky sharply thorned hedges that do a great job of keeping bad guys out and eating footballs for dinner.

The other night I took a video of the kids playing.  As you can see there is a LOT of bantering in Lumasaba (the local tribal language) and a LOT of interesting objects to avoid including, but not limited to: trees, a banda, a banana garden, a volleyball net and an unfortunate tire swing at about 00:35.  (Sorry, Max...way to sacrifice for your team).

Many of these kids have become our dear dear friends and we continually pray that as they grow they will become dear friends to Jesus.  I am ever struck with how much Satan hates this aspect of our ministry here though.  So thanks for praying with us and for them...they truly are the church of the not-so-distant future.


Friday, March 13, 2015

Surprise Trip!

Come now, wife who says, "Tomorrow I will go out for breakfast with my husband, come home and do school with 7 kids, clean up, work through the afternoon, have prayer time on our compound, eat supper, and fall into bed exhausted...you do not know that after your breakfast date, your husband will turn right out of Endiro instead of left and end up taking you for a surprise trip to Entebbe to an amazing hotel, a wonderful night away, supper on the roof watching the sunset, shopping and then driving home to 8 amazing children."  (James 4:13-14, Dianna's applied version)

It's true... my wonderful husband pulled off an amazing surprise.  I never would have guessed what he was up to in a million years.  And even more amazing was that he had most of the kids in on it and not a single one of them spilled the beans. (5,000 shillings in bribes gifts of appreciation may have helped towards that end...haha!)

Little known to me, we had air miles about to expire.  Eric realized that he could trade them in for a night in the Business Class Executive room of a nice hotel in Entebbe.  (It happened to be the only hotel in all of Uganda that participated in the program...haha!)  While we were eating breakfast out, Katelyn packed all my things (and did an amazing job!!) and brought them on a boda to Endiro and snuck them into the car.  When we started driving out of the city, I was confused until Eric finally told me what he was up to!  It took a minute (but not that long... haha) to switch gears.  What a precious memory this will be!

This family of mine...they are so wonderful!!  Love them dearly!


Monday, March 9, 2015

Drive into the mountains...

Today we took a drive up into the mountains today.  It was a super pretty drive.  We were taking advantage of our last few days of dry season since the roads we drove will be impassable in a few weeks, Lord willing.  

You can see the dust is still abundant.  We had one week of a little bit of rain...we all thought that rainy season was here (and sadly, many people planted their fields)...but then it dried back up.  You can pray that the rain comes quickly, because people are really starting to feel the hunger season.  Those that did plant are now very worried that their seed is dying and those that didn't plant are anxiously awaiting the time when they can.




Happy Birthday, Timothy!

I find it hard to believe that my oldest is now 14 years old!!  Wow!  He's almost as tall as me and his feet are quickly passing mine.  


He's a great older brother (very tolerant of the younger members while doing Algebra), helpful, kind, and eager to take on life.  I'm so very thankful for all the many ways God has and will bless us through this young man!

Talitha and Divine are having a blast together these days.  They were crawling around pretending to be kittens while waiting for cake.


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Baptism of Baby Sua

This morning we were blessed to witness the baptism of Baby Sua.  Her Daddy works with the South Korean humanitarian relief organization called Koica at the Mbale Regional Hospital as an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor.  They have become dear friends to us and to our church.  What a joy to welcome little Sua into the covenant family!


We sang this song after the baptism.  It is a Luganda hymn... "Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"

My Benaiah...

I love this kid...