Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Our Thanksgiving was quite different than we'd planned! All of the Americans were to meet and bring potluck dishes to the guest house for a yummy meal including fresh turkey. But yesterday our kids all came down with a stomach yuck: 1st kevin, then Toby and in the middle of the night, Acacia. We've been busy all day running them to the bathroom and cleaning up messes. Sorry to be so truthful. They are improving, but not enough to enjoy the meal with our fellow Americans. Here are the pictures of them sleeping the day away.
Kevin



Acacia




Toby

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Victory at end of term!!!!

Today was the closing of the year for the primary school. There are competitions in sports, drama, music and cleanliness of school area. Lunch is served to all the students, staff and parents and reports are given out at the end of the day. It was an enjoyable day and for the third consecutive year our David Family group came in overall first place!

Celebrations all around as we were announced as the winners.






Annet screams with excitement.





Uncle Mulu gives Margaret hugs and congratulations.


Uncle Jonnes presents Dinnah her certificate of completion and congratulations for an excellent finish of Primary 7. Next year Dinnah will start secondary school. She is overjoyed as this year she had repeated Primary 7 and is anxious to keep moving forward.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

There IT IS!!!!

Can you see the green mamba snake?????? WATCH OUT!!! We spotted it, it slithered up higher, we spotted it, we lost it . . . until the next day and it was doomsday for the snake . . .

Everyone was there to "help"



The snake was after birds' eggs in the mango tree that hung over girls' bath house and pit latrine. We decided to cut off the branch and harvested a load of oversized mangoes --they grew on the tree near the pit latrine :)






The kids made a hotel from the branches of our chopped down eucalyptus. They had a blast arranging the branches and putting wheelbarrows of sawdust on the "floor".









They played for hours and hours and the laughter was infectious.




Then they climbed on top of the van and gave us all a goofy dance show.











Saturday, November 21, 2009

Time

I've been thinking about time. There is the phrase, "time heals" which is too vague and evasive for general application. Sure, the passage of time allows a physical wound to heal as the body attacks the foreign invaders and recovers itself . . .and perhaps some agree that over time the impact and damage of emotional wounds soften and heal, but I would not be one to agree. Time only provides distance from the original emotional blow--not true healing. In fact, a wound that is undealt with only festers and invades other areas that might have remained healthy had the hurt been addressed. The only way to heal emotional wounds is to let God deal directly with them. In the same way He provides us with an avenue for our bodies to physically heal (white blood cells, new cell growth) He Himself provides us with His strength and healing when we allow Him to work His ways into our hearts. His way for emotional healing is forgiveness of the one(s) who dealt the crippling blow. Through forgiveness true healing occurs and the miracle of emotional health is possible. I call it a miracle because the amount of emotional damage each one of us experiences in life is indeed crippling unless we forgive. Yes, God's ways are miraculous and dependable. Forgive.

There is another aspect of time that intrigues me in specific regard to living here among orphans and their emotional wounds. With the passage of time as we've lived here at New Hope I have observed some circumstantial truths. Their wounds of rejection and abandonment fester into mistrust, guardedness and a severe distancing of themselves from most people. They may smile and laugh, engage you in light conversation, sit quietly and respectfully in class and family devotions, but those behaviors only hide the emotional damage that lives underneath the surface. Time does not heal those wounds and thus the interaction of the children with those who desire to love and help them is stunted. The staff here is varied: 80% Ugandans, 20% Westerners; some have been here for more than 20 years, some more than ten, some less than five, and many "short-termers" (less than two years--some only a few months). There is a marked difference in the way the children accept long-term and short-term staff. The mistrust looms large in their behavior towards short-term staff. Rarely do they "let into their heart" a short-term staff member. And here is my observation in relation to our specific experience here at New Hope. We were kept at an emotional distance by the children during our first 18 months here. When we returned to New Hope in early 2008 after our first furlough home we were met with squeals of delight and shrieks of "YOU CAME BACK!!!!!!" I was puzzled. We told them we were only going to be in the U.S. for a few weeks and then would return. "Of course! We said we would come back!" "BUT YOU DID!!!!! YOU CAME BACK!!" Ahhhhhhhh, we had to prove ourselves--we did what we said we would do and we showed our commitment by actually returning. We moved to the next level . . .

Now that we have been here for more than three years I see that our relationships have deepened to even another level. The children trust us more, talk more deeply with us, share their struggles and ask for prayer. And lately I've been reflecting on the fact that with some of the girls my relationship has deepened as a result of TIME. The time I've taken to drive them and sit with them during numerous visits to an ailing grandmother, to the burial of same grandma, to the village to check on another's grandma who didn't show up to a required meeting. We found her sick and thankful we came to check on her. The time I've taken to pray with them over their struggles in school and in familial relationships; the time we've shared looking into God's word for the answers to challenges; the time we spent laughing and screaming as we hunt for green mamba snakes in the pit latrine/shower house; the time we sit together and, well, just sit together.

Yes, time heals, but not void of activity. There must be activity, but not just busy-ness. It is the activity of love--shown over time and demonstrated in the commitment of being there for them in the times of life that require extra strength and prayer.

I'm grateful to God for the TIME He has given us here and I trust His perfect TIMING in however many days, months and years He will have us here.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Utilizing God's Gift of Sun










We cut 4 eucalyptus trees down today. Quite the adventure. They have been shading our solar panels and keeping us from being able to adequately run our refridgerator. We'll be able to supply the David Family with firewood and also plane some of the timber for bookshelves, as well as for roof support in our new school banda. After the trees were down the kids built a "house"and inhabited it with their friends.
Toby says he plans to sleep out there. Ill guess we'll let him have some fun, but will keep the front door unlocked as it is rainy season!!!!
After the trees were down and before all the timber was cut up, the road remained blocked. Hassan was out for his morning walk with Annet, but had to take a detour due to the closed route.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Tetanus shots

Today I am taking one of the boys in David Family to the local hospital to receive a tetanus shot. He cut his foot on an old piece of sheet metal and somehow missed the last round of tetanus shots we gave. This is a serious issue here as we lost one of our boys two years ago when he stepped on a nail and though his family was instructed to take him for the injection, they did not. Something so simple to take care of, but a struggle to accomplish for those who don't understand or fail to appreciate the knowledge given them as to why the potential for danger lurks. There is a basic deficit of understanding of disease transmission and hygiene here in the village. It is better than it used to be 20 years ago before New Hope and Kiwoko Hospital arrived, but we still find a surprising amount of strange beliefs associated with simple sickness. Pray for us as we continue to love, live and work with the kids here. We love what we're doing and am thankful to God for the opportunity to be a part of His desires coming to pass in this region.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

more pics of time with grammie and seth

Jumping on Seth's back per his request!
We played Uno to pass the time before we took them to the airport. Grammie and Seth had a good long afternoon nap, a hot shower, a yummy meal served out on the lawn and lots of hugs before we said goodbye.


Our last night with Grammie and Seth. Hugs and loves all around.





Uh, Huh, I scored a hole-in-one Uh, Huh, Uh, Huh It was a good effort but the old lady (me, not Mom) won the round!!!!!
This crocodile hole was particularly difficult because the crocodile repeatedly ate the golf balls!!! Here you can see the kids at both ends trying to locate the ball so we could continue play!

Getting ready to play miniature golf in Jinja. It's like no course you've ever played!!!!







Our last day at New Hope. We walked over to say goodbye to David Family. This is Mom with Auntie Scovia.









Reading time with Grammie.










Toby, Kevin, Acacia and Sharon excited over the new baby Acacia received from Grammie for her birthday.








Grammie enjoying as Acacia opens the package containing her new baby doll.









Celebrating Acacia's birthday a month early so that we could celebrate with Grammie and Seth!





Kevin digging in the sand pile--making tunnels.















Seth's renewed love of reading. He read three books in two days!!!! It's glorious to be without tv!







Acacia opening her birthday presents from Grammie


Grammie and Toby playing piano together.











Monday, November 2, 2009

Missing Mom and Seth

Goofing around in Northwest Uganda near the border of Congo. We took a short break from hunting for lions. . . Here you can clearly see all the monkeys . . . It was a fantastic 2 1/2 weeks!!! Though our lives are very busy here with the various things we are involved in, it was a much needed respite for Mom and Seth. Mom said it was the first time in weeks she had actually rested! Seth was not quite sure about the lack of tv when he first arrived, but he ended up reading a lot and playing with the kids. We had a great time together!

We took them to the airport at 10 pm Sunday night and the kids cried and cried after our van door shut and Grammie and Seth walked behind the glass windows and on to the waiting area. It is tough to say good bye. Thankfully, the kids have Papa and Granma and Sarah's visit to look forward to in December and our furlough in May next year.






Toby continues to make friends everywhere. Here he is driving the boat on our water safari where we saw crocodiles, hippos and birds.











Geoff gave Mom and Seth a tour of the vocational school including the hand loom weaving done by students and staff.












Enjoying our private boat tour on the Nile, heading toward the base of Murchison Falls.










On the last day of our safari we walked through an IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) Camp. These are people who built huts very close together for safety when Kony went through the North slaughtering and kidnapping. Three years later they are still living in very unsanitary conditions, longing to go home, but paralyzed by their current situation. Geoff said the filth and conditions here were worse than what he's seen in the Northeast area of Uganda in Amuria. The children followed close at our heels during our entire walk of about 30 minutes.