Enjoying the Offspring!

I have truly enjoyed my day with the kids!!! Acacia’s friend, Anya, has been here most of the day and the two girls have had fun with baking! Kevin spent most of the day running around with his friend Jesse, but when Jesse suddenly had to return home, Kevin decided he would make pancakes!!!!! So, instead of a quick nap this afternoon, I found myself in the kitchen assisting the process of making chocolate chip cookies and pancakes!!! Yum. Yum.


My little bakers and I in our kitchen.


Kevin thoroughly enjoyed making and cooking his pancakes. He gave some to a friend who had a birthday today--now that's a unique birthday present!!








All the makings for yummy pancakes from the recipe from our sonlight curriculum book, "Nate, the Great".




Tonight will be quite a different night. Geoff left at 4:45 this afternoon traveling to Kampala International Hospital with our new nurse, Jenny, and Caleb & Alair Mitchell. Caleb has been very sick for some time and is not improving. We arranged for him to be seen by a specialist who agreed to see him at 6:30 tonight. They will all need to stay in town as it is too dangerous to drive after dark. The kids and I are keeping Nico, the 3-yr-old of the Mitchell’s. In addition, Anya will also be staying over with us, so the house will be full of children! What a joy it will be as we have borrowed a Thomas the Tank Engine video to help keep Nico feeling “at home.” With all the sickness and trips to the Dr. lately, he’s been feeling a bit out of sorts. We ask that you pray for the Mitchell family as they have been struggling with their health since Christmas.

Nico is enjoying Kevin's pup tent as he sorts the Thomas the Tank Engine playing cards.

Hope--Stable and Growing!

New Hope Uganda. Hope. New. And might I add, Always Present and Ever Increasing when based and settled in the love and fatherhood of God Himself. Having taken in the first ten children in 1988, the ministry of Kasana Children’s Centre has a history of 23 years of caring for and instilling hope in the fatherless of this central region of Uganda.

We are thankful to God for the opportunity and privilege of loving and caring for His children. In the almost five years we’ve been here, we’ve come to love and appreciate so many children---and some have become extra-dear to us. Medie Kanyike is one of the extra-dear. He was Geoff’s first intern at the Vocational Institute and set such a high standard for subsequent interns!!! Medie is competent, accomplished, diligent, attentive, bright, purposed and hard-working. He has since that time completed University, been one of three founding members of a vibrant youth outreach group called EYO here at Kasana Children’s Centre, purchased, cleared, and farmed land for profit, and now has plans and materials for a house on his property. Earlier this week Geoff, the kids, Medie and another staff member and close friend of Medie’s, Syd Sparks visited his land. It was an important time of viewing tangibly the result of the Father’s hope living in Medie’s heart. He knows and loves his Father God and trusts Him for his future. Walking on the land and sensing the excitement in Medie stirred in Geoff, Syd and the kids a deep thankfulness for the hand of God on Medie’s life.

Not all of our children here at New Hope Uganda (comprised of Kasana Children’s Centre, Kobwin Children’s Centre & Musana camps) come to an understanding of God’s love and His gift of life. Many reject His love and care and leave us with bitterness in their hearts and without hope. Medie blesses us as he whole-heartedly takes in the truth of God’s love and lives genuinely for his Father God. He is an example and encouragement for other children—his life speaks loud of the faithfulness and compassion of our God!
Syd and Medie surveying the property

Syd and Medie position themselves on the pile of bricks, ready for house assembly.

History!

After five days of teaching, encouragement, instruction and updates our annual envisioning meetings culminated in communion today. The time of revisiting why we do what we do seems to get better every year. And with the Dangers having been out of the country for more than a year, it was a blessing to have them with us for the event.

One of the highlights of each envisioning is our cultural night in which we focus on one of the ethnic groups represented among our children and staff. This year the Western area of Uganda fed us an amazing meal, complete with special dress, seating and eating instructions, and followed by dancing and story-telling. The night was rich with laughter and enjoyment. May you enjoy some of the captured moments.

Good friends and smiles!

Julia, Katelyn, Anya and Acacia. All of them had a sleepover at our house on Saturday night. It was a real treat as Julia is here just for a short two week visit from the states and Katelyn lives a few hours away at the Musana Camps site on Lake Victoria. The girls had a wonderful time together!

Good Ol' Fashioned Rough Housin'

Today marked the end of a second full day of our annual Envisioning meetings. We've been together as a staff from 8:30-4:30 both days and look forward to tomorrow as the content has been both rich and challenging. However, all day meetings means we are away from the kids more than we are used to and we're all missin' each other! So, this afternoon the kids were begging to "Rough House" with Geoff. The neighbors, Jesse and Joshua joined in as well and they all had loads of fun and only a few minor injuries (including an ant bite for Acacia!)

I participate by kissing the injured!

Black Mamba!

Monday morning . . . our workers begin work and the place is buzzing with activity . . . . . "MOM! Come see the BLACK MAMBA Medie just killed!!!" Medie, our compound worker, whose self-proclaimed personal goal is to make our compound the 'most beautiful at New Hope' (thank you, Medie!) was getting water out of the cistern and found this little gem hiding under the cistern lid! Black Mamba discoveries always provide a nice adrenalin rush--the amount of noise around here went up a notch!

This will be a busy week as we prepare for our annual Envisioning week which begins on Wednesday! The David Family girls are busy today cleaning houses in preparation for staff who work at our other sites (Musana camps and Kobwin). The place is lit with excitement in anticipation of all of us being together and revisiting the foundation and vision for why we do what we do!!!!!

At 8:30 this morning Geoff, Toby and Kasule, one of our older boys, began a journey to preach at a church quite far from us. They traveled through many villages until they reached the small village church of our maize mill manager. Along the way, however, the van broke down and Geoff had to call our friend and New Hope mechanic, Dan. They were already 45 min from home and only 15 min from the church when they broke down. Dan brought them another van and stayed with ours until he got it running again. There were more things gone awry than what had stopped them, but Dan was at least able to get it home. They arrived at the church at 10:30. Geoff preached, Kasule interpreted and even Toby greeted the congregation. The church graciously fed them lunch and then loaded them up with pineapple, passion fruit, jackfruit and eggs as gifts for having come. (Toby got a jackfruit--a HUGE fruit that is sticky and sweet! Upon arriving home later, he immediately wanted to go over to David Family and share it!)

When I returned home from church our van was already in the driveway thanks to Dan. I fed the kids lunch and then went over to David Family to visit with the girls. While we were relaxing and talking Kevin came to say that a mechanic was at the house and wanted me to come talk with him about the van. Well, needless to say, I didn't know what to tell him!!!! I put him on the phone with Geoff (who was now on his way home) and he explained the problems. The mechanic, Fred, proceeded to work while I met with the girls for Bible study. Geoff arrived home about an hour later and worked with Fred to diagnose the issues. How blessed we are to have a mechanic who makes house calls! In the picture-L to R: Fred, our neighbor Uncle Joseph, Geoff

Rhythm of Life

Kevin's newfound chameleon friend.

The kids love to ride on top of the van when we are going short distances around New Hope. Here they are with our neighbors, Jesse and Joshua.

The annual New Year's Day potluck at the Anderson's. A great time of fellowship and good eats!!

Uncle Stu, who is now heading up the baby house ministry with his wife, Sarah. They are such a blessing to New Hope and the babies we care for!

When a vehicle moves, many come running for a ride!! Over capacity is how we move in the village!!

Good morning snuggles from our early riser! He wakes up happy and making jokes!!!

Dinner last night with the newly returned McFarland's!!!!! Staff who have been away on furlough and/or the holidays are returning and the place is getting noisy again!!! Hallelujah!

Here’s another snippet of how we, living in a foreign country, come face to face with a different rhythm of life:

How would you react if you were told that the item you ordered was ready, but when you attempted to retrieve it you were then told, by the same person, that it was not actually ready for pick-up. Before you answer completely, let’s add more components to the mix: You had to drive more than an hour into town and then fight chaotic traffic before the person bothered to inform you of their mistake (read, “lie”); the one who bought your old item had made special arrangements to receive it, but then had to wait; you had to schedule yet another trip into town, with hopes (and doubts) that it would truly be finished!

Let’s present another scenario: You travel early in the day from your remote village and into the city. Once there, you maneuver your way across traffic to make an order for paint. The sales person tells you it will be ready at 1 p.m. You get busy with other obligations and at 3 p.m. you call to check on the status. The sales person informs you that the paint is ready, so you fight traffic all the way back across town (with tired children in tow). When you arrive at the paint store the sales person (same one) tells you there is “no way it can be ready today, come back tomorrow!” How did we react??? We demanded our money back and never returned again to the store. (Keep in mind, that to return the next day is practically impossible being that we live far out from the city and have many events and responsibilities with the ministry daily—we schedule a trip into town about once a month as it is expensive (financially and timewise).

So, how did we react in the first situation? We could do nothing else but to wait. Of course, we told the owner that she would be deducting off the price the cost of our transportation for having to make an extra trip back into town. My main reaction was impatience with myself for having fallen again for the promise of ready goods. I’m not sure why this is a common situation here. Many in this culture fear confrontation and will avoid it at all costs. So, I’m wondering, is it considered a “confrontation” to tell someone “No, it’s not ready.”? But, if they tell us on the phone it is ready in an effort to avoid having to say, “No, it’s not ready,” how does that avoid the confrontation in person when we arrive and find the contrary??? I can’t suppose I will sort this all out anytime soon, but the longer we live here the more I learn about the intricacies of relational interaction. I pray that with each new “lesson” I react with patience.

Today is the day Geoff made yet another trip into town to pick up a new bed. We can’t just go in whenever we want: Geoff has to schedule around meetings with management, elders, vocational school, personal mentoring, and timber/maize mill obligations. He would never go in JUST to pick up a bed, but has to wait until the trip is WORTHWHILE on all accounts!!! So, he waited until there was other ministry business to be done and combined many duties into one daytrip. He called the furniture place this a.m. to make sure (again, how sure can we be? . . .) that the bed is ready. She assured him that it is indeed ready. We’ll see.

Just My Size!

With a New Year comes renewed resolve (termed “resolutions” by most—I was just trying to be different) ANYWAY . . . as the kids grow we are involving them in more of the day to day business of life—dishes, cooking, washing, etc. Here in Uganda every child, from not too long after they learn to walk(!), goes to the bore hole to draw water for the days duties. We desire our kids to be fully involved in life here, not on the sidelines, so, having resolved to put this plan into action, we bought 10L, 5L and 3L jerry cans last week in preparation for them to make a daily trip to the bore hole.

Kevin has NOT had a problem incorporating this into his schedule!!!! I've actually lost count of how many times he's been to the bore hole today! Since 8 a.m. he's gone just about every hour--sometimes twice an hour!! As I've been cooking and washing dishes in the kitchen, he's been hounding me about whether or not I've emptied his jerry can yet so he can go again!!! I'm glad he's so excited about it all! I guess we should have bought smaller jerry cans a long time ago!