I need to go to, "How to Write Good Titles" school and that's my title . . .

This picture was taken back when we had no idea how the month of February 2009 was going to look. But, then, we don't have any true idea of how things are going to play out do we? It is God who knows and who knows best. If we choose to trust Him, we have peace in the midst of whatever. If we don't trust Him, we can do nothing to obtain true peace. Period. If you don't agree, that doesn't change the truth, you just live without peace.

I have continued to respond well to the treatment I'm receiving. In fact, so well, that I do not fit the true picture of an auto immune response in my liver. I remembered not too long ago a medicine I had taken in January to combat a small wound infection. (Unfortunately, I had not remembered this when I first met with the dr.) As I thought about the whole process I was enduring, I wondered if that drug could have been the trigger. The info sheet is very clear--"hepatitis may occur up to several weeks after treatment with flucloxacillin has been stopped ...increasing age are risk factors." Uh Huh, another consolation prize for being over 40, there are so many :)

I need rest in bed about 3 -4 hours a day at this point, but otherwise, I am not feeling the intense drain on my body that I was experiencing even last week. I believe that as the treatment tapers down and my strength consistently increases, I will be left with no long term effects or requirements for caution regarding my liver.

In other news, there have been some changes in the schooling plans for our kids I mentioned in the last blog. In fact, the leadership school who invited all of our kids to apply actually only takes ONE student from each district. So, one of our boys will be attending the Cornerstone leadership academy and the rest will school together at "Shammah" only 18 km away. Because of the wait to hear from Cornerstone, those who are going to Shammah have missed the first two weeks of school. Please pray that all of them will be able to get right into their studies next week and learn all they need to for this first term. They will be traveling to Shammah hopefully over the weekend so that they will be in place for classes starting Monday. Pray also for the funding available to cover all the costs for these kids at Shammah. Yes, it is a less expensive school than the others in the area, but still a significant expense for the ministry.

My aunt's friend, Gillian is still with us and has been a tremendous blessing and encouragement to not only our family, but others here at New Hope as well. She has volunteered in our clinic, organized the emergency, wound, medicine and IV supplies, tended wounds and various other ailments. At the baby house she helped bathe, dress, feed and play with the babies. She was able to generally and briefly assess them all and give a good report on all the babies' development and health. She will be teaching a CPR class for our health care professionals this week and then next week, with the health care workers from our clinic, will teach the family parents of each of our family groups. She has been to the hospital where she was to be working and they have decided to keep her here in the country in a beautiful 3 bedroom apt while they ready themselves. So, for the next few weeks she will use our house and her apt as home bases as she does all the tourist stuff she had planned for the end of her time here. She will join one of our visiting teams next week as they go on Safari to Murchison Falls. God has blessed us all with her presence and we are happy she is able to get to see Uganda!

And lastly . . . Thanks for the packages!!!!!!! We get such a boost when they arrive!

Exciting things are always going on . . .

sorry, with my limited know how I can't seem to get this to turn around. We had a team visit from ND over the past 2 weeks and one of the dear families that have come for the past few years have kids close to the ages of Kevin and Acacia. Acacia was given this dress by the little girl and she LOVES it!!!! She tries to wear it whenever she can and I thought at least the grandparents would enjoy this pic!

Geoff is talking to our boys who took a contract to slash the undergrowth in an area where there is designation for new sports equipment. It was a tough area, thick forest and the boys earned a good deal of money each. Here, before giving them their money, Geoff sat them down and talked with them about responsibility with money: tithing, saving, planning, thinking about the long term rather than the money that is burning in the pocket. We love that we have these opportunities to speak God's wisdom to these kids and the boys received it well.

In January New Hope held it's annual Envisioning in which we all meet together as staff and revisit our purpose for being here. Part of the week is a chance for different "sub-cultures" to highlight themselves for the rest of us. One night we had "American" night and another night we had "Iteso" (northern Ugandan tribe) night. (Last year we had both "Baganda" --the dominant tribe in our area-- night and "British" night.) We each serve a meal representative of our culture and the table is set according to our customs. There is competition to see which family group can "perform" as the best in the sub-culture, complete with dress, table set up, mannerisms, eating styles, talking or NO talking as the culture may be. As Americans we decided to have a BBQ, so you see here Geoff and some of the other men grilling burgers and hot dogs over an open pit we dug especially for the occasion. Inside the dining hall we showed a football game and put up a powerpoint of the map of the United States and highlighted the different places all of us crazy Americans come from. Each section of the country had to give an example of their accent and dialect! Pretty hilarious.

At Iteso night we ate hearty!!!! I was chosen as the mom of our family and had to dress up in Iteso garb. Here I am being instructed in what is expected of the mom during a meal. It was a yummy meal and afterward we got out the drums and were treated to rip roaring dancing and hollering and jumping!!! Those Iteso sure know how to Praise their GOD!!!!!

Geoff is seen here copying down the results of our primary leaving exams scores. Scores are given to the children on an individual basis, with family parents being the ones who get to bring the good news!!!!! Our primary 7 students (last year of primary school--about 6th grade) performed remarkably well. More than 2/3 of our students earned top and second level scores!! 10 of our 50 students earned the top marks and 34 of our students earned in the second level of a 4 level system!!!! In our secondary school (level of 10th grade) more than 2/3 also performed in the top two levels with 1/3 of them earning the highest scores!!!! We were one of the best if not the top performing schools in our district!!!! Of our children who are ready to enter the next level of secondary school (equivalent to 11th and 12th grades), the boys have all been invited to attend a prestigious leadership academy which does not charge any school fees. Our girls will be attending a school only 18 km away in Luwero which is a strong Christian school and seems to be better all around than the ones we've been sending our children to in the past. Prayer for these kids' futures is always needed and coveted.

One more thing before I go. I don't have a picture for this, but just have to share it. My Aunt Romaine has a nurse friend that she worked with in Long Beach in the 60s. They have kept in touch over the years and the friend was invited to come to Kampala, Uganda to help set up a brand new state of the art NICU. When she arrived, however, the hospital is not even near completion. So, while the board decides her fate (to return to the U.S. to pick up more supplies and return later, or wait until their ready), she contacted us to see if she could come visit!!!! God's timing is amazing! Last Wed Geoff decided he needed to go to Kampala on Friday for business. The next day, Gillian, the nurse, calls and tells Geoff her situation. He says, "No problem, I coming into tomorrow and can pick you up. Two hours later my doctor calls and asks if I can come in for follow up labs and reevaluation. So, without any stress or extra required shifting of plans, we got it all accomplished in one day! Gillian stayed with me throughout the doctor visits and, being an excellent nurse of many years (adult ICU, NICU and various other humanitarian efforts throughout the world) she commented that "This doctor really knows what he is doing, he is thorough, kind, detailed, competent and is truly addressing everything he can." Since we've arrived back at New Hope the lady has hardly sat down. As I've rested, she has done my dishes, washed 2 weeks of her laundry, cleaned my kids' owies, told them stories, worked in our clinic, gone to the Kiwoko hospital NICU with one of our staff wives who is a nurse there, drawn some labs that the dr. wanted over the weekend from me and delivered said labs via motorbike to the hospital! I am so thankful for this gift of God who has come into our lives at this time. And since she has known my family for years, I feel like I have one of my own here with me and it is so comforting!!!!!

OK, I guess I better publish this before it qualifies as a book!

Mary here: This has been my view for the past 2 1/2 weeks as I have been in bed seeking the rest and healing of the LORD. Praise God it is a view of His creation and not of a brick wall. Praise Him that I hear birds and the laughter of children from my window and not horns honking and traffic snarling. Praise God that in the midst of trying to be "patient in affliction" (Romans 12:12) I have found the peace and contentment that only God can bring. And do you see the centrality of the cross in this picture? Without the cross of Christ, I have no hope, but my God supplies all my needs according to HIS RICHES!!!!!!!

I am doing SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!! We went back to the doctor on Friday and my liver counts are improving unanimously as well as my energy level returning more and more everday. I don't have to spend as much time recovering and catching my breath each time I get up to do a little something or visit a little with someone. I was able to go to church yesterday!!!! At this point it is 10 a.m. and all last week I would have been back in bed already for more than an hour. It was taking me until about 2:30 p.m. to "feel good" each day and then I was only able to be up for a couple of hours before needing to return to bed. NOW, I can be up and I don't get short of breath! I can visit with people and I don't get short of breath! I am not so tired that I fall into the bed out of desperation, but I rest in an attempt to keep myself from ever getting to that point. God is GOOD and I trust Him that over these next 2 1/2 weeks as I finish the steroid treatment and keep my diet free of animal proteins that His hand will completely clear out whatever process has been going on.

In the meantime I have been able to start writing a book for my kids that I've been wanting to write for a long time. I have been able to do 2 different Bible studies and I have had plenty of time to pray for others as I have been resting in bed.

The internet seems as if it is starting to cramp. I'll post this and then start another one with more pictures of the rest of our life here!

Highs and Lows

Well we were officially lost for the past month. For all of you that check our blog regularly Sorry. There is a lot to tell you about but I will keep it short for now and hopefully we will be back on soon.

Today is officially the "end of the world as I have known it" being it is my 40th birthday. A day that I could not imagine would ever happen to me has officially come. A great surprise was that at 4:45am many of the David family children came over and knocked on the door, got us out of bed with calls of "Uncle Geoff, we need you Mable is sick". So of course we got up threw some clothes on and opened the door only to find 15 kids on our porch with candles singing happy birthday. Quite the surprise...It is such a blessing to see the love that God has given our family towards each other. God has really given us a place in the lives of these young people and as a reflection at "40" I can't tell you how it feels to be doing the work that we are. These children have had many hardships in their young lives and God has been so gracious to give us the opportunity to share His love with them.

On the low side of things Mary has been sick for the past two weeks and upon the seriousness of her symptoms we went to a doctor in Kampala to try and get to the bottom of what was going on. The diagnosis is a "Auto-imume" thing going on in her liver. It seems that the imune system has seen her liver as a problem, and thinking that it is sickness has set out to destroy the sickness. What that means is that essentially her body is attacking her liver and without treatment serious damage will happen to her liver resulting in failure. The good thing is it appears that the treatment is fairly simple with some small diet change and steroid therapy things should revert back to normal. She began the 4 week treatment last Tuesday and Lord willing we should be seeing some progress soon. Please keep her in your prayers as she is mostly confined to bed or the house as she gets too tired when she tries to do anything. Our friends here have been bringing us meals trying to reduce the stress on our house. I am doing my best to cut back on work, which seems nearly impossible and Allison has taken the load of the childrens school from Mary.

Thank you to who are praying, we will keep you updated on her progress. Please don't worry God is faithful and we know that He is well able to care for us. The medical care we have received is adequite and we are resting in God's peace for us.

Blessings,

Happy New Year!!!!!

Toby and Acacia wanted to bang pots and pans as the clock struck midnight!!! But, I asked them to do it as quietly as possible because, as you can see, Geoff and Kevin didn't quite make it to midnight!!!

Happy New Year!!!! We have had such a wonderful holiday season and we pray you have had so as well!! This past week we have had time to just sit and talk with neighbors and other friends and it has been so enjoyable! Usually we are all so busy that we don't get to visit much, so we have been blessed to deepen friendships as we move forward together into 2009! Tiffany Anderson, LauraBeth McFarland (and Isaiah!) and Mary at the Anderson's New Year's Day potluck!

Geoff had some unique fun today when he got word that the dump truck was stuck in the mud while backfilling the foundation to our house! He jumped in our "trusty, never fails" van and pulled the truck out of it's dilemma!!! Sure wish we had thought to take a picture!!!! That van has been such a blessing! It has traveled where no one would think possible and just keeps on going! Thank you LORD!

SO, HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAY 2009 BE A YEAR OF PEACE AND JOY IN GOD!

Thoughts from the season

Assembling our Christmas tree

"Safari Ants" invading our neighborhood

Here are some random experiences and thoughts from this wonderful Christmas season…

Through our regular family devotions we have been reading different scriptures surrounding the birth of Christ. Recently, as Toby was reading to us from Luke 2, we discovered that the angels were part of the “heavy host” and that the shepherds “wildly made known” what happened in the fields. When your 7 year old is reading there are always some mistakes, some more entertaining than others.

After the laughter died down from the “heavy host” reading it was rewarding to hear the children say “Mommy and Daddy this has been the best Christmas yet”. Comments like that might make it sound like the presents they received were many, but in reality a simple Christmas rooted in Christ’s love is really enough to satisfy the heart of a child. The few presents they received were only a bonus and what can be done with less than $20 a child is beautiful.

As the tradition goes here at Kasana we have a service on Christmas day. This year was very nice with children reading scriptures and Toby was one of those. He did a great job reading the first 7 verses of Luke chapter 2 and what a joy it was to see our boy standing before the congregation! sorry no picture :-(

Also, Geoff received a surprise as we were getting on in the service and Uncle Jonnes announced that it was time to hear from the word of God that Uncle Geoff would bring…This was a plan that somehow Geoff completely missed but seemed to handle well as he stepped up and preached a great message. God tells us to be ready in season and out, thank God Geoff was able.

After the service the tradition is that all of us who remain on site over the long holiday, approximately 80 people this year, have a great meal together. We were in the shade as the temp reached 100+ degrees. Volleyball and great fellowship finished out the day.

We pray you all had a wonderful holiday and that you are able to go deep in your relationship with God this next year!

Oh yeah, you cant forget the safari ants that have attacked our compound the last few days. They come with aggression and you better get out of their way, they really hurt when they get you. This picture shows them attacking a neighbors sauce pan, they literally ran them out of their house for a couple of days.

NO ORDINARY DAY

SANTA IS THAT YOU???

Today was not a typical day for most vacations. We started the day out here in Kampala sleeping in (normal enough) with plans to go to a children’s Christmas party at a local hotel. The paper advertised it beginning at 10am with a bounce house, games, food and a visit from Father Christmas. Being versed at things here in Uganda we didn’t leave the house until 10:30 (things NEVER start on time) and of course we got a little lost (no street signs in Uganda) finally arriving at 11:30. To our expectations the lady at the desk tells us well we aren’t quite set up yet, you are welcome to wait and the kids can play. Our better judgment told us that might not be a good idea, maybe we will come back. We decided to drive across town and get some Chinese food (very good, but a little pricey). Finally we make it through traffic and arrive back at the party around 2:00 and we were still numbers 9, 10 and 11. It was great fun, but let me tell you, my definition of a children’s Christmas party can never quite be the same. Sodas all around, loud rap music and a 13 year old Ugandan school boy dressed as Santa. The only thing missing was some snow and real Christmas carols. The kids had a great time, made some new friends and came home with some fun toys. But I must say the expectations of a couple of hours of fun and then come home were not met. It is now 8:10, that translates to nearly 6 hours of children’s Christmas party, some times here in Uganda time is irrelevant. The main goal is to finish the program.

ACACIA'S EXCITEMENT

Oh yeah the final leg of our adventures today was to get some ensenene, or in English grasshoppers. Acacia has loved them since 2006 when someone gave us some as a gift. It is now the season and the neighborhood we were in is famous for the being the place they are harvested. So I spent $3 for a bag of raw grasshoppers with the wings removed that we came home and roasted in a frying pan. Mmmmmmm :-)

YES GRASSHOPPERS!