We’ve been in Uganda for over a month now! There are still times when I look around me and I think, “Wow, I’m really in Africa!” That may seem kind of weird, but it still amazes me at times that part of God’s plan for me and my family was packing up and moving half way across the world to a place I never imagined living. Even a year ago, I’m not sure that I would have imagined how I would be spending my days in Africa. For those of you interested in what a typical day looks right now, I’ll give you the run down. This will be continually evolving as we are still settling in on some level, and as new projects and focuses become evident.

As a mama, I try to wake up early before the girls to get in a little time to myself. Maybe work out a little, do devotions and pray. About 75% of the time, even if I wake up at 6 am, this is done with the girls wide eyed and bushy tailed in the living room with me. Sometimes daddy gets to sleep in till seven, and occasionally the girls sleep till seven, though  this is rare!

Breakfast by 7 (because they’ve already been up for an hour). A lot of mornings making African tea is part of the routine. Gracie likes hers with honey. If it’s a Saturday, we’re making pancakes!

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AFRICAN TEA

Black tea (African tea or garden tea)

2 cups of milk

2 cups of water

Combine milk and water and seep tea packets or loose leaf African tea in pot on medium high until it starts to boil. Take off burner and if using loose leaf, strain the leaves. Add desired amount of sugar and serve hot. Will make about 4 cups of tea.

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Start doing laundry. There is ALWAYS a load of laundry to hand wash in buckets and hang dry on the line. It hardly ever rains in the morning, so at least you know it will dry!

On a typical day I try to do some school lessons with the girls. We read a Bible story, work on our ABCs, sing, do workbooks, read, art projects, those sorts of things. Dustin may try to get some e-mailing done and make needed phone calls.

Some days we head into the market.  Other days we may take a walk, or maybe just stay home, get some cleaning done, turn up the music and dance it out. By dancing I mean jumping and flailing.

Lunch and naps. A needed break in the middle of the day for us all!

After naps we often take it easy. Relax outside, or if you are Gracie and Lillie, you will walk up on our neighbor’s porches, chase chickens, or get your legs nipped by all the puppies.  This week we have also gone to the orphanage, Smile Africa, a few afternoons to hang out at the baby center. What do I do there? Hold babies!

Thursdays we often go to fellowship (kind of like a church small group) with the girls. This usually means one of us is inside the house trying to pay attention and the other is outside watching the girls.

We’ve slowly started exploring more as we’ve settled into our new environment. Some days we may go to the pool that is a short walk down our road. We have made the trip to Mbale a few times (a 45 minute drive) where we have learned you can find less common household and food items, swim in a nice pool, and eat American food! Salad and a burger never tasted so good! We have even made the trip to Kampala (a 4 hour drive) and visited a Reckoning project that Dustin is overseeing.

There are days that involve meetings and planning with people for Dustin, Skyping with family and friends, and always lots of relationship building. The evening are a time to relax, work on projects, keep record of finances, and try to plan ahead.

There are so many things different about our days here, yet some things that seem just about the same. We realize there are  a lot of things we took for granted in the U.S. and are learning new ways to do things. It’s a blessing, an adventure, and a challenge all in one! Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Oh, and on the way back from Kampala, you get to see baboons!

 

 

Welcome to our home. If you hopped on a plane to come visit us, or you happen to be reading this from Uganda and want to go grab a boda and come on over, here is what you would find. I didn’t particularly clean up for these pics, so this is the real deal.

Porch

You’ll always find a pile of shoes by the front door.

The porch is a pretty nice hangout

Living Room

The living room is really coming together since we got our couch and chairs last week.

School/Play Room

The girl’s play area and room we have been having our “school lessons” in.

Kitchen

Personal chef?

Bedroom

We all get to sleep together. You get the good, bad, and the ugly, but mostly good.

Bathroom

We have an actual toilet for those of you that were worried we would have to use a squat pot.

Address

We are working at getting an address for those that are wanting to mail things. Apparently since our landlady does not pay for a box at the post office, things cannot be shipped here.

 

No matter where you are, you’re circumstances aren’t always joyful. Your day doesn’t always go smoothly. Everything you planned on doing doesn’t always get done. You don’t always find everything falling into place perfectly and effortlessly. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Ohio or Uganda-some days just don’t appear joyful.

I was recently reading one of the She Reads Truth devotionals on the fruits of the spirit. One particular post that has stuck with both Dustin and myself was the devotional on joy. It was emphasized that joy is not found in our circumstances. It is not found because our day went just as planned, we had loads of fun, or accomplished a lot. Our joy is found in Christ. So even on the days when we’re tired of everyone staring at us, we really wish a Dalton Dari-ette would magically appear in Tororo, or we just miss our family and friends,we can still find joy. Even when everything is strange, and new and the learning process and relationship building feels slow going, our joy rest in knowing that Christ alone guides us.

The gift list continues…and you can see I haven’t posted it in awhile! In these gifts I find so much joy. Not just because these are things that make me happy, but because of the joy that is found in giving thanks to the Lord who has provided these things.

I’ve also reached 1000! And here I start back over,  with new friends in a new place.

#965-1000

Lillie saying “kitty” and “hi kitty”//Lillie point to things when asked and saying “there”//Gracie tracing numbers//zoo day//hikes//Lillie’s feet and fingers in creek//Emily’s baby shower//movie with Dustin//gentle breeze and a babbling brook//Lillie’s warm cheek and smell//cleaning out house//friends and family to help//lunch date with a new friend//Gracie sleeping with leg in the air//supportive church family//walks in woods with Dad and Lillie//fairy garden//Elsa braid//girls running around in church//Uganda countdown//time spent with family and friends//Gracie and Lillie’s first boda ride//Dustin killing cockroaches//mosquito nets//skype with mom//rain//cold bath water//chipate and curry//naps//chairs//clothesline//hugs from kids at orphanage//driving around Tororo//Gracie’s arms around my neck//Lillie’s restless sleep//Lillie saying “book” and “rock”

#1-7

fellowship with new friends//nursing in public//being malaria free//Gracie dancing on stage with other kids at church//Lillie backing up to sit with you and read//girls playing in mud//skype with family and friends

There is something about having food, actual food, like real food- not the snacky granola bars, cranberries, and animal crackers- but  food, that makes your house start to feel a little more like a home.  We finally have a small fridge and a stove top and have cooked a few meals in our home.

Pancakes of course were our first meal of choice. We cooked them on our gas powered stove on the floor.

Our fridge is small. It kind of reminds me of a kid size fridge. The size of pretend play house fridges. But it is just right and we don’t lose food stuffed at the back out of sight out of mind, or buried underneath other things.

You eat yogurt out of bag here. Maybe it’s less messy? Maybe not with these two.

Our house is becoming a home. Even since these pictures were taken a few days ago we’ve added more furniture and mats and odds and ends. We may still feel like strangers in a new country (the stares every time we step outside of our compound don’t really help, who knew white people were so interesting!) but our house is becoming  our very own homey haven of rest. A place to safely express ourselves and find rest and enjoyment in each other. A place that we will eventually open up to others to come and rest and feel safe to be themselves as well we hope.

One thing that never changes no matter which continent we are on…the never ending piles and stacks of books devoured by these girlies. We even have some nice porch chairs to sit and read.

Blessings and love from Uganda!

 

Uganda. It’s only been a week. In some ways our stay here feels short, as it should. In other ways it feels long. Time here is slow. Waiting is normal. Patience is needed.

Tell me you’ll see me this afternoon. This afternoon may actually be two days later. Patience.

Our culture is all about now. Do this now. Do it better, faster, funnier, more, more, more, now, now, now. No need for patience. Hurry, scurry, strive.

There are positives and negatives to both ways of life. There are parts of each culture that would do well to be brought together and learned from. At this point in time we are in a “when in Rome” phase of living. We are doing things slow. We don’t have a vehicle yet, so we walk everywhere. This only gets you so far. We don’t have a fridge or stove, so we walk to go eat and wait an hour or more at the restaurant for food. We are slowly learning about the culture that surrounds us and working to find a new normal.

We went to church with a friend our first Sunday here. My first thought while watching and listening to how God was worshiped, praised and spoken about, was that I have put my God in a box. I’ve viewed Him in the same way and worshiped Him in the same way for a very long time. Here He is worshiped through exuberant, loud, very loud, music and dance. Clapping and jumping, shouting and praising. My God is big. He is known and worshiped in many different ways, but in each culture He speaks a language of love.

Uganda. Everything feels different, yet you can still find sameness. You can still find God’s love and goodness. You can still find yourself surrounded by beauty and joy. You can still find small wonders while looking through the eyes and into the eyes of your children. You might find yourself waiting an extra hour or two, but it’s there, it’s real, and it’s good.

I’ve been waiting to write this blog post for a while. A lot has happened in a very short amount of time and God is calling
our family into new territory. We started saying yes to the possibility that God may want us to step outside of our comfort zones
and serve him half way across the world. While reading this you may wonder, where this is coming from. Dustin and I have always
planned that we would someday do missions. We also planned that we would probably be done having kids at that point. We planned
that we could go to a spanish speaking country so we could use our language skills. WE PLANNED.

Then we started wondering what
it would look like if we stopped planning and just started saying yes to what God had planned for us. What would that look like?

It wasn’t a loud in your face yes by any means. It was a quiet and nervous yes. A yes that was unsure of what lay ahead. A yes
that was open to God’s plans, but felt ill equipped.

A whispered yes.

About a year ago we started looking into a few service possibilities, but very passively. Asked a few people to keep their ears
open, and occasionally checked some Mennonite service sites waiting for an opportunity to jump out. More recently we started actively
looking, and when we did, God flung the doors wide open. We had been praying for God to prepare our hearts for where his plan would
take us. We prayed that whatever opportunities lay ahead, we would feel at peace with where we felt God was leading us and a strong
connection and desire to serve there together. We had put in our name with several Mennonite Mission organizations and filled out
applications. Then Dustin decided to get in contact with Tim Troyer from The Reckoning, who also serves on the board where Dustin
works. He had asked Tim to keep his ears open about a year ago, but hadn’t talked recently or heard anything. About the same time
Dustin contacted him again to check in and let him know we were serious, Tim was praying for a couple to send to Africa. A couple.
Husband and wife. Man and Women. Us.

Africa feels like new territory to us, but exciting territory with endless possibilities of God showing up wherever we say yes.
And while God definitely shows up everyday wherever we choose to serve Him, this is where we feel we are being called. This change
is a little scary and will be like something we’ve never experience, but in a good way. We’ll be pushed to rely on God more and draw
close to Him in our moments of fear and doubt. We’ll also have the opportunity to serve Him and provided justice for those that he
has called us to serve. There are still many details to be worked out and there will be many blogposts to follow, and ways we will
be asking for your support, but this is a start. A look into our journey of saying a whispered yes and having God lead us to the
‘most thunderous place on earth’ (look up Tororo, Uganda weather. God has a good sense of humor).

“Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.”
– James 4:8 MSG