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