Save The Date

Yep, it's getting to be that time again. IJM's Global Prayer Gathering. It's the weekend of April 9th. & it should not be missed. If you've gone in the past you know what an amazing weekend this is. If you've never gone, you should! I'm telling you all about this now, b/c if you sign up before Feb. 5th the cost is only $119. After that it goes up to $139.

And another bonus.... WE WILL BE THERE! Yep we are planning on all flying back to the states the end of March. We are so excited to come back for a visit! Hope to see you all there! : )

Here's a little more info that I took from an email....

IJM President and CEO Gary Haugen and Sharon Cohn Wu, IJM Senior Vice President of Justice Operations, will lead our time together along with Andy Crouch, Christianity Today International Senior Editor, and IJM field office directors and investigators.

We are also delighted to welcome back Sara Groves and Lamont Hiebert and Ten Shekel Shirt to lead our musical worship.

We hope you will join us to celebrate God’s presence and pray for his continued power in this work of justice.

For additional information about the Global Prayer Gathering including information on the schedule, accommodations and travel, visit www.IJM.org/gpg.

Safari

Two weeks ago I told you about what is one of the hardest things about living in Uganda is, this week I'm going to tell you about one of the best things. SAFARI. I love going on safari. Just ask Jesse I could go all day long for a week, and still not be bored. Unfortunately I’m the only one in my family who feels this strongly about it. (although i think isaac is going to be more like me on this one.) Don’t get me wrong here, Jesse & Rachel like going, just not quite as much as I do.

I’m one of those people who want to be up at 6 in the morning ready for the first sight of day to go out and look and not get back until you really can’t see anything w/ our poor little headlights. I’m not sure what exactly I love most about it, but there is something about being out there and just searching for animals that really could be a few feet from your car, and you not even realize it. When you do find them, it’s just amazing.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking....










*Hopefully that has made you all want to come over and visit! I offer great tour guide rates! : )

Haiti

I had another post written, but I just can't seem to bring myself to post some light & fluffy post when I read about what's all going on in Haiti. It's weird not having t.v. here and not being able to get up to the minute news and to see what's going on. I can read, but even when i try to see pictures it takes about an hour to upload one photo on any major news website. (yes, we have very slow Internet) But even without all the details, my heart breaks for what is going on. & yet, i feel so far away. What can i do?! & then I remember that I have a BIG GOD. a God who can do amazing things & whose heart is breaking even more than mine. I know there are people on the ground in Haiti trying to be God's hands and feet, and so I must pray. I must pray for these people who can be there and can touch the hurting and heal the sick. I must pray that God will somehow use this for His glory. I've been following this blog to get some information on what's going on, I encourage you to check it out, and pray along side me for what our brothers and sisters are doing.

Getting Sick

The worst part of living in Uganda, is getting sick. The first 2 months we were here we constantly weren’t feeling right. Of course our bodies had to adjust to all the new germs, and such. But for me the worst part about it is when my kids are sick I worry constantly about what weird thing they could have: malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, etc.

There is a doctor’s office here that everyone recommended us go to, it’s called “The Surgery”. I’m still not sure why they call it that, since i don’t think there are any surgeries actually going on but none the less it’s a doctor’s office. It looks similar to an American doctors office....just a lot dirtier/older. The first time I took Rachel, the doctor wanted to check her temperature and swung out an old school thermometer that you have to put under your tongue. I know I know the horror! Rachel was scared to death of it. She had no idea what he was about to have her do w/ that thing. (she’s thinking throat culture) Needless to say he ended up having to take her temperature under her armpit.


The head doctor at the surgery is an older gentleman from Britain. He is very smart, but has no bedside manner. There was one pediatrician who was working at the office, but she has since left to go back to India. I have not given my kids any immunizations since we’ve been here. Levi will just be a little behind, but I think I’m just going to wait till we come back on furlough. A lot of people have their kids vaccinated here, but I’m just not comfortable with it yet.

So back to the main reason of this post... I hate it when my kids are sick. & low and behold we’ve all been sick this past week. Levi has had it the worst, which I hate, b/c I worry about him getting too dehydrated and the such. We took him in and were told it’s just a bacteria infection. (thankfully no malaria - since we had been out of Kampala recently) I just really worry about if something more major happens what will we do? The healthcare system is not good here, i’ve heard horror stories of hospitals here, so it just makes me nervous. I know that worrying does no good, and i honestly don’t worry about it when we are all fine, but as soon as someone comes down with something, my mind becomes preoccupied with the what ifs. How do you overcome this?

New Years Resolutions

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I have a confession to make. I have never ever made New Years resolutions. (I know huge confession) Not only that but I have always cringed when I was supposed to write out goals. I’ve always seen them as pointless. For one it seems like I would always hear people make them, but never keep them or they would be too broad to really be able to tell if you achieved them or not (ie. be a better person). But the main reason that i don’t like making them, is that I don’t know what’s going to happen, I have no idea what the next year has in store. I like to go with the flow, and just see what things happen, and then deal with them as they come. To me putting these goals out there seemed to be confining in some way. Or maybe it’s b/c i don’t like to fail (who does), and so by not making them, I never set myself up to fail. But for whatever reason I don’t make them. That is until this year.

This year has been a big change for our family. & i’ve been confronted by who I am & what I'm doing. Honestly, the transition here has been quite easy, but I think that's what has bothered me. I was expecting to come to Uganda, and be rocked to the core. I was expecting to be able to go out and do all these “good” things for the people here. I was expecting for my life to change. Maybe it’s b/c I’ve been overseas before, and so the I’m not having as much of a culture shock as you do when you are see the poverty for the first time. But i have found myself, doing the exact same things I was doing back in the states. I am a mother to 3 kids 6 and under. So I know that right now my life is sort of spelt out for me. I love staying home with my kids, and really am grateful that I have this time with them. But sometimes I think i get stuck in a rut, and my days pass, and then I think back about what i’ve done... and it makes me sad. I’m not the most disciplined person, and so it’s really easy for me to just do what i need to to get by. But i feel that a lot of life is passing me by.

So this year I’m going to try to make some new years resolutions. I’m not ready to announce all of what they are to everyone (still worried about failing here) but one of them is to do a blog post once a week. I want to work on really thinking about the stuff that has been going on in my head, and maybe sitting down and writing them out will help me. This is a huge thing for me though, b/c I hate to write. I feel like I don’t communicate as well through my writing as I do when i can sit one on one with someone. But I'm going to try it out. Also i don’t know who actually even reads this blog any more, but I know our families enjoy seeing pictures of the kids once in a while, so I’m going to try to do better. :) So here it goes my first New Years Resolution. We’ll see if I still have it by next week.