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| Getting ready for the game! |
Its hard to believe it's almost half way through January already. Almost seven months here in Uganda and I am feeling very much at home. There are still things I miss, and daily challenges that crop up unexpectedly but for the most of it, I am loving being settled in a house we can call home at last! Abi and Matthew started their second term on the 12th and leave the house at 7.15am. They are settling in again and glad to see their friends. It was the longest Christmas holidays they have ever had - almost a month! This is the first year that hardly anyone in the family has been sick over these "winter" months. Abi spent a week unwell with a tummy bug after cleaning her teeth with tap water but apart from that we have been blessed with better health than any other year. As Abi and Matthew settle into their routines again, I'm looking forward to having a little more time to catch up on other things. I still have a few curtains to make and other items to be altered - so I'm glad my mum is on the plane to Uganda as I type to visit with us for three weeks - she is the seamstress in the family! I am also organising a ladies retreat in Feburuary along with three other ladies. I will be leading worship for the whole weekend (end of Feb). I am also on the worship rota now at Kampala International Church, and I lead worship at the mid week ladies bible study also so am managing to keep quite busy! lol! I am also getting involved more with the Parent and Teacher Fellowship (PTF) at school and there is lots to be baked for bake sales, and other events to raise funds. |
| Surprise...and shock! |
We missed our families but most around here were in the same boat so we invited around five families and four others around for the day. In the end we had 15 adults and 16 children come from 2pm onwards. We woke up on Christmas morning to torrential rain but thankfully it cleared up so we could be outside in the afternoon. Everyone brought food to share and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and fun. We managed to have the usual trimmings such as Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, bread sauce and Christmas cake without a Marks and Spencer's in sight! We played the white elephant game where each family/person wraps up something around their house or whatever they want under $5 and put it under the tree. If you throw a six on the dice you can pick a present and if anyone else throws a six they can swap yours with what they have. Once all the presents under the tree have gone you are stuck with what you ended up with. I've played this game for many years in the UK but never once did we had a real live chicken wrapped up in a box sitting as quiet as a mouse under the tree till it was chosen! You can imagine how much the chicken got swapped as all the children wanted to take it home! I would gladly host it again next year as it was so much fun but perhaps without the chicken in my sitting room :0)
January is dry season and the water shortage in Kampala is real and has been affecting us in the last few weeks. Many MAF families have been struggling with low water and a few reached the point of no water to flush the toilets. Our rain water tank emptied and our main tank is rationed. The water is on for part of the day and then they switch it off again. This is the longest I have ever experienced without rain. Even in Ohio the heat would spark thunder storms regularly but here is has just been hot and dry for about four weeks. Abi and two other MAF kids that I know off have been experiencing nose bleeds with the dry air which only added to the laundry crisis! Last night we were woken to huge loud thunder crashes and torrential rain at 3am. It was SO exciting to have rain again knowing our reserve tank would be filling with rain water, the garden was getting watered without me having to fill the watering can 20 times! Unfortunately the rain stopped after half an hour and it still took another hour to get Eilidh back to sleep! We are well aware and so thankful to have running water in the first place here when so many Ugandan's around us do not. It is easy to blog about the fun times and the small challenges we face at times. It is hard to blog about the struggles we face at times because no matter how hard things can get here, they are nothign compared to the struggles we see others going through every day around us. Living here we are continually bombarded with wonderful charities needing money, or people at our gate needing food, or financial assistance etc. As a family we believe those we have a relationship with are the ones God has brought into our path and are excited to bless them. It was a joy this Christmas to take a suitcase we had and fill it with goodies for our house help Irene and her four children. She called me up after they opened it on Christmas eve and each of her children (9,8,6,3 years) took their turn on the phone to say "thank you thank you a million times and God bless you " which was almost too much for my emotions! At the same time we gave money twice to a man at our gate who claimed to have been in a boda accident (he had a blooded T shirt over his head) and it turned out he was the local con man and this was one of his regular tricks. It is always a struggle to know who needs genuine assistance and who is targeting you because of the colour of your skin. Please pray that we will have wisdom to discern those that God is leading in our path and how we can best help them. Just giving them money is not always the best thing for them.
We recognise visitors have to jump through a few more hurdles to see us unlike in the USA so we really appreciate it. Mum has graciously undergone her vaccinations ready for arriving here tonight. I'm not sure how she will cope with my driving here - she barely copes with it in the UK! Please pray her body will remain strong as she experiences 4x4 off road terrain for the first time:0) Several times I have banged my head off the right window while navigating through potholes and cracks while trying to look for oncoming traffic, people, cows and dogs. I haven't knocked myself out yet but the possibility is always there! Not all the roads are like this thank goodness, but the daily school run is the regular bone rattler! Mum returns to the UK on the 12th of Feb. Praying she has a wonderful trip with good health. There are three very excited little people ready to pounce on her bed in the morning!
We were blessed to have a few Scottish visitors on the 4th of January. Ewan Kennedy from Pitlochry and two of his university friends are here for six weeks working at a local hospital. We enjoyed a meal with them and we are so thankful when people have room in their suitcases to bring some things out we need from the UK - thank you so much Ewan!
We have booked our flights for furlough and we fly to the UK on the 30th of May. Andy will return to Uganda on the 6th of July and myself and the kids will return on the 3rd of August. We have still to sort the details out yet and will let you know in due course where we will be and when. We have been looking for some accomodation ourselves as a family while we are in the UK. We feel it is important to have our own family space while we transition from culture to culture and meet with so many (wonderful) people over a short time. Just today we have confirmed this and thanks SO much to Frances Wilson from KBC who has offered to stay elsewhere just to let us have her house when we are back! WOW! - what a blessing! We will therefore be based in Kirkintilloch. Once Andy leaves on the 6th, myself and the kids will move in with my mum in Moodiesburn till we leave.
Thanks for all the Christmas mail and parcels that were sent to us. We received most of the christmas cards a week ago - a few are still arriving. We are so blessed to have such amazing supporters both in the UK and the USA. Wishing you all a fabulous 2015.
" .....I have seen your salvation which you have prepared for all people. He (Jesus)is a light to reveal God to the nations and He is the glory of the people Israel" Luke 2 v 30-32
lots of love
Heather, Andy, Abi, Matthew and Eilidh
