The latest news!

It amazes me how animals and birds are able to adapt to their circumstances over time.  I believe God gave them the DNA to allow for this and also he has designed us in the same way.   We have almost been in Uganda for a full year (Andy has been here over a year) and already we have changed in so many ways. Here are a few to give you an idea.  Socks? what are they?  I can easily stamp on giant ants with my bare feet- the giant snails, I avoid stepping on completely! Sleeping without a mosquito net leaves me feeling terribly uneasy and vulnerable.  I love sharing my house with geckos (as long as they stay on the walls)  Rice and beans are becoming a family favourite. Making my own pizzas, chicken nuggets, bread, curries, pastry (not a "ready to roll"anywhere) becomes second nature.  It is possible to bath the whole family in a baby bath sized tub.  I love to eat bananas for the first time and my children are forbidden to ever get sick of them. When I hear the rain through the night it makes me so happy (rain water tank is filling, dust levels are reduced and garden doesn't need watered).  Water and power shortages are now part of life and the candles are always ready and the kids know which drawer the torches(flash-lights) are kept in.  Situations which would normally have my stress levels rising frantically i.e. bumping another persons car, don't seem to phase me like they used to. When the pipe that carries the water from our tank into the house snapped off at both ends two weeks ago due to corrosion it was no big deal really. We watched the last of the water in the tank drain out catching what we could in buckets for flushing the toilets knowing that at some point, things would be fixed and we would find a way to survive in the mean time.  Uganda is home and with or without us knowing we have all changed in many ways.    The people are generally very welcoming and friendly and I am making many friends.  I am slowly learning little bits of Luganda and the locals LOVE it when you speak to them in their language.  The sun shines every day and hardly anyone in the family has had a cold since we got here! I passed the tissue boxes in a shop the other day and marvelled at the fact I hadn't bought a new box in months!  I think the whole family is pretty settled although I know Andy would love to feel some cold weather again.  I know everyone in Scotland will be hoping for some nice sunshine this summer,  we are hoping it will be on the cool side when we return for furlough!

February was a great month where I enjoyed two retreats! Our church had a weekend retreat and then myself,  Pam Wunderli and a few others organised a ladies retreat for 45 ladies at the end of the month.  The theme was living under God's cover and finding that place of rest - Psalm 91. It was a great weekend and there was a good mix of ex-pats and Ugandans.   I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep and enjoyed great fellowship.

Abi and Matthew had a week's holiday from school at the end of March.   We just stayed around the house and the kids have enjoyed playing with friends, sleep overs, swimming and the cinema.  If any of you ever to Scripture Union Camps as a child you can relate to the fact that it feels like we live in one permanently! Never before have our kids had so many playmates so close by which is just lovely.  In Tummel Bridge and in Ohio Matthew never had any boys his own age around.  Here in the MAF team there are eight boys near his age!  

This Easter we went to a Children's home called Noah's Ark.  It houses 170 children from babies to teenagers.  When they reach ten years they divide them into units of about 8-10 kids with a "house mama".  It is a huge campus hosting a primary school,  secondary and vocational school, malnutrition clinic and what could be termed as a mini hospital. There is a huge amount of staff as you can imagine and a church on site.  A Dutch couple started it many years ago.  We had been calling it an orphanage however the founders informed us that only about 7 or 8 children were actually orphans.  All the rest of the children had family members somewhere however they were just thrown away and abandoned by their families.  What tugged my heart most was the kids who kept coming to our doors and looking in speculating about the fact that we had two daddies and two mummies in this one house for only eight children! Our lives are worlds apart yet knowing God is their perfect daddy gives them such a sense of hope and identity.   We were able to teach them some songs on Easter Sunday which they kept coming to our kitchen window and singing back to us :0)    It was a great experience to meet the children and some of the international volunteers that stay there for long periods.  It was a nice surprise to meet with the music teacher there and experience some African instrumental tuition. If you would like to see more of what they are about then here is their link: www.nacmu.org/en

We went to Noah's Ark with the Levesque family and their five children.  Luc is an engineer with MAF US and works along side Andy in the hanger.  Abi had their daughter Adele to play with,  Matthew had their son Jalil, Eilidh had Sammy and their adopted twins Nicolas and Daniel had each other.  Four days away and barely one argument between the children.  It was such a blessing and the adults enjoyed relaxing together while the kids entertained themselves. Next month we will be saying good bye to them as we will be going to the UK and they will be leaving in the summer back to Canada.  I am glad Eilidh will be starting pre-school when we return to Uganda as she will really miss her close friend Sammy!

We are planning our furlough trip to Scotland and at the moment and we can confirm we will be at Dunoon Baptist Church on the 7th of June, Pitlochry Baptist on the 21st and Kirkintilloch Baptist on the 28th.  We will be on holiday the 8-15th of June and Andy will be leaving on the 8th of July to return to Uganda.  Myself and the children will fly back to Uganda on the 3rd of August.  We will be based in Kirkintilloch and, as always, hope to catch up with as many of you as possible.

P.S.  I had some lovely pictures to add to the blog but they keep loading upside down and after spending three hours writing this blog and fighting with the photos at 11pm the text will have to do - sorry!  Very slow internet and hassles like this make blogging hard work hence it has been a while since the last one.  I hope you can use your imagination! : 0)