April

Is it really the middle of April already!  We dropped off my mom and spent a few extra days in Kampala.  There were a few things that we needed to pick up and we looked at vehicles. (The ol' Land Rover is needing to be retired.)  We found a place where I can go ride horses, which was a HUGE surprise.  I was very glad to see that the horses were well taken care off and a beautiful barn and ring.

My trusty mount, Ranger, and me at a dressage clinic a few years ago. 

We also are moving forward with our visa process and that is exciting!  Also we will be getting Silas's birth certificate soon!!  And Colin and I will be listed as his parents.  It may not seem like a huge deal but it makes all the other paperwork that much easier.

Love this little man!  He is truly a wonderful blessing and a gift from above.  

We have been busy in the garden in the village.  It is the biggest plot we have done so far with FGW.  Colin has carried LOTS of grass on his head the last few days to help cover the garden with mulch.  

   
We are also praying about building in the village.  It is something both Colin and I really want to do, but we want to be sure that we are following God's direction.  We have started to plant some trees and flowers out where we would someday like to live.  Silas and his friends went along and helped me plant the mulberry trees that I had.  Well, I planted and Silas and Naboths threw rocks into the woods.  

  
Our workshop in the village is coming together and Colin and Dan LOVE spending time working in it.  
  

Dan's son, Toni, has started some Jackfruit seeds and hopes to plant them and sell the fruit.  

This is a Jackfruit.

We have also just purchased a whole lot of pineapples.  Dan took the dirt bike and brought them all back in one big bag.  

Things here are clicking right along!  We were very refreshed by Terry's visit and my mom's.    There are just a few things that we would love people to be in prayer with us over:  

• Building in the village and moving out there.  It is something that we both really want and pray that the funds and material and the details that go along with building all come together.  We have never done this before, and have no idea what to expect.  So if this is what God is telling us to do we just ask that you pray for guidance and the right people to work with.  
• Our continued health.  We are very blessed with good health and are thankful that we have not had any real serious problems.  
• Our ministry here in Obulle and Pingire.  We always want to continue to follow the Lord and what He is already doing and not get ahead and do our own thing.  So we ask that you pray for us to have wisdom and a humble spirit to follow where we are being directed.  

Thank you for keeping up with us and our lives here.  We are so very thankful to have so many people praying and standing in the gap for us.  We are blessed to be a blessing! 

we've been having some visitors

We have had a great few weeks with visitors staying with us.  First we had Terry Waller of Water for All International who came in for a visit to check up on us, see the progress with the well drilling and farming programs, and to encourage us and get us lined out for this year.  Having Terry here was very encouraging and energizing.  It was great to have someone come and see the work that has been done over the last year, to discuss the well drilling program, look for ways to make things better or more efficient, and to see our friend and mentor Terry.  Terry was able to go to church with us, meet the drilling crew, spend some time getting to know a few of our friends, eat some good local foods, view the wells and farming areas, see where we hope to build a home in the village one day, and to meet Silas.

We dropped Terry off at the airport and picked up Kathy, Ronnie's mom, the same day.  Kathy got to meet her grandson Silas, see Africa for the first time, experience Kampala traffic (she vowed to never ever... ever, ever, ever to complain about Raleigh traffic again), sleep under a mosquito net, spent time with us in the village and got to meet our friends, experienced the market, spent Easter and Ronnie's 29th birthday with us. We decided to go to Murchison Falls while Kathy was here so we could see some of Uganda's wildlife.  That was a pretty neat experience for all of us and Silas absolutely loved all the puppies (all the animals were puppies to him).  We even took a boat ride up the Nile River and viewed the magnificent Murchison Falls,  saw where the movie The African Queen was filmed, and saw the site where Ernest Hemingway crashed his plane.

Murchison Falls 2013

Well my mom is back stateside and I am already missing her!  But I am so glad that she was able to come and see us and spend time with Silas.  We had a blast with her and are already looking forward to seeing her again in Uganda!  We decided to go the game park at Murchison Falls with her the last few days she was here.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!  Really, like nothing I have ever done before in my whole life.  So below are just a bunch of pictures from the two days we were in the park and on the Nile river.  

We also received some wonderful news about the status of our work visa.  The process has moved to the next step and it is smooth sailing from here!  Thank you Lord!  And thank you to everyone that was praying for that whole process!  WE really couldn't be here doing all this without the support of our praying friends and family.  

Enjoy the pictures!

Pictures pictures and more pictures

We have had a very busy month of March!  Here are just a few shots from what we have been doing!

We spent the first week of March in Entebbe at a Team Beyond Retreat and Silas loved all the time spent with kids his age playing.  He became good buddies with Kate and Levi.

Trying to get all the kiddos lined up for a picture and Silas wanted to make sure they were doing it right.

And this is where he wanted to be for the picture....

We stayed at the BMU (a baptist guest house in Kampala) the week after the retreat while we waited for Terry to come.  They have a washer and dryer in the guest house and Silas LOVED the dryer.  He has never seen one before and it thrilled him!

A typical herd of cattle on the northern part of Lake Keyoga.

The mighty Nile

This child...I can't get enough!  He is very much loved!

Baboons by the Nile.

These flowers come out when the first rains of the season come.  Colin knows that I love flowers so he surprises me with them every so often.

After Terry left, we picked up my mom.  She is the first "grandparent" to meet Silas and we are thrilled to have her here with us!  We were so blessed by mom visiting us.  The company she works for, Hipp Engineering and Consulting, helped pay the way for her to bring us two totes loaded with goodies from the states.  SO a very BIG thank you to Bud and everyone at Hipp.  AND, I can't forget to thank our sending church Paul Ann Baptist Church in San Angelo for providing the funds for my mom to come and see us.  PABC, we love you and miss you and are grateful for all your support! 

You never know what you will see while driving here. 

Typical scaffolding in Uganda.

One of the only forest in Eastern Uganda, Mabiria Forest.

Fields of tea leaves

Mt Elgon

Scoping out the flowers

More tea

Kammy in her glory with baby Joy and little Silas

He loves me...

Bricks for our new church building in Obulle.  They made 8000 in a couple days and then stacked and burned them.  Total cost...just man power.

Bro  

I cut the top of a green pepper off the other day and this guy was looking back at me.

The latest and biggest Farming God's Way garden we have done in Obulle.  

Pretty much always happy happy happy!

These two...Oh my.  

My wonderful husband!  He works so hard and loves every second of it.  He was created for living in Uganda and working with the Teso people.  He is really in his element here.  So very blessed to be married to this man!

Showing mom where we are going to be building our home out in the village.  

My boys...<3 td="">

So these pictures just sort of sum up the month of March so far.  As I went through the pictures I realized that I didn't have any of Terry, so I will have to post some that he took while he was here.
Just a few prayer points as I wrap this post up

• We are still waiting on our work visa to get approved.  All the paperwork is in and now all we are waiting on is the approval.  We are on a special pass currently.  So please continue to be in pray that our paperwork goes through sometime within the next few weeks.
• We are so excited that Terry was here and was able to see what all has been done over the last year. We got the go ahead to pursue building a home in the village.  Please pray that the building process goes smoothly and that funds are not an issue.  We both want to be in the village living with our friends there. 
• We are thankful that we are healthy and contribute that to your prayers, but ask that you continue to pray for our health as well.  Colin's back is still not 100%, but we had heating pads, Bio Freeze and pain meds brought over so we can at least manage the pain now.
• We say goodbye to Mom on the 4th, and that will be hard for she and I.  Just remember us as we say goodbye for a time and that her travels back home go smoothly.