Growing Fatter

The day after baby Theo came two more babies came. One of them, Asheraf, was not well and was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. Last we heard he had been transfered to a heart specialist. The other baby, Moshe stayed with us for a few days before he went to his grandmother's. When he had first came he clung to me and I prayed and sang over him as I held him.

Theo is getng more and more happy, fat, and strong.

As some of you may have heard Mitchell was accepted to Carnegie Mellon University for their Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD program. Pray that God guides us into the next phase of our life, be it there or somewhere else..

Baby Theo

Last night a new baby came to Acacia Tree. Robin has decided to call him Theo, meaning gift from God. Pray that he grows in size and strength. He is one and a half years old and only weighs 6.7 kg. Right now he is taking a high caloric drink every few hours to give him much needed nourishment. There are a couple of other babies that may be joining us very soon.

Theo is adjusting very well. Please pray for all of the other children that are a little confused by the new baby. Also pray that when the new babies come that God shows us what they need most.

We will post some pictures soon. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Island Ministries

Cassidy and I went out to an Island on Lake Victoria yesterday. We got to the church at 8:00 AM and didn't push off until 10:00. It rained for a good part of our trip so we sat on the boat under a tarp for almost an hour of our two hour trip on what just might have been the slowest boat on the lake still powered by a motor. It was awesome though. We were on a rickety boat with visible leaks and water in the bottom, crossing wakes that were similar in size to our boats. While on the boat we were served tea and samosas. When we got the island, Cassidy and I were responsible for sorting out the medications that were prescribed by the nurses who did the consultations. After an hour or so of that Diana, director of the island ministries, walked us an another muzungu around the island. While on our walkabout we encountered an illegal tilapia stash. These fish can grow to be around 400lbs and the fish we saw weighed in around 8-12 ounces. We then approached a house with a stark naked baby outside who, when he saw us, got up and ran inside crying. I guess we were the first buzungu he had seen and we were still a little scary. After this we encountered a group of children leaving the bible club that was held on the island during the clinic. Each of the three muzungu had children clinging to a finger or two. It was an awesome day but the trip back felt even longer.

Uganda

Mitchell and I have been busy. On Tuesday we went into the capital city, Kampala. All of the people, cars, and motorcycle taxis called botas can be overwhelming, especially since traffic laws and right of way seem to be novel ideas.

The children here at the baby house are precious. During the day a two and a half year old named Deborah comes. The first day she kept looking at my funny skin. Benja is two and lives here. He is such a happy little boy.

We have also started trying the food. Two nights ago we tried motoke which is kind of like mashed potatos but it is made from bananas.

Tomorrow we are going with a woman named Diana to the islands for medical outreach. Also this afternoon we may be going with her to take pictures of ten children who all need surgery of different kinds that would only cost about fifty dollars.

Prayer: please pray for the outreach on Friday and that who needs the help is there. Pray that Mitchell and I continue to adjust well. Pray that God gives us great strength and endurance to do all the things we need to do.

I love you all and thanks for the prayers.

We are here!

Thank you for all of your prayers! We are safely here. Last night we got in around 9 at night and all of our luggage was there.

Today Mitchell slept until 3 and I woke up at 10. The children are precious! I will update more later!

Pray for continued health and that our jetlag is done with. Pray that God uses us while we are here.

We leave today!

I didn't get to blog yesterday... I almost blogged everyday last week. 

Yesterday I gave Mitchell a hair cut. It is the shortest I have ever seen it but it will be good since he won't have a hair cut for three months. After Salon de Cassidy we ran last minute errands. We then began the daunting task of packing all of our bags the way that they need to be packed for our trip. Overwhelming to say the least. 

Last night my dad and Lisa through a going away party for us. It was really great. Meemaw and Peepaw were there, so were Grammy and Grampy. Aunt Caren came as well as Brad and Tammy Carlson. And Meredith and Andrew brought baby Wesley. It was really fun and I had some great food!

Our flight leaves DFW at 1:20 p.m. We are going to be leaving the house at around 10 to make sure we have plently of time to check in all of the things we are taking to orphanage (including two high chairs)

I really cannot quite comprehend that I will be leaving in three hours to the airport to leave to go to Africa for three months. I have no idea what that even means right now. I suppose that that is a good thing though because I had no trouble sleeping last night and I feel very much so at peace.

Thank you for everyone's continued prayers.

If you think about Mitchell and I in these next 30 hours please pray for our traveling and that we have no problems getting all the supplies to the orphange. Pray that we have no problems clearing our luggage and getting our visas once we get to Uganda. Pray for favor as we travel and that we have as few issues as possible. Pray that the security guards don't stop us to go through our bags because I painstaikingly packed them and it would be quite difficult to get everything to fit in them again! Pray that I don't go stir crazy on the flights. 

I love you all. Next time that I blog I will most likely be on a different continent! 

Praise God for the work he is choosing to do through Mitchell and me!

Lazy Days

Mitchell and my dad's new dog, Molly.

Today was a wonderfully lazy day. I had lunch with my mother and my sister. Then Mitch and I went and tried to run some errands, but the Half Price Books that we were trying to go to was closed. We did get to go walk around JoAnn's Fabric a little bit. There we got some canvas to make Mitchell a cloth belt for Uganda. There was a huge selection! I loved it!

Back at home I napped, played cards, WiiFitted? for an hour and studied the Luganda language. Pretty awesome.

For dinner I put some of my studying to good use. I had a baga (burger) with chipusi (chips or french fries) and amazzi (water). For dessert we had more of the pie that Caroline and I made. WONDERFUL!

Last night I felt very stressed out so Mitchell and I read Galatians. I love how tangible that book is. It blatantly tells you the fruits of the spirit, that is how we should look as Christians, as well as the armor of God, that is how to prepare yourself for battle. Daily I have to remind myself that this life is a constant battle. I have to beat down distractions and focus on the prize.