One Day at a Time - Thursday

I wanted to let everyone know that Friday and Saturday will have to wait until next week.  I am not going to have much computer time to be able to blog those days, but I promise to try to make them up soon.  I really appreciate the response you all have had and thank you for sharing my blog with others.

We started the day off with the usual routine of breakfast and then school.  Around mid morning Hadlee and I took a break though to run to one of our favorite places here, a local orphanage.  We just spent some time loving on the kids.  She is such a little mommy and LOVES being there.  It is so incredible to see her heart for the kids.

 We make our rounds to all the age groups, but it is clear which part Hadlee adores the most.

After about an hour we were heading back home to wrap up school.  It is so nice to be able to take advantage of this one on one time while we have my mom visiting.  Another thing that Jason and I are trying to do is to be intentional about spending time with each kid individually each month.  I mean, obviously we spend unplanned time with them too, and it isn't like we have to pencil them in.  What I mean is that we decided it would be good to take each child out to lunch once a month with just mommy and daddy.  There are so many changes in our lives lately and we want to make sure that they still know they are so very special to us in the midst of it all.  So, each week one kid gets to go to lunch with both of us which equals to once a month for them.  Today was Karson's day.  It was clear to see how great an idea this was because he has been counting down the days all week.  Before that could happen though I needed to get lunch made for the kids that were staying behind, Meme, Tom and Apio (I mentioned Apio yesterday and Tom is our day guard that also lives on the grounds with us.  They both join us for lunch each day and sometimes dinner).  I had everything ready to go for them so Jason, Karson and I loaded up and headed out for our special time.

Mostly it is just very important to us that each child knows that they can talk to us about anything.  They are changing so quickly and I don't want to wake up a year from now and realize all that I have missed because I didn't take those moments to check in with them.  Here is Karson at lunch.....

With one of his favorite drinks here, Krest, which is a VERY bitter lemon drink.

Goodness, where has my little boy gone????  And, in case you are wondering, he really doesn't want us to cut his hair.  Personally, I think the reason is that when we go to the villages, the kids are so fascinated with it that they just want to touch it and mess with it and to Karson it is like an incredible scalp massage!

Right after lunch we rushed back so Jason could head out to the village and I could have Luganda lessons.  I am working very hard to become fluent in the language and I am lucky to have an incredible instructor.  Jason and the kids want to learn as well, but they are settling for conversational Luganda at the moment.  I really think that Karson has a knack for picking it up and will work with him more as he gets older.  Even Pierce uses some daily and can count to ten in Luganda.

Jason headed to the village today solo so he could focus more on medical care.  There are quite a few cases of malaria and some special needs cases that he needed to follow up on deeper in the village. You can hear more about his day at: http://thesegners.blogspot.com/

We have a friend in town visiting that is a nurse back in the states so she went with him and her two kiddos hung out with us.  The rest of the day was spent with regular mommy stuff.  The same things that I am sure are similar no matter where you live in the world.  Kid chaos, cleaning, laundry, getting dinner prepared, etc.

Thank you God for blessing us with another day together, for good health and our family and friends.  We pray for all of those less fortunate.  May we bring you Glory in all of this.

One Day at a Time - Wednesday

Today started out with school for the kids.  Jason and I had a meeting with the NGO at 9:30am so we got started a bit earlier and then were so thankful that Meme was here to finish things up.

The meeting lasted about an hour and then we headed back to the house to finish up the last of school, help with lunch and visit with our friend Apio that helps out with both our crazy lives and with the ministry as a translator.  She had to attend a burial today for her 26yr old sister in law.  The sister-in-law was traveling home late last night after visiting with her mother, just outside of town.  They had encouraged her to stay the night, since it was late, but she was confident that she could catch a boda and make it home.  Unfortunately she didn't.  Along the way a group of guys attacked her and murdered her.  She left behind a three year old daughter.  Hearing things like this never gets easier and we hear these stories all the time.  Please say a prayer for that family.  For strength for the grandmother who is now raising her 3yr old granddaughter.

Immediately after lunch I had Luganda lessons with my tutor, while Jason readied the bags for the village.  Once a week we try to do a village day that involves our children and today was the day.  We make it more about relationship and less about medical care, but Jason still likes to be prepared in the case of an emergency, especially with malaria care.

We were a bit nervous on the ride out because there has been substantial rainfall lately and the dirt roads quickly become mud traps.  Luckily all was well, aside from a few scares with some slips and slides along the road.  Thank to 4-wheel drive we made it to Kogoma Gate.  The kids always seem to have a blast when we are out there.  Well, I should specify the older boys.  Pierce and Hadlee are still hit or miss.  Often it has to do with how much of a nap they got on the drive out there, or how much their hair has been pulled by curious children in the village. They love Pierce's white hair and blue eyes.  Sometimes they have a really great time and sometimes they are ready to leave after about 30minutes.  We still think it is so important to involve them when we can.

Karson having fun with futbol!

So, I have a hilarious story for you today.  Soon after we arrived the boys spotted a baby goat.  I mean brand new baby still with a dried umbilical cord.  They were so thrilled and this kept them occupied for most of the afternoon.  As things were wrapping up though we couldn't find Everett.  We just started to get to the concerned, when Jason finally spotted him just past the futbol field, slightly in to the woods.  Jason walked over and asked what he was doing and he said that he was hiding and trying to set the baby goat free.  He had carried it as far away as he could and with tears in his eyes said that he had to let it go because the owner of the goat said that they were going to eat it.  He was so very heartbroken.  Luckily we weren't arrested for trying to steal a goat and Jason got the goat back before anyone realized what was happening.

 Everett before the failed rescue attempt.  Such a sweet heart he has.

After a long day Meme (my mom) treated us all to one of our favorite local places for dinner and we ended the day with an amazing sunset.  God is so good!