I know it has been awhile since we have posted an update,
but part of that is due to the fact that there hasn’t really been much to
update you on. This past week was a good week for us though, mostly because we
got to celebrate Daniel’s 5th birthday and get out of Kampala!
So just like any 4 year old, Daniel has been awaiting his 5th
birthday for a long time. When we were still in the US he would talk about
going to Disneyland (he has never been, don’t judge us!), but Daniel was super
blessed to get to spend his birthday in Uganda, which meant a mini vacation out
of Kampala! So we headed out on Sunday
after church and drove to The Hairy Lemon (I know it sounds sketchy but isn’t),
a small island in the Nile River. It was an all-inclusive three day trip for
us, when I say all-inclusive I mean meals (which were actually really good) and
a small bunkhouse (but no flushing toilets), cold showers, and no phone or
internet service. That all may sound a bit “rustic”, but trust me, getting to wake up in the morning and sit on
the small log (bench) outside of our bunkhouse overlooking the Nile River was
absolutely priceless. I feel like it was the first time since being here that
my mind just shut-off from all of the worries and I felt absolutely blessed to
be in this beautiful country.
The days we spent at The Hairy Lemon, consisted of swimming
in the Nile (praying the boys don’t get bilharzia), fishing, relaxing in the
many hammocks on the island, eating, playing Twister (Hairy Lemon style) and
spending time as a family. Daniel was super stoked when one of the guys on the
island, who had come to kayak (the Nile has some of the best white water
kayaking in the world) let Daniel ride in his kayak around the island. The boys
also had a blast watching the many monkeys that were jumping from tree to tree,
all around the island. The whole time we were there, Daniel kept expressing
what an awesome way this was to get to spend his birthday, and we couldn’t
agree more! Also this was much cheaper than taking our family to Disneyland for
a day! 
When we left the island we headed to Jinja for some lunch,
but really we wanted to go to a restaurant there that has the best milkshakes
in Uganda. So Daniel got a chocolate and peanut butter birthday milkshake and
LOVED it! After that we headed out to visit a couple that met here through
mutual friends to check out the project that they head up here in Uganda,
called Musana Community Development Project. This was such a great time for
Jamesdon and I to see an amazing way that God is working here in Uganda. I
could write a whole other blog talking just about their project, but for now I
will just say that Jamesdon and I were incredibly impressed with the vision of
this project and the way they are empowering Ugandans to take pride in their
community and the children in the community. Daniel and Nehemiah loved getting
to play with the kids at Musana primary school and enjoyed getting to visit the
chicken hatchery and the dairy farm. We got really lucky because one of the cows
gave birth the night before so we got to go and see the day old calf. Daniel
was a little confused about the size of the calf and was trying to figure out
how something that big was only a day old.
The next day we ate lunch with our new friends and headed
back to Kampala. Only to drive straight to our friends house (John and Elma) to
have dinner and celebrate Daniel’s birthday AGAIN! Elma made him fried ice
cream for dessert and after everybody got their share, Daniel licked the pan
clean! Overall Daniel felt super loved and blessed by his big birthday trip and
Jamesdon and I felt refreshed after getting away from the city!
We spent the next day unpacking, washing, and getting back
into the groove of things, which really just means more waiting. Our lawyer has
continued to tell us that we will have a court date soon, but what that means
is not defined. He did say at one point we would be in court by November 16th,
but if you look at the date, that day has come and gone. So we continue to wait
and while many people at home continue to ask us if there is any news, we feel
discouraged every time the question is asked simply for the fact that we have
no idea when we will actually get a court date. And just to add insult to
injury, the judges all get a one month holiday starting December 15th,
which means we need a court date in the next few weeks to have even the
slightest chance of being home by January. All the uncertainty regarding a court
date brings a lot of uneasiness with our financial situation. The longer we
stay here, the thinner our savings is stretch!
We totally trust that God has an
awesome plan and continue to trust that He has us covered. What we hope that
means is that we get a court date VERY soon, but in the meantime we recognize
what a huge blessing being here is for our family, especially for Daniel. He
is not just going to have stories that we have told him about Uganda, he will
now have many of his own to tell! So get ready!
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