...:::When God Speaks; CLEARLY:::...

God still works and the Spirit still moves! 

So, as some of you may have noticed, our blog has been a bit quiet for the last few months. Honestly the reason for our silence has been a lack of something to write about. There's been a lot going on, but we haven't really wanted to write about it because none of it had to do with us getting home! But, before I get into that, let me give you a breakdown of the last few months…

Coryn and I have both been on personal leave from our jobs in the US the whole time (1 year+) that we’ve been here! Since my job is, let’s say, a bit undefined, it’s been easy to take time away. That, unfortunately, wasn’t the case for Coryn. She was blessed with a one year leave of absence from her teaching job, and that year ended in September. That meant that Coryn was on a plane in mid-August, with Nemo in tow, so that she could prep for the coming school year AND keep her job! That was a bummer, but at the time, we thought we’d have Daniel’s visa sorted, and follow in a week or so. That didn’t quite play out as we had hoped though.

We got our appointment for Daniel’s visa at the end of August, which meant a trip to the Nairobi Embassy for me and “D”! We had an amazing time there with our new friends, the Magruders, as we awaited the approval of his visa. Unfortunately, we learned that or case had been sent for an “administrative investigation” for reasons the Embassy would not divulge. They also couldn’t give us ANY type of time-frame. They only told us it could be days or months! GREAT!!! :/

Daniel and I have since been back in Uganda; couch surfing in the homes of our closest friends, dearly missing our wife, son, mom, and brother. All the meanwhile, Coryn has been single parenting Nehemiah, moving into a new home, working a full-time job, and missing the snot out of us! It’s been absolutely miserable!

…and then a prophecy?!

One and a half weeks ago at church, a woman named Nicola was teaching on Philippians and how God is in EVERYTHING, even our times of trials and suffering. As she spoke, she kept getting various spirit inspired words, although she wasn’t quite sure what they meant or who they were for. First she said she felt there was someone there who was dealing with some tough family stuff. That definitely resonated with me, but it seemed like it could with anyone. Then, a bit later, she said that she felt the person was a father who felt alone but God was in this with him. Now I was really listening, but still, it could have been for anyone. As she was finishing up, she paused during her closing prayer. She said “it might be weird” but she felt the Spirit saying, “There’s a visa issue and God is going to bring a breakthrough in the coming week.” Bingo! She hit the trifecta! I was completely wrecked and the whole church prayed over our family and the word we had received!

Throughout the following week, we had a ton of support from our friends and family as we awaited God’s big breakthrough! People were praying for us and even fasting with us and we really felt the love of God tremendously! Each day passed, but still we remained confident in the work and will of God.

As Friday came and went, I started to feel a bit down. At one point, I even swore that I had gotten an email notification from the Nairobi Embassy but when I checked it, nothing was there. I was obviously disappointed that nothing had happened, but more than that, I was disappointed that the opportunity had passed for God to show our church and community that GOD STILL MOVES.

This week, out of pure desperation and frustration, I kept trying to call the embassy to see if there had been any progress on our case. Monday must have been some sort of Kenyan holiday or something because I tried the whole day and couldn’t get a call through. Today (Tues) started out the same way but I finally got through! The lady one the phone told me she had emailed me on Friday (phantom email above) asking me for Daniels passport so they can issue his visa. She forwarded the original email, and sure enough, God came through on Friday morning, just as He said he would!!! OH MY GOD has never felt more right to say than at this very moment!!!

“So now what?” you may ask. Now we come home!

It should take a week or so to get the visa issued, but after that, we’re on a plane, and into the arms of the ones we love!!! We’re excited to get home and begin the next chapter (church plant?) of our lives, but I’m suddenly a bit sad at the thought of having to say goodbye to all the amazing friends here who have fed us, housed us, encouraged us, and just plain loved us through this rollercoaster! But right now, the thought of a big ol’ family hug has me grinning from ear to ear!!! GOD IS SO GOOD

If you’d like to unite with us in this undertaking you may send your financial blessings to: C/O Andrew Galbreath 354 Avocado Street #16 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Please make checks payable to "Jamesdon and/or Coryn Kissling"

...:::The New Normal:::...

WOW!

I can't belive I've already been home (Uganda for now) for 3 weeks! It feels like I was just in the US a few days ago! Luckily, that feeling doesn't still include the jet-lag I came back with!!! Although it's felt like a blur the past few weeks, there's actually been a ton of stuff happening over here...

 
To start with, we're finally in a home that we can once again call our own! As many of you may know, God has been a bit of a showoff for us since this whole "we're going back to Uganda" thing happened. One of the ways He's reminded us of how big He is, is by giving us a free house to stay in! Not only is it free, but it's BEAUTY~FULL!!!

We share a compound with an amazing family of missionaries, The Carrolls, and are blessed with a daily spectacular sunrise and a constant cool breeze (unheard of here!). We're also only a 5 minute drive from where we now serve (Bombo). To keep things exciting, we've got no running water or flushing toilets! We rely 100% on collected rain water and are getting quite adept at pulling buckets of water from our well/cistern, but honestly, we kinda love it!

The past few weeks have pretty much been a time for us to become better acquainted with the work being done here through Align Ministries and the amazing volunteers and staff that work tirelessly to make it all happen!

Coryn has spent most of her days getting better acquainted with Align's "Life With Hope" program. LWH was established to accomplish exactly what the name implies by coming alongside individuals in the most dire situations (most affected by HIV/AIDS) and providing immediate and long term care. This is done through monthly support and food donations, as well as medical care, and in extreme cases, admission into a "life home". 

Coryn has also been spending a lot of her time teaching and developing leaders and programs at Align's school, Donela Orange Primary and Secondary School.

I, like Coryn, have spent my days familiarizing myself with the projects, ministries, and processes that Align is involved in here. I've also had the opportunity to begin looking into new ways of impacting the communities we're planted in.

One of the first projects our team tackled here was installing "Tippy Taps" for our LifeHomes. Running water is rare in most of the rural parts of Uganda, and because of this, good hygiene is not always an option. This leads to an increase in disease and illness which, in many of our HIV/AIDS infected clients, is detrimental! Tippy Taps provide a great hand washing solution for areas where water conservation is a must! So far, they're a great success, and we're now planning on installing them around our schools and communities!

Daniel and Nehemiah pretty much love it here! They've really taken to their new school, and put up quite a fight on days

when they can't go! They also really love living on the same property as the Carrolls because they've always got kids to play with! Both boys have been hit with a myriad of different infections and bugs (like any kid at a new school) but are hopefully on an immune system upswing!
Lastly, we've got some exciting news...

We're once again "Real Missionaries"! Align Ministries has added us to their easy to use support page! If you're one of the many people who've wondered how you can partner with our family, now you can!

All you have to do is go to alignministries.org/donate/ and select "Uganda Missionary Support". Fill in the required fields and, Boom!!!, it's like you're right here with us, loving and serving the Align community! You'll notice that there's also a ton of other great ways to learn about the ministry and support Align on that same site!

...:::One week down, ??? to go:::...

I can’t believe it has already been a week since I arrived here in Uganda. It has been an eventful week in terms of getting to have good quality time as a family, but uneventful in terms of the whole adoption process.

Just a fun story for those of you at home…

On Friday the water was “over” as they say here in Uganda. Our small water tank was empty and we had a sink full of dishes, clothes to wash, a toilet to flush…you know all the things that require water!! Not to mention the fact that I didn’t take a shower Friday morning because I was just planning on taking one Friday night. (Lesson learned, if there is water, take a shower!) So hoping we would get water back soon we held out until Saturday, but it was still not there! So Jamesdon had a plan, the fixer that he is, to get water from the underground water catchment downstairs from our apartment (luckily we are in a country where rainwater is easy to come by!) So we tied a rope to a bucket that I threw down into the water catchment and let it fill up with water. I pulled the bucket back up, full of water, and since buckets full of water are not the easiest to carry up a flight of stairs, Jamesdon decided to tie another rope around a second bucket that he threw over the edge of the balcony. So I poured my water into the second bucket and Jamesdon pulled the bucket up to the second story and emptied the water into a large Rubbermaid container. We repeated this about 20 times.  But at least we had semi clean rain water to use.

After doing all the hard work of getting the water, we were not about to use it frivolously. First things first, the toilet, In times of water shortage, we live be the credo, “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down” (I actually believe that is the worst part about losing water).  I then  boiled a little for washing the dishes, one basin for washing and another basin with the boiled water for rinsing! The boys also got a nice bucket bath that night. Daniel said he actually prefers a bucket bath to our shower, which to be honest so do I! (Side note: Our shower has an instant hot water heater attached, but the problem is, it gets way too hot because the water pressure is too low, so taking a shower consists of turning on the hot water heater until the water is too hot to bear and then switching it off until it is too cold to bear and then repeat. It is usually about 30 to 60 seconds between the switching on and the switching off.  Lucky for me, if I stand on my toes, I am just tall enough to reach the switch! Needless to say our showers are not very lengthy!) Anyhow, we ended up getting the water back on Monday. And life was back to normal! And by normal, I mean Daniel does not get yelled at for flushing the toilet after he only goes pee!

We went to church on Sunday and Jamesdon was asked to lead worship this coming week. I was really praying that he would find opportunities here to lead worship to help keep him distracted from the lack of progress with the courts. We also got to go fishing and have dinner with friends! Jamesdon and I are really learning how to work together to accomplish all the things we need to get done (washing clothes by hand and ironing everything becomes quite a task)! The boys are having an amazing time getting to experience new things, including catching cockroaches, holding rabbits, fishing, chasing goats, 

 

driving in really bad traffic (they don’t really mind it, Jamesdon and I do!) and visiting friends! Daniel has had to be creative with his worship music, without his guitar, but cardboard boxes make pretty good drums in his mind!

In terms of the courts...

we have been talking with our lawyer often, but still have nothing new to report. While I was really hoping that I would get here and we would have a court date right away, I know that God has a plan that is way bigger than the one I have made up in my head!

So we continue to wait, but in the meantime, Jamesdon and I are making an effort to visit

projects that are on the ground here, just trying to learn more about how God is using people here and what He is doing to better this country.  This week we went out to visit some very dear friends of ours in Bombo and Wobulenzi, and got to visit Donela Orange School which is sponsored by Align Ministries. I had a chance to meet with some of the science teachers and sit in on a biology lesson for the Senior 1

students. It is amazing how much the school has grown in the past 2 years and to see the amazing work that it being done there. We will be headed back there next week and then we will be off to Gulu to visit some friends and continue to wait for our court date!

Thanks for all your continued prayer and support. We are so thankful for all of you!

I am finally here in Uganda with my family!!

So the week leading up to me leaving the U.S., was CRAZY! I had a list of things that I needed to accomplish before leaving, including shopping, getting my car smog checked for registration renewal, trying to prepare for my long term sub, and putting a last load of stuff into storage, all while trying to teach full time, coach, visit a few friends, and pack. Not to mention the cross-country meet I went to on Friday night and the family reunion I attended on Saturday right before getting dropped off at the airport Saturday evening to board the plane to Uganda. One of the best surprises was my mom and sister surprising me at the airport before I left (I didn't think I was going to get to see them before I left!) Although the last week felt like a whirlwind, I experienced so many blessings and so much support from friends and family, and I am finally here in Uganda with my family.

Leading up to this trip, Jamesdon and I have been so blessed to be part of such an amazing community, made up of family and friends that fully support us. It is crazy to think that with this trip comes so much uncertainty, yet we are so confident in God’s plan for Daniel’s life and we recognize that although there is uncertainty for us, God has it all figured out. Although we were not planning on this trip, God has spent the last 2 years allowing us to strengthen our marriage, our family, and become part of such an amazing community of people, in order to prepare us for this trip. He has also prepared many of you as our friends and family by letting you fall in love with Daniel the same way we did 4 years ago.

For those of you that do not know, I am a full-time Chemistry teacher at Beckman High School and the biggest blessing I personally received this week was from the staff and students at my school. On Friday, my last day at work before leaving, we had our Homecoming Assembly and in the middle of the assembly they put a picture up of me and my family and one of the ASB students gave a quick update on what was happening with my family. They asked me to come down so they could give me 3 big bags of stuff including snacks for the trip, toys for my little guys, and a target gift card. As I was walking down to the gym floor the cheers and support from the students was overwhelming, and yes I did cry a little! Throughout the day my students continued to show their support by bringing me cards, cupcakes, balloons, filling up my white-board with notes, all letting me know that I will be missed! On top of all of that, at the end of the day, I was given two cards from the staff and, knowing that my leave is entirely unpaid, they took up a collection for our family, to help support us while we are here and yes, I cried again! For those of you that are teachers, you know that teaching is a profession that does not allow for a significant amount of time spent with your co-workers and although this is true, I feel like I am absolutely supported by each and every person that I work with. It was absolutely overwhelming to know that I have so much support from my school as I embark on this adventure to finalize our adoption of Daniel.

With all of that said, I arrived here on Monday morning at 7:30 (Uganda time) which was 9:30pm Sunday night (California time) and hit the ground running! Well, not really running, I was completely exhausted, and feeling a little under the weather! Instead of going straight to our apartment, we decided to try to connect with some friends who are leaving for the U.S. on Tuesday, just to try to keep me going! We stopped off to get a bite to eat and then when we returned to the car it wouldn’t start…What a great welcome. Luckily we had friends who did not live far so I jumped on a matatu (taxi) with the boys (which they of course loved) and met up with our friends who happen to own a Japanese restaurant here and cooked us an amazing lunch and then let me crash on their couch for about 2 hours! So thankful that this is a place we know well and that we were able to get a hold of a mechanic who was very close by and was able to get the car running after a quick trip into the city and less than $25 worth of work. All that said, we never made it to our friends house we were intending to go to, but it was a great first day.

We are hoping to meet with the lawyer this week, but as of now, there are no updates about the court date. In the meantime, we are just enjoying being together as a family!

...:::One week down:::...

That’s right, we’ve been here just over a week and it seems like we’ve just arrived. But before I catch you up on our new status quo, let me catch you up on what life has looked like since leaving the good ol’ U-S-of-A! 

We left on Wednesday night from LAX on the 28^th of August. At the airport, we had our last family meal which consisted of a delicacy of MacDonald’s and Panda Express! In spite of the food, we were able to enjoy our time together as a family!

mmm...

Coryn and I learned from our previous time in Uganda that long goodbyes just make things harder, so when the time came, we kept things short and sweet. Through choked back tears, Coryn and I said goodbye to each other, and she squeezed Daniel and Nemo extra tight before we left. I waited till she was out of sight till I let the waterworks loose, which got me quite a few funny looks form the TSA agents, and she told me she opened the floodgates in the parking lot!

Hello goodbye London!

We got through security in what felt like the longest hour of my life. It was around quarter to nine and the boys were both falling apart! We were greeted at our gate with news of an hour delay. Yippee!!! Fortunately, when it came time to board, the aircrew took pity on my and let me board with the elite 1^st classers!

If the security check was the longest hour of my life, then the flight itself was the longest 2 days! First off, Daniel was a champ! He slept, ate drank, and watched TV! He helped me with Nemo and probably had more patience then I did! Nehemiah on the other hand, was an altogether different story…

The cliche "wing shot"

The little guy didn’t want to eat anything, hated being buckled in his seat, couldn’t care less about the cartoons in front of him, and slept a cumulative total of 4 hours! That meant that I also got about 4 hours of sleep, which didn’t really help my ability to be patient!

We landed in Entebbe, Uganda Friday morning and were picked up by Tad. Tad and Christy Eckerle are good friends of ours both here, and in California, who are in the process of moving back to the US permanently. My plan was to go home with them for the day to help them pack and clean, but in reality I think I was little if any assistance. Jetlag hit me and the boys like a ton of bricks and to be honest, I barely remembered how we got to our new apt, or where in the city we even were! Thank God for Google maps!!!

Home sweet home

The next few days were pretty much a blur of sleep-deprived nights, attempts at helping the Eckerles who really were just helping me, trying to provision our apt, and reorienting myself to this crazy city! 

The neighborhood

On Wednesday, I met with our lawyer to see what, if any progress has been made with our case. The meeting was short, had moments of hope alongside uncertainty, and could be summarized by saying, “we could have a court date in a matter of days or months”.

Nemo's new balancing trick

The boys miss mom like crazy, but at least we’ve been able to have brief Skype conversations with her at least once a day via overpriced internet! I’ve tried to occupy myself with domestic tasks and finding ways to make our little flat a little more home-like before Coryn arrives, but as those distractions wane, I find I’m really starting to miss my beautiful girl! Not just her beauty, but her joyful, loving presence, that completes our home and fills where I lack. 

Pineapple is Daniel's favorite!

I’m listening to RH15 right now, which is one of the boys' faves, and the song “More” is reminding me that I have the triune God to lean on in all times!
 

“We cry more, we ask in faith, fill us now, have your way”

"God, let my faith be real!"

At a church service earlier this year, I was in the middle of worship, and all of a sudden looked up and thought “This is all fake.” Instantly, I not only didn’t feel God’s presence, but completely doubted His existence. With that one thought my whole world seemed to be flipped upside down and my joy was stripped from me immediately. It was the scariest feeling I have ever had. Could it be that the last 9 years of my life I had wholeheartedly believed in something that wasn’t real? I started to rationalize every “God” experience and came up with a logical explanation for what “really” happened in those periods of my life.

Jamesdon was wrecked because if I truly believed that God didn’t exist, it would change everything. How would our marriage last without Jesus being in the center?  How would we raise our kids? What would our lives look like without God being in everything we do? I watched Jamesdon struggle through all of this and because of my commitment to him, I continued to go to church on Sunday’s. Plus there was no way Daniel would have let that one go without questions that I would be unable to answer. I continued to pray with my boys every night (when I tried to sneak out of the room after kissing them goodnight, Daniel would ask “Mama, could you please pray!”  I would try to tell him that I wanted him to pray instead, but he would say “No mama, I like it when you pray”) That was probably the most difficult part; praying to a wall, with absolutely no faith that anyone is listening. 

For two months, God wasn’t distant, He was nonexistent. Because of the complete devastation to my family, I started playing the Devil’s advocate “Okay, so if I don’t believe in God, what do I believe?” As I ran through my options of what I would have to believe if I didn’t believe in God, they all sounded crazy. So one morning I woke up and said “Okay God, I am going to choose you.” Now this was not at all a spiritual moment that had some huge significance in my life, it was just a moment that I decided to follow a God that I was still pretty sure didn’t exist. That weekend at church there was a call for prayer and I forced myself to get up out of my chair and kneel down at the front of the Senior Center. Soon I felt a hand resting on my shoulder, but it took a few minutes before she started praying. When she did start praying, she told me that she felt like God wanted her to tell me that He knows exactly where I am and that He knows that this is not a place of comfort, but that He has me in this place because He wants my faith to be real! So that became my new prayer “God, let my faith be real!” Again, my mind was not changed overnight, but between these two occurrences, I slowly began to feel my joy coming back, and soon enough I was able to be at church and actually worship God again. 

Some people may have called what I experienced “a spiritual attack” but looking back I think it was exactly what God said it was, a period of time in which He shook me so hard that when He was done I had a faith that was more real than I had ever experienced. What better timing than right before all of these issues with Daniel’s adoption. He totally knew what was coming and wanted to make sure that I was ready to follow Him wherever He called us. So that is where I am! Ready to go, with a faith that is undeniably real!

An update…

Jamesdon and the boys leave on August 28^th and I will leave on September 21^st (3 ½ weeks after).  We have had an overwhelming amount of support that has continued since our last post and are incredibly excited for what God has in store for us in Uganda. The fundraiser this past Friday at The Baguetier (Simply Layered Cake Designs) in Huntington Beach, was another overwhelming and amazing expression of generosity by our community and also just another way for God to be glorified in the middle of a city that desperately needs to experience God. For anyone who was there when Daniel was worshipping alongside Will and Sally know exactly what I mean when I say that God was on display! We are so incredibly thankful for all of the people who continue to support our family in prayer. When we first started to realize what was happening with all of Daniel’s paperwork we had no idea how we would be able to afford this trip, and here we are a week away from leaving with the majority of our trip fully covered, plane tickets, visas, vaccinations and lawyer fees included! Although there is still an uncertainty about the length of our stay, we are certain that God has us covered for however long He wants us to stay!

Please continue to pray for…

• Preparations to leave (packing up our house into storage and tying up loose ends)
• The 20 plus hours Jamesdon will spend on the plane with the boys (this does not include layovers and traveling time to and from the airports.)
• Our family being apart for nearly 4 weeks (Jamesdon being a “single” dad in Uganda)
• A court date
• That are hearts will be ready to love the people of Uganda and that our ears would hear and our eyes would see how God wants to use our family to further His kingdom.