Christmas and New Year

We hope you all had a good Christmas and New year!

We were at home for Christmas Day and had Mark’s cousin Ruth (who is in Uganda for a year with International Justice Mission (IJM)) over for the day. The kids enjoyed having Aunty Ruth with us. After opening a few presents we all went to church together and then back home for a traditional Christmas, albeit with chicken and not turkey!

On Boxing Day we took Ruth home and then began our journey driving to The Brackenhurst Conference Centre, Kenya. Not having done this long a drive before with the kids we just went to Jinja (where the source of the Nile is) on the first day, 1 ½ hours, and the kids enjoyed a swim in the pool there. The next day we headed off early, destination Njoro, Kenya (about 3 hours before Nairobi) for our next night stop. This was the longer days driving and would include the border crossing into Kenya. At the border we met up with the other two MAF families, went through the normal immigration checks, got a temporary vehicle importation and finally stopped by the Police Office to ‘sign in’ to Kenya!

Once in Kenya the tarmac road got worse for a few hours, as this is the main route all the trucks and tankers take from the port of Mombasa, Kenya and going to Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and other counties. The landscape is very hilly with lots of 1000ft climbs and descents. The road forms into huge ‘waves’ of tarmac where the heavy trucks are braking going down the hills. This, combined with deep ruts from the truck wheels makes for a very strange sensation for the driver as the vehicle is always being tugged one way or another. And then there’s overtaking….

We stayed at Kembu Cottages and Campsite which has a working dairy farm as part of it and really was like a little bit of England in Kenya! It was great place and we enjoyed a walk around the farm, camped there using their tents and bedding – so no setting up and breaking camp for us!

Next day was just a short, couple of hours drive to Brackenhurst where we stayed for the next four nights and saw the New Year in.

The Brackenhurst Conference Centre is set in beautiful surrounding and the conference we attended is an annual event organised for missionaries serving in East Africa. For the next few days we enjoyed bible study sessions, a choice of activities from seminars on various subjects to craft sessions. In mornings whilst these were going on there was a children’s programme that included Sunday school type sessions and then games outside. The afternoons were free to enjoy the surroundings and facilities or drive out and visit local amenities. The food was great with all cooked meals and 3 courses for lunch and dinner…time for that diet now we think!
The children enjoyed the kids activities and mummy and daddy enjoyed not seeing them for a lot of week! If they weren’t in sessions then they were whizzing around the site on their new scooters trying to keep up with the bigger kids.




















It was nice relaxing time for us and being able to enjoy the adult activities without having the worry about the kid’s safety was great. If only it was couple of days longer…

Wise man from the West

I know the wise men in the Christmas story came from the East.

Right now I am thankful that my 'wise' man (for whom I thank God for each day)has returned safely from the west. Mark has been in Chad for 11 days doing a quality audit of the MAF programme there.

It is never easy being a 'single' mum especially this time, since Mark was able to spend time with my parents (who work in Chad) and the childrens Jajja and Grandma.
At Christmas we are celebrating the arrival of Jesus into this world, Immanuel, "God With Us".
During Marks time away I was so aware of Gods presence with me. He was truly my joy and strength during those days and I am so thankful for the gift of His son.

No doubt, you are all busy preparing for Christmas in your own homes.
We have also been busy with Christmas Pantomime, school plays, Leading worship at church, baking gingerbread cookies and mince pies, decorating the tree - all the things you do, only it is warm here!!
A very proud mum and dad went to see Joshua (4 years old now) play one of the three kings/wise men in the school play, 'The bossy king'. He had his own line to learn and did so well.














Amy (who just celebrated her sixth Birthday this month) will be performing with other children at church on Sunday.


We shall spend Christmas day at church and then have lunch with Marks cousin Ruth.
After that we shall be travelling to Kenya for a Christian Conference over New Year.
We pray that as you celebrate this season with your families, you will also know the joy of Immanuel 'God with us' this Christmas.

Third Culture Kids

Once a year Amy & Joshua's school celebrates 'Rainbow Day'. This is a day to recognize ,learn about and celebrate all the countries/cultures represented in the school.
This year Joshua's class has 19 children from 12 countries!
Amy's class has 21 children from 10 different countries around the world.
being surrounded by such diversity is one of the bonuses of living overseas.

Right now, Amy & Joshua like to enthusiastically represent both Uganda and the United Kingdom. They are very much Third Culture children, born into one culture with parents from another. No doubt, as they get older they will have days when they struggle to figure out their own identity and it will be interesting to see which culture they identify with most.
For now, we can simply enjoy the blessings of being a 'mixed culture' family!

Joshua's 1st MAF Flight

Joshua has been asking for weeks when Uncle Dave (Operations Manager) will let him ride on a MAF plane....
Well, Last Saturday was the day. When we told him in the morning he said "Ooh, I will be delighted to go on a flight"(not sure where my 4 year old has learnt such big words!).
There were seats available on a short flight to Bukasa Island (Sesse Isles)to pick up Sam Tsapwe who heads up Jesus Film Ministries. Sam had been training and encouraging pastors on the remote Sesse Isles for a couple of days.
The day was made perfect when Greg Vine, the pilot allowed Joshua to sit up front for one leg of the journey. Joshua had the biggest grin on his face for the rest of the day!

Holiday Fun

We enjoyed a wonderful holiday last month in Fort Portal, western Uganda.
The weather was mixed although there was not enough rain to stop us camping or to stop the 'boys' swimming in the rain!
We enjoyed a lazy week of walks, reading and swimming.
For me a holiday is all about not having to cook and we enjoyed some lovely meals too.
Of course, Kluges GH would not be the same without the camel who is very friendly although the children were not entirely convinced!

Our final night we visited the new Kyaninga Lodge which sits perched on the cliff at the top of a crater lake. It is like a little bit of paradise. I only wish we could have stayed longer... although my legs were a little achy walking up and down all the steps!

Pray for Uganda

It is not unusual here to have the occasional person requesting help with medical bills, school fees or provision of a job, but lately we are faced with an increasing number of requests.
Many people are struggling to provide for the basic needs of their families. Cost of staple foods and petrol have risen greatly.Sugar alone has doubled in price in just two weeks.
High unemployment, high inflation rates and a poor dollar exchange rate is impacting everyone.
Power and water cuts are becoming more frequent driving up prices as well.
There are no easy answers, but it is not easy to watch people suffer. Pray for wisdom & compassion for us as we respond to individuals and also remember the leaders of Uganda, that they would be able to make changes that will help the people of this country.

Summer

I am feeling very blessed this week.
Last weekend we celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary !! (3 years in UK, 3 years in USA and 6 in Uganda - never would have thought that twelve years ago).
I am excited to see what God has in store for the next twelve years.

I have been enjoying a wonderful summer holiday with Amy & Joshua. Until last week we have had beautiful sunshine and been at the pool most days.
Joshua has started swimming without arm bands so now I shall have the challenge of keeping up with my children in the pool soon!

Both children have learnt to ride their bikes without stabilizers and had a wonderful time riding rouns at the hangar yesterday.

Both Mark & I have made it through several weeks of work with our immediate colleagues away on holiday/furlough. There was the odd glitch at the Guest House with broken washing machines, no water and no electricity but I made it through. What a blessing it is to work along side others. I certainly miss Monika when she is not there to share the Guest House work with me.

Mark is busy this week performing maintenance on the Cessna 208 from Chad. It will hopefully leave for service in Chad again next week...
and we shall be heading off to western Uganda to have a family camping holiday.
I'm praying hard for sunshine (it's rained every day this week in Kampala) so we can really enjoy the rest and the children can have fun swimming etc.