Greetings from Uganda

Greetings from Jinja, Uganda!

After an 8 hour flight to London, we rode the underground to see Big Ben. It. Was. So. Cold. We walked many blocks until we saw the clock. David was excited to see it. We then rode the underground back to the airport to wait for our flight to Entebbe. Our niece, Danyne, her two daughters, and Mary’s sister, Dorothy, met us at the airport in Uganda. What joy to see family waiting for us! 18 large bags, five carry-ons, and backpacks loaded into the van. We were so glad to be on Ugandan soil.

We arrived on Friday morning, spent a wonderful day with family, then a blessed afternoon at Amani Baby Cottage. The mamas had a ribbon-cutting for David and Courtney. The women sang and danced with great joy at our coming home to Jinja. Then, one of the mamas had a great word of encouragement for David and Courtney. She also had a challenging word for Kirby. God had certainly preceded us. We learned years ago that coming to Africa is not for the African’s benefit, it is for us to be increased in wisdom, love and faith. The mamas are so open to us and GREAT prayer warriors. When we visited Uganda two years ago, the mamas had a send-off prayer time for our family. They prayed that our “tent pegs be moved”! Welllllll, our pegs have definitely been pulled from the ground and we are “camping” elsewhere.

Our house is very much home to us for now. We have settled in and feel like we have been here more than just 6 days. Today, Dustin is at the new Amani site, getting a feel for what is to come. Kirby is feeling comfortable enough to walk to town. David and Courtney are having a grand time with their toys, their cousins, and life in general. Mary is glad to have internet to communicate to you how faithful God is.

We are spending this week acclimating to our surroundings and getting phones, internet, groceries and anything we need to begin our life here. Thank you for your support, it is needed and so appreciated. Next week we begin working. For now, Mary is enjoying holding babies. They are so peaceful, content and happy. You may have a picture in mind of an orphanage where the babies just lie in their crib all day. That is not the way here. The babies are on schedules, loved, held, sang to, play with toys and fed well. That is the way they are cared for, but there are many needs. I will cover that in another post. For now, we just want to say thank you. Continue to pray and support us. We are happy, yet we miss our family and friends. God is good all the time, all the time He is good.