Checking in - in March

 There is joy in being in community.  In serving on a team.

We hosted a fun lasagna dinner for our neighbors and colleagues... 

And finished the night in prayer together!! 

Jesus, Be the Center!! We are walking in Faith, Shielded by His protection!

A few weeks ago we all drove out to help clean up a private school that recently had to close.  We sweated and sorted as a team and we were blessed by a luncheon made by our lead trainer for Roots to Fruits.

Satisfied after a lunch of rice, beans and cabbage!

This little girl just curled up on my lab and wanted some cuddles.

Two weeks ago, we traveled to Soroti for Module 3 of the Timothy Leadership Trainings.  This session was about family and violence - from Harm to Harmony.

Everyone has to submit an Action plan with a Kingdom Goal and SMART activities - a goal that shows what you learned in the course and how you are going to implement it in the next three months.

Moses is presenting/reporting his finalized Action Plan from Module 2.  

Of course, we are not only organizing the week long workshop, but students too.

I was in charge of registration, kitchen, and collecting 'taxes'.

We each get a whole work book to study - full of Scripture, great questions and discussion starters.

There were almost 30 participants in this module.  A faithful number!!

My neighbour drew me a fun picture that made me laugh.  Bolt and Luna, our dogs, like to visit them and then they sneak out with little treasures they find on the verandah floor.  Don't worry, we are trying to train them.

Oh, here we are - back at the school... cleaning out the office.

We had to decide whether to take things back to the office, another school, or the rubbish pit.

Last week Moses and I were again a part of the training team for Roots to Fruits.

Three village schools gathered together to learn how to use this newly developed Christian school curriculum.

Again, it's a joy to work as a team!! We were 5 trainers and tag-teamed through the few days or training.

Moses has been preaching on the air every Thursday night.  Here he is - preparing for his latest session of "At the Well".

Roots to Fruits on Tour

Maybe 8 years ago I started hearing hints of "Roots to Fruits", but it remained as words in the air.  When Moses and I started praying about shifting to a new location, those words came up again, and I started to get a little heart beat... yep, God has always given me a little flutter of joy when something changed in my life.  Heartbeat - Kuyper College (formerly Reformed Bible College).  Heartbeat - move to the Netherlands.  Heartbeat - serve in the Philippines.  Heartbeat - change my life and move to Uganda.  Heartbeat - Moses... okay, those were big heartbeats, but tiny flutters occur throughout other life decisions.  And so, after chatting with Moses and the directors of Our Call Mission in Gulu, we moved all of our earthly belongings to a new city amongst the Acholi tribe.

Roots to Fruits is a newly developed Christian curriculum that also includes all of the Ugandan standards of learning.  So far, there are two levels of Kindergarten completed and P1-3 are being used in some primary schools.  At the moment I am helping to edit the P4 materials.  Math. Science. Heritage/Literature. Bible.  It is our hope that by the end of this year, the P4 curriculum will be rolling off the printing press and into the hands of schools.

February 4-13 found Moses and I on the road with Dan and Jeremiah.  They are two trainers/teachers of the Roots to Fruits curriculum.  The four of us traveled to 3 different locations to train 4 schools and we were blessed throughout the trip.  

Moses and I didn't know Dan and Jeremiah that well, but after 10 days together, we have formed a cool bond as a training team.

Moses took the guys out for their first try of Indian food.  Dan calls it "Kampala Food" as he has never eaten anything so spicy or foreign.  :)

Moses led the morning devotions each day.

The second school, or location that we went to was 17 km from Mukono town, and we were hosted in an outstanding way - great fellowship, a kind and humble guide/host, beautiful hotel rooms in lovely gardens and yummy food.... So here is Jeremiah with the king of the Jungle.

And young Dan shows his place on Pride Rock.

Moses and I hang out with Mama and Baby Tembo.  :)

At least we had time off throughout the weekend, to rest, explore, and talk, while the week days were full of training times.

Just having fun, and chatting about how to plan or lead the next day's program.

Having fun with my BUD!

Another adventure was taking Jeremiah out for a Blackout Rolex...

Check out the menu to find the Blackout!!

We were blessed with lots of local traditional dishes as well.

Of course, singing comes with devotions... again, totally Moses' gifting.

Besides devos, Moses was the main driver (sometimes me!) and he was taking photos and video clips of the training.  It is our goal to create a training video, so that when many schools wish to buy into this new Christian curriculum, or some schools need a quick refresher course, they can just pop in a DVD and get caught up on the training/use of the materials.

Our last training was filled with moments of smiles from this precious Baby Faustina.

Working on a new Paradigm Shift is challenging for many of the teachers who only know and have experienced one method of teaching.  ROTE!!  Change is hard.

Explaining how this curriculum is Christ-centered, hands on, thought provoking, creative, and yet fully captures all the Ugandan school requirements is mind boggling for the young teachers.

We also have the privilege of presenting the Phonics program of Read for Life.  I have learned that our English is actually a very hard language to learn... so many rules with exceptions.

We are thankful that the schools seemed to grasp the material and we pray that they will put it into practise how it is supposed to be used.  It is a step by step or year by year program, and it would be hard for new students to step into this curriculum beyond Grade 2.  

Please join us in praying for the over 30 schools who are using (or hope to as soon as schools reopen) this material.  And pray for Dan and Jeremiah as they will be traveling much to follow-up on the schools that have been trained.

A Little of Life

For those who don't get to see some of our fun photos on social media... I thought I would share them here again.

Valentines Day - We went out for an Italian buffet, which was a special event hosted by "The Iron Donkey" - one of our local favourite coffee shops.

Whenever we pass through Soroti, I try to make sure I have time to catch up with my Junior.  Teddy has been a part of the women's Bible study group/discipleship classes for years and it is so amazing to see how much she has grown in the Lord.

And how refreshing to see the Word of God being read in her room.  

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The postman was NICE to me!! This year I received almost 50 Christmas cards in the mail and it makes me jump for joy!!

Bolt is still my bud.  Luna is harder to photograph because she has fallen in love with the neighbour kids and she always lays on her back so you can give her a good belly rub.  :)

I've been trying to keep up with an exercise regiment, but lately it has been a little bit harder.  Honestly, I could use your prayers.  For the past few months I haven't been feeling well.  Bouts of nausea, dizziness, abdominal pain... and then on Saturday, February 20th I had massive chest pains.  I was referred to the heart institute in Kampala and underwent loads of tests.  Throughout the past week I saw doctors, dentist, eye doctor, chiropractor... and the good news is - all my organs are strong and the blood work is coming up clean.  The bad news is: I don't feel well.  The eye doctor gave me reading glasses of 1.25.  The chiropractor says my spine is messed up and my tailbone is twisted (and I believe her because I couldn't even sit up in bed lately too).  The doctors think I have an irritable bowel, along with a cyst and possibly an enlarged liver.  Two US doctors have looked over my file and say we are on the right track... so, I'm home again, up and down and praying for better days.

A fun little hedgehog

It's kind of fun playing with little creatures... and it cracks me up that these boys kept the pet for me to see.  They knew I was coming to Soroti briefly.

I can't believe how much the boys have grown up... these are the young men that I lived with for 8 years before getting married.  Oh, my heart!