Mbale Missional Community

Our "family" here in Mbale is our mission team. These are the people we do life with. I would compare it to a "small group" in an American church. We see each other at church, at our team devotional Wednesday nights, and at team business meetings Friday afternoons. But rarely does a day go by that we aren't helping each other and/or fellowshipping together.

However, we have made lots of friends outside of our team. There is a larger group called the Mbale Missional Community. This group is any Christian aid workers in Mbale. This community includes workers from the US, Britain, New Zealand, and Holland. We are all in Uganda doing a great variety of jobs, but we have one thing in common: we all love Jesus and came to Africa to serve him.

I would like to add here that all members of the MMC, including us and our team, are out working with local Ugandans almost all of the time of the time. We meet together occasionally to fellowship and have fun. 

We host the MMC in our home once a month for a dinner (we serve pancakes....LOTS of pancakes!) and a western style devotional. We also have MMC barbecues every month or so. Here are some pictures from some recent MMC get-togethers:

Live music night at Endiro Coffee:

I've never seen so many mzungus in one place in Africa!

And we had a barbecue/egg hunt on Easter Sunday:

All the kids ready to hunt for eggs:

Here's Graham and his buddy Silas:

Graham was really into the egg hunt!!

Here's the closest thing we got to a family picture at church:

Nonnie's Visit

Better late than never...

We were so blessed to enjoy two full weeks with Chad's mom. We loved having her here so much! We mostly just hung out here in Mbale. We took her to swim twice at Mt. Elgon Hotel, ate at our favorite place: Endiro Coffee, toured LIU temporary and permanent campuses, attended LIU chapel, toured CURE hospital, and had Graham's fourth birthday party. 

We also took two small trips. One was to Jinja to stay at a resort called The Haven. This was an amazing three days that we'll never forget! We stayed in a family bungalow, swam in the pool, at the amazing food (all inclusive!), took a boat tour of the Nile, and went souvenir shopping. The Haven sits right on the Nile river. It was an amazing place.

We also went to Kampala for three days. Chad needed to go to help recruit new students at a university exhibition. We came along to hang out. Our hotel had a pool and playground so Paula and the kids and I were happy to just hang out there. Graham could honestly be happy to swim all day!

We loved having Paula here, and look forward to having many more visitors in the future!

Birthday Questionnaire - 4 Years Old

I've decided to make a questionnaire to ask my kids on their birthday every year. Graham's answers this year were short and sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing how his answers change year to year! We sure are proud of our boy!

1. How old are you? Four.

2. What makes you happy? This (makes a happy face).

3. What is your favorite animal? Elephant. Dog.

4. What is your favorite food? Tortilla.

5. What is your favorite thing to do? Play airplanes.

6. What is your favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse.

7. What is your favorite movie? Toy story at the airport (Toy Story 2).

8. What is your favorite color? Blue.

9. What is your favorite song? ABCD song (alphabet song). 

10. Who are your friends? Silas.

11. What do you like to do with Mommy? Play animals.

12. What do you like to do with Daddy? Play trains.

13. Where is your favorite place to go? Silas' house.

14. What is your favorite book? Winnie the Pooh.

15. What do you want to be when you grow up? Jesse from Toy Story. (Ha!)

16. What is your favorite bible story? Noah's Ark.

Graham's Birthday Party

We decided to do Graham's birthday party three weeks early so that his Nonnie could be there. He has been telling us for months that he wanted a Thomas the Train birthday. We just had the party in our backyard. The kids had a blast playing on the playground and trampoline. And there were LOTS of kids! All of Graham's friends came. 

The decorations were all pinterest inspired and luckily Graham chose a popular theme that has tons of ideas on the internet. We didn't have any games or activities, but no one seemed to mind. Graham had a lot of fun blowing out candles, eating cake and snacks, and opening presents. I have saved a couple of presents for him to open on his real birthday, including an awesome birthday package that his stateside friends sent over. 

I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I HAVE AN ALMOST 4 YEAR OLD! Where has the time gone? We are so proud of our big boy!

PS: I recently weighed and measured Graham. He is 43 inches (above 95th percentile) and 40 pounds (90th percentile).

Granny

Last week we lost Chad's Granny, his last living grandparent. She has been unwell for quite some time, so we had said our "goodbyes" to her before we came to Uganda last summer. She was 91 years old.

I loved Chad's Granny and consider her my own grandparent. We named Molly after her. Molly's middle name is Inez: Granny's first name. She is one of the kindest, funniest, most selfless people I've known. I'm so glad that I got to know her so well. It is heartbreaking to me that only 4 years ago she was well enough to fly to Texas to meet baby Graham. 

We will really miss this sweet lady, but we are at peace to know that she is with Jesus, and is no longer confused or in pain.