Handfuls of Blessings

As we come to the beginning of a new year, we will be marking two years since Shiloh was diagnosed with diabetes.  How encouraging it is as we visit our churches to hear people say, "I've been praying for Shiloh.  How is he doing?" One of my biggest prayer requests before we left Uganda was to find a doctor that would be good to us.  I desired someone who would not be critical of our schedule or demeaning of our care for our son.  This prayer was answered far above my dreams.  The endocrinologist and dietician that God led us to have been very supportive of us and have gone out of their way to help us.  They stock us up with samples anytime we are able to make an appointment, and they are always ready to answer any questions I have through phone calls or emails.  Thank the Lord! A new kink has been thrown in Shiloh's life this past month.  Testing results have revealed that he is gluten sensitive.  Removing all gluten from his diet put ...

One of the many blessings we get to enjoy while on furlough is seeing so many different Christmas decorations.  I need to remember to take pictures of some Ugandan decorations when we return to the field.  Decent Christmas trees weren't even sold in the stores until about 5 years ago.  Before that, the few that could be found would rival Charlie Brown's.  As for decorations, anything goes - balloons, cassette tape "string", toilet paper - you get the idea. Thus said, our children have had a full immersion into American Christmas trees.  We visited the Ronald Reagan Museum where they had a different Christmas tree to represent each 10 year segment of American history.  On Thursday we were in a town where businesses, churches, individuals, etc. put up decorated trees in the town park, making a beautiful site at night.  Everywhere we look, houses, streets, and businesses are decorated with lights, blowups, trees, and greetings.  We have had the pr...

As I was reading in Colossians this morning, all of the verses about giving thanks and thanksgiving jumped out at me.  We truly have so much to be thankful for, but we should remember to make every day Thanksgiving Day.  Thank you for being our friends.  Thank you for the part you have had in our lives.   May God richly bless you this year!

Having been to 28 states in 7 months time, our family is so ready to return home.  Despite the many miles, though, we have also been extremely blessed in our travels.  We were in 5 missions conferences right in a row, and, wow, how well we were treated!  Far better than we deserve.  One particular blessing I would like to mention is that of gift cards.  Within the last several weeks, we have been given 4 gift cards.  Stanley has had a growth spurt and had outgrown his suit by two sizes (even ripping out the sleeve beyond repair).  By using a gift card for a department store, we were able to buy him a new suit and pay just $40 out of our own pocket.  So, to those of you who have slipped us one of those plastic cards - THANK YOU! Now, to review some of our recent adventures: We made the trip from Austin, Texas to California in two days time.  Crossing the desert, there is little to look at.  However, passing these three race car semis ...

God can and will use anything to meet our needs.  If He can use ravens to feed one of His prophets in Bible times, then He can even use a Muslim to meet the needs of His children. Paul's "tricycle" Anyone who has visited us in Uganda will remember Bro. Paul.  He became crippled when he contracted polio at a young age, but this has not stopped him from being faithful.  He got saved and started coming to our church when we didn't even have our own church building and were renting a store front in Masaka town.  About 1 1/2 years ago God gave us a burden for the people on the Kalangala Islands in Lake Victoria, and our church began praying for a man to minister there.  Bro. Paul stepped forward and volunteered.  To get there, he has to take a taxi van to the ferry, take a ferry across the waters, and get on another taxi or piki-piki (public motorcycle transport) that will take him to the preaching point.  This involves crawling from transport to tra...

A true ice cream cake made by Savannah's cousins It is already the middle of October, and I haven't even written about our last two birthdays.  Such is the life of traveling, unpredictable schedules, and unconsistent internet connection. A whole family of readers Stanley has turned 14 and has not lost any of his love for books.  He has surprised us by his accuracy in shooting, especially when it isn't one of his main interests.  He broke his glasses the weekend before his birthday, so on his birthday, the day we were leaving for another meeting, Stanley was getting fitted with new goggles (as the Ugandans call them). And Savannah is finally growing into a closer age of what everyone guesses her to be.  Although if you ask her her age, she is likely to tell you 6 or 9.  Four days before her birthday we were at her cousins' house, and they stuck candles in the ice cream and sang to her.  Then Stanley and Dixie, a college student in our home church...

Skyler chose Lucky Charms as his birthday cereal. Last week someone asked how we came up with the name "Skyler," and I had to admit that we thumbed through the baby name book after he was born to re-name him.  We had named him Seton at birth, but the Ugandans pronounce the "e" as a long "a."  Well, that was a little embarrassing for them to be announcing on our radio station, "We would like to congratulate Pastor Keith and Mamma Shane on the birth of their son Satan."  So, after a day of hearing them call our little man "Satan," we decided a name change was in order. Yes, he really did shoot this gun.  It nearly knocked him off his feet. Very unusual to see him still. Skyler is the Energizer bunny of the family that never runs down.  He has so much energy that we have to be sure to provide an outlet for it each day.  He loves to play ball and wrestle with his dad.  He is hesitant about trying something new but will e...

The Lord has blessed me to be married to such a great, godly man - one that turned 40 years old today!  One thing that he has said often is that his tastes have changed a lot as he has aged.  He used to have trouble eating mild salsa; now he keeps asking for hotter and spicier food.  So what did we do for his birthday?  We toured the Tabasco factory.  My biggest disappointment was that they no longer make Tabasco Jelly Bellies.  Those were SO good.  (I like cinnamon, hot things, too.)  The tour was very interesting, though.  Let me share a couple of recent photos Keith while in the States. He has driven over 15,000 miles since March - not in a go cart, though.     He loves trying new things. He's a great preacher. He's my best friend.

Today closed out our week of Enrichment Week at Baptist International Missions, Inc.  The last meal served was lunch, so another family agreed to meet us at CiCi's Pizza for supper.  (Keith and I were going just to feed the kids and for the fellowship; we have been fed SO well this week that we could stand to skip a couple of meals.)  As we were waiting for the other family, we helped our kids fix their plates.  A lady stopped Shane and asked if we were driving the van that said Baptist Missionary Transportation Ministry .  He confirmed that we were.  She then asked what mission board we were with, and he told her BIMI .  After she had taken her food to her table, she came over to ours, handed Keith some money and said, "Our church supports several BIMI missionaries, and I really like them.  Here is some gas money for you."  WOW!  Thank you, Lord!  Our green gas monster hungrily drank that $50, and our children were given yet anothe...

So much has happened that it is difficult to keep up with it all, let alone find the time to write about it.  Thus, I will share some pictures with you to try to get you caught up on our lives without boring you with a long dialogue. May 29: Skyler's first bowling experience. May 29: Savannah declared the bowling shoes to be so cute! May 30: Memorial Day fun May 30: Skyler caught 3 fish and fell in love with the sport June: Southern-themed t-shirts for all June 2: Standing in front of Sight and Sound Theaters. We loved seeing the production of Noah. June 3: Silver Dollar City - Skyler and Savannah June 3: Silver Dollar City - Boys cool off with water ride June 4: Stanley experiences a quick dress change at Sight and Sound Theaters June 7: Shae-Lynn riding the horse Honey June 7: Shane, Stanley and Honey June 16: Combat with the pastor's kid June 16: Bald Knob Cross, Illinois June 20: Savannah looks right comfortable June 20: Shi...