Handfuls of Blessings

We want to wish each of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!  We were very blessed to be with our college boys, Keith's parents, and back again at Andrew & Jacky's in Ohio.   What special memories were made!

Gifts come in many different forms.  Some are wrapped.  Some are monetary.  Some are acts of service.  We were blessed to have a professional photographer gift us with family portraits.  We are not a photogenic family, but Jenna did such an awesome job in making the photos turn out so nicely. Although we have been back in the States since August, this was our first opportunity to visit my dad.  We surprised him with a week-early birthday party and really enjoyed spending some time with him. Once again we were thrilled to be included on a school's field trip; this time to the zoo.  We had such a great time together and enjoyed seeing animals not native to Uganda. Thanksgiving found us at Keith's brother's house for not only celebrating Thanksgiving together, but also to attend their missions conference the week after.  The cousins were a little apprehensive about seeing each other, having been apart for 6 years, but it ...

October brings our last birthday in our family for the year.  I think this is the first time Savannah has ever had foil balloons, so she was elated when we presented her with two. Furlough is my break from making birthday cakes, so Savannah's "cake" was a pile of fudge marshmallow cookies - something my children have never had. On our last visit to Keith's parent's house, we took advantage of their fire pit and enjoyed roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.  We have so much enjoyed our time with them. October is a busy month for missions conferences, and we thoroughly enjoyed the many meetings we were at.  After finishing in California, we drove back to Austin, Texas to be a part of our home church's conference.  So many of our home missionaries were there, and it was a very exciting time getting fed from God's Word. Being back in Austin, we were able to see Shane and Stanley and have some good times with them.  One late evening all ...

It is a privilege to serve our Lord as a missionary.  It is a tough life; I will not lie.  However, God daily loads us with blessings.  One of the blessings we experience is furlough.  There is not too much to do while in Uganda to take a vacation for.  We do go camping once or twice a year, but there is not much else to do.  While on furlough, we enjoy as much as possible between churches.  My children have certainly seen more of America than I ever did at their age, and I am grateful for the great time we can have in between the long rides. We headed toward California after leaving Austin, Texas.  Our first night, we found a discount for a motel online and reserved a room.  When we pulled up to the address, we thought, "Oh, no, we made a mistake!"  The outside of the motel wasn't very impressive.  However, the inside looked as if they were really trying to fix it up.  And the big bonus?  There was an inside heated p...

We left our home in Uganda on July 31st and landed in the States on August 1.  During our layover in Dubai, Keith found his favorite fast food restaurant - Burger King - and got his whopper.   After Keith and the boys had walked the airport for awhile, they came back with a very excited Skyler.  "Mom, you should see the watering holes that you can actually drink from!"  I think he has tried every drinking fountain from Ft. Worth to where we are. We all tasted his whopper, but it wasn't very impressive. One of the most heart-breaking moments was when our plane touched down in Ft. Worth, and while everyone was standing up getting their luggage down, our youngest sat down in her seat, stared out the window, and started crying.  "I want to go home," she told me between sobs.  It is very hard leaving our home, pets, friends, and ministries.  It is hard feeling totally lost in a country that we are citizens of.  It is hard living out of a suitcase...

With just one month before leaving on furlough, July continued with speed.  We praise the Lord that our two youngest took the important step to be baptized, both having trusted Christ as their Savior quite a while ago.  They are not water-lovers as my older children are, so they have been fearing getting "dunked." Amid the chaos of packing up our house before leaving, we had a multi-family yard sale.  We praise the Lord for all that was sold, especially since yard sales are not a Ugandan thing.  We were able to give each of the kids some money for spending upon arrival to the States, and to give Stanley some for starting Bible college. As a mom, one thing that I love to see is camaraderie amongst my children.  I want them to be best friends with each other.  To see them serve the Lord together brings such joy to my heart.  Shae-Lynn manages to get her siblings to sing specials with her every once in a while that we all enjoy to hear. ...