Cute but not cuddly!

These guys look innocent enough but they are extremely poisonous. It's one of the first things they warn visitors about when they first come to Uganda.  One of the teachers told me her arm felt like it was on fire and she got dizzy and was sick for 3 days.  Everyone who is touched by one talks about the burning sensation.  So you can imagine our distress after we got all set up for Bible School (VBS) and Jonas looked up.....

Thousands of them hatching out of their shells, ready to drop at any given moment.  On each branch, you looked, hundreds grouped together in black blobs.  We have never been here in June before, so we've always missed their hatching season.

When we sing the song, "Lord let your glory fall" we need to change the words to "Lord don't let your caterpillars fall".  This is the spot they designated for us and it truly is the "perfect" spot in every other aspect...it is the largest level spot of ground to put all the benches in the shade, it is attached to the field where we play the games, and it is right next to a covered porch where we can store the benches at night and quickly duck if a sudden rain storm hits (that is something else new to us this time around...June is the end of their rainy season and we've only come in July in the past).
     Fortunately we made it through the first day of VBS with no droppings from above and then that evening they sprayed them all with chemicals and the next morning we found a carpet of dead caterpillars on the ground!

Birthday Boy

Summer birthdays often get a bad rap, in that you don't get to celebrate with your school friends, don't get that special attention throughout the school day, don't get to bring in treats for the class.  But Jonas has had some very special summer birthdays.

He turned 8 the day we landed in Kenya on our first mission trip.
He turned 10 flying through the air, somewhere between time zones & stratospheres on our second mission trip.
And now he turned 12 in Uganda on our third mission trip.

Very special for him to spend a birthday in both countries; one with each group of his African brother's and sisters.

Before the rest of us had even left the guest house in the morning, the birthday boy was up the mango tree....

 How sweet that he shared with his dad (mangoes are Joey's favorite!)

We made his cake with soda (he chose orange Fanta) and a box from home. Then used key lime frosting (that we also brought along). It was over-the-top sweet! The African kids loved it! They were especially thrilled with the futball themed design! ;)

NOTE: in case anyone is wondering what is inside Jonas' fist, it's a lizard of course!

 It was such a treat to have all of his Ugandan brothers & sisters (except one who's away at college) at his birthday party.  We had cake & soda (including a new pineapple flavor for us).

 And no soccer-themed birthday in Africa would be complete without a real game:

                                           Jonas definitely "scored" on his 12th birthday! ;)

Reunited!

We've always said the most valuable part of a mission trip is the relationships you build.  Yes, the work we do is important and especially rewarding when you can see the tangible evidence of our labor (painting a room, planting grass, sanding down and varnishing new desks built for a classroom, distributing food, etc, etc).  However, when we get back home and the weeks turn into months, it's the faces of the people that are stuck in our minds over & over, not the things.  Returning to all those familiar faces is the greatest joy!  So many people think it's only about our sponsored kids and put so much emphasis on the children. Yes our sponsored kids are a huge incentive (and were the original reason we came the first time) and yes we do have a heart for children and they are the focus of all our outreach activities when we come here, but we have formed some deep bonds with many of the adults as well...the childrens' school teachers & caregivers, the gardeners, cooks, bus drivers, the list goes on and on.

One special friend that I couldn't wait to wrap my arms around was one of the Primary teachers named Ketty.  God gave us a special bond 2 yrs ago and she truly became a kindred spirit.  We have been able to keep in touch on Facebook.  Shortly after we left Uganda, she was diagnosed with cancer and has had a very rough journey the past 2 years.  Her testimony is phenomenal as she praises God and actually thanks Him for her cancer and that He has considered her worthy of suffering for His Name.  Even her own family (7 children) has grown closer to God through this. She is proclaiming His name everywhere she goes and pointing others to Christ. God has been giving her opportunities to share her testimony, even on the radio! Truly it is an honor to watch her walk this journey. She was one of the first people I had to go see:

Here are 10 out of our 11 kids that we sponsor:

Such a blessing to be together with them all in one room!  2 of the older ones are already graduated and have jobs (so we no longer sponsor them) and one of the younger girls goes to another school and left the program (so we no longer sponsor her) but we still consider them part of our family and still love and pray for them, of course.  We are so glad New Hope allowed us to still invite them all to the guest house for some family time!

THE GIRLS:

 THE BOYS + 1 (one of the boys showed up who Joey had led to salvation 2 yrs ago, and then spiritually mentored a small group of older boys by having a short Bible Study after school):

On our way....

     2015 has been a whirlwind of a year and our schedule was over-the-top busy right up until we left for the airport.  I (Anissa) was giving all three of the rest of the family haircuts starting at midnight and was vacuuming the last of the hair off the bathroom floor when the church van pulled into our driveway at 2:00am to leave for the airport!!  It was very reflective of how hectic our lives have been. From the day we got our plane tickets in December, until the day we left in June, I kept telling everyone I wouldn't be able to relax until I got on the plane. But even then, there was no rest for the weary....while the rest of the family was watching movies, I was working on the laptop, revising and finishing up our VBS skits & devotional! I had a deep sense of peace, though, and was so excited to FINALLY be on our way, after 6 mths of build-up to this moment!
       I also felt great joy in knowing that today was our 20th wedding anniversary, and even though sleeping in airports and eating airplane food is not exactly the typical way to celebrate, this trip is reflective of our marriage...striving to walk in obedience to God's calling and not living the typical American lifestyle.  We are sooo grateful for the abundant blessings God has poured out in these 2 decades.  Going to Africa is such a tremendous blessing. There's no other place I'd rather be going on my anniversary!

After pulling an all-nighter right out of the gate, then flying 13 hrs (in which Jonas managed to watch 7 movies and did NOT sleep at all)...we were extremely exhausted during our layover in Ethiopia:

 Thank goodness we managed to find some double seats w/o a bar in the middle!

Our flight got delayed by about 4 hrs so Ethiopian Airlines gave us a complementary lunch. We couldn't wake Jonas to eat. In fact he doesn't remember a thing about the layover, having slept through the entire thing (to make up for the 13 hrs where he DIDN'T sleep...this happened the last trip to Africa too!) It was so frustrating getting held up less than a 2 hr flight from our destination, but at least we were in Africa!

When we finally made it to the Entebbe Airport in Uganda, we had the greatest surprise waiting for us...they let one of our sponsored sons skip school and make the 2.5 hr journey to come pick us up!  My heart lept for joy at the sight of his beaming face!  Those of you who know me can imagine the ear-piercing squeals that ensued!!

 Praising God for a safe journey and that all our luggage (primarily donations) made it!!!  Thank you to each of you who helped us financially get here and for those of you who prayed for our travels here. We appreciate all your prayers moving forward!  Truly we are blessed by all your support!

[Ahhhhh...fresh pinapple for the next 9 weeks! My absolute favorite!}

It truly feels like we are back home! We can't wait to see what God has in store for us the next 9 weeks!  Our hearts are full of eager anticipation.....