Laundry Day, part 2.

Who knew laundry could be so exciting? Today we went to a place called BMU (Baptist Mission of Uganda)--actually not too far from our place. There they had...wait for it...a washer AND a dryer! Me and the other two families went to do a few loads.
Here they are...get excited!

This place was nice and had a great view--could see all around the area.

Kampala has a lot of neat flowers. Had not seen this one before.

AND they had a basketball court...not just one goal. We'll have to go back here!

While we were there I was able to meet a couple of IMB missionaries. Great to hear about some of the work happening here.

Our court date is this Monday. We got word from our lawyer that the riots might effect our court date. Everything is calm today. Hopefully won't be an issue.

A month ago today...

What were you doing a month ago? Well, for us, we were arriving in the city of Kampala! This has been my city for the past month. I remember that first week...it was eye-opening to say the least. Once we got our bearings, things were better. I now at least feel comfortable here--I'm not saying that I've gotten used to power outages, taxi rides, boiling water, cold showers, etc, just that I understand how to function here. BUT a month in this city means a month away from the ones who mean the most to me. Here are some pics from the Shreveport airport a month ago. Wish I could hug these guys like I did on that day. There were tears then and, sometimes, there are tears now longing to be home with the fam! Hopefully soon!
Poor Jonah. His eyes were puffy from allergies. Hopefully not puffy now! BOO, pollen!

Sweet Seth with that winning smile. I love that smile.

I know that Abram has grown so much in a month. I can tell just by talking to him. I could give that guy a squish-you-guts hug right now!

Thankful for my family....and especially for my sweet, strong Mary. What a godly, awesome woman I have. She knows how to get it done and right now she's gettin' in done without me. I appreciate and love her very much. Just thought you might want to know!!

By the way, things in Kampala were a little crazy today. Riots, protests, tires burning in the streets. Nothing has really affected our immediate area but it has affected downtown which is where we have to go on Monday for our court date. Hopefully all will be well by then!

If they put me in the zoo...

My housemates and I were thinking of ways to pass the time while we are all waiting....today we went to the zoo in Entebbe (about and hour away).

Below, you will see the crested crane...it's on Uganda's flag.

I like this friendly reminder from zoo management...notice the lion in the background.

This guy is feeding the chimpanzees. He sits on one side of a moat and hurls fruit and veggies to the chimps on the other side. It was awesome to watch.

Here are two of the chimps on the receiveing end. There were at least a dozen. Really cool.

Speaking of monkeys...on the way out we saw this guy on the roof of the welcome plaza. Yeah, that's right, monkeys roaming free, no cages. BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN AFRICA! It was so funny. He's pretty cute.

Yeah, they were really close. One of my housemates threw one a banana and they started coming from everywhere. They even followed us to our car in the parking lot. One even jumped up on my window. Crazy!

However, if there was ever an emergency caused by the monkeys or any other animal, all I would have to do is call this simple numb....I mean, one of these four simpl...I mean of one of these four, ten-digit numbers.......let's just not have an emergency!!

The zoo is located right along Lake Victoria. Here we are coming back from trying to find the giraffes. We only saw one little one in the distance. Good thing they had two life-size, anatomically correct giraffe statues in the parking lot. I'll spare you the picture.

In case you didn't know, rhinos are HUGE. AND I was pretty close to this one. I could have gotten even closer. The fence was just 3 rails that you could easily climb through. I chose not to.

Did I mention that I got to ride a camel? I could have ridden a donkey but the camel was a better choice. It was only about $.40 to ride. What a deal!

Gideon and I had a great day at the zoo. We'll see what tomorrow holds!

(Sorry for the formatting on this post. Blogger is doing crazy things!)

Progress.

Found out today that we have a court date scheduled for Monday, May 2. As always, nothing is written in stone BUT this is definitely good news. Pray that things would begin to move!

OH--seems like every post lately has been about food. Well....tonight, I ate Italian; pizza, to be exact. It had spicy salami on it--it was the closest to pepperoni they had and it was VERY good.
The restaurant had a very small playground and it had a Little Tykes baby swing. I got to swing Gideon in it--he had a good time. Can't wait to share those pictures with everyone--hopefully soon.

Droddy Boys Day Out

Each day that I'm here, I try to get out of the house at least once--mainly for my sanity! Usually it's just to walk down the hill to the small grocery store near us or to the Greek Restaurant that's nearby or up the hill to the Babies Home. Today one of the other families, me & Gideon reserved a driver and van and headed into Kampala with no real agenda--just to get out for the day. Our first stop was the Oasis Mall. Ok, so there are plenty of locals here BUT there is a definite appeal for foreigners! (i.e. a mzungu like me--this is what white people are called)

At the mall is a coffee shop (actually more of a restaurant) called:

It REALLY appeals to foreigners...they have good coffee and great food. I got a cafe au lait and a chocolate croissant. Both very delicious!

After spending way too much money at Nakumatt--kind of a Ugandan version of Wal-Mart--we tried a new restaurant....Chinese food, of all things! The name of the restaurant was:

It was actually a nice place--the food was just OK. Glad we went though. I was worn out afterward. Gideon was fussy and fidgety because he was tired. I think he must have had too much to eat because he threw up a little. He fell asleep on the way home.

Just a little update...we got an update tonight and have still not heard anything about a court date. Hopeful to hear something tomorrow. Please continue to pray!

Things I take for granted!

Ok, so 3 weeks into our Ugandan adventure, I realize how many things I take for granted back home. Thought I thought I would make a list:
**Power that's always on and water that always works.
**Hot (even warm) showers.
**A washing machine in which I can wash my clothes. Oh, and a dryer, instead of hanging them on a line.

**Being able to travel around without being dependent on a driver or a taxi.
**Climate controlled buildings.
**Sleeping without a mosquito net. (in fact, just not having to worry about mosquito-transmitted diseases)

**Ready access to quality MEAT!!
**Being able to drink water from the tap.

**Seeing my wife and kids EVERYDAY!
I'm sure there are more things. But these will do for now. Even though I take these things for granted and I'm thankful for them, I know that they are really not that important--except for the last one!!

By the way, little Gideon slept through the night the past 2 nights. We'll see how tonight goes. (funny that when I was writing this, G started crying. He's good now!)

Resurrection Day.

It's definitely a bummer spending a holiday away from family. However, it's always good to make the best of any situation. Today, this meant attending church at Gaba Community Church. Gideon and I went to the 8am service. I was running late and got there at 830am. There was still another hour of music and performances then preaching and some other stuff. Needless to say, G didn't last the whole time. No problem. We got to hang outside and talk to some folks before we headed back "home".

We ended the day with a "family" dinner made by some of my housemates. The guys and I took a taxi to the grocery store to get supplies. We didn't get any meat because it was pretty pricey and we didn't see anything that really tickled our fancy. Anyway, we had quite the array of side dishes--mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, tomato and cucumber salad, baked beans, fried zucchini, biscuits and tzatziki spread from Go Greek. It was all VERY good.

We finished with some banana pudding. The funny thing is that all the of the dishes had to be adapted a little bit to fit the ingredients we could find. Everything turned out really well.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed the food on my plate. It's a happy plate for a happy belly.

While I wish that I was at home with my family, I know that I can worship and reflect on the resurrection of Christ wherever I am. I am thankful for what God is teaching us as we continue on this journey!

A chance to serve.

This past Monday, Mary and I were able to go with the other families that we're living with to serve some kids who are really in need.

Sarah, one of the moms in our house, told us about a US-based organization called Sixty Feet that ministers in Uganda. One of their ministries is at some government-run children's remand centers (prisons, basically) at which street children and those who have committed crimes are housed. A fundraiser done to support Sixty Feet in the States is called The Cupcake Kids in which kids across the country sell cupcakes and the money goes to Sixty Feet. OK, so Sarah's idea was, since we are in Uganda, to actually bring cupcakes to the kids in these centers around the same time that children in the US were selling cupcakes. (got it?)

So, the moms in our house began making about 400 cupcakes--YES, 400 cupcakes!! There was a lot of improvisation in making, frosting and transporting those bad boys but we did it.

(Notice that they are square. We couldn't find round cupcake tins!)

(Different icings flavored with peanut butter, jello mix, and crystal light packets!)

(Pretty good final product. They actually tasted great too!)

So, last Monday, we visited one of the centers that was about an hour out of Kampala. We brought the cupcakes and some kool-aid-type drink. Another family (Dinsmores) went with the families in our house to the center. They blogged about the day and Sixty Feet reposted their account of that day. Follow the link to read about that day.

Good Friday

Tonight I attended the Good Friday service at Gaba Community Church. Gaba is the church from which the Babies Home was born (no pun intended). I almost didn't go because it's kind of a hassle taking a taxi, and walking to the church while lugging a baby and gear BUT I'm glad I did. (By the way, I get a LOT of stares walking around with Gideon--1) men in Uganda generally do NOT care for children, 2) I am a white man with a black baby, and 3) No body here carries their baby in a Baby Bjorn on the front of their body--BRING ON THE STARES!)

It's been kind of a quiet day. My housemates went to a local resort to stay for the night and our power has been out since 4am--it's still out at almost 11pm. The service was NOT quiet. It was an upbeat celebration of what Christ did for us on the cross. It was so nice to worship. Things have been discouraging lately so it was good to focus on God and his goodness and provision.

The preacher tonight spoke from Ephesians 1:3-14. This is a great passage that speaks of how we are "adopted" by God (v. 5). Coincidence? I think not. It was funny because when he started to speak about v. 5 and mentioned adoption, Gideon screamed out loud. It was like he was saying "AMEN".

Another meaningful part of worship was the Michael W. Smith song "Above All". Now, normally, I am NOT a MWS fan. I may have even openly mocked his voice! BUT the lyrics really spoke to where we are in this process: "Above all powers, Above all kings, Above all nature and all created things; Above all wisdom, and all the ways of man; You were here before the world began....." You know the rest. Basically, this was meaningful because it was a reminder that God is sovereign above every step of this adoption process--including the waiting and frustrating parts. Good reminder for me!

It was a great night of worship. I sneaked a video of some of the singing. I hope to post soon, when I have more power. By the way, the pictures are from the area of town called Gaba, where the church is. It's about a 10 minute taxi ride from our house. It's on the banks of Lake Victoria. We took these one day when we went to explore the market.

Thank you Loving Hearts

Even though I'm not close to coming home yet, we hosted a small party for the staff at Loving Hearts Babies Home to show our appreciation for their work and ministry in caring for our Gideon. This morning I made some square cupcakes and one of our housemates helped me make the icing. Another adoptive family joined in and gave bags of rice to the staff as a thank you and a way to bless each of them.
Not all of the staff could be there today. Apparently, since this is a holiday weekend, children are out of school and many people are at home preparing for the Easter holiday. Each of the staff members who were there went around and each said a word of encouragement for our family. We also sang together. I read a thank you note that Mary had written to the staff. I got really choked up reading it and I mumbled a few words afterword. I cannot explain how awesome it has been meeting the "aunties" and other staff who have cared for our son from the beginning of his life. This is a special place with some special people.

On the court date front, we found out that we will not have a court date before May 1. Please continue to lift our family up. We know that God has a purpose in all this. Pray that we would be found faithful no matter our circumstances.

Bye Mary.

As I write this, Mary has been traveling for about 26 hours and is probably about an hour from landing in Memphis. This included an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam. Let me just say that my wife is AWESOME. We already miss her so much here. The minutes and hours have just creeped by. BOOO! Wish she could still be here but glad she will be home with the boys in a few hours. We are still waiting for things to move here--we're just kind of stuck in judicial limbo. We hope to hear some news tomorrow (Thursday). We are praying for God to move mountains for us.

The many names of...

So many of you at home know our newest addition as "Gideon"...and this is what he will be called once everything is finalized and we are all in the US together as a family. What's funny is that to just about everyone who has known him here, he is "Moses". This is the name he was given at the Babies Home (LHBH) when he first arrived. Unlike many of the children there, he has been there from the beginning of his life--probably at a day old or less. He came to LHBH because he was found under some bushes near a police station. A "good samaritan" discovered him, turned him in to the station, and the authorities turned him over to LHBH. You can see the similarities between our "Moses" and the biblical Moses.

We'll probably tell that story again at a later time but about the name... So now, anytime we are around anyone who has known our guy for any amount of time, he is Moses. For us and the other families we are staying with, and anyone who asks, he is Gideon. I actually came up with the name G-Mo because I said that he had an identity crisis. This didn't help because now we also call him G-Mo from time to time...it's become a joke!

REGARDLESS, our GIDEON (Moses/G-Mo) is precious and he'll know his name soon enough!

By the way, say a prayer for Mary. Her flight just left Uganda and in about 30 hours, she'll be back in S'port! Of course, then she'll be a "single" mother to our boys back home and I'll be a "single" dad to Gideon here. Praying for the day when we are all under the same roof!

The view from here.

Kampala, the city where we are staying, is the capital of Uganda. The terrain in and around Kampala is hilly. In fact the name Kampala means "seven hills" because the original city was founded on seven hills. It is a very green city with lots of trees. Here's the view from the balcony on the house we are staying in. The next 3 pictures are our attempt at a panoramic view. They are in order from left to right. (as you can see we have a pretty green yard to play in.)

(we also have a big 'ol fence to keep out the bad guys!)

Note the house under construction in the neighboring lot. Yesterday, we noticed a goat on the second floor of the half-built house. He was checking it out.

The next thing we noticed is that he took a flying leap onto the ground. We hope he was OK but we didn't go check to see. Sorry, goat!

We continue to enjoy the city and the adventures we are having BUT our primary task is to bring Gideon home. We hope to have news tomorrow (Tuesday) of our new court date. Please pray!