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.