Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today, Catriona and I were baking bread at David Family. I'm sorry for my lack of posts. We have been preparing for Christmas though it's not nearly as stressful as usual. We have had a very relaxed and warm holiday so far. Yesterday, we baked Christmas cookies with Stella, who slept over at our house for two nights. Then we went and gave some to various people at New Hope. Sharon, Biru, and Margaret from David Family joined us to sing carols and give out the cookies. Tomorrow, we will be going to church and having a meal with everyone. The next day, we're heading down to the camp. We'll be back next week. So I won't be doing any more posts until after then.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'll be back in 2013.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Ants

When you hear the word ant, what do you think of? Do you think of a crawling bug on the ground or do you think of a tasty snack? Well, on Saturday Catriona and I had the privilege of trying some ants. These are flying ants and every once in a while you see them crawling along and their wings covering the ground. The people here like to eat them. On Saturday, Catriona and I just had to taste one. So we each picked an ant off the ground, pulled the wings off (well, Catriona didn't know that part), and popped them into our mouths. Just imagine a squiggling ant, still alive in your mouth. But they were actually pretty good. They taste sort of salty. The trick is to do it fast, before you think too much about it.

Someone told us a story about the first time they saw the kids eating them. She went up to one of the kids and said in shock, "You're just eating those bugs!"
In response he said reproachfully, "They're not bugs Aunt, they're ants."

Monday, November 19, 2012

David Family Party

A couple weeks ago, David Family got together to celebrate the end of the school year for P7s and most S4s and encourage the rest of the kids for their exams. We ate matooke (a type of banana that is mashed and cooked), gnut sauce, rice, meat, cabbage, and we drank sodas. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it. Unfortunately, a few of the kids were sick and couldn't be there. One girl was very sick with malaria and another girl had not so bad malaria. They are doing better now. My dad read a letter from one of our IY girls who is at Kobwin Centre, teaching. She will be arriving back home very soon. It was great to be able to spend some time with one another just having fun.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Rainbow


And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”


Genesis 9: 12-13

16 Weeks!

16 weeks already! Time has been going very quickly. I thought I'd give a quick overview to let you know what we've been doing. (I haven't been posting as regularly as I would have liked.)

Ugandan Thanksgiving


Maize Harvest


Baking Bread


Spending Time with Zipporah and her boys



Spending time with Sam and his family


Having Fiona visit

Ugandan Jubilee


Devotions at David Family

Canadian Thanksgiving

Spending Time with Friends

Helping out at Hope Family
 
Wedding





 


Friday, September 21, 2012

Concert


Uncle Jay and Uncle Jonnes



On Saturday night, we went to a concert, organized by two boys who live here. It "started" at 6:00 but nothing really started until 7:00. I think most people who went can say that they had not laughed so hard in a long time. Lots of kids took part. There was some true African dancing. Some break dancing and rapping. The two people who were leading were hilarious and in between groups they would invite people from the audience up. The funniest part was when Uncle Jay and Uncle Jonnes, the founders of New Hope, had to go up and dance. Everyone was literally roaring with laughter. The concert was to raise money for people in the village and to go in you paid a small fee. During the concert, if you enjoyed the performance then you could go and put som extra money into a briefcase at the front. At the end they lit candles and sang some worship songs. It was very neat because one of the boys who organized the concert had composed his own songs only a couple of weeks ago. They were amazing songs. It was definitely an evening to be remembered.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Hope Family




Yesterday, Catriona and I went to Hope Family. This is the family group for babies and toddlers. The Dendys, Uncle Stu and Auntie Sarah are running it. We were helping out and it is amazing to see how much bigger some of them have gotten since last year. We went on a walk around the circle. Uncle Stu suggested that we go and get some pictures taken at A. Constance's (our current home). So down the hill we went. It was good timing because as soon as we got down it began to rain. We went onto the porch and after a little while headed back up to the house.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Maize Harvest

On Tuesday, we harvested maize at the Enterprise Farm. The harvest this year was very big so even though we harvested a lot there was still a lot left.
 
On Saturday, we helped David Family harvest their maize. We worked from 8 until 11 and were able to finish harvesting both patches of maize.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Dissan

I just found out that Dissan (read about him on Catriona's blog) passed away today. Please pray for Auntie Kate, the special needs teacher, Uncle Stu and Auntie Sarah (Hope Family parents), and his father. They were all with him. He was much loved. Another little baby passed away this morning. The baby's father went to school here. The baby was born yesterday. Please also pray for this family.

Monday, July 23, 2012

David Family

Me, Agnes, Annet, Catriona Baking Bread
We have had lots of fun reconnecting with David Family over the past three weeks. (I can't believe it has been that long) New Hope puts all the kids into family groups with a Ugandan "father" and "mother". We have had so many good times with our Ugandan "brothers and sisters" already. Catriona and I have been baking bread with Agnes and Annet on Saturdays. It is a lot of work but we enjoy it a lot. We have also gone for devotions several times and my parents will be leading on Fridays. Everyone has been so welcoming and we are glad to be back.
In the David Family "central banda."

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Sports Day

Yesterday, (written on July 13) my family rode to Katooke to go to the primary school sports day. The boys were playing football (soccer) and the girls were playing netball. But we were waiting until 1:30 to start instead of 10:00. Everyone who was playing had to line up and be weighed and measured before they could begin. You had to be in the range of height and weight to play.

Our girls playing. (Lime Green)
So when we finally got started, we were getting pretty hungry. We bought some chapatis to tide us over. The girls started to play at 1:30. They played well, but unfortunately lost all 3 of their games.

Our Football Team
Then the boys started to play. Our team was not playing first so my mum took a few pictures of the team. The ones with orange pinnys are the substitutes and the ones with the teal jerseys are the ones who played. Junju, in David Family, was on the team. They lost their first game 1-0 but tied the other two.
Being out in the village, reminded us of the situation of so many children here. At Kasana, we see children being loved and cared for and we sometimes forget that outside the compound there are children who have not had a meal to eat for days. We got some pictures of some of the kids.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Giving Thanks

On Saturday, July 6, 2012 if you lived in Kasana, Kiwoko, Kabubu, and anywhere in between you could hear the excitement rising at Kasana Children's Centre as the people prepared for one of the most anticipated events of the year. Throughout the day you could hear children and adults singing in many different languages, shouts of "Hallelujah!", and feel the ground shaking with so many people dancing. What could cause so much excitement?
The answer is simply Thanksgiving. In Canada, many people celebrate Thanksgiving. But what do many of us look forward to the most? The delicious turkey meal or the time of giving thanks to God. Here at Kasana, you can tell that the people wanted to give the day to our God. Only after a 4 hour program honouring God, was any food was served.
The program was full of singing and dancing and jumping and clapping. All 3 music groups at Kasana sang. Testimonies were given where several people expressed their thankfulness to God. A school for the deaf in Kampala danced, and the First Lady of Uganda gave a speech. Yes, that's right the First Lady. Janet Museveni (or Mama Janet as she is called here) is a Christian and it was very powerful to hear the testimony of a Christian who was so high up in Uganda's society. For our family and family group it was wonderful to see Nabukeera translating for her. Nabukeera has translated for our own family before when we went to visit Sam, our sponsor child. 
Everyone in our family group had an important role. Many sang, some were security and officials, some were drumming, and some were just dressed in  school uniforms and singing, dancing, and clapping.
When it was all over, we had a delicious meal of rice, matooke, meat, cabbage, and potato. It was a wonderful day of giving thanks to God.

Rain, Rain

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.
In Uganda, no one would think of singing that song to their kid especially during dry season (the season we are now entering).
Last night, my family saw lightning and heard heard thunder that was probably in Kiwoko, a village about 5 miles away. But we hoped it would actually rain instead of just a light and sound show. When the rain started pounding the roof we were excited. We needed some rain to fill up the cistern. The only disadvantage is that there is another power outage. There was hardly any power yesterday and I doubt there will be much today.
But we are still thankful that the rain has come!
-Pictures will come-
Christina

Friday, June 29, 2012

...and 0!!!! We're Here!!!!!!

We have arrived here in Uganda! Praise God! We didn't have any complications with our flights at all and we got here safely with only 1 missing bag. We had a bit of a wait at the airport because our friends' van broke down so they had to get here in a different van after checking to make sure they could leave a van in a safe place. And of course everything takes longer than it usually would here! But there were some other friends from New Hope at the airport to meet us. We went to Garden City, one of the shopping malls in Kampala, and did some shopping and ate some lunch at a restaurant.

When we arrived here, there were several kids from Jonathan Family (one of the 8 family groups at Kasana) to greet us and help us carry our luggage into the house we are staying in. We are living in this house until the lady who lives here gets back from furlough. She is part of Jonathan Family so lives near them. We also had some cards and posters on our door. Many people and families had written these to welcome us back. Today and for the next 4 or 5 days we will be going to eat lunch and dinner at other families' houses so we don't have to make anything but breakfast. I'm sure Mum appreciates that especially because it's Dad who makes breakfast.

Thank you all for your prayers! I have been able to get a good sleep and have not had any problems adjusting to time difference. Continue to pray for the rest of my family as they have had a bit more difficulty (Catriona and John aren't awake yet!) adjusting. We appreciate all of the support you have given us and will continue to be thankful for your prayers!
Christina

Sunday, June 17, 2012

10 To Go

Wow! It seems like just a few days ago when I wrote we had 50 days to go. And now it's only 10! With house sold, school books collected, and room packed up, much of the furniture gone, and school finishing in a few days it seems like we're almost ready. We still have quite a bit to do though. Please pray for speedy packing in these 10 days until we leave. Especially pray for Catriona that her head will heal from her concussion.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

50 Days!!

We only have 50 days left here in Calgary! We have sold our house and are starting to get packed up. We've had some wonderful times with friends and family. It was wonderful to see all our cousins in Colorado for a week. I can't wait to see my friends and family in Uganda.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Count-Down Begins

Well, actually the count-down began about a month ago... It is 3 months until we hop on an airplane at the Calgary airport. We are beginning to feel geared up for leaving. Please pray for us as we visit our relatives later this week and for quick house selling! If you would like to get our March support newsletter please go to my parents blog at:
http://uganda.mortonhome.com/

Monday, January 23, 2012

Jinja



















We took a trip to Jinja, a city about an hour away from Kampala. We enjoyed 3 days exploring. We went to Bujagali Falls and also went on a boat tour (we didn't think through it very carefully as we weren't wearing lifejackets on a roaring river...:). We even got to go horseback riding. We had a great time swimming at a hotel and just enjoying the scenery. I hope you enjoy the pics.