Raelee is our source of entertainment most of the time. She gets up talking and doesn’t stop until she goes to sleep – well most nights. She has been known to yell at her best friend in her sleep. Still bossy even when she is sleeping. This past couple weeks she has been non-stop comedy, whether she means to be funny or not. Here are some favorite times from April:

“Drama Queen” She was talking to me because I said something she didn’t like. Head bobbing and intonation – you get it. She got it too, won’t do that again!

She has some new dance moves (and they are not the “traditional village moves”!) I do not know where she has gotten them, she doesn’t watch tv and as far as I know has never seen a stripper on a pole, but she has been using anything she can hold onto to dance. (The moves aren’t offensive or vulgar – just pretty weird!) We often eat at a restaurant that has a balcony and she was standing at the railing hanging on and dancing away. I didn’t say much about it because she wasn’t sitting next to me driving me crazy. Next thing we know she is laying on the floor doing some kind of break dance moves that turned into both legs in the air! Yes, there were other people eating their dinner!

Christian and I were having a conversation about the multiple wives here and how some men have 30 kids – how do the kids know they aren’t marrying a sibling. Then I stated that I think you can legally marry your cousin in America. That started Raelee talking about marrying brothers or sisters. “No, Raelee, you can’t do that” “Well, I AM going to marry my brother Nic. I will grow up, get on a plane and when I land I will just call him up and get directions to his house. Then I will say ‘Nic, will you marry me?'” “But what about Liz?” “Oh, Liz can live with us, she can sleep on the couch”.

She “belaxes” in the other “Papartment”

The other Papartment is her hospital. (I don’t know what she will do when we move out). She gets dressed up, some days she tells me doctors where shiny black shoes, some days doctors where tutu’s and hot pink shoes with lepard print on the heels and some days it’s my head scarf tied around her and nothing else. (She gets in trouble for this) The other day she came through the living room in a rush because she had patients – “a broken arm, malaria and 2 jiggers” Such a coincidence that we had taken a boy with a broke arm and a woman with malaria and her and Christian both had jiggers last week! I went over there to check on things yesterday and in each bed (there are two in each bedroom) was a doll or stuffed animal.

Nipples are bimples and arm pits are arm pips. Dirt dobbers are dirt gobbers.

“Are you kidding me?” “You’re not serious – I have to clean my room?” “Are you serious?”

“I’m not buying that”

“Daddy is cheesy, everybody loves cheese”

“You got to be telling me dumb” You’ve GOT to be kidding me”

I told her she was just like Nicholas and she said “What, awesome?”

‘That’s so adorable…just like me” (No self esteem problems here.)

We went to get groceries and I gave her a list of three things that she had to find to keep her busy and out of my hair while we shopped. I didn’t even think about the things I told her to look for until she announced (loudly) as we walked in the door “Okay, you told me to find jalapenos, toilet paper – the big pack and baked beans. I’m on this” Oh. My. Gosh. That sounded awful, and she kept repeating it until she found it all. Embarrassing? A little.

Friday Christian showed Sharifu and Kimuli videos of people bungee jumping, on rollercoasters, people cliff diving and bull riders. They were amazed. As we were watching videos outside we hear Raelee screaming and realized it wasn’t her usual screaming. We look and she has tied herself to a very tall ladder about two steps up and had slipped off the steps so she was pretty much hanging. The scarf was tied around her wrists so she was hanging by her arms. She has a very bad habit of tying herself to things. Maybe it scared her enough to stop it. I doubt it. While she was hanging her daddy tickled her in her arm “pips” because she was helpless to stop him. She was laughing and crying at the same time.

“I am the Queen – the only Queen. You must bow down to the Queen” “Listen little guhl, I am the only Queen around here and if you don’t want to be knocked off your throne you will quit telling me to bow down and call you Your Majesty”

And that was just this month. She can be exasperating, tiring and rambunctious but she is NEVER boring!

Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

She is truly a gift from above!

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!  

Psalm 47:1

Sunday Bible study and Sunday School were both great this morning. Christian had a couple new men come to the early study, and only two that was there last week that didn’t show, but they were most likely planting. (We’ll work on that!) Sunday School was so good, I can’t believe how the kids are getting the stories, when they were asked what they have learned from the beginning, the kids remembered every story and what they were about and what they mean in their lives. This week I am posting a video edited with new software – I don’t think I did too bad! Feel free to comment, and for those who don’t have high speed internet let me know if the file is too big so I can make videos smaller in size also.

I think I should explain about the first part – Granny, yes this is Church service but the dancing the girls do is the traditional dance here so it is not thought of as vulgar! But, we have to draw the line with Raelee – she has to do a milder version of that, but it’s not too bad because the girl can’t move her hips like that anyway!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6

I was in our bedroom the other night and Raelee was in the living room. She called to me and asked me if her crown would melt. I didn’t understand what she meant so she came into our room and I saw a baggy full of water. This was the conversation:

“Why do you have a baggy full of water?”

“I am trying to see if my crown will soak into the water if I leave it long enough”

“What crown?” She comes closer.

“Raelee, that is a craaaay-on not a crown”

“That’s what I said, a crown”

You can’t tell she is from the south!

I know my blog has a new look but it really hasn’t changed. When I first set it up before moving to Uganda, I knew nothing about having a blog. I read many blogs but setting one up was new. I had set up other pages (Testimony and The New Thing) but have never seen them on my site. I finally figured it out after a year and a half! So it looks a little different, but it’s still the same!

Late but better than never! Sunday was a great day, more children came and more answered and asked questions. I realize more and more that some at least are not coming just for the snacks! The older ones especially are taking an interest in the stories and really thinking about what they mean for their own lives. They never fail to make me cry, their hope and happiness is seen in most of their eyes. I have neglected to say in my other posts, although there is a lot of negative, the people of Uganda for the most part are a happy people, always laughing or singing and dancing. There is always wrestling and tussling going on somewhere (and this is in the adult males!) Even though there is distrust, even among themselves, I believe there is hope for them, and why, even though it is not the easiest thing for me, I believe wholeheartedly if we can make a change in the children’s hearts they can affect the future.

This week the cutest, tiniest little girl came to me without outstretched hand to shake and got on her knees, the sign of respect they are taught from birth I think! But when I got down on my knees to shake her hand it threw her for a minute. She looked at me oddly for about a minute and then the biggest smile came over her face. That doesn’t happen to a Ugandan woman, to have another female bow down to them and certainly not for a mazungu to bow to them. (The men don’t do this) Definitely made me cry to see the expression in her face, and my prayer is she understands she is worthy of respect and loved by me but most important I pray that she sees it is the love God through me and that love is for her also.

I love to hear them sing and do the dances that go along with the songs. The happiness and joy they have doing it shows. Even the shy ones are starting to participate, especially when they see me trying to learn. They think that is pretty funny! Even though it really stretches me, I am so thankful I have the opportunity of sharing in their lives. So when Saturday nights come around and I feel anxious, I look at their pictures and know that my just showing up makes all the difference in their lives

Peanuts, with maize planted in between rows. Common here.

Looking very good!

Our cook/worker/co-chairman of the village. She never misses a photo op!

I have been under the weather the past few days, stomach flu (not fun!) and now Raelee has it. Doctor says bacterial infection so we are on medication that should make us well in two days! So Christian had to go by himself to visit two farmers, a husband and wife. He is growing and acre and a half – one acre is with us – of peanuts and his wife is growing one acre of beans. (pronounced beanies here! We have beanies and greenies and then there are the minerals which are they tiny dried out minnows they eat in soup. Eew.)

The rains have been good, there have been days in between the heavy rains so it seems most of the crops are doing good. As we drive down our road we see everything growing and looking very healthy. We are very, very thankful for this.

Please keep praying for the crops, but also so important are the prayers that we can teach the farmers to put back seed and money. It is very common for the people to spend all their money in the week or so that they harvest and then have to go three months without. This past week there have been many coming wanting us to pay school fees. It is hard to say no because it is children’s education, but, they have been making it all this time without us so I believe they will keep on making it. Christian is putting the word out that Mandate does not pay school fees, so maybe it will slow down those coming wanting money. When I say it is hard to say no, I sincerely mean heart tugging, compassion and hurt that we can’t help everybody so we have to make the choice that we can only help those who don’t have parents. We are only going to give to the widows. I want to start raising goats so that we can give the widows a goat. Christian and I have given most of our personal money away this month and yet it is not enough. Especially when we know there are many that are lying and cheating us.

We took one of our workers daughter to the clinic for a broken arm. Dr Nelson’s X-ray machine was down so he sent them to another hospital and said it should not be more than 20,000 shillings for the X-ray, don’t let them try and charge more. They charged 25,000 and Christian only had 21,000 and left because they wouldn’t take that. After going outside, he realized how his actions affect everyone around so he asked the father if he had the 4,000 needed. He did. The girl got the cast, and Dr Nelson said that was it until time to remove the cast. We get a call today from our neighbor asking about the cost of the girl’s treatment. Christian explained that we didn’t pay cash except for the X-rays, everything else went on the account we set up at Dr Nelson’s hospital, we pay at the first of the month with our money and money the workers have put in. Our neighbor says he gave 50,000 shillings the day the girl broke her arm because it was at his house and he felt bad. No mention of that when having to pay for the X-rays. Then yesterday the father came back to the neighbor and said he needed 60,000 more for more treatments. The neighbor gave it and then decided to call. So we have learned we will have to communicate so that we don’t all get taken. It is a hard thing to live with so much corruption, but that is the culture, has been for hundreds of years. When there is Godlessness, this is what you get. Americans that are putting God out of everything take note – you have no idea what it is to live where there is no one true God. Our prayers are that people are saved, come to know and follow Christ no matter the cost and see a change in their communities and then the country. I don’t mean to be negative, I am not discouraged – most days! Because I know that God put us here for a reason – we are stubborn and hard headed – and although we don’t understand the reasons or His plan right now, our Faith in Him keeps us going, encourages us and helps us to see the good around us. There are those that are saved, and trying to find the path and purpose that God has for them, and it is difficult in a place that the first Christians gave a very confusing and warped understanding of God. They taught about getting rich, all being healed if you have enough faith. Do you know what this does to peoples perspective of God when those things don’t happen? It makes it very difficult to disciple, but we start at the beginning and try to bring them up, in a place that is contrary to everything the Bible says.

Pray for us, the people and that God’s Holy Spirit break through the darkness that has been upon this country for decades. Pray for more lives to be saved, and pray for the children that come every Sunday to hear the stories about God and God’s people. We had about fifteen more this past Sunday, making around eighty-three. So amazing!

little boats

Beans for dolls heads

Raelee has been busy making little dolls with bananas that didn’t get a chance to grow! The rains and winds often blow the banana trees down. Luckily, each tree will have offshoots at the base called suckers. We have transplanted many suckers to get more banana trees. She uses beans for their heads and flower petals for their little hats. Quite the imagination and creativity!