Pictures!

Fetching water right before the re-construction of the bore hole. A huge thanks to the sponsors who pitched in to save us from a huge water emergency! It should be completed by Saturday.

Traditional dancers from the Laos tribe at Rachel's wedding.

The road leading to Kampala City School

Students at Kampala City school studying in a skeleton of a classroom. With many prayers and support, we will be adding onto the school to build more rooms and finish this one.

Rain before the Sun

Life seems to always come in cycles. The rainy season has begun again, and this time the weather seems to match the state of the home. With the weather suddenly dropping in temperature, over half of the kids have become sick in one way or another, and everyone included Kami and myself have been dealing with conditions from colds to flu. Since the wedding the car has been in a head on collision, the borehole (our villages main sorce of water) has broke, we've had problems with 3 of our 4 staff members to the point of having to suspend 2 of them for a month, a temporary shortage in food has developed, and several other problems have arose. But as always, they are things that happen when running a home, and we see God's faithfulness and blessing everyday. Kevin Dyne from Portland, OR came to visit the home and spend time with the kids. Laura Peters, from Vancouver, Candada came in for a month and helped in many areas, including re-doing our entire library, bringing loads of art supplies and giving the kids lessons, as wells as putting together an art project, which is going to be sent to a benefit art show in New York. The work is a tree broken into 25 parts, each painted different by individual kids and then brought together for a beautiful mosiac. She is also in the process of helping us paint a mural on the entire wall in the sitting room for the kids. We will post pictures soon! A couple also some how found the home and came to work with us for around 10 days. Their names are Miquel and Dasha (probably spelt the names wrong and apologise for doing it) but there story is amazing. Miquel is from Spain, while Dasha is from the Cheq Republic, and both of them met through their company based in London. They have only seen each other for two weeks in the last 9 months of a relationship through phone calls and emails, but together they quit their jobs and are traveling through Africa for 3 months to help in areas they can, but also just to learn and explore the cultures and get closer to one another. There on a proper adventure, and have been such a blessing to have at the home. Sam's health has been good, but unfortunately now his wife Dorcas' has grown worse so please pray for her.
So its another month. Mishaps, downfalls, and struggles, new faces, new work and new blessings. The constant ebb and flow of an African orphanage. We seem to be on a proper adventures ourselves.

The Wedding festivities have come to a close

Traditional dancers welcomed the procession of honored guests, the groom, bride's attendants, and bride to be. Lovely ladies in their traditional wear of wrapped dresses tied up like bows. Dashing men in their robes. There was the brushing bride. Speech after speech after speech. Gift after gift after gift. Did you know if you get a bride in Uganda you receive many gifts with her? Yes you do have to give up a few cows, sodas, jerrycans of cooking oil, etc...
Everyone here at Dorcas has been working tirelessly to make the wedding for Sam's daughter, Rachel, a success. A new fence went up, trees were cut, compound was spotless, hair was done, barrels of water were fetched. 50+ family guests stayed at the home. Not even kidding you. Pans 2 feet deep and 3 feet in diameter filled with matoke, rice, beans, and meat cooking over firewood.
After 6 to 7 hours of the introduction wedding, it was time to dance. A disco was available to all the guest and was taken full advantage of until 5 am. Dancing with the kids was so fabulous! And yes...I taught them a thing or two about shaking what my mama gave me.
The more “western” wedding was Saturday. Wedding and reception went from 11 am until 10 pm. Absolutely beautiful. Way too long but beautiful. More traditional dance took place from the Laos tribe which was great to be able to decifer from the Buganda tribal dance that took place on Friday.
Today is the recover day. Many visitors are still here at the home from Kanungu. A trip is planned to go into town with them. Many of the people from Kanungu (a remote village in Southwest Uganda) have never seen the city with all its splendor.
Joe will be leaving on Wednesday as Chris comes back to us. Please keep them in your prayers.
Ooooo. My camera, the last existing camera here at Dorcas, was broken a week ago in a laughing fest with the boys so pictures will be few and far between for awhile. Please keep with us. I'll sketch what is going on....?

The Road Home: Good and Bad

Hello Everyone.  On Monday the 4th, I went to leave Seattle to head back to Uganda and was met with a terrible surprise.  The date of my ticket had been entered wrong, and with it being a specialty ticket (at a lower fair) the stipulations involved stated that if I didn't show up or notify the airline before the date of my departure, the ticket (both there and back) would be come invalid.  I spent 6 hours on the phone Monday between the airline and booking agency and ended the afternoon so tired and unsure of what to do that I simply sat on the floor of a friends house, unable to move.

I had trunks packed as tightly as they could go, fresh cookies for the kids, money to bring back to the home to further the work over the next few months, presents for the kids from many of you as sponsors, an anxiousness to see them and suddenly I had no way to get there.  I was utterly heartbroken.  I called Kami and told her the situation, and as we talked, we both understood that somehow it was in God's hands. 

Although this is a little more in depth, than some of our other posts, the state I found myself in going back to Uganda was a hard one.  Both Kami and I have been dealing with things and responsibilities we have never encountered before this year and it has been extremely overwhelming to us both in the best way.  We have had to live daily on the guidance and assurance of God to accomplish the work, or at times, just to make it through the strenuousness of the day.   But part of that foundation for me has been slipping for some time, and even the time I hoped for some peace in coming home, as wonderful as it was to see friends and share stories, as well as speak easily and passionately about the home and work with many of you because it is our entire life right now, I found no time to be alone and almost not a single moment to rest.  Although I was excited to return to the kids, I felt like I was returning almost a shell knowing the work that needed to be done and easily caring for family we have found in Uganda, but not being founded.  

And then, I was on the ground of a friend's home, with no ticket home.  Although it was devastating at first, somehow in prayer through out the evening and into the night, I found a sense of peace that there was a reason for this.

The next morning I posted a blog that I needed help in returning and within two hours, 3 people had already called and offered support.  But, one lady, who deserves to be placed in the echelons of the highest realms of service, and to whom I am eternally grateful, told me to find the ticket and tell her the price, and she would take care of the rest.  Because of fuel prices and the continual upswing, the only reasonably priced ticket was 12 days out.

Although this is hard for me to bear, with how much I miss the kids and long to be with them, Kami, and the rest of the home again, this was a unasked prayer that God saw in me.  There are walls we all reach at times in our lives, and I certainly have been at one for some time now, overwhelmed without enough time to be at peace and understand it.  It seems these days are a gift to finally stop, and find the heart of God again, in which we all move, and find our strength. As I do though, one of the continuos prayers I would like to share with you is such thankfulness to how many of you contacted me while I was at home and privately wrote a check for the work, or went to the stores and bought supplies, or brought sheets for the kids, underwear, a computer for the home, gifts and cards for Kami as she continues the work with Joe in Uganda and repeatedly asked how you can do more for the kids individually.  It filled me with such an immense thankfulness to hear how many of you have been praying for us, and reading our updates and remembering us while we felt so far from home.  

My trip back has reaffirmed the love so many of you have for these kids, for those who are marginalized in the world, and also for your love for us personally, which continuously strengthens us to continue working.  

You are in our prayers as well.  May God bless and keep you, prompt you when you are needing to serve, and give you rest when you are weary.