29 September 2015

A New Adventure

On the 16th of June, about three and a half months ago, Dallas and I got news that we were going to be moving from Uganda to Mongolia. To read Dallas' side of the story go to his blog.

Dallas was in Nepal at the time helping with MAF's Disaster Response team there as they worked to get the aid to where it was most helpful after the earthquakes. We did not want to tell the kids we were moving over the internet so we waited until Dallas got back to Uganda on the 25th of June. The kids were very surprised to say the least, but did not freak out. I believe they were able to see the peace that both Dallas and I had/have that this was something we as a family needed to do.

In the month of July we packed up our house in Kampala. It was quite tiring to decide what we would take with us, what would be stored in Uganda, and what we would sell. We knew that some big things needed to be sold, our vehicle, freezer, inverter system, generator, and our beloved dog Ginger. As we saw all of these things sold a week before we departed we had another confirmation that we were doing what God wanted us to do.

We departed Uganda at 12:45am on 26th of June and arrived in Calgary, Canada at 9:00pm the night of 26th June. Oy!

Over the next 5 weeks we proceeded to get ready, as best we could, to move to Mongolia. This included new passports for everyone, new wardrobes all around (our Uganda one was not going to work very well in Mongolia), purchasing Canadian treats to take with us, and figuring out schooling for the kids. The schooling took the longest and we only got there acceptance letters from the school board we are registered with 5 days before we departed Canada. We chatted with our school councilor who would be overseeing our schooling two days before we left. We are still trying to get everything sorted as far as school, but each day we get more and more organized.

We started our journey to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in the wee hours on the 3rd of September. After 4 different airplane rides, varying in length, we landed in Mongolia late at night on the 4th of September. Thank you "International Date Line".
Drew taking a nap in Vancouver.

Katrina taking a nap too.
Waiting for our last flight out of Seoul, Korea to Mongolia.
About half of the Blue Sky Aviation staff was there to meet us and welcome us to this lovely country that we will call home for the next year. After our bags were all loaded into vehicles (all 10 checked bags made it as well as the 5 carry-on and 5 personal bags we had on the plane with us) we drove into the city. We arrived at our new home, an apartment, at about 1am 5th of September.

Since then we have been settling into life in a new country. This includes a lot of walking as we will not be purchasing a vehicle. So we are very thankful for where we live as it is very central to shopping places for groceries and house hold items, and the Blue Sky Aviation office. Most days we will walk about 2 miles, second mile is with backpacks full of things we have bought, new exercise program. 

God has blessed us with a church to call home on the first Sunday we were here. It reminds us all of our church in Kampala. With already feeling at home there, it is helping us settle in.

Thank you all for your prayers as we have made this transition and started this new adventure. Who ever said following God's is boring was wrong. In our experience it has never been boring, but it has been an amazing adventure!
   

            

16 July 2015

The School Year

I month ago the kids finished another school year. Little did they know that we were going to be leaving Uganda before the next school year. Here are a few pictures of their year at Acacia International School.

Second day of school

Drew playing some football (soccer)


Jacqueline playing football

Jacqueline with her best friend right after PE

Jacqueline singing her heart out

Katrina performing at the Festival of Arts

Drew performing at the Festival of Arts

Singing at the Festival of Arts

Showing his musical talents

Katrina performing with her dance club

The kids pine racers

Drew getting an award for Science

Katrina getting an award

All ready for Acacia Olympics (sports day)

Drew doing the chair race

Getting ready for the over-under race

The other two getting ready

Katrina singing in choir

Jacqueline singing in choir

Jacqueline getting an award



26 February 2015

Bible Study

When we were still in Canada this summer I found out that my Wednesday morning Bible study would be doing Beth Moore's study on James.  I was very excited about this as my mother-in-law had just finished this study with her Wednesday morning Bible study and said it was a great study.  Little did I know at the time that God would have me studying James from September to July.

On Thursday's at lunch time another MAF lady and myself teach a Bible study for the ladies in the MAF office.  We decided that since we would be studying James already that we will study James with the ladies in the office as well.  Our format for the office is a little different as the end of the month gets a little busy for them.  So we only meet the first two Thursdays of the month.  We spend both of these weeks on one chunk of James, so you can see we are taking our time going through the book.  

In my Wednesday Bible study we have finished the Beth Moore study, and now have moved on to Judges.  I am happy to say that for the first time I finished all of the homework for one of her studies.  I thank God that He gave me the strength to get it done, and on time.

So at this season of my life God has asked me to study James a little deeper.  What I have learned already is pretty amazing.  The two things that stand out to me so far are...  One, to live out, my faith in God and Jesus Christ my Savior, in every day life.  Two, how am I using my tongue?  Is it bringing glory to my God or destroying what He has created?  It is not always easy to do these things, but with God's help all things are possible.  

As I continue to study what God says in James, I ask you to pray with me, that I would listen to Him and that I would not give up when things get tough.  That I would allow myself to be molded by the potter's hands.