May Days

Happy May!

I must confess, I am sad to look at the calendar and realize that this May Long Weekend will not be one spent camping with family, but we hope that all of you with plans to head out of town have a fabulous time! Eat a few s'mores for us please...especially because marshmallows are just one of the many things that you can't get here;)

We're definitely feeling more settled in here. Jay has been going in to the office every week and is getting more and more familiar with his role there.

With Jay at work, the kids and I have trying to find our new normal, and with that, I have been trying to find my purpose here (which, of course, is a continuous process...) To be frank, being a stay at home mom here is quite challenging for a number of reasons. First off, I have very few chores here because our house helper does most of the cleaning and laundry...and I'm not keen on telling her that I really really want to clean the toilets myself from now on:) That being said, I am very grateful for my house help as other things, particularly making meals and cleaning up afterwards take a lot longer here than back in Canada. The second thing that makes it difficult being here is that there are fewer places to go here to get us out of the house. Before we left, the kids and I had a great routine of grocery shopping, our church's Moms and Tots group, and our Bible Study Fellowship class that kept us busy and encouraged and provided lots of time opportunities to be out in the community.

Now, well, things are quite different. We still go grocery shopping once a week, but it's a 3 store trip instead of a supermarket trip which is much more trying as that is two more and in out of the car seats with toddlers as before and you need to be thinking about the groceries that you leave in the back of your car, baking under the African equatorial sun, while you're making your next purchases...oh, how I miss you! Superstore... The last few weeks we have been attending a moms and tots group that has just started which has been AWESOME, simply because I know that I'll be leaving our compound!!! The ladies and their kids are great too. In an interesting turn of events, beginning next week, I'll actually be hosting the group at our house which will be nice...I won't be leaving the compound, but having people over will still give my week the variety that I am craving and will help get me the people time that I need.

In addition to the need for community for us here, please be in prayer about an intriguing opportunity that has come up for me in the fall. There is an international school close to us here called Acacia International School where we are going to send Nathaniel next year for pre-school. I went to speak with the director of the  school regarding admissions, and before we even made our introductions, the following occurred:

Director: You're with eMi, right?
Me: Yes...?
Director: You're the science teacher, right?
Me (a little weirded out): Yes...?
Director now has huge grin on face...

So we have a conversation, and it turns out that the school is expanding to include a middle school next year, and the following year, a high school, and so, of course, they are looking for a part time science teacher. I'll be meeting with the principal next week to investigate and see if this will be a good fit for me and our family. To be honest, I want to do it because it is a good fit and it would be great to get back in the classroom again, but I am very reluctant because I don't want it to take away too much time from the kids and I, and I don't want to leap into something that seems like a good fit it if takes away from another ministry that God would have me to be doing here.

Finally, I have some exciting news. The Bible study that I mentioned earlier has two classes that run here in Kampala. I attended the closest one a few weeks ago, but it was too far away for us to go to on a weekly basis and I thought that I would just have to figure out another study (which I was very very sad about). But God is so good! He provided a beautiful thing for the kids and I. It turns out that my neighbour and friend has been meeting to start up a third Bible Study Fellowship class here in our neighbourhood and it will begin in the the Fall! I cannot express how happy I am and how blessed I feel!

So there you are. We are well here, although a bit lonely, but we move forward in the confidence of God's calling and leading and are excited to see how God will continue work here in Uganda.

Much love to you all,

Becky, Jay, Nathaniel and Bethany

My "Three Helpers" making pizza with me in the kitchen. Paul is our guard's son and we spend a lot of time with him playing in the yard, and practicing our letters and numbers.

 

Here's something fun that happened at church this past Sunday. If you have ever bought (or are currently wearing) a pair of TOMS shoes, then you have been part of what we saw:

Children waiting in line to get their new TOMS shoes.

Girls wearing their new shoes.

New shoes!