Back in Canada!

Hi Family & Friends,

Just wanted to quickly post that we have arrived safe and sound here in Vancouver. We got here on Sunday and it is great to see Becky's family. We are excited to be back. We will now begin the process of a million 'to-dos' and processing through the last 2 years before we head to Texas in March. Here we go!

Also, it's been an eventful couple of weeks leading up to our arrival so here are some highlights:

• The EMI family threw us a farewell party before we left. Our team was able to share what our time with them has meant, and we were able to say good-bye to the people who have become our world in Uganda. It was great to see everyone one last time and we will miss our Uganda family.
• Before we arrived in Vancouver, we had a week long layover in Montreal to spend some time with Becky's sister and family. It was COOOOOLLLLLDDD! But it was great to spend that time with them and see all their kids. Nathaniel and Bethany loved "snowing" which involved eating and throwing snow, sledding, and eating more snow! We are going to miss them.
• Our last day in Montreal we all went ice skating and it was Nate and Beth's first time to go. They had a great time! It was all going well until Nathaniel fell hard and cut his chin open. So we spent a few hours in the emergency room on our last day. It ended up being a great ER experience and Nathaniel cooperated great. Never a dull moment with little kids.
• Sunday we had our flight from Montreal to Vancouver and the last hour was on the turbulent side. So with about 10 minutes to go, Bethany looks at us and says in her loud silly voice "I'm going to die!!!!" She had this huge grin on her face and most of the people around us began to chuckle as we tried to explain to her that we don't need to say that on an airplane. It was hilarious nonetheless.

Anyway, we are excited to be back and start the process of settling. Thank you everyone for their support! We appreciate you.

The Whisnands

Nathaniel ready to play in the snow!

Ice skating!!

January 2016 Update

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and are looking forward to all of the things that 2016 will hold for you and your families!

This week the kids head back to school and I head back to work, and Jay started back on Monday. The weather here has been particularly hot and so after spending Tuesday on the porch watching Nathaniel and Bethany jump and splash in our blow up pool; it feels more like the end of summer vacation than the end of Christmas Break! I (Becky) even managed to get a little sun on my shoulders while filling up the pool...bucketful after bucketful...it’s a good-sized pool ;)

In some ways, though, it is the end of our summer break: we have a count-down chain to returning to Canada up in the dining room, and we only have one more weekend in our house before we head on over to a temporary house for our last month here. Our house is in disarray, as we try to sort our belongings: to take to Canada, to take to the temporary house and later give away, to give away now, to throw away, and items that we have sold to another family. And, as you can imagine, sorting things with two preschoolers who are happily rediscovering sorted items is challenging. One of the great things, though, is that we are able to talk to them and involve them in some of the decision making, and explaining to them why we don't need to keep all that we have and watch them get excited about sharing our things with other people.

One of our challenges, of course, with all of the packing, is that we still need to be engaged here until February when we go. It can be so easy to think about all of the things that we need to organize for our return, and miss the opportunities to serve and see God at work while we are still here. There are still new families who need community and support and Jay still has lots of work to do on his projects. His biggest task, though, will be helping the newest member of the EMI team integrate into work. In God's great provision, this week we have a new family arriving and the husband will be taking over Jay's role in the Construction Management Team. He will have about 4 weeks or so with Jay to learn the ropes and so hopefully, by the time we leave, he'll be ready to go.

Hmmm...other news....other news...*wink wink*

In the midst of all this transition, we are excited to share with you all that we are expecting our third baby! We are due July 21st and so far all is well. I felt pretty rough the last month, but this last week I have felt more like myself again, much to everyone in this family's relief! Nathaniel and Bethany love talking about LP3 (Little Person 3), and Bethany loves to give it kisses. They are so excited to have a little brother or sister and I know that they love LP3 already:)

The biggest thing that you can do for us now is pray:

- for focus during our move and as we finish our jobs
- for the kids and us as we transition back to North America, particularly with culture shock (the other day Bethany asked me who Grandma and Grandpa's guard was...ha!)
- for our LONG flights back, and also for safety as we fly out just before Uganda holds its Presidential election
- for the health of our baby and myself as we travel
- for us to finish well, to debrief about our time here, and to leave knowing that we did what God sent us here to do

Thank you all so much for your support: the work that God is doing here would not be possible without all of you!

Much love,

Jay, Becky, Nathaniel, Bethany and LP3

(jaywhisnand@gmail.com / becky.whisnand@gmail.com) 

Support Info

If you want to contribute to our support account, please go to http://emiworld.org/donate.php. There are options for donating from the US or Canada. You can donate by CC or check. Any questions, please email.

Some pictures from the last few months

Becky & the kids with some friends

We went to our car mechanic's wedding. This is a shot of the bride & groom at the reception.

This is our Thanksgiving dinner with our AWESOME intern Sean.

Becky took one of her classes on a field trip to the Kampala Sewage Treatment Plant. EWWW!

Merry Christmas!

Our friend Erin took some pictures of our family for Christmas. Christmas in Africa!

Kid picture

We had the EMI staff Christmas party at our house. This is the kids at the photo booth.

Photo Booth

This is from the kids school Christmas program.

Christmas break swimming fun in the back yard.