Home Safe

Wow, so today is Saturday and as you can see what time this is being updated we are still not fully adjusted to Oklahoma time.  We apologize that we have not updated you sooner about our progress this last week.  So much happened and as we have arrived home our first objective was not to squander so much time on the computer/facebook/internet

Summary:
Traveling back to Kampala was wonderful.  We reconnected with all our friends at CLD and even got to make a few new ones.  On Sunday night we made our way back to Entebbe where we visited with all our brothers and sisters at Calvary Chapel on Monday and Tuesday. Grant came down with malaria Tuesday morning around midnight so that kinda spoiled his last day.  He went to the doctor first thing in the morning and got some anti-malarial drugs even though it was too early to test positive. Taking anti-malarial drugs just in case was a much better option than traveling with malaria (and Nigel). So the first 12hrs of traveling was pretty hard on Grant but God is good and so is Excedrin.  After arriving in Dubai at 1am on Wednesday he was able to lay down in the airport and get some rest.  By sunrise he was feeling somewhat better.  Nigel loved the Dubai airport. He quite literally walked laps around the entire thing (its has over 300 gates).  This calorie burning activity was perfect for us as with every step he took we saw his nap-o-meter for our next 14hr flight to Huston get a little bigger. And nap he did!  Time gets a little fuzzy on a 14hr plane ride but we were pretty sure he slept somewhere between 7 and 9 hours. (Praise God!) And perhaps even more we praise God for keeping Katie strong and healthy during all this time of travel. God's grace was undoubtedly sufficient for her to be able to entertain Nigel on the plane, walk laps with him in the airport, and take care of a sick husband, all the while getting VERY little sleep.  Upon arriving in Huston we ran into our biggest disappointment.  Our 1hr flight to Oklahoma City had a 3.5hr delay. So instead of arriving home around 9pm we would not get home until after midnight.  Wow, thanks Continental.  41 hours after departing from Entebbe, Uganda we made it home safe.  ~Amena (Amen in Luganda)

A few extra thoughts:
We made it safely from Kayunga to Kampala on Friday the 16th and it felt like a different city because of the bombings.  Everyone was afraid of everything.  Some churches even set up metal detectors and hired security teams on Sunday morning to search everyone before entering the church.  Of all the security around town the church's response was the most disappointing. We constantly reminded ourselves of Isaiah 8:11-14a
¹¹ The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ¹² “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
      and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
 ¹³ Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
      He is the one you should fear.
   He is the one who should make you tremble.
    ¹⁴ He will keep you safe....

Because of all the unnecessary security and the disappointment of the prosperity gospel in the villages Grant decided to give the Nasana Anglican church a try (shout out to Laura and Clint!).  It felt like a spiritual oasis in the desert.  That might sound extreme but our time in Kayunga had involved so much preaching in various churches that the entire family felt a little worn out.  It was encouraging to be part of a group that prayed on their knees quietly and humbly, asking God to hear their prayers instead of just shouting at Him.  It reminded us how much we need to be praying for the global church.  Too often our only prayers for the global church are for the secret churches in Iran or China.  Well we feel like it is the not-so-secret ones that just might need those prayers even more.

**Update on Frank**
As we went back through Entebbe we made a few calls to find out more information about Frank.  How he was doing and if any progress was made finding his mother.  It was discovered that his mother is a prostitute and sadly he is likely a byproduct of this. So looking for his father would be pointless. His mother is still no where to be found and from the looks of it has no interest in being found.  We were told at this point even if she is found Frank will not be returned to her but she will be charged with child neglect and be put in jail. So either way Frank is going to be staying with Susan for quite awhile if not for a few years.  Now they think he is closer to the age of 5 or even 6 not 4.  Susan decided that he should begin school soon. We have told Susan that we want to make sure Frank is taken care of and provided for.  Which opens up an opportunity to you and everyone who reads this.  Beginning this August Frank needs ~$170 for his school fees. The cost covers everything: tuition, books, supplies, a uniform, lunch and even transport to/from school.  Uganda is on a trimester system so this cost would be 3x a year. We would love to partner with you in this.  If you are interested in contributing please send us an email: grantadavis@ou.edu and we will give you more information as we work out all the details.  Any contribution will help (even just $10 once every 3 months) and there is no overhead so every penny goes directly to the school to help Frank.

We love you all and we thank you for your prayers, we felt them. Now that we have good internet we uploaded more pictures on some of our previous posts (and a video of Nigel walking).  Feel free to look back through the archives of our summer to see more stuff.
Love,
G&K
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

Baby Steps

We intended to post this all summer but the internet was...African. Here are the baby steps you have waited so long for.

I do want to clarify that this video was taken on June 11th and now he is almost running. If you pay close attention to the video you can see why so much of our glassware was getting broken, haha.

We Found the Source!

So today was our last day in Kayunga. Ian and Milly took us to Jinja to see the source of the Nile! It is actually pretty neat. If it hadn't been spoiled by 3 hydro-electric dams we are sure it would have been even more spectacular.  Friday we are headed to Nansana (Kampala) to visit our friends from CLD for a few days before going on to Calvary Chapel Entebbe and then home!! God has been so good to us.  Everyone is in great health and excited to begin our debrief time.  Wednesday Grant preached for the final time (we think, haha.) Every day has been a great blessing. One of the greatest needs here in rural Uganda is knowledge of scripture.  Grant asked Ian about how many pastors had any formal education in the scriptures. Any bible education, not just 2 and 4 year bible schools.  Less than half, and he said even that was a generous estimate. Wow...what a tremendous need.  These pastors have plenty of passion for Jesus but watching pre-recorded sermons of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and TD Jakes can only take you so far as a pastor or even as a Christian.  No sermon can replace reading and knowing scripture for yourself.  Please keep all the believers here in your prayers.  One of the greatest rewards from our time here in Kayunga is the down time we have had to read scripture.  African time is full of long gaps and we have both been investing that extra time in the word. It seems that no matter how many times you read God's word it always gets better! It is also surprising to see how much more time you have to study scripture when there is no internet!

Be praying for Uganda.  We are sure you have heard about the bombings on Sunday during the World Cup.  Uganda has never seen Islamic Terrorism like this before and everyone is pretty shaken up.  It is very easy for Christians to get all worked up and forget about Jesus' message of love and forgiveness.  We want to thank all of you again for your prayers and support through our trip.  As we make our way back to Entebbe next week you can be expecting an update on Frank.

Mukama Yebazibwe!! (Praise the Lord)
-G&K
When people’s lives please the Lord,
      even their enemies are at peace with them. - Prov 16:7

So...we think the monkeys took Nigel's shoe

As you all know (or should have known) Thursday was Katie's birthday, July 8th.  As a birthday gift Grant took the family to a very nice african resort/campground called the Hairy Lemon.  Grant was able to go last year and this year Pastor Ian's house is only 45mins away (maybe 20 miles).  The Hairy Lemon is far from a Sandals island resort but it is located on an island in the Nile River. It is a simple place but perfect for sitting back and relaxing. The only transport to the island is via a small wooden boat!  We were able to stay in a wonderful little one-room cabin on Thursday night.  We had a wonderful time although we think that a monkey stole one of Nigel's shoes! haha  We took them off on the front porch of our cabin and the next day one was no where to be found!! Nigel has been known to throw things in the trash but there was no trash can this time so it had to be the monkeys.  We apologize for those of you who tried to call to wish Katie a happy birthday, our cell phone only worked at the top of a hill on the island so most of the day we were unavailable.  You can still feel free to call us or even send us a text @ 011-256-78-752-0977.  We are having a lot of trouble accessing our email here in Kayunga and there are maybe 2 computers with internet for all 7,000 people plus the many villages in the surrounding area. 

As for our first week here in Kayunga it has been very busy.  As it turns out Grant has been asked to 'give the word' almost every day and some days even twice!  Ian has kept us very busy between the primary school, speaking at his church and visiting churches as far as an hour into the bush. It has been awesome! At first he was quite intimidated to teach so much but God has been very good and what a blessing it has been to share God's word to a people so hungry for spiritual meat. The prosperity gospel is very common in Africa so spiritual meat can be hard to find for some of these churches.  Katie is staying busy chasing Nigel around who has even given running a couple of unsuccessful tries.  On Sunday Katie was able to give the Word to the children in Children's church.
Continue praying as this will be our last full week in Uganda.  We will be returning to Oklahoma on Wednesday night July 21st.  We look forward to seeing you all and we daily talk about how much we look forward to returning to our brothers and sisters at Calvary Chapel.  We love you all and we thank you for your prayers and continued support.
-love G&K

OH Boy!!!

We have made it safely from Entebbe to Kayunga Uganda. It is the last move we will make in our trip till we return home to Norman. We have been warmly welcomed by our dear Ugandan friend pastor Ian Sabbanja. The work ahead of us in Kayunga will involve helping with very different needs than we were asked to fill in Entebbe. Grant found out not long after we arrived on Thursday evening that he would be speaking at the Christian Schools chapel on Friday, then at a Friday evening service,  both church services on Sunday then again Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening. A bit daunting but it has driven him DEEP into the Word, where he should be, as he writes all these sermons. We expect most of our work here to be evangelistic, and involve a lot of travel to nearby village churches. Be praying for safety as we travel and take the Word.
We really look forward to our time here in Kayunga. The church members here have bestowed more gifts (avocados) on us than we know what to do with. But we feel so warmed and welcomed by their love.

We all continue to be doing very very well. Though we are becoming more and more anxious for home and familiar faces, we are trying not to count down the days quite yet in an effort to focus on our work here. Nigel is walking better than ever now.  We just know he has changed so much since we left, but are sure we dont notice nearly as much as all of you will when you see him again.  We praise God for such a versatile child who allows us to uproot him to different countries and homes without any complaints.  And a special guest to this post who has gotten very little mention yet in this blog but should!! is our ever growing baby #2. who can be felt moving and kicking now daily.  We recieved the exciting news this past week that baby is in fact a HE, as we had begun to suspect. We think Nigel will prefer a brother anyways. All our condolences Garryn, we love you!!

Update on Frank

We are so thankful for all of your prayers for Frank. It has been an exhausting process for us with several ups and downs.
Much of the weekend was spent working out what will be next for Frank. We visited a childrens' home in Kampala on Saturday. It was run by an amazing guy named Patrick, who is doing incredible work for the Lord. Grant had the opportunity to show him James 1:27, and we could not believe that he had never heard it before!!!
Sunday we met with Diana, a member of Calvary Chapel Entebbe. Diana is the leader of the Island medical ministry and is helping us work everything out for Frank.  We went carefully over the letter we had received from the officials on the island authorizing us to take Frank. After it was thoroughly translated into English for us, we realized it would probably only be enough to authorize for Frank to be put in a transit home for children, verses being adopted or placed in a more permanent orphanage.  Diana knew of a transit home near Entebbe which is run b a close friend of hers who is a trained social worker. God worked everything out for us to be able to go and visit the home that afternoon. Susan is the name of the social worker who runs the home. We were very impressed with her work, and the facility. We feel like it will be a good safe place for Frank to stay while something else is worked out.
Grant got up before the sun on Monday morning and went out to the Calvary Chapel farm. He had been looking forward to getting to go and even to spend the night with the guys in the farm house. We were unsure if he was going to be able to, with the unexpected responsibility of Frank. But God again worked everything out.
On monday Katie went with Diana and Frank and Nigel to the Entebbe Police station to get the needed document so that Frank could be placed in Susan's transit home.  The officer we met with confirmed what we already knew. That the official letter we received from the island, would only be allow him to stay for no more than 90 days. However, he did give us hope in that in the 90 days if Diana and the medical team can give proof of a genuine attempt to find the mother, then he will consider issuing another letter requesting Frank be put in a more permanent childrens' home. Diana told us that they are already making plans in July to return to both the island which Frank was abandoned to as well as another island where they have heard rumors that his mother is on, to search for her.
It is now Tuesday and we plan to take Frank back to Susans' home around 4 pm today.  Please pray for us as this goes on. It will be a difficult parting for all of us, but especially Frank. As our time with him has gone by it has become very clear to us that this hand off is really something that needs to happen soon for Frank's sake. As his attachment to our Family seems to grow stronger everyday.

Frank

Dear family and friends,

It is 4 am in Uganda right now, and we have been woken up from much needed sleep; sensing the Holy Spirit prompting us to get out this urgent prayer request. This is our story:

The Characters:

Frank, Jesus, Calvary Chapel Entebbe, Katie and Grant

The Plot:

Generally it is the practice of Calvary Chapel Entebbe to send out a medical team once a week to the islands. This week we elected Katie to go, and we told you a bit about her experiences in the past blog. However, there was a short-term mission trip team of American high school/college students who funded multiple trips this week, so Katie went on Wednesday as well. The American/Ugandan medical teams and Katie traveled to the farthest island, more than 2 hours away by boat. While there, the team put on a kids’ camp, with games and songs for the children. There was a small boy in attendance who upon crawling into one of the American’s laps during the music, was found to have a very high temperature. An older child was quickly instructed to take the younger boy to the clinic. And all was thought to be taken care of. However, maybe 10 minutes later the feverish boy was found again wandering around the kids’ camp. When questioned the older child explained that the young boy has no parents and no one to take him to the clinic. At this point Katie, who had been bouncing back and forth between helping with the clinic and the kids’ camp, agreed to take the boy to the clinic to see what could be done for him. 

While waiting in line at the clinic Katie learned from the mothers in the village that the boys name was Frank. No one knows how old he is but most guess he is about 4. They explained that about 2-3 months ago his mother abandoned him to the island. He had a few relatives there, but they beat and abused him so that he would stay away from them. And so for 3 months Frank had been going from door to door begging for food and shelter. Just last week his high fever had gotten so bad that he passed out and they left him for dead, but God had a bigger plan for Frank’s life. Katie carried him through the clinic where he saw the nurse, and was prescribed some Tylenol for his 103 temperature, some water and some antibiotics. The nurse told her that he should take the Tylenol now, and the antibiotics once daily for five days. It was at this point that Katie lost it emotionally, Who is going to give him this medicine? Who will care for him? He has no one.  She took Frank to the corner of the bar being used for the clinic, and just wept as Frank slept soundly on her shoulder.  Once she gained some composure she simply asked if there was anything that could be done.  The leader of the Ugandan medical team told her that with an official letter from the city counsel, they could arrange for Frank to come back on the boat, but there was no one able to house him.  Katie didn’t hesitate to offer our home, our money, and her own care. God showed his incredible favor in this as any official letters in Africa are generally difficult to get your hands on.  Most officials want a bribe and have little concern for orphans.  Within one hour the proper official was found, knew the entire story about the boy, and gladly issued a letter authorizing Calvary Chapel to take Frank.

The Climax:

And so since Wednesday we have become a family of 4. We have since taken Frank to the doctor, and gotten a full physical with blood work.  They told us that he had several strands of malaria, which were very advanced in stage; and he is lucky to be alive. Because his case was so severe he was given and injection of steroids to empower the antiviral medicine which Frank is taking now. We were relieved to hear he is negative for HIV.

The Resolution (PRAYER REQUEST):

As you may know we plan to leave Entebbe on July 1^st. This gives us very little time to find Frank a good place to live. We feel a bit desperate for God’s help. Such a great responsibility is weighing heavily on our hearts, and our physical bodies are exhausted.  Yet we are blessed and honored to have this opportunity to put our faith into action. Each morning we can sense a strong spiritual battle as the enemy tries to bring discouragement and hopelessness. We are in desperate need of prayer, and that is why we are up now getting this out to you all. Please, please pray for this situation. Pray that God would continue to reveal his plan for Frank to us.  Pray for continued favor in the legal issues involved in this process.  Pray 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 over our family as we face trouble emotionally and spiritually. And give praise that Frank is alive, and laughing and playing daily with Nigel!!

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. - James 1:27

Is it Safe?

The islands continue to be a bitter-sweet experience for both of us. These pictures give only a small glimpse but the needs are real.  Pray for Katie as she goes out to the Zinga tomorrow. It is the farthest of the islands that Calvary Chapel ministers to and it takes 2.5 hours to get there by boat so pray for good weather! :-)

Once again we feel that pictures speak so much better than words and these pictures speak volumes.

Calvary Chapel has continued to be an abundant fountain of love & joy for our family.  Nigel aka "the mzungu baby" has continued to be the star and is the nursery favorite.  As quoted from Jane, his nursery teacher, "He just does whatever he wants...but he does not slap the babies or anything." Well...thats good to hear.  He continues to walk with greater confidence and is routinely caught strolling around our little apartment with prohibited items: glassware, cameras, headphones, live millepedes, toilet paper rolls, or the best yet--his diaper.

On the home front Katie is doing an excellent job keeping up with everything.  Even after Grant accidently threw away half our cloth diapers last week she is still in high spirits. (In his own defense they were in a black trash bag by the front door & smelt...well, like a bag of dirty diapers.)  Katie is becoming a real master at balancing sideways on the bodda bodda (public motorcycle taxis) with Nigel on her lap or while being squished between me and our driver. Everytime Nigel is in the backpack he literally stops traffic all over town, especially if there is a backpack-bodda bodda combo.  The Ugandans find it so funny to see him in a backpack and even funnier that Grant carries the backpack.

Grant was able to go to the farm for the second time today and he completed another good work day with 4 popped blisters to prove it!  The farm guys: Robin and James continue to encourage him along with Deus the assistant pastor.  Today's program was to make a land bridge through the marsh.  It is a month long project but they made amazing progress with the help of one of the only John Deere Gators on the continent of Africa, haha. The Africans all love it! Thank God for that donation!

Today Grant was asked if it was safe to have his 14 month old son and 17 week pregnant wife in Uganda.  His response was only a well rehearsed statement about faith that Katie & Nigel are in God's hands and He is able to protect them so there is nothing to fear but God.  There was nothing wrong with that response but the more we thought about the question the more we began to wonder, when in scripture exactly did Jesus call us to be safe?

when Nigel's cranky the updates are short...

We will start off by apologizing for our lack in blog updates. If we have learned anything from this it is to update the blog while you have the chance. Because We're fairly certain we had the opportunity but put it off to do later. And of course later was to be over the weekend when we found ourselves without internet for 3 and a half days. We're hoping you can pardon our lazyness, as well as our unreliable African internet.
We are still shocked and surprised, then smile with joy every time we see our baby walking all around without help. He is so talented. We have been working hard to get a video up of him so that you all can see.
The secret is out that there is a free computer repair man visiting Calvary Chapel Entebbe. Many people from church have been keeping Grant busy with their technology needs. Bringing their sick computers to him to take a look at and at times heal. He is of course happy to serve, especially in this way, and never turns anyone down. Though to Katie's great horror, she has found that even as far away from home as Uganda she can not escape the reality of combatting a desktop being broken down in several parts and eternally spread out on her kitchen table.
When not working on computers, which is actually most of the time. Grant spent much of last week going on home visits with Julius, an associate pastor at the church. They visited with mostly widows and single mothers, getting to see their hurts and needs and then pray for them. It was a humbling experience to say the least.
Yesterday, Grant was once again gracious enough to stay home and let Katie spend the day on the medical outreach to one of the islands on Lake Victoria. The team of people was able to medicate and hydrate about 40-50 sick children. And 30 adults. Being seperated from the mainland leads the island people to suffer extreme poverty. After visiting the islands we always come home to each other with stories of very heart breaking scenes.
Needless to say it has been a challenging week for us on many personal spiritual levels. We've stayed up late so many nights talking about what our response ought to be to being brought so near to such great need. We keep these verses ever on our mind and we want to give them to you as well.

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
If someone has enough money to live well, and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion- how can God's love be in that person?
Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so that we will be confident when we stand before God.
I John 3:17-19

More later,
Grant and Katie

35 Bunches of Matoke

Well yesterday I (Grant) had an amazing afternoon at the Calvary Chapel farm. As you can see in these pictures we harvested 35 bunches of matoke, a Calvary Chapel farm month record! Praise God!  Each bunch goes for about 5000-8000 Uganda Shillings which is equivalent to about $2.50 - 4.00 but here in Uganda 8000 shillings can get you a 8 hour bus ride anywhere in the country and $20USD can get you a bus ride to any country neighboring Uganda.  Anyway, I had a great time out on Lake Victoria and have sun burns to show for it.  The farm can be accessed by a 15min boat ride or a 1 hour boda boda (motorcycle) ride. Currently at the farm they are focusing mainly on tree crops (bananas, matoke, lemons) and beans.  They have a few chickens and plan this year to try pigs for the second year. As much as much I enjoy working on computers it is always nice to go out and get your hands dirty once in a while.  Yesterday I got to do both and it was freakin' awesome!  In the first picture you can see the Calvary Farm crew Robin (center) and James aka The Matoke Master (right).  Also I had quite a lot of fun poking fun at the Ugandans as none of them could swim very well and wore their life jackets religiously. haha We appreciate all your prayers and will continue to keep you posted. You can be praying today as I go out to the islands on a medical outreach.  -G

2 Bowls and a Jar

Those are the things that Nigel has broken from our little kitchen in just the past week.One of the bowls he pulled off the shelf left him with a decent 1.5-2 inch cut on his leg. We think he's going to live. In fact, we're uncertain if he even knows he was injured. And last but certainly not least we give a special shout out to Zac Miller for at the last minute at the OKC airport equipping us with the first aid kit from his car. The Lord knew we would need it yesterday.  Grant was even on his way to the pharmacy to buy supplies, when we remembered we had it.






















 We are still sad to be a part from all of our friends at CLD. One of Grant's last days working was spent with Ronny at the farm.

They worked hard clearing an area of dense brush along the fence. As the picture shows, they got A LOT done! Altogether they had a great day together with lots of laughs and good memories. We have been so challenged by the young men like Ronny, who are working with CLD in their home country to bring hope and healing to people.  It commissions us to to the same in our own home town.
It was really fun for all 3 of us to get to visit the Kids House together. Disappointingly there were only about 2 or 3 kids there, as the van was late that day to pick them up. After waiting as long as we could we had to get back because it was getting dark, and Nigel was getting hungry. We still played hard with the few kids that were there. And they loved picking Nigel up and carrying him all around. It's a funny sight really, when a 3 or 4 year old child, who weighs only slightly more than Nigel swings him up on their hip and carries him around.

Our week has been pretty busy.  
We spent most of the weekend settling in, buying a few supplies, and getting familiar with town. June 2nd-6th there was a crusade in town which was put on by all the local churches working together. It was exciting to get to be a part of it, and see God move.

On Monday we were treated by our host missionaries to a day at the beach on Lake Victoria. The weather was just right and the views were spectacular. And well, this picture pretty much sums up how Nigel felt about the Lake. We gave it several attempts, and even tried the nearby pool where there were no waves; he really wanted nothing to do with the sand and the water, but played happily in the grass.

On a happy Nigel note. We are proud to announce two important advancements in our little guys life. The first, as of yesterday we have seen serious improvement in the area of walking. He is really getting the hang of it it seems, and is choosing to walk more and more often. The second is a very recent (though slight) interest in trading his bottle in for a sippy cup. Yeah, we're pretty excited too!!!

Life has been really nice so far in Entebbe. At times we feel a little too spoiled, but know that this is where God has brought us for this time.  We are currently staying at the SIL Uganda guest house. We live in a cute little apartment, with one bedroom, a full bathroom, a small kitchen, and a family room, which we use as Nigel's bedroom, and a dining room. Katie has been busy cooking all of our meals here,(we were very blessed at the hands of a cook while with CLD) as well as being kept very busy by Nigel. Grant is quickly  learning all the work that Calvary Chapel is doing here, and how he can help with it. Yesterday he spent most of the day fixing some computers, a project not yet done. And today he is visiting the Calvary Chapel farm, to check out that ministry.  Everything is going well, and everyone is staying healthy.  We thank you for your prayers, there are times we look at each other and just know someone must be praying.
More later,
Grant, Katie and Nigel

Week 2 - Kampala

It is hard to believe that our time with Come Lets Dance (CLD) is already nearing its end. Friday morning we will move to Entebbe, where we will spend the next month working with Calvary Chapel Entebbe. We had a neat opportunity to visit the church last Sunday and meet some of the people we will be working with, and have lunch with the pastor and his family. If our visit taught us anything, it is that our work and daily life will all become very different once we make the move to Entebbe, but we can feel God preparing our hearts even now, and we are excited to find out what He has planned for us there. 

We continue to become more and more framiliar with the public transit system around Kampala.  Trying to remember the difference between Nansana, Nakalabya, Wakiso, Namasera, Wandegea, the New Taxi Park verses the Old Taxi Park can be quite confusing.  Through it all everyone seems to be adjusting well to getting around.

Our one year old companion still does not walk. He seems so interested in it, but then just second guesses his abilities every time and reaches for the floor as a safer, more certain option.  Interestingly enough to his parents, who have never found fear or caution to be his strong suit. The visit to Calvary Chapel on Sunday was perhaps the highlight of Nigel's summer in Uganda thus far, as he got to attend the nursery class. We were strongly warned before hand, that he may not be comfortable in the nursery, as it was described to us as being a bit chaotic, full of babies, and just one large room. But upon dropping him off, we laughed at the similarities between the Ugandan nursery and that of our home Calvary Chapel. Nigel spent the two hour church service doing exactly what he has been wanting to do for two weeks now. Which is to crawl freely on a floor filled with toys to choose from, and there were snacks!!!

Saturday, Grant was kind enough to stay home and tackle Nigel and cloth diapers, allowing Katie to help out at a medical outreach in the Katanga slum. It was a great day for her, aside from a moderate sunburn, a highlight of her trip for sure. They were able to offer help and relief to over 200 people in need.

For the past two days, Grant continues to work really hard on the project for the new school: spraying for flees and making trips to the Ministry of Education in downtown Kampala and out to the small local town council office. It is a long, difficult process of forms and application, but he seems to be working out the kinks and is in good spirits about it.

Walking is hard to do

Hi everyone,
Tonights update will be short and sweet, as we are exhausted after long days of work. Sorry, no pictures.
The past two days have been very full, but exciting. here's what everyone's been up to:
Grant: Grant has spent the past two days primarily focusing on the new school, which CLD has plans for in the future. It has been really exciting for him as he is already so passionate about education. Most of monday he spent in meetings, just going over the plans, and hopes for the school. Then tuesday he had the exciting opportunity to drive 4 hours south to visit a school which is set up, much like what CLD will want to do. He got to meet with the director and the school's principle, and ask lots of questions. He loved it! and is really on fire about being a big part of this new ministry. The rest of the week will see him probably pouring more of himself in to work for the new school, as well as working at the farm all day thursday, and a possible medical trip on friday to the slums.
Katie: Katie has had her hands perpetually full of babies. She has creatively mastered away to carry both Mercy and Nigel safely across the compound with just her two arms though, which is really helpful. She has been spending her days here at the CLD property, caring for the 2 babies, and helping the staff cook and clean and organize whenever she can.  One important praise to report about Katie, is that she has been morning sickness free for nearly 3 days now!! yay!! With the added responsibilities placed on her now, this comes as an even bigger answer to prayer.
Nigel: Nigel has finally adjusted to the time change, and is sleeping through the night here. We work ceaselessly throughout the day (as do the Ugandans) to encourage him to walk. He is getting so close everyday it seems. It would really improve life for everyone if Nigel could get down and walk, but especially Nigel, who always wants to be put down, but lacks adequate crawling surfaces. Yesterday he did sustain his first Ugandan injury (unfortunately in an attempt to walk) as he fell on a concrete floor, and cracked his chin open. No stiches, and its already looking a lot better, but we got a good picture of it.  He is adjusting well to the food, the Ugandans can not believe he eats everything the we adults eat, as well as they remark about how much water he drinks throughout the day!!! What can we say??!!! Nigel continues to steal the show, we never leave to go anywhere without people coming just to see the mazungu (white) baby. They love to touch his hair, and laugh.
We are all in excellent health, and spirits, praise God! We are just busy busy and working hard. Pray for us that our strength would come from the joy of the Lord and that He would multiply our rest, as we learn to live with a newborn again, who still wakes to eat at night :)
Love you all,

First 48 hrs

God is good! Our traveling was incredible. Our 14.5hr flight to Dubai turned into 16hrs as we sat on the plane in Houston for at least an hour and a half. First it was a mechanical issue (which we did not have any a/c for) then right as we got to the runway they had to call us back because someone on the plane had to be questioned by TSA security before we could take off. 

During our flights Nigel was always the star especially with an elderly Iranian couple who sat behind us from Houston to Dubai. They did not speak any English except to tell us they were from Iran but I'm sure you all know that Nigel didn't mind. Once in Dubai Emirates gave us a free hotel room and our bags were able to check all the way to Entebbe! That was def a God thing. We did not think we would want a hotel but it proved a real blessing. Nigel did not really sleep much once on the ground and his jet lag is still causing some exciting days and nights.

Dubai was amazing! We arrived an hour late at 8pm so we only had a chance to go to the Dubai Mall, see the worlds largest aquarium (inside the mall) the tallest tower (next to the mall) for a few seconds. The worlds largest disappointment was when we we left our digital camera in the taxi! ish...so we only have one picture from our Dubai hotel room window that I took with our video camera. I felt like it was fitting: the tallest tower foreshadowed by construction cranes.

Well these first 2 days in Uganda have been slow as we settle down into our new routine. There is a beautiful infant here at Come Lets Dance (CLD) named Mercy that Katie has quickly taken responsibility for. Tragically Mercy's mother died during childbirth or shortly afterwards and was abandoned. No one is quite sure exactly how old she is but she is only 10lbs and they are quite certain she is older than 3 months. We are all adjusting relatively well here so far. Please be praying as we settle into new responsibilities at CLD and develop relationships with the locals. I was able buy a cell phone so you can txt me or call (calling can be expensive). 011-256-78-7520-977 The time difference is +8hrs from Central Time. We love you all and are continually thankful for your prayers.

Safe in Uganda

Hello everyone, I wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived safely at Come Lets Dance in Kampala, Uganda.  Our nearly 40 hours of traveling went surprisingly well with only a few minor speed bumps.  To our surprise and God's grace Nigel was a real champion. I feel like he is quickly gaining an international following with his contagious giggles and happy heart. haha. I will be posting more information tomorrow.  We thank you all for your prayers.

love
-G&Kt

What a semester!

So here we are just 5 days away from leaving for Uganda and boy are we behind on this blog. Sometimes I feel like blogs are inevitably doomed to go long periods without entries. It seems that the times when you have the most to say you have the least time to sit down and tell everyone. Well the shortest version that picks up from January:
In March we finally figured out all the details for our trip to Uganda. Katie and Nigel were able to go to Stewart & Summer's wedding in Florida for Spring break. Nigel had a blast at the beach eating sand. Grant stayed home to work and rewarded himself with an epic 12 hour LAN Party!! woot woot!! In April we announced that we are pregnant!! Yay!! 10 kids here we come!! Baby (unknown gender) is due December 1st. On April 15th Nigel turned 1!! wow! He is continuing to get bigger and sometimes we think he eats as much as we do. You can see in this picture he is enjoying his very first cake by digging a hole right down the middle. A few weeks after his first birthday he graduated into the forward-facing car seat which everyone has enjoyed and on April 19th Grant turned 23!...whew he is getting old. Not long after we began raising support for Uganda and God provided abundantly more than the $2000 we needed. Boom! *proverbial fist-bump to God* He is so awesome! Our dear friend and brother Ian Sebbanja came to visit us from Uganda for the first week of May. And this week Grant had 2 of the hardest finals of his OU career....on the same day! ish... Today we begin packing because we never like to leave things to the last minute ;-) but the power randomly went out for most of the morning so that was an uninvited surprise. We ask for continued prayer this summer as we pour ourselves out for Jesus in Uganda. We expect to have semi-regular access to internet throughout our stay so we are making it our top priority to keep everyone posted. Everyone is welcome to come see us off on Tuesday (May 18th) at 11:30am at Calvary Chapel in Norman.

sick puppies

Thus far January has been a trying month to our home. At least one person has been sick all month so far. And earlier this week all three members were plagued by presumably the same cold. As usual Grant got over the sickness in his usual 24-48 hours, while Nigel and i have drudged on still sick. We would be more jealous of him for his speady recoveries, but instead are thankful that God would heal him so that he can get to work and win some bread for us. Today however there has been a turn in health for nigel and i. For example, for the past 35 minutes nigel has been happily playing on the family room floor with his toys, something he has not done yet this week with out crying to be held and comforted. Secondly, it only took one suck of the nasal aspirator on each side of nigels nose this morning, a relieving sign for us all, as using the nasal aspirator is one of the worst parts of everyones day here.
We had a wonderful Christmas and got to see ALL the family. Nigel was less interested in the holidays than we had imagined he would be. I think we unwrapped all the presents we had wrapped for him. (glad we got him diapers, wipes and jars of baby food, and not expensive toys)
Nigel is really moving now, everyday it becomes more difficult to keep up with him. Currently Grant and i are working on devising a way to move the furnature around in our family room in such a way to blockade the computer and the TV with the couches, so that the endless task of keeping nigel away from all of the cords and the DVDs may finally come to an end.
His latest task is his ability to pull himself up on things. Sadly informing us that all the objects previously thought out of reach now must be kept even higher up. This new talent has also caused more falls than any 9 month old should probably sustain in any certain amount of time, which subsequently has resulted in the appearance of several bumps and bruises. Slowly though he is learning to sit down when he wants to get back on the floor or putting his hands down first so he can crawl, much better than just falling to one side.
Plans for Uganda are coming along well, we will hopefully have a letter going out soon. The dates of the trip will be May 18th-July 20th.
We are really looking forward to 2010. Grant and i took some time over the Christmas break to just talk about our life together and all that has happened in the past 2 years. And as we recounted all that the Lord has given to us, and those things He has taken away, we were overwhelmed with thanksgiving to Him for all He's done. Every day it seems we are understanding more and more that to be parents and have a child is such a blessing, and our prayer is always that we would never forget that and begin to see them as some kind of liability, but rather as a blessing and a heritage from the Lord. We are so thankful for our marriage and how God has brought us together just for the betterment of each other. We agreed it seems hard at times to believe that this life we have together is even really happening. We are so blessed!!Here are some Dec/Jan pictures
1) nigel helping decorate (he crawled in here on his own)
2)family Christmas in Altus
3)the first time nigel pulled himself up ( one of the few firsts we actually had the camera ready for)