Hmmm. What might be interesting to you? I’m going to bullet
point this because the interesting stuff doesn’t flow together but comes in
short blips.
·
We still don’t know what we will be doing after
we leave Uganda. This is a little distressing. Mark is a planner and fails to
see the ‘adventure’ in the unknown! Sarah manages to see the adventure but is
much more likely to foolishly land her mind upon something that sounds great
and say ‘Yes! Let’s do that! I’m sure God will stop us if it’s not meant to
be.’ Meanwhile the planner in the family researchers every possible pitfall
involved in every possible future and shoots them all down methodically. Truly,
God has put us together and will eventually show us what to do. Good thing He’s
patient, unwavering, and has a good sense of humor!
·
The kids are enjoying their new school. Seth was
most definitely ready for school. Jodie has needed some convincing and has even
gone on strike. But after a few days of sitting in a chair while her brother
was at school, losing all movie and sugar privileges, and the promise of
tougher penalties to come, she decided school was the better option and enjoys
it when she’s there. They are the only ‘Muzungu’ kids there and do stand out a
bit. But their teacher’s children are half British and similar in age (boy girl
respectively) so Seth and Jodie have begun to make friends with them. Seth
quoted Alex his new friend with a swear word last week. I did well… I didn’t
gasp and begin to question if he’s old enough for school. I just reminded him
that Alex can choose to talk how he wants but we choose not to talk like that.
He glibly said, ‘Yep!’ and that was that. Funny how most of our exposure to
kids their ages have been with missionaries so they haven’t heard much swearing
or seen terrible behaviour. North America here we come! Why don’t they have
‘parent college’ ? Seriously! Anyone considering parenting should take at least
4 years!
·
Jodie continues to be more challenging to parent
than her brother. She just loves to push the envelope. But from such spunk
comes some great laughs and delight. One morning this summer the kids were
eating breakfast and I was walking through the kitchen with Meg on my shoulder.
Without warning she launched a large puke over my shoulder, down my back and
onto my foot. Without hesitation Jodie pronounced loudly, ‘Aha! That’s why I
choose not to be a mommy! I choose to be a daddy!’ That’s my girl. She’ll be 4
tomorrow! Very grown up for her age as most girls are. She loves to mother Meggie
and this has shifted from being simply stressful to very helpful. I’m thankful
for my girls!
·
And now for the smallest member of the crew. She
is ever changing and now sports three gigantic teeth. She thinks biting is
fantastic and even grinds them together to hear the sound. She can spend quite
a long time with Seth and Jodie in the toy room while they play make-believe.
She just watches and often pulls down any towers they build and occasionally
interferes in a dinosaur game. At which point we hear Jodie’s motherly voice,
‘No Meggie, no! Here you play with this.’ And the disturbance is dealt with.
Meggie loves to play peek-a-boo these days. She thinks she’s hiding her eyes
when she puts both hands up on the sides of her head or over her ears and then
her little twinkling eyes dance as we say, ‘Where’s Meggie?’. Then when she
takes her hands off her head we must say, ‘There she is!’ Adorable. She’ll be
one year old on Nov 23. I can’t believe it! I spent more nights walking the
floor with this girl than I did with both of my other kids combined. I
sincerely thought in those bleary eyed hours that it would never end. But
thankfully that part is easing and we’re having so much fun watching her
personality emerge and seeing her scurrying around to get into everything. Very
fun!
·
I’m really enjoying the Reflexology course I’m
taking. I have noticed that the medical field and Reflexology don’t always love
each other. I’m not sure what the statistics are but I know some Reflexologists
are extreme and some doctors view it as phony baloney. I’ve been able to
conclude for myself that I believe it is definitely not phony baloney, but in
NO WAY should it ever be considered to replace the practice of modern medicine
or contradict it. I believe it can be used as a tremendous supplemental therapy
to strengthen our bodies to perform in the way they’re designed to and to
prevent them from becoming worn down and susceptible to sickness and disease; similar
to so many habits and regimens that promote wellness and good health. Anyway…
I’m really enjoying it and find the studying so easy because it is something I
believe in and am intrigued by. Mark’s enjoying the fact that I have to do 30
case studies in these next several weeks. He sees himself as the sole
beneficiary of those. In reality I tend to spread them out a little bit to some
people I know who are having medical issues and can’t always afford medicine.
I’m going to see if I can track some improvement in them and then teach their
families some simple techniques to help them when money is too tight for
medicine. Why not?
·
That’s all from me! If you hear a rumor that
we’re going to buy a junky old boat and sail our family down to South Africa
from Kenya, or leaving Uganda on this outdated over packed plane, or
we’re going to manage a Bible Camp in Saskatchewan, or we’re taking language
courses so we can click and cluck to a remote tribe in West Africa, or Mark’s
taking a job as a dance instructor at a fine arts school in Vancouver, it would
only be because Sarah was the only one who’d heard the idea and thought some
aspect of it would be adventurous (or just hilarious). Don’t worry. As soon as
Mark gets wind of it he’ll shoot it down and we’ll be back to the drawing
board. Joking aside, thank you all so much for your prayer support and
encouragement in this season. It has been the most difficult of our lives. Not
only the uncertainty but even more-so the grief and loss of leaving here. Thank
you for understanding and choosing to care even if you can’t relate to it. We
treasure you so much.
Till next month, Sarah
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