Hello from northern Uganda! If any of you are still following our blog, we are still here :) Sorry for the long time between posts, but our internet connection has been painfully slow, and our website has not been uploading at all. 

To update everyone, we have decided not to do surgery on Izzy right now. There don't seem to be any good options as far as surgery goes, and he is doing much better since his last painful ordeal. He now allows us to "help" him, which has completely prevented any more prolapses. Thank God for that! He is doing really well, and is his normal ornery self :)

The rest of us are still struggling with some sickness, but it is definitely minor, as in runny noses and colds. We are thankful to be on the mend, and are looking forward to a lot of things coming up soon.

It's been a busy few weeks for Kenneth! He's been coaching Kotido high school girls' soccer, and just returned yesterday from a week-long tournament about 6 hours away. They performed well, considering they had never had a coach until several weeks ago, and many had never played before! They were also the only team that could not afford shoes. No, I don't mean cleats, I mean shoes! (Flip-flops don't really work well in soccer games...) Several of them had their feet stepped on, and they slipped and slid on the muddy field, but they played their hearts out and were happy with one win, one draw, and three losses. We are thankful to have Kenneth home again, just in time to give me a wonderful Mother's Day!

Next weekend Kenneth will be traveling with a pastor from Kotido back to his village to lead a pastors' training weekend. He is also taking along a friend from the Shalom Sponsorship Program, Lomeriang, that he is currently discipling. It should be a good trip, full of adventure as they are taking the bus, and rainy season is upon us! Hopefully they will not get stuck in the mud :) Pray that God will use this training time to raise up more laborers for his kingdom, and that Kenneth will have wisdom in discipling Lomeriang.

Things here at home are rolling right along. Lately we have been preparing for our summer volunteers who will be arriving the second of June. We are so excited to be welcoming Kristin, Nikki, and my mom (and possibly one other) for two months. I hope their summer will be one filled with the joy of simple living, fellowship, community, and all the adventures Africa has to offer. We are definitely looking forward to the fellowship! 

Little Achuka Moses continues to grow and thrive. He is still small, but his face couldn't get any fatter! His diapers no longer come up to his armpits, but he is too tiny for our smallest outfits. We are all enjoying him and not really looking forward to his going home. We still don't know exactly when that will be, but more than likely it will be soon as he is healthy and strong. I have enjoyed taking care of him immensely and hope to be able to foster more babies while we are here in Karamoja. Please pray for us as we say goodbye to him and for our relationship with his family to continue after he leaves.

Michaela, Misty and I are continuing our Bible storying in the neighborhood next to us. We are now on the story of Abraham, and it has been received with enthusiasm! It's very entertaining to watch the women as they listen to our translator, and to try and figure out which parts of the stories are causing the clapping and agreement. As we said before, most have never heard these stories before, and because they come from a pastoralist culture, they really identify with them. We continue to struggle with the language barrier, but really enjoy being with the people despite the difficulty. During one of our recent storying times, a woman decided to try and braid my hair. She tried her best, but it was too slippery and soft for her to braid in the way they braid their hair, and she was forced to resort to something resembling Princess Leia...not my favorite hairstyle, but I wore it all the way home because she was so proud of it! I felt like I may have gotten stared at more than normal during the walk home...

Things with Shalom Home are continuing to progress very well. We have added a part-time staff member to assist Rainbow Mike with the Mercy Ministry ladies, and our gatekeeper/housekeeper family will be moving in as soon as the roof is finished on their new little home on Shalom property. We recently celebrated Passover together, and the view from Shalom Home was breathtaking. The moon rose over the open field as we waited for our goat to finish roasting on the open fire. It was a precious time of celebrating God's mercy and redemption. We continue to pray that the Karimojong people will come to know this redemption for themselves!


Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We are feeling so much more at home here, although we will always miss our friends and family in the U.S. Please don't hesitate to send us an email and let us know how you are!