Bullets, Babies, and Bantams

Life in Kotido has been interesting the last couple of weeks.  Other than excitement, the one commonality in the midst of it all is the measure by which we have been blessed.  I (Kenneth) am writing this blog on the day we brought our fifth child into the world.  After being 7 days late, Selah Naomi Williams decided to join the rest of the family.  We are so excited to welcome her into the world and begin the process of getting to know her.  Kristi went into labor this morning around 5:30am as we were waking up and by 8:30am we were holding our new little girl.  She was born in our home and we are thankful to have Kristi’s sister Kerri assist with the birth.  Our oldest, Nevaeh,  was also a big help in assisting and being a part of the birth process.  She diligently massaged Kristi during contractions and provided a cool washcloth during times of rest. 

 

In addition to the excitement of having a baby, we were also able to experience our first shootout in the neighborhood last week.  From our perspective, we were all sitting in our house in the evening when we heard shots being fired in the distance.  The gunshots got louder and louder until we could hear bullets hitting walls nearby.  We all ducked down on the floor and made our way to the hallway in the middle of the house.  The shooting only lasted for about 5 minutes but we stayed in the hallway for about 30.  Evidently what had happened was that people tried to come and steal cattle from the police barracks and there was shots exchanged between the raiders and the police.  From what we hear no one was hurt.  We’re thankful that God’s protection and provision was over us all. 

 

Last but not least, we have had our chickens coming into the house daily to lay eggs.  For some reason 2 of our chickens have decided that they want to come in our house to lay their eggs, so they come in, sit on one of our chairs and lay their eggs.  It’s a pretty funny routine.  Every morning they make a big scene by being noisy, walk through our front door, and go to the chair.  Our kids love it and they race to the chair when the chickens get up to be the first to get the egg.  Life in Karamoja is so exciting for them!  So anyway, there’s a few exciting happenings in and around the Williams’ household.  We continue to push forward with language and our work with the orphanage.  Oh yeah, speaking of the orphanage, $7,000 in donations were received this past week for the building so we can continue the work to get the building fit to move kids back in!  We are thrilled about that, and please keep that in your prayers, that God will stretch the money as he has done with bread and fish before and it will be more than enough. 

 

Thank you for all of your prayers! We have felt them..