Pray for Finn

Finn has Malaria, he started a 4 day treatment of pills last night and should be feeling better very soon, we are thankful for catching it so quickly!! He has a fever and is uncomfortable though, please pray he recovers quickly. Thank You.

Around Kibaale

Avin and Finn enjoying the rainy season.







Going for a walk to the farm.




They're a little nervous around the cow!

Joel in his classroom at home!



Avin's real life baby doll, she's having So much fun being a big sister!



Mazzy's crib, made by our woodshop teacher.



New friends!



Avin celebrated her 5th birthday in February!!



Finny celebrated his 4th birthday in March, that's 2 in a row for him in Uganda!

A week in Mpigi

Our family just spent an entire week on the 10 acres in Mpigi! A team of 5 were visiting from Canada so we joined them in some meetings, painting part of a children’s home, and lots of play time with the 52 kids!! For our own kids it’s always like no time has passed, they all had a great week with their old friends. There were many Uganda vs Canada soccer games, Canada still can’t manage a win!!

Shannon also joined 3 others from the team on a day of care and compassion visits -- handing out food and mattresses to our neighbours that are in need, this is always a very emotional day for everyone.

It was wonderful to spend time with friends from home, we’re all feeling refreshed as we get back to things now in Kibaale!!

Friends with Mazzy

Happy Mothers Day

Lake Mburu

This past weekend marked the end of the school term, so our team thought it would be a good chance to get away for a little team building and getting to know each other better.


Arleen & Karl who are the Directors, our family, and Laura at the other end of the table, who works in the KCF office.


Stacy, RN from home, also a photographer, many of these pictures are hers!!

This park is one of the only places that you can do a walking safari, so we woke at up at 6am and went with an armed guide, he said the gun is in case the buffalo charge.



We also saw zebras, hippos, crocodiles and plenty of Impala. There are leopards and hyenas but we were unlucky and saw neither of them this time.








The kids had fun playing with the monkeys or throwing the frisbee while we waited for lunch, it was a great weekend!

Mazzy

Many of you know that our first communication with Uganda a couple of years ago was in regards to International adoption. Things quickly progressed from there it seems and soon our family was planning to move here long term!! Through that process though we kept our contacts with a couple of orphanages here and have continued to pray about this possibility.

On March 29th we visited one of the orphanages, Sanyu Babies Home, in Kampala. We met with the Director there and were feeling at peace with the systems they have in place for International adoption. She said they did have a few baby girls available right now, but wanted us to tour the home first. We first entered the “baby” room and were right away taken with a beautiful baby “boy” in the very first crib. Our whole family went to see and touch this little baby. We continued our tour and when we came back the Director went straight to the baby’s crib, saying this baby is available, HER name is Namazzi Stella!! When she asked if we wanted to meet the other baby girls we quickly said no, we did not want to “shop” for a baby and were already feeling quite connected to this little girl.

We were told she was abandoned in October on the streets of Kampala. A family found her and began to take care of her, but they could no longer afford to feed her and she was admitted to Sanyu on December 4th. There was a series of things to complete; blood work, application forms, home visits, and then a Notice is run in the local paper with a picture of her giving her family 15 days to claim her. We are completely amazed at how God went before us in all these details and how smoothly it went. At the last minute we were feeling discouraged, but then the next day we got to Sanyu and the Director had arranged everything for the baby to come home!!

April 23rd, 2008 we became a family of 6!! We have named her Mazzy Lee Stella, Mazzy is Hebrew and means precious, and we love that it was already a part of her name. Lee is for our 3 sisters and Stella is also a family name on Jeff’s side so we are happy keep it!

Thank you everyone for continuing to pray for our family in Uganda. We are all healthy and really enjoying our roles here.

We are blessed!






Coming Home!!!



Mazzy's first morning at home

Holding Mazzy

Although we first held Mazzy when we met her on March 29th, this is the kids first time getting a cuddle in with their new sister!

Medical Clinic Update

Construction of the clinic is going very smoothly, here are some recent pictures.