Well, we have both survived a very busy summer.

I (Sarah) have helped to clear out the homes of two families that left and helped with preparations of three other homes for families that have moved house or are joining the Uganda team.  The rest of my time was spent entertaining Amy & Joshua.

Mark, has been busy in the hangar overseeing the maintenance of the aircraft while Kees (chief engineer) was on furlough.  There has also been lots of paperwork to deal with since our technical records officer has moved on. However, we are pleased for her… Irene has left MAF, Uganda to study Avionics Engineering at Moody Bible College in USA .

Sarah's mum & dad

Two weeks ago Sarah’s parents arrived from Chad to spend two weeks holiday with us.  We have just enjoyed a wonderful week of camping together in western Uganda.  The scenery was beautiful.  We saw glorious sunrise and sunsets.  At the ‘farm’ where we stayed we saw the most spectacular array of birds and also black and white colobus monkeys.  The children splashed in thje pool each day and we all enjoyed a much needed rest.

Silly faces

Now we are ready for new challenges.  Amy and Joshua return to school this week with Amy now going full time.  Sarah starts her new role as MAF Guest House Manager (having given up her speech therapy role).  Mark will continue with his engineering and Quality manager roles.  The new hangar is going up steadily and he is excited about a trip to Madagascar in October to carry out a Quality audit there.  God is good and it is exciting to be part of His Kingdom building plan.

I (Mark) recently had the opportunity to join a flight to carry out a survey of some of the Ssese Islands in nearby Lake Victoria.  You may remember a feature in one of our newsletters ‘Where in the World is Buvu?’.

The Ssese Islands are a group of eighty-four islands in the northwest of Lake Victoria, in the nation’s Kalangala District.  About forty-three of the islands are inhabited. The islands vary in size from less than 10,000 square metres, to over 40 kilometres in length for the largest island.   The principal industry in the Ssese Islands is fishing for Nile Perch, with much of the catch being exported, and resulting in overfishing. There are now also large Palm Oil plantations.  In ancient times the islands were one of the most important spiritual centers of the region - witch craft is still prevalent and has a hold on the people there.  At present the islands are connected by ferries to the mainland.   Just one Island has an airstrip.

Our Airstrip Development Manager has has been working hard with government officials and landowners on the Islands to place airstrips on strategic islands so that MAF can fly in and support those with medical, educational and Spiritual needs on the Islands.  The photo below shows the location where we hope to build the first airstrip.  We are currently waiting for results of soil samples taken from the area before getting further permissions from the CAA.  During the flight we also spotted possible locations on other islands for future airstrips.  Please pray that this new venture would move ahead smoothly.

Buvu Island

Possible Airstrip location on Buvu

It has been a week or so of change here.  Of the fifteen International families in MAF Uganda we are currently down to eight.  Two families have just left the programme and five are in their home countries on Home Assignment.

I think change is often very difficult for those ‘left behind’ who are left with a void in their lives because friends and colleagues have moved on.  Those left behind are also left to work really hard in order to keep everything running smoothly.

Mark has extra responsibility in the hangar for the next month, with Chief Engineer, Kees gone and I am busy as Housing Co-ordinator, clearing out houses and getting a new one ready for our new Finance Manager’s arrival.

I have been reminded through the Word this week, that it is so important to keep our eyes fixed on Him at these times.  Our God who does not change.  As we delight in Him and what he is doing in our lives we are that tree planted by steams of water, whose leaves do not wither, rooted and nourished by Him ( Psalms 1:3)

So, thankyou for remembering us in your prayers this summer.

Amy participated in the infant schools swimming gala last week. Its known as ‘The Big Splash’.

Her swimming has improved a lot lately and she now swims around the edge of the big pool totally unaided.  She has worked out that mummy does not like putting her head under the water so loves to splash me!  I have no doubt that she will be a much better swimmer than me.

On ‘Big splash’ day I went along to watch her participate in three events. She swam a width of the pool with a kick board (known to her as a key board), a width of the pool with a boyancy aid and also participated in a ‘catch the floating objects’ game.  I cheered and shouted like every mum does…and almost cried with pride.

Amy swimming in first lane at the 'Big Splash'

Next academic year Amy moves to Reception Class, so will go to school full time.  It feels like i am preparing to say goodbye, although she is very excited about it.  I guess a good parent has to ‘let go’ a little at a time. In the meantime I shall enjoy this summer holiday with both Amy & Josh.

There is so much truth in this saying.  I love my son so much but from one minute to the next you cannot tell what he may get up to.  People tell me he is a lot like his father; a joker, full of energy and usually the one to want his possessions all lined up and in order -  I’m inclined to agree!

In the last couple weeks Joshua has been busy.  Thirty minutes before we were leaving for church a couple of weeks ago, he discovered the pot of yellow powder paint.  The picture says it all.

Then a few nights ago, we were tucking the children into bed when we discovered two peeled bananas under his pillow.  When questioned why they were there he said, “In case I get hungry in the night”.  Well, he is a growing lad.

He also sometimes takes things quite literally.  Our bedtime story last week was The Bible story of Jacob running from his brother Esau.  Jacob spent his night with his head rested on a rock. in his dreams he saw  angels coming down from heaven.  A few minutes after story time i found Joshua had stripped his bed of pillows, duvet and teddies. “What’s going on?” I enquired.  “I need rocks” he replied.  It took thirty minutes to calm him down enough to sleep on his pillow surrounded by books with pictures of angels in them.

It’s not always easy being a parent but every day is certainly exciting.

Firstly, I hope i will be able to get this blog update online. The internet connection has been terrible this last week because a fibre optic cable in the Mediterranean was broken. That means all our internet is coming (very slowly & sporadically) via satellite!

Also in recent weeks our water supply has been limited or not there at all. It usually comes back at night just enough for us to fill up the storage tank but this last week there was nothing… So we have been carrying in buckets from the larger rain water tank ( I did my best to be grateful that the tank was yards, rather than miles away but I have to admit that my attitude was not always one of joy).

On Friday water came back but the pressure was so low that by the time it reached the kitchen, that the washing machine refused to run.  Mark probably had all kinds of plans for his Saturday, but he finished up moving the washing machine to the office where the water pressure was a little better and then he sat and watched the buckets fill up and emptied them until all four loads of laundry were done,  He’sa star!

He managed to multi task too!

Amy and I went on an outing this week.  We needed to get to an Opticians in the centre of Kampala.  Just the thought of going to the city centre is stressful -  The traffic jams are terrible and when you get there you can’t find parking so I decided to go by taxi (at least you avoid the parking and the stress of driving).

This was Amy’s first trip on a taxi.  When I say taxi, I mean a minibus which seats around twelve people.  So we piled into one at the stage in Makindye.  I explained to a not too pleased Amy, that she had to sit on my lap as i would have to pay more money if she sat on a seat (stingy I know) and we set off.  Of course, we met the predicted traffic jam, so the taxi detoured into back streets i have never seen before and we bumped our way along the dirt tracks until we reached town.

The reason for our trip was to get Amy’s eyes tested.  That’s not an easy task when a child only knows six letters of the alphabet and won’t allow the optician near her with eye drops, but we managed.  We found that Amy is short sighted and needs glasses. Having chosen frames, she wanted to leave with her new glasses that day.  The Optician had them ready in 11/2 hours - that’s service for you!

So far she is doing fairly well with the new glasses and seems to like them.  I think she looks very cute!

It’s been a hectic schedule this past week.  We have had Birthdays, sports day, parent-teacher conferences meetings with lawyers and lots of trips to the vet with one of our dogs, as well as the usual day to day stuff.  It’s easy to live on a very earthly plain at times and get so caught up in life that we forget to include Christ in it all, and make sure we are in His will, doing what he wants us to do each day.

As I look back on this week I can see how Christ has still been there and although I am exhausted at times there has been so much to smile about and be thankful for.

We have two beautiful children and have had several moments this week when we have been extremely proud parents.

On 17th March Joshua celebrated his 3rd Birthday.  We are so thankful to God for him and the three years he has been part of our family.  He keeps us incredibly busy and is always full of energy and fun. Although he is a very big boy for his age, I love the fact that he still comes for lots of cuddles with mummy!

Mark was able to take a day off work last week and come to see the children at their school sports day. It’s the first time he has been able to do that and the children we so pleased he could be there to see them race.  Joshua was overwhelmed by it all in the end and did not want to race but Amy rose to the occasion, even winning the bead lacing race and pedaling her heart out in the tricycle race. She has blossomed in confidence in recent months which is so nice to see.

It’s been one of those weeks here where I have to keep focussed upward.

I have been surrounded this week by heartache and tragedy.  Our former househelp, Harima lost her sister on Sunday in a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) accident, leaving behind 3 small children.

My own house help, Margret is going through some difficult personal issues of her own. Then this morning we got news that her younger sister, whom we helped through school lost her firstborn, a baby boy when he was just a few hours old.  Margret has now rushed off to be at the burial in the village.

This morning I attended my ladies Bible study.  We are looking at the book of Ephesians right now.  As we studied ch1 v18, I was struck in a fresh way with both a desire to know Him better myself and to live a life that reflects my confidence in the certain Hope to which he has called me.  Also, my heart aches for those around me, facing really difficult times right now who do not yet have that certainty and hope for themselves.  Pray for wisdom for me in the coming days…

Sometimes we need these wake up calls eh.  I had been feeling low this week just because my family has been going through a rough patch with colds and tummy bugs.  The weather this month has also been hot, which is draining …. just minor things in comparison because I am filled with “Christs incomparably great power”( v19)

Thank you so much for lifting us up

I thought I would just let you know some of the things that are happening right now and that we would appreciate you remembering in prayer.

On a personal note, Mark has submitted the paperwork application for his next aircraft maintenance exam.  He is busy studying while he waits for an exam date from the CAA.

For Sarah the year has started off quite busily. She is doing speech therapy on a weekly basis with seven children this term at Rainbow school.  She will also be meeting with our lawyer in the next week, to start work on gathering the necessary documents to apply for Amy & Joshua’s adoption in a couple of months. She is really not looking forward to the process but counting on the promise that “My Grace is sufficient for you” and the end result will be worth all the hard work.

We have a couple more visitors planning to visit us, which is always a huge encouragement.

Our MAF planes are extremely busy right now.  There is much need in Uganda and the countries around us…  The fighting between militia and government troops continues in DRC.  The Lords Resistance Army have also been active in Congo lately.  Large areas of N Uganda and S. Sudan are facing drought and acute food shortages due to the lack of rain in recent years.  Areas of S. Sudan are often unstable due to tribal fighting.  With the country also facing elections in April it appears from a human perspective that the violence in Sudan is likely to get worse.  Please pray for safety and wisdom for our pilots and engineers on a daily basis.  That we would honour God in the work that we do each day and that we would use resources wisely.