Rattins living Coram Deo

My sister in law and her husband are traveling "home" today from Colorado to New Hampshire. Our teammates' daughter and her husband are traveling to Uganda today from the USA to be "home" with the rest of the family - all together for Christmas. Our friends here are traveling to their villages to be home for the holiday week.  For a Ugandan, home is where the family is.  Our baby is named "Otim," meaning "born away from home" because he was born away from our family home (the USA). And our dear adopted grandma in the USA has just traveled home - for the last time - to her eternal home.  She is celebrating Christmas with the origin of life this year.  She is home, where Christ is celebrated every day. Is that the home you're longing for this Christmas? Are you teaching your children to long to be home with Christ? Is that a higher priority in your family than wrapping the gifts and baking gingerbread? I fail at that daily and rel...

I'm trying to make peppermint patties tonight.  Something I never would have even considered doing in the USA.  Something that was outside the realm of reality this time last year.  This time last year in Gulu, there was VERY limited electricity, no cheese, and I couldn't figure out how to bake with the local sugar. Our Christmas feast last year was... creative... a lot of hard work... and NOT like "home!" But what a luxury - that I can have someone send me peppermint extract and chocolate chips, I can buy powdered sugar... We spent the day at our friend's village, visiting with her, her family of orphans that she has taken in, and two of the Home of Love children with special medical needs.  We ate a feast and delighted in hearing her testimony of God's grace and provision in her life.  Her home is full of love, mercy, and joy.  Her home is bursting at the seams with clean, happy, Christ-loving children and teenagers who delight in having her as their ...

He ran away from home.  Walked MILES.  Showed up at the gate after walking to a friend's village to check on her. Imagine being placed with your "family" that you have never known.  This is your family.  Know and love them.  Trust them to care for you.  See you later! Obviously, this is not a recipe for success.  It's not an ideal way to raise a child. But we aren't equipped as a team to do any better right now.  Our goal is to unite all of our children with a family, a home.  Most can go to their relatives. So, one of our most important learning goals this year is to learn how to assess a family situation, how to prepare a child and the family for placement, how to follow-up, how to determine if the child is safe and thriving in their new situation... and the list goes on. Pray for us as we learn - pray for our Ugandan staff (especially Bosco and Ruth, our social workers) and our missionaries as we learn together, struggle through ...

The government requires all eligible orphans to be sent to relatives over Christmas holiday.  Seems a bit strange at first.  If the child lives in an orphanage instead of with relatives and yet has relatives who are able to care for the child for a month out of the year... then why does the child live in an orphanage? But that is very much the reality of the orphan situation in Uganda. Families were torn apart by the war in the North (where we live).  Children living on the streets of Gulu to escape capture by the rebels.  Parents killed.  Aunts and Uncles displaced.  There was a definite need for children's homes. But now, the region is stable.  And children need to grow up in families, not in institutions.  Some families are ready to step up and care for yet another orphan, some aren't.  Nearly every family in the region already cares for orphans.  Some widowed parents remarried and the new spouse is less than interested in takin...

I have a strand of gaudy colorful blinking Christmas lights this year.  And electricity to run them some nights.  Last year, I couldn't even figure out how to find paper to cut our snowflakes in the dark. I have five children this year - last year I had three. Josh is director over all the ACTION ministries in Gulu this year - last year we were trying to figure out how to buy tomatoes and drive on the left side of the road.  I failed at five different attempts to make fudge.  I couldn't find cheese or vanilla in Gulu. So much changes in a year. Especially this year. I've hit the wall - mix of culture shock (shock is hardly the word), extreme stress, repeated threats against our team and ministries, five young (needy) children, and ... you name it! And it's Christmas-time. Normally, I would have been the first to decorate my home for Christmas.  This year, we have been so busy to the max, that my tiny partially decorated Christmas tree is propped in...

We haven't made too many cultural blunders that we know of yet - mostly because we're very slow to act and we ask our Acholi friends EVERYTHING. But, here's an oops! We were invited to a wedding over the weekend.  At the end of MONTHS of barely sleeping, running around like crazy, and dealing with unimaginable situations... we were so tired, somewhat sick physically, the children "done" (if you know what I mean)... so, after asking multiple people for advice, we attended the ceremony but not the reception.  We enjoyed a somewhat restful and rare afternoon home as a family. Sunday, our dear friend and pastor, walked with us out of church afterwards and informed Josh that he stood in on Josh's behalf at the wedding reception.  Apparently, as the bride's (former) employer, Josh was to make a speech.  Peter agreed that we should have been informed and not "ambushed" (he was one who told us that we did not need to attend the reception if the chi...

I sit here, during rest time, with a needle between my teeth, quickly sewing a little Christmas gift for one of my children - thankful that I learned to sew as a teenager.  It made me think of the many skills required of me on the mission field. Sewing up the holes in the mosquito nets... Baking from scratch... with foreign ingredients... in a gas oven without temperature markings... Driving the ministry van - a 15-passenger stick-shift full of children not wearing seat-belts... Managing our finances - for our family and for ministries... Keeping track of donors, prayer partners, and interested people... Creating publications... Repairing toilets, chairs, wheelchairs, buckets... (the list goes on) ... and I'm grateful that my parents intentionally taught us life-skills.  I can sit back and observe.  I can hammer a nail straight.  I can sew.  I can cook.  I can drive a stick-shift.  I can use a computer.  I can carry a tune.  I...

This week is a busy week, yet one that we look forward to all year.  Our goal at Home of Love, is to "relocate" children to live with their relatives.  Most of our children are with us because of the war - separated from family either because of deaths or because of physical separation. Our orphans all have identified family who may eventually qualify to become their guardians.  We continue supporting them long-term and we have the opportunity to be in their lives long-term. So this week finds us, as a family, at Home of Love for long, hot, busy days.  These are days where I hardly hold Micah.  He's whisked away by his adoring fan club the second he's done nursing.  Noah wanders the grounds barefoot, drinking from the borehole, covered head to toe with dirt, mud, and food.  Ana and Moses romp with their friends.  Gracie is wheeled around, never alone, often giggling hysterically and screaming in joy. It's exhausting - the chaos of wrangling...

When I mention that things are never simple here, I mean it. Take getting Micah and Moses' birth certificates: Step 1 : find the person in Gulu who can issue the "short form" birth certificate. Step 2 : drive to Kampala (no easy feat on the terrible roads) Step 3 : find the registrar's office building Step 4 : find the office Step 5 : wait for lunch break to be open Step 6 : elbow your way through with the throng when the doors open and try to make some friends so that someone will defend you instead of being hostile toward you because you're foreign Step 7 : stand your ground smashed against the person in front of you so that 10 people don't cut in front of you Step 8 : talk to person #1 at the reception desk Step 9 : talk to person #2 at the reception desk Step 10 : fill out the long form birth certificates Step 11 : take them back to person #2 to see if it's filled out properly Step 11.5 : find out that I can't submit for Moses' c...

When November rolls around each year, we find ourselves reminiscing about our family's beginnings - this Thanksgiving marks 6 years as a family.  Six years of snuggling our beautiful Liberian princess.  Six years of wheelchairs, AFOs, thickened liquids, AAC, Diastat, and therapies.  Six years of praying every night, "Lord, wake me up and take me to her if she needs me." Six years of treasuring every day as a family. I suspect that Gracie will never be able to fully share her story herself.  So, as will be my role for her entire life, I will speak for her.  We sense the joy of the Lord in her and we pray that she does truly understand God - she speaks loud and clear with her overflowing, body-shaking joy that there is a joy in her that exceeds our understanding! We are so grateful that God prompted us to adopt Gracie as our first-born child.  For much of our life as a family, we have lived in countries where birth order is valued greatly.  For in...

Try teaching your children about a season they have never seen... WHAT happens to the trees? What do you mean it's so cold that there's ice on the ground? What's ice? Why can you see people's breath in the air? In most cases, I can hardly believe how little I remember from my days as a Biology major in college (a few lifetimes ago).  So, it's a good thing that we live in a modern era of missions which gives me access to internet and a wealth of information! We also just got a package with a batch of new-to-us books (horray!) which included a book on the first thanksgiving and a book on autumn leaves. So this week, is a unit study on Thanksgiving and autumn.  4 out of 5 of my children can not put up with any more than a few days of studying something as abstract to them as autumn.  The fifth one can read on her own and can satisfy her own curiosity once the others have moved on to eating dirt and hitting things with sticks again.  (Baby Micah Otim is not ...

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of dedicating Micah David Otim Rattin to the Lord with our local church in Gulu.    Pastor Peter, our dear faithful friend (and ACTION Gulu leader), prayed over our son as we asked God to help us raise him in a faithful way and asked the church body to hold us accountable and help us to raise him in the Lord.  We hold submission to a local church body in high esteem, as an integral part of God's call for each Christian, and we are so thankful to be able to submit to Pastor Peter's leadership in our lives.  Please pray for our church and for Pastor Peter! The congregation was so pleased to meet Micah Otim for the first time and thrilled that he has an Acholi name.  Since the name Micah is apparently pronounced MEEEE-kah here (I'm not thrilled about that pronunciation!), he'll most often go by Otim.  Plus, it gives us an opening with strangers right away as they want to know more about the child born away f...

I've been convicted by a book - a book on adoption. "But you've already adopted! How can you be convicted to do something you've already committed to?" I quote the passage from Romans 8 a lot: Romans 8:14-17 English Standard Version (ESV) 14  For all who are  led by the Spirit of God are  sons [ a ]  of God.   15  For  you did not receive  the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of  adoption as sons, by whom we cry,  “Abba! Father!”   16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,   17  and if children, then  heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,  provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. In the book "A guide to Adoption and Orphan Care" edited by Russell Moore, Timothy Paul Jones writes, "The Holy Spirit co-testifies with our spirit that we are co-heirs.  We co-suffer....

I've been making a new version of a white pizza and it's so yummy and easy that I wanted to share it with you. Bring salted milk to a boil (1tsp salt to 4 cups of milk) Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice Stir briefly with plastic/wooden spoon just to mix lemon juice in Let sit for 15 minutes or until whey and curds have separated Empty pan into a doubled-over linen-lined colander over the sink (or bowl if you want to save and use the whey) Let sit for "some time" - do NOT press the cheese, leave it a little soupy Mix in 1 tablespoon garlic and 20 cut-up fresh basil leaves Pour the mixture onto your pizza crust and add toppings and a little salt.  Additional cheese is optional.

Looking for a tangible way to impact orphans? How about in Northern Uganda? :) We are desperately underfunded at Home of Love (and all of our ministries here) - consider if God would have you donate to Home of Love.  We support 64 children - 36 on site at Home of Love, the rest are at special schools or placed with relatives now in the villages. Click here to donate online to Home of Love - ACTION Gulu Where Needed Most.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  James 1:27 (ESV) Orphan care is not optional for Christians.  So what is God calling you to do for orphans? What does the Bible say about orphans? Here are a few resources: http://orphansunday.org/resources/bible-studies-and-small-group-guides/ This sermon is amazing by Voddie Baucham  http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/a/orphans_and_adoption_-_voddie_baucham_and_russell_moore . Russell Moore is, of course, a great guy to read or listen to on orphans and adoption.   http://www.russellmoore.com/2012/07/27/adopted-for-life-ten-years-later-what-ive-learned-since/  (and many more resources there) Here are two of John Piper's sermons on adoption:  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/adoption-the-heart-of-the-gospel  and  http:...

It sneaks up on us every year... Suddenly, it's November, and it's Orphan Sunday... and we're not prepared. Never fear, Orphan Sunday site is near!  http://orphansunday.org/resources/  - hymns and songs, bulletin inserts, children and youth ideas... It's all there! :) Right now, immersed as I am in orphan care, I'm reading Russell Moore's "A guide to Adoption and Orphan Care." Just my speed - short little chapters from different authors. I'm currently thinking through HOW to care for orphans - because, an orphan is not an orphan is not an orphan.  There are "true" orphans, no relatives, no options, no hope.  There are partial orphans - maybe they have one parent who is not equipped to care for them, or extended family who is not equipped to care for them.  And there are all kinds of flavors of orphans in between. Our children's home is home to children who, for the most part, have some relatives somewhere.  Our goal is to plac...

Of course, I'm doing a lot of thinking about motherhood these days... well, most days for the last 7 years... And there are some truly God-honoring things already written about motherhood, so I won't try to create my own phenomenal writing when others have gone before me.  But a few thoughts... As I struggle to keep my eyes open, stiffle the "I've got an infant" yawns, and find time to go to the bathroom, moms of teens tell me that the "worst is yet to come." As if this period of life with "littles" shouldn't be stressful or challenging, after all, it's nothing compared to the teen years! Well, every season is unique.  I won't deny that I look forward to going to the bathroom alone whenever I please.  But, I also won't deny that there's such a joy to having a baby whose needs I can readily and instantly meet and having young ones who like to snuggle (sometimes).  I also physically don't look forward to my nearly 9 ...

"My mother's mother is my grandmother." "My mo-der and mo-der eee have goder." "Nope - say my mother's mother is my grandmother." "My mo-der and mo-der eee have goder." "Not quite.  Listen closely, Moses: My mother's mother is my grandmother." ... (half hour later)... "My mo-der's mo-der is my grandmo-der." "YES! You got it, buddy!! Now, look at my mouth "th - th - th"... mo"th"er - you say it." "Th-my th-moTHer and th-moTHer..." 'sigh' ... Teaching Moses is a whole different ballgame.  He struggles to actually engage his mind to what he is learning. We're taking a kid who has managed to not learn and not be engaged with the world around him beyond having fun and doing what he wants to do and stretching his mind to all kinds of new exercises.  Listen closely enough to a sentence to be able to comprehend it and answer a question about it.  Manipul...

I've been working on writing up Micah's birth story - I'm not usually one to post such things publicly, but I thought I'd make an exception this time.  If you don't like birth stories, don't read! But I know that Micah's home birth in northern Uganda is of great interest to many, so here it is.   Micah’s birth story  Micah’s story is one of a kind… something I never imagined that I would experience… and so grateful that we got to experience! We found out we were pregnant with Micah just about 3 months after moving to Northern Uganda – surprise! Fortunately for us, a missionary friend (Emilie) was already about 4 months into her pregnancy and had done significant research about the options for safe deliveries in our area. The hospitals are very unsafe and unreliable; maternal and infant mortality rates are incredibly high. So hospitals in our region were NOT an option. Waiting around to go into labor in Kampala sounded miserable with a family of four...

Papa leading staff devotions today at Home of Love. We count ourselves so blessed that ALL of our children love being at Home of Love. This is the children's home that Moses is from. The home that is "ours" as one of the key ACTION ministries in Gulu. And all of our children love going there. Many adoptive children want desperately to form their new identity with their forever family and want nothing to do with the "old life." Now, Moses is definitely doing a lot of that - in fact, we are already working on teaching him Acholi. What little he spoke 5 months ago, he is already working hard to not use. "I like leb English not leb Acholi." (leb is language in Acholi) But one constant is his love for his aunties and uncles at Home of Love and his love in general for Home of Love. He always wants me to bake cookies to take there, share stickers, and points down the road to Home of Love any opportunity that he has. He has no desire to live there but ...

God has graciously brought us out of a very intense season of life with Moses into a more predictable season. I wondered what it would be like to transition from having Elizabeth around (young adult who spent 3 months in our home) to having Mimi and Papa around (for one month from the USA). The transition has been nearly seamless! Most other transitions have involved ... headache ... as the children act out their insecurities and test boundaries with each new transition. This one has been less painful! Thank you, Lord! Ministry is still intense, but the dramatic unknowns and sudden shifting of responsibilities from none to full-on, have calmed down as we grasp more and more of what God's direction is for these ministries. Now, I sit here blogging at 4pm. There is quiet in the house. Dinner is prepared and just waiting to be baked, so is dessert. The power is off, but I got two loads of laundry done this morning and nearly dried before the rain arrived. Mimi did the dishes an...

I am amazed at how the seasons of life fly by – although so quickly do I forget this while I’m in the midst of a season. Our season of first-time-career-missionaries-support-raising felt like a dreadfully long season of anticipation of the unknown. Then, one day we’re on a plane and that season is forever closed. We waited for approval to bring Moses home… and waited… and waited… one little delay after another… our son 1 mile down the road but not WITH us… and suddenly, one Friday afternoon, we were told that we would bring him home the next morning. Our season of life with only three children was over. Our season of life of intense training, teaching, and loving our son across languages and cultures started with a bang just as our field director left the field for urgent health needs, leaving Josh in a leadership position. Within a week and a half of that season's begin, our next season started: life with another adult in our home. Elizabeth joined us for the summer, to help...

If you're in the USA, you've probably run into the "interesting" comments that Pat Robertson made on behalf of Christians on TV. Honestly, I've never seen the 700 Club, so I don't know a thing about it. But, I do know that lots of people watch it and might interpret his comments as something that resonates with Christ. The snapshot that I have of his comments on adoption do NOT resonate with Christ. His comment particularly struck me: "You don't have to take on somebody else's problems." Reality is that as Christians we ARE to take on other people's problems because we are nothing but wretched sinners ourselves! We should be willing to make sacrifices for others, as our Savior made the ultimate sacrifice for us. We are not above God and exempt from giving of ourselves. Will my life be more complicated because I have adopted? Maybe. Will my life be more complicated because I have biologically-related-to-me kids? Maybe. Will my life b...

(Cooking with my extremely messy boy!) If we were doing an international adoption in the USA, we'd have the "luxury" of hibernating as we get Moses settled... at least for some time. Although our friends are interested in learning about our different child-rearing (i.e. discipleship and sheparding) concepts, it's still a foreign concept to make sacrifices in our day in order to train our children. And, as many of you know, any adoption takes lots of intense training and time. I got the chance to take Moses out on a date today - just me and him at the coffee shop. We ran into a friend there who asked if Moses is a "quality time" kind of kid... I had to think hard about that... No, I think he's a quality-quantity kind of kid... i.e. very intense at this time! I have intentionally spent good snuggle time and reading time with Moses, hoping to see him demonstrating less insecurity... no immediate results! (yes, I know over time it'll pay off, but as ...

I haven’t blogged in a while – things got rather busy here. Josh is running non-stop as he figures out what it means to be Acting Director of ACTION Gulu. He feels the weight of that responsibility – having employees who depend on ACTION to put food on their tables, having 40 some children at Home of Love who are entirely dependent on us for everything, including their spiritual discipleship, having a school that is huge and needs reforms, building a missionary team… We’ve been eternally blessed by the presence of Elizabeth this summer – a young lady who desires to serve God and joined us in Gulu for a few months to serve our family. She has focused on Gracie’s homeschooling and therapies and Gracie has thrived under Elizabeth’s attention! Elizabeth has also picked up the slack for me as third trimester of pregnancy hit with the fatigue that comes along with it. And then the illnesses hit – with four kids, 7 total household members, and a big belly, it seems that the illnesses have b...

Ana and Moses were dressed in their uniforms and ready to go... but the Home of Love van never came... apparently nursery school children start their holiday today! A week earlier than anticipated... they must have run out of sugar at the school... So, suddenly, I have the four kids at home, without any forethought about how to occupy their time - a MUST for Moses, especially! So, out come my favorite activities: any Melissa and Doug activity (today it's the playdough set and Write-a-Mats) and any Usbourne books (central to our homeschooling). My goal is to set up a resource room at Home of Love with such activities to promote literacy and educational play after school and on the long holidays (nursery students will be on holiday now for 6 weeks!). We have the luxury of such wonderful educational resources for our children, yet Home of Love has, so far, worked hard to survive and there has been no extra money for books, games, and structured play activities. Pray that we can come...

I may have overdone it buying pineapples on the roadside today... (hmmm... 6 pineapples, really?!) And I'm reading an Amish book... So I decided to make whoopie pies, using ingredients that I need to use up anyway: posho (maize flour), mango puree (yes, from our crazy mango season), and pineapples. And, our summer guest is allergic to wheat (my new diagnosis for her - congrats!)... So NO wheat! 1 sticks unsalted butter melted (I substituted Blue Band margarine) 1 cup packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten 1 cup mango puree 1 tablespoon mixed spice (includes cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc.) 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2/3 cups millet flour 1 cup posho Mix it all together, dollop onto cookie sheets, bake at around 350 degrees for around 10 minutes. The filling: 250mL plain yogurt 1/2 cup grated coconut 1 cup crushed well drained pineapple Around 2 cups icing sugar (powdered s...

It's an eternal goal to get a photo of my kids, or, in my even WILDER imagination, a new family photo... ;-P Well, here's one! Too bad I had to sit them in front of a movie to get them to sit still enough to get them all in the same shot! ;-P They watched The Amy Carmichael Story - a 30 minute animation by Christian History Institute about that amazing missionary woman - if you don't know her story, you should read about her! Amazing and inspiring!

I'm not a food blogger... but I really wanted to share what I made for lunch today! One of the many many wonderful things about having Elizabeth here for the summer is that all she eats is produce (only a slight exaggeration!) so that has encouraged me to make new things with fresh produce. Plus, being pregnant and so tired in third trimester has made me a little more interested in making sure that we all get good nutrition. Gracie's a hard one, at times, because of her dietary needs and chewing/swallowing issues. But here was today's raging success! I made cottage cheese - still tastes like ricotta, so I made it herbed - here's how: - around 2 liters of milk brought to a boil (or near boil), salted, a little butter in it. - turn off heat and add vinegar (or any acid) and leave it to sit for 30 minutes. - drain through piece of cloth in collander and gently press over 30 minutes or so. - add heavy cream, or in my case, I beat up the skin from the top of the milk afte...

(My view of Gulu street from the coffee shop - shops across the way, a brief moment with very little traffic (I didn't want people think I was taking a photo of them specifically). This is one of the main roads in Gulu and one of the best ones too. And, yes, that's our faithful little car! We praise God for this car!) I'm sitting at a coffee shop in Gulu and thought it could make for an interesting post. I don't get out very often and right now I'm out so that I can study Acholi... so I should get back to that quickly. But, for life that seems normal to me now, I thought some might be interested in reading about a simple event like getting OUT of the house to do something that many of you do every day (or week) - sitting at a coffee shop on my laptop on the wireless internet! Gulu is somewhat flooded this morning - there must have been some significant rains early morning somewhere uphill from us - the roads were swollen with mud and muddy water as people made t...

It struck me today how far I have come in 10 months of living in Northern Uganda. First of all, I must remember that when we first arrived, we didn't know where to find anything. We didn't know the inside scoop on who sells what where. So that severely limited our selection. Secondly, Uchumi wasn't open ("big" supermarket that we can usually count on to have either sausages or "mince" meat [ground meat]. But, I also wasn't used to cooking entirely from scratch with the local materials with my tiny stove and local seasonings. But today I put together a rather delicious lasagna. Yes, lasagna. Something I craved for months here, but today put together quickly with what felt like limited effort. We have some boxes of lasagna noodles in the pantry from Kampala, so I did NOT have to make my own pasta, which certainly saved me a lot of time. But otherwise, I made the tomato sauce and ricotta cheese from scratch and invented a yummy recipe on the f...

(Aerial view of 3 engrossed girls - Gracie, Ana, and our friend, Mercy - coloring [or, in Gracie's case, trying to eat markers].) We've been interested in figuring out Moses and any "delays" he might have (from American standards). It's taken a while and now as he is blossoming before our eyes, we see a fine motor delay and language delay. The school system is very different here - perhaps the topic of a whole separate post in months to come. But they don't learn much in the "nursery" school years, so much of his delay can be attributed to a lack of early-childhood education and stimulation. (This is not a critique of Home of Love nor the school - this is simply how things are done here and we are comparing him to our rather advanced American 4 year old who just tested at a 2nd grade level!) But as we thought about his speech and comprehension delay, we compared his life to that of life in the family. In the "Children's Home," he s...

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