Rattins living Coram Deo

(I needed a break - so the kids watched "Signing Time" after dinner when Josh had to be out for a meeting. It was really neat to see them all interested in the same thing. AND it's great for Moses' English language development. If anyone ever sees these DVDs at a yard sale or other, we love the DVDs and would love to share them with the school and our future ministry to children with disabilities and their families!) It's amazing how one child can change family dynamics so much! Moses is an easy-going happy guy. He's not an emotional roller coaster ride like Ana. He's not a high-energy independent like Noah. He's not a high-needs entertain-me like Gracie. So he adds one more dynamic to the family and balances out some of the dramatic personalities that we have. He and Gracie haven't spent much time together, so I was quick to allow him to take Gracie on a trip around the house (his backpack loaded with treasures). I only had to rescue Grac...

Like Daddy like son! We had a small dinner celebration with our teammates (the Riegers) - I made lasagna (haven't had that in nearly a year!!!) and chocolate cake with caramel topping and the Riegers brought LEMON cake from a MIX! Ah! the small pleasures in life! This adoption is so different from Gracie's... in so many ways! Josh has known Moses for years. We've known him as a family since November. We have spent a lot of time with him and he has even lived in our home for a few weeks. So we aren't bringing a complete stranger into our family, like Gracie was. Neither is this our first child, like Gracie was. We are still living, playing, working in the same places that Moses has spent every day of his life. In fact, HE is more comfortable in many of the settings than we are! We got word Friday night that we could show up at Home of Love Saturday at 10:00am to take Moses home. What beautiful timing! We had wondered for so long how and when we would find out that...

After months of waiting for the “next step” and weeks of chasing paperwork and juggling schedules of the very busy local child-welfare official and our social worker (who is the administrator for ACTION Gulu AND the head social worker at Home of Love AND just finishing his last term of a degree program!)… it looks like tomorrow might be bring-Moses-home day! Praise God! Our kids have been pretty good about “when Moses joins our family.” I was worried that the constant waiting and unknown might be difficult. But they’re missionary kids. All the younger two have ever known is the uncertainty of being missionaries – when will we go to Uganda? When will we go to the USA? When will we see Mimi again? Our concern also extends to the other children at Home of Love. Moses is the first adoption at Home of Love. The children have seen other children reunited with extended family members when the home situation became stable enough. But they have never seen one of their own be taken i...

Life in ministry tends to be chaotic… we’re dealing with human nature, after all! So, we have a constant quest for organizing our household to minimize chaos in at least one realm of life. We have had bookshelves made, with custom measurements to help us get more organized. We try to learn from everyone’s household, especially households with lots of family members. The children constantly thwart my efforts as I make systems to complicated for the 20 month old to follow. He’s not quite ready to sort items into the appropriately labeled bin… maybe next month. :) So this month, I bought a huge basket in the market from the basket man, Alex. It’s really a pretty basket and it’s huge… so on impulse, I emptied all my not-nicely-sorted-bins of toys into this one huge basket. And it’s working! The children are all able to comprehend “throw ALL the toys into the basket.” Even the big trucks and balls fit into the basket. I keep art supplies separate (another eternal quest – Ana is QUITE...

(ACTION Gulu's Jesus is the Truth Nursery School lined up for morning exercises.) We've been sending Ana on the Home of Love van to school - now that she's used to it, she enjoys time with her friends outside of school, the children certainly enjoy Ana's presence (what other children get to ride to school with a 4-year-old mzungu?!), and it saves us some scheduling headaches. But, Uncle Joseph forgot to pick her up this morning for school. This, the day that Josh walked to the bus park at 6 something in the morning to catch a bus to Kampala. This, the first day of my single-motherhood for a few days. So, I debated... do I pack the kids into the car and drive her myself or do I wait for Joseph to come back from the school to get her? Either way she'll be late for school. Late for school = mortal sin (in the back of my mind, apparently)! For the sake of relationships (letting Joseph serve us even though it meant that she would be even later to school than if I to...

There is no Mother's Day widely celebrated in Uganda, so this day came and went without ceremony, Hallmark cards, church recognition, sales to entice customers in stores, or special greetings. But Josh remembered! So that's all that counts! He made breakfast (woohoo!) and woke Ana up to make me a card (which meant that Ana's face was NOT the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes this morning but rather I awoke on my own after sleeping in a full 10 minutes - YES!). We went to church 45 minutes late (feels so terrible, but the service was just getting started!), the kids did slightly better than usual sitting through the service and Josh did the bulk of that work. The sermon by the guest speaker was terribly unBiblical BUT the pastor (our friend Peter) corrected the errors afterwards for the congregation in the most gracious but straight forward manner we have EVER heard! We took a little drive to debrief that sermon and the "comments" by Pastor Peter and then w...

Lucy, Home of Love's matron and my closest Ugandan friend, often states that Home of Love is truly a home of love. When I ask her any question about how the children will respond to something, she responds that they love each other and they love God. I'm always probing with typical mzungu questions, "How do the children feel when the other children go to visit relatives and these ones have to stay behind?" "How do the children respond to a child who has disabilities?" "Is it okay if these children receive something and those ones do not?" etc. etc. And she is right - they respond in love, for the most part! They are still children and still have some jealousies and sadnesses. But, we have been amazed at their resilience, their love for each other, and their love for those who are even more vulnerable than they are! They have not gotten bored of Gracie yet. They find her antics amusing and look on her with such fondness. I rarely find her left alone...

An artist-friend of future ACTION Gulu missionaries (Rich and Joy Sayer - look 'em up on facebook!) has generously designed a t-shirt/hoodie to benefit ACTION Gulu! All profits will go to our ministries (desperately in need!) - encourage your friends to buy one! Father's Day... graduations... birthdays... probably too late for Mother's Day but they do come in lady-colors too, so... :) Click on the picture to go to the website!

There is so much about our life here that is so similar to any of yours, with a different flavor.  Part of my motivation in writing on this blog is to share more about missions on the personal level.  Make missionaries abroad more approachable and real.  Hopefully help to reveal that God’s calling is for each of us to serve us where He has placed us.  The call to missions is no greater in status than God’s call on YOUR life. So the abundance of mangoes in our yard is not unlike the abundance of tomatoes or grapes or apples that many of you will be thankful for in a few months (but will have to deal with despite your thankfulness)! ;-) Our two mango trees started dropping mangoes quite a while ago – tiny green mangoes, followed by larger green mangoes in a large enough quantity that I was able to make a batch of green mango relish (yum), followed by a steady supply of mangoes enough to feed all the guards in the area who would stop by before and after their ...