Rattins living Coram Deo

Moses is definitely settling into family life. He loves saying "Amari!" at night when we put him to bed (I love you!) and has started volunteering hugs. He has started giving full "teeth-smiles" (as I call them) - true joy and delight smiles, not just "yeah, I'm pretty happy" smiles. (He's always been a happy kiddo but there's definitely more freedom in him now to just be a kid who is having fun.) The kids have been fighting more but also more interested in each other. But one thing has become apparent: he has never been taught to respect, listen to, or obey women. In fact, in front of his friends, my voice could simply be the wind in his hair... he simply ignores me. This means that we haven't spent time at Home of Love yet as a family (he sees his friends daily at school still). And it means that Daddy has to stay on top of his game when he's home to help Moses learn to respect me and obey me. It also means that I have to be th...

Yesterday, through a fog of lack sleep and recovering from illness, we were able to have a fun family day together. Josh was committed to having a family day. So I called up my friend, Emilie, who knows everything that there is to know about Gulu: "what should we do for a family-fun day?" Sure, enough, she knew of a hotel (actually quite near our school) that we hadn't seen yet that had a pool where the kids could swim for cheap (around $1 each)! AND, on top of that, they were going already and meeting up with some friends that we had been trying to get together with and had been thwarted by illnesses. So, Moses got his first pool experience. He was quite intimidated at first by the vast expanse of water in front of him. "Imito tuko i pii?" (Do you want to play in the water?) "NO!" But he figured it out and, with the patient help of Daddy, he really enjoyed playing in the water! It reminded me of Gracie's first pool experience - within DAYS of...