Rattins living Coram Deo

I made the most delicious Christmas stollen I've ever made! I found dates and raisins in Gulu so we enjoyed the bread for breakfast this morning, sipped our Via coffee (thank you!), made a quick milkshake (horray for electricity and my blender!), and got the children dressed in their Christmas best in record time. We drove to Home of Love with the plan of meeting the rest of our missionary team there and walking to the local church. The local church never opened its doors... (???) So Josh led us in a service which was just perfect for our large "family!" Then we ate a meal that Candis prepared at home and brought to us (wow!) and the children played on familiar ground. We had a cake (Jesus' birthday!) and some small gifts from our directors. Finally, exhausted, we headed home with yet another part remaining to our Christmas day - stockings for all the children! They were a little surprised and mystified but soon caught on to unwrapping all the little presents - th...

Christmas Eve finds Josh unusually sentimental. I'm the sentimental one usually. But Christmas Eve holds so many memories and traditions. Christmas Eve in the States has involved a Christmas Eve service that we have usually been heavily involved in with the music, Josh's sister's birthday (usually celebrated at Jessi's prime time: midnight, after the Christmas Eve service!), lots of delicious food by Josh's mom, and a sense of family togetherness. This year is different - so very different! We had to keep reminding ourselves that it's Christmas Eve! So here is how we celebrated Christmas Eve. Josh took the day off to be home with us, which was so nice, although we kept way too busy with the kids to actually enjoy each others' company! We had a good old fashion water-play-time-in-bins and rowdy water fight - perhaps a first for our visiting boys, but they figured it out soon enough! For dinner, we had chapati burritos - again, perhaps not our boys' fav...

In Uganda, there is a law that the childrens’ homes (orphanages) should empty out over Christmas holiday. That means that the social workers work very hard at finding a relative to take each child during the holiday. For some children, this serves as a trial run to see if that living situation might become later a permanent one. The social worker will make an assessment visit to see how the child is doing. If the relatives show a real interest in the child and the child does well, eventually that child might be “relocated” to the relatives. To date, this has been one of the highest priorities from the government regarding the placement of children. This has been especially pertinent in the years immediately following the war when many of the children in orphanages were actually displaced and not orphaned. It took a long time to find the scattered families and reunite them. For other children, perhaps they were ill and very young and the extended family was not equipped ...

In the market, I bought a knife dedicated to this adventure to save my one and only knife from the stickiness that is... Josh brought home a huge jackfruit. Our Acoli friends decided that it was not quite ready yesterday, but today... today was the jackfruit day! I am SO grateful for our Acoli friends who managed the jackfruit for me! This extremely sticky but yummy fruit is a lot of work to prepare! For Americans who are averse to any food that requires substantial work, jackfruit is NOT the fruit for you (hence why I am so grateful for our friends!). The flesh is so very good raw, but, having some time, some friends to wrangle children while I cook, and some Acoli teenagers who are amazed at what I can do with a gas stove instead of charcoal, I wanted to try my hand at making jackfruit chips. ALSO yummy! NOT healthy for you! A little tumeric, salt, and water thrown into the oil while frying and here's a simple but delicious way to cook jackfruit.

The dogs that came with the house are still alive and present. So we finally found a vet (or so we think) to come see the dogs. When Josh went to the vet's office, he was told the vet was out and then suddenly they produced this other man, so we're not sure if he is a vet or not... such is communication most of the time! The dogs do not trust us much (they have clearly not been treated well in the past) and we don't trust them much. So we have hardly ever touched them. Keep this in mind.... Josh called me two days ago and said that he had found a vet and that this man could come right then to see the dogs. Do I want Josh to come home or am I okay without him? I thought I could handle it, especially because I had two teens with me who could watch the kids while I dealt with the dogs. I started looking for the dogs. Bob (the male) was in Josh's "new" office - he's not allowed in there, but likes the shade, cool tile floor, and the isolation. Bob is p...

O come let us adore HIM, O come let us adore HIM, O come let us adore HIM, CHRIST the LORD!

I've been struggling to make Christmas season feel like Christmas here, in the heat, away from the commercialism of the North American stores and culture. It's refreshing in one sense, but I'll readily admit that I miss Christmas season! My mother-in-law and I could together keep the Christmas season going for months! :) But I made an advent wreath (still in progress - photo above) and the kids and I make Christmas crafts once I find craft supplies that are affordable. A friend has been feeding us Advent readings (thank you, Gina!) and I had a good enough internet connection to download sheet music for Josh to play guitar Christmas songs. I've been playing Christmas music non-stop on my computer - we're already about tired of my few Christmas albums (haha!). I think I have a nativity set on the container that is now in Kampala (good progress!!) but will not probably arrive here, let alone be unpacked by Christmas... BUT, I found brown sugar and ginger, so I shoul...