Rattins living Coram Deo

I haven't written a "cultural" post in a long time - everything seems normal to me, so I have to remind myself of what might be of interest to readers who are wondering what missionary life is like in Uganda. But our recent trip to Kampala is probably interesting to you... We had to go to Kampala to renew Ana's passport - yes, my cutie is 5 years old! 5 years ago we took her to Kenya so her passport still had a baby photo in it. So a 7 hour drive to renew her passport... Unfortunately, Micah's birth certificate (a twenty step process) is still in progress so we weren't going to be able to do his registration of birth abroad and passport application, which would mean that both parents and Micah would have to go again to the embassy.  'sigh' We left Gulu before dawn and carefully picked our way over the road in the dawn light.  The road close to Gulu is really in terrible condition - down to one corroded lane that is almost more potholes than road.  ...

We've been on the field for nearly a year and a half - feels like only months and yet a lifetime... We've missed countless birthday parties and a few funerals.  We have yet to lay eyes on two new nephews and a few "pseudo" nieces and nephews.  We aren't involved in the day-to-day lives of our families.  We don't get to go see a house that sister is considering buying.  We haven't met the new boyfriend.  We don't get to help clean up mom and dad's yard after the big storm or shovel out the car for them. Our children are growing up without family bearing witness.  We left the USA when our second youngest child was still a baby.  He will visit the USA as a talking child complete with his own well developed personality.  We'll visit the USA in a few years with two new children who will experience the USA and our friends and family for the first time. This separation from family is so difficult.  Missionaries miss weddings, funerals, babies,...

Many of you read my blog to get a glimpse into what it's like to be a missionary family.  I want to write a series of blogs on the struggles of being a missionary as well as the blessings of being a missionary.  I will, by no means, be able to cover all struggles and blessings... but my hope is that this series will give you a glimpse into how to pray for your missionaries.  You may find that missionary struggles and blessings are no different from yours! One of the biggest struggles that missionary families share in common is protecting their children on the field.  Even an area that is no more dangerous than inner-city Chicago is foreign and the dangers are unknown. Diseases are serious and unknown.  Medical care is often lacking.  Parents have to be everything for their children instead of parents being able to pass some things off to others.  Parents have to decide when to vaccinate their children and for what and sometimes have to give them th...

On particularly exhausting days of mothering, I complain, "the children have been trying to kill themselves all day!" Jumping off ledges, playing barefoot where there might be snakes, climbing on furniture, you know what I'm talking about. Children find every single potential hazard. Over the last couple weeks, there has been one tragedy after another that I've become aware of - children dying.  Parents grieving. Try as we may, as parents, we cannot protect our children from everything - choking on food, car accidents, furniture falling, seizures in the night, malaria... God frequently reminds me that HE is sovereign. HE is bigger than everything. HE never falls asleep.  I could be the most inattentive mother in the world or the most attentive mother in the world, yet HIS will be done.  He holds each of my little ones in His hand and nothing can take Him by surprise. Someday, I'll record my thoughts on why bad things happen even to little children.  But fo...

It's inevitable.  The calendar shifts from the old year to the new year and you can't help but reminisce. A year ago, we had three children in our family. A year ago, we were the newbies on the mission field. A year ago, we didn't have a church home in Gulu. A year ago, we rarely had electricity, reliable internet, cheese, or running water. So much happens in a year's time... and yet, in the scheme of eternity, what is a year? A year from now, I could be looking at my life from heaven, wondering how I possibly thought that a year was of any significance. So this year, I'm not making "new year's resolutions." Rather, I'm continuing with my struggle to make more of Christ and less of me.  Granted, I'm determined to struggle harder, but today is the same as yesterday as I plod forward, fighting the sin that so easily entangles me, clinging to grace, and praying for Christ to be evident in me.

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 ...