Rattins living Coram Deo

This day marks a bittersweet anniversary.  An anniversary that my older sister is very good at remembering - for very obvious reasons! This photo (above) was taken a day or two before the anniversary... maybe you can guess what happened!  Two years ago today, we left Pennsylvania, left my family, and I haven't seen them since (except for my little sister who visited us in June!). Two years ago today, we anxiously delayed leaving Pennsylvania as long as we could... waiting for my baby nephew to make his grand appearance! He finally obliged, at the last possible minute, and we got to hold him for a precious hour when he was just hours old... and then we said goodbye. Happy Birthday, Matthias!! ( My mom with her 6 grandkids on that day. ) Two years later: - We have five children (two of whom have never been out of Uganda). - My mom has 9 grandkids (two of whom she has never met in person). - We have two more nephews (on Josh's side - who we have yet to...

We visited our colleague and friend, Rose, and her brand new baby girl, Lakisa, this week.  This adorable healthy newborn was an answer to prayer as mama and baby are both healthy and thriving.  This is not a given in this area.  Child and maternal mortality rates are high - very high. But what struck me was a comment that she made as we sat in her tiny sitting room with her husband (unusual!), her two sons, a maid (usually a young lady from one of the families who needs domestic experience as she waits to get married), and the two grandmothers.  Yes, both grandmothers came to help.  This is a little unusual, especially since Rose and her husband are from different tribes.  But the happy grandmothers were both sitting there, together, loving on their grandbaby. "The baby is doing so well because the mothers are here to help.  When you are young like us, you can't have a healthy baby.  You need help from the mothers."  Rose is probably a...

My heart is heavy.  I'm facing the reality that I'm giving a very serious diagnosis to an orphan. If this was a child in North America, his parents would be grieving, angry, and reaching out to find resources and support... If this was a child in North America, his future would be full of plans for transitional care, skills training, adult living options, surgeries, medication after medication after medication, specialized diets... Here's a reality about orphans worldwide, but specifically in sub-Saharan Africa: this kiddo has relatives.  But, for reasons that I will keep private, they have rejected him. So, he does not have an advocate.  He does not have a mom to stay up at his side all night watching over him.  He does not have a dad who will run into town to get his medication before it runs out.  But he also does not automatically have the option for adoption because he still has relatives. The good news? He has us! Praise God that he is a Home...

Tonight, I'm sitting under my mosquito net, Googling "stinging caterpillars." I'm always learning something new - usually out of necessity.  This evening, I narrowly rescued Baby from a "bad" caterpillar that was making a bee-line for him.  This is the prickly caterpillar that people here fear greatly.  Fear almost as much as snakes... but not quite... nothing tops a snake. After I kicked the prickly caterpillar away and snatched the baby to the sound of Christine exclaiming about the dangers of that caterpillar, the caterpillar kindly obliged and curled up into a ball waiting patiently until I could find something to kill it with.  I then scolded each of my other children for not wearing their shoes outside (again) and made baby play next to me for the rest of the day... As if I am in control.... Yesterday, I lost him twice.  And silently freaked out. And got silently angry at the teenagers and adults in my household for letting him get out of their s...

My sister introduced me to the term "first world problem." I've been gnawing on this concept all day. We live in the "third world" or whatever the politically correct term is these days... I call it "low-resource setting." But we still have what I would classify as first world problems. I have to make my own cheese to make lasagna.  'sigh'  ( I have figured out how to make amazing lasagna here AND I have an oven!! ) 60% of the time, there's no running water from my kitchen tap so I have to do dishes from a tap that comes from our water tank.  'sigh' ( I still have running water 80% of the year!! ) I can't do laundry when the power is out ( because I have a washing machine!!).  'sigh' But, additionally, our community has "NGO-world problems." It's really the same concept.  But created by the presence of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who have given hand-outs for a decade  (or longer) due...

"Mama, when Gracie's in heaven, she won't need a wheelchair anymore, right? And she'll be able to talk to me, right?" (5 year old Ana, this week) Our Gracie is our first-born child.  We've been a family for nearly 7 years now.  We couldn't imagine life without her.  God has used her to shape us in so many ways.   But being on the mission field with a growing nonverbal daughter with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, epilepsy, significant development delays, GERD, constipation, and a swallow disorder is not always easy.  God had it all planned out, though.  He directed me to medical school so that Gracie could have her own personal doctor! (She LOVES her HOL friends and is very popular!) Our daily challenges with her include: - No special education so she's homeschooled.  She much prefers that someone BESIDES Mama teach her, so this summer I hired a dear friend who is in university for education.  I've trained her to be Gracie...

Money is a difficult thing.  Anywhere. " For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me" (Mark 14:7, ESV). On many foreign mission fields, a missionary who is living on a salary well below the poverty threshold in their country of origin, is viewed as wealthy in their host country.  Since they are foreign, they surely have immediate access to unending streams of money. Giving money in these settings is simply a bad idea.  I can write more about that later. Even giving THINGS is often a bad idea. So, here we are, trying to be responsible with our money, trying to live sacrificially, trying to demonstrate to our children that the riches of this world hold nothing for us... but we have to wrestle daily with how to spend our money. YOU have to wrestle daily with how to spend your money.   As I boiled it down, it came down to one principle: am I spending my money to invest in people? ...