Feb to April 2015

Psalm 27 Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage” Our God came through for us and gave us victory in the courts for the final adoption step for the boys after the judge demanded DNA tests. Eventually after much prayer (thanks too many) the judge softened and realised it was impossible to get a DNA link between the boys and such a distant paternal Aunt. She then asked us to track down a sister of the Aunt but after finding her she was from a different father so that was a dead end - eventually the judge approved. The countdown has begun in our house to our departure - only 2 and half teaching months to go then we will spend time slowly getting ready to return - aiming at early September when it is a little warmer - this will be our greater challenge - acclimatising!!!. The temperature here is so lovely and relaxing - it is always between 25 and 30. Yet every journey has its chapters and we are about to embark on the next chapter - resettling in NZ with a bigger family. We had an inspiring time with the Higgins from Tauranga. All the boys were sleeping in our tent first night and they received the full fury of a heavy downpour which dismantled their tent and so at 4.00am we had a whole bunch of wet teens in the lounge crowded round our table tennis table. All part of a tropical night in Uganda. Their safari was awesome - they got close to a female lion and her cubs and the carcass of an antelope. Wow the Higgins sure packed it in during their stay - we are so thankful for their support in our ministry. We visited the burns ward together and although it was a bit sad we were able to minister to many needs. We also went for a prayer walk down to our closest slum and blessed Emmanuel’s family. Emmanuel has finally found a job and has already been promoted - a 4 year journey through a lot of physical pain with his bone surgery and job hunting and 3 years of anti biotics!! A testimony of endurance. Security has been tightened here in Uganda (again!) following the Kenyan massacre of 147 students in a University - totally barbaric and cowardly. I take George with me as I lead my class to the swimming pool. George is a highly trained commando with a big AK 47 machine gun - he was drilling me on what to do if a pack of terrorists attempt a kidnapping of my children while walking to the pool. He told me - and showed me - he would be “the blazing wall” between me and the kids and the terrorists!! We have had drills in school if a problem did arise with unwanted armed idiots. We have a full lock down procedure - but the challenge is not knowing where the attack might come from. I have been over and over in my mind all the alternatives and replayed them to get our escape or hiding right - we have a very strong barbed 4 metre wall right round the school with the main entrances well guarded and a small escape route into the swamp at the back. Imagine this happening in NZ!! I am heavily involved in paper work for getting our adopted children into NZ. Plenty of surprises - Nicholas at 15 is classed as an adult in NZ Immigration eyes - therefore he must be a resident before he can apply for citizenship and a passport. So I am busy applying to the London office for a residence visa (820 pounds!) - but he needs a full medical report which can only be done at the IOM clinic for refugees - a nightmare of a place and costing already 600,000 ugx -(NZ era are charged differently - they will not fill in my forms because they say the results are on line - but NZ wants forms so I am in the middle of tracking radiologists to get a signature for the chest xray - and so it goes on - still trying to find a registered doctor there to sign forms - am I going mad? - not yet! all part of getting ready! Dennis reached the finals of the under 11 football championship - we deserved to win - we were the best team but somehow everything did not go our way - all our shots hit the top bar, penalties skimmed the bar so both teams ended up after extra time 1 - 1 - hence the dreaded penalty shoot out - one of our best penalty guys hit the ground before the ball and gave it the goalie - we lost and we were devastated after an outstanding build up. The boys moved on quickly but coach Steve found it hard after so much skill building and hard fought wins. Still a visit to the hospital next day put it all into perspective!!! Nicholas plays basketball on Saturday and is doing really well. Pauline goes to swim training twice a week and is a very powerful swimmer which is great for the NZ beach scene. Please pray for the children’s citizenship applications to NZ and Nicholas’ residence visa and medical reports. There are some seriously burned people in the ward who do not have carers which is challenging our financial resources. We are supporting an orphan from Kyazanga called John who is finishing his second year of an Engineering degree. This has soaked up a lot of finance. Please pray for our ability to meet the needs of the above and see people healed and successful in this very challenging environment.