Six Flags Over Texas

It feels like a pretty long time since I last posted on my blog but you know, life happens, laziness, buziness, nothing-to-write-aboutness and so on.
Last Saturday was an interesting one, we decided to go to Six Flags Over Texas with the Lubwama girls, that was something else. The place gave roller coasters a whole new meaning in my view.

Ok first of all the only roller coasters I had been on were the really mild ones in UG and the ones that we go through in life, (you know how we always say "our lives are like roller coasters") complete understatements I tell you.
The girls had been there several times before so they knew the rides like the back of their palms, Sam, Mich and I were new at this so we only had them as a guide, absolute bad idea.
I knew we were in real trouble when we got onto our first ride and the words of caution were something like this " For safety precaution please keep all parts of your body inside the vehicle" aaaaaaahhhh!!!!, what does that mean? that our body parts are going to be falling all over the place?


I was sitting next to Sam and the entire ride he was quiet, I didn't see him during the ride because my eyes were shut and I was screaming the entire time, he could have fallen out and I wouldn't know. Turns out that it was an 'everyman for himself and God for us all" time, he was gritting his teeth and waiting for everything to be over.
The experience?! well it's hard to explain but how about going through emotions of laughing, crying, fear,shouting, screaming, the sense of loosing balance, falling endlessly all at once, then just when you think it's over you go through the same thing with these emotions interchanged, and all in about a minute and a half. I got off the ride feeling fresh and relieved of all the bad toxins in my body, well, not exactly but you know how they say screaming is healthy once in a while.

For this ride Mich stayed with Jackie who took him on the kiddie rides, I should have known why she was so eager to stay with him while the rest of us went eagerly to "spill our guts".

You know I was actually thinking that one of these roller coaster rides would serve well to solve some court cases. Get the accused on one of those intense rides with a tape recorder attached and by the time they come off, you would have all the facts of the case in question, it's cheaper than hiring a lawyer.

It was all crazy but so much fun, we took a ride that went through the water and we got soaked, Mich certainly loved that one.


Interestingly while some of us closed our eyes for even the milder rides Mich kept his eyes wide open, no fear at all, he only said it was quite fast but that was about all, he was having fun fun fun.
We went in for a 3D Sponge Bob movie and that startled him abit, but nothing else.


Then we had some time to walk around, there is one roller coaster ride that I'm not yet ready for (and may never be in this life time) and that's the Superman Tower of Power, where people rise to the top of this tall escalator and are let down in a hurry.




As we walked around we bumped into one of the little pigs and later Shaggy and Scooby doo, for some reason everyone was shy.



People do some really daring things, like swinging back and forth in the air, in this picture they actually look like a small plane but I'm sure you can tell the difference, you can't? well look a little closer. (Double click the picture)

The news

Yesterday I was watching a program on TV and the topic was gays and lesbians, earlier in the day someone else was talking about the same thing over the radio. I thought, eh! this issue is huge, it's really crazy out here, these guys are just gone and the way they justify their cause. At the back of my mind I thought (anti that's why I think Mich should grow up in UG at least co...)
Today I was checking out news in Uganda and there it was on the front page "Kampala Homosexuals speak out", ouch!! that hurts, it hit close to home, my people! ( I became patriotic after leaving the country you know). I've known for a while that these people are there but I guess it's different now because I'm looking at it from another angle. I probably don't know these people personally but they are fellow Ugandans, my heart goes out to gays and lesbians around the world but it especially goes out to my country men and women. Just reading how passionate they are about their lifestyle and the persecution they are facing makes me very sad.
Sad not because of what they are going through but sad that they could be so deceived.
They say “Don’t lay a hand on us, we are the homosexual children of God. God created us this way and all we ask is let us live in peace.”
I believe God loves these people more than we could ever imagine, actually there is nothing we as humans could ever do to thwart God's love for us, it's there, we are stuck with it and it's not going to change. The problem comes when we start blaming God for the way we are or the things we do. Kind of reminds me how this blame game runs in the family, it started with our greatest grand father and mother, Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, when as a matter of fact the sin was born in her very heart but she didn't want to take responsibility for it.
Like wise we all have issues, having "beef" for people, forging documents, corruption, sleeping with people we are not married to, telling lies, whatever the case. We always find something or someone to blame but ultimately the blame is ours because we thought about these things, we imagined how things would be better if we did them and finally after building the picture in our minds we went a head and carried out the did, justifying our actions.
Blaming someone else for our wrong doing is bad enough, but blaming God for our wickedness I think is the ultimate, that is a bit too much.
Obviously many would not see it that way because we have no idea how desperately wicked we are, we can do the worst things all by ourselves, there is no need for help because our nature as human beings is absolutely corrupt.
There is completely nothing good in us, I know people come to mind whom we think "so and so could never do wrong he/she couldn't harm a fly, they always have holy thoughts", well sorry to burst your bubble but there is no such person, not even Mother Theresa on her own would fit that mould. The fact is we are wicked period.
That is why we ALL NEED Jesus.

I imagine if Jesus was in Uganda at the present time, He would be hanging out with these guys, going to the gay joints and basically loving them. Listening to their pleas and issues and sharing with them the good news of what He had come to do.
So my focus is directed toward the Christians, I don't really mind what people brand themselves, born again, charismatic, protestant, baptist... those titles are endless. I'm talking to those who call themselves Christians, those who say they are followers of Christ, those who profess that Jesus is the son of God and accept what He did on the cross. What are we doing about it? are we being the "salt", the preservative we are meant to be?
Are we praying? asking God to soften the harden hearts that have been given over to confused lifestyles that they don't even know if they are male or female anymore.
Are we making them our friends so that we can influence them, or better still are we keeping the friendships going even after we were told they were gay/lesbian?
What are we doing?

24-25So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

26-27Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either—women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
28-32Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
Romans 1:24-32

Praying for the Boys

Wow wow! it's blazing hot down here in D we are at a constant of 100 degrees but it should cool down towards the end of the week.
I'm constantly grateful for house AC because I don't know how else we would make it through. A radio presenter gave a friend some sound advice, in case she was lazy to cook dinner that day all she had to do was put the ingredients for the meal in a sauce pan and carry it with her to work. Then leave it in the car and by the time she was ready to head home in the evening it would be ready to serve having marinated and boiled/roasted/baked on steady heat. I found that funny.

Mich likes to read, no let me rephrase that, Mich likes it when stories are read to him and then when the story is over he says "thiii end". The other day he wasn't feeling too good but he lead the prayer before he went to bed and it went something like, " Dear Jesus, thank you for today, I pray that you take away the pain in my stomach and throw it in the water and I pray that I sleep well" and then there was some silence and he begun to say "thiii.." he stopped and then said "In Jesus name Amen". I couldn't wait to get out of his room because I was struggling to keep a straight face. Boy! that was funny.

Ok, what I really wanted to say is that God has made me realise that one of my other duties as a wife and mother is to pray for my family. I know that may sound obvious but some of us are slow and sometimes it's not until you have an encounter with God that the scales fall off one's eyes.
That's not to say I never used to pray for them but now more than ever I realise that it's my role to cover my family in prayer.
Just like a pastor needs the prayers of his congregation to keep refreshed and renewed, the same applies to the priest of the home. He is the head and therefore the target of Satan's evil schemes so he needs the covering and prayer of his wife, his partner and the person closest to him. I know more about Sam than anybody else (or at least I should) and for that very reason I should know how to lift him up to God in prayer.
Watching Mich grow, I realise the responsibility of a mother is awesome and I should influence him the most because we spend all our hours together. I have been concerned about him growing up in the states, the exposure, wondering what kind of kids he will interact with at school and what influence they will have on him. Originally it was out of fear that I would pray, but God is showing me that He is the one ultimately in charge of Mich's life. All I need to do is ask him to guide me and grant me wisdom and trust God that He will take care of what is His own. These relationships are dear to me but they should not cloud my vision of whose they are.
In that I find my peace knowing that God will take care of them but my duty is to lift them up in prayer and cover them in Jesus blood.
It makes the burden so much lighter, that said I pray that God would help me do my part. For example with Mich I have to be careful to check out the programs he watches and that can be tough, I have slipped quite a few times on this one.
Some time last week he insisted that wanted to watch scooby doo, I was trying to prepare dinner so I got it for him. I watched scooby doo growing up so I thought eer! why not?!, I had forgotten about the spooky parts, at some point he said "mummy I'm scared". I don't plan on doing scooby doo again even if he cries for it, he didn't have a good night that night.
Then another time I put for him Tom and Jerry, there couldn't be a more innocent cartoon right?!. After a while I noticed a disturbed look on his face, one that was between "I'm confused and I want to cry". Apparently Tom was getting beat up as usual and I found it hard to explain how that was supposed to be funny.

It's complicated!!

Houses in D

setting limits

I've been thinking about life, (hmm! that sounds very intellectual), any way I was thinking about life and how we live by setting goals, with the purpose of hitting the mark hook or crook.

By eighteen I should have had my first boy friend, by twenty five I should be married, by this time I should have a job and a promotion shortly after. I don't know what your goals are but I just find it interesting the way God shuffles mine around.
I'm learning the joy of living in uncertainty just knowing that God is the only certain part of it all.
I know for the most part, well at least in some other peoples lives He allows things to work out exactly the way they plan. You know, by thirty they are married, have kids, have earned their degrees and are working at a top position in a prestigious company. That's good and all, the only problem is the confidence is all in self, feeling like they have accomplished all this by themselves (well not all but some).
My experience has been different and full of surprises, "adventure" seems to sum it up. Right now I'm walking a road with just enough light for the next step, I have dreams that are growing bigger every day, just how I will accomplish them is something else all together.
Last year I was in the mode of "I've got things figured out" this will happen, then at this point this should happen and somehow I expected God to tag along.
This year He is teaching me to take one step then wait for instructions, sometimes instead of taking the next step forward (which is the natural thing to do)I have found curtains with lots of different surprises behind them, then I realise the road leads in a totally different direction. I'm tempted to tell Him, "wait a minute, I think we are going the wrong way, it's supposed to be the other way". When I'm stubborn and try to show Him what I'm talking about, He lets me go on and sure enough I come running back.
So I think setting limits is good but we should not be too bent on them because we will get consumed by getting what we want and miss out on even better things.
Isn't it wonderful to know Jesus?!