The "O" name

Probably the most talked about, written about person in the past several months - Obama.

It's a buzz up in here, almost every channel I tune into is saying something or the other about the man and his up coming inauguration.
Mich was a little puzzled about why they want Obama to say so many things - time to educate. I explained to him how Obama was going to make a promise and what that meant.

It's great to be right here when America is making history.

I get teary eyed watching videos of Martin Luther King Jr making his "I have a dream" speech 46 years ago - "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Seeing Obama live that dream today- is absolutely awesome!

People are coming from every place that you can imagine to witness the 1st black president of America take his oath. As I watched on TV;- children, grandmas', fathers', sisters', grandpas', mothers', brothers', uncles', friends', strangers', foreigners' gather at Washington square in the freezzzzzing cold (quite honestly I don't know how they do that) to witness this momentus occassion.

Lots of people have lost their jobs, their homes, dear ones in war but they are all looking up with hope, a hope for something new, something good, something different. This can be very daunting for one man, clearing up someone else's mess and also meeting the peoples expectations ( which are as different as night and day). One vibe that I was getting though is that even though some people are like some Africans who elect you to power and then sit back expecting you to do all the work, Americans are taking heed to Kennedy's words "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". It's encouraging to hear people take the responsibility and know that all Barack is doing is giving them a pillow to dream on and hope to keep those dreams alive.

2009 ---> Attitude of Gratitude

I feel like 2009 is a year in which we should look back on our lives and thank God for all the blessings He has given us. It is amazing what happens when we start counting our blessings, all over a sudden hearts are lifted, things don't look as gloomy as before and we realise that we are truly blessed.
Start with something as simple as life itself, I am so thankful to be a live, yeah I got bashed in 2007, was continuously reminded about it in 2008 but I'm certain I never would have made it with out big J or is it big G.

At times I feel real lousy about my big tummy and the fact that I have no kids (Mich not included) to show for it but then I'm reminded that God loves me anyway, it's not something He is hangup on and at the end of the day I don't look that bad - really.

This year, the words that dominate my mind are obedience, discipline and self-control.

Self-control literally means controling yourself - being the boss of you. It hit me recently that over eating is a sin, it means you have no control of your body but that your body has control over you. This is where the discipline comes in, beating the body and bringing it under control. It's not easy but the fruits are well worth it.

As for obedience, even as I'm constantly trying to help Mich understand its meaning - willing doing what we are asked to do, I'm reminded that the same theory applies to me in relation to God, parents, bosses, friends, colleagues, neighbors on and on.

Mirror

These past few weeks with Mich have been amazing. I can't get over how much he has grown and continues to grow. His statements never cease to tickle me, just like last night when he had a "eureka" moment.

Mich - "Mummy, I know why it takes long for God to give us the things we ask for"

me - "really, why?"

Mich - "because He is still making them. I asked Him for a cart and I haven't received it because God is still making it"

me - silence "wow!"

Mich - "He finishes them at the end of the year, around Christmas"

I was amused that he was covering for God and better still, He knows that God is faithful, when He takes long there has got to be a good reason.

His little brain soaks up information like a sponge, right now he is in the phase of creating theories to explain different phenomena.

He has a sense of humor, loves to tell jokes and catches them too, even when they are quite subtle.

Books are a big thing in his life right now.
He sleeps with books, he stays up late to read books, he wakes up in the middle of the night to read books. He even finds fascinating stuff in The Economist (I'm talking about the cartoon drawings).

We've got a genius on our hands I tell you, but there is one slight problem though. The little man thinks writing and learning how to read letters are one of mans' worst inventions. He gets splitting headaches, looks like he could pass out the next minute when you mention anything to do with writing.

It continues to be an issue of contention, I pray that God grants me wisdom on how to deal with it. It doesn't help that I meet children his age and younger who read, count and write with so much ease and eagerness.

I'm reminded that my "cup" is different. I'm certain he will read and write sometime in his life, when is a whole other issue - it's not for want of trying right?!.

We have been through the entire list; lectures, spanking, withholding, talking, name it.
Yesterday I was at my wits end, I explained to him what this was all about, tried to understand his point of view but at the end it wasn't so much that didn't want to write small "a" as it was I him not listening to me.

So we went on a different tangent, I realised I would be happier if he obeyed than if he actually wrote a prize winning essay.

"Obedience means to listen and obey, to willing do what you are asked to do". I made him repeat this statement over and over, then I told him the story of Adam and Eve, how they disobeyed and added the concept of repercussions. Along the way I was caught in my trucks when I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying, "what?" and I repeated "Obedience means to listen and obey, to willing do what you are asked to do".

That was the end of that, I coiled (in my mind) just thinking I was preaching to myself and the many times I have been disobedient.

Children cross examine parents, I got the real mirror effect.

The Wonderful West

I bet you were thinking about cowboys and Indians and whatever other connotations “west” has today. Well sadly no, I was actually referring to the western region of Uganda.
Sam, Mich, Rukundo, Geoffrey and I took a trip to Kabale to visit with Mich’s great grand mother (Sam’s grand ma), Mich’s grand aunt and other relatives.
Kabale is breathtakingly beautiful, it’s defined by hills, mountains, lakes and valleys. It’s also very fertile; I got the impression that every household owned a farm.

Looking out the window I could see acres upon acres of tea, sorghum, millet, cabbage, bananas, onions, Irish potatoes, rice, mangoes, pineapples, green vegetables and lots more. I’m told it’s the land where “mirik, frows on the virrage paths” – “milk flows on the village paths” in other words they have lots of cattle - break that down to milk, cheese, ghee, butter and everything you can squeeze out of a cow.

“Nyogukuru”, grandmother in Rufumbira was really happy to see us, especially Mich. She spoke in Rufumbira which Mich and I are still learning. I thought I had mastered the greetings and basic words of conversation until I visited and she pulled out ancient words that I couldn't fathom, they were nothing like the ones I learned and so I was thrown off. When I thought I had learned those, someone else would come up with yet another version.
Eh! The beauty of marrying into a different tribe.
Some of the greetings I know ; “umezute” response “mezeneeza”, “amasho” response “amashongore”, “uwiriwe” I don’t remember the response to that may be “uwiriweneeza”, “osibirotya” response “ndiburungi” or something like that. My favourite response was "yego", you could get away with almost everything if you said "yego" meaning yes.

We visited relatives in Kisoro with Nyogukuru as our guide, I was a little concerned especially considering the fact that her eye sight is failing. Just when we needed direction she would turn to Rukundo, now, neither Rukundo nor any of us knew the area, so we had to stop and ask the locals.
She is an amazing lady, did I mention how at some point she accused me of wanting to throw her down because I was trying to help her get out of the car?. Well I learned not to be so "helpful", at least not until the help is sermoned for.

We had about 5 hours in which to visit 5 people and considering that they were located in different places and we had to stop to ask for directions we actually didn't have that much time.

We nearly did some stand up visits - stand at the door, greet, make sure everybody is fine, time keeper says times is up, we say our goodbyes and hit the road.
Even with our impromptu visits, nyogukuru managed to get some presents. I think they had been waiting for her.

One of my highlights was meeting her brother. He was whisked from his garden, dressed in gum boots, a sweater, what looked like two layers of clothing underneath, a walking stick and a hat. He has clearly lived a long life, still I was amazed at his energy and stamina. Nyogukuru is the last born of 15 children and her brother is the 7th. Now if she is around 89, just how old would her brother be? Well, he told us he is 93 but quite honestly I suspect he is over 100.

We visited another old lady, I think I know how they coined the phrase "little old lady" because she was little. She was so glad to see us, especially Nyogukuru, their conversation went something like "if you get there before me, keep me a place. And if I get there before you I will keep you a place". Do you get the drift? Mich was certainly concerned, between beautiful scenery's he got to see old people.
On our flight back from Uganda he asked me if all the people in the plane had been visiting their grandmas. Hmmm ... he wasn't traumatised was he? :-)

We drove passed Lake Bunyonyi on our way to Kisoro, apparently its the second deepest lake in Africa. Saying it was such a pretty sight would be a serious understatement. I could have driven back to Kampala after that- not wanting anything to tarnish the picture that it had imprinted on my mind. That was the icing on the cake.

Lake Bunyonyi

But the fun was not over, Geoffrey is a wine connoisseur and we couldn't leave Kabale without visiting the local store. The lady and her husband brew wine in their backyard.

We stopped by the healing Kitagata springs in Bushenyi, and found some crazy guy who claimed to work at State house but did tours part time. He seemed to know a lot about the springs but frankly I think he had 'lost it'. He gave us some detailed information about what potent was in the different temperatures of water, he said the waters healed all diseases. But clearly there were women and men bathing in the water and drinking it.

Later on we got to eat the hugest hottest tastiest roasted cassava on this planet courtesy of Geoffrey.

We drove through Queen Elizabeth National Park, spotted some Elephants drinking at a water source and nearly jumped out of the car in excitement. We also saw some Buffaloes, and antelopes. Uganda is a truly the Pearl of Africa.

Elephants at Queen Elizabeth National Park

Birds eye view of Queen Elizabeth National Park

Mount Habura

Found a church

After 4 weeks of church shopping we found what we were looking for. It fits the bill-I think (you know that sometimes what we want or think we want and what God would have for us are not always in sync). But the goal is to step out anyway, start with what you think is right and God will clarify things as you go along.

What was I looking for? well, here is the description;
Average sized church, not too big, not too small, size enough for us to develop meaningful relationships.
Free worship, I need to be able to lift up my hands and dance without being a distraction or a spectacle.
Friendly and warm atmosphere, a place where we can feel at home without bending over backwards to fit in.
Solid teaching, what ever that means.

Last Sunday we visited Living Hope Church.
We got to the door and were greeted by two or three people, in the mean time I was trying to figure out where Sunday school was when a lady came over (I think she was an usher), and gave me a welcome hug. I was still rilling over the fact that this lady hugged a perfect stranger when another lady came over, asked if we were new and invited us to sit with her and her husband - nice. She took us to Sunday school, waited for us to register Mich and you know Mich, as soon as he sees some fascinating toys, he forgets you ever existed but that's ok.
The songs were new to me but lyrics - very meaningful. When I noticed an error with one of the words on the over head I thought cool, these people are actually human so I'm in good company. I liked the fact that we sung choruses over and over impromptu, the congregation worshiped and prayed. At some point I saw a man walk up and pray for someone without being asked, I thought that was cool too.
The pastor is a nice guy, 60 years old, seemed like a funky granddad - one who is approachable, wise, loving, funny and tells interesting stories.

His sermon was on the theme "Nothings too hard for God"
Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

Dan 4:35 "All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: "What have you done?"
That just sounds like a super hero to me.

Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

These are a few of the verses that we looked at. I liked the fact that for every scripture he referenced we actually read. I get real lazy when a preacher mentions verses and then tell us to read them at home.
At the end of the service we all got wrist bands with the words "Nothing's too hard for God", its a nice way to always remember that God can handle everything.

I was ministered to, it was not so much about what they did or didn't do, I felt the presence of the Lord and had a personal encounter with Jesus. Do I sound too spiritual? well I don't know how else to put it.

For now I can say we are in business. Oh and Mich said he loved Sunday school.