HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

I love this time of year, phone calls and messages, emails flood my inbox, wishes for a wonderful and prosperous new year. Thank you, thank you very much.

I am thankful, for friends, thankful for family, for neighbors and thoughtful strangers. It was great coming home to Uganda, spending time with those near and dear although I must say "home" has new meaning because for some weird reason Dallas is home too.
I'm thankful for my parents now more than ever and indebted to God for keeping them alive, who am I that He would grant me such a special gift? I don't take it for granted that all my siblings are alive and well.

I was hit with the realisation that friends are not written in stone, some come, some go and some stay no matter what. Right now I'm caught in the middle of acknowledging that distance does grow people apart but also like Deng Ming-Dao said “Those truly linked don’t need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, their friendship is as true as ever.” That said I'm compelled to "work hard to bridge the gaps between geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young."

Okay about 2009, keep the dreams alive,like King David said
God will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart but on one condition (hehehe of course there is a catch), you've got to delight yourself in Him.
What does delight mean?
1. a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture: She takes great delight in her job.
2. something that gives great pleasure: The dance was a delight to see.
3. to give great pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment to; please highly: The show delighted everyone.
4. to have great pleasure; take pleasure (fol. by in or an infinitive): She delights in going for long walks in the country

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Colossians 3:16


Now how about that?!

Happy New Year!!!

"Be careful little eyes what you see"

I couldn't have heard this song at a more opportune time than I did yesterday. I heard a little girl singing "oh be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see, for the father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little eyes what you see" and that caught my attention.
Everywhere, the magazines in the grocery store, the commercials on TV, the internet- you stumble onto stuff even when you are not searching. The people with whom we interact,the places we go, the things we say - everything.
Its the second glance that makes all the difference and Michs little feet are sure to follow after mom and dad.
I thought about myself and people in my life that are going through some serious pain because of the decisions they made. I'm thankful for the grace but sadly we have to pay and the price has been very dear.
Its not easy to follow and the Peter doesn't make it any easier when he says
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" 2Peter 1:3
For real? you mean I can do this? I have been equipped to live a godly life?
Not on my own I can't but through Christ who gives me the strength.




Here are the lyrics in case you want to sing along or just read them.

Slow Fade by Casting Crowns
Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

Christmas at Gaylord Texan

I know the name sounds a little weird but its only a name, there is nothing else to it - believe me I was there and I have pictures to show.

Sam and I woke up around 7 something to the sound of papers being wripped, somebody was opening the presents "santa" had placed under the tree. I don't know how Mich figured out which presents were his, well its not like there were that many to begin with but I suspect he thought "the bigger it is, the more likely it is to be mine".
When I asked him later he said, he just knew, he had prayed so there was no question about it - I love that faith.

Looks like Americans dont have church on Christmas day, we searched online but there was no church activity, you better do all your church activity on christmas eve and before - christmas day is for eating, going places and being with family.
We haven't developed any close friendships in the area yet so it was just the three of us. I'm not complaining, that's family right?!.
So we decided to take a ride on the town and then visit Gaylords Texan resort and convention center to check out the lights and christmas displays.



We visited the ice house that had hand carved ice kept at a frosty 9 degrees. It is so cold, all the visitors are given jackets as they line up to enter. The thing I found interesting about it all is that Chinese are flown in to actually do the sculpting, does it snow that much in China? how come they know more about this kind of thing?
The scenes I loved most where the nativity scene and the angel. Take a look






To crown the day we went to the cinema to watch a family movie. Made sure that it was a "G" rated movie, found 'The Tale of Despereaux' was the only one. I thought that would do, boy was I wrong or what?! bad idea completely. The story about a little mouse that wasnt afraid turned out to be a horror for Mich, he covered his eyes half the time and his little heart was beating like a drum. Who rates these movies anyway? there were some really spooky faces I was getting scared too.












And the story was not all that anyway, enough bad mouthing for the producers, it didnt spoil our day we went home and kept the merry spirit.

Mysteries

Children are mysteries, ok, let me rephrase that – Mich is a mystery, he is truly fearfully and wonderfully made.
From the time we were getting set to travel back to the states, he begun telling people how he is not going any where, that he is just escorting mummy, when daddy is through with work he will come home. In the mean time we were supposed to send him his bicycle – This from the boy who was always reminding his teachers and friends how he is going back to Dallas where he won’t be harassed to read and write – mbu.
Anyway to the last minutes at the airport, he was preaching the same gospel but when push came to shove he thought he would hold on to Nkosi and drag him along since his plan of staying wasn’t exactly working. It was an emotional time for me just watching him, crying and tagging his cousin along saying they had to go together. Nkosi had the look of – dude, I don’t know what you are about but I have nothing to do with this, you made your bed so you sleep in it.
After a while Mich let go and the most interesting thing happened, as soon as we crossed the customs line, he was all excited and bubbling about how he is going to see daddy and how it must be snowing in Dallas. People?! Just what are kids made of? I wish I had such buttons that can be switched at the snap of a finger. He totally forgot he was having issues.
The flight to Amsterdam was ok; he slept right through the 8 hour journey. Our only trouble was the landing bit when ear pressure set in and he wailed like a baby. He was quite happy that it was over only to realize we had another flight (my bad, I should have prepared him). Our flight from Amsterdam to Dallas Fort worth was 10 long hours, it felt like forever – we ate, slept, ate again, watched TV, slept, ate e.t.c
Finally landed at Dallas Fort worth airport at 2:10pm. I had to fill out a declaration form. If you carried billions of dollars, some animal in your luggage, had some food, vegetables, roots, meats, or such kinds of weird stuffs, then you indicated that yes I brought in some voodoo and so on. Now all I had was banana chips, curry powder, peanut butter – you know nothing major, so I didn’t think that was worth declaring. When asked by the officer if I had any food, I said well not really just some snacks. He asked me where I was coming from – Uganda, and how long have you been away? – five months. He smiled at me and asked me to follow line one. I should have known, the line comprised of mostly Asians and Africans. I guess its hard to believe that people can go to their native countries and not come back with food stuffs or something. An Asian was at the front of the cue being asked whether he had food, he quickly said no, then the lady checked his bags and pulled out all sorts of things – “sir, when I asked if you had any food you denied – this is food, this is food, this here is food”. When it was my turn, I said very quickly that I had food and that made my life easier.
Before long we were out and found Sam waiting, it was a good reunion. Mich was really happy to see his dad, gave him a big hug and was quiet the rest of the journey. I had to keep checking that he wasn’t a sleep, he seemed so content seeing mummy and daddy together again. I guess for him it’s the security, life is all good now. He is a different person now, listening to me, obeying immediately and just being a whole lot calmer, wow it’s unbelievable.

I'm ba ack

Testing, testing, one two three.
Oooh its been ages but looks like every thing is working as it should. There is a lot to tell, dont know where to start from.
For now I will say it's good to be back on line. Landed at DFW last monday, was jetlagged for about four days, still getting into the system and will soon update you on whats been going on.

Clueless

Who knew that raising a child would be so intense?
These months at home have exposed interesting traits in Mich that I never knew existed.

“I don’t want to greet”
“Mummy but why should I be polite?”
“That is not what I planned to do”
“Hugging people should not be all the time”
“No!”
“I’m not going to do it”
“No!”
“I will never ever go for a sleep over ever again”
“NO, NO, NO!!!!”

What happened to being kind and taking turns? what about being polite?, I thought these were things we had talked about and dealt with.
Maybe I wasn’t keen to nip these bad habits while they were budding.
I’m sure there are more responses than I could care to mention here.
It’s extremely embarrassing when a child acts contrary to “social norms”, all the blame is cast on the parents, particularly the mom.
At some point I felt hopeless- okay maybe that is a strong word but I really did, it seemed like the two years I spent with him didn’t make the desired impact.
I am now reminded that we are fallen creatures, we are sinful to the core that is just our nature, no one needs to teach us that. It’s the essence of who we are whether we are new arrivals on this planet or ancient inhabitants, we are wicked and that is why we all need Jesus.
I can force/coerce/command Mich to act the right way but as long as he doesn’t have a change of heart it’s all in vain. I need to teach him the principle behind the “do”, I need to help him realize the sinfulness of his very being and point him to Jesus. I have to constantly pray because this is in effect a battle of the soul.
I’m also coming to the conclusion that I probably haven’t been engaging him as I ought.

School has been a rather interesting experience these past few months. One day he is looking forward to it, the next he literally wants to shrivel and disappear at the thought. At the start I thought it was the adjusting process but as the days went by he wasn’t taking it any better. Different study styles? The content? The environment? The teachers? I don’t know. School in Philly was great - this is a whole different ball game.
Even then we are still in the adjusting mode, in a few weeks we will be in Dallas and the process is likely to start over again.
Quite apart from the fact that I feel overwhelmed and odd when Mich acts up in some weird new way, or says something I never imagined, I also acknowledge that he is in new surroundings. He is meeting new people everyday and doesn’t quite know where to place them – what part do they play in his life? How should he treat them?
For a long time it has just been mom and dad now every one here wants to be at the centre of his life (in a good way), his natural response is to protect or defend himself.
It has taken me a while to adjust to being back home how much more Mich who had no recollection of his home?

Last night it dawned on me that even though we tend to belittle kids feelings and reactions they are real and they are a result of something or the other. Mich woke up crying, when asked what the matter was he said he wanted his daddy – duh!
It’s been almost two months since Sam left to start work in Dallas.
How could I forget that a child needs the stability of having both parents around to feel secure and more especially when that is all he has known for the past four critical years of his life?
A child needs both parents, the love from mom and the firm hand from dad or vice versa depending on who has which strengths – or may be not. Maybe God has duties cut out for each parent and when one can’t have both he raises up someone else to play that part or equips the one available I don’t know.
I guess it takes for certain experiences to draw out the thoughts of the heart, if they are never provoked then we never know.

Miss blogging

Oh my blog, how I miss you.
It's just so hard to keep posting my stuff pronto.. The issues of typing it out, uploading it, getting to office... before I know it a month has gone by and the news is a wee bit stale but the struggle continues.

Since the last time I fumed about my buddies on the blog,we have since made up. They have called me up when I least expected, invited me to their homes, Mich has had sleep overs, so I'm a happier woman.
Meanwhile I was asked to lead worship as a back up, that was exciting reminded me of the good ol days.
Something else, I wrote an article and it was published in the Newvision newspaper, that was exciting, now I need to go collect my money. It's not much but hey! it's "ma ne".

Mich is still yoyoing with school, can't tell if he will be thrilled or bawling about going to school the next day.