Favorite Photos from May

Dorothy's Family Portrait (She is carrying Levi. I've got my purse. Joey has the diaper bag and Hannah is walking the cat!)

My Little Gymnast

Daddy Daughter Time Gardening

A Morning Person from the Start!

EVERYTHING Goes in His Mouth These Days

Life (I love this one 'cause it shows our norm right now. Levi is blurry because he never stops moving. The girls' dress-up clothes on the floor behind him. Joey's flight boots on the left. Our groceries from the market in the bag and bucket on the right. And the girls just barely visible playing in their room in the far back.)

Tornado!

Ok, technically it was a water spout. A tornado over the water. I was in Entebbe to pick up building materials for one of the hospitals in Congo. There was a lot of weather around Entebbe when I arrived, making the last several miles of the trip difficult as I looked for a way in.

As we loaded the cargo, I happened to look out the window of the airplane and saw a waterspout about a mile away over Lake Victoria—just off the end of the runway. It wasn’t very big at first, and then it completely disappeared. A few minutes later I saw it again, but much larger. It stayed there for about 10 minutes before it suddenly dissipated. As it lost power, I could see the shaft of water expand, then come crashing down to the surface of the lake with a splash. It was pretty cool!

The Drive Home

(This post is technically the final part of "Road Trip".)

There are no pictures from our drive home. Both Joey and I were anticipating that the trip would not go smoothly. So, we were praying, talking, and being mutually vigilant during our drive home. Earlier in the afternoon we had received word from friends back in Nyankunde that there had been an accident involving a truck from the hospital.

Here is a picture from Saturday. We had followed this truck for several miles on our way into town. However, on its way back to Nyankunde it was hit by a motorcyclist head on. The cyclist died. His passenger was very badly hurt and was being operated on at the hospital.

Justice here is often swift and not always very just. The local community near the accident site had stripped the truck of its cargo and burned the vehicle. Thankfully, the driver had made it to safety and had not been injured by the mob. Since the truck belonged to the hospital, some of the mob had come to the hospital and tried to make trouble there. The call we received let us know that a group of people had also set up a road block on the main road charging money “for the funeral expenses”.

After a conversation with our MAF security person it seemed like the risk of harm was minimal as the people blocking the road just wanted a small amount. We prayed about it and decided to go ahead and drive back. By the time we passed the spot all was calm and the group with the road block had dispersed. We were very thankful to be back home at the end of the day.

Stuff like this breaks our hearts. The unnecessary loss of life. The injustice of theft and destruction. The senseless damage done to the hospital and local community where the stolen supplies would have blessed so many people. Two things come to mind…

First of all, thankyou for praying for our safety. We need that covering more often than we even realize. Please keep praying!

Secondly, we asked you to pray for heart change here in Congo. Keep praying! Nothing else can change people's reactions so completely as hearts fully devoted to Christ.  

Road Trip

A couple weekends ago we took a road trip to Bunia. The main purpose was to attend a birthday party for the girls’ friend Robbie. We decided to make a weekend of it, hoping to get some shopping in, see some friends, and relax together as a family. However, it turned into one of those weekends where very little actually went the way we planned! Thankfully, we had a wonderful time anyways!

Friday ended up fuller work-wise and socially than originally planned, so we were pretty tired and not packed by Saturday morning. Debated just making it a day trip Sunday, but the girls were super excited so we ended up with just a late start.

 

Downtown Nyankunde

They just fixed the main road so it was a pretty smooth ride!

 

Most of the bridges cause me to pray hard.

The 27-mile drive to Bunia took around an hour and a half.

We arrived in Bunia around 1pm and dropped off our stuff at the MAF Office. Top to bottom: Pillows, mosquito zapper, Levi's travel bed, sheets, towels, and mosquito nets, food, our bag (including toys, cosmetics bag and Bibles), the girls’ backpacks with their stuff, diaper bag, and drinking water.

First hiccup, Joey forgot his keys for the spare bedroom and the office guys couldn’t find theirs! No problem. We would go to lunch at the restaurant and they could drop it off there once they found it. 

Is there anything better than coke and fries?

Second hiccup, a man who we suspect had had too much to drink sat down at our table and stayed there almost the entire meal. Not quite the relaxing family time we were looking forward to. However, in the end the girls loved their fish, fries, and cokes, Joey’s steak was great, and it was fun seeing the restaurant staff again and introducing them to Levi.

Dorothy and Hannah settled in with their sticker dolls when we got back to the office. Thanks, Mom! The guys still hadn’t found the key even though they had been looking everywhere for the several hours we were out. Thankfully, we have friends in Bunia. Joey started making calls and within the hour we had a place to stay the night.  

We enjoyed a picnic dinner before bed.

Church on Sunday was a unique experience for me (Kathleen). I often feel out of place in Congo. However, being back at our old church felt like we were home. We are adjusting well to life in Nyankunde, but I miss the life we had in Bunia. I will never describe Bunia as a pleasant living environment. However, we had found our routine, established a community, and made many wonderful memories there. Being back made me a little sad and at the same time thankful for the last five years.

The rest of the day we spent celebrating, relaxing, and catching up with friends at the birthday party. We had a WONDERFUL time!

The girls lasted about a minute before they decided there was too much splashing going on!

Can't beat popsicles and juice!

It's nice having a 5 year old friend who can push you both in the swing!

Dorothy made sure that not a crumb of cake was wasted!

The girls made cards and gave Robbie a mini wind-up (Can you believe it?) airplane.

We had a wonderful weekend in spite of the fact that it did not go anywhere near as planned! The kids all fell asleep within five minutes of being buckled in. There are no pictures of the drive home for some very good reasons, but that is a post for another day.