MARCH/APRIL He is Risen, Easter Update

Happy Easter! (Belated that is…). We hope you had a wonderful Easter celebrating the true life we have received in Christ- and got to color an egg or two as well… We celebrated by spending the long weekend in the company of friends, friends that previously lived in Kampala alongside of us but have since moved to various places throughout the world. It was a wonderful and busy reunion. 

Joshua getting ready to color some eggs with our neighbors (one of whom had never participated in this tradition before!).

Matt judging the colored eggs to see whose was the best. (Yes, it had to be a competition…we are Lammers.)

Friends and children in Kampala visiting for the  Easter holiday. One of the many reunions that happened in the weeks leading up to Easter. (Note Joshua in the background racing on his boda/motorcycle)

FAMILY

March somewhat felt like one illness after another, but nothing major thankfully…just challenging as we try to set family rhythms. Due to illness, Ashley was unable to attend the Visitation Day for our foster son at his boarding school. Every school term, boarding schools in Uganda have a “Visitation Day (V-day)” for parents to come and see their students in the middle of the 3 month school term. Ashley and Abby unfortunately stayed at home under the care of friends while Matt and Joshua made the hour plus drive to see how our boarding student is doing. We are encouraged at how well he has adjusted to boarding school. He has taken on the leadership position of dorm leader and even joined some extracurricular activities including the soccer team. He has assured us that he coping up well with the academics and claims biology to be his favorite subject right now. We look forward to having him home for 3 weeks in May on his school break in between terms.

Joshua and Abby playing near the new gas cooker…this has been a HUGE change for our family. We have faithfully cooked over a charcoal fire for the past 5 years. This change has been life giving for us in many way by reducing stress (Ashley’s especially).

March also brought a visit from a couple at Barnabas International, a ministry that EMI has partnered with to provide member care to our staff. We have had the pleasure of meeting with them on several occasions and always find the time to be encouraging and refreshing. This time around we were encouraged to think about what changes to our lifestyle need to be made in order to reduce stress, create a healthy living environment, and better take care of ourselves and family as we live overseas in a culture different from that which we grew up in and know. The outcome of this meeting included a purchase of a gas cooker, Ashley taking a weekly tennis lesson as a very gracious friend offered to watch the children for a slot of time each week, and Matt beginning to participate in weekly soccer pick-up games. So far these changes have been refreshing and have indeed reduced stress in our lives keeping us in a healthier place overall.

Joshua and Abby playing at the park together while Ashley plays tennis for 30 minutes every week.

Abby and Joshua continue to do well. Abby has taken a huge interest in walking and can frequently be found scooting along while holding on to furniture or walls…almost always in pursuit of her brother of course. Joshua is starting to spend more time sleeping in his “big boy” bed, and continues to talk nonstop. They both very much enjoyed a visit from Jja Jja (Ashley’s mom) at the end of February, as well as other shorter visits from other friends who have come for a weekend here and there. Both can be quite social once they get warmed up to new faces.

We made a day trip as a family to visit friends who live about 3 hours outside of Kampala. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the village, and time catching up with dear friends. The children enjoyed the inflatable pool set up on their porch.

Helping teach little sister how to walk.

We continue to make plans for our upcoming Home Assignment and look forward to connecting with many people during our 5 ½ months in North America! We land in Canada on June 25^th, in California on September 11^th, and back in Uganda on December 13^th. We are looking forward to time with our parents, families, and friends…as well as some fun trips to the Zoos, National Parks, weddings, conferences, amusement parks and more! We are also looking forward to some rest and refreshment as well as seeking renewed vision for our life. Send us a message if you would like to connect during that time and haven’t yet heard from us.

Enjoying a plate of (Mommy’s) Ethiopian food while out with friends. One of the many things we will miss from Uganda while on home assignment.

Our beautiful 9 month old. She is very much developing her own little (well…big) personality. She is definitely a woman of intensity. She intensely loves her brother, intensely moves around the room crawling or cruising, intensely lets us know when she is hungry or tired, and intensely shows us her excitement and joy by clapping her hands or throwing them up in the air. We love getting to know her.

EMI

The environment at EMi continues to evolve as people come and get settled and other depart. There are four weeks remaining in this term of projects and interns. It will be a push to get our projects completed before our interns depart at the end of May. 

There is a lot of work going on. This term we have four design projects and eight construction projects. It is exciting to see our design project under construction. Matt will be heading to Burundi next week to visit the construction of a three storey pediatrics ward at Kibuye Hope Hospital.

Ongoing construction at Kibuye Hope Hospital

There are some exciting things happening at EMI. We are getting ready to launch a fellowship program at the end of August. The vision of the fellowship program is to raise up the next generation of Christian design professionals to be professionally competent and spiritually mature that they may be influencers in the Church and in the design profession worldwide. As a structural department we have been transitioning the design code we use to better align with the local industry. As an office we are getting ready to transition our design production from 2D drawings to 3D modelling. Matt has been involved preparing for and implementing these changes. It is exciting to see these steps taken as they are positioning our office to have a greater influence in our profession.

Matt has continued his involvement in the newly launched Association of Christian Technologists and Engineers (ACTE). He attended the launch event in March and continues to attend the prayer meetings on Friday mornings. We recently hosted the first fellowship gathering at our house at the end of April. It is exciting to see progress being made as we aim to influence our profession in Uganda for God's kingdom.

Attendees to the ACTE Launch event

DOORS MINISTRIES

Ashley has continued to take steps back from doing work at Doors and mostly just sticks to what can be done behind a laptop or smartphone one or two naptimes a week. The organization continues to do well and transform lives. We love being able to witness first hand what is happening at Doors. Testimonies continue to pour out of Doors Primary School especially where 134 children living in one of the larger slums of Kampala are given access to quality Christian education, counseling, food, basic health services, and discipleship. (More than 100 of these children are still in need of monthly sponsors, $37, to keep the school’s doors open. Email doorsministriesuganda@gmail.com for more information if interested.)

Children skipping rope during recess at Doors Primary School. Ashley was recently able to visit the school with a friend and enjoyed introducing her friend to all the beautiful things that have happened and are happening there. The school has been open for 7 years now!

PRAISES

• Our foster son seems to be doing really well at boarding high school! We look forward to spending time with him in May during his 3 week school break.
• We have been able to purchase most of our flights for our upcoming home assignment in North America!
• We seem to be over our bouts of illnesses.
• Successful first Uganda Association of Christian Technologists and Engineers fellowship gathering! Matt has gotten involved with this new organization and was able to host the first fellowship gathering the last weekend of April.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• May we continue to make healthy lifestyle choices individually and as a family to reduce the likelihood of burn out living cross-culturally.
• Matt is taking a 5 day trip to Burundi the first week of May. Prayers for the project and his safety while travelling, as well as for Ashley who will be home alone with Joshua, Abby and our foster son for that time would be appreciated.
• That plans for our upcoming home assignment will continue to come together, and plans for our foster son who will unfortunately not be able to travel with us but will remain back in Uganda come together
• We need to make plans for our housing in Uganda. We have been unsuccessful trying to find someone to sublet the house we are renting.We may let go of our place, store our possessions and find a new place when we return. Pray for discernment on how to move forward.
• That we would prepare well for home assignment while continuing to live in the present here…we don’t want to focus all of our time and energies planning for our time in North America that we miss out on what God is doing here in our everyday moments.

Thank you for your prayers and support