THEY ARE FINISHED!! Thanks for all of your prayers.

We also held a special prayer session to give words of encouragement and advice AND to lift them up before the Giver of all knowledge, wisdom, and remembrance.




They set off early each morning to walk to a neighboring school that has a "UNEB" number. We are praying that next year our school will be officially registered. After two days of two exams each, they have completed their primary school education.

Of course kids have to eat, so Betty and I brought them food, which allowed for a much needed brain rest :)

They also had some time to laugh and be silly.

And all great accomplishments are worthy to be celebrated. After doing a simple survey as to what they would like to do during their extended holiday, swimming won, hands down.






We were blessed to have Mr. Rob and Auntie Cathy (the GICF president and his wife) in Mbale to celebrate with us.

And no African celebration is complete without a meal.

Then we did some more swimming!

All in all we had a blast and are looking forward to "out of the ordinary" activities during this long holiday. Result will be announced in January some time. Again, thanks for praying!

LCH and Natalie

PRAYER REQUEST:
This is our Primary 7 class. They are our oldest students and the first class to pass through our school. There is a major national exam called the PLE that these students will take on November 2-3. This exam covers everything they have learned in primary school AND their marks (scores) determine if and which secondary school they will be able to attend. Please pray for them as they continue to review for the next 1.5 weeks. And pray that their confidence is in the Lord, as they feel a lot of pressure to perform well and represent our school. God is great to have brought them this far!!!


Lulwanda Children's Home Primary School is always an active place. There is not a day that passes that you don't here the beat of a drum and songs echoing through the windows. I know the children have fun while learning.

I also am often impressed by the teacher's creativity. Though there is not even the option to run to Walmart to buy a supply or teaching aide for a lesson, our teachers do a great job at improvising.

P2 eager to answer questions.

P7 study session with Teacher Silver

NATALIE SQUARED:
You have met her before, but here is "Baby Natalie" again. Since she stays at home in the village, I don't often get to see her, but to my surprise she is able to walk and speak some few words in Lugisu.

Where does time go??

I have to apologize for not being more faithful at updating. It is unbelievable sometimes how fast time goes. I feel like I have had "write blog" on my to-do list for the past month, but as I am there at work, other things come up. Life happens. Relationships are there. Trouble-shooting is needed. Or simple drumming parties break forth with the nursery children in the office. So, I am living in the moment and trying to be spontaneous in the Spirit when I feel his leading. That is a good thing and so I know you will accept my apologies and understand.


In September, I had my first OFFICIAL photography job. Our driver, Moses, "made" his wedding last month and asked me to be the main photographer. I had so much fun but it was serious work. Here is just the smallest sample of the 1300 photos I took that day.




September at Lulwanda Children's Home...

First, there are only 3 weeks remaining until our P7 students sit for their BIG exam. This exam determines whether they are accepted to continue education onto Secondary school. It also will determine WHICH secondary school they will be able to go to. Please pray that their minds would continue to absorb the information and retain all that they have learned. They have worked so so hard, going to school early and coming home late. Even attending class on Saturdays for revision. Our teachers have also worked very hard. Exams are set to start Nov. 3 or 4th.



I escorted some of the children to the National Book Week Festival in Mbale. Our children were able to participate for 2 days. The last day, they had the opportunity of writing and then presenting poems and papers about how books enrich our lives. LCH received second place in this competition and the children had a lot of fun.

I also have made time to have fun with the children, especially the younger ones. It doesn't matter what I am doing, they are always interested to look over my shoulder and learn from my actions.


And normal activities are carrying on, such as daily clothes washing, which can be a mighty job considering that there are 90 children. But I also took this picture to show that the stones are starting to be delivered in preparation to begin the new girls hostel. This will be a huge blessing and allow our older girls to move out of the "public" space of the dormitory AND it will open more room for new children to come into Lulwanda.

Another daily activity: Sorting rice

When not at LCH...

I will admit, this photo doesn't have that much significance, but I was excited to see a little frog on the window of my car one evening. (Truthfully, this photo is for you, Jean, because i know how much you love frogs :) )

When not at LCH, I like to spend time with my friends. And since having a car, my network of "after 7pm when it gets dark" friends has doubled because my household is now able to go over to the other "single girl" house in Mbale. We often find ourselves playing games, taking tea, and eating somethings yummy.
So these are some of my friends who have blessed my life here. I am so grateful for them.

And this is Pastor Morris and Mama Aidah, my Ugandan parents. I haven't posted a picture of them in a long time, so I thought you might like to see their bright faces.

And in September, a visiting team invited me to come with them to Murchison Falls National Park. It was such a wonderful surprise and blessing, as we stayed in the nicest hotel in the park and all of it was paid for already. (Thanks again Holy Apostle Church!!) It was a brief but relaxing (and exciting) couple of days. We even got to do safari from the sunroof of a landcruiser. It was awesome!



The coolest thing we saw was when a herd of elephants, with their 2 babies, crossed the road in front of us and then started circling their babies and "growling" at us. Yes, it was a growl, not a trumpet. The medium one was waving his ears while the big one stood tall and bravely. I will admit, we were a bit nervous because we were so close and we knew they were in defense mode to protect their babies. But the driver was ready on the gas just in case they decided to stampede.





And that is a summary of my September. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

PS- Last blog I mentioned Betty, who had surgery on her leg. Well, the cast is off and she is moving around with a brace. The leg is straighter, but we are still believing God for a miracle that she will be able to walk without a limp and even to be able to put one foot in front of the other (rather than her current "step-together" process). Again, our God is a mighty God who is able to do anything.

Kids...

The game that is sweeping the girls of LCH.... Naketti (no literal translation to English, sorry)

All holiday you could find different groups of girls playing this game. It is a bit like monkey in the middle, but the "monkey" is collecting sticks from the ground to. Ten sticks equals one bundle. Once you are hit by the ball, you are "off". They also have found a way to play this as teams and the LOVE it!

Brenda Nabwire collecting sticks.

We also had opportunity for arts and crafts during the holiday. Let the creativity flow...

Aida's lovely painting. I asked her who this was and she said it was her. Ha.

Jimmy

Juliet

Wycliff (Seddu)

Sarah Gimono

Last week I was in the main hall when one of the kids came to me to tell me that Ambrose (another child) was calling me to see the pregnant pig. This was not uncommon, because Ambrose I usually the one to inform and show me whenever there is a new baby animal at LCH. When I reached the pig pen, Ambrose said very proudly, "Teacha, you are most welcome to my farm." He proceeded to tell me that he was moving stones to create the base for the floor for another room in the pig pen to put the piglets that are soon arriving. After struggling with his wheelbarrow, he removed his 5 stones of that trip and was off again. Of all the kids, Ambrose loves the animals the most. There was another day that I found some cows eating the peel remains of the kasava. Since they were so close to the outside kitchen, I tried to chase them away by using the legs of a chair I had picked up. This was only a momentary success, because as I finished chasing one cow and went for the next, the first cow would just come back. Then Ambrose was called to come help. As he arrived, he simply said go and moved his hands in a shooing motion and the cows left with no problem. So, this is my friend, Ambrose... the friend to the animals at LCH.

One of our sweet girls, Betty, has been struggling to walk properly, due to a disability. BUT God opened the opportunity for her to be one of four children from the Mbale area to have an operation by surgeons in Kenya. We are praying for the Lord's miraculous hand upon her and that she will be able to walk properly once the cast is off. Please pray with us.

A few funny stories:

I taught some of the children the game Capture the flag. They loved it!! I think they enjoyed putting their friends in jail most :) Though, I often saw opposite team members chasing their friends from their side onto the opponents side and still trying to put their friend in jail. But most of the children understood the concept. We moved our game down to the field, which is near one of our Aunties houses. As some kids got tired from running, they were interacting with Auntie Florence's kids. As we were finishing the game, someone called my name. Our conversation went something like this...

child: "Teacha, come see the puppies."
me: "Wow, puppies. How many?"
child: "There are six puppies of the cat."
me: "Puppies of the cat?"
child: "Yes, puppies of the cat!"
me: "Ok?!?"

Needless to say, I wasn't sure what baby animals that I was about to see. When the kids led me to the room, I saw 6 little gray kittens nursing. So sweet. If only my housemate wasn't allergic I would have kept one of the "puppies of the cat" :)


Last week some younger children were looking through the wedding photos I recently took for our driver, Moses' wedding. I was busy with my own work while I put someone in charge of pressing the button to move through the photos with their friends. After about 10 minutes of looking, I hear most of the children make a sort of slurping noise. I didn't mind at first, but then they did it again, so I looked at what they were looking at. It was a picture of the wedding cakes. Ha. Each time they would see a cake they would make a slurping noise and whisper, "Mmm, cake".

I love these kids so much. They continue to surprise me and make make me smile. May the Lord continue to grow them up into the men and women He will use to change the face of Uganda.