Home Again

 

By God's grace, my sister and I got to return to our home in Uganda to start off the summer! I had not been there since starting college two years ago, and the last stay had been a short 13 days between time in YWAM and leaving for college. I cannot describe the soul-deep excitement at coming HOME!

Last minute, we ended up going with our grandparents, who recently lost their youngest daughter (see my last blog post). She was adopted from Uganda, so it was a meaningful trip for them as well.

The house God allowed our family to build in Obule, our home village, in 2013.

Our beloved screened porch/veranda.

Garage and guest house

The mini "forest" my parents planted in the backyard. This took years of dedication, replanting often after termites would eat the saplings.

The backyard (You can see the black drums/barrels where we catch rainwater to have water in the house.)

Screened porch

We spend nearly every morning out here, reading our Bibles. We eat almost every meal out here as well, often playing games, doing school, or hosting guest too.

Main room: Dining, kitchen and living rooms in one.

My mom made a chandelier out of silverware for the dining room. She saw one at a store before we made the house for $200. Hers cost less than $2 to make!

Living room. Again, note the amazing light fixtures: cow horns for the living room and a basket fishing trap for the entry.

African décor my mom skillfully positioned throughout the house. I'm so thankful for a mom who makes beautiful spaces with creativity, love for culture, innovation and a heart for hospitality. 

The main bathroom. We fill up our washing machine with rainwater caught in the barrel out front, transporting it bucket by bucket. The rinse water is caught and used for the next load of wash or to flush toilets.

My mom also dreamed up creative shower heads! In this bathroom, the shower is a watering can. In the master bathroom, the pipe opens on a rock, so that the water flows off the rock like a waterfall.

Classroom

Grace and I got to tag-team teaching Makai.

The girls room (now Makai and Emalai's room)

Master bedroom. Behind the headboard of the bed is a huge palm leaf painted black.

Rocks cover the shower space of the master bathroom, and dad even positioned some as shelves!

We lived in Soroti town from 2007-2012, before moving out to the village. We still frequent town often for groceries, market, occasionally eating out, or to check mail. My dad also teaches at the prison in town.

Another video of Town!

Boda-bodas waiting for customers. These motorcycles are the most common public transportation around town.

The new market

Watermelons for sale

Inside the market! The lower level is fresh produce, meat (freshly slaughtered), fish, and a peanut grinding station (for fresh peanut butter, which is used in sauces here).

An evangelist singing outside the market

Grinding g-nuts (ground nuts, which are peanuts) into fresh peanutbutter.

I guess he's entertainment for the day(?) perhaps trying to sell something, get money or promote a group. It's complete acceptable to sit even close by and openly stare.

A street in town. Soroti was a smaller town when we first moved there, but has boomed into a bustling area.

The grocery store. All of our grocery stores in town are owned by Indians. From childhood, it became a normal part of shopping to see Hindu gods behind the cashier. The kind owners love kids and would often give us a free candy when we were little. 

Makai loves the cat... I can't say the relationship was mutual :)

The cat truly is needed. Multiple times we've watched rats or mice run across the shelves behind goods.

A regular part of work when employed by the grocery stores is wiping goods of the ever-present dust, or writing prices on with a marker.

Roasted maize (corn) sold by the roadside.

One street we always stop at to buy bananas. About a dozen or more women sit side by side- all selling the exactly same thing (a common occurrence in Uganda). When a car pulls over, the ladies grab a couple bunches of bananas and run to the car window to make a sale.

The road to our house in the village.

The boda-boda passenger above is carrying a stick on which he has hooked a number of sandals, likely to sell in town.

One drives through multiple trading centers for villages along the way. The trading centers are where people come to buy ingredients for their daily meals (especially dinner) and socialize. Along with stands for produce and small shops, there is fresh chapati (a flatbread), casava chips (potato wedge-like fresh fries made from casava), mandazi (a donut hole) sold. Trading centers often have the village clinic, a couple TV shops where futbol matches will be shown, and a couple bars (which have a strong negative association, because in Uganda one drinks solely to get drunk).

Around home! Makai made a new friend. All of our neighbors have livestock, which they daily take to the bush or swamp to graze, then bring back home in the evening. Each animal has a rope tightly tied to their leg (which must be changed from time to time so that the circulation isn't completely cut and the animal looses a foot). Chickens, however, run free around the area. We consistently have neighbors' chickens, and sometimes dogs or a goat/sheep, in our yard.

The borehole (well). This is the water source for the community. Ladies also enjoy socializing while they wait for their turn to pump water. The girls often leave their jerrycans (yellow water-carrying containers) for a while to join a game that is likely going on next to the borehole. Then the girls/women will walk home, carrying their jerrycan on their head- and sometimes a baby on their back! Even little girls have mini jerrycan which they carry home on their heads.

A beautiful palm frond, like the one behind my parents' bed. My sweet mom loves nature and sees beauty in the creation around her. Sometimes our neighbors giggle when she brings home flowers or leaves, because they are not quite sure what to do with a mzungu (white person) decorating with such a normal part of life.

Precious neighbors! We have multiple children in our community, like the girl above, who have lost parents or whose parents are in prison. They live with a grandmother, auntie, or pastor. This communal system is a wonderful way to make sure children are cared for. Unfortunately, it may be abused by couples who didn't get married and don't want to care for their children. Often the relative or pastor does not have the money to pay for that child to go to school, so these children are often uneducated and repeat the cycle of poor choices made out of desperation that their parents began.

However, the love of Jesus changes lives! We've also watched as our pastors sacrifice greatly to nurture children like this in their homes, trying to send them to school when possible. The church also has discipled these kiddos through the youth-led children's church. I pray that they hear of Jesus' love for them and know that they are not a cast-away, but a precious child of God whose Maker promises to never leave them!

Posing for a picture ;)

Pictures from our neighbor and pastor's house. Each "house" is actually multiple huts (and maybe a permanent/brick house) circling a compound. A majority of life happens outside.

Emalai and baby Grace. Emalai adores infants and small children. She often has a little girl in the village she's semi-adopted.

Utter joy

in complete

love

freely, eagerly

given

lavished

and wonder

receiving

recognizing

security of

affection

One of Pastor Charles' daughters studying. Pastor Charles and his kids are like family to us. We grew up with multiple families in the village like our cousins, especially with our own extended family on another continent. When I came back, reconnecting happened as if I'd seen the community yesterday, even though it had been two years!

Drying and storing dishes on the bush. A bush is not only decoration for the compound- it's also a shelf!

We found several big, harmful caterpillars around. In Uganda, if you see a snake or caterpillar, you assume it's dangerous because rarely are they harmless.

Herding cows with a friend

The boys came over to play games

Saturday market in another village! We certainly are the only foreigners who ever come. Often we're the attraction of the day.

Produce area, include freshly slaughtered meat and piles of mini dried fish.

Clay pots to hold drinking water. They keep the water relatively cool even on a hot day.

This truck came with sacks for the clothing vendors. Somehow, everyone knew which sack was theirs, or they all had a "share" in this load of stock, and each received a random sack to sell.

Market is never a fixed price for clothes. Bargaining is expected. A shirt costs under a dollar, dresses and skirts often a dollar or two. Grace and I enjoy shopping for friends who have babies- there's so many cute infant clothes to choose from!

Phone money/network station

Cassava chips for sale. The vendor deep fries them in the black pan over an open fire, then puts the finished product in the clear bucket, from which she will take chips and put them in a "white pill" (clear bag) for customers.

Playing games with the neighborhood kids each evening when they come back from school. Futbol/soccer is a favorite, as well as a dodgeball game in which one team dodges the ball from inside a "box" while the other team tries to hit them. If they hit a member of the inside team, then the outside team has to run away to avoid being hit in return.

Sunday, all ready for church. What a blessing to worship with the community again!

Children's church

One day we went to a baby shelter run by Youth with a Mission, Amecet, where my recently deceased aunt, Achia, was housed when no one thought she would live. Amecet's staff loved her and worked tirelessly for her life through their diligent care, even when she fought them. 

Mom used to visit Amecet when Grace and I were toddlers. Two of my cousins were also adopted through Amacet, so it has played a large role in our family's life!

The job of the staff must prove one of the most difficult and precious in the world! They get to love children like Christ, even when their families cannot care for them or their parents have died. However, they often see sickly children die. Also, there is not enough staff to hold each child, so multiple times I've walked away from the house hearing sweet infants cry as they wait for their turn to be fed or held. I'm deeply grateful for the strength of the staff to endure for years in making their hearts vulnerable to love God's little children.

Luka and Makai on Dad's motorcycle

Walking back from visiting a neighbor

Playing lots of games at night!

Having fun with imagination! Makai was a ninja and he decided to play wedding with me. I got to be princess bride :)

Our neighbors found a monkey, which is now a part of their household. We had fun watching it look at the phone, befriend the dog, and lay down on the mat like it was napping.

One day we took a trip to hike at a waterfall two hours away from our house. The nine of us squeeze in our Landcruiser and drove up the mountain. 

Sisters

Totally impromptu: playing in the waterfall "shower" with Makai. He helps me stay a child!

I cannot express the immense gratitude in my heart that Jesus let me be born in this family who loves Him, demonstrates His grace, welcomes people from all backgrounds and situations and nations, cheers me on no matter what, is genuine in communication, and finds out how to have fun everywhere we go.

My parents are the greatest picture of Jesus to me. Their discipleship allows me to meet Christ and experience His love. They pursue Christ with their whole hearts, yet rely completely on His grace and not their own works. I have watched them pause ministry at times to disciple, listen to and care for us kids in our hardest moments. They can truly say like Paul, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."

I would strongly encourage everyone to check out Freedom in Christ whom my parents work for. My entire family's lives have been impacted by the discipleship which brings Jesus-followers back to the simple yet astounding truth of the Gospel, the truth of who we are in Christ, and the practicality of walking in the freedom which is given us as children of God.

The chameleons by our house are defensive and it would be unwise to hold them. But the chameleons in the mountain are of a friendlier sort.

Moss growing faithfully, unnoticed in the shadow of a roaring waterfall, yet obeying God in fullness by living in full alignment with His design for them.

Sights from driving back

Freedom in Christ, the ministry my parents work for alongside 37+ Ugandan Christians, had their day of prayer for the Uganda team. Us kids came along to hang out with our friends who were cooking. Makai enjoyed playing in the baptismal. His favorite Sundays are when baptism occurs, because he gets to swim in the "pool" before the water is drained out. He jumps in dozens of times, to the entertainment of all the other kids, who circle around in a massive, giggling clump.

Makai also decided our neighbor, Musa, made a good thief to capture :)

The church kitchen

Washing dishes in the large pots afterwards

Nearly each meal is made from scratch. Makai enjoyed making his own personal pizza.

I taught Emalai and Makai how to make scrapbooks. They thoroughly enjoyed it. Since there is little to do around the village, we make our own entertainment in the house. Crafts and board games are commons selections.

Then Makai and I went to play outside... it started with water balloons, which turned into pouring a bucket of water on each other, which turned into "Lydia, I want to get in the rain tank", which turned into dumping out the last bit of water in the tank and rolling around in it.

Gorgeous sunflower field near our house

Pastor/Uncle Charles gracious had our family over for dinner!

The kids (minus a couple of Pastor Charles')!

It hurt wretchedly to leave the village. Our one youth group leader said, "You (Grace and I) should both get married here so that you don't leave anymore." Everyone, including us, wished for more time to fellowship and linger at home. I hate saying goodbye when I truly don't know when I will see these precious brothers and sisters in Christ again, when my feet will walk across the cement floors of our house, when I'll hear the frogs at night or walk by moonlight bright enough to read in, when I'll speak Ateso once more or hang up clothes on the line in our backyard.

I missed home more than I recognized. Leaving it, leaving my family and friends, feels as if I am tearing myself in half. I am thankful for the reminder that our home is no where on earth... but the pain remains real, heavy, simply painful.

Before leaving the country, we spent a couple days in Jinja, a town on the Nile (which attracts a bulk of Uganda's tourists). Craft shopping is a highlight of the visit.

Uganda's Children

Siblings... Waiting for number six! Our family will be adopting from Michigan in the fall, and we often talk excitedly about our coming baby brother! (See my mom's blog).

REALLY hard and teary goodbyes! I'm unexpressably grateful for a family whom I love and who loves me to the point that leaving each other, even for a couple months, proves painful. What a gift to know the fellowship and love of Jesus in a family context. This is the reason I joyfully share my family with others; I long that everyone would know the security, joy and unity God has shown me through family. I could never earn what my dad gives me by showing God's Father love, my mom gives me by being Christ's hands to us, and my siblings give me through togetherness amidst every season. Like with God's lavish love, I am learning to receive in joy and share without restriction, rather than earn and prove myself worthy. Instead of pointlessly striving to earn what has been given me freely, what a better road to spend time sharing in abundance and thanksgiving.

Visiting the Nile. Super cool after seeing the other end of this river in Egypt during my study abroad trip this January!

Home

Such a complex word

for foreigners and aliens on earth

people of Kingdom

far away

yet in our very hearts

Home

Yet called to leave father, mother, houses

to inherit a hundred time more

even here on earth

the beauty of Spirit depth connection

new family in hundreds of places

while heart torn

painfully

with each goodbye, every letting go

Home

when any time the King says,

"Come follow Me"

and you pack up,

moving again

tearing up roots

but still rooted in the Source

ripped up inside

yet thankful for the chance to love

holding memories

a reality so heavy and wonderful

Home

Jesus alone

my consistent home

in Him I rest

never letting go, leaving, saying goodbye

ever closer and swelling in love

clinging fiercely

unpacking everything

settling down

unraveling myself

putting roots deeper

because in Christ

I never need pack up

walk away

my heart is safe

held in place, comforted

never torn

because He is the Home

I never leave

and never leaves me