Dec 19th - Late Monday greetings!

Goofed up this morning and forgot the cord to my computer. We haven't had power for 36 hours, so the computer was dead. Went back to Budaka and came back to get this message off to all of you...also to spend the night here and get some rest after a couple of really busy weeks with no days off.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! Amazing how you can miss it when there are no Christmas carols playing, no decorations up, no lights on houses or businesses, no Christmas cards from friends (hint, hint...), and no kids' Christmas programs. Actually, it really helps me stay focused on the real Christmas. I will get to celebrate with my family here on Christmas morning at church, then for a Christmas meal at noon. On Monday (Boxing Day here) we will have a Christmas party for the church with cakes from Cornerstone Bakery! That means lots of work for me between now and then, but this is fun work!

This past week we began the work on the children's home and the school - it's so exciting! Thank you to all of you who gave so sacrificially so this building can be built! The first picture is of Rogers and I swinging the first pick axe to dig the foundation. The second picture is of one of the guys who is helping dig the foundation (there are about 30 men working each day). In front of him is a rock which he is breaking up with his sledgehammer. This area of Uganda is known for all the big rocks, and we have found many, many that have to each be broken up. The foundation is about 7 feet deep as of today...all hand dug. (E team - aren't you glad you're not doing THIS part of the building?? Ha!) I turned to Rogers this morning as we were looking at all the big rocks they have dug out and said, "Well, it is CornerSTONE." ;)

The third picture is a little gift from God to me yesterday. I was missing some traditional Christmas kinds of things and went to our bakery (next door to our house) and there was this little moth on the wall. It looked so much like a candy cane! The Lord is so good. No, I didn't eat the moth (for all you smart alecks who thought that!), but it did give me a little Christmas cheer to see the colorings. And, another amazing bug here in Uganda. God is creative!

A couple of other things:

1. We have a new "dad" for the boys. His name is Gusta and he is Rogers' much younger brother who is off for 9 months between his S6 year (like 12th grade in the States) and University. He needs to make some money and was willing to come and do this work. We already see a change in the boys behavior and are so happy he has come. Please pray that he will quickly acclimate and help these boys in their relationship with God, each other and all of us. 
2. Margret (aged 4 or 5) came to me 2 days ago really upset. She said, "Pastor Laurie, look at my ears!" I asked what the problem was...was she in pain? She said, "No! But they are going out. I told Aunt Monicah and she won't do anything about it!" I had her show me what she was talking about - her ears don't lie flat against her head and she wants them to! She is upset that her "mom" won't do something to make them lie flat. This girl is something else! I just told her that God made her that way and He wanted her ears to be like that. She said, "No! I want them down." Ah, the trials of a young child... 
3. I ate my first grasshopper today. It's quite a snack in western Uganda and Rogers and Betty just came back from there and brought some with them. Rogers said, "You should take the head off before you eat it because your stomach probably can't take it." I let him pull the head off and then I ate the rest. (The legs are pulled off before they're fried.) Kind of tasted like chicken...just kidding...it tasted like a salty crisp cracker sort of thing. Weird, but at least I can say I ate one. Just thought you'd all like to know! 
4. The kids are going home this Friday (shhh...don't tell them - they won't know till Friday morning when I have them all up to the house for an American pancake breakfast before they leave!) for one week. Going home means to their clans and/or relatives who are still alive. Most are so excited to go, but some are reluctant as they go home to very little food, beatings and lots of sickness. The kids always come back with skin infections, malaria, worms and other conditions. Please pray that this will be a time of joy as they celebrate Christmas with their relatives. (For those of you who are new to these email updates - the government requires that they go home once every 4 months so they keep touch with their traditions and families. It's hard for us to send them, but we don't have a choice. And, we know it's important for them to keep touch with their roots. We have 4 that have no family to go see and they stay behind and we do special things with them.) This time Pastor Rogers and I will be taking them home in a car - highly unusual - and taking a kilogram (about 2 pounds) of beef for each child so the family has something special to eat on Christmas. 

My next update will be after Christmas. I wish all of you a great time rejoicing in the birth of Jesus, our Savior! Have a little plum pudding for me!

Laurie