A World of Change in our Family

Judah was so excited to see Isaac after 7 months apart!

I haven't written on our blog since we've been back in the States. We arrived back in mid-July and life has been a flurry of travels, reunions, family and many many changes. 

First I want to thank God for the amazing vehicle that He provided for our family for these 6 months stateside. This van has been so trusty and carried us safely for many miles.

We have traveled north as far as Michigan, stopping to see friends in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Virginia. We are so thankful for all the people who love us so well, even families who offered to host us who had never even met us before!

The Fader Family Reunion in MI

Within our first month back we had a family reunion with both sides of our family and it was so good for our souls to reconnect and be with our loved ones.

We have also been so encouraged by churches and peoples' response to our reports from Uganda. We've had so many generous folks sign up to help support the new prison ministry and more than 25 prisoners have been fully sponsored for Bible teaching!

I don't have pictures to prove it, but Eli wasn't the only one on stage sharing about our life in Uganda. ALL of our boys pitched in including Evan, Josh and even Carson!

One big change in these fall months is that we've enrolled Carson in 1st grade. The first week had its challenges but he's loving it now and we continue to marvel at how beautifully and effortlessly he makes new friends everywhere he goes!!

His teacher and school have been very understanding about our travels and have enjoyed his stories about life in Uganda. I'll be in the car pick up line to get Carson after school and a random staff member will say, "Hey, Carson told me today about how he hunts monitor lizards!" And of course many other details about our crazy family.

In mid August we enjoyed a final meal with Evan before taking him to Clemson University. Thankfully it's only 2 hours away from where we live so we even get to see him this weekend for Labor Day weekend!

Move in Day

His roommate is also a Christian

There have been a lot of adjustments for Evan these first few weeks. Getting settled in his dorm, plugging into Christian community/joining a small group, looking for a campus job, and starting college level classes. We thank the Lord for all the grace He's pouring on Evan. 

It's also taken some time for us to adjust to not having Evan around. Judah will walk around the house saying, "Where's Evan?" Or when we're all piling in the car to go somewhere he asks, "Where's Evan?"

 

Another new thing for Carson is joining a local Christian soccer league. They were short on coaches so Eli offered to coach Carson's team of 5 & 6 year olds.

At the top of Liberty University Tower

Once we got Evan off to college, we immediately switched gears and started some college tours with Joshua. Since he is going into his 11th grade year, this was an ideal time to see some schools. 

We also spent some special time shopping for his return to school at Rift Valley Academy and a few other fun days with friends.

And alas, today, Eli drove Josh to the airport in Atlanta to fly back to Kenya. We are so proud of this 16 year old who had no fears about traveling alone but knew exactly what to do! He will arrive in Kenya on Friday and head straight to school for his fall term.

 Goodbyes sure don't get easier. Hold your loved ones close, my friends. They are a treasure.

Pray that we'll be able to fly Joshua home for his month of Christmas break.

Why do MY kids grow up so fast?!

I don't even know what to title this blog post. All I know is that I'm overwhelmed with thoughts and prayers for my second born son, the one who is 18 now and going to graduate from high school in 3 weeks. So I thought I'd take some time this afternoon to get all my thoughts out and share my son with the world because my heart will burst if I don't (or I'll eat too much chocolate!)

The picture above sums up Evan's childhood. For the first 10 years of his life, he grew up in South Sudan in every boy's paradise - fishing, climbing trees, wrestling, hunting bush animals and running around with band of other boys. He had so many cool experiences that most kids don't get the chance to have. He traveled and saw many countries and cultures, tasted all kinds of foods. This is who my Evan is.

Evan climbing the pyramids in Sudan: age 5

This picture shows Evan's goofy side. I must have asked him to get the laundry off the clothes line and this is how he did it. He collected the clothes pins on his face and wrapped the bed sheet around himself.

The 3 boys heading to public school in the States in 2021

Not only did our boys thrive in the remote parts of South Sudan but they were able to adjust back to life in the States whenever we went back. It wasn't easy but they did it. In 2021 Evan went to public high school and really didn't enjoy it, but he got through it and we believe it was good character building and preparation for this next step he takes in August, going to a public university in SC.

Evan is a lover of motorcycles and pretty much anything with an engine. This kid has incredible mechanic skills and we are so excited to see how he does majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University. This photo also shows what a great older brother he is. Carson joined our family when Evan was 12 so there's a big age gap but he's always done such a great job with his little bros.

Evan is great with mechanics but he can also fix just about anything. When he comes home from boarding school I can count on him fixing things around the house. He installed a wall fan in the kitchen to cool me down while I cook. And in the photo above, he fixed the rain gutters in April as the rainy season started so we could better catch rain water.

Evan's also willing to help Eli with whatever projects he's got going on. In April Eli bought a number of brand new bicycles to give to pastors and evangelists but they came in pieces. Evan and a few other young men worked a solid week to get them assembled.

 More recently we got to spend 2 weeks at Evan and Joshua's school in Kenya. I was so thankful that our 18 year old wasn't embarrassed to hang out with us. He was intentional to come over to have meals with us or chat with us during breaks in his school day.

I treasure that he'll let me hug him whenever I want. He doesn't always love it but I sure do and no matter how old he gets, I hope he'll always let me hug him.

So there he is folks. Our second born son. Evan William Fader. Heading to Clemson University in the Fall. Another one flying from the "nest"....

Bee Ministry

 I'm still getting used to this idea. Bees as ministry. But this week bees are opening up more doors to impact the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Adjumani. Over the last year and a half, Eli has been experimenting with bee keeping, harvesting their honey, and making products like lotion with the beeswax. He's discovered that a profit can truly be made and this is an idea he has to help support pastors' families in ministry - a supplemental income to help pay for their kids' education, food, etc.

Eli's moved around to different places in our district where people are raising bees and have a honey business and as he learns more, he wants to share that with others. So this week it's all culminating in a training going on, taught by a team of 3 beekeepers from South Carolina. The American beekeepers are learning from the Ugandan beekeepers and vice versa. We're excited to see where God takes this!

Visiting other bee projects in the area to see how they are raising bees in different ways.

Bee classes taking place

Night time visit to Eli's hives and after 2 hours they managed to catch the queen bee!

Practical, hands on learning

We'll post more later to share how this branch of ministry is going.

Catching up on the last few months

Our family Easter Pic 2024

We were so thrilled to have Evan and Joshua home for most of April! It was Evan's last time at home in Adjumani because after he graduates from high school in Kenya, we fly straight from Kenya to the States, so that meant we tried to do some special family things while the boys were home. They also pitched in with different ministry and work things going on. Pictured above, Evan gave many of his hours over break to help assemble 6 brand new bicycles for ministry purposes.

Meanwhile Joshua earned many mechanic hours in order to finally get his bike up and running again.

A wedding that happened in the mix of things

Evan's girlfriend came to visit for a week to see where Evan lives.

We took an epic family safari trip - Evan and Josh on motorcycles!

On April 17th, Carson turned 6 years old.

A bee hive under construction

More to come on bees, but the above picture shows a big project Eli worked on in the month of April, building 50 bee hives! He trained and oversaw about 5 youth from our church in building and assembling bee hives for sale. And this week a training is going on in which pastors and lay leaders are learning how to keep  bees as a money maker.

 A team of three from our home church in SC came to do ministry in Adjumani area for 2 weeks. It's always amazing to share our life here with others and we thank God for all the teaching and relationships that happened during those days.

Why does sickness like to hang around so long???

Only a few days after returning from our trip to Kenya, Judah started spiking high fevers. We took him to our clinic here in town for blood work and they found no malaria and no sign of infection which is all good news. But it means this is a virus and it has been 8 days of fevers! Thankfully it's been almost 24 hours since his last fever but he's not eating and really can't afford to lose any more weight. Will you please pray for healing for Judah? Carson is also slowly recovering and has been low energy this last week which has made homeschool and normal life challenging. Needless to say, this mama is worn out and running out of patience. I'm fighting discouragement as I've been stuck at home for the last 9 days. 

I have a big women's conference I'm planning for March 13-15 and it's been nearly impossible to put any work into it. I tried to meet with some of the ladies who are organizing it with me yesterday and Judah whined through the whole thing. Please pray for victory over every obstacle and that I can gain some refreshment these next two days since Eli will be home to hopefully give me some reprieve.