Our plans didn't work out but God turned it into a GREAT GIFT!

At the end of May we traveled the 2 day car journey to Josh's school in Kenya to surprise him in time to watch him play a rugby game. We also stayed for his junior banquet and his 4 day midterm break. It was while we were on his break that we realized our car was having major troubles. We took it to the mechanic just days before we were supposed to drive home and found out that it needed lots of new parts and major work done. It ended up delaying us almost 2 weeks. At first we were flustered about the change in our plans because we had things we needed to get back to in Uganda. But those extra weeks were the grestest gift for our family! Not only did Eli and I get some much needed rest but during a year that we've really struggled to be so far away from our older boys, God gave us the gift of extra quality time doing life with Josh.

During our time in Kenya we celebrated Eli's birthday, Father's Day, and my birthday.

On Father's Day, Joshua and Eli went on an epic motorcycle safari with some other guys from RVA.

 

Carson had never played baseball before but since Josh was playing softball for PE, Carson got to join in and learned how to bat! The PE teacher ended up giving him his own bat and ball to bring back to Adjumani!

Rift Valley Academy is a wonderful place and the community there totally enfolded us while we were there. They even gave us our own place to stay when they heard we needed to stay longer. One of the perks of our own house was that I was able to cook our own meals and Josh LOVED having home cooked meals. He took turns inviting friends to join us.

The 2nd day of  our drive back to Uganda was our 23rd wedding anniversary. We concluded our wonderful month away with giant cappuccinos to celebrate.

 

Carson and Judah were delighted to return to their friends. They definitely love their life here in Uganda!

As I have reflected on the month of June, the lesson I've learned is that when our plans don't go the way we expected, often God has something even better in store! I'm going to try to remember that next time our plans change.

Uganda Exploration

Sitting on the roof rack on safari

The last time I wrote on our blog, we'd only been back in Adjumani for a week and I shared about how hard the transition back was. Well, it continued for a few months to be hard. But still we have pressed on knowing we are exactly where God wants us to be.

During the month of April Joshua was home from school and it was such a treasure to enjoy our days together. He and Eli went on an overnight motorcycle trip, he played endlessly with his little brothers, reconnected with his old friends and best of all lots of good family time! We are so thankful for who Joshua is growing up to be and can't believe he's now in his final term of 11th grade!

Today I want to tell you about a trip we just got back from. Traveling in Uganda isn't easy especially since we don't have AC in our truck but this trip we saw a lot of Uganda we'd never seen before and it was so beautiful. We had several missions:

1. To visit 2 locations with AIM teammates to see their ministry and check in on them.

2. Eli is helping to set up new TEE programs in these locations so he did a teacher training.

3. Josh joined another family with kids from RVA (Rift Valley Academy) who were driving to meet the bus to Kenya so he got a ride with them.

On our way to these parts of Northeastern Uganda, we did a day of safari in the beautifully green Kidepo National Park. We love to sit on the top of the car to see the animals.

Breakfast on safari

The day came when we had to say goodbye to Josh. We are so proud of this kid. Also thankful that we've got a trip planned in a month to go spend some time at his school to watch some of his rugby games and help him and his class with the Junior/Senior Banquet.

Tea with Teammates

A beautiful sunset over Kotido

 

This was "Sliding Rock" in Kotido - a huge walk that many people have slid down, wearing a smooth path down the side of the rock. Carson and Judah went over and over!

Moroto was right in front of Mount Moroto and I loved seeing the mountains every day. It was so beautiful there and we loved the Karamajong people! It is so encouraging to see what God is doing in different parts of this amazing country.
 

I forgot how hard this is

 I don't want to make you feel sorry for me. But I do want to be honest about how my journey as a missionary woman goes. We have now been back in Adjumani, our home town in Uganda, for almost a week. Our bags are unpacked, I have re-organized most of the house, and I even started home school up again with Carson this morning. On the outside I look like I'm back in the swing of things, like I've got this switching back and forth between cultures down.

But it's feeling really hard. 

A few years ago a missionary friend introduced me to the idea of heart lag. As we are recovering from jet lag, our hearts are often processing a lot too. Our last month in the States was so full, having all our kids home and lots of fun activities. Suddenly we were packing up our home in South Carolina and taking multiple flights to arrive in Uganda. We had to say some hard goodbyes, especially to our 2 college boys, and switch gears back to the way life goes on this side of the globe.

I've already shared how challenging our homecoming was. No power, no fridge or freezer, layers of dirt, spider webs and dead lizards. We've now gotten past that thanks to my dear Asunta (our house helper) and yet my heart still feels heavy. I always feel tired and just don't feel myself. This is all normal, I keep telling myself. I wish I could be more patient with myself and allow myself the time to adjust. My "world" in Columbia, South Carolina and my "world" in Adjumani, Uganda could not be more different so why do I wonder why I feel so out of whack?

I guess I'm sharing this because I want people to know these transitions aren't easy. There are indeed many joys about coming back to Uganda but the time in between before we find our normal again can be hard. And I'm saying, that's OK. I don't have to be at 100% right now. I can ease in slowly. I have no one but myself pushing me to get it together. 

First few days in Uganda

Carson in the Entebbe airport in Uganda with all our bags minus one.

 Flying out of the States was a lot more challenging than we expected! The day we were supposed to fly out of Atlanta, we drove our van, packed with 12 check on bags and a few carry ons, to the Atlanta airport - through sleet and snow! We barely made it onto our plane only to hear that there were electrical problems with the plane so we needed to de-plane and go to a different gate to board a different aircraft. Less than 30 min later we learned that our flight to Amsterdam was cancelled. I'll spare you all the details but once we were confirmed on a new flight the following day at 4 pm, we caught an uber to find a cheap motel to spend the night. We are so thankful we got a good night's sleep in a real bed, a shower, and breakfast/coffee before attempting our next flight. We made sure to get to the airport in plenty of time and though our flight was delayed, the rest of our trip went smoothly.

Once we reached Uganda we found that only one bag was lost which was pretty impressive with how many times our flight plan changed. And yesterday the airline delivered it to our door! 

My parents made our "homecoming" to Uganda even sweeter by driving to the city to meet us and spend a few days with us.

Having coffee with my Mom

Though jet lag has been harder than usual, we are happy to be here. We are enjoying the warm 80 degree weather, eating fresh mangoes and seeing friends again. The boys have been spending lots of time outside, running barefoot and playing in the dirt.

At our AIM guesthouse

Our plan is to recover a little bit more and make the drive to Adjumani on Friday. We will arrive just in time for a huge celebration on Saturday, the dedication of our new church building. What a fun way to see ALL our special friends all in one day!

Turning the Page - from 2024 to 2025

Around New Years I always like to spend time reflecting on the past year and looking into the New Year, setting some goals and hopes for the months ahead. As I look back at 2024 my heart is overwhelmed with all the many ways God has answered prayers for our family and done some pretty BIG things.

1. Healing Judah from an illness he was born with.

2. Providing free speech evaluation and therapy for Judah during these months stateside.

3. Carson loving school and making great reading progress.

4. Eli getting to walk/graduate for his PhD.

5. Judah finally got his Social Security Number (this was a very very long ordeal!)

6. Isaac and Leah got engaged!

7. Evan transitioned beautifully to college life and his faith is growing like never before.

8. We got to spend so much quality time with both sides of our family.

9. God has provided so many new supporters and one time gifts to boost our support which was gravely needed.

10. God provided savings to do some much needed projects on our house to get it ready for new renters again.

11. God continues to provide college tuition and scholarships for both boys in college.

12. Isaac passed his general written exam for aviation mechanics with flying colors!!!

13. We got to fly Joshua home to America for the month of December for a most special time as a family.

14. Leah, Isaac's fiance was able to come spend Christmas/9 days with us.

Friends, if you haven't paused to recognize all the ways God has answered prayers in your life in 2024, take the time to do it. What an encouragement it is to remember how Faithful our God is!

Reflecting on 2024, the 3 words that described the year for me were:

1. Overwhelmed            2. Letting Go                 3. Answered Prayer

Overwhelmed because it was a really packed year of ministry, visitors, homeschooling Carson, raising a toddler and navigating our oldest son being in college in the States while our 2nd son finished his senior year of high school and prepared to transition to college as well. Letting go because I am a person who loves to be in control and I'm still learning at age 43 that I can't control everything and everyone. So I'm learning to let go of my children as I release them into the world to be independent. I'm learning to let go of situations that I have to say no to or things that I can't do. And then answered prayer because of the long list I shared above.

3 Words I chose to Guide me for 2025:

1. Abiding in Jesus

2. Trusting in Jesus

3. One day at a time

As I've committed this new year to the Lord and thought about what is ahead as we return to Uganda, leaving two of our grown children here in the States, I believe this is how God is going to carry me through. First I need to be abiding in Him - drinking his His Word every day, sitting in His truth and dwelling on it all day, every day. Second, daily letting go, surrendering everything to the Lord and trusting Him to work things out -for my kids, for our ministry, for all the decisions we make on a daily basis. And third, take one day at a time. When I look at everything that is ahead, a month or a few months ahead, it gets very overwhelming. I'm learning that all that is on the calendar won't happen all at once. It's one day at a time and I can only live one day at a time so I'm going to try to focus on the day in front of me, committing each day to the Lord to guide me and give me the strength and wisdom I need for each day. 

As of today, we are 9 days away from flying back to Uganda for a new term on the field. I'll be honest, we haven't packed a single thing so we have a lot to do in these next few days.

Eli's sermon

 

Eli got to preach at our church a few weeks ago. Feel free to fast forward through the music and announcements to his sermon.

https://vimeo.com/1014054282?share=copy

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.