December Update

Special Needs Update:

The special needs program is really growing thanks to what God is doing here.

·      Physiotherapist 2 days a week

·      Occupational Therapist has returned after being very sick for a long time

·      We now have 2 full time staff who work with the children who have special needs.

·      Converted building called the Agape Childcare Center for Medical clinic, offices, therapy, and sensory room.

·      Sensory Room filled with ball pit, trampoline, sensory items, cd player, and tent.

·      We are blessed to have experts in special needs and physiotherapy who we can call, come by to visit, and who love and work with our kids!

·      Met with other groups working with children who have special needs in the area

·      Had a staff meeting for GSF about our children who have special needs where 8 people attended! There were 2 physiotherapists, an Occupational Therapist, Childcare director, a Nurse, and 2 special needs assistants.

*In January we will start a full day schedule for the children who have special needs from 8 to 5 including social skills, work, academics, behavior, life skills, self-help, and more!

Some of the children with special needs playing in the new sensory room

Missionary Kid School Update:

·      They have finished their second 9 weeks and are in their 3^rd 9 weeks of school here. 

·      He just finished his 2^nd round of parent/teacher conferences which is different since all the parents are coworkers at GSF.

·      They will take 2 weeks off for Christmas just like they do in America. 

·      Katie is excited to give Cody a honey do list during his time off J

·      The other teachers are seeing a difference in the way the students are writing and their grammar since Cody has come which is really exciting!

·      Cody has been spending time with a missionary kid who is here for a long break from boarding school.

Cody reading with his youngest class of missionary kids

Prayers:

Kids on holiday in the villages visiting extended family

Cody is leading Team Building Activities for the Older/University students from GSF on Monday

Continued prayer for safe travel daily to and from work

Our hearts as we are away from family and friends during the holidays

Communication:

The communication from home is such a blessing to us! We were so excited to receive cards from our home church, E3, a care package from some dear friends, and to receive Facebook messages and emails is always a treat! The best messages are life updates! We just want to know what is going on at home. The little stuff, the big stuff, and the in-between. J It is just nice to know what is going on and to feel more connected to our home and the people we love. 

Christmas in Uganda:

·      There are Christmas Trees and lights in the shopping malls.

·      Some stores are decorated for Christmas.

·      We celebrate Christmas with the kids going on Holiday before and after Christmas.

·      The hardest part is that it is not cold here!

·      We play Christmas music a lot to remind ourselves that it is Christmas time J

·      Our house is now decorated for Christmas.

·      The missionaries drew families for Christmas, and we are working to put together a gift basket for our “family”.

                    

Our house ready for Christmas            

Funnies:

The neighborhood ladies were peeking into our house to see the Christmas lights, and they called them “smart,” which means fancy or very nice. I have never thought of Christmas lights as “smart.” J

The childcare missionaries are practicing a dance with all of the housemoms for the Staff Christmas Party. The dance is new to most of the moms because it is from Eastern Uganda, and most of them are from the west. I practiced with them for the first time, and they immediately said that I am from Eastern Uganda. J

When we were setting up our Christmas lights at our house, we both got seriously shocked by the strands of lights. We will not be touching them when the power is on again!

One of the Missionary Kids is working on photography, so she offered to take family pictures, so we took her up on that. This picture is one of my favorites…Yes…He does have grass in his mouth.

 

Our relationship summarized...

                       

Uganda Be Thankful

31 Things I am thankful for – Since I cannot post everyday here!

Uncle Cody is fun to wrestle with in the afternoons after school

1. Cody is not sick/ Our health

2. The school year is almost over. Ugandan School year is Jan-Dec in three terms that have month-long breaks in-between.

3. Cody gets some time off for holidays and can do honey-do lists for me!

4. Friends to cook and eat thanksgiving with.

5. House help that makes living in Nyenga possible!

6. Rosh for DVD supplies and entertainment.

7. Power for running fans and electronics in the evenings and weekends.

8. Friends and coworkers who make working here fun.

9. Friends and family who write/email/ and tell us what is going on in their lives

10. Having supporters who make it possible for us to serve here.

11. Getting to spend our days around such amazing kids and learn to love them well.

12.  Having an amazing husband to do this adventure with and has the same calling.

13.  Having motorcycle for transportation and how much we like it now.

14. Watching and learning from Ugandans as they love, care for, and serve the orphans of their own country.

15.  Seeing God working in Uganda to change hearts and seeing people fully devoted to following and serving God.

He has escaped from their clutches :)

16. Having beautiful weather and views that make living here that much better!

17. Feeling safe in our home and with our neighbors.

18.  Blogs to share what is going on in our lives here.

19. Facebook to keep up with friends back home and family!

20. Family— both my side and Cody’s— that completely support what we are doing and understand why.

21.  Our favorite places to go for internet, to relax, and get good food.

22. Thankful for our local shop keepers who provide our daily breakfasts, snacks, and vegetables.

23. Neighbors who take down our clothes when they are dry and it is going to rain and help me start a fire when I am struggling.

24.  Care Packages from America full of letters, crystal light, and food!

25. Agape childcare center for the moms and children to play, learn, and bond together.

26. We were able to hire a physiotherapist to work with the kids 2 days a week.

27. A church home that loves and supports us from America! Thanks E3!

28.  Boiled water for warm showers!

29.  Opportunity to learn the local language and understand some of what is being said around me!

30.  To live in a another country and learn about another culture and experience life from a different perspective.

31. Having jobs that we absolutely love and that fit our strengths and skills perfectly!

Craft time with Auntie Katie and Nurse Kim

 Quick Life Update:

Agape Childcare Center is open and sensory room is working daily!

The kids are doing things we have never seen them do.

The mothers are bonding well with their kids even more through their time together in the sensory room.

Physiotherapist is coming weekly for two days a week and stays overnight.

He is treating our kids and also able to see the kids we have on feeding program who have special needs.

This Wednesday, Nurse Kim and I are having a spend-the-night party with the older missionary kid girls, (7^th grade and up, so 6 girls) at her house. There will be chick flicks, cookies, ice cream, and popcorn.

We are spending Thanksgiving at the Gwartney House with all the Jinja Area Global Outreach Missionaries. That will be a big day of cooking, games, and family fun.

I am making gravy. Cody is making a cheesecake. I am also helping with my first turkey :/ We will see how that goes…

Cody just finished his first FULL 9 weeks of school here, and they are having exams this week. He is excited about the progress they have made. He has implemented new spelling, grammar, and vocabulary programs school-wide. He also got a Kindle that the older students can “check out” to read books so that everyone does not have to buy copies of the same book. 

Cody DID (PAST TENSE!!!) have malaria, but he has recovered very well and is doing fine. Thankfully the medication he was taking as a preventative also works to fight off the Malaria, so he had a milder case than many.

Since this post is full of praises/things we are thankful for, 

here are our prayer requests:

Two of my girls with special needs getting some help from a friend. 

We figure out good holiday traditions here to make it “feel like the holidays”.

That we will not miss home TOO much during the holiday season.

Continue to rely on God for strength, guidance, wisdom, and future plans.

Put God first, each other second, and others third.

We are able to hire another worker to assist with the care and daily schedules for the children who have special needs.

Care Packages

People have been asking what we need or want sent to us here. We appreciate these gifts so much! These are some ideas of the stuff we really like and cannot get here. Thanks again!

How to address a Care Package:

Cody and Katie Fox

P. O. Box 1570

Jinja, Uganda

Timeline:

 It takes about a month for us to receive boxed care packages. Padded envelopes seem to arrive more quickly. Just for your information.  J

Sugar free drink mixes (Red flavors and Lemonade flavors are preferred)

Beef Jerky

Pretzels

Sour Patch Kids

Cheez-its

Sweet tarts

Mike and Ikes

Chili Chocolate (lindt makes one)

Chocolate Chips

Low Calorie Hot Chocolate

Kind Bars

Spiced Apple Cider

Sermon Series

Episodes of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

Music (Worship, The hits, anything you like)

Book recommendations

Movie recommendations

Growing

Happenings:

We are opening the Agape Childcare Center, which has the medical clinic, childcare office, meeting room, special needs therapy room, and my office/sensory room/classroom.  I cannot wait to start using it and posting pictures!

John playing with blocks for the sensory room

 

We hosted a Leadership conference at GSF that we were planning for 50 people, and 120 people RSVP’d and came! We had some amazing speakers from Tallahassee, FL, Greensboro, NC, Kenya, and Uganda. We watched part of the Global Leadership Summit, which had a Ugandan speaker!

 

Just a few people at the conference

We have been house sitting and babysitting a lot lately, which has given us some opportunities to find out a little bit about what living on campus is like.  It has been weird going back and forth between living on campus and in Nyenga. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Cody with the Warfield kids

Halloween happened to fall on the last Friday of the month, which is our missionary game night. We had a big dinner; the kids went to different rooms of the house to trick-or-treat from the adults, and we played bingo for prizes at the end of the night. It felt like a family celebration.

Katie dressed as a hobbit

Cody dressed up as Mark

Growing:

A theme for us lately has been growing. We are learning a lot of new things, learning how we react in new and different situations, and how we function in a whole new culture. What does the new “normal” look like? How do we go from surviving to thriving here? The truth is…it is a very hard life here. Not in a complaining way but as in things take longer, have four extra steps, are uncomfortable, or are difficult to accomplish.

Some of the keys have been increasing our prayer life and the amount of time we spend in God’s word. We both know that we are growing in strength and dependence on God.  Another part has been celebrating all the little successes and seeing the good in the days. I list my prayers and praises in my journal, and I don’t allow myself to stop until my praises are as long or longer than my prayers. Now…sometimes my praises are having water or power, but these make me remember what is important and how much I have to be thankful for.  I try to take notice of the little moments and how much they matter.

I joked a lot before I moved here about how separate my life was in America. I worked in one town, lived in another, and went to church in a third.  I didn’t do this on purpose, but it allowed me to know a lot of different people.  Well, I am now NOT in America, and my job, church, friends, neighbors, and activities are almost all in one place and are the same people.  I didn’t realize what a challenge it would be for me to have people see so many different parts of my life and me.  It is very good for me to have to be vulnerable, have my flaws show, make mistakes, and see people love me still. I now have a fully integrated life!

I am also growing in my leadership, knowledge of Uganda, and my ability to accomplish tasks. This week I led a trip to Kampala to pick up a medical report, take a child to the neurologist, and take another to have AFO braces fitted. I was able to direct the driver around Kampala, got us to all appointments, understood the information presented, paid correct amounts, and navigated a large hospital I have never been to before. We were home by 3 pm. I felt very accomplished (having a good driver helps!).

 

Matthew in Kampala

Both John and Matthew were a little tired :-)

Needs:

I recently found out that many of the children who have special needs do not have any or enough sponsors. Sponsoring a child is $35 a month. These children are rarely picked because they cannot write their own letters and communicate as well as general education children.  We have been gaining the number of children that have special needs at GSF, and our number is now at more than 20 who have special needs.  Many of these children have 1 or no sponsors. You can check out our website for more information. If you’re interested in sponsoring a child, you can go to this link to sign up: http://www.good-shepherds-fold.org/about-sponsorship/sponsor-a-child. Thanks!

 

Kenny with a house mom

Funnies:

The children here do not understand my role as special needs coordinator. I live and work here, so I am called Auntie Katie. I work with the medical aspect of the children who have special needs, so I am also called Nurse Katie (I was called in to look at a sprained arm the other day). I also work as a teacher here and that was what I was called last summer, so I am also Teacher Katie. The toddlers also think it is SO funny to call me Uncle Katie anytime they see me. It is really cute and funny. So I am Auntie/Teacher/Nurse/Uncle.

Best costumes:

One of the missionaries wore her hair in pig tails, put on a school uniform, wore a pink backpack, and painted on freckles. She was Big Sister and went around looking for Little Brother who was also in uniform all night. 

Big Sister and Little Brother

One of our couple friends dressed up as each other. She drove the motorcycle, and he rode side-saddle in a skirt to the event.

A wonderful sponsor sent stickers to share with all of the toddlers. This is what happened:

 

Busy Weekend

Thursday we celebrated Ugandan Independence Day. This is Ugandan’s 52nd year of independence. The Ugandan staff and GSF Primary school students were off for the holiday. The missionary kids still had school that day, but the teachers worked to make it a fun day at school. The students had a photo scavenger hunt, competed to see who could fill in the most countries in Africa, and school ended early that day. That night we had a GSF family dinner with all of the housemoms, missionaries, and kids. We ate traditional Ugandan foods including rice, matoke, potatoes, chapatti, and pineapple. We had pork and chicken too as a treat! Afterwards we spent the night at the Fish family house, played board games, watched episodes of one of our favorite tv shows, and in the morning they cooked pancakes for us! J

The missionary kids coloring the Ugandan flag and wearing the country's colors

Friday was sports day at GSF. This was the third annual event.  The sports day is not for the kids. It is for the adult employees at GSF. The kids at GSF could come to watch, and school was canceled for the event. The week before teams were posted on the sides of different buildings around campus. We had team meetings to decide who was participating in what events, and then we had practice every day that week from 4-5. The teams were split by roles on campus like childcare verse the school teachers. The missionaries were all separated from their spouses.  Cody participated in the marathon, which was just running to the gate and back (not quite the distance of a typical marathon…) Katie participated in the marathon and sackrace. The events included Egg on a spoon, 100 Meter relay, 100 Meter run, blind walk, and Bible quiz along with the big sports of Netball (like basketball) and football (soccer). Our friend and co-teacher, Lisa, was the only female to play football, and she played as goalie. She was awesome! The day was all about building relationships, teamwork, and thanking our staff for what they do. It was a very successful day.

The students and staff cheering on their teams 

One of the competitions included a race for pealing matoke which is like bananas

            On Saturday Cody and I went to a hotel to have some time away together. It was just what we needed.  The place we went had a pool, private rooms, good internet, and warm showers. It was very nice. We had great time to talk, reflect, plan, relax, and eat good food together! Sunday evening we had a relaxing time at home watching a movie, eating popcorn, and drinking hot chocolate and apple cider. Overall we feel much more on the same page after taking time together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a great blessing, and we are so glad we took the time.

The view of the porch outside our hotel room

The view from our porch

Prayers-

relationships,

discipleship (people we work with, live near, and get to know,)

designing special needs programs and schedules

 next steps in ministry, our future here, and listening to what we are supposed to do

Praises-

Time away together,

furthering relationships,

Visa’s renewed (sorry guys, we are not coming home for at least 3 more months J )

people coming to have personal relationships with Christ through Light of the World  church

improvement and growth in missionary kid students,

Funnies-

Culturally you wave at people on the road because you are seen as rude if you do not. On accident, I was so busy waving at people that I waved at a goat.

President Mussebini was reported to have said  not eat our brothers and sisters, the monkeys, so we will not get Ebola (which is not even in Uganda).

The other weekend Cody was coming back from Jinja on a Friday night with Robb (another missionary) around 9 p.m. at night. Just out of Jinja, Robb’s steering on his car, which he had just picked up from a mechanic, went completely out. After 45 minutes of waiting for the mechanic and Robb’s driver to arrive, Robb and Cody flagged down a boda (motorcycle taxi) and asked him to take them to GSF. Then after about 30 minutes of riding, the boda broke down in a stretch of sugar cane fields between Nyenga and GSF. The driver apologized, asked for partial payment, and then drove off, leaving Robb and Cody stranded. After this second breakdown of the night, they walked a mile in the dark until they came upon a group of boda drivers at someone’s house after a long day of driving. Cody and Robb thankfully were able to hire one of the drivers to take them the rest of the way to GSF (even though he seriously was not a very good driver…), and they made it safely to GSF—2 broken vehicles and a mile walk later—right at 11 p.m.

Cody got his hair cut by 2 9^th grade Missionary Kids…He looked like a Page boy or Martin Luther…Thankfully Lisa Fish fixed it. He said it was worth it for the bonding experience.

The Page Boy in all his glory...Don't worry. It does not look like this now.

I was washing clothes and dishes in Nyenga and my neighbor who has a newborn baby came over and told me I was working to hard and needed to rest. I took that as a compliment from her J

The missionary nurse, Kim, discovered that she had a rat living and eating in her house. Katie, Kim, and housekeeper Betty were in the house at the time the rat was finally seen, and all three shamefully screamed. Kim ran to put on her rainboots and grabbed a broom. (I am not sure what purpose these serve) Betty ran to shut the doors. Katie went look to see where exactly the rat was. We trapped it in a drawer. This process was very loud, so Lisa Fish came over to see what was going on. Once she heard the story she went to go get her husband David who had “taken care of” one before.  Everyone was prepared for action when we opened the drawer, and the rat was gone.  A little while later Betty found it again. David had gone back to teach class, so we called one of the guards, Richard to come help us.  Sure enough Richard was successful at “taking care” of the rat. We were asked how many Americans does it take to kill a rat. The answer is none…

Lisa is prepared in case the rat gets past the guard under the sink.

Kim in her rat gear...rainboots and broom...