Bats, do they pee?

Hello All,
This has been a busy and somewhat frustrating week.  We are finding that dealing with the cultural issues regarding work ethic are extremely difficult at best!  Jim has had to be pealed off the ceiling at least twice this week, but that is what I am here for.  I will not go into details, but you all know him and know how to pray for us as we push on.

I forgot to mention a milestone last week.  Timothy had his 11th birthday on the 23rd.  We were able to get him a bicycle and he was thrilled!  Our Kiswahili teacher, Edward, calls him Bwana Off (Mr. Off), because he is always off somewhere. Now he is Bwana Haraka (Mr. Quick)!  Here is a picture with the new bike:

I was able to catch up with him long enough to get this picture, but we don't see him as much now a days!

Here is a picture of the moon.  We love the fact that here, near the equator, we see it laying down!  I think it is because the sun is direct (and not at an angle) to us.  But now I have a hard time knowing if it is waxing or waning.  Since it goes around the earth counterclockwise, when we are in Michigan I know that it is waxing (getting bigger) when it is shining on the right.  When it is shining on the left, it is waning (getting smaller).  At least that is the way my brain can understand it!  Here is a link to a web sight that shows what I am talking about:  http://www.ilovemedia.es/moon-phases/

You can change your location and time of day to see what the moon looks like.  You will see that at the equator, the moon is more like a bowl (or upside down bowl) at times.

I think I mentioned last week that the kids (Timothy and Sallie) and Jim went camping in a nearby cave while I went to a lady's retreat (pedicure included)!  Here are some pictures from their trip:

These black thing are bats.

Sallie was a bit upset because she thinks they got peed upon by them!

This is a cool formation.

Timothy and Nathan following Jeremiah

A cave painting - origin unknown

Jeremiah, the Masai guide

The kids had Titchie Field day in January also.  It is a fun event filled with water and sun.  Here are some pictures:

One of the blogs that I read as often as I can is called Paradox Uganda.  I have the link on the sidebar.  It is written by one of the doctors here.  She is an excellent writer and shows the hospital and patient side of things.  If you are interested in the patients and what goes on with the children (she is a pediatrician), then go there to read more.

Here is one last picture of me at my birthday celebration with chocolate goodness!

We had a meeting this week with the Architect and the team involved with BKCC (Bethany Kids Children's Center).  It was good to get moving again!  Plans and schedules are being made.  There is so much to do that I think our focus will be shifting to almost full time in that direction.  Looks like we are planning on official ground breaking in May.  Please pray that things will move along well and we can meet that time frame.

Jim's trip to Rwanda has been postponed.  He was going to go in Feb for 10 days to help another hospital with a 20 year master plan.  They have had some key people back out, so now they are trying to schedule for May.  I think he will be able to go as long as our official ground breaking doesn't happen at the same time - that would be Murphy for you!

Thanks for reading our blog.  Again, it is good to know that people are there and supporting us in many ways.

In His hands,

Jullie T.