Our Newest....

Hey Guys!

Here is the newest addition to our family :)

His name is Nacho/Max (depending on who is calling him )

He is super duper cute and really sweet.

Zane found him in Kampala when he had to go down about a week ago and since he wasn't being treated very well decided to bring him home :)

I am stoked! Puppies are so much fun :)

Hope you are all doing well!

Introducing the Newest addition to the McCourtney Family!

This little cutie is Eden Christine McCourtney.

She is a rather sudden addition, but the Lord doesn’t always wait for our timing :) Here is her story.

About four days ago (yeah I know not that much notice) Zane got a call from one of the men out in one of the villages where they have been ministering. Elijah, Ethan and Eli (three of the boys that the McCourtney’s have already adopted) are all from this area.

According to David (the man who called) there was a woman in the village who had just recently died. From the description, it sounds like she must have had untreated malaria that went cerebral.

The mother left behind a little girl between the age of 1 and 2 who was still nursing. There was no family to speak of who could care for her. Because of the war that was fought in Northern Uganda for so many years, there have been many orphans left behind. Although the family tries to absorb these children, because of the sheer number of children left, the villages are getting to the point where they cannot take any more children.

The Father died some time back and no one was going to be able to care for her. Basically, if she stayed where she was, she was going to suffer and most likely die. So the tribe made the decision that Zane and Summer were going to be given the child.

After prayer Zane and Summer decided to go out on Sunday (last night) to meet the little girl, meet with the tribal elders, and decide what to do about this little one.

In the village the elders met with the McCourtneys. The decision was made and little Eden came home to live with us. Super excited for the new addition and can’t wait to continue to share with you her progress!

Earth Bag Huts

Well it is that time again :)

Time to boot up the computer and write on my blog. When I was thinking about what you guys would all be interested in I realized that I hadn't written anything much about where I am soon going to be living. So here we go!

One thing that is very important to the McCourtney's is that we live among the people that we are ministering with here in Kitgum. It is hard to minister to a people when it appears we are living much better than they are. One of the ways that the Lord has placed it on the McCourtney's hearts to try and avoid this is to start building sandbag huts which are very similar to the local huts on some property that the Lord provided for them to farm on. Over the last month, the first of these huts has been being built. It is so amazing to see it going up and I am so excited that I was able to be here before it started so that I can see them start from the ground. The first of these huts is now nearly finished and one of the McCourtney's will be moving in to it this week. As soon as this first one is completed, the McCourtney's are planning on beginning their families huts, as the Lord continues to provide. Here are some pictures so that you can have an idea of what is going up on the property.

 This is one of the windows that has been built into the hut. It looks out onto the farm which is just beautiful. The sand bags are laid down first and packed together, and then a coat of mud and lime is mixed and smeared over for the "adobe" look. It is a little difficult to see, but the walls are just gorgeous!

 Here are Bismark and Charlie who are two of the men that have been working on the huts. Ephraim and Ethan are in the middle. They were wanting to go out and see "the farm".

 Here is a view from outside the hut. They are just finishing up the roof.

 This is a "raised bed garden" that one of the men just completed.

 The start of the "composting toilet". Although they have explained it to me, I am gonna have to wait to post pictures for you guys soon so you can see how that turns out! :)

 This is just amazing! It is a hand dug cistern. They are down to 42 feet deep and counting. Looking down into it is enough to make you a little nauseous. Fortunately they have built the small wall around the sides so Ethan and I were able to lean over it to see to the bottom.

The inside of the cistern... Yep impressive huh! It seems like it goes down forever. After seeing that I had a whole new empathy for poor Jeremiah and Joseph who were both thrown into cisterns in the Bible. Rough!

Anyway, I will try and be more faithful to keep you all updated on what is going on here in Kitgum. I am so blessed to be here and daily thank the Lord for His Faithfulness to me :) Thank you for all of your prayers !

Blessings from Kitgum,
Bri!

Recovered and Rejoicing

Just wanted to thank everyone that has been praying for me and my health! Last Tuesday night I woke up extremely sick. The next day we went to the local clinic where I was tested for malaria. As we suspected I did in deed have malaria. Praise the Lord, we don’t live 100 years ago when there was no treatment for malaria. They gave me my pills and I returned home to rest and recuperate.

Now, a week later, I am thanking the Lord for my returned health! Even when I was sick I could see that the Lord was with me and protecting me from becoming as sick as I could have been. After three days I was feeling almost back to normal and a week later I am having a hard time believing that I even had malaria.

All that to say I am blessed  and won’t be taking my health for granted any time soon!

I am also thankful for all of you who were praying for me and for all of the encouraging notes that I received from friends and family telling me that not only were they praying but that they had been notifying other people to pray for me. I was even on a few church prayer chains! Praise the Lord for the Body of Christ and the power of prayer!

As always, I love and miss you all and hope that you had a blessed Valentines Day

P.S.
To update you all, Emma is doing amazing!

He is walking and even starting to say words now.

His continued improvement blesses my heart!

Here is a picture of him that Summer took a few days ago at a Birthday party.

He is such a peach :)

Good Ol' American Pass-Time...

We had been thinking and planning on it for several days...

 

The time had finally come...
 

We were going to gather all the children together for an epic event...
 

One to tell their children and grandchildren for generations to come...
 

We brought baseball to Kitgum, Uganda.

That is right everyone, we decided it was high time that all the kids learn how to play one of America’s favorite pass-times.

To prepare, we had traditional baseball food...

Or...

As close as we could get living in the middle of Africa...

So hotdogs were replaced with chapati’s (kind of a thick tortilla)

And soda was replaced by fruit punch...

But we called it good and everyone was happy!

Now for our field...

The pitchers mound and bases were marked by bright blue jerry cans laying on their sides...

A blue and a red bat were placed in the “dug out” a.k.a. the cement slab that goes around the house...

The baseball a.k.a. a bright yellow tennis ball courtesy of a nice road side vendor was moved out to the pitchers mound...

Teams were selected and lined up for the “rules” of the game...

The Pitcher, a.k.a. Summer, a.k.a. Mom stood up to introduce the various rules for this game...

Then out to the field one team went and the other team lined up in the dug out awaiting their turn to be “up to bat”. The Pitcher walked to her mound and I took my place behind the batter as the batting coach/assistant batter (for the smaller children) and also as the Catcher (my favorite!).

Everyone was ready.... The two 2 year olds and the 3 year old were sitting on the trampoline as our own personal “crowd” cheering us on. The players ranging in age from 4 year olds to the oldest who is 10...

We were all ready...

The Pitcher winds up and throws...
 

Swing and a miss, the game has officially begun!

As a side note, can I just say that it is awesome playing with kids who truly love one another... Even though most of them are beginning to become competitive, they were all cheering for one another and jumping up and down when someone came “home”.

Back to the game...

The kids LOVED it...

There were a few moments of confusion...

At one point one of the four year olds who was running to second base went and got the ball and handed it to the second baseman who promptly tagged him “out”.

The third-baseman ran “home” leaving the runner still standing on third confused as to why we were all jumping up and down screaming “run home! run home!”.

We had to pause the game mid-inning because Zippy the dog was chasing the chickens around the Pitchers mound... Entertaining :)

At the end of our time, we were only one and a half innings in. The sun however, was setting and although our field was wonderful, it hadn’t yet been fitted with our lights for night time playing so we had to tell the kids we would pick up the game tomorrow night...

The score currently stands at 3-1

But the game is young :)

Gotta love good ol’ baseball!

My life, Turned into a Horror film...

Ok, forget everything I just wrote about bugs... Most of the time, it isn't an issue and I really don't mind ushering a spider out the door if it has decided to make a home in the corner of my room or just ignoring the fact that there are ants making a trail down the wall.

Tonight however, was different...
Tonight I declared war...

Here is what happened and you can be my judge on if my change of heart is warranted or not.

It was a normal night.
Therese (my room-mate) was out in the courtyard speaking with a friend on the phone.
I was sitting in the corner of my room writing my last blog post.
Minding my own business.
Not bothering anyone.
The lights were out....
A candle was lit...
There was soft music playing...

Out of no where I hear a sound that will haunt my dreams for weeks... possibly years...
A loud humming of large wings flitting past my ear.

Now, let me just note that I am not exaggerating here... Everything I am saying is true and can be verified by Therese who was not present at the beginning of this retelling, however who was ushered into my "chamber of horrors" shortly after it began.

Back, to my story...
All I see in the dim light is a bug hitting my computer screen.
A flying bug in case you missed it.
The size (remember not exaggerating here) of a baseball (with its wings open)
HO-LY-MO-LEY!!!!!
I jumped up and ran to the wall to turn on the lights and find out what the heck just went past me...

My personal horror movie continues...

The lights... don't turn on...
I see the bug climb on the screen for a minute...
Then to my HOR-ROR!!!
It flies across the room and lands on MY RIGHT SHOULDER...

Have I mentioned it is about 95 degrees in my room and I am wearing a camisole...

Yeah, make that BARE SHOULDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you have any idea...
No, no you don't, you weren't there...

 I did not scream, because I didn't want to wake up the children in the house...

I had the reaction that you always yell at people in the movies for having.
"If I don't look at it, maybe it isn't really there"...
Yeah, yeah right...
I look, just to verify that it is there...
Sure enough, a bug the size of a small Buick is sitting on my shoulder
Slowly crawling up it toward my head...

I flung it off my shoulder and it flew to the other side of the room

So I did the obvious thing...
I got the heck out of dodge...
Or tried...
As always happens in these types of movies...
My door was stuck...
Not even the normal stuck where it won't budge...
The worst type of stuck...
Where it gives you just a little hope it will open by opening just a tiny bit...
Then sticking...
HO-LY-MO-LEY

Therese who was outside the door asked what was happening, I responded...
THERE IS A GIANT BUG IN HERE ATTACKING ME AND MY DOOR WON'T OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am pretty sure she is still laughing about it...

Then my lights decide to work and come on...
My door decides to do what doors should do and opens
And I stumble out into the courtyard...
FREE!

Then we turned to see this creature...
Oh yeah...
Its a flying...

COCKROACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They aren't supposed to fly...
This one however (from the size and the fact that it flies!) must have mutated...

blech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so proud of Therese...
When she saw it she ran out of the room covering her head :)
However, unlike me who stated I would rather just sleep in the courtyard than go back in there...
She went and got the broom
And slayed my foul attacker...

I can now sleep peacefully...
Until... the next time...

Africa...
Come on...

In America versus In Kitgum

Well once again time has gotten away from me. When you do basically the same thing from day to day, it is easy to get two weeks down the road without even realizing that the time has gone by so quickly! I guess that is a good thing though :) Time flies when you are having fun.

In that time however, I have been compiling a short list of things that amuse me in the difference between life in America and life here in Kitgum, Uganda. I thought I would share them with anyone that decides to take the time to read my rambling. So here we go...

In America it's a traffic jam if you are stopped in your car for an hour.
but
In Kitgum it's a traffic jam when you see two cars IN an hour!

In America it's called a weed
but
In Kitgum it's a vegetable

In America if your plastic starts to smell you throw it away and buy new
but
In Kitgum you pick the smell that least disturbs you (washing powder, bleach, porridge, coffee, peas)

In America you kill any bugs that dare enter your home
but
In Kitgum you just avoid stepping on them

In America if someone says you look smart you probably wear glasses and look intellectual
but
In Kitgum if you are told you look smart they like your clothes

That is all for now but if I find anymore, I will try and make a list to put up at another time.

2 John 1:3
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace,
from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father,
in truth and love.