We prepare and we run through sprinklers...

These are 2 of 4 of the huts that house the students who attend the Institute for Childcare and Family.

Today was a good day here in Colorado, but it was very hot!  Maybe God was trying to prepare us for the warmer weather in Uganda. ;) Really though, we had fun today. My brother and family were here visiting and as usual, we had a wonderful time with family. I ran through the sprinklers, got soaked, and was protected by my nephews as we navigated and jumped through the spraying water that was surely after us. It was a sweet time.

As Chris and I prepare to leave for Uganda in a few weeks for a 5 month period, times like today have taken on even more of a special feel. What a gift family is. There is nothing like the sound of a child's belly laugh and the smiles on our adult faces as we watch personalities peek out and express themselves. Joy. It's joy, plain and simple, to sit back and look at my parents, at my brother and his wife, their three children, and my husband sitting around laughing, stepping over toys, and just sharing food and time together. 

Leaving for 5 months to go to another country with a very different culture is not an easy decision. A friend of mine said earlier tonight, "When you're called, you have to answer." So true. He and I talked about how times like this in life can be difficult because there can be fear and there can be doubt, but it is better to feel the fear and doubt for a moment as you run towards the goal, then to feel the kind of fear and doubt that comes from a life that has left paths unwalked and unexplored. So often too these paths are difficult to walk. Many times there is some sort of sacrifice involved. 

Chris and I are feeling the reality of that and we have been for awhile as we've talked to God about Uganda. We are going to miss our families. We are going to miss you who are reading this. Most importantly though, we don't want to miss God. He's asked us to go to Uganda for awhile to see what His heart has done there and is doing there. Although we have experienced that in some way on our previous missions there, we believe that there is a deeper work that He wants to do in us, for us, and then through us wherever He decides to put us more permanently. 

Please pray for us. Pray for us that we are able in every way to follow God where He asks us to go. Pray for the home that we will be assigned as we go to New Hope Uganda. Pray that every need we still have will be supplied in ways that bring God the glory that He so deserves from us as we live a life unexpected and extraordinary.

Until we go, I think at least one more run through the sprinklers is in order. 

With heavy, but very full hearts....

Chris and Aimee