latest and prayer request!

We have been home about 2 weeks now! And sometimes I still cant quite believe it! It is so great to be home! Nathanial has met lots of new people. The library has been closed up until yesterday. So we went yesterday - and Nathanial was amazed at all the books for kids and very excited too! He has his very own library card! He is allowed to take out 24 books - we took 18 out yesterday!

He loves going to the park - and its something we do nearly on a daily basis. We have been on walks through the fields and the woods - and he enjoys that too. We visited the nursery I used to work at (and that I hope to work at whilst I am here), everyone was so surprised to see us!

Nathanials dentist visit went well - they estimated his age to be about 5.
I decided to take him to the opticians - might as well get it all done whilst we are here! Well - the opticians diagnosed him with congenital cataract in his left eye. Which pretty much means that he his more or less blind in that eye! He will need an operation within 6 months in order for him to be able to recover any vision in that eye. The question that remains is whether the NHS will do it for free - or whether we will need to do it privately! Praise the Lord that we were able to detect it before its too late.
It came as a big surprise to the optician - because normally babies are checked for this at birth and then operated immediately, so its 'rare' too see a kid with this in the UK!

Please pray with us that he can get the operation soon.

Thanks :D

photos from the last 6 months

So sorry it has almost been 6 months since I lost posted!

A request by several people has been made for me to update my blog! So here goes...

Where do I start?

The last 6 months have been a whirlwind of events, of excitement, of constant change, of challenges, of experiencing a deeper relationship with God, and of experiencing many many answers to prayer!

In my last post I think I mentioned applying for a work permit. Well I got the work permit back in record time, only having to go to Kampala two times. Praise God!
The reason I wanted it to be done asap was to apply for a visa to go to the UK for Christmas, to book a cheaper ticket way in advance.

If you remember in 2008 Nathanials first visa application was denied. In hindsight this was a blessing from God - and it is only recently that I have been able to see that. Nathanial would not have coped with the changes and we needed that extra time to be together and to bond even more.
I returned to the UK for Christmas Nathanial stayed with some friends and had a great time. I think that my time in the UK was just what I needed after the previous 6 months and it was a refreshing time for me.

You might also remember that I was worried about my financial situation after the school I worked out closed down.
Well God triply blessed me with three jobs! The Three jobs which have all been challenging in their own way - but which have equipped me with new skills, which have taken me out of my comfort zone and which have been great fun!
I love teaching! I love it when the kids I teach start reading! All the kids I teach are great - and they make this job fun and enjoyable. Half the fun in teaching is the kids!
Well the three jobs I have provide enough money to live in Uganda! God is so good! They are also flexible in regards to being a Mum, so when Nathanial is sick or I am sick - I can stay at home with Nathanial.

I sent Nathanial to school for a while - however there was too much pressure on him and me for "the Baby Class Mid-term exams" - 3 year olds dont need this kind of thing! I also wasn't happy about the way they teach - and the teacher criticised me for teaching Nathanial phonics instead of the alphabet!
In his 3 week holiday time - I worked on the phonic sounds and he learnt them - and then how to put them together to read and write words - all in 3 weeks! So needless to say I decided not to send him back to school. I teach him and he does his school work in the morning whilst I am working with the other children. He is learning so fast and he absolutely loves to learn, he reads everything he sees! It is great to see that he has such a love for learning!

In July we had to vacate the house we were staying in as the landlady wanted to "do it up" - she reckoned that she could get a lot more money for it - I'm not so sure about that - she certainly wouldn't get any mzungus taking the place without making it more secure! So anyway, I find a few lovely places to live - which would cost use up the salary from all 3 of my jobs! I found a fantastic little gem hidden away, it was lovely and the landlord was prepared to furnish it with anything - inc a microwave! Within a week of having to be out - I felt in my heart that I should not take this place, even though I no other options on where else to stay. He had been holding the house for us pending my decision. So, I called the landlord and told him we would not take the place - he said that that was fine since he has already rented it to someone else!
We had to be out by Sunday! I had an unbelievable sense of peace in my heart - one that surpasses all understanding!
A friend of mine had planned to return to Holland with her son for 3 months, she was looking for someone to stay in her place whilst she was gone. However someone else had their eyes on it already - and would let her know by Friday. Friday she called and announced that she wouldn't need the place. It was ours from August! Praise the Lord! We had somewhere from August for 3 months. Now we need somewhere for July. It was Wednesday now! Holly called me and told me that they just received Williams visa and that they would be leaving Sunday - they wanted us to stay in their house whilst they were away! It was a blessing for them as it would be Williams first time in the States - a blessing for us too! God is so good and so faithful. He always provides even if in the nick of time!

All this time from about July I had been trying to get a letter from the local court granting Nathanial permission to travel with me. It was a document that the British had told us we needed when we were denied the last time. After about 2 months of waiting - they decided to not issue it to us. They needed the high court to do it, since the high court granted me legal guardianship.
We spoke to the lawyer and he said he would take care of it, free of charge - (since it should have been on the first ruling).
We got that document back end of September.
We picked up the document and travelled to the visa section to apply for the visa the same day. I was confident that we would get the visa. It takes normally 15 working days to process the visa, it took our 18 working days! What an agonising wait to find out! By this time, we needed to yet again vacate the house we were staying in as we had been there 3 months and the lady who lives there was coming back from Holland. So the clock was ticking. Nathanial was aware of what was going on, and he was just as excited as I was. I always told him from the start that we would go to England if its God's will. I didn't want to tell him that we were definitely going - so as not to disappoint him. Unfortunately the visa was denied!
On one of the supporting letter submitted by my 'employer' the phone number was mistyped and so on that basis that they could not be contacted and verify my claims, they denied the visa. I wasn't too distraught about it, and decided there and then that I would reapply since an appeal can take anything from 9 - 12 months! We didn't have to wait 18 working days this time, just 7 working days and the visa was issued!!!!
That same day I looked for tickets on the internet. I had been looking for tickets since July - hoping that I would be able to book them well in advance so as to find something cheaper. Ideally I wanted to leave in October. A ticket for both of us was going to cost £1500 or more! And at that point we would have to find somewhere else to live, as the girl from Holland would be back. I had ruled out flying with BA a long time ago as their tickets were about £3000! So I was looking on-line and not finding anything cheaper than £1500, I checked on all the airlines I could think of! Then I felt I should look on BA! I typed in all the details and lo-and-behold I found a flight for £1000 - much cheaper than all the others! And it was too leave on Sunday! In 3 days! I double checked the price and then checked again and it was indeed that cheap! Wow! Isn't God great?! I booked it and paid for it straight away.
Then my sisters friend who was picking her up from London, said that she would pick us up too! So we didn't need to travel on a bus or pay for it!
So I am now writing to you from the UK!

The last 6 months haven been all about looking to God for everything and trusting in Him. I know with all my heart that adopting Nathanial was God's plan for me - from before even I was conceived! And He will never forsake us. He will always provide for us. His plan is perfect. And even if we didn't get to come home - He has blessed us so much! Being able to come home is a double blessing! What a gift!

Nathanial has been a superstar! With all this moving around - he has been great. Every new place we have moved to has been home, and he has relished all the new opportunities and taken everything in his stride. His behaviour has improved greatly, although some days are much better for him than others - but isn't that the case for all of us?!
It is such a pleasure to be able to watch this little boy grow and change. He tells me that Jesus us changing his heart - and I can definitely see that! He is changing mine too! I cannot imagine my life without this little boy - he is a gift from God!
Nathanial lost his first tooth a few months ago which would age him by 2 years!

We are so excited to be home - it feels like being in a dream! I am so pleased and so grateful and so blessed to have this opportunity to be at home in the UK with my son. I hope to be able to work whilst I am here - to be able to fund our continued stay in Uganda and to be able to continue teaching in the orphanage.

How great is our God! All the glory be to Him.

witness to a hideous crime

On Friday on my way back from work I witnessed a scene, which will be forever imprinted on my mind.
A lady was being mercilessly beaten by a man. He beat her down onto the ground and then stamped on her head as she lay on the ground her face covered in blood. Her children were screaming and trying to pull this man of their injured mother they were no older than 4 years. There was a crowd of men, women and children all standing around cheering and egging the attacker on. People were laughing. It was much like a crowd at a football match supporting there favourite team. I shouted at my piki driver to stop so that I could go and help the woman but he refused. I returned to the scene with a friend 10 minutes later to help the woman but she had already left, it was almost like it had never happened. The crowds were gone and the victim, her children and the attacker were all gone.
I have seen people being beaten by a mob before. Normally it has always been a homeless person or a crazy person and there has always been a crowd of people egging the mob on, or even throwing stones to hit the victim. I have never witnessed a crowd helping, or doing anything other than cheering and looking quite thrilled!

BLOG ENTRY 10TH March 2009


The job at the AIDS orphanage is going well. Some of my kids have started to read words. I am teaching them through Jolly Phonics. It is difficult for the kids because they are already familiar with the alphabet and say the letters but their names rather than there sounds. So I am almost having to retrain their instinct reactions.
Some of the kids however are really struggling. I decided that 3 of the kids need more one-to-one. We have been learning 6 sounds since 3 weeks, and these kids can’t even name one of them. I am hoping that making the letters with clay will help them.
I have spent the last week reading a book on dyslexia – it is very interesting and enlightening and suggests that it is caused by disorientation which they can cause without realising it. It more or less says that ‘curing’ dyslexia is about changing the minds eye to see what is really there rather than seeing what our imagination sees. It suggests that to help dyslexic kids read – that they associate a clay picture with the word (as well as the Davis Orientation Counselling Procedure). So if the child has trouble reading the word ‘sun’, then it is suggested that they make a sun out of clay – so that they can associate the word with the picture. There are approximately 200 trigger words which cause disorientation and for those it is difficult to associate the word with the picture – such as ‘the’. So reading this gave me the idea to help the kids who are struggling to make the letter sounds out of clay. This method can also be used for very young children and will help them learn the letters.

The kids I am teaching are great. They are so full of life, and fun. They are eager to learn. Although the job can be very challenging it is completely worth it.

The other night at the babies home there was a film and bonfire night. There was a family from Belgium travelling around the world in a truck for 3 years showing kids films! They had just begun in Africa where they were planning on being for a year, then South America for a year and Asia! The film was projected onto a canvas which was set-up and attached to the truck.
I overheard an interesting conversation between the father and one of his sons. The boy was complaining that he had already watched this film before and he wanted to watch another one. The father berated the son, telling him that he wasn’t the only child here and that all these other children had never seen this film and that’s why they were here – for the other children. The son didn’t sound too happy – but he was content to watch the film – again! It was only the beginning of their trip, so I can assume that he will have to watch the film at least a few more times, for the other kids. The film was good and Nathanial sat glued to the screen (from a safe distance) all the way through!

About a week ago there was the most spectacular storm with thunder and lightening – it was so loud. When it was windy – somehow 3 bats managed to fly or get blown into my bedroom – I am still not quite sure how! Needless to say I was not impressed! I swiftly exited my bedroom – or as swiftly as I could muster at 4’o clock in the morning! I asked our gardener if he could get rid of it, or kill it as soon as he walked in the gate. He told me he couldn’t find it, although as soon as the sun set the bats came out again! I presume that they have all gone now, or died stuck in a crevice! A few nights after that I walked into my bedroom only to see to mice running around in my bedroom! Again, I have no idea where they are! On top of the bats and mice there are rats living in the ceiling. They are so loud and sound absolutely huge! I only hope that they do not find a way into the house!
A few nights after I wrote this post, I discovered that the mouse had managed to nibble its way through 3 packets of biscuits and into the box of Nathanial’s oats. I borrowed my neighbours cat and hoped that she managed to kill it.

The weather has been so hot recently! I walk to work all the time, and it’s a complete killer. It wouldn’t be worth my while having a job and taking a piki to work! I feel very African walking for an hour in the hot sun although fortunately for me – thank You Jesus - I have the luxury of shoes! I draw much attention and ridicule when I walk to work, since I push Nathanial in the pushchair most of the way – and to people here that is ridiculous. It would be a long way for his little legs to walk that far and mostly it would take me an extra hour if he was on foot. I wonder if the Ugandans find it so ridiculous because they think that I am lazy. I mean after all they carry their kids round on their backs. But, well at least I leave behind me a path of much laughter and tears (from laughing so much!).
I often have a little trail of kids walking with me – it is fun too talk to them and interesting to learn more about their lives. Once the kids walked all the way to work with me, waited and then walked all the way back with me! I enjoyed the company and I genuinely loved not being harassed for money. It was rather strange that they didn’t ask me for money, but it endeared me to them even more. I left them each with a pencil – they were ecstatic!

Nathanial is growing! I have had to get rid of some of his clothes! Size 18 months are getting too small, and he is starting to fit into 2T – 3T. His feet are also growing, I have been to all the shoe shops I know of, but have been unable to find him a pair of open shoes that fit him. There are tons of trainers and closed shoes here – even snow shoes, but I want my kids feet to be able to breath in this stinking hot weather!

I took Nathanial swimming the other day. Amy took her two kids too, but they ended up spending most of the time just dipping their feet in the water so she took them home. Despite whining a lot Nathanial enjoyed himself. I am thinking of taking him for swimming lessons once a week for half an hour. I think he would really love it and at least it would get him doing some exercise.
Nathanial doesn’t really play when he’s outside – he’ll just stand there and tear a leaf into tiny pieces. He rarely moves an inch and can be in the same spot for hours! I have tried to encourage him to play and have showed him plenty of times what he can do – and have tried doing it with him. I hope that is something that will come along with time. I would buy him a bike or something, but when we were living at the school and they had one there he never used it, or just sat on it and stared into space!

I think Nathanial has an allergy to Corn. It would explain why the day after his birthday his eyes were nearly swollen shut and his face looked like a balloon! That was the only time he has had Posho whilst with me. He used to eat stuff like sweetcorn and things with a minimal amount of corn and that would cause his hands and feet to balloon. I have taken him off everything that contains corn for 2 weeks and the swelling disappeared.

I am going to have to go to Kampala on Friday to sort out a work permit! It will cost me 3 months wages to get a one year work permit! Probably plus a special pass or two! And goodness knows how many trips to Kampala it will take?!

I am getting a tad more adventurous with my cooking! The other day I made Ratouille – oh my goodness it was so nice even better than the ones you can buy in the tin!



UPDATE 28TH March

I had an interesting incident at the hairdressers the other day. I went to get my hair trimmed, I don’t like having a long ponytail when it is so hot. So I asked the guy in there if he did “Mzungu” haircuts, he said he did. I was a little sceptical at first but I then went on to explain using hand movements to reiterate what I was saying. I told him that first you wet it, then comb it down and snip off the ends, his exact response was “Yeah yeah”, the kind of ‘Yeah Yeah’ that teenagers use when they think they know everything! Anyway, so I showed him how much I wanted cutting off whilst my hair was still in a ponytail, before I knew what was happening he had already grabbed a pair of scissors and just snipped my ponytail off without even taking it down! So much for knowing what he was doing! Anyway, I walked out refusing to pay the guy who bodged up my hair. I had emergency reparations made to it later that afternoon. The first guy was charging 30p and the second guy was charging about £5, so I guess it is worth paying that much extra!

I went to Kampala 10 days ago to sort out my permit. I had all the documents that were specified on the official list. Of course, I was sent back needing two more ‘documents’. I returned a week later with all the extra documents that I needed plus the two extra ones. Again, I was sent back needing more!

The mouse that was in my bedroom has now made its way into the kitchen. I have had to buy containers to store all my food in, as it made its way into the porridge oats and the pasta and the biscuits. Nathanial was sitting in the living room the other day playing with his toys and I was reading a book when he exclaimed “Mummy, there’s a frog,” pointing in the direction of the kitchen. I went to investigate, hoping to catch it and put it back outside. What I saw was not a frog, it was either the mouse that had quadrupled in size since I first saw it, or it was a rat! I didn’t really get a good enough look at it. I discovered the hole where it comes through and will try and have the landlady fix it.

What a night!

Last night (3am) I received the scariest phone call I have ever received! It went something like this..."Isabelle...the security guard next door says that there are men in your compound with guns!" I don't remember my initial reaction but it was probably something like "Oh" or "Pardon?"
Next door now houses a bunch of Americans working here. One of the guys was blowing a whistle and shouting "Hey get out of here". I rang my neighbour but her phone was on silent. So I shouted for her to wake up. I then had to go outside (yes outside!) to open the gate to let the security guards from next door into our compound and the dog. Just to reassure you, they made sure that there were no robbers on my side of the house, before I stepped out into the dark! (armed with my torch)
The guys next door wanted their guard to fire a shot into the air, but he refused, maybe to scared that they would fire back?
The guards then came into our compound and checked the area ensuring that the men had indeed left. They discovered a hole which had been made in the fence.
The guard kept on assuring me that the men had come to kill us! They said they will either rob you then kill you or kill you and then rob you - of course all of this would be followed by a "don't fear" speech "we are here"
Apparantly the company that the security guard next door works for had sent their mobile unit and one of the men was their 'inspector' - he stank of alcohol, and I made sure to move away from him when he unloaded (?) his shotgun!
I was told afterwards that it took the guards a lot before the men fled, they were shining torches on them, shouting, still they didn't leave. It took a security guard to come onto the compound and a dog before they left!

One of the security guys who stayed outside our compound then called me "Hey Madame, this is the second time you have been robbed?", "yes," I replied, "the second time", then he said "Oh Madame, you give me money for saving your life...". I ended up giving them enough to buy a coke and that was it. After all I was pretty sure they wouldnt leave me be until I did.
I will buy the two security guys from next door a coke each too.

We aren't sure about the motivation of the guys who came into our compound, I would like to say that they came just to rob us, but we aren't sure that was their only motive. Two other times I have been in a house during a robbery, the first time they only had a bow and arrow.

By the way, we are all well. I am a little tired, and I am pretty sure that I wont be sleeping much this week!

dressed in a Ugandan outfit