A Whole New World

Dogs barking loudly, squawking birds, loud cars, and the conversation of our guards at the guest house...this is what I hear when I take out my ear plugs out at 7am, feeling ready to start the day!

I stare up at the mosquito net above our bed, and when i look out the window i am greeted by red dirt, palm trees and pouring rain. It is fresh and beautiful, yet so so different from home.

We're spending the day exchanging money, going to the market, and getting acquainted with Kampala. We are thankful for this slow day since we only slept 4 hours last night and not much as we flew.

I just met some lovely ladies from Tennessee who are here adopting three children from Uganda (and between the two families have already adopted three from Uganda!) they were so kind and friendly and very willing to answer my questions and share their experiences. They were very respectful of the culture and the process here, even though it is taking them a bit longer than they were anticipating. I hope to get some good connections through them for what orphan homes to visit and they also recommended that we talk with a Ugandan lawyer to hear about the adoption process and what the steps are to adopt from America. (It is one of our biggest desires to adopt someday and when we are able to save up and God provides the money we need, we hope to make it happen. I have so much more I want to say about adoption but I think that will be another post for another time :-)

Here is a quick summary of our first day in Uganda:

1. Driving through Kampala and seeing many new and interesting sights.

2. Eating Italian food for lunch (we were surprised to find out that you can get a number of different ethnic foods here!)

3. Grocery store in the morning and outdoor craft market in the afternoon.

4. Visiting the Turners, one of the dear missionary couples who we are working with. They are so wise and so hospitable. Andrew and I are very much looking forward to staying with them our last week here and learning from them.

Packing & Turkey

The past few days have been so full. There is definitely a lot of excitement, stress, dreaming, prayer, and nervousness going on in the Sullivan's place. Andrew and I have laughed more in the last 24 hours than the last few weeks combined. It's been great crazy stressful fun!

Today is my last day off before we leave so I decided that our stuff needed to be mostly all packed and it looks like I am finishing just in time!

Our goal is to not have to check any bags when we leave Uganda and head
 to Turkey so it took a couple of times weeding out all the non-essentials.

Here is most all of our stuff waiting to be packed (not including the three 
soccer balls and all the craft supplies bought this evening). Will it all make it?

And on a side note, Turkey.....!!!! Many of you may not know, but we have been blessed with the opportunity to stop in Turkey for a week on our way home.  God provided unbelievably cheap tickets for $300!!! And we were able to use some money we have been saving to cover the whole thing. We think it will be a good opportunity to process our time in Uganda and get to experience even more cross-cultural experiences together as we explore whether God has given us the gifts needed to live in other cultures. And who knows, God may place on our hearts a burning desire to do missions in Turkey!

Tadaaaa! All packed! Two duffel bags of books, toys, and gifts,
our  carry-on backpacks of clothes and our little book bag/purse!

Our next update will come from an airport somewhere in just a few short days...so excited!!!!! 

-Naomi

9 days and counting!

Holy smokes it's coming up so soon! If you haven't noticed from our Afric-ometer, all of our support is in - thank you all, so much! It's amazing to see the Body of Christ come together to support it's members, and we've been so blessed by all of you. Thank you for the prayers, encouraging conversations, financial support, and for walking with us as we seek God's plan for our lives.

Sharing our story at Mission Connexion Northwest

This past weekend was one of many blessings, encouragements and challenges. We were able to attend Mission Connexion NW up in Vancouver, WA, which was an awesome time of hearing from seasoned missionaries and gaining wisdom and insight from their stories. Naomi and I were invited to share our story up on stage during one of the the plenary sessions, and we were so honored to have that opportunity. Mission Connexion NW has been a key part of our journey, from fueling the fire in our hearts for overseas ministry to actually connecting us (go figure) to the missions agency we're going to Africa with for this trip. We're thankful for Missions Connexion, and we hope we were able to be an encouragement to those listening.

During the conference, Naomi and I sat in on some really encouraging teaching, and also some that was difficult for me, personally, to hear, particularly about the realities of raising a family overseas. As we consider the possibility that God may be calling us to Africa, please pray that God would speak clearly to us about where he's asking us to trust him in things that might sound crazy, and where he's asking us to be responsible stewards of the life and family that he's given us. We are so thankful for your prayers, and we look forward to more conversations with you, hopefully before, during, and after our trip.

-Andrew

Just a quick update...

It has been a CRAZY last two months! We packed up and moved out of our apartment, started a new job (naomi), painted, cleaned out and decorated my parents loft as our temporary residence until we get back from Uganda. Then we re-totaled our one and only already totaled car (thankfully no one was hurt and it was not our fault), bought a replacement car, traveled to Everett twice to visit Andy's family, was interviewed and accepted to Multnomah Seminary (Andy), and spend many evenings connecting with out of town friends. It has been a packed holiday season for us, though it seems to be that Nov and Dec always bring such a flurry of family, friends, and activities!

Despite the crazy schedule, we have been able to carve out some good couple time to plan and set goals for next year as well as be working and praying through and preparing for our upcoming trip. Only 29 days! More info soon to follow...

Going on our annual Christmas date!