Home Sweet Uganda

After a few long weeks…

moving from my first guesthouse…

To staying at a babies home…

and

Many days of searching for a house…

I am finally settled.

For the first few weeks me and my friends prayed hard that God would lead us where he wanted and we trusted that He would pick out the most perfect place to make our home. Everyday for the last few weeks we would set out looking at homes all over Kampala, but each house we visited just wasn't quite right. We continued to pray and believe that God had the right house for us… Somewhere!

I had moved from my first guesthouse to the babies home and had been sick for a few days. I was ready to find my house and finally be settled in one place. One morning me and my friends gathered together and prayed that today would be the day we would find our home. That very morning a friend came and asked if perhaps we try looking in a new area. The area he suggested was somewhere I was familiar with. I had taken many walks down the quiet roads, escaped to relax by the pool in this area and spent many weekends at the mall on this side, I like this mall because it is never busy. I am not a fan of busy places. Crowds make me anxious. Coming from small town Indiana, I am not use to sleeping with loud sounds of traffic and the booming prayers coming from the loudspeakers at the mosques. I was excited to check out this area because I knew it would be quiet and peaceful. We continued down a long dirt road, passing each gate and I sat wondering which house they were bringing me to. I saw in the distance a cute white house sitting up on hill, I silently prayed "Jesus, I hope that is the house we are going to!" and was absolutely delighted, laughing in my head when we pulled in the drive. The very last gate down the long dirt road. When we pulled inside the gate my excitement grew.

I have stayed at a number of different guesthouses and friends homes during my times in Uganda and am familiar with the typical layout of the ugandan compounds. It is necessary here for our windows and doors to have bars and for our houses to be surrounded by a wall with barb wire on the tops to keep thieves out. Personally, this layout is not my favorite. Along with my personality, I am very much a free spirit, I love wide open spaces and more than anything I HATE feeling caged in. I was dreading getting a house that would make me feel caged in, with the big walls, barb wire and bars on my windows. I prayed and asked God to pick out my house, after all He is the one who created me this way and He knows where I will thrive at the best.

As we pulled in the gate and got out of the car to look around. I was laughing with God in my head, I knew almost immediately this is the house God has been keeping for me. We crossed the lawn, admiring the flowering trees, over to a picket fence surrounding the side of the house. Because this house sits on a hill, it is elevated above the other homes surrounding it. The wall goes half way around the house and then is open, with a beautiful view of the country side down below. On that one side all that is necessary is a small picket fence. The rest of the wall and barb wire is down below completely out of view from the yard, I had never seen a compound in Uganda like this one. I was absolutely thrilled with the view and the openness of the home. We moved on past a dirt plot beside the yard, perfect to put a large garden. Next we explored the house, as we walked from room to room, I loved how open and bright everything was. It was so peaceful here. I walked over to the white bars on the windows, the white paint made them bright and cheery, again the design made me laugh with God in my head. They were hearts! The bars on the widows and doors are designed with hearts. I love them and I wouldn't have them any other way. As if everything was not already wonderful enough, I noticed the front door behind the bars was made of glass, a beautiful accommodation to the open living room. I most certainly did not feel "caged in" here.

Things I told the realtor I needed:
enough rooms to house people
a yard with grass
a place for a garden

Things I secretly asked God for:
A place I won't feel caged in
flowers
a picket fence
(The picket fence was a huge request! Not common in the least here in Uganda.)

The first day at our new home, we did a lot of cleaning. 

And because we did not yet have our bed frames, we had a slumber party with our mattresses on the floor! Nothings says house warming like PIZZA for dinner. This was the most "american" pizza I've ever had in Uganda. 

Because we do not yet have an electric stove I am learning how to cook many new local dishes on our outside charcoal stoves!

Soon…

We were able to get our bed frames and mosquito nets up! 

The day we brought our beds home, I had taken a boda (small ugandan motorcycle) around to compare prices of bed frames in our area. On the way back, my boda driver, who lives in the area, struck up conversation with me as he turned down my road. "Do you know the name of your road?" I answered, "yes" and told him the simple ugandan word, that I quickly learned to be able to direct people to my house. "Do you know what that word means?" I didn't know. "It means Princess. You live on Princess avenue." 

Now I felt like God was just flattering me. 

God is a good Father. He provides. He gives us good gifts. 

We are sons and daughters of the most high king. 

And he takes care of us accordingly. 

Praising God for my new home!