Hi friends,

Yesterday our dear friend and volunteer extraordinaire, Amberle, left the LGH compound. She was such a great asset to the team here and will be greatly missed!

I cleaned the entire house (minus the boys room!) yesterday and made sure everything was where it belonged and tried to make the house a bit more like a home away from home instead of just a place to crash for volunteers. I had a little encounter with 4 poles and a mosquito net in the bunk-bed room but it's all ready as well. There is also a new SUUBI/volunteer wall in the dining area where I printed out photos of the women and also of the volunteers that have been here and wrote there names and the dates they were here on them. It's super fun and I look forward to putting many more photos up! So, potential volunteers, the house is all ready for you so come come come!

Also, the new flavour of the month (sunshine) is up and ready to buy so please click on over to the suubi website and get yourself one!

We have our buying meeting with our new members today and I look forward to seeing the ladies -- usually Joe does the buying on saturdays so I have some free time to sit and chat and hold babies and roll beads. Always a good time -- especially if this lady is there:



she taught me how to weave floor mats last saturday I can only imagine what I will learn today!

tomorrow is our meeting with the old members and it will also be our first attempt at selling special paper for the flavour necklaces. It could get quite confusing and sticky but I think it will be more than worth it in the end. please pray for us!

we love and miss you all so much!

If you've ever visited us here in jinja, on magwa cresent, opposite magwa primary.. the one with the blue gate -- you know of a little boy named kymbi and his mother betty. they have become a part of Joe and I's family.

They have become a constant source of joy and comfort. I dont know if LGH could do all it does with out them. That's why thursday afternoon when Betty ran into the house screaming with a stiff white eyed baby my heart fell into my toes.
Betty was hysterical. all I could understand was her yelling "AUNTIE M! AUNTIE M! KYMBI!"I looked at Kymbi -- he wasn't moving. My head and my heart were moving so fast I grabbed betty and we ran to the road screaming and yelling for a motor bike. She finally found one andI could hear betty screaming and crying all the way down the road.I have never been so scared in my life. After running around 3 hospitals looking for betty-- Jacob, Joe, and I found them at Vithi Medical Center where kymbi was laying on a bed hooked up to an IV crying. I was so happy to hear him crying...to see that he was breathing. The doctors said he almost died of severe malaria and pneumonia friday afternoon we took kymbi home from the hospital. I still can't get the sight of him in his mother's arms and betty's screaming out of my head. My heart is still in my feet. Betty and I have talked about it several times a day since it happened. It has been a constant reminder of how good God is. how constant His love is. I needed that assurance this morning when Joe got a call from our friend Andrew saying that his 13 year old sister, Agnes, died. Agnes had been suffering with HIV and TB for quite some time. I don't know her story very well -- I only met her once or twice -- but I know that she was loved by many people here. please keep her family in your prayers -- especially her brother, andrew, who stayed with her at the hospital every day and cared for her so much. It's been a hard weekend, friends. God IS faithful though, He truly is.

some photos from our honeymoon in zanzibar...

Hi friends, This past week has been a bit stretching to say the least. So many messes to clean up, broken down vehicles, flat tires, school fees to be paid, sickness, and miscommunication. But I’ve made it through – I’m not quite all together still – but I made it. I have fabric to cut, designs to sketch, and samples to make. I’m ready to be creative again. I need some kind of outlet : )

You all should keep checking the LIGHT GIVES HEAT// SUUBI websites. New and exciting things to come I’m sure. And keep your eyes open for March’s Flavour of the Month. It’s pretty!

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some sad news to report: Bunny died last month – sorry it has taken me so long to announce this. But she got caught in a terrible storm in the middle of the night which made her sick and eventually die. Betty was very optimistic in her last few hours and was sure she would make it through. But alas she is no longer with us. However we do have a new puppy. She doesn’t listen very well but Betty assures us that she will learn.



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Last weekend the SUUBI ladies threw us a wedding party. When we arrived to the Walukaba Community Center the Acholi dancers were ready to march us into the building. But as we started the march most of the women started running out dancing and hugging us and yelling. It was overwhelming but so much fun. I wore a Gomez (a traditional Ugandan outfit) my version of one at least. We ate so much food and got some very ridiculous gifts. All in all it was a beautiful night full of laughter and celebration.
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I’ve been spending a lot of time with Doreen and her family (see previous blogs for her story). I love her sisters and her nephews and her mom is just amazing – I am so impressed by how they stick together and how they can still manage to laugh and sing after everything that happened in the north. Pray for them. Pray for us – as they continue to change our lives.

pray pray pray

sorry we havent posted in awhile.
things are very busy. there's always something that needs to be done. things are slowing down today though.
washed about a million necklaces this morning. (pray for market!)
getting my haircut this afternoon. decided I needed something new.

we will write more later but here some photos from the wedding/zanzibar.
(internet is slow so probably wont be able to post many.)

love and miss you all.
-melissa