A much overdue catchup

Greetings to you all, wow it has been soooooo long since I have written, sorry sorry. It seems that when I have time, we don't have power or the internet or both, but we'll try now.
Firstly an update on Piet and Pita. They are still in Johannesberg but on Wednesday Pita got a clearance to fly so they are intending to fly home on Tuesday of next week. We are all looking forward very much to their return, as we feel this will help in their recovery. Things have carried on as usual here but there are always decisions to be made which often needs Piet's input.
We have had some visitors from NZ since we last wrote. Fistly Stephanie and Ian Cowan from Christchurch, a couple we didn't know, but through a friend of a friend they had heard about us in Uganda and as Ian was coming to Kampala to give some workshops to Radiologists, they came to see what happens here. Stephanie is very interested and involved in childcare especially with babies and was able to spend two days here enjoying the children. It was nice catching up on some NZ accents.
Secondly, we have just said farewell to Jackie and Jaimee from our church who visited for a week. We had a wonderful time catching up on things and really enjoyed their stay, although it was a busy time for us. We have been involved in interviewing teachers for the Secondary Vocational school and that has involved two days so far with probably more to come. We were also involved in appraisals of the Primary and Nursery teachers so it has been quite time-consuming. The end of year breakup went well, instead of each class providing items, each house performed a set song (Hark the Herald Angels, which Marilyn played the keyboard for), a poem, a skit and a dance. A different format from previous years but it went well. The P7 class have started a tradition of performing an item too, they sang When a Child is Born . After this the children had lunch and were given their Christmas shoeboxes (which almost guarantees that they come for the day), so school is over for another year, only 8 weeks holiday, YEY!!!
We have returned this afternoon from having three days out, to see Jackie and Jaimee off and to get some rest. We are pleased we didn't stay away longer as while we were away, the TV smoked and doesn't go, the washing machine stopped, two power-packs for keyboards blew, the microwave wasn't working (though I have fixed that one) and we are nearly out of gas and there is none in Uganda to be bought!! Earlier our gas heater for hot water caught fire so it is cold showers and doing the washing by hand from now on. Oh well, this is Uganda. The power situation is still awful, we have power shedding which means the power can be off each day for between 12 - 24 hours, but we can't complain because at least our generator can give us lights but not wall power.

Well that is enough for now, the battery on the computer is getting low so it is time to sign off. Please continue to pray for Piet and Pita, for their healing both physical and emotional, also pray for Rhode as she has had malaria and a high temperature this week and is not yet back to full health. Also please pray for us for an extra portion of energy, patience and fun.
Till next time, God Bless