Hello..... is anybody out there

Greetings once again, it has been a long time again since we wrote, thank you for your patience if you are reading this. Where to start.... with the children of course.
We have had 5 new additions since we last wrote, 3 in one day and 2 about a week later. Firstly there was Stephanie aged about three left on a garbage heap, then David Jr newborn whose mother died in childbirth and Nicholas also under the same circumstances. They all came on the same day, then we got two sisters Josephine (about 3 months and beautiful) and Fatima whom we think is about 5 yrs old. They were going to be thrown into a pit latrine but were rescued by their community. Apart from some infections they have all settled in well.
Now for visitors, it is the season for them here at present. We have our second Livingstone group here, 18 folk who leave on Tuesday. Our first group of 15 left two days before these folk arrived. They are here for three weeks each and have been busy with the construction of the fifth Family Unit among other things. In addition we have had many other visitors for varying lengths of time, many are 'return' volunteers. Aunty Tamar is assisting in the clinic along with hosting many of the children for sleepovers, Uncle Christian is back for at least a year and already has many tasks to do. Aunty Ineke is back for another few months to continue her advisory role in the Nursery School. We also have Uncle Paul here from Germany for 3 months and he has been of great assistance in computer education both at school and in the offices.
We have posted some pictures of some of the events that have occurred in the last six weeks including a celebration of Aunty Bira's wedding. The wedding was a long way away and not many folk could go to it from here so we had our own celebration of it, which was enjoyed by all. With all the Muzungus here it has been decided to give them a taste of Uganda with an African night explaining some of the culture with drums and dance and serving them a real Ugandan meal. Both nights have been extremely good and they are appreciated by all who attend.
We have also celebrated Papa's birthday in the usual style with a concert and barbeque which also went off well with a variety of items from the children. We do have a lot of talented children here.
A few Sundays ago we took the band and the whole Sunday School to our Pastor John's church as a sort of catalyst to promote a focus on children's ministry and once again our children did us proud with their presentations. It was good to be able to give something back to Pastor John and his church in this way.
While the Livingstone teams have been here, there was a lady's night to 'beautify' the Aunties with make-up and fellowship. Not to be outdone, on last Friday, we held a men's night too. We showed a DVD called "Courageous" which is quite inspirational in talking about fathers and their responsibilities. We recommend this most highly. If you get a chance to see it, invite as many men as you can. We had about 65 young men there and it was an encouragement to us that we have more to do in this area here. The samosas, rolex and sodas kept us happy too.
As for us, we spent three nights in Jinja the week before last. We were both very tired and mainly slept, swam and ate to recharge the batteries. It was a nice time out, but it was also nice to get back too. Last week we went to Kampala with Alex, a boy at school with profound deafness, to get some ear moulds for two hearing aids which had been sent to us from NZ. It was so satisfying to see the grin on his face when they were fitted, we know it will make a huge difference in his life not only in hearing, but also with his speech. We would like to thank our dear friend Dr Robert Benjamin for obtaining them for us and for Chris Peychers who provided and set them up for Alex's hearing. Thanks also to Maryanne Waldin (his sponsor) for her ongoing support of this young man. A footnote to this is that Alex attended our church for the first time today on his own volition - thank you God.
Whew, nearly finished, we continue to thank folk who keep in touch through letters (Angel Doris, we love getting your clippings from the news) e-mails, skype, facebook, and we thank those who are upholding us in prayer. It has been of comfort to us that in the last week, we have heard from all three of our own children, thanks guys. That's about all for now.
Until next time,
God Bless