Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. I am a lot behind in blogging. So hopefully I can catch up soon! We moved to our new rental house and I am expecting all of you to come visit between now and May.  Right now, we are currently getting hot water installed in the girl's bathroom and in the kitchen and the washer will be hooked up soon. If you have a washer and dryer inside your house, be thankful.

Drying the beans that Crode picked from the HOH school garden

Before Christmas, we were able to take meals to 25 families whose children attended the House of Hope School this past year. So many of you gave for these families to be able to receive the meal. Thank you! The families were so happy to receive these meals. You made a difference.

Putting the beans in to bags for distribution to the family - each family received 5 quart size bags.

Here instead of "celebrating Christmas", you "eat Christmas". I gathered that there were not a lot of Christmas trees being decorated or presents, if any, being given,  family and food are the focus and  important. Food prices go up during the holiday season and cooking is a big deal over here. The food was not fancy, but it was filling and enough that each family should hopefully have been able to get a few meals out of the boxes.

Joseph LOVES helping wherever he can

Some chickens headed off to be tied and placed in the back of the Prado.

Buy bread, rice, and in the green bags is posho.
Posho is one of the staple meals in Uganda. It is made from maize flour.

It was wonderful to take the meals to each family. Everyone wanted to be apart. At one point we had 15 people in a 8 passenger vehicle! The others came from some children who were coming home from collecting sticks. We met them as we were just getting back in the car from a house to go to their house and gave them a ride since the walk was far for them. The families were really grateful and excited. 

The Seger's have made so many friends and have been able to help so many families. The school is just a tool to reach families. Anywhere muzungu's (white people) are, kids from the neighborhood come and gather around to see what is going on or they ask for candy or just want to hold your hand or touch your skin. And the more the camera clicks, the more that come wanting their photo made!

This woman knelt on her knees the entire time we were bring her food gifts to her. These are her children, plus she has one more not pictured. Her husband was in the Ugandan army and was killed. She is on her own with the children. Thankfully, she and her husband were able to build this nice house before he died. 

This woman knelt on her knees the entire time we were bring her food gifts to her. These are her children, plus she has one more not pictured. Her husband was in the Ugandan army and was killed. She is on her own with the children. Thankfully, she and her husband were able to build this nice house before he died. 

The kids we visited love to sit and be held. They sometimes seem shy to speak or answer questions, but their smiles and the face that light up speak more than their words. They know they are loved and wanted. 

The kids from the HOH school love to see the blue van or the Prado coming because it means the Seger's are arriving. The kids come running for hugs and high-fives!They  Even the adults. Let me show you:

Michael is waiting and smiling at a little girl who is running full speed directly to Michael.
She literally jumped into his arms. I missed capturing the jump, but below he is holding her.

Of course, everyone is smiling and we prayed with each family before leaving their home.

Thank you again for your donations! Below are just a few close ups of some sweet faces!

On a side note, here is Breanna, not looking 14 at all! To quote her when asked how she slept one morning, she said "it's just another day I get to live in Uganda." She loves it here. 

And here is just a picture of Brent with a chicken, being silly:

We will be writing again soon! Ciao!