Tuesday 27 March 2012

Miracles Do Happen!

After twelve years of being married, Mark & I were thrilled last week when we went for the twelve week scan of baby Newnham. If you know us well, then you may be as surprised as we were several weeks ago! This miracle has been a long time in coming and something we have desired for many years. There have definitely been ups and downs along the road, but our God obviously loves a good surprise as much as we do. Amy and Joshua are thrilled with the prospect of having a baby brother or sister. Indeed, it is something they have both asked for in recent months and our response has always been, 'well you can pray to Jesus for a miracle, if you want mummy to have a baby'. I guess God also cherishes the prayers of little children who come to Him with the desires of their hearts. There is still a long way to go, but we are rejoicing in each day this new life is given to us and praying for the safe arrival of this precious gift around the beginning of October.

Monday 19 March 2012

Guest House Closing

Several of you have read our recent prayer letter and noticed my short prayer request regarding the closure of the guest house. I decided it was right to give you all a little bit more information. This has not been an easy decision for the management team of the MAF Guest House to make. However, the guest house has been operating at a loss for quite some time. This is largely due to a reduction in size and number of short term teams coming from Europe and America (due to world economic situation. Also, Kampala is a rapidly growing city and there are plenty of other Guest Houses and hotels to choose from. We no longer felt it was good stewardship to keep operating at a loss, so made the tough decision to close at end of April 2012. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was to tell our four staff that we will be making them redundant. We are praying that we will be able to help them find new employment before the Guest House actually closes. What are the implications for me? Right now I am busy with all the details of writing references, pricing everything ready for sale and preparing to pack up a guest house. We will do this during the month of May. I shall then enjoy having more time to spend with the children over the summer holidays and see what new things the Lord has in store for me after that.