Thankful for Here.

We're home from Florida.  phew.  so many people.  so many shops.  so little time!  the wedding was beautiful.  the beaches were delightful.  But I do not want to make that {36 hour} trip again any time soon. 

Our time was lovely.  We are so grateful to welcome another female into the Hallahan clan (welcome, Leah!!!!!).  But it is good to be home.  this.is.home.

this.is.home.  yes, I just wrote those words.  and i hope my family isn't hurt.  but it's true. this is where God created us to live and love and serve Him.  and we're grateful.  thankful also for Joy, at Gracefull Mama, who serves the Lord overseas and wrote THIS POST today!

today I am grateful for...

6524.  home
6525.  a clean house.
6526.  our puppy- so happy to see us
6527.  family crash nap time
6528.  boys reuniting with their toys
6529.  breakfast for dinner. a Sunday tradition.
6530.  late night playtime
6531.  boys finally in bed at 10pm.
6532.  sleeping through the night.  yes, we all slept!
6533.  strong coffee
6534.  boys still sleeping at 10am!
6535.  these happy, noisy, tropical birds.

Sunday Stills- June 24

at Hamley's Toy Store in London yesterday

today. arrived back in Uganda. unpacked. fell asleep on the couch.
want to be. rested. joyful. gracious in these days of re-transition
blessings. safe journeys. new friends at the airport {twice}. good little travelers. coffee.
thinking. Seth's birthday. finding our summer rhythm. grace.
writing. in my new journal.
loving. being home. this is home. cool weather. thunder storms. coffee.
grateful. coffee. {yeah, we're jetlagged, it will be a theme}  home. family. angry birds.

what are your still moments for today?
inspired by finding joy

TIA: This Is A{merica}

Hallahans at the Rehearsal- including the bride-to-be, Leah!

We've been having a great time with family and friends here in Florida.  Thank you for carrying us in these overwhelmingly delightful days!  We've been struck with how similar and how different life in America is from when we left... and from our life in Uganda... Seth said last night "I'm tired of always getting in the car.  I just want to be home." 

Some happy America moments and some that made us shake our heads:

 crazy amounts of candy, junk food, and staggering options. 

 breakfast at the hotel buffet for $80+ or Dunkin Donuts for $11.  No question!

 Flavored apples???  Bubble Gum flavored apples, 100% Natural??? 

 Traffic lights.  Smooth, wide roads.  Just how many cars would be squeezed in here in Uganda? 

 Corn on the cob.  Happy, American summer food.

 Peaches.  I wish I could somehow bottle this scent and bring it with me. 

Wildlife in our yard.  An armadillo.  Running by our window.  Crazy!

It has been overwhelming.  Amazing.  Tiring.  and refreshing!  Can't wait to be back home in Uganda.  But this trip has been such a sweet memory making time!

Tuesdays With- "J"

There are those days when a conversation with someone makes all the work we are doing, the frustrations we go through, the sadness of being away from “home”, totally worth it! Last week I, Josh, had one of those days.

flowers by the bridge

As I was preparing for my final worship time with the elementary students at Heritage a teacher approached me and said that “J” wanted to talk with me. J is a 6^th grade student and had a lot of questions regarding salvation and what would happen to her at the “end”. I met briefly with J right before worship and answered her questions as best I could and explained what it really meant to believe in Jesus. Thankfully we were standing on a bridge crossing one of the many streams at Heritage and so the “bridge” illustration for salvation was a perfect one to use. I could see it was clicking. After worship time I grabbed Rachel Goss to come with me and finish my conversation with J. As I prayed I felt Jesus telling me to very bluntly ask J if she believed in what Jesus did for her on the cross some 2,000 years ago and if she ever told Him that she believed. J told me that she did indeed believe it but had never told Jesus that. J was a little nervous and embarrassed to pray out loud in front of us so after asking her 3 times if she wanted to do it she decided that she would do it at home that night but did not want to do it in front of us. I felt peace that her heart was in the right place and Jesus telling me it was ok to not pressure her.

It was a wonderful conversation and J, I believe, sincerely believes in Jesus as her Savior. I found out after that J’s mother is a Muslim and through our conversation I know that J does not really have anyone this summer to help her grow in her faith. Would you pray that Jesus would bring someone alongside J and that J can also return to Heritage next year? Thank you for partnering with us and having a part in J’s new relationship with Jesus Christ!

this side of the pond

our savvy little world travelers on a fake phone :)

We have arrived in the states... Florida to be precise...for just a two week visit.  These two weeks will be busting at the seams with love gifts from Jesus.  We can't wait to share them with you and treasure all these memories in our hearts during our next year in Uganda!

uneventful travel
great little travelers
a lovely hotel room in London
dinner with a friend from home who was in London on business

silly boy, avoiding the camera to watch TV
time with Grandma Laurie and Grambo
they came all the way to Florida to vacation with us!
happy afternoon in the pool

great friends and supporters letting us stay in their lovely home this week
a stocked fridge
a gorgeous view
a box of legos for the boys!

Friday Five: Prayer Requests

Us and Dave and Leah at our Going Away Party last year

We're flying to Florida today! Josh's brother, Dave, is getting married next Friday and we get to celebrate with the family!  Thank the Lord for tax refunds!

We'll try our best to blog while we're away- but our main goal is to spend lots of time with family and friends on the beach and in the stores :)

Will you pray for us while we're in the states?  Here are our five requests:

1. Safety and health as we travel.  
2. That Rachel makes her connecting flight in London (she has 1 hour!!!)
3. Great memory making days with family and friends.
4. Getting the things we need, not just being drawn by the allure of things.
5. Gratitude for the time we're given- both in the states and here in Uganda!

Thank you for carrying us in the happy times and the hard times.  We're grateful.

TIA- Driver's Permits!

the many faces of Josh and Kelly...

So, we've been in Uganda now for a year, and our International Driver's Licenses are only good for a year.  We began the process at the end of April.  And we now have Ugandan Driver's Permits (ie: licenses)!  It was a long process, with much driving back and forth to their multiple locations, fees paid, photos taken, numerous copies of passports given, finger prints taken, eye exams done- but we are now proud to say we have our driver's licenses!

There was a bit of a time crunch, as Josh's New Jersey license expired soon... and he could only drive us in Florida (or here) with a Ugandan or New Jersey license.  The New Jersey license got lost in the mail (for months), but finally arrived this Monday... with 4 days to spare!  But we also have our Ugandan licenses so we're okay!  We're official and it feels good.  We belong here.  God is gracious.

simply. grateful.

the newest, tiniest person at Loving Hearts Babies Home

there are some days. when all you can do is be thankful.  thankful you were born where you were.  thankful you had amazing parents... any parents at all.  thankful for your heartbeat.  thankful for your next breath.  thankful for food on the table.

and healthy children.  yes, those children who are running and yelling and fighting over toys... they can run.  they have voices.  they have toys and someone to fight over them with. 

what are you grateful for?

Friday Five: Quotes

artwork by Lilias Trotter

I've really been enjoying A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter.  Here are just a few excerpts from her journal that I'm pondering these days:

1. The martens have been reading me a faith lesson. They come in flights at this time of year - lovely things with blue throats and feathered claws - one slept in my room last night and another darted in at the open window before I was up, swept round and out again.  Their faith lesson is this - that their wings need the sense of "an empty void" below to give them a start - their leg muscles have no spring in them and when they perch by accident on a level place they are stuck fast - poor things, we did not know that natural history fact in the past and when we have found them on our flat Algier roof with its parapet protection, we have thought they had got hurt somehow, and more than once we have tried to feed them till they died, instead of doing the one thing that they needed - tossing them off into emptiness.  So we need not wonder if we are not allowed to stay long in level sheltered places - our faith wings are like the martens and mostly need the gulf of some emergency to give them their start on a new flight. We will not fear when we feel empty air under them.   
2. "As an eagle... fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them on her wings - so the Lord alone did lead him." Fluttereth over - the early stages of faith are reaching upward, like the eaglets for their food when the mother-bird is overhead... it is an older faith that learns to swing out into nothingness and drop down full weight on God - the broken up nest of former "experiences" left behind - nothing between us and the abyss but Himself - A rejoicing in every fresh emergency that is going to prove Him true - The Lord Alone - that is trained faith.  
3. God's guidance, if our soul's instinct is healthy, tallies with the sense of rest - in a very real way, this sense of rest guides us - and legislates for us. Anything that brings a sense of restlessness means that we have got further from under the cloud shadow - we have gone off on some self devised path, or we have not kept pace with God... It is the same in cases of perplexity - where there is no clear command in His word to guide us - where the sense of rest falls (always taking for granted that our wills are in His Hand) there is His path - it is there that the shadow of His cloud is falling.
4. When God delays in fulfilling our little thoughts, it is to have Himself room to work out His great ones.
5. Praying down rather than praying up - that is the summing up... that the velocity and power of anything that comes down, gains in a ratio of high proportion with the height from which it drops: Even from an aeroplane, a pencil falling will take on the force of a bullet. What might not our prayer power be if it comes down from the throne of the Priest.   

And here is a FREE resource of her writings!  Enjoy!