If only it were Haagen Dazs

So. One of the downsides of a hot water heater being graciously installed in one of our showers while we were gone (can I tell you what a heavenly experience a hot shower upon demand can be?): A house that is painted with a strong likeness to an ice-cream treat.

Here, in the same land where the ice cream truck plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" year-round, apparently getting the same lovely orange color we got when we moved (we'd originally asked for butter yellow?) was not an option. So pink was the clear choice for...the bottom half only. Hmm.

Oliver says all we need now is light green on the top, and we're living in a carton of rainbow sherbet! Wow!

...Indeed.

P.S. Dear Hot Shower,
You are so worth it.
With love and affection,
Janel

Can't meet us at the park...

...because we love you too much to turn your kids into popsicles.

 

Sorry, Little Rock folks, we're postponing our "meet us at the park!" family time at Pinnacle Park tomorrow due to the inclement weather. 

 

We hope to reschedule, and really regret missing our time to connect with you! Enjoy your iced-in time with family. 



Our first two years, in photo

We're excited to show you this short version (3m33s) of a video we created as a glimpse into what God's been doing in our family and in East Africa during our first two years. Just being photos, it will make more sense if you've been reading our blog or newsletters--but in any case, celebrate God's goodness with us! And please, pray for East Africa.

Snippets from a furlough

I call this one "jet lag". This is as soon as he got out of the car from the airport.

True story:
1. Middle son orders corn dog at restaurant.
2. Son receives and bites into corn dog.
3. Son exclaims with delight, "Whoa! There's a HOT DOG in there!"

***
My oldest, to his sister following her apology during a conflict in the car: "Whatever."
Me: "Now, do you think that was an interactive, helpful response?"
Him: "I was not trying to be interactive and helpful. I was trying to be an irritating jerk!"
Well. Points for honesty (?)--and that's about it. #thatsmymissionarykid
***
"MOM! Their bathroom has TWO sinks and TWO faucets!"

***
"Mom, are you sure we can drink the water from the faucet?"

***
Grandpa made his famous shaped pancakes on our first morning back. My boys' choice: bodas (Ugandan motorcycle taxis). You can take the boys out of Africa, but you can't take the Africa out of the boys...

***
"But Mom, I don't know how to use the drain!"
"Now, stop being helpless. You know how to use the... Oh, yeah. Sorry. See this little thing in the back? You pull it up..."
***

"Mom, can we stay in this country forever?"

eMi's response to Typhoon Haiyan

Many of you share our deep concern over the welfare of Filipinos who've been left homeless, and worse, from the utter devastation of Typhoon Haiyan. We wanted to let you in on our organization's disaster relief response, particularly in the event that you're interested in helping. Here's a recent word from eMi:

 

***

Since 1983, Engineering Ministries International (EMI) has been mobilizing Disaster Response Teams for major international disasters like Typhoon Haiyan. Motivated out of God’s love, we serve survivors vulnerable to exploitation. More than technical experts, we seek to be Christ-like, by bringing clean water and the hope of living water. On December 1st, EMI will send our initial teams of water and sanitation experts to come alongside Samaritan’s Purse in Tacloban and Bantayan. As our other partners—the Filipino Church and local & international relief agencies—identify specific needs, we will send additional design professionals to provide services throughout relief (before Christmas) and recovery (after Christmas) phases:
Water/Wastewater Engineers: • Design and set up various water, sanitation and hygiene systems
• Design and establish clean water distribution centers
• Design flood water mitigation solutions Structural Engineers and Architects: • Assess damaged buildings for safe reoccupation, retrofit or repair
• Design structurally sound and culturally appropriate transitional shelters
• Design retrofits and repairs to damaged buildings
• Master plan Internally Displaced People camps Transportation Engineers: Design retrofits and repairs to damaged roads and bridges
Geotechnical Engineers: Assess slope stability and soil erosion
Construction Managers: Oversee teams for construction of buildings and infrastructure




You can help


Experienced design professionals can volunteer for disaster response by contacting EMI’s Disaster Response Ministry Program director at disasters@emiworld.org. If you can’t go, you can give. Help mobilize disaster response assessment and design teams by donating to EMI’s Philippines Relief (emiworld.org/dr_philippines.php). By meeting a survivor’s immediate physical need in their desperate hour, we demonstrate Jesus Christ’s love in a practical way and open a door to share His Good News, meeting their deepest spiritual need.


***

Pray with us, please, for the restoration and Godward hope of the Philippines!

Little Rock friends: Meet us at the park!

Our family is back in the U.S. on furlough!
We're headed to the playground at Pinnacle Mountain,
and we'd love to see you there for a casual catch-up.

DROP BY AND CATCH UP WITH THE BREITENSTEINS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7
2-4 PM
Pinnacle Park, 11901 Pinnacle Valley Road, Little Rock, 72223

In case of inclement weather, we'll reschedule.

Some big "little" news

This is reposted from my post this week on MomLifeToday. We weren't actually able to file the paperwork at the embassy upon our visit, but plan on doing so when we arrive back in Uganda.



I am, as they say, “paperwork pregnant.”

It wasn’t coursing hormones or a full bladder that stirred me this morning at 5:06, but a chirpy text alert from my cell phone: My lawyer letting me know my file was, at long last, complete. Sinking back on my pillow, sedated in a thick haze of half-sleep, I felt my mind drift to that moment when we will finally get a call to come meet our little girl. And that was it, folks. My mind is now fully awake, ready to blog to you.

Today, after nearly nine months of waiting, my husband and I will weave rather perilously through Kampala traffic, bypassing a few OB-GYN offices on our way to our city’s U.S. embassy. We will place our hands on electronic fingerprint sensors and turn over a steep amount of cash. We will present a stack of identification, along with a photocopied, long-awaited home study representing months of slightly intrusive questioning regarding the suitability of our family and home.
We will then hand through the window advance paperwork petitioning the U.S. government to pre-approve us as adoptive parents. Then it’s two more months of waiting as our envelope makes its circuitous way to Nairobi, then back to Uganda, at which point I hope to accept it with a pudgy, African hand encircling my index finger.

Folks, we’re having a baby.

…I hope.

I was realizing this week that with my other four children, I have prayed for them, for their spouses, for their walk with God since the moment I saw a faint pink line appear on that fateful stick of white plastic. For this child, too, I have petitioned God—sometimes silently, sometimes aloud—as I pray for my other children, picturing her fuzzy African head and soft, chocolate-colored shoulders bent over whatever toddler activity in which she might be engaged at the moment. Lord, help them to treat her kindly in the orphanage, especially so she can have healthy relationships later. Help them to feed her well so her brain can develop. Prepare her heart to adore you. Watch her for me, Lord. Please be her Father while she is fatherless.

But after so many months of waiting and so many exasperating, often humbling, lay-my-head-against-the-wall-and-sigh hurdles, I must admit...

Click here to read the rest!