Manry Family

As we prepare to leave Uganda in just a few months my mind is flooded with memories as I reflect on our experiences and relationships over the past four years. Of course, it’s often easy to romanticize an amazing experience such as living in Africa. In a similar way, it’s also easy to emphasize the troubles and frustrations of living in a place where comfortable and convenient are inappropriate adjectives. Lately, I sense my endurance mechanisms dissolving as we pack and turn our hearts toward home. Things that have always bothered me, but I made great efforts to accept, are now irritating me beyond what should be normal!! I am constantly saying out loud, “I will NOT miss…” And yet as the words leave my mouth, I am reminded that the things that bother me are also the very things I will deeply miss about this sweet place. I thought I’d share a few.

I will NOT miss the ants that invade my kitchen, make trails throughout my house and often get transferred to our beds from our bare feet. But I will miss the way our house invites the outside to take up residence inside – whether it be animals, bugs, weather, strangers or friends.

I will NOT miss the unpredictable, often absent, and ever slow internet that makes a five minute computer task turn into thirty minutes. But I will miss living in a culture that doesn’t survive on technology.

I will NOT miss the milk that comes in a bag and sours quickly so I have to freeze it, remember to thaw it, cut the corners to pour it, and position it just right in my frig so it doesn’t spill….but of course, it always spills. But I will miss the incredibly fresh food we purchase from local dairies and farmers that fills our refrigerator and then our bellies!

I will NOT miss the orange dust that settles everywhere – even in the pores of my face. But I will miss the rust colored roads that cut through the brilliant green tropics of Uganda, creating spectacular views even right outside my window.

I will NOT miss waking up to a house bustling with workers, followed by their children, their sickness, their problems and their requests. But I will absolutely miss my sweet friendship with Bonnie, Harriet and Janet. Their support, presence and prayers throughout the years have healed my homesick heart….or was it their homemade bagels, pumpkin bread and wheat bread?

I absolutely will NOT miss my ever dirty, muddy, dusty children who require baths multiple times throughout the day. But I will definitely miss my children running barefoot, creating pots from mud, gardening with Wilson, inventing all sorts of instruments and weapons from natural materials, and playing on the coolest play set in Uganda.

You better believe I will NOT miss lying awake at night watching a child with a fever and fearing its Malaria. But I will miss the shaping of faith that constantly occurs when you live in a place where you have no choice but to surrender control and place your faith in the One who created your beloved child.

I will NOT miss the planning and energy that comes with visitors arriving and staying not three days but three weeks at least! But I will deeply miss anticipating the arrival of family, friends and even strangers from America, and the way they enter into our family, take part in the work and ministry, and become a part of our journey. Sweet memories!

I will NOT miss this dirty moldy house that leaks, shocks and breaks, taking an entire crew to maintain. But I will forever miss this beautiful home that has been the setting for meaningful events and relationships that have carved a new identity for our family.

I will NOT miss feeling completely “white” and UNinvisible in small town Jinja, where I can hop on the back of a boda boda (public transportation via bike) and the man will take me to my house without me ever telling him where to go. But I will miss living in a place where a vendor at the central market brings us two pineapples because he heard Mark was ill; where we can travel to the city of Kampala and be recognized and warmly welcomed by restaurant and hotel staff even though we have not been in months.

I will NOT miss feeling uncomfortable, awkward and often stupid in a new culture. But I will grieve leaving the place where I intimately encountered diversity and poverty in ways that have shaped new perspectives, behaviors and faithful living.

When I leave Uganda, may God preserve in my mind and heart all the things I love, and the people and memories that are joyful for me so I can remember the sweet way I encountered a living God in a new place, among a new people. But may he also preserve the trials, irritations and moments of fear and grieving so I can remember the terrible and amazing way I encountered a faithful God who is near to me in my discomfort and sadness.

Most of you know that Mark and I have had a heart for adoption since before we married. I can remember distinct conversations about the possibility of adopting regardless of whether we were able to have our own children. The vision of a blended family was desirable to us because of the spiritual significance of it reflecting the diverse family of God. We understand ourselves as the wild olive shoots Paul speaks of in Romans 11 that, by faith and through Jesus, have been grafted in among the other branches to be nourished by the rich root. We are thankful to God for extending such a generous and compassionate heart toward us. And we give him glory for our rich inheritance as his children. Adoption is part of God’s long history of redemption, a story that has become our story. As people created in his image, we not only rejoice in the ways we are already like him, but we strive to become increasingly shaped in his image. With this in mind, our family desires to imitate the way God loves…at least the best way we know how! One way we are doing this is by opening our hearts and home to those who don’t know the love of parents or the grace of God.

It was over six years ago that we started the process to adopt our Lydia Jane. After five years in our family and home, we can confidently and honestly proclaim that we feel as if God knit her into our family as if she was born of us. I find that amazing! My sister Julie says it’s strange to even refer to Lydia Jane as being adopted. We agree! And how cool is it that Mark’s adopted daughter looks more like him than his biological daughter? God must know the significance this will bring.

Our family is excited to announce that we are once again beginning the adoption process. It’s been almost five years that our hearts began turning toward Uganda. We have fallen in love with the people and place that God brought us to. We have been transformed by our daily experience of sharing life with Ugandans. We honestly rejoice in the fact that we will now have a piece of Africa knit into our family forever. Initially, we thought Tom fulfilled that role! And indeed he does. We truly recognize him as part of us, but we simply desire to keep on growing!

This past month we visited an orphanage in Kampala and during the visit we identified a baby boy that we hope will join our family. His name is John Paul -- quite appropriate for our family full of Johns and Pauls. John Paul was abandoned in the rain and found on February 2, 2009. He was taken to Nsambya Babies Home where the nurse determined he was about five days old. For the past three months the women at this home have cared for him well.

The adoption process in Uganda we have begun is new and somewhat unpredictable. So we seek your prayers as we make our hearts vulnerable to this baby and the process it takes to bring him home. There is always the possibility that the courts will not grant us the opportunity for a final adoption. We are prepared for this, but confident that if God intends John Paul to be a Manry he will make the way.

The adoption of John Paul has altered our future plans slightly. We were planning to leave Uganda this December and move to England for a three-month residency in Sheffield for Mark’s PhD. However, the method in which we are adopting requires us to finalize the adoption in America, rather than Uganda. So, the plan now is to move back to Michigan in December, finalize the adoption, and complete the three months in England a bit later in 2010.

So here we come! We have begun our final run here in Uganda, which stirs up a whole lot of mixed emotions. These last months have us focusing on work and soaking up all the team life and Ugandan life we can. As always, we seek your prayers.

These pictures of John Paul were taken today when we visited him with the Bobos. We are thrilled to have Paul and Julie and the children here with us - a visit we have eagerly anticipated for three years!

Aaahh…home for the holidays! We were thrilled to spend this holiday season in America. As I write, we have only one full day left in America and I’m enjoying recalling all the sweet memories of this Christmas and our entire furlough. For the first time in four years we have been surrounded by all the signs of Christmas. Palm trees have been replaced by evergreen pines; green grass is smothered in snow; and we’re reaching for sweaters and scarves instead of shorts and sunglasses. I have enjoyed every bit of it! But mostly, we cherish all of our time with family and friends these past few months.

This year has been another joyful one for our family. We are getting quite used to our home and life in Uganda. There are so many things we enjoy about it and we are continually thankful to God for calling our family into such a wonderfully dynamic ministry and unique culture. We are especially thankful for the ways in which God has revealed to us new understandings of who he is, what his mission is and how we can participate in his redemptive plan. We remain extremely grateful to all of you who support us, encourage us, pray for us and provide for us in this ministry.

This year is mostly remembered by all the fun we’ve had raising Tessa. She has been such a delightful little baby, with a unique first year of life. Another significant event this year is sending Ngobi Tom to Rochester College. The Lord has woven Tom into our family in a very special way. As a small boy deep in an African village he had no idea that one day he would be a student in America with a future of opportunity before him. We are proud to share that Tom earned A’s in each of his classes and has become a favorite on the campus – elected to the freshman homecoming court!

All of our children continue to amaze us with their creativity and ambition for learning. Luke is 8, Connor is 7, Lydia Jane is 5 and Tessa is 16 months. They have each shown great patience and strength living in both of their worlds and learning to appreciate their exposure to diverse culture and people. We see the Lord using this to shape them in wonderful ways.

As a family, we find ourselves at yet another turning point. We returned to Uganda on January 5th to begin our last year. This evokes a multitude of conflicting emotions. In December of 2009, our family will move from Uganda to Sheffield, England for three months to fulfill a residency requirement for Mark’s PhD which he begins this month. This will complete our time overseas and we anticipate returning to Michigan (I can hear my mother cheering)!

As we look forward to this coming year, we praise God for the ways he is faithful to our family and to all of his creation. We specifically want to acknowledge his provision despite financial crises that has swept the land; we celebrate him drawing the hearts of men toward greater simplicity; and we offer God glory for the ways in which he represents an alternative reality to our consumer culture. Our prayer is that the Lord will continue to show men all over this world how to be community with one another and how to engage the world in meaningful and redemptive ways.

Blessings to you and your entire household! May this coming year bring many many sweet memories.

The Manry Family