We're Back!

It has been almost 2 months now that we have been back in the US.  Again, we want to say thank you to everyone that helped to make out time in Uganda possible.  We are truly grateful.

Our last week in Uganda was spent packing and spending last moments with friends.  We spent one night with our friends from Tennessee, the Morrisons.  We also spent 2 nights in Entebbe before flying out, and had some time to spend with our friends there.

Our friends the Morrisons, who are missionaries from Tennessee, and are
the new owners of our dog Arrow.

Our friends Michael and Rebecca who live in Entebbe with their two
youngest children, Chris and Vicky.

As we arrived in the Charlotte Airport, we were met by Andrew's parents, Heidi's parents, and Heidi's sister Heather.  It was a wonderful reunion!  We all stayed overnight in Charlotte together.  The next morning Heidi's family surprised us with a new van!  It was a huge and unexpected Blessing.

Mille, enjoying the new van.

With Heidi's parents and sister as we attended our first Sunday back
to our home church, Waterlife, in Lenoir, NC.

After arriving back in Lenoir, we stayed with Andrew's parents.  Heidi's parents also stayed with us in Lenoir for about 2 weeks.  We had some good time reconnecting with family.  We also started to remodel one of the houses that we had been renting out in order for us to have our own place.

Playing some Hand and Foot with Heidi's parents.

The kids got to have some quality time and Grandma and Grandpa Kanagy's
with cousins.  This is her cousin Katie.

Papa Kanagy made a fire and we got to have some S'Mores for
the first time in a couple of years.  This is Ivan and Papa with
cousin Graceson.

Heidi doing some sanding at the house after patching walls.

Andrew working during demolition stage.  We tore out the whole kitchen, including
the wall that you see in this picture.

We stayed with Andrew's parents for about a month and a half while we finished up the renovations on the house.  The kids got signed up for soccer, while Andrew and Heidi got signed up for coaching.  We were able to reconnect with some of our friends.  We haven't had much free time, but we have been able to take a couple of weekends to visit with family and friends.

Got to go to a married night out for couples at Watlife Church with Andrew's
brother Brandon and his wife Erica.

A couple of friends from Waterlife, Isabel and Melody, treated Heidi
to a nice birthday dinner.

We were able to spend some of Heidi's birthday weekend with friends from
our Charis Bible College days, Tom and Cindy.

One of the weekends was spent traveling up to Virginia and Pennsylvania to visit with many of Andrew's relatives on both his mom's and his dad's side.  Andrew's last remaining grandparent, his mom's dad, had his 90th birthday party in Pennsylvania.  It was a great time reconnecting with family.

Gathering with some of Andrew's mom's family in Pennsylvania.

Ivan enjoying the meal with Andrew's Uncle Jerry.

Andrew's Grandpa Lloyd, who just recently turned 90.

We have now moved into our house.  We still have a few things to finish up, but we are working on them as we settle in and find where to put everything.  Heidi is back to homeschooling the kids and getting them back into a routine.  Andrew has been working on finishing up the house, and working with his dad's construction business, as they are finishing a new house for his parents.

Our plans are to stay here in North Carolina and work with Andrew's family to grow the construction business over the next several months.  Andrew plans to help his father build a couple of spec houses to sell.  If everything works out, we will keep riding that wave.  If not, we will try a different path.

As for our involvement with PUR International, and Uganda, we are still planning and organizing a return trip in August with a group of 15 from both North Carolina and Norway.  Heidi and Andrew will both be leading the trip.  We will do both a medical camp, and a church building project.  Originally, we were going to do these as two separate trips, with the medical camp in April.  Many different factors lead to the change of plans.  We feel very good about this plan, and as usual, we see that the Lord is setting all of this to work out better than we had planned in the first place.

As we prepare for this trip in August, we have 4 different fundraising campaigns.  We have 2 campaigns for the travel expenses for us and all the different team members that will be coming.  Then we have a campaign for both the medical camp, and for the church building.  Here is a link to the page that shows all 4 of those campaigns:  August Trip Campaigns. 

We are so excited that Heidi and I get to go together, and we get to check to see how everything that we did and started there is progressing.  Please consider giving towards any of those campaigns to help us reach our goals.  These projects will be improving the lives of many people in Uganda, while at the same time providing a life changing experience for the team of volunteers that will be going with us.

We love you guys!  Thanks so much to everyone that has followed our journey.  We are amazed at all the people that we have run into here at home that are aware of where we have been and what we have been up to.  Thank God for the prayers and support of all those that have been following us, and Thank God for social media!

God Bless All of You!

Andrew, Heidi, and Kids