A JOURNEY OF TRANSFORMATION

We've been on a journey  as a community of new couples and families here in Uganda.United by a vision to be a community of healthy relationships,vibrant marriages and strong families,our lives would be shaped by intentional efforts that will help us achieve this vision.

One of these efforts has been,the Growing Kids God's Way,a parenting training course by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo.It's the second time we have offered the class and this time we ended it with a graduation.

When we asked the students what impact the class had on them,this is what they had to say....

 "....We’ve learnt that God requires godly offspring. To God, parenting is a kingdom issue and He partners with  parents to bring this to pass.

We learnt also that we are best positioned to parent when we are in our positions as husband and wife. Parenting involves sacrifices and prayer, living in such a way as to demonstrate /show examples to our children."

Jimmy and Phiona

 

"....Through these classes God has enabled us to see what a Christian family should be. We have learnt as husband and wife that God has a greater purpose for godly marriage than we knew about, to glorify Jesus and show him to the world." Ben and Lilian

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"....First of all we are grateful for having been part of the class. As a fairly new couple, starting a family, we feel we have been equipped to start on a firm foundation. We have learnt many family values to base our family upon." Robert and Roselyn

 

 David and Maggie

"....It’s our second time to take the class. With two children, (2 and 1 yr) the values we learnt and continue to learn are such an asset on this parenting journey. After the first class we decided that for the sake of raising our kids, mummy would resign her job, and she did. Today the class simply affirmed this decision. The benefits on our kids, family and marriage have been incredible."

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"....We've learnt and decided we won't just walk through life’s experiences. We will put up intentional structures and do intentional things that will road map where God wants us to be. We are called to raise a generation that will define who God is to this world, so we will raise them in godly  virtues. 

Because of the role marriage plays in parenting, we made some decisions, ie, Timothy resigned his job so we could have more family time together. This allowed us also to focus on growing our business to provide for our family. Its been three months since we made this decision and we don’t regret because our marriage has grown stronger and we are excited about preparing for the birth of our first one later this year. This class had a lot to do with many of these decisions." Timothy and Rhona

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 Part of the class that graduated

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 Some of the "with child" couples who attended the class

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 Each graduating couple/student recieved a spanking spoon 

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MORE STORIES.... 

"...This class has helped us first to know that God has order, He created man and woman to be together, gave them different roles for a reason. We have learnt that God desires us to bring up Godly children, we realize its hard work but it’s worth it. 

We have made some decision as a couple to help us achieve what we see ahead as a family. So we do what we do for a reason." John and Phionah

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"...Parenting class has directly helped improve our husband and wife relationship through date nights, couch time and new family traditions that we started. We also found out towards the end of the class that we were pregnant. 

This class is a first step in preparing us for this awesome journey of parenting. We are so excited and thrilled." Julius and Adeline 

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"....Our understanding of the value of growing kids God’s way has widened as a result of the class. 

We also were awed at the importance that our relationship as husband and wife has on our parenting. We’ve never looked at our marriage the same way again." Tony and Immaculate  

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"....This class helped us to know the goal of parenting: which is to raise and train God fearing children with moral values."

Frank & Treasure

"....We’ve learnt that it’s not the responsibility of the rest of the world to raise our children but rather that as parents it’s our duty and honor to do this in partnership with God with the help of a like minded community. 

Our priorities have been changed and aligned to this call." Philip and Rebeca

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"...This class has helped me to prepare for my family. I have learnt so many principles that I didn’t know. Much as I wanted to raise godly children, I didn’t know how practically this would happen.

I desire a husband who will be active, involved and present with our children. This desire was even further strengthened after one of the lessons, The Fathers Mandate. 

Having been raised in a dysfunctional family, the class painted a picture of a healthy family and thus helped me to keep my dream of raising a godly family alive." Agnes N 

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Paul Mutebe

"...It has helped me to get a true picture of family and shaped me to be disciplined and a friendly child to God and to the community."

These are a few of the stories we managed to pick up,but there is lots more...Our many.. many thanks go to Denis and Susan Fuller and yes, in a big way to Papa and Mama Ezzo...while God is working among us,your finger prints are not missing...thank you!

SP and JOY

PS...Here is a link to

 

 

 

INTRODUCING AMIGA AND YAKUTI

Strange but true.....we have officially joind the long list of dog owners.We never thought we would go this route but its been amazing the experience we have so far had with Amiga and Yakuti.They are sisters and we got them from a neighbor who together with his wife are growing to be our very dear friends.They are a young couple and have a son called Gabriel....

Joy and I both love and enjoy taking care of dogs,we just discovered this in the last two weeks we have been with Amiga and Yakuti.Amiga we are told is spanish for friend and Yakuti is swahili for Ruby.

We are reading books on training and everything dogs....well who knew we would end up this route?Life is full of surprises!

SP and JOY

PARENTING CLASS...."Growing Kids God's Way"

We have spent the last 3months in one of the most exciting things that Joy and I have ever been part of,the parenting class! Our work with couples is steadily growing and every season brings with it new opportunities and needs.From preparing couples for marriage to encouraging them to invest in their relationships so they can have strong and wonderful marriages and now laying the foundation for the next generation....

We were first exposed to this class,Growing Kids God's Way by a family we stayed with in Vegas and when we got back we offered it to 6 of our parenting couples then.In our second season of the class we signed up over 15 couples.They meet in 3 different homes every week.We are about half way the second season and we got some couples (from our class) to share what impact the class has had on them so far....Below are their accounts....

Julius and Adeline

.......We got married seven months ago and the parenting class has blessed us in several ways. First and foremost it has been in our relationship as husband and wife which has greatly improved with an emphasis on date nights, spending intentional time with each as we invest in our marriage because we were told that we can not be successful as parents unless we are successful as husband and wife.

So the lessons on learning to speak and understand our love languages, the daily couch time experience that we have been practicing even though we don’t have kids yet has really helped us focus on our marriage. We are growing and enjoying our relationship in ways we have never before.

We are very excited about the class and are looking forward to learning more principles that will prepare us for our calling as parents when the time comes. We hope that through this we will raise the children and family we have always dreamed of.

Timothy and Rhona

.......We both had different attitudes, beliefs and values that were largely influenced by our different family backgrounds. We both desired to have a great marriage and build a morally strong family but had no real idea how to. 

Our answers began to come as we engaged in the Growing Kids God’s Way parenting class. We quickly understood that our husband and wife relationship is the priority relationship and it will affect the kind of family/kids we end up having. 

We are continuing to be equipped with practical parenting skills, which continue to raise the excitement level in us as we wait for the time when we start having kids. Our desire is to raise a model family that will reflect God to a broken and hurting world that needs healing.

Jimmy and Fiona

......This class helped start a revolutionary conversation about what kind of family and kids we desire to have. The class has helped us focus on the quality of our marriage since it’s the most important relationship and all other relationship depend on it. 

As result we are building new family cultures and traditions in our home as we prepare for our children’s coming. One of them is that, daddy marries only one wife for life. This is huge since our background is polygamous. God has used this class to strengthen our dream of starting a new generation of families that do things the right way, God’s way.

John and Fiona

......We both come from dysfunctional families and as such the class has been a huge blessing as it has brought a lot of healing and repair into our own lives as we hear and receive the truth. 

We felt like our growing up was mostly a gambling experience and without this class we have no doubt in our minds that somehow we would continue the gambling trend with our own kids when we become parents. But this will not be the case because this class is showing us the how to of great parenting. 

Our dream is to be cycle breakers who will stop generations upon generations of poor parenting. We value our husband, wife relationship and spend time investing in it. Our date nights are fun and have really helped us put the spotlight on our marriage. We clearly understand that a healthy marriage is necessary for great parenting.

Special thanks....

Joy and I are super excited about this class and want to specifically thank two couples:Denis and Susan Fuller for sharing this class with us and Mr and Mrs Ezzo for putting this material together.We want you to know that as God rewrites the story of these lives,you have a real part in it.Thank you....

Blessings,

SP and JOY

I traveled Thursday morning to my village,which is about 6 hours from Kampala for the funeral of my grandma.She had been bed ridden for close to 3years.

In many ways I am glad she is physically rested although I am concerned about her eternal rest...at this point only God knows.Still weary from the traveling though.

Looking forward to this week as I will be venturing into some exciting ministry activities.The most exciting of them all is the launch of season 2 of our parenting class that has attracted so far 60 people.I will blog more on this as the week unfolds.

Thank you all for praying and thinking about us....

Have a super week.

Onabaz

OUR NEW HOME

Its been a while since we blogged.....not really sure why we've taken long.Our commitment this time round is to be regular bloggers...it's not that there is a scarcity of stuff to blog about.On the contrary there's a lot to blog about....

Well as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step..here is our first step.(pictures of our new home,from when we first saw it to what it looks like today)








We moved to this place 2 weeks ago and the reason was primarily one.Our former house is located by a dirt road and when the dry season came in,we could not handle the dust that came thru the house every single minute.We slowly started to look around and one day while we (Joy and myself) we taking a discovery walk around our neighborhood,we saw this house...semi finished but we asked if it would be available for rent and the site engineer connected us with the owners and the conclusion of the story is that we are their first tenants.









Above:Part of our garden that we will be using to grow some crops.the soil is brown so we have to get some manure to get it fertilized before we can plant.
Below:Joy holding a chicken that we got her as her birthday gift.She is going to start a small chicken project.


















The house is a little bigger compared to our former house(both inside and outside).It will allow us to do a few more extra things we have always wanted.I will blog about what these extra things are.....Our favorite thing about the house happens to be the garden and all the interior space.

Its about 80% done..so right now it's both a home and construction site.We will post more pictures especially of the interior decor that Joy is putting together.We are theming the entire house with the African kikoyi....

Well,I think this is it for now....I wonder how many steps these are so far?

SP and JOY

ROAD TRIP TO EASTERN UGANDA

Joy and i finally took a trip we have been meaning to since the beginning of 2010.It was refreshing to get away from the noise and activity of the city and instead enjoy another rhythm of life.We traveled to eastern Uganda,a place where i was born and raised.It had a lot of history.while there we both were constanatly reminded of how far the Lord has brought us.

We are back home and feeling a lot more refreshed.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and that they can tell an understandable story.

Love
SP and JOY




The use of bicycles as a means of transport is a common thing in the eastern part of the country.Bicycles can be used by kids as well as adults to carry just about anything.

In most parts of the country,you dont have to go to the store to buy vegetables,fruit or even meat.The road side is used to sell foodstuffs.Good thing is they are usually fresh, right from the garden.We bought some of the food on our way back.







This building that used to be an army shop,was turned into a church.I attended and served in this church when i was on break from University.It just reminded me of the journey God has allowed us to walk.

And down below...it is common to find cows,goats and other forms of animals right in the middle of the road.So when driving you not only look out for pedestrians but also these road users...





The little hut above is my dad's house.. and these kids were attracted to the camera and enjoyed having their pictures taken.










Two african kids with blue eyes.......never seen anything like this!



Thank you once again....
SP and JOY