Three Special Steps

My two year old nephew introduced me to a show called Special Agent Oso last year and the show’s song has become the theme of our travels.  Our team has been singing their own version for the last couple days:

Your special assignment was a success, because you followed three special steps...

Step 1…fly from Comox to Vancouver

Step 2…fly from Vancouver to Heathrow

Step 3…fly from Heathrow to Entebbe

In three special steps…three special steps!

       So after 3 flights, 12 hours of layovers and 19 hours of flying time we have arrived at our temporary destination.  Theo was an angel on the flights, sleeping for over 12 hours and enjoying his new headphones ;)  We spent our first night in Kampala (capital city) at the Adonai Guest House; a beautiful missionary hostel just outside the city.  Our group took a short trip to the city to meet up with some North American friends at the Chinese restaurant (I’ll tell you about them later) and to deal with some visa things.

Adonai Guest House

Back at the hostel, we enjoyed some delicious spaghetti and headed to bed very early…we were trying to make up for the crazy last 3 days.  We were welcomed with the smell of pancakes and fresh pineapple in the morning and packed up our luggage to travel the 6 hours to Mbarara.  Along the drive we made a couple stops at a little drum stop, a local restaurant and the Equator.  Just after dinner we arrived at Canada House in Mbarara, our home away from home while we are here.  The next week will be our language training and getting acquainted with the Ugandan culture.

A Boda-boda with 4 passengers

Ok now for the most awesome part of our story here yet…While at the Heathrow airport David (our director) spoke with a couple from Utah that were heading to Entebbe to volunteer for an organization called Ethical Encounters for 6 months.  When we arrived at the Entebbe airport, they were promptly met by the police and were told that the organization was a fraud and the director was being investigated.  This left them with no place to stay and a lot more unknowns, but by God’s hand, David felt called to wait and speak with them.  Since then, we have taken them into our group and they are currently staying with us until they decide what to do next.  We are hoping that they will choose to come on this adventure with us, but either way, we are praying that through this unusual series of events they will see God.

Theo makes friends here easily...here he is playing the
shaker for the street performer

Well until next time I have internet, orare gye (good night)!

~M~

The Beginning

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

~Plato~

       Well today is the day!!! In less than an hour we head to the airport to fly off on our grand adventure.  We will spend the next two days either on a plane or in an airport, flying from Comox to Vancouver to London to Kampala, arriving 7:45 am on October 3.  Please pray for safe passage and for Theo to sleep a LOT ;)

Our 6 months worth of luggage...can't wait to lug it all
the way through the Vancouver airport :(

If you would like to contact us, we will be available by:

1. Mail:  The MacGregor Family, c/o ACTS, PO Box 901, Mbarara, Uganda
2. Phone: We will be put up our new numbers once we purchase cell phones in Uganda
3. Email: Melissa (macmeems@gmail.com) or Andrew (andrew.macgregor14@gmail.com)

We feel so blessed to have this opportunity to explore this amazing world and can't wait to tell you all about it!

~M

Training Begins!!!

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

~Martin Luther King, Jr~

 
       And our 'staircase' has begun! After what seemed like the longest 3 days ever, packing our life in 5 checked bags and 6 carry-ons, we have arrived safely at our training in Comox, BC.  We have had the joy of meeting our team of other interns, volunteers and ACTS staff, and settling into this new reality with each other.  We are currently staying at a hostel, going to training during the day and then enjoying our free time in the evenings, getting to know each other. 

 
       Our team is awesome and comprised of another young married couple, a single girl and a single guy.  We will also be accompanied by the ACTS director and an engineer and his wife. The huge blessing here is that Theo has hit it off with quite a few of our team members already, playing silly games with them and showing off his dance moves. His most recent favourite song is Gangam Style, and if you sing "Hey sexy lady..." he will sing the next line while bopping his head.
 
       Tomorrow is another long day of training so I am off to bed, but we would like to give a big shout out and thank you to a couple families/individuals that without their help, we don't know what we would have done:

1. Shawna Edwards & Fam - for storing our stuff
2. Mark & Kristie Baggio - for storing our car and letting us borrow their truck
3. The Hogg Family - for being such great landlords and helping us out with so much!!!
4. My Mom - for taking car of Theo while we packed & now while we train
5. Jordan Collier - for helping us load up our moving truck
6. Tony Mann - for helping Andrew run last minute errands

Love you all and can't wait to talk again soon!!!

~M~

Preparations for Uganda

Look for the best,

Prepare for the worst,

and

Take what comes.

~Unknown~

 

       As we prepare to leave for training in less than two weeks, I am daily riddled with the question "Do we really need this?"  I feel silly packing 'extra' items for Theo for his comfort, when I know we are about to be faced with so many children that don't even have the basics.  I'm quite certain that my idea of neccessity will soon be shaken up and drastically turned upside down.  As our days in Canada draw to a close, I am amazed at how the preparations of my heart have slowly taken over my thoughts, rather than the endless 'To Do' lists waiting on the fridge.  Perhaps this is because we have conquered at least half the lists, including immunizations, medical insurance & basic travel plans, but the largest task of all (packing up our house) still lies ahead.

 

Rural Ugandan road (taken by previous intern)

Here is a quick look at our travel plans:

• Sep. 16: ACTS 40th Anniversary party
• Sep. 22: Mom comes to Vancouver to help
• Sep. 26: ACTS training in Comox, BC
• Oct. 01: Fly Vancouver to Heathrow (8.5 hrs)
• Oct. 02: Fly Heathrow to Entebbe (9.0 hrs)

       The support Andrew & I have recieved from our family, friends, church community and coworkers has been such an encouragement. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your honest opinions, financial support and constant prayer. Your generous donations have brought us close to our budget and truly affirmed our decision to pursue this grand adventure.

       As a side note, our little man is fighting a nasty virus that has him covered in sores and keeps him from sleeping well.  This is of course a concern, considering we want him to be strong and healthy when we arrive in Uganda to give his body the best chance to adjust and fight against any viruses sure to bombard him upon arrival.  Please pray for his speedy recovery and the strengthening of his immune system.

Webale! (Thank you in Runyankole)

Melissa

The African Dream

All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

~Walt Disney~

In 2004, a certain guidance counsellor suggested to an eager 17 year old that she should apply to engineering, because "it will give you the opportunity to help others and do what you love."  She could not have been more right!

My whole life I have had a heart to serve and as a child I dreamed of moving to Africa to be a part of the development efforts.  It was this shared passion for missions and his love for grand adventures, that made Andrew the perfect man for me.  And now, we have been given the opportunity to work with a Christian organization called ACTS (Africa Community Technical Service - http://www.acts.ca/), bringing safe drinking water to villagers in southwestern Uganda; more specifically, the Ntungamo District.  We head to Vancouver Island for training on our 3rd anniversary and then take our flight to Uganda on October 1, 2012.

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.

~Helen Keller~

This new chapter will be both amazing and challenging as we adjust to a rustic camp life, a different language and many cultural changes, all of which we will be tackling with little Theo by our side.  I will be diversifying my skills as a civil engineer, working alongside an ACTS Project Manager to design and build a water system, while Andrew cares for Theo and opens himself up to other opportunities available in camp.

(Our "house" for 6 months)

We encourage you to join us on this journey and follow our blog, as we prepare, travel and experience the challenges and joys of life in a developing country.

If you have more questions or wish to support us, please contact me via email macmeems @ gmail.com

And now for the countdown...53 days to take off!

A Year in Review

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.
~Buckminster Fuller~

Our lives have been turned upside down and redirected in the last year...beginning as two young loves moving to the ocean-side for school and in 11 months becoming a family of three living in the mountains (well close to them). Unknowingly, our greatest adventure was not moving out West, but having a child out West. The last 12 months have been a whirl-wind of new people & experiences, of adjustment & trial, and of clarity of God's perfect plan for our lives. Here is a quick recap of our journey out here so far:

• August: Moved from Ajax Ontario to Surrey BC without jobs or a place to live
• September: Andrew started school, Melissa got a job with Scott Construction, A&M found an apartment & a new church (Gracepoint), A&M celebrated 1 year of marriage & began exploring the Vancouver area
  
• October: M became a counselor for GEMS, A became an intern with the Young Adults ministry, A&M began volunteering for the senior high youth group, A&M got pregnant;)
• November: A&M found out they were pregnant, A got a part-time job at Staples
• December: A finished off his 1st semester, A&M celebrated their first Christmas alone
• January: M started to show, A&M told everyone they were pregnant, A got a full-time job with Shaw Cable
• February: A&M attended the lighting of the Olympic flame ceremony & went for a weekend on Keat's Island,
  
• March: M visited Ontario for Bennett's birthday,
  
• April: A&M went to a Whitecaps game & visited Darrell in Victoria for Easter
  
• May: A took M up Mount Baker in Washington for Mother's Day
• June: M turned 25 & A took her out on the town to see the musical Wicked, Grammee Dee came & took A&M up the Grouse Mountain gondola, M stopped working
  
• July: Theo was born, The Meems' came for a visit, A&M's friend held a shower for T
  
• August: M's friends & A's family came for a visit, T started smiling
  
• September: A,M&T went on our first family vacation to the States & went to the PNE in Vancouver for the day, T rolled over, A&M celebrate 2 years of marriage
  

And here we are today, a whole new "us", starting off the next chapter of our lives. If you had told me a year ago that I would be a mother by now, I would have laughed and said "No, no, no we want to wait a couple years." People say that once you have a baby, you can't imagine your life without them...but I can. I can imagine myself getting up early every morning with Andrew, driving to the skytrain station and taking that train all the way downtown. I can see myself fighting to get off the train and straining my neck on the bus just to get one ounce of fresh cold air. I can see myself arriving on site, talking to my PM and then start working away...on the work I love.

Instead, I get up at noon after a long night of feeding, burping & changing, put Theo in the swing, and turn on the TV to watch some overplayed episode of Criminal Minds while I munch on crackers & cheese. I then feed him while checking out facebook & babysteals to feed my new found addiction for cute baby things. I check the clock and discover Andrew will be home in an hour, so I change out of my pj's, pick up the clothes off the floor and throw a load of laundry in the wash.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Theo from the bottom of my heart, but I'm just taking some time to adjust to this new kind of "normal." And I know that in time we will create a healthier routine. Theo is an amazing child who knows what he wants and makes sure to let us know. He only cries when he is hungry or can't poop, and the rest of the time he is smiling or talking. He sleeps well at night & is a great travel baby. Theo loves music and noise...in fact he sleeps better when music is playing (or when daddy's snoring). Theodore is a true gift and I am honoured that God chose me to have the great privilege and responsibility to be his mommy. So please pray for us as we adjust to this chapter in our lives & decide on where to go from here.

Our Little Gift

God's gifts put mans' best dreams to shame.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning~

As a young girl I dreamed of meeting the perfect man, getting married and having LOTS babies, all by the age of 25. But as I went through highschool and into university, my dreams began to alter. I still wanted all the same things, but not quite so soon. I now dreamed of starting my career, of getting my P.Eng. and maybe travelling before I settled down. But God knew better; He knew that the dreams of a little girl were His actual plans for my life. So, at the age of 21 I met my perfect man; at the age of 23 I married my best friend; and now, at the age of 25 I will be a mom :)

Yep, that's right, I'm pregnant with a wee little MacGregor! Andrew and I are so excited! God has given us a gift that we hadn't even started planning for...and that's actually the most beautiful part. We went for our first ultrasound last Monday and got to hear the little munchkin's heartbeat. He/she is now 10 cm long and is due on July 18.

Ideally we would like to move back to Ontario in the fall, after the baby is born, but we know that we need to be open to God's plan. We both want our families to be a big part of our child's life and I just can't imagine having a baby without my mom. But at the same time, we know God brought us out here for a reason and we can't just pick up and leave because we want to, or because other people want us to. Although this is excruciating for me to admit, any decision made to move or stay will have nothing to do with what I want. If we're heading home to Ontario, it will be because we know that we have accomplished everything here in BC that God set out for us to do/learn/see/hear. So please, pray for us, pray for direction, pray for clarity.

Life is God's novel. Let Him write it.

~Isaac Bashevis Singer~

Over the last couple years I have been truly learning what this means. I am a planner and as such I like to think that I can plan my whole life...from the career I will have, to the cities I will live in, and to the age that I will have babies. And in every instance, God taps me on the shoulder and says, "Melissa, trust in me. I know your heart. I know what you can handle. I have a plan for you." And so, I've had to put my desire to be in control aside and let Him step in and show me where to go...even when that means move to BC or be prepared for a child. I'm learning to surrender all of me, knowing that God's plan is much much bigger and much better.