Ben at about 3 and Tim about 16 months
I received an email this evening which got me thinking about some of the children in our lives. To the left you see our own two, Ben and Tim when they were very small. I love this picture and decided to put it in the blog for this post. Of course, Ben and Tim are respectively 38 and soon to be 37 now, but very often my memory takes me back to the times when they were as they are shown above. How blessed we were/are to have them. When this picture was taken of them, Tim had already had one heart surgery in Vancouver and he and Ben had battled through that time together. I say battled through it, because Tim was struggling to stay alive with a narrowed aorta, and Ben was so disturbed by all the needles Tim was having poked in him. Tim went on to have the same surgery repeated at age three and another one at age 17. At that time it was decided he’d need a heart transplant and that occurred when he was 26. Those times around the traumas strengthened our family and our faith in what God could do in our lives. Both the lads are now leading great lives with wonderful ladies in them and there are more children on the scene, which brings me to part two.
Oliver and me at Comox Lake
Earlier this week Cynthia and I spent a wonderful couple of hours with Tim, Andi, Oliver and Charlotte (our grandchildren) as the four of them camped at Comox Lake. We had a meal with them and went for walks. We did some fishing of sorts but just being with the children and their parents was so rewarding in itself. Oliver roared around and was so proud because he had graduated from wearing diapers all day to his new brilliantly coloured underwear. Charlotte swam all the way out to the log boom with her Mum and was thrilled to tell us that she’d done so. She’d also received her first pair of tie up shoes one day in the week and was proud to be able to show us how she could whip the knots together.
Charlotte comes to visit
Charlotte came out to visit us at our home today and while she was delightful to me she spent most of the time with her adored Grandma. They chatted while Cynth made lunch. Charlotte helped lay the table. They picked radishes in the garden, built a tent on the back deck from a blanket and some lawn chairs, and read stories together. Watching them together is magic.
So why did the email get me thinking about kids in our lives? Well take a peek at the next two, here on the right.
Samuel and Judah Specht
They are Samuel and Judah Specht and they are busy growing up in a very different environment. Samuel and Judah are children of Tim and Joanne Specht who look after A.C.T.S. people and projects in Uganda. Samuel is 7 and Judah is 9. Here’s a little excerpt from the A.C.T.S. newsletter which this time features those children in Uganda. This is a section from Samuel’s piece in the newsletter.
“Hi, my name is Samuel Specht and I am almost 7 years old. It is really fun to be a missionary kid in Uganda. I like it because I don’t have to wear shoes and I can wear shorts and t shirts all year round. But there is one thing that is boring about Uganda, we have to eat the same food all the time: Matoke, beans, rice and ground nut sauce. I have lots of friends and one that I see every day. His name is Moses and he is our guard.”
Tim and Joanne continue to do a marvellous job with A.C.T.S. (see side-bar) in Uganda and we keep them and their children constantly in our prayers. If you’d like to read more of the notes written by Samuel and Judah you can read on here.
“I like to play football with him, which is really soccer. Another friend I met this year was John Pattison. He was an ACTS intern and he is a real cowboy in Alberta. I got to play cowboys with him. We made sawhorses and Mom made some horse heads which we attached to the sawhorses. I made some stirrups and I made a saddle for my horse, Buttons. Then John and I went to the forest and we saw some wolves. We wore our cowboy hats and bandannas and John had his gun to scare away the wolves. We had a great time. I think it is fun to be in Uganda and to meet all kinds of new people and make new friends.
- Samuel
Hello, my name is Judah Specht and I am 9 and a half years old. I was born in Canada but lived on Bushara Island (SW Uganda) for my first 2 years. I don’t remember much about it but my parents have told me that I rolled down a hill once and that I loved to sit outside with a cookie and watch the birds. The lake is called Lake Bunyonyi and it means the place of Little Birds. We like to go back there to visit and see where I grew up. We visited our old house and saw where I would sit and where I rolled down the hill. I love to go back there!
In the morning when I wake up, I hear the birds. We have lots of doves and plantain eaters. They sound like monkeys. When our sunflowers are blooming, the brown parrots come to eat the seeds. Even though they are called brown parrots, they are actually a brilliant green on the stomach with some yellow markings. We like to watch them when they eat the seeds. We also have a lot of Ibis’s and they make a lot of noise. I like to bird watch.
I like to help with the baking and cooking. I am learning how to cook. I like to make cookies, cakes, tortillas and special juices. I use any fruit and mint from the garden. I also like to work in the garden. I have my own garden planted with beets, carrots, French beans, leeks, dill and pearl onions. I also help my mom in the garden but sometimes I eat all the strawberries and cherry tomatoes. Samuel eats lettuce and anything else he can find in the garden.
Sometimes I feel sad because I don’t get to see my cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents often. I am looking forward to seeing them next year when we come home on furlough. I like it here in Uganda but sometimes I wish we could be back in Canada.
- Judah
Well folks, I think you can see why the letters from Samuel and Judah got me thinking about our kids, the Specht kids, our grandkids and kids in general. We share our lives with them in different places and in different ways, but I know that if we allow them to, they will bless our lives and enrich them. Ben and Tim, you mean everything to us. Charlotte and Oliver we adore you. Samuel and Judah, as you go to sleep tonight, know that we are thinking of you and praying for you. May all of you who in our family and among our friends know that we love you too, and are praying for you.
God bless you and all the best to those who read this.
Martin
