Biggest Day of my life? I think maybe yes! - Oct 29, 2010 –

Moral of the story: never start your day without a cup of coffee (because you never know what might come up).

So, I’ve left you all in a lot of suspense over the last couple of days, not by choice, but because we are working on some pretty big details…LIKE BUYING A HOUSE.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. So, let’s see…I started my day with the intention of going to work with David and Robert and helping them with their ABC’s, etc. I got to the boys house around 9am, and at first it seemed that this was the way the day was going to go, until Tevin came by. He wanted to hear about the information that we had been given about the land, and it was soon decided that we would go in to talk to the lawyer to clarify some information. In we went to talk to him, and he again explained everything, and how it worked. We thanked him for his time and left. Next stop, to see a brother of Tevin’s who works with a water project, and potentially an option of how we could get the amount of money that we would need from Canada to Uganda. Unfortunately this was not an option, so we headed to the house we were interested in buying to talk to the lady and see if we could get her to come down on her price. When we got there she wasn’t home, but we took the time to look around the property one more time and decide whether it made the most sense for us, and if it was a good fit for the boys. We also talked about the chickens, and how this project would work here (which actually looks like it could work!)

We found out that the lady was in town, so we called Shadrach (Henry’s cousin/our business advisor) and headed to Flavours to meet with the lady. Thank goodness for Tevin and his outgoing personality, he did a great job talking to the lady, and we got to hear some of her story, but we soon realized that she wasn’t going to move from her price (which was already lower then it was evaluated at). We were still uncertain about the price though, so she left and we talked through some more details. It was finally decided that even if we had to pay the price she was asking, it was still a great deal, and we wanted it! We then went to the lawyers to work out all of the paper work…which was probably about the longest afternoon of my life. At this point of time it was about 3:30 and we had yet to eat lunch!

Let me explain the lawyer’s too you…a big name behind a desk who knows that we need him, so he can pretty much do whatever he wants, whenever he wants (like answer he cell phone EVERY time it rang…which was about 12 times in total…ahhhh!!!!). The good thing about him though was that he came recommended. Although the lady had originally hired him, I had talked to a couple of different people (trusted mzungu friends) and they all said that he was a good lawyer. Anyways, he wrote and wrote and wrote (yes, everything was done first by hand) and we discussed and discussed and then he hollered at the lady at the front desk to come and type it. At this point we had promised that we would put a 10 million shilling deposit down that day to show that we were serious. We went to my house to get cash and my credit cards, and then we realized that the max we could take out on a credit card was 1 million, so we were definitely short. Tevin had a connection and was able to get us the $5000 on loan with the promise that we would have it back on Wednesday. Meanwhile Henry ran to get our (The Sanctuary) bank account information so that we could send it to Canada. (At some point of time in this crazy day we also went to the bank to find out how much money we could transfer from Canada to Uganda. We expected there to be a limit of a couple of thousand, but were happy to find out that there was no limit!)

Anyways, finally we had everything back to the lawyers. We signed all of the papers, handed over the money, and it was done! Phew!

At about 5:45pm we sat down to a lovely Ugandan meal of Goats meat and chips…and a document in our hands that said that The Sanctuary owns land (assuming that we will make the final payment on Wednesday). WOW! Remember when I said that your days turns out to be completely opposite of what you think you’re going to do….I think that would pretty much prove my point!

I have to say that I was alittle overwhelmed with the whole situation. I know NOTHING about buying a house. Not in Uganda OR in Canada! I prayed and prayed and prayed, and continued to feel a peace about the whole situation. My biggest pray during the day was that if God did not want this to happen, He would put up road block after road block. I don’t know of you can see it like I could being in the middle of it, but God took care of EVERY SINGLE problem that could have possibly caused an issues. From providing all of the right people (Tevin, Shadrach, Henry and myself), to finding a way to get the money, to the fact that the lawyer was supposed to be in Kampala for the afternoon (but it was cancelled), to us actually having the money to support this project! Even as we were headed to sign the papers we found out that someone was on their way to see the house and very interested. We even found out this week that the owner of the place where the boys are living now is going to be coming back, and that he will want all of the tenants out. There is not a single doubt in my mind that God brought us to this house, and pretty much handed it to us on a platter. By myself, or even Henry and myself, this would not have been possible. BUT with God, all things are possible. I feel incredibly blessed to be part of this crazy, exciting, stressful day! I also feel alittle unworthy, but I guess that’s the point. God will use those of us who know thing (obviously) to bring glory to Himself…and that is exactly what He has done. What can I say but: God is good.

So a couple more details for those of you interested, on Wednesday we are going to Kampala to sign the rest of the papers, and get the title deed. We don’t get possession of the house until Jan 3, 2011, BUT we are able to come and go from the house as much as we want. (To do renovations, etc).

This is where you come in. The house definitely needs work. From it needing flooring to cupboards in the kitchen to doors to plumbing, we need help.

I have already had some people contact me, interested in helping out, but if you are interested and haven’t mentioned anything yet, please let me know! What we want to do is to make a home for these boys. Not just a house where there they live, BUT an actual home, a place where these boys can grow up and look back with fond memories of living there, a normal childhood.

Anyways, thanks to all of you who were praying for us during this crazy week! Rest assured that your prayers were answered in a big way! Please keep praying as the real work now begins!