Counting Down to Africa

A video about what we are going to be doing and why, made by our friend Juila Johnson. Click on the play button in the middle of the screen to watch it. Stephanie and I have accepted a position with an organization called Engineering Ministries International or eMi for short. On August 2nd We will be on our way to the East Africa office in Kampala Uganda for an eleven month stay. eMi is a Christian organization that gives free designs to 3rd world Christian ministries in need. It works like this, if there’s a Christian group in a developing nation who own a piece of land and want to use it to build a hospital, orphanage, school, dormitory, Church, Bridge, water pipeline, Dam, Hydro Electric Power Plant, Poultry Factory, ect… they can submit a request to eMi and get plans for a complete site design free of charge. eMi has their world office in Colorado Springs, CO and international offices in: Calgary Canada, Guatemala City Guatemala, Kampala Uganda, and Mussoorie India. I will join the internship program for two terms. I’m not sure what I will work on since eMi’s projects change rapidly, but I imagine I’ll work on the types of projects listed above and learn all about site design. Stephanie will teach 6th grade at Heritage international School during our stay there. All eMi staff, including me, are strictly on support, there are no salaries for anyone, and even though Stephanie’s job will be a paid position, the amount of money she will make does not cover both the eMi office expenses and the living expenses of two people in Kampala. So we are doing the standard missionary thing and sending out support letters. If any of you are interested in receiving one, please message me in one of the many ways available in cyber space with your snail mail address. I would prefer an email to: g_osborne@yahoo.com I have several other things I want to share, like what’s going through my head, but I think I’ll save that for another day since this blog entry is rather long already. So last, here are some eMi related links: Kampala Uganda on the web's most reliable source of information, Wikipedia eMi world headquarters eMi Kampala Uganda To support us, click here: https://secure.emiusa.org/donate.html. Please put "Greg Osborne" and the account number (2669) in the designation space. To give monthly for the duration of our trip, Email me your snail mail address and I will send you a letter that explains how to set it up. My email: g_osborne@yahoo.com

Our Family

Certainly, we would not be the people we are today without our family. Here are some pictures of our loved ones: From left to right: Christina, Bob, Greg, Stephanie, Tim, Jessica, Melody (All Osbornes) Greg's mother and father are native to California. They moved to Houston Texas shortly after they got married where they raised three kids (Greg, Melody and Tim) born two years apart. Bob is a software designer for Conoco Phillips. Christina, CFP was a stay at home mom until Greg was in late High school when she began a career in financial planning. Bob Woodward and Melody Osborne Greg's sister Melody is two years younger than him and lives in Houston. She went to TCU and majored in International Economics. Here she is pictured making a small life decision as to whether or not to marry the guy on the floor. You can tell by the look on her face that she is carefully considering a life with this man who says he is a Technical Graphics Designer. She chose yes and she will marry Bob in November. My parents are kind enough to fly us back to America for one week so we can attend Melody's wedding. It's important to note that our airfare for this return will come out of Melody's wedding budget and not out of our support. Tim and Jessica Osborne My brother Tim is four years younger than me. He went to Hardin-Simmons University where he met this lovely girl in the picture. He and Jessica have been married for a year now. Tim is a Math Teacher and Jessica is an English teacher, they live in Round Rock Texas. Left to Right: Sarah, Darren, Doug, and Diana Hibbs; Greg and Stephanie Osborne Doug and Diana raised their family in Lake Jackson Texas where Doug worked for Dow Chemical for many years. They now live in New Braunfels and Doug commutes to Houston for work at a Chemical Engineering consulting firm. They have three children, Richard, Darren, and Stephanie. Their oldest, Richard, is not pictured, he is 13 years older than Stephanie, lives in Dallas and works in carpentry. Darren and Sarah Hibbs Stephanie's brother Darren is five years older than her. Darren and Sarah went to Texas A&M University and were friends with Greg before he was family. Darren studied construction and now works for a construction company. Dr. Sarah is currently in her residency as an OBGYN. They have been married for four years and are now expecting a child due at Christmas. Their child will be the first person Greg and Stephanie want to see upon their return to the United States