These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

It is now 1:20am, local time, and I am trying to press the rewind button in my mind so that I may share with you some of the wonderful things we have experienced in the past two days. So here (in some order) are a few of my favorite things as I have been blessed with them in Uganda.

1.       Long Walks

I love long walks at home with Nick or his mom, some of our local friends or my mom. In Uganda, we walk as a team with between zero and 30 precious children. I love to hear them say “Muzungu! Muzungu! How are you? How are you?” and run to follow you or hold your hand. On our long walk into town we also met another Muzungu (white person) who has been assigned to Uganda through the Peace Corp. Her name is Emily and I ask that you remember her in your thoughts and prayers through the next few years. She is sure to bless others and be blessed.

2.       Gardening

I love gardening at home, so when the director, Christine, said that she had a garden for us to visit I was VERY interested! After a wonderful visit to the “other Rock Foundation School”, we got to see Christine’s garden. Passion fruit, papayas, pineapple, mangos, ground nuts, cassava, tangerines, pumpkins, and more! What a garden! And if that wasn’t enough- check out the view…

3.       Having quality time with children

On our first day we went around to most of the primary classrooms. Now, we have visited every classroom and the students are warming up to us quickly. When we went to clean up a few of the bricks that were left behind from a project, the little children were right there to help carry the pieces. When the older students had a break, they introduced themselves to us and shared their love and thankfulness for Rock Foundation School. When we had some “down time” after classes, we got out bubbles and had a blast! Christine’s daughter taught me a new game that we called “statue” and I enjoyed sitting with both of her kids during tea time to read a Boxcar Children book.

4.       Time to talk with and about God

God is good all the time (and all the time God is good) and I love the time we get to spend talking about Him with others and the time I have in solitude with Him in the evenings. I will try to create a post of food for thought (and the soul) when I have the time to really absorb all that God is giving throughout our minutes and hours and days. Sometimes it is a short conversation. Last night it was a 12am-5am “quiet time”. Tonight we walked to the church to join them for part of their all night prayer and worship service held every Friday on the school property. At first it was VERY overwhelming, but really that should not be a surprise because we have an overwhelming God.

5.       Healthy food

Mmmm… Rice, beans, mangos, cabbage, rice, beans, pineapple, chipotti, matokee, rice and beans (I told you I love rice and beans). My mom and I have decided that we must help the cooks and learn their tips and tricks for beans. Thinking about it is making my mouth water right now! For anyone who thought any of us may lose weight in Africa… think again. We are being spoiled by fresh, delicious meals every day! (Oh… and I forgot to mention… for those of you who really like meat... we were gifted with a few chickens since we got here.  One didn’t make it with us for 24 hours. The other two Mom and I are going to “re-gift” to the wedding we will attend next week!)

Well I hope you were able to enjoy some of my favorite things (Ugandan style). If anyone has any questions or requests, I would love to hear from you and make this a blessed experience for all of us!

Until next time- be blessed and be a blessing!

We Welcome You to Uganda

We have heard “We welcome you to Uganda” or “You are very welcome here” countless times in the last 24 hours. The hospitality of the Ugandan people should be commended and is nothing short of inspirational -in a life changing way. Although we traveled for more than 24 hours, we can somehow feel “at home” with our brothers and sisters here in Uganda. With a few short introductions and reconnections with old friends, I was quickly reminded why I feel homesick for this place at times.

In our first 24 hours, we found a wonderful hotel called Banana Village where we stayed in bandas for our first night. In the morning we stopped to visit our favorite carving place on our way to one of the WATOTO villages. (For those of you who are not familiar with WATOTO, I would encourage you to read about them on their website: www.watoto.com)  They have changed the paradigm most have for the word orphanage. To help raise funds to cover the costs, children visit the United States in small groups for 6 months at a time.)

A year and half ago, Nick and I were blessed to host a young man and two boys from WATOTO. We were grateful for the opportunity to cook for them, do their laundry, give them a bed to sleep in, and a place to call home for three days.  We also traveled to many of their concerts to show our support of them. This morning, Yasin welcomed us into his home in Subi Village. The moment I saw him from afar tears quickly came to my eyes and then faster a smile to my face. He has grown and still looks so happy! He showed us the room he shares with 3 of his “brothers”, the table he shares with his house mother and 7 “brothers” and the village he calls home. I couldn’t thank his host mother enough for dedicating her life to raising the motherless and fatherless as if they were her own. Uganda is a country full of wonderful people and I am so glad that these children have not be adopted outside of the country, but can remain and be taken care of by such wonderful people. It made me more excited to get to Masindi and see the children we will love on for the next three weeks.

 We arrived in Masindi for a late lunch around 4pm. After lunch, I tried to learn a few of the games the primary 1 and primary 2 children were playing. Then I taught them how to sing “Ring Around the Rosy” and we sang it over and over, faster and faster, until it was time to visit the rest of the primary students in their classrooms. They welcomed us by grade and sang a few songs for us. We told them how excited we are to spend the next three weeks with them and then wished them a good night of rest as they headed home- almost 12 hours after they had arrived for school.

For supper I had a huge serving of joy in the form of rice and beans. If you do not know how fond I am of rice and beans, it shouldn’t take the next three weeks for you to figure it out. The after dinner conversation with the director of the school was better than any dessert someone could serve. Her heart for children and education is one I will continue to aspire for and I hope for many more opportunities to hear her heart and work beside her these three weeks.  

Now, at 11:30pm (4:30pm for those of you in OH) a little over 24 hours from when we landed, I need to thank you for your prayers, ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this journey with us, as you too are very welcome in Uganda! 

I'm Baaack ... before we go...

So it has been awhile and I would love to catch up, but instead I am going to take a hint from my dear friend Cliff and spare you the details... (and try to work on my photography skills in the future)

June started with lots of reading and relaxing! I am currently on my 5th book and 9th magazine. 

Then our calendar started to fill with baseball games and fun times with friends. Here are some of the fireworks we saw after the Mount Union Alumni event at the Akron Aeros game.  . 

The weekend after my birthday (June 15th), we had a family reunion to welcome my cousin (and his family of 6) home from serving our country while in South Korea for the last few years.

Then my husband's family had a get together to remind us of their support and well wishes for our mission trip to Uganda (July 9-30).

On June 30th, my husband and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. Each year we get our wedding attire back out and take a few snapshots at home. This year we asked friends of ours at Major Memories to take pictures for us at a local park. They turned out great!

And last, but not least (!), I squeezed some classroom time in this week so I don't have to rush to get everything together when we return!

So, I'm back to blog... but leaving soon for our Mission Trip to Masindi, Uganda. I hope you are ready to join us for another trip of a lifetime! We are sure to be blessed as we yearn to be a blessing.

Thanks for joining us!!
May God continue to bless you!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day from my second grade class!

Each May we work on Mother's Day crafts- but we can't leave out all the Dads! So I found a poem called, "Walk a Little Slower Daddy" and each student picks a color paper and glues the poem. Then, they take turns sitting down while I paint the bottoms of their feet. Some students giggle others say how "cool" it feels - all of them enjoy soaking their feel in the tub when they are done. It is one of my favorite things to do at the end of the school year!

Finished!

 

 

Time for a soak! Some students asked for a massage :)

 

I hope Dad's are enjoying these today!

What a wonderous love our Father has lavished upon us! I pray you are sharing that love today! 

The Art of Jogging

About a month ago, my husband and I started walk/ jogging in the evenings. We like to cover between 4 and 5 miles and our time has improved from 17 minutes to 13.5 minutes a mile. I'm definitely NOT a runner and struggle through jogging, however I like the way I feel AND I love seeing the artwork of my favorite artist each time. Here is a sample of His work from last week...

God was so good to us that night. The light from the sunset seemed to hang on and encourage us to keep going. Here is one more...

 

I love the transition of colors and the silhouette of the trees. Speaking of silhouettes, here is one more from the past couple weeks...

 

The hills make the walk/jog a little more difficult, but without them we would not have these extraordinary views...

which I like to call "THE ART OF JOGGING." :-)