Our days in Uganda...

*****Before you read this tidbit of our lives...please drop by my friends blog at http://www.brandisthoughts.com/ for a chance to send real Christmas love in a practical way to the people of China who are in serious need!! *****

Well, here's a few photos from our daily lives. We are all doing good for the most part here in Arua, Uganda, aside from missing our family and friends. Out of our family, I definetely had the hardest time with the transition! The kids did great and Jeff has been busy with work so he kept his 9 to 5 schedule which was similar to the states. Me,..well, it's been almost 3 months now and I am finally feeling settled and feeling more at "home". I had some pretty intense quiet times with God and shed many tears but I can sense the Lord speaking, molding, healing and tending to my heart. And He's answering my prayers for friends to be with, life life with, and pray with during our time here. I am looking forward to building friendships with these ladies.

Homeschooling has been good, but definetely challenging. I think it's a bit overwhelming for them since they have haven't had any schooling, and for me, since I've never taught Kindergarten and 1st grade! I sure do respect Jeff's mom Myrna, who taught kids all her life and Linda, my sis-in-law who is teaching Kindergarten currently. We are making progress!! Osobie read his first Bob books last week. He just grabbed the first one, sounded out the words and was reading! He read the first 4 books that evening. We are stoked!! Fatu's doing better than I had anticipated but isn't up to reading just yet. Jeff's work has picked up in the last month as there are many plague cases in the areas he is working. He is doing a excellent job and enjoying it too!! We're getting to know our neighbors, the ladies at the "duka" (small store, like really small), our boda drivers (motorcyclists), and the other missionary and NGO folks around town. I taught my first "sunday school" at a church we have been going to and it was pretty fun! Tks Mekay for the tips! They don't have a consistent Sunday school for the kids so I'm going to volunteer for awhile. I watched the little ones heads jerk down every few minutes as they fought sleep in service and was reminded of my early years in the church, falling asleep or getting into trouble passing notes to my sis. So, we started today with a Christmas story. O and F performed their first skit of Mary and the angel Gabriel. They did great, completely confident. I was proud.

I shared this photo with my friend Barb because she's such an inspiration to me in eating healthy and gave me my first "recipe book"!! I had to share it with you all because this is the bounty from a BIG trip to the market for our "groceries"!! Isn't it gorgeous?? Organic, inexpensive and pretty much what we eat on a weekly basis. I put the bag of sugar in the picture too because it's the raw sugar straight from the sugarcane fields nearby. I pay big bucks for the "sugar in the raw" in the states!! Don't get me wrong, we still splurge and buy cookies, sweets and of course Mayo!! Yes, the supermarkets have Mayo! We're all happy about this.

F and O's first birthday party in Africa. Isn't this a beautiful picture! Look at the children...a rainbow of colors!!

A little butterfly fun...much better than finding gargantuan speckled spiders. We sure are having a grand time in the home schooling area of science. The thing is, Africa is loaded with bugs. I remember when I was in Jinja I had a little trouble with cockroaches in my room and my friend who lived there said, "this is how we live, we live together with the animals". It's true. They are wise enough to know which insects are harmful and the rest they live with in harmony. I don't know...I just don't think I'll ever be able to live in "harmony" with bugs. Thank goodness for Jeff! He is teaching the kids that God made the insects too!

F and O playing submarine tag (this is why they are all holding their shorts in a "i gotta pee" stance) with some of the neighborhood kids in our yard. They are all out for holiday now so we are finally getting in some good "kid play time"!! Thank you Jesus for answering our prayers for more friends for Osobie and Fatu.

Jeff grilling up the scrumptious meat!!!! We splurged and bought a big pack of sausages and then of course, the power went out for 2 days so we had meat for every meal!!

O, F, and neighbor Bella putting on a church service in the living room for us!

Fun with pita/tortilla...hmm... what can I compare them to?? A light crackerish snack. This one was of course shaped in a "princess dress" according to Jeff & Fatu.

A late Thanksgiving snack a la candlelight