Thursday, February 12, 2009

Our first visitor!!!!

We were so thrilled to have our friend Stacie come for a visit a few weeks ago. It was such a gift to be showered with love from her and all the others who sent us some lovin’ through Stacie! She gave us some good hugs from everyone back home and we needed it!! She’s a very talented woman with a hearts desire to serve Bethesda International by documenting their work here in Uganda. She graduated from University with a focus on filming/editing. She was here for 2 weeks and her camera became a third arm!! There was not a dull moment!! We spent 1 week in Jinja filming Bethesda’s work of orphan care and community development, then we spent about a week in Arua with a trip to Murchison Falls Nat'l Park and a trip to Gulu to visit Invisible Children's headquarters. We had a fabulous time and wanted to kidnap Stacie for a few more weeks! Here's some photos from our time together...enjoy :)
Our night watchman's(George) mother. Wow!! What a beautiful African mama! I asked her how old she was and she didn't know. We went to visit George's village and met many of his family members and villagers. His mom came out of the hut to greet us and an hour later, as we were leaving she appeared out of her hut dressed to the tee!! She was waiting for me to take her photo in her "smart" clothes, as they call it here.
Roasted white ants for sale on the road. They really wanted us to buy them. I opted for some oranges and ended up getting smacked in the face by an orange by the lady that was selling them!! I gave her 500 schillings and grabbed 2 oranges but she didn't have change so she threw 3 more oranges in the car as we were driving away! I got a fat lip...how funny eh??
Stacie shooting some African wild life!!
Yes,...that reads, Grilled Gizzards! Hmmm..sounds tasty!
Our visit to Invisible Children was amazing!! They are truly making a difference in the lives of the children of Gulu. We were able to tour several of the schools they are helping to rebuild as well as their upcoming "bag project". It's sure to be a hit!! We were so blessed to meet Vanessa, the girl in charge of the "bag project", who toured us around for a day to see the sites. We were also surprised to see Loveland Highschool's name (a school in Colorado) etched on a plaque on one of the newly rebuilt science labs. They were one of the top fundraisers of that project!!
Sugar cane!!! Fresh off the side of the road and into our bellies!! A bit messy though. Kids from our friend Fred's village! We had a fun time of chasing each other and dancing together to a little tune called "Africa" by Toto. Thanks Stacie...or should I say thanks Jeff Shoemaker, the songs been stuck in my head since you left!

Stacie's teaching Osobie how to to shoot a mean scene!!

The great White Hunter!! Jeff thinks they were hippo bones??