Something New

I am a bit frustrated with blogger these days so we're trying something new. Please check out a new post at skinnersaim.wordpress.com and let me know if you have any thoughts. The internet, power, and water have all been off more than on these days (this is a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one!), so I haven't bothered to make it look like I'd like. This is just a trial - we'll see...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had another wonderful Thanksgiving here in Uganda! It's been raining like crazy this week and this morning didn't look any different, but it ended up being a beautiful day. The power went off in the morning, but came back on in the afternoon. AND the water stayed on all day! (This was a huge prayer request as I knew there'd be a lot of dishes - and there were!)

Since the dogs escaped the kennel when I was going to start taking pictures of the food and people eating all the food, let me tell you there was a lot of food. It was great!

So after we ate we took our annual picture. My plan was to count the people in the picture, add 4 (because I know of at least 4 who weren't in the picture), and use that as my official head count.
But I seem to get a different number every time I count. I think there was between 85-91. (We used 91 plates, but I'm not convinced that's a reliable way to count.) Regardless, despite my attempts to keep it smaller this year - we had about 15 more than last year! The really cool part was that there were 7 different countries represented - Australia, Canada, India, Netherlands, Uganda, the U.K., and the good ol' U.S.A.
We had just 2 games this year, but they were enough. It was just right.
Dara and her new friend, Manshi. She's 14 and her father is working in construction here. Her family is a neighbor to Ankita, my Indian girlfriend.
This young lady thought of a good way to recycle the "snow balls".

I am so thankful that we have such a wonderful variety of friends here. They are such a blessing to us, and we are thankful! God is so good to us!

Favorite Time of Year

I love the fall! It's wonderful when the air is a bit crisp and the leaves change colors (at least up North) and then fall off the trees . Back in the day when we had seasons, I loved watching the kids play in the leaves.
I found these old pictures on a hard drive that had been tucked away. I think these were taken in the fall of 2004. Dara would have been 4 and 1/2. Dade would have been about 16 months old.Dade tried to sweep the leaves up that year :)

I love wearing shorts and a sweat shirt - that is my definition of the perfect temperature! I love football, Mrs. Lowe's potato casserole (a dish I associate with Thanksgiving), and how the cool nights are good for snuggling together as a family.

But most of all I love the month of November because it holds two of my favorite days: my anniversary and Thanksgiving. One week ago today Joel and I celebrated 13 years of marriage.
This week holds my other favorite day: Thanksgiving, and even though we miss celebrating it at home, we are looking forward to enjoying the day here with our friends. We are truly blessed beyond measure!

Bonfire Night

Bonfire night is a British holiday we've celebrated on November 5th for the past 3 years. Apparently back in the 1600's a man tried to burn down the British Parliment buildings. His attempt failed and every year they celebrate his failing by having a bonfire.

I wanted a family picture so here we are from left to right: Ruth, Dara, Dade, Viki, Me, and Joel. It seems our family is expanding yearly, and we love it!. Joel, Dara, and Seb - before it got too dark.
I didn't take as many pictures this year. The kids were playing and I just spent the time visiting with friends. Thanks, Zillah, for a great party!

The Funny and the Beautiful

Some sights here make us chuckle. Here are two we saw the last time we went to Kampala.

What do you think when you read the window of this bus? Is it a bus you want to follow or ride on? The driver seemed to be driving responsibly, so maybe the words don't apply to driving?...

Once we arrived at Kampala, Joel noticed the front of this truck on the 3rd floor of this building! How on earth did it get up there? Do you know when you see strange things in trees after a flood? It reminded me of those pictures, but I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a flood like that in Uganda since The Flood.
Now for the "beautiful"...These are some flowers that grow at Matoke Inn (where we usually stay when we're in Kampala). Dara says this one is her favorite flower "ever". It is very pretty.

I think this one is my favorite...

And this last one is at a woman's home in Mbarara. This tiny praying mantis was just too precious. We can't help but appreciate God's good work and artistry!

At Last

I find it hard to believe that the we have less than 10 days left in October and this is only my second blog post. I knew the days were flying by but now that they've passed; I'm not sure where they have gone.

The most memorable thing we did these past 2 weeks was go to Queen Elizabeth National Park as a family.

This is a big deal, not only because we've yet to go (most people go within their first few months - definitely within their first year), but because we needed time together more than we realized. Sometimes we forget how good a prolonged dose of family time feels!

We saw many animals and beautiful things, but I think the kids would have been happy to just ride on the top of the car (we took some couch cushions to make it more comfortable and I am soooo glad we did!)

Dennis, a friend of ours was our driver and personal tour guide for the day since we didn't have a clue where we were going. This allowed Joel the opportunity to ride on top with the kids and next time we'll know what to do.

We all agreed that God must have had a blast making Africa and that warthogs make us laugh. They look so funny when they run with their tails sticking straight up in the air as if they're flying a flag.

Apparently there used to be several volcanoes in this area and they've now become craters. Several of the craters have filled with water and the water is crystal clear. I took a picture of the side of one crater and it's reflection. Can you tell which is which?We saw 5 lions! They were a bit in the distance, and I'm not ashamed a bit to say I was thankful for the space between us.

After we drove on the path past this one, maybe a few kilometers or so, there were 3 women clearing the sides of the road! They were just out there with their hoes making sure the road was wide enough for two cars to pass. I wanted to warn them about the lion, but Dennis told me they were used to it, and they'd be okay.

This is how he knew: one time he was out on a game drive and a man clearing the road stopped him to say that there was a lion directly up ahead. The man was not in a panic (as I would have been) and Dennis asked if he needed a ride. The man assured him that he was fine because whenever a lion charges he just stands there facing him without fear. You should NOT run if a lion comes after you (please know my only reference to this theory is only that one man and I'm not sure I'd be able to practice what he preached and I'm not saying this is the best plan if a lion does chase you!).

All of this to say, the women did not seem to be bothered by the fact that all they had to protect them from the king of the jungle was a hoe. One other thought on this is what Ruth told us. She says : if a lion is coming after you, you put a stick or anything long on the top of your head. You hold it there to give the illusion that you're taller than you really are. Ruth says that lions won't attack something taller than them. (Again, please don't make this your contingency plan based upon my story!) So...maybe the women felt safe because of their hoes.

Anyway...the other lions we saw were seen while on our boat ride. We saw them come down a hill and at least 2 of them ended in a large cactus tree.

You'll have to look closely to see the one in the tree - it's looking right at you (we didn't have any sticks but I felt safe in a boat since cats don't like water!)

Also on the boat ride we saw many hippos, water buffalo, a few crocodiles, and birds galore. I was surprised to see how well they all got along.The boat ride reminded us of a very cold boat ride with the Skinner side of the family way back in 2009. We went to DeGray Lake in Arkansas one January to look at Bald Eagles. It was fun but the coldest I'd ever felt. So this picture of a fish eagle is for Weldon!

It was nice and relaxing...

At the resort where we ate lunch (probably the best burger I've had this side of the globe) there lives a herd/bunch/whatever you call a group of mongoose. We tried to decide if the plural form should be mongoose, mongooses, or mongeese. Dara feels strongly that it should be like "moose" and so we choose to say mongoose. Anyway, Dade loved them!

Finally, on our way out (this was a day trip), we saw more elephants close up. We did see some out by the craters but the pictures weren't very clear. This one reminded me of the "Saggy, Baggy Elephant". Does anyone remember that story?One final tidbit of maybe-true trivia: if ever charged by an elephant - you should make as much noise as possible. Dennis instructed us to not fear (the elephant by the crater was close enough to scare the kids but quickly left without intervention) because all we would need to do was yell and bang on the roof and sides of the car. Honking the horn is not enough noise to turn them around, but maybe banging would be?! Thankfully we didn't have to see if this would work, but it's always good to have a plan.

Funny, isn't it to think about the different contingency plans we have in life...what to do in case of a fire...call 911 if there is an emergency when we're in the States...what to do if you get lost at Six Flags...where to go in our house if anyone ever breaks in at night...what to do if a riot breaks out while we're in town...what to do if a lion or elephant charges. We are learning so much!!! :)

Thanks for listening/reading my ramblings. I will try to post again before the month is out to update you on the rest. Please know that in spite of my silence, we are doing well and God is so good to us. Thank you for praying for us and our team here!

Edible Maps

Yesterday, Dade had the assignment to make an edible map of our compound. The dough was made up of peanut butter, powdered sugar, powdered milk, and corn syrup. Medard (one of the business students) was there watching me as I added more syrup because I made the dough too early and it was quite dry. He was overwhelmed at the amount of sugar in the recipe and could only take a small nibble because it was just too sweet.

With Carolyn's help, Dade made a nice map of our home - complete with legend. I'll help you understand it the best I can. His hand is covering the garden, David's house is the circle on the middle left, the rabbits' home is the cracker on the top right, most of the green gummies are trees while the clear ones are the huge boulders in the yard, finally the outline of the house is made from torn up tortillas. You can tell he had a good time!
Dara was not about to be left out of the fun. Since she is learning Texas history, she drew an outline of Texas and did her best to depict where different Native American tribes resided. I do know that major cities are represented by sunflower seeds, the gummy worms (which we can now buy in Kampala!) are the Rio Grande and Brazos rivers, and the cracker crumbs are the Gulf of Mexico. They both had a fun time with their maps. We made them before lunch and I told them they could eat no more than 1/4 of the maps after their lunch was done. I was pleasantly surprised to discover they ate very little of the actual map. Medard was right, it was just too much sugar!

Still Going!

Thanks for your prayers. We had a good time at the pool and a nice goodbye on Tuesday morning. They were able to ship the majority of their luggage as freight which hopefully saved them a lot of hassle and money. They should be arriving soon in the U.S. God is so good to give us friends throughout the world!

Joel made it safely back from Sudan and enjoyed his time there. He told me that I would never complain about Mbarara if I could see how other missionaries live. He's probably right. But since I didn't see it, I was a bit flustered to come home to no water and no power.

Even saying that, it's not entirely true. We have a water tank that supplies water to the bathrooms and David's home. The kitchen sink and Ruth's wash room, sink, and toilet are the ones that have no water. We fill up jugs to wash dishes and flush toilets. Some people walk miles to get water, I really shouldn't complain about having to walk down the hall way.

True the electricity was off, but thanks to a generous gift earlier this year, we have a battery system that allows us to power most things for as long as the batteries can. In a nut shell, this is how it works: when the electricity is on the batteries charge; when the electicity is off, the batteries run most things. The fridge, hot water heaters, coffee makers,and washing machine use too much power so they stay off. This is a huge blessing and I'm truly grateful!

But still I struggle when I know that tomorrow night will begin another 24 hours without power. It looks as if this schedule of 24 on and 24 off may become the norm. According to the newspapers the demand is too high for the systems in place (plus certain organizations are refusing to pay the power distributing company, resulting in their inability to pay for the power, resulting in less power for the growing population to share, UGH!). Please pray I won't complain.

Joel has mentioned that if this continues we'll consider investing in solar panels to charge our batteries which would help. Fellow missionaries who have kerosene-run refrigerators and solar powered electricity are quite happy. Maybe it's the way to go. We'll see.

All in all, by God's grace we are still pressing on. I will rejoice knowing that I face each day with the strength God provides, my strength barely gets me out of bed. :)

One Last Time

Right now I'm sitting on the porch at Matoke Inn, the guest house in Kampala where we're staying. Joel's in Southern Sudan for a leadership conference. Dade and Benjamin are watching "Cool Runnings" in the sitting room. Dara, Micah, and Zachary are playing in the back yard. Kathy and Dale are at the airport trying to get the majority of their luggage shipped as freight which will hopefully save them a couple thousand dollars. We've been anticipating this day for some time now.

This afternoon we'll go swimming for the last time with the boys. I'm praying it doesn't rain. Why am I telling you my plans for the day? Because today is the last day we'll do these things with the Hollenbecks while in Uganda. They leave tomorrow morning to start the next chapter of their life in America. They've lived here for the past 10 1/2 years and it's not easy to move. The boys have only known the U.S. as a vacation/furlough. They've never really lived there. The cultures are soooo different. I'm not sure which will be more challenging to adapt to. Please pray for them.

Please pray for our kids too. The Hollenbeck boys are the ones Dara and Dade have bonded with the most. We lived in their house, been on the same team, and shared tons of experiences together. Last week Dade told me that he'll miss them but not be sad. Yesterday he came up to me and said, "I was wrong. I will be sad." Dara's also prepared me by saying that she and Dade may not be too happy tomorrow. Dara and Dade are acutely aware of the loss of their dear friends. It's part of life, just not the easy part. Goodbyes are never fun and this is no exception.

So, if you read this today, Monday, please pray that the luggage gets worked out, that the weather is great for swimming, and for good "goodbyes" tomorrow. Thanks!

Dara's blog!

NEWS FLASH!!!

Dara has started her own blog! This is her address www.darainuganda.blogspot.com

It will say that I'm the author of the post, but it's all her (she's just not old enough to have her own yet.)

Enjoy!

Variety is the Spice of Life

Who said that? If anyone knows, I would love to have that info for future reference. Our life lately has seemed to be full of variety....so I guess it has been spicy!!!!

The Hollenbeck's are leaving at the end of this week. For those of you who don't know, Dale and Kathy (and their three boys) have served here for the past 10 years with Africa Inland Mission. They have been our unit leaders, partners in ministry and most importantly, our friends. We have grown close in a short amount of time - trial by fire does that sometimes. It is hard to imagine life without them, as many in Mbarara will attest to as the tears continue to be shed.

Part of my life lately has been consumed with wrapping up loose ends with Dale. I will be stepping into the role of Team Leader as Dale departs. Our unit is being split into two teams - one for Rwanda and one for Southwest Uganda. This has meant lots of meetings, lots of planning, lots of strategizing and lots of emails. Besides meeting with our university students once a week, I'm not sure I have been able to devote much time to anything else, but transition.

Many of you ask what typical days look like.....wish there was an easy answer....let's use today as an example:

5:30 Alarm went off - hit snooze and slept a little longer
6:00 Got up and spent some time in the Word - the missionary men here are trying to read through the Bible in 90 days - only on day 7, but so far, so good
6:50 Fed the dogs and unlocked the front gate - electrician is on his way
7:00 Coffee ready to share with the electrician - much here takes a nice conversation and snack before starting.
7:10 Sent some emails while still waiting for the electrician
7:30 Started helping Jill get breakfast ready since the electrician still has not shown up
7:45 Electrician finally shows up just as my toast pops up - so much for warm toast today.
8:00 Finally starting on the actual work since we needed to prepare a cup of coffee first - even though it won't be sipped on until after the work is done.
8:10 Done with work! I offered a suggestion on what I thought was wrong. He took my suggestion as an expert diagnosis and left it at that. We'll see if I was correct during the planned power outage tonight.
8:50 Electrician is finally leaving the house after sipping on pre-prepared coffee and eating banana bread that was promised as a "bribe" to ensure he came first thing in the morning.
9:00 Finished my cold toast and was wishing I was home, heading to Shipley's Do Nuts for a WARM jalapeno kolache!!!!!
9:05 Trying to get dressed when a teammate comes for a meeting that I knew about, but had forgotten about (look out, 40 here I come!).
10:15 I excuse myself to get ready for a meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine - nice pants and a nice shirt are required - I'm not good at dressing up.
10:40 Wrap up the meeting and call Dale (who is at another goodbye party) to see if he is going to make the meeting or if I am flying solo on this one to meet someone I have never met.
10:47 Get a call from Dale that he is on his way.
10:51 Out the gate to get to the hospital for a meeting that we think we only have a 20 minute window on
10:59 Arrive just in time only to be told to wait
11:15 So much for needing to be on time - although that is close to on time for Uganda.
11:50 Leaving the meeting with a positive outlook for the future in the medical department.
12:00 Arrive back home - immediately get called in to action to help Kathy fill the washing machine with water (the pressure is terrible here) so she can finish laundry - did I mention that they have been without power at their house for over a week now. I digress, but there is a rumor that the transformer in the neighborhood where they live got "borrowed" to use for the local trade fair that came to town. Silly rumor right? Funny thing is that they lost power about the time the fair was starting and there was a promise yesterday that it would be installed today - the day after the fair has ended. Welcome to life here!
2:00 After hauling water from the bathroom, which gets it water from a tank (Did I mention our water goes off and on throughout the day, every day?) I think we finally have her laundry going well. We finally sit down to munch on some ribs we cooked last night - from the pig that was killed two weeks ago.
2:30 Viki showed up at the house, just to say hello. She is a doctor at the hospital (she is doing her first year internship or residency). She doesn't get much time off, but when she does, she spends it with us. She is almost as much a part of our family as Ruth is. Her "30 minute" break was obviously on African time because an hour later she was finally leaving to head back to the hospital with the promise that she would be back tomorrow evening to spend the night.
2:35 Received a call from a dear friend, and our Associate Pastor at our church. Did I mention that there is no such thing as a short conversation?
3:15 Finally off that call and seeing Jill and the kids off to the pool.
3:45 Spent some time catching up on emails and writing letters to possible recruits and possible ministry partners.
4:15 Spent the last 30 minutes trying to find the bottom of my desk. I had forgotten what it looked like piled under all that paper. Guess I'll put most it in the trash pit to be burned.

Now....I'm sitting here writing this.....the above schedule is not so unusual....this is my norm now. Each day is different. Everything takes longer. Relationships are the key, not simply knowing someone. I'm trying to keep a journal of my time over the next few weeks to give myself a better idea of where all my time goes. The rest of this day? Probably will have someone knocking on the door very soon, then running over to a friend's to try and fix a generator, then back here to visit with another friend who asked to come by later, probably will see him off by 8pm, tuck the kids into bed, answer a few more emails, then off to bed myself by 10pm. What does tomorrow hold? So far....another visit from the electrician, a goodbye party for Dale and Kathy, a visit with a pastor friend, a new teammate arriving, and who knows what else.

This is variety at it's finest. One day a coat, tie and a formal meeting, the next walking fences and making repairs, the next meeting with university students and studying Ephesians, the next....... each day is different and I'm okay with that. Everyone knows I love spicy things - so bring on the spice of life!!!!!!

Hodge Podge

In my effort to only write "blog worthy" tidbits for everyone, I've been a bit silent lately because nothing seems all that interesting. However, I was recently reminded by someone special that my life here is somehow interesting to those who love us. With that being said, I'll try to catch you up on the last 10 days!

School is progressing well with the kids doing much more writing than last year. I get much more excited about all of it than they do, but I think we're all happy and thankful for the wonderful way it is working out. The baby bunnies are getting cuter with every day. Dara did give her male rabbit to a friend. It's a bit difficult because she knows there is a chance Alex (the rabbit) will get sold or worse, eaten! Because we kept him for almost a week after the babies were born, there is a good chance we'll have more bunnies in about 2 more weeks. Does anyone want a bunny? They're really cute!

The university Bible studies are going well. We meet on the veranda of our chuch, which is near campus, and this past Wednesday it rained so hard we moved inside. Joel piled all the students into the car to get them back before their lectures started. It only took 2 trips! The 3rd and final trip had us dropping extra, non-students, off. We almost made a huge circle. The roads here have become quite terrible lately and I feel like a bobble head as we go down them. I've found that it's easier on the body to just relax and be tossed about. I'm not sure about the long-term effects on my spine, but this is my current plan.

Speaking of roads, last week the kids begged to take their scooters with them when we went to take all of our recycling to the woman who receives them. She sells used tin cans in the market for candles. She also sells used water bottles, but I'm not sure what for. She gets 100/= (less than 3 cents) for the cans and 10/= for each 500ml water bottle. It's obviously not much but she's so thankful to receive it.

So the kids agreed that if allowed to ride their scooters on roads that are barely able to be scootered upon, they wouldn't complain if it didn't work out like they expected. You'd be proud to know they handled it very well despite the fact they had to carry their scooters about 75% of the way! Those kids of ours are the best. I can't get over how blessed we are to be privileged to parent them. (This would be a great place for a picture of them, so here they are. Taken at a friend's house during a get together.)

Two New Beginnings

Today is the day after Labor Day. "Back in the day" this was the time to begin a new school year. So, that is what we did today! It was by far the most exciting first day of school ever!

I mentioned in a previous post how we are so blessed to have Carolyn and Kelsea here as short termers. And how one of their roles is to help homeschool Dara and Dade...I felt like crying with joy when I heard Dade reading to Carolyn (he's only ever read to Joel and me). Then Kelsea told me she was starting with Dara's lesson 45 in English! It never once crossed my mind to start anywhere besides lesson 1! Who does such a thing?! How wonderful!!! I am overjoyed that God cares enough about my children's education to send two lovely young ladies to help me. I'm telling you, we serve a God who loves us soooo much!

I could go on and on, but my bed is calling my name.

Our second "new beginning" actually happened last week. Dara's second rabbit "Zoey" (remember her first one died) was recently discovered to be a male. He is the white one and his name is now "Alex" so...we are now the proud owners of 6 baby bunnies. They're actually quite cute and the kids are thrilled.Dara did make the tough decision to give Alex to a friend. As it now stands, we are expecting another litter (?) of rabbits in about 3 weeks. Woo Hoo!:)

Family Time at UBC

This afternoon we had our first ever "Family Time" at UBC. Thanks so much for your prayers. From our point of view, it went well.

We arrived in time to set things up but the church was locked. This seemed to be a bit inconvenient at first but did allow us time for a family picture (plus our associate pastor's daughter).The children began to arrive and everyone played nicely while we worked on getting the sanctuary transformed into a movie theater. Dara has decided that she loves basketball and she had a nice time playing.The majority of our students come from a cluster of homes very near the church. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't show up like I'd like. You'll just have to come and see it for yourself!

I stopped them at the door before we let them in. We began with about 25 or so. (no parents)As the movie began, I was mindful to take pictures. I should have done it more in the middle of our time. We ended up with 51-54 students, 5 parents (not counting us - 2 of the parents I'd never met!), and a handful of helpers/college students. I'm not ready to do it again tomorrow, but I'm willing to try another day. To God be all the glory!!!

Where are the parents?

I have the privilege of helping to teach Sunday school at our local church, University Baptist Church. We try to meet outside (unless it's raining) so we have more wiggle room. There is one class with children age 3 to Primary 5 (age 9-11). We don't have enough teachers to split this class in two - maybe one day.

 It has definitely been a challenge to teach children whose first language is not my own. This past week one of the young girls (I think she's 4) spoke to me in English. This was so exciting since she usually whispers to me in Runyankore. Children are often trained to be very soft spoken and it makes it difficult sometimes to even hear their names. We were blessed recently when a fellow missionary gave me a large flannel graph set to use. This has helped so much. You just can't beat having some type of visual aid (even if all the felt people are white).  :)

 On an average Sunday we have 25-30 students. Our max has been 52! That was an overwhelming and exciting Sunday. Ruth saw my pleading looks across the sanctuary and when we were dismissed she came with me and helped by translating. My guess would be that at least half of them didn't speak English well enough to understand a lesson. It was the story of how God led the children of Israel with a cloud by day and fire by night. Several children didn't even know what a cloud was (in their own language). She and I both found it very interesting. Maybe clouds just aren't worth learning about. It's not wrong, just different. 

The reason for this post is because I'd really appreciate your prayers for tomorrow at 3 pm our time (7 am CST). We're inviting the parents to come for popcorn, juice and a movie. Approximately 80% of our students come without their parents. We're hoping that getting them into the church for something that isn't church might help them be willing to come another time. Since we'll finish the stories of Moses tomorrow in Sunday school, we'll show the "Prince of Egypt" as our movie. Sometimes it can be seen as insulting to show a cartoon to adults. But since it is easy to follow even if the words aren't understood, I'm praying no one will be offended. Please pray the parents will come. I saw one of the girls on Thursday and she was pretty sure her parents wouldn't come. With that in mind, please also pray that I won't be discouraged if it doesn't work out like I want it to. This will be the first time the church is inviting the parents like this and I would like to rejoice in that. Thanks so much, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Transformation

Often times it's easy to focus on the negatives in life. So today when I was flipping back through some of my pictures, I thought I should share one of the ways Uganda is progressing. Back in the day (2 years ago) the road between Kampala and Mbarara was terrible. It has improved dramatically much to everyone's delight.
It may not look amazing to you, but there are lines! In one section there is even a guard rail. We joke that it feels like we're driving down Hwy 287 towards Amarillo, but then we see these crossing the road and are quickly reminded that we live in Africa!