AIM Video

The AIM video people (the ministry is officialy called On Field Media (OFM)) came to stay with us this past February to do a video focused on the discipleship we see happening here in Mbarara. Today we received the link to the video and we are sharing it with you. The people in the video are our friends and partners here. Hope you enjoy!


Build Something Beautiful from AIM On-Field Media on Vimeo.

It's all fun until...

Dade has been wanting to play on a slip 'n' slide for quite some time now. If you can remember back to around Christmas, he used our tarp for just that purpose.

Well, about a week or two ago, Joel and I were in the market and saw some heavy-duty plastic. Upon discovering that it was a bit less than $1 for a meter, we promptly bought 10 meters to surprise Dade. (Inwardly, I was applauding myself for the great purchase, much cheaper and longer than a tarp! However, I knew our Ugandan neighbors would see it as a waste if they understood the reason we bought the plastic...so I reminded myself that the woman from whom we bought it doesn't give a hoot why we wanted it and is very thankful she made money.)

This picture is a bit awkward, and I apologize for the need to cock your head a bit to take it in correctly. Somehow, at the end of the day, it was the only picture that included the entire piece of plastic.
As soon as we arrived home, we set it up for the kids and they went to town! It does help to have someone keep it wet so Joel sat there for a good while being the honorary sprayer...he's such a good daddy!You can only imagine how badly Dara and Dade wanted someone to join them in their fun. They are very hard to resist, but I gave it a moment of thought, than confessed that I'd probably hurt myself if I tried. So, our friend Lara came over to play. Lara is a member of our team who is teaching nursing in the university here. She admitted that it was fun, but she did feel the bumps as she slid down.

Despite her admission, Joel was talked into joining the kids a few days later. They had a blast! They all ended up covered in grass and mud (you can only imagine that when sliding down a wet piece of plastic, there will be a nice puddle of mud at the end - there definitely was and Joel met the challenge face on!) Now we all know that Joel is prone to doing things that might cause injury to himself (like swinging from trees like a monkey, etc) and I did ask him to please be mindful of this but I have pictures like this to show that my wonderful husband is sometimes a silly boy at heart.

Thankfully, God protects little boys and big ones!

Musical Chairs

2 Saturdays ago we had our end-of-year party for the university students. It was such a nice time of eating and fun. What a great way to finish out our time together. We decided to play musical chairs.

We began with 22 stools....can you see the kids in the very back?
Dade had been waiting for us to play for over a week and was quite competitive.

Dara got scooted out after me but before Ruth and Dade. Ruth is the young lady in the bottom left hand corner of this picture. She has a very contagious laugh I wish you all could hear.This picture is one of my favorites. Christina landed hard when she missed her seat!

Dade made it to the final 4...so did Ruth!
But, alas, Ruth finally lost to Medard who tried not to gloat...somehow...
(When the word "somehow" is added at the end of a comment, it negates the comment itself. For example, 'Do you feel better? Yes, somehow.' This means 'no, I don't'. Another example, 'Joel likes to drive slow, somehow.' It's one of my favorite Ugandan-English words!)

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is that wonderful day, declared by the card-making industry, as Mother's day. (I'm not really sure who exactly started this day, but I think Hallmark has a huge stake in it.) No matter how it came into be, I'm very grateful there is a day set aside in which we get to remember our moms.

Joel and I are both blessed to have our mothers still with us. We owe these two amazing women so much when we look back to see how they've helped shape us into who we are. God uses them in our lives still today. Thanks, moms!

This morning I woke up to Joel frying ham (we usually have bacon, but the store was out). This isn't unusual as almost every Sunday morning we have pancakes and bacon. This is a tradition we started when the kids were young, and we're so privileged to live in a place where we can continue this. The kids had written nice notes; Dara even helped Dade draw his flower (he told me that he drew the stem - and it was a mighty fine stem!) And I enjoyed a lovely letter from Joel - who could ask for more on any day than to be appreciated and cherished by one's family?!

The day ended with a lovely dinner with our British guests and our unit leader's family. We had enchiladas made from minced (ground) goat! To be honest, I couldn't tell a difference, but I think I'd prefer beef. There's a first time for everything! The only negative in my day was the mosquitos in the bathroom - I am 1 for 3 (in my defense, these were some unusually fast mosquitos!)

I close with the two monkeys who made me a mother - aren't they precious?!

The Funny Side of Life

Okay...first off…for those of you who don’t check Facebook, this is a recap of a short conversation with Jill last night as we went to sleep.

Me: Good night dear.

Jill: You should call me doe and I will call you buck.

I rolled over and tried to sleep, but kept laughing and was too afraid I would forget, so I grabbed my phone and posted to Facebook. I love this woman so much!

The other thing I thought many of you would find funny, especially after Jill’s post on the bunny races, was the other daily “fun” activity around our house. Each night, as Jill is getting ready to take a shower, you can hear things like….”I got another one” or “Uhg, why are there so many.” Night time becomes mosquito hunting time. Typically there are 4 or 5 of the little buggers in our bathroom each night that we try to squish before they escape into the rest of the house. The more we kill, the fewer the bites.

Last night, as I was getting ready to get in the shower, I moved my towel and out came around 7 of the pests. As I shook the shower curtain another 5 or 6 appeared. Jill ran down the hall to get the Doom (a local spray pesticide) and shut the bathroom door and began to fumigate them to death. She goes a little crazy with this nightly activity, but with Doom in her hand, it gets dangerous to be in the same room. I started coughing because of the fumes and kept telling her to open the door before we died as well.

So, if you ever come to visit, we will provide you, your own can of Doom and lock you in the bathroom. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on the excitement that is our life!

Checkin' In

We are mindful that some of you may know there has been rioting in Kampala. Please rest assured that we are fine.

There are two main newspapers here in Uganda and these are their websites if you ever desire to be "in the know" www.newvision.co.ug and www.monitor.co.ug .

Knowing that things can escalate quickly, we would appreciate your prayers for the people of Uganda. Thanks so much!

Off to the Races!

Rabbit races, that is. This past Saturday, Dara and Dade put together a rabbit race.

You might ask yourself, as I did, "how will they make the rabbits run?". It's not as if there's anything very motivating about running to the other end of the kennel.

However, if you allow me (and I'm the one writing), I'll digress just a minute to say that I believe our dogs could compete well in a greyhound race. Whenever they know you're going up to see the rabbits, they run with everything in them to be the first one there. I can picture them running around a track chasing the mechanical rabbit. It doesn't seem to matter that they'll never catch the rabbit.

Okay, back to the rabbit race...

Before the races could begin, we each had to show our ticket and be seated.

The "contestants" took their places and the coaches assumed their positions. Apparently you make a rabbit run quickly by blowing on it's bum. It sounds a bit mean, but I'll admit it worked very well. :)

Zippy won the first 2 races, eliminating any need for a third.

In addition to the very entertaining races,

there was a dancing contest (sorry the pictures didn't turn out well) and a "sitting still" contest that Joel helped out with - we're not really sure which rabbit won these.

In the end, the winner and the loser both enjoyed the weeds as their prize. We all had a good time, but I do think Andrew laughed the most.

So now you know what we do for fun on Saturday afternoons. If you ever come for a visit, you know what you have to look forward to.