A Ugandan Celebration

Last weekend, two of my colleagues who are cousins (S & G) lost their grandfather. They are from the southwestern corner of Uganda, almost all the way to Rwanda. As is normal here, a group was organized to go from New Hope in support of our sisters. I decided to go with them, because S is one of my closer friends here.

I'm glad I went for the funeral. I wanted to be there for S and G, and I’m glad I was. But I’m also grateful simply for being there and being able to experience the testimony to this man’s life. And I wanted to share the experience with you.

S & G are part of a western Ugandan tribe, so they speak a different language than the one spoken in the area where I live and work. So I understood even less of what was being said than I would have if it were in Luganda (the language I know tiny bits of). But a couple other of my fellow staff who went with us are from that area, so they helped translate some of what was spoken.

The man (I didn’t even catch his name!) who passed away was 107 years old; he had at least nine children, and there seemed to be close to 20 grandchildren there. Funerals in Uganda are normally big community events. I’m bad at estimating numbers, but I think there must have been at least 500 people there by the end of the service.

The grandfather accepted the Lord at the age of 7, and evidently spent the next one hundred years serving Christ faithfully. He was part of the Church of Uganda, which is Anglican. They had at least six pastors there to take part in the funeral, as well as a small choir with some beautiful local instruments. Between each part of the service, the leader would spontaneously break into a short hymn and the choir and attendees would join in. I really appreciated that – it felt like such a joyful celebration.

It is evidently customary at funerals in Uganda for someone close to the deceased to relate the story of their last days/moments on earth. I’ve noticed this at three of the five funeral services I’ve been at – and the other two I wasn’t there for the whole thing. In this case, one of the grandfather’s two surviving daughters explained what happened. I didn’t catch much, but he evidently had been sick for a couple months—mostly in the hospital—and finally an infection claimed his earthly body.

For him to have lived to 107 is really amazing in Uganda, where the life expectancy is about half that. Evidently he has a couple sisters who are still alive; they were there but didn’t speak because of their advanced age. As I said, this gentleman is survived by two of his daughters. A third daughter, S’s mom, died some years back. He also had six sons, but all six died before him (two in the past year, I think). Each of the sons' widows was there, though, and one of them spoke for the group. She told about their father-in-law’s generosity towards them – and she’s the one who got choked up while speaking.

The sister to S’s grandmother, who had also died before her husband, shared a bit as well. I think one of the things that especially blessed me was seeing the apparent unity in the family. Of course, I am not very familiar with their story – but what I saw yesterday seemed difference than what I often hear about here.

Last month, I listened to nine Ugandan women talk about their family background – and about half of them had a father who practiced polygamy. In a culture where bearing children (and lots of them) is considered “proof” of one’s manhood/womanhood, men often have children by multiple women – whether or not they are really married to all/any of them, and whether or not the man takes any part in raising the children.

During the car ride, we heard a radio talk show discussion about whether a person should let his/her spouse and “side dish” (a term that I eventually figured out meant a romantic interest outside of marriage) be friends. It basically took for granted that of course one would have such a “side dish,” the question was only if a man would let “his woman” (wife) be friends with her. It was such a demeaning conversation to have about women – as if they were just objects to be used as it pleased the man – especially in the way those terms were used.

That stood in such contrast to what I perceived about the man whose life we went to celebrate. There was no mention that I picked up on of other wives, half siblings, or similar family fragmentation. Instead, it seemed like this man was an example to his children and grandchildren – an example I saw fruit of as I watched them working together to prepare things for the service.

The grandchildren had shirts made with a photo of their grandfather, and under it were the words of 2 Tim. 2:7, about fighting the good fight. That’s also what the pastor preached on briefly. And the testimony lives on – one of S’s brothers is evidently a pastor, and he came and took the time to pray for our group before we started our long journey back.

The funeral service is often held in the family’s compound (their yard). In this case, the seating was in the open area between four houses – the grandfather’s house on one side, with three of his son’s homes on two of the other sides. Afterwards the body is usually buried in the family’s matooke plantation (an area where they grow a type of banana), including a cement topper.

I had been to three such burials already, and always I have been struck by the contrast between the family’s wailing and the hymns sung by those less deeply affected. At my first Ugandan burial, I wasn’t expecting the loud sobbing, and it really caught me off guard. This time, I was waiting for it – and it never came. The hymns were sung, the prayers were said – and I’m sure the emotions were there, but they weren’t given the same fierce expression I’ve seen before. This may be mainly because the other funerals I have attended have been for people who died too early' – in fact all three of the others were my age or younger. But it still seems a difference that I noticed.

S & G stayed there with their family. After a death like this, there are meetings to have and discussions/decisions to be made. So please keep them and their family in your prayers during the coming days.

Our group of 12 had left New Hope at about midnight and driven through Wednesday morning about 8.5 hours to reach the village where the funeral was. We were early for the service, which started at about 1 p.m., but it gave us a chance to relax a bit. Coming back took more like 10 hours because we made more stops. It was almost 2 a.m. on Thursday when I fell into my bed. So it was a LOT of traveling. I couldn’t help but notice the irony that my first three trips between Dallas and Entebbe each took about the same amount of time as the traveling we did yesterday. But as I said, I’m very glad I went. And, it is a beautiful area with lots of rolling hills - very different than our mostly flat area here!

Trekking with Rhinos

Last Saturday, I went on my first Ugandan “safari” experience. And it was certainly fun! (This is your "lucky" day, because for once it's a blog post with pictures!!! If you want to see the picture bigger, just click on it and it should open. Then you can hit your browser's "back" button to continue reading.)

We had several short-term visitors at New Hope at the moment, and so one of them wanted to go see some rhinoceros at a sanctuary nearby – and she opened it up to whoever else wanted to come along to decrease the per person transportation costs. There ended up being eight of us!

So Saturday morning we left dark and early (instead of bright and early, because at 5:30 a.m. it is still very dark here!!!). After we hit the tarmac (paved road) in Luwero (the larger town 30 minutes away), it started to rain – and it really poured for a bit of the drive. In the back seat, we (our team coordinator’s wife, myself, and a Canadian visitor) were pretty talkative most of the way when we could actually hear one another ;-)

Eventually the sun rose, though it was still really overcast. We got to the rhino sanctuary before 8.

The sign for the sanctuary on the main road; no, those are NOT real rhinos!

While we were checking in and paying at the main office, we got our first “wild” life sighting – a warthog named Pumbaa, appropriately enough :) But he was quite domesticated, not really wild at all. The staff were petting him, so some of our group did too! Very very wiry & bristly – certainly not like petting fur!

Warthog Pumbaa eating the doormats…I don’t know why…

Wild Ugandan rhinos were victim to a lot of poaching, especially during the civil wars in the 1980s. The last one was actually killed in 1983. So the rhinos at the sanctuary have been re-introduced to Uganda, and the staff are working on breeding them with the hopes of one day releasing some to other wildlife parks in Uganda. Currently, this sanctuary is the only place to see wild rhinos in Uganda.

The rhinos have personal guards who are with them 24/7 to make sure they are doing fine, and also to keep track of their whereabouts to make it easier to take tourists to find them. In our case, we drove for a few minutes deeper into the sanctuary, then followed our guide trekking through the grass on foot to where the rhinos were. Within an hour of arriving, we had our eyes on two rhinos! Bella, who I think is the founding matron in the sanctuary, and Luna, her 14-month old calf.

Meet Bella the Rhino!

It was kind of hard to get good pictures because of all the grass (it is certainly still rainy growing season!), and because rhinos don’t hold their heads up very much (too busy eating, and their heads are very heavy!).

Bella is currently pregnant (baby rhinos stay in the womb for 16 months!), but still nursing Luna – which we got to see for a couple minutes! 

Luna nursing from mother Bella

It was rainy (just lightly sprinkling) and chilly, which initially seemed like a downside…but it was actually good because otherwise the rhinos may have just bedded down for the day. The guide told us rhinos usually eat most of the night, when it’s cooler, and then in the heat they sleep.

We followed Bella and Luna as they meandered along, chomping away at the short grass. We stayed at a respectful distance, though, of course! This pictures shows about how close we were. Sorry it’s just the rhinos butts! ;-) 

Safari Esther & the Rhino Butts

Here’s the best picture I got of this first family group, this is Luna the “baby.” She was standing still because she had just been peeing. I got a picture of that too, but I was laughing too much and so the picture is shaky because of the gray skies. 

Luna Posing

We went back to our car and drove to another spot to see a different group of rhinos. This one was two of the “teenage” girls (Malaika, age 4 and Laloyo, age 3.5) and Moja, the dominant male in the herd (there are 14 rhinos currently living on the sanctuary). We followed a trail the rhinos had made through the grass that was taller than we were (but not thick, so we could still see), and found them feeding.

The Teenagers Feeding

We moved to one side, and as we watched the three rhinos started moving back towards the road and our car. The guide said they could smell the fuel from the car and were curious about what was going on. Sure enough, when we got to the car they were just standing on the road looking at it from a short distance away. The guides had told us that rhinos cannot see very well, they have much better hearing.

We stood at the front end of our vehicle, and the rhinos were just standing there looking towards us from behind the rear of the van. It was pretty amazing! 

Curious Rhinos - note the mirror of the van in the foreground!

It made the guide and the guard a little nervous, so they told us to get in the van. We did, and being in the back seat I was only about 8-9 feet away from these massive mammals. Thankfully with glass/metal between me and them! Here’s a video I took at that point (sorry for all the noise, my camera makes a lot of focusing noise as it takes video).

After a few minutes, the girls got bored and headed off into the bush on the other side of the road. Then Moja came and stood behind the van. He has had his horn sawn off, because just a couple months ago one of the young males had died from an injury in a fight. Anyways, Moja took several steps nearer, until finally I’m sure he was no more than 6 feet away. Then he backed up a bit and turned to go parallel to our vehicle. When he did, I realized by my sudden panting that I had been holding my breath a bit! :D

Moja lumbering towards the front end of the vehicle

He then went towards where the two guides were standing outside of the vehicle. He turned and faced them, and they moved quickly to the back end of the vehicle. When they did, Moja took a step towards our vehicle, but then changed his mind and “ran” (for about five steps) off into the bush. Our heart beats were all a bit higher after that! It had looked for a minute like he might charge at either our guides or the vehicle. I never felt actually in danger, just had a very healthy respect for these large, wild animals!

That ended our rhino sightings for the day – but not our experience! We drove some good distance (still within the sanctuary) to the lodge where we would have lunch. On the way, we saw monkeys, mongoose, bushbuck (like dear), and birds! Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of the first three, our driver wasn’t the slow down & stop for every moving creature type…. But I did get a picture of this family of Helmeted Guineafowl as they ran to stay ahead of us on the road. 

Helmeted Guineafowl, 2 Parents & 3 Chicks

We got to the lodge early, so I lay relaxing on a hammock and ended up falling asleep for a bit! The lunch was amazing, such delicious food!!! Then it was time to head back home to Kasana.

But on the way, we did convince the driver to stop when we spotted a large swarm of butterflies!!

Butterfly Cluster!

I think there must have been a carcass or some small mineral area or something to attract so many. In an area not much more than one square foot, there were dozens and dozens of butterflies, of probably 7 or 8 types!

Zooming in on the smaller ones

By then the sun had come out again, and we had an uneventful drive back to Kasana – taking exciting memories with us!

My next post will be about some recent interesting insect incidents!

The Beauty of Kobwin, Part 3

I should have added to the end of my last post that the family parents of the first family group are going to be coming to Kasana (our main center, where I live) for the Institute of Childcare and Family from January to May of next year. We will be classmates since I am also taking the Institute during that time. Now that I know them a bit, I am eagerly looking forward to this upcoming opportunity to grow in relationship with them!!  :)

Monday morning marked the beginning of our last full day in Kobwin, at least for this trip. The manager had announced at church that the students needed to come to the school at 7:30 on Monday morning to do a project with me. Unfortunately, not all of the day students were at church….so we mostly just had the students who live on site.

But other than that it went pretty well. It took a lot longer than we were expecting (three hours), partly because the students were having so much fun coloring and drawing after they had done the writing bit! Also because students didn’t all come right at 7:30, they kind of trickled in over the first couple hours. Thankfully we had enough papers and colored pencils to keep everyone occupied!

I had simply written a couple basic examples. Other than telling the children to put their name, age, class, prayer requests, and signature, I really didn’t give much instruction. Later that week, as I read through the kids’ requests, I was mostly impressed. Sure, I chuckled at a couple (“I want to be the next Obama”), but there were also some that showed the students’ positive character (“Please pray that I would have a forgiving heart”). There were also some that included bits of Spanish, since we recently had our first ever team from Mexico and they spent most of their trip at Kobwin.

Once the last student had finished, Constance took me on a tour of the property there. She was taking some pictures of the community outside for comparison. It was interesting to see a few houses and learn a bit more about Ugandan culture in that area. For example, there are lots of large gray rocks in that area, and the people there use them to dry potatoes and things like that as a method of preserving food.

{Side note – since Kobwin is in a different part of the country, the people are mostly of a different tribe and thus speak a different language. I kept wanting to use my small bits of Luganda, and then remembering that the people there may not understand it because they speak Ateso instead (or sometimes also)!}

By then it was only 11 or so, but already so so hot that we gave up on our walk, even though we had only gone part of the way around the property. That was one of the unfortunate parts about Kobwin….it is much hotter there than at Kasana, so activity becomes much less enticing pretty early in the day.

{Kasana will be warmer these next couple months than it has been, though, because we’re now entering one of the dry seasons. I got back towards the beginning of the rainy season, and there have been a few times where it has felt down right cold here at Kasana! But really that means it was “only” 60 degrees or so…..}

Later that afternoon I went and did a quick email check for the first time in five days, then played a couple games with some of the kids. First we tried doing dominoes, but we only had a double sixes set and we had about eight players. So it didn’t work too well. Then we played cards for a while, until a football {soccer} game started and most of the students wanted to join that {when thinking about Kobwin, it doesn’t seem right to call them “kids” or “children,” because so many of them are in their late teens or early twenties! So I end up calling them “students” instead, even in non-school contexts.}

My three young friends from Friday then wanted to take me up on top of the rocks right behind Constance’s house. A couple of the youngest staff kids decided to tag along, and my guides didn’t want them to come, saying “they’re going to cry!” I had been up on the rocks just a bit on Saturday, and so knew to watch out for 1) thorns and 2) cow paddies. But I was looking forward to being led up to the top, since I had just kind of wandered around. I figured I could help the little ones if needed.

Well, the wind started picking up…..sure sign of a storm blowing in. We tried to go up the way the boys knew, but the two youngest ones were scared…it involved climbing up onto one rock and then immediately scooting through a narrow space from another rock on top in order to get higher. I couldn’t quite figure out how to get up the rock, even though I was definitely the tallest in the group. {Wearing a skirt and flip flops is a convenient excuse, right?} The little girl proceeded to cry a bit, so I called everybody back and helped the little ones down.

We tried going up another way, but it was too overgrown to really get onto the top. The littlest boy cried somewhere along there too, so the guide’s prediction proved correct! We had seen that the sky was getting dark, though, and when we started feeling a few raindrops I said that we had to get down before it poured on us. So down we went, none the worse for the little adventure.

The storm took longer to really come in than I thought it would, but my word, it really did POUR when it came! So the temperature was quite a bit cooler in the evening than it had been in the late morning. There were a couple girls in Constance’s house when I got back, so we shut the windows (to keep the rain coming in) and then used solar battery lanterns (because there’s no power there) to see enough to play cards (since we couldn’t hear one another talk because of the rain pounding on the roof!). It was a fun day :)

Then that evening, we three muzungus (Lugandan term for white foreigners) went to the second family group for devotions and dinner. And this family mother fed us a small feast! She makes me chuckle even as I think back about it – she is definitely the mothering type!! She kept urging us “You eat! Be free! Drink your tea!” And she insisted on sending me away with some homemade peanut butter, the best I’ve ever had!

Both of the sets of family parents were just so welcoming and so ready to open their homes, hearts, and families to include us. It was a special time getting to know some of the special members of our extended spiritual family!!! They accepted me and loved me and encouraged me, even in a short few days. I was definitely blessed, and I look forward to seeing them again whether here at Kasana or on future trips to Kobwin!

The next day we left Kobwin by 6 a.m., and in Kampala I bid farewell to Constance and the others and headed to the mall to print pictures, then on to public to go home on my own. It all worked out, thankfully, and I was back home to Kasana by about 7 that evening. {Constance needed to take a young boy to Entebbe--south of Kampala--for a surgery. Keep him in your prayers, please! He has now had a second surgery, and is in a cast for a while.}

The Beauty of Kobwin, Part 2

Well, it’s nearly a week later and I’m finally getting around to writing more about Kobwin!

On Friday morning, I got started taking pictures of the students there for the prayer cards we were planning to have them do for sending to prayer supporters in the U.S. I was a bit unsure of myself at first, but the family parents (our staff members) welcomed me in and encouraged me “be free!” and to not be afraid.

Soon their young twin boys and one of the younger students from the family group were helping me by pulling in the students I hadn’t gotten pictures of, finding them on my list, and even copying what I told them to write as the description so I would know who was who later! I really appreciated those three young fellas helping make me feel more at home :)

Around lunch time, Constance and a couple of the staff members got busy mixing lemon juice and powdered sugar to make the typical Ugandan cake frosting. One of the ladies had amazingly baked the cakes on a sigeri (charcoal-burning small round stove) since ovens are not common household appliances. (As I think I mentioned in my previous post, there was a wedding coming up the next day!).

We had fun frosting the cakes, wrapping them in ribbon, and then trying to add more frosting since we had a lot of extra. The problem with the latter was that we didn’t go slowly, letting one layer of frosting harden before putting on the next layer. So it ran all over and we spent some time frantically trying to shore up the “dams” of the ribbons….and pretty nearly just ended up with a big mess! But it all worked out :)

After we had got that straightened out, I went down to the school to start helping prepare food for the wedding. We peeled matooke, sorted/winnowed pounded ground nuts (peanuts), and chopped up several cabbages. The first two were new experiences for me! The ladies also had some young men gather large rocks to build fire pits of sorts for cooking the food. By then it was dark, and so lack of electricity sent us all home.

The next morning, the day of the wedding, at least a couple of the ladies woke up at 2:30 a.m. to start preparing the meal for the wedding. By the time I got there around 3:30 or 4, there were about a dozen people working by flashlight, and five or six fires going under massive pots (I’m talking two to three feet in diameter!). At first most of them were butchering the meat (cow and chicken) that I think had been slaughtered the night before. I thankfully missed the slaughtering bit! But the rest about the wedding feast will need a blog post of its own.

By 7 or so most of us went home and showered to try and get the smoke smell off before getting dressed up for the wedding. The ceremony was scheduled to start around 9—and I think it did start pretty close to that. The first hour or so was taken up by the two processionals of groomsmen/groom and bridesmaids/bride. It is evidently the tradition at least in that part of Uganda for the processional to be very very slow. I guess it helps make sure people arrive before things really get started?

Anyway, we had the school’s end of year ceremony, complete with speeches, musical numbers, etc. The crowd steadily increased as time went on, and between every couple of pieces of the program the MC would again welcome those who were just arriving. That’s just part of the “African time” culture here…..(my friends’ youngest son slept in my lap for an hour).

Then we went straight into the wedding, including more singing and dancing. Vows and rings were exchanged, a culturally acceptable (though exuberant) hug took place instead of a Western-style kiss. Then Uncle Jonnes preached a short wedding message that even I as a single appreciated…about how 50-50 isn’t sufficient for a marriage…God calls a husband and wife to give 100% to one another as an example of how Christ held nothing back but gave 100% of Himself for us!

Finally, at 3:30 I think? It was time to serve the wedding meal. I was helping with that also….and as I said above that will be the subject of another blogpost. Quite a bit later, a threatening rainstorm blew in, putting an end to the wedding festivities. We enjoyed simple rice & beans for dinner, and I went to bed early!

Sunday was a very chill day, everyone just needed to recover from the wedding! Church that morning was an interesting experience. Lots of dancing and clapping from the worship leader…he had to have two handkerchiefs to try and keep up with the sweat of his exuberance! Also, here at Kasana, we do the service in English and it is translated into Luganda. But in Kobwin, the service is carried out in Ateso and then translated into English sentence by sentence. So it was my first time here to be understanding the translated sermon rather than as originally spoken.

In the afternoon I worked on sharpening three gallon bags of colored pencils for kids to use the next day on the prayer cards. Thankfully the three little musketeers, my friends from the day before, showed up and pitched in to help me with that!

That evening we attended devotions with the first family group at Kobwin, and then had dinner with the family parents. Oh my, such a feast she set before us! I really enjoyed getting to know them better and hear bits of their story! A couple girls from the family had helped the mom cook, so they ate with us as well.

Well, I am falling asleep here on Tuesday night as I try to type this…so I think I better call it quits and finish another evening!

The Beauty of Kobwin, Part 1

I just wanted to put fingers to keyboard tonight (this was written Wednesday) to get this written, even though I am tired….because I know these next few days are going to be hectic and I want to grab this chance while I have it.

As you probably know, a week ago I traveled from Kasana (New Hope’s first and main location in Uganda) to Kobwin, our other children’s center in the northeast of the country. When Kobwin first started in 2010, our main focus there was working with young men and women who had been kidnapped or otherwise affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. Those kidnapped served as child soldiers and became known internationally as “Invisible Children.”

Now, four years later, we do still have some young people at Kobwin who are “returnees”—those who were abducted and then escaped or were released. Others grew up in IDP (internally displaced person) camps because their families were trying to avoid the atrocities of Kony and his rebels. All told, many of our students in Kobwin have come through even more intensely traumatic circumstances than our children here at Kasana.

At any rate – part of my job here in Uganda is updating supporters and prayer partners about the happenings at Kobwin, but until last week I hadn’t been there. Aunt Constance, our foreign staff member who has invested a lot of time and energy in Kobwin, invited me to go with her up to Kobwin for a wedding and the end of {school} year ceremony—and I jumped at the chance!

I was eager to see this location that I had heard so much about from interviewing three of the main guys in charge there. But I was also very excited to get to see two special people, their two sweet girls and their two adorable boys! :D So my expectations were high for the long weekend :)

The first day of travelling was kind of rough. But you can read more than enough about that in my previous post. The next day (Thanksgiving) was thankfully much less stressful. Watching a beautiful sunrise over Lake Victoria….seeing the Nile River (near its source) for the first time….enjoying a short passage through an actual forest! (I miss proper woods/forest while at Kasana)….observing Mount Elgin in the distance….just getting to witness more of this beautiful country that is my home for the next year. :) And that was all before we arrived at our destination!

When we got there, most of the students and some of the staff were just eating lunch. We joined them (for the typical posho and beans) after being greeted by a hug from each of the young people there. I think that’s one of the things that most stood out to me about Kobwin. It is quite a bit smaller than Kasana (less than one-fifth the size in student population, even less as far as staff), and thus has a much more intimate feel to it. The two family groups are very close to one another, but each is enclosed with a wall (originally to help the kids feel safer).

That afternoon, the students were practicing musical selections they had created and prepared for the end of year/wedding ceremony. The whole student/staff community (probably about 50 people) gathered to hear them and to offer advice. I just enjoyed experiencing a new style of instruments and singing! And I also finally spotted my friends’ two daughters. Their dad was also there, though I had been able to see him a couple weeks before at Kasana. I had told him I was coming to Kobwin, but told him not to tell his family so I could surprise them!

Well, since the daughters had seen me the dad and I decided I should go home with him to surprise the mom before the girls gave her the news. Their home is a short distance outside of the center because staff housing is really limited there. As we walked, he proudly showed me the small square of land where his family grows a bit of maize and papaya, collards and sweet potatoes.

As we neared the family’s house, the late afternoon sun was shining into my eyes. So I knew the mother would be able to see me before I could see her. Sure enough, I hadn’t spotted anyone I recognized before I saw a figure running towards me. It was my friend!! She grabbed me in a hug, ending in a tickle as I had forgotten was her habit towards me ;-) I met their neighbors (also Kobwin staff) and was invited in to my friends’ home for some tea. But not before my dear friends spent a couple minutes praying and thanking God for bringing me to their home and reuniting us!

Their two boys were hanging about. The older one (age 6) gave me a shy grin of remembrance, but the younger one (age 2)—my piggy back buddy—didn’t seem to know who I was. A bit later, though, he started to remember—and as I tickled him, I got to hear his adorable laugh again!! :D The time with them was far too short, but I had to get back to Kobwin for dinner with the manager and his wife. Uncle took me back on his bike – it was my first time to ride side saddle on the back rack of a bicycle, so I was glad someone I trusted was doing the pedaling!

That evening, Constance, Allison (a visitor from America who had spent a whole year working in Kobwin a couple years back) and I enjoyed a wonderful meal with the manager and his family. His wife and a couple young ladies prepared atapa (aka kilo, aka millet loaf. I’ll have to explain it some other time….), chapatis (they take a lot of work!), rice, and a yummy sauce with pork. It was all so delicious that I went on to P2 (aka, I took a second helping)!

Their two young boys nearly fell asleep while eating, and it was interesting to notice them being bathed in basins in the middle of the living room as we finished our dinner and conversation. Later, after we had gone back to Constance’s itinerant home where we stayed, I was able to call my family and talk to the three of them for a little while. Which was a blessing, because I had heard that cell signal up in Kobwin wasn’t much good.

So that was my Thanksgiving day…..I’ll have to write about the rest of the weekend later. It certainly wasn’t a typical American Thanksgiving……but it’s where God has me this year, and I am grateful for all of the opportunities He is giving me!!! Towards the end of the weekend, I couldn’t help but think that, while most Americans use Thanksgiving as a time to visit family, God used this Thanksgiving to grow my family….to introduce me to members of our spiritual family that I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet before. That’s what my next post will be more about! :)

I'm Back

As I write this on Saturday night, almost two days have passed since I arrived back on Ugandan soil. A little over 24 hours ago, I arrived back in Kasana, which even after being here only five short months gained the place in my heart of a third home after Dallas (where I grew up and where my parents are) and Siloam Springs (my college home town).

I am so so glad to be back! I can’t even tell you what a blessing it is to be back in this place. And I am so grateful to each and every person who has enabled me to return here through their encouragement and support!

What “I’m back” means in daily life – the positives and the challenges.

It means I get to live with Deborah, a lady I knew some from my last time here, and two other ladies. Today I was able to visit with Florence and get to know her – she also kindly made me tea and helped me “lay” my bed! {And made me breakfast this morning!}

It means that power has been mostly off during the days. (This is because the power lines are being serviced to hopefully make them better! I actually saw one of the workers up a pole stringing some wire.) And in the house where I now live, we only have three bulbs that are solar power (bathroom, hallway, sitting room, and those are spotty) and no sockets.

It means that the past couple days I got to catch up with Aunt Jill, and this morning I got to be with Worcester family again for a couple hours! It was so good to see them all, and they welcomed me back warmly J

It means that I walked into a completely bare room. Tonight will actually be my first night to sleep in my room, because the bed I’m borrowing for now was just moved over this afternoon! But it also means a western toilet in the bathroom! :D

It means being able to walk over to the Institute, my home last time, to see Betty and Harriet – two of my favorite ladies! I love being able to drop in on friends using just my own two feet to get there. This community aspect is one of the many reasons I wanted to return!

It means a return to the dust and the bugs….Today I had started unpacking and sorting my stuff to reorganize it….and my feet were filthy from my bedroom floor. So I swept (with our two-foot broom made of wispy plants/twigs) and mopped (which meant a bucket of water and laundry soap + an item of clothing that has been retired from wearing and relegated to the rag pile).

It means that I awoke the past two mornings to a plethora of beautiful bird songs out my window. :D I have so loved getting to see the beautiful birds here again, especially the cute little finchy birds I so fell in love with last time! (Red-cheeked Cordon Blues and Pin-tailed Whydahs)

It means showering evidently requires making a choice between clean water fetched from the water tower (as a cup/basin shower) OR running water (that comes from our house’s rainwater collection held in a cistern, and so is considered dirty….and will run out during dry season!). Neither of which are hot, unless the power is on to heat the water we fetch from the tower, OR unless the sun has warmed our tank enough that our running water is somewhat warm.

It means I will get to know Ugandan culture (and hopefully Luganda!) much more thoroughly from immersion in it by living with my housemates.

It means I have yet to be on Internet since leaving the guesthouse in Entebbe on Friday morning (I haven’t succeeded in getting Internet from my new house yet, and haven’t tried going closer to the main source to connect)

It means that tomorrow morning I get to worship once again with my Kasana family!

It means that I am here following God’s call and hopefully serving His purposes.

It means that soon I get to start helping Aunt Jill with her work in the sponsorship office!

And so, despite the challenges, the cultural uncertainties, the minor inconveniences, I am excited and so very blessed to be here!

{As I mentioned at the beginning, most of this was written last night. This morning, as I opened my windows, I looked out at the greenery and the flowers, and listened to the birds, and just couldn’t help leaning against the windowsill and thanking God for bringing me back! Worshipping with my Ugandan brothers and sisters this morning was also such a blessing!!! J}

Last Wednesday....

Just a couple little snippets for your enjoyment tonight J

A few days ago, I had a couple interesting/funny things happen.

First, I was preparing some food for a young adults’ class potluck. I’m still having Uganda withdrawal, so I decided to make one of the dishes we had there often: avocado salad. At least that’s what I call it.

It’s pretty simple – you can make it too! Just cut up a few avocados, add a tomato and some red onion, and maybe a few spices (I forgot to put spices in mine…sorry folks!).

Our wonderful cooks there were always making it for a crowd, so I had to remind myself not to use as many avocados as they normally did…but then again the size of these green fruits (or vegetables) is twice as big in the Pearl of Africa as it is here. I guess that one guy was telling me the truth when he joked about how Uganda keeps all the best avocados and only exports the little ones ;-)

So there I was, cutting up the salad ingredients, thinking about how much I missed Betty and Harriet and hanging out with or helping them in the kitchen. I was listening to the radio, and you’ll never guess what song came on:

Just their favorite song! I don’t know how many times it was playing as they made dinner. I felt like I was right back in Uganda….but still missing these wonderful ladies. Soon—I’ll be back soon!

So that was happening #1. #2 occurred when I went over to my church to babysit during a class/Bible study. I had four kids: Two brothers, just turned 7 and 5; and a sister and brother, 7 ½ and almost six.

I was having fun watch them do the whole kid thing, playing ninjas and princesses and capturing and rescuing and wrestling a little. Anyway, we decided to play sharks and minnows. Somehow I got picked to be the shark.

I don’t remember how the subject of age came up…..but it did! They asked mine, and I told them to guess. Actually, I think I just told them that I’m 23.

Well, the oldest boy didn’t believe me. He was like “no way, you look like you’re 13!” To which his younger brother responded “no she doesn’t!” The other boy was like “no, she looks like an old woman!” And the young lady of the group won when she told me “no, you just look like a grown up woman.”

Or at least that’s how I remember it now. Hope you got a chuckle out of it J

And don’t give me the “you’ll be glad you look so young someday!” line. Because I’m not there yet. We went to an event for military academy students and graduates. Folks knew Nathan was either in the Academy or just graduated….but they didn’t know about me.

“So where do you go to school?” one important person asked me. “Oh, I graduated from college a year ago…..” Yep, I got there before Nathan did!

But another gal took the cake. She just graduated from high school and received an appointment to USAFA, I think by now she’s there undergoing BCT! Best wishes to her! At any rate, her comment after me mentioning that my brother had graduated was “are you applying to the academies, or are you going to let him be the only one?” In other words, she assumed I had just finished my sophomore or junior year in college! {sigh…….}

At least Nathan was very nice and considerate when we were in Colorado last month. He was kind enough to make a point of introducing me to his friends as his older sister! Thanks didi, I definitely appreciated that J

What a Lovely Easter :)

Here in Uganda, Easter weekend is a big deal. And I don’t think it’s just because I’m in a Christian organization/community – I’m pretty sure I heard people talking about how there are many people who travel on this weekend.

Both the Institute class and the NHU admin office had Friday and today off. Last time we had a four-day weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to go out to an island on Lake Victoria for a little vacation. Last month as I thought about the Easter break, I knew there were a couple other places I’d like to go visit…….but at the same time I just felt like I wanted to celebrate Easter here at Kasana, in the place that has become a new home and with the people who have taken me in as part of their family.

And boy am I glad I decided to stay – because this weekend (especially yesterday) has been such an amazing blessing.

Friday morning I did laundry and spent some time continuing the Bible study/reading I’ve been working my way through (fairly slowly, I must admit…) this year. I think I may have also spent some time reading either a devotional by C.S. Lewis or one by Anne Graham Lotz.

Mid-afternoon I headed over to the church for the Good Friday service there. Uncle Jonnes talked for a while about Jesus’ humility at not answering His accusers, and about how we should do likewise rather than allowing ourselves to be imprisoned by anger and bitterness. Then we watched the last 30 minutes or so of the Jesus Film, from Jesus’ time in Jericho (healing the blind man and discipling Zacchaeus) through His ascension.

I’ve watched the Jesus Film before….but not like this. Because there are many in the congregation who come from the surrounding area and may or may not speak English very well, we watched the Jesus Film in Lugandan. (For the same reason, Uncle Jonnes’ teaching and each week’s church service are translated into Lugandan by an interpreter. So there’s kind of two speakers every week J) Having seen the movie before, and being pretty familiar with the story, I was able to follow what was being said for the most part. But I certainly noticed things I might not have noticed otherwise (I might write more about those another time).

I also enjoyed hearing the people in the church with me interacting with the movie as we watched it. The laughter when Jesus bested the religious leaders trying to trap Him. The applause when Jesus reappeared alive. The murmurs of many repeating the prayer at the end. And then during dinner, the conversation with one of the couples about how all representations of Jesus look the same—how do we know what He looked like?

Saturday I must admit I didn’t spend my time as productively. I took advantage of a “second Saturday” by doing what I wanted to do – reading about cute animal stories and just amusing myself (choosing not to think, if you look at the etymology of “amusement”). I also enjoyed the fan thanks to the power being on most of the day!

After a trip to the market and some dinner, I heated water for a “shower,” thanks to power still being on! But then it went off, so I showered by star-light and lantern-light. My roomie had turned our banda into a nail salon again, with four ladies painting nails by candlelight. Before I joined in, I couldn’t help but go out and stare at the stars. That’s the best part about the power going out at night. The stars are so amazingly beautiful here, but when power is on it’s still harder to see them. So I had to take advantage of the darker sky thanks to moonless-ness and powerless-ness.

After we had finished decorating fingers and toes for Easter, we just chatted and/or sang worship songs (and danced to them some J). Of course then power came back on ;-)  Called my parents for a while and had a good chat, then fell asleep before 11.

Sunday morning the roomie was making pancakes for our Institute village breakfast, so I pitched in. They were so yummy. J Then she handed out some gifts to the families we live near, thanks to her church back home and her friend who came to visit. Seeing the joy of the children and the parents at receiving even “simple” gifts such as Bibles and dresses made my heart so happy. J

When we walked the short distance to the church at 10, I was surprised by how many people were already there! Usually the 10:00 start time finds the church only half full, and it slowly fills up. But for Easter, there were many more people there on time! And what a morning it was J I’ve never been to a more joyful Easter morning service.

Ugandans usually worship with more vocal/physical exuberance than my home church, and yesterday they were even more excited and celebrating even more loudly than normal. It was so fun to watch and to take part in. Uncle Jonnes was the preacher for the morning, and his message focused on the fact that Christ’s death has freed us from our bondage to sin! Always such a good reminder!

After a delicious Liberian lunch (preparation led by a Liberian here to go through the Institute) and some dinner prep work, I blogged for a while and enjoyed listening to the afternoon’s rain shower. Later in the evening I went over to my family group for dinner.

While we were waiting for it to be finished cooking, two of the Worcester sons and daughters taught me to play “Ludo” (I think?). It’s very similar to Sorry, but with a couple different rules. It was so fun laughing with them.

The daughter taking her turn to cook did an amazing job! The beef and rice tasted so great. J And even though it was a simple meal by most standards, it was special compared to their normal daily menu of posho and beans (I need to do a food post sometime….).

I am so thankful for my Worcester family – I felt so blessed to be included in their evening. The four girls and the parents have been so sweet and welcoming toward me whenever I have gone to visit. And the six young boys are fun to watch as they run around and play together.

Today they did not have school either – so I went over on the bright and early side to help them work in the garden. We spent a couple hours planting white sweet potato clippings in the furrowed mounds of dirt. My first row took me more than an hour, but the second row took less than an hour. I came back dirty and tired, but again blessed and thankful to have a family here who takes joy in having me involved even in simple daily things.

And that’s the story of my weekend and why I’m so glad I stayed here at “home” rather than travelling to some other place. I am so very blessed J

Thanking God.....

.....for sleeplessness since 2 a.m.? (it's 5:30 in the morning here as I write this) Yes, I actually am!

Why in the world??? It's simple: Although this is the third or fourth time I've faced a similarly sleepless night here, this time was different. {My ongoing digestive issues here are partly to blame for the sleeplessness...as is ongoing stress/uncertainty...and all of the above are, I think, magnified at least some by the medicine I've been taking for malaria prevention.....}

This time, I didn't spend the time (trying to go back to sleep) on worrying and fretting about my problems, and then tacking on a little begging prayer for God to make things go my way. That's pretty much what I've done before, and it hasn't solved anything. While I know God cares about what I'm going through, and He certainly tells us to come to Him with our requests, I can now recognize that my heart and attitude have been very selfish and ego-centric the past weeks and months. Even when I came here wanting to help others and serve God...

And He's been convicting me and calling me out on some things this past week. And yes, I'm facing uncertainty yet again....but maybe I'm finally learning to take more baby steps towards deeper faith. Thanks be to God, my response this time has been better than it often has in the past--and I've taken the confusion to God more quickly.

Because of His continued work in my heart (which I am so incredibly thankful for), this morning--when I woke up at 2 and had to scurry right over to the pit latrine a couple yards from my hut--I didn't put on a pity party like I did the other night this happened. Instead I thanked God for His goodness and asked Him to be glorified, even in this--even when it's not fun or easy. And I don't share this because I'm some great person to have done this. No, that was all God and not very much of me.

And as I lay tossing in bed the next two hours, failing to fall back asleep, I invested that time. I invested it in prayer. First in worshiping God and reorienting myself to find satisfaction in Him alone; and then in praying for the people in my "Institute family" (there's 20+ people going through the Institute here at New Hope right now), other people/situations here at Kasana, and my friends/family all around the world.

It was a sweet, sweet time. Yes, sleep would have been nice.... (I may still go try to catch a nap before breakfast...) But I was able to put into practice what God's been teaching & calling me to. And I'm thankful that He led me heart to Him during that time.

Spring Break Edition of YKYLiCUW

A continuation of the previous post, specifically about this past weekend's adventures!

~~The rainy weather makes puddles in the capital's street that are a deep orange color.

~~You are not a fan of taxi parks. Especially when, as in this case, it's just hundreds of taxi vans parked closely together and bumper to bumper....there's barely space to walk between! Plus the continuing rain doesn't help.

~~A couple boxes of chicks and at least one rooster accompany you on the boat ride.

~~Said boat ride takes nearly four hours!

~~You are annoyed by said rain, (and very thankful that the boat has a tarp over it!) until the sun begins to break through the clouds and you get to see a rainbow!!!

~~A short drive from the island jetty brings you to the small beach hotel where you will spend the night.

~~You eat dinner and go to bed listening to the crash of the waves on the lake shore.

~~But before you go to bed, you take your first running water shower in 10 weeks!! And with hot water too!! You’re surprised at how much water you get in your eyes….but maybe that was just from this particular shower head.

~~Trying to figure out a bathroom door that doesn’t want to stay shut, how to make a round mosquito net work with a four-postered bed, and overly-squishy pillows make you miss your banda bed back “home.”

~~You awake to take a long birding walk along the shore, and love every moment.

~~A few steps away from the sandy beach, and you find yourself in thick trees.

~~You sit on a bench swing back at the hotel’s beach doing nothing except listening to the waves, watching the birds, and thinking about how you could do this always…..but life doesn’t work like that… :/

~~One of the hotel staff comes and talks to you for a while, and you learn more about Ugandan culture. Including the fact that this gal thought she would never be of a high enough “level” to have a conversation with a muzungu….

~~There’s a super playful (half-grown) puppy running around the grounds that you quickly nickname “Floppy” because of his over-sized ears ;-)

~~As you eat lunch, you watch a large-ish lizard (I think he must have been nearly two feet, including the tail!) eat his lunch….I think a dragon fly?...on a nearby walkway.

~~You take tons of photos and videos……mostly of birds, I must admit ;)

~~You’re fixing to go sit on another bench to journal, when you suddenly see a monkey! And later, you realize there is a whole troop of monkeys in the woods very nearby…..probably close to a dozen!

~~As you watch the monkeys groom one another and pick food off the trees, it seems so very familiar. You’ve seen it before….in nature movies. Then you remember that this isn’t a nature movie, that you’re standing there watching live, wild monkeys in person. Wow!

~~You try to use the Internet to just check email and Facebook (yes, I’m an addict….) but it’s too slow and you give up.

~~You eat fish for dinner….fish that in the morning had been swimming around in the lake! Thanks to the fishing skills of the young couple who knew about this beautiful island and let you tag along.

~~The next morning, you get a bike and enjoy a long ride….pushing it up the hill, riding through the town, and out to a secluded spot overlooking part of the island coast. You’re thankful to be wearing capris for all that rather than a skirt!

~~During your ride, everyone from little kids to older folks is excited to see you. The little kids yell “hi!” and “bye!” and it seems to make their day when you say hi back. And the older ones holler “muzungu, what are you doing??” or “where are you going?”….to which you don’t answer, because the one is obvious and the other you don’t know for sure…

~~You spend the next three hours sitting in one place, meditating on God’s Word and worshipping Him. It is a beautiful time, and reminds you of times you’ve done the same in other places around the world. You are thankful that God is the same always and everywhere!!! (for more on this, check out the post on my other blog)

~~When you ride back down the steep hill you came up, you don’t pedal from the time you leave the town to the time you’re on the hotel road. Instead, you’re squeezing the brakes almost non-stop. You’re thankful they’re in good working condition!!!

~~You enjoy playing games with the folks you came with, and wading in the lake, and just relaxing and recharging J

~~A couple times, African guys come over and try to strike up a conversation. You’re not interested, so you keep responses short.

~~You hope to take another last hot shower……..but the hot water does not come out. After dinner you try again, take half of a cold shower and then the hot water comes!

~~Your room’s trash can displays the results of your “drinking addiction” – it is FULL of WATER bottles! ;-) Since tap water is not safe to drink, you must buy bottled water from the hotel restaurant. Every time you go you ask for at least one bottle….sometimes three…..

~~You wake up at 2 a.m. from a dream of going for a walk with one of your best college friends, wishing that you really could. You listen to the rain that is pouring down, and go back to sleep…..to have a very odd dream, probably thanks to the malaria med side effects :P

~~Morning comes, and with it the end of your time on the beautiful island. You hope you’ll be back.

~~The boat ride back is super choppy. You grab the bench in front of you and close your eyes often for the middle hour of the ride. Thankfully the motion sickness doesn’t fully make its way to the point of nausea.

~~You distract yourself by watching the antics of the full-grown chickens trying to escape the handmade rough, wooden crates they’re being transported in.

~~A little over three hours later, you’re very glad to be back on solid ground.

~~Another three hours later, you arrive back at your banda. One of the Institute girls has just gotten back from her school day and greets you with an excited “Auntie!!!” and an enthusiastic hug.

~~Everyone is glad to see you again, and after dinner the wee two-year-old is begging for a piggy back ride, as always. It’s good to be home J

Catching Up - Finally!

Well, I have had another long hiatus on here. Sorry for the lack of posting – the fall/winter months did not go as I had expected, and I sometimes felt like I didn’t have anything worth talking about on my blog. Especially after the crazy/exciting three-to-four months after graduation!

This fall was really important for me though. I was reminded again and again that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Is. 55:8). I had plans, plenty of them….But God’s plan was different than anything I had expected. While the changes and unmet expectations this fall were certainly challenging at times, I am thankful for the assurance I have that God has brought me where I am for His purposes and glory alone. Because of that, I can say that there is nowhere else I would truly rather be during this time.

The beginning of October dropped a new door in my path after the three doors I had wanted to work out closed instead. There was an opportunity to assist a new missionary family by helping homeschool their five kids. I didn’t feel qualified…it felt out of my league…but I sensed God’s direction and so I (a bit hesitantly) offered my availability. A month later, I was officially accepted and knew for sure: I would be spending January through May in Uganda! God provided in a really big way for me to come here—even when my faith was weak. He certainly deserves all the praise for that.

So the past five weeks I have been adjusting to living in the African bush. A friend last night asked me if I’d had culture shock, or how I liked it so far. There are, of course, differences in lifestyle. While some things are more challenging here (no running water at my hut, intermittent electricity and Internet), I can honestly say that I like it here just as much as in the U.S. Different can sometimes mean better :D

One of the many things college taught me is that I’ve always been a small-town girl at heart—and so spending four months mostly in the mega-tropolis of DFW was not always easy….especially having spent the three months previous in places where I could easily walk a short distance and be by myself surrounded by trees or open country. Going to a city park (which I did sometimes) is just not the same as walking out one’s back door and straight up a deserted mountain…or leaving one’s dorm and shortly later arriving at a hidden little hollow in the woods. Here in Uganda, I’ve already find a couple spots at our mission’s compound that I’ve visited for the same purpose. And it’s nice to have that chance again.

I’m also loving the opportunity to spend a lot of time with kids here. In addition to the five I came to work with (who are mostly teens/pre-teens), there are five kids all under the age of 9 who live right around my hut. Their parents are attending the same Institute training that the parents I came with are in. Just this morning, two of the little girls – ages 3 and 5, I think – were just hanging around my hut. They’re pretty fun and mostly sweet – though sometimes rambunctious and crazy of course :) The other three “Institute kids” are siblings, ages 9, 6, and 2. I love indulging my inner childhood spirit playing with them all :D

The adults have also made the experience an enjoyable one. Ugandan culture places a high priority on relationships, and it certainly shows. There are about a dozen adults (plus the five younger kids) who eat all of our meals together, and as we gather we greet one another with handshakes or hugs. It’s just been a great blessing to be in a small community like this, as part of the larger New Hope Uganda community at Kasana.

Do I miss JBU and my college friends, and my family, and the places/people where I left parts of my heart this summer? Of course I do. It’s hard for me to believe how long it’s been already since those places were my current home. I’ll always be thankful for them and jump at any chance to visit. And I’ve been grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to use Skype, Facebook, email, the phone, etc. to keep in touch with folks over the past nine months (WOW) since graduation. But life goes on, and this is where God has me for now—and I am blessed :)

Random thoughts, little update

I know, I do a bad job of keeping this updated...........This is partly because I more frequently use Facebook as a place to keep track of what's going on with my life. When I do have time to just write what I want to, I more frequently write about spiritual (more important) matters, and those posts go on my spiritual blog. I recently (well, in late November) did a seven-part series on there about what God taught me throughout 2011 - best year of my life in many ways :)

But, here's a not-so-spiritually-focused reflection on how my life is going...so it's on this blog ;-) (I know, I'm way too organized for my own good sometimes..........)

Random Thoughts (in no particular order)

1. My boys are still funny~~~I worked over Christmas break nannying. It's interesting to see how the boys are changing some as they grow up more.

• Brian is super good at Legos! He's determined and patient (most of the time) to complete his sets. Legos are nearly the only thing that would keep his attention for longer than about 15 minutes...... The other thing that does a decent job of keeping his interest is playing football in the front yard. We had fun doing that every day of the last week. The first day he saw me with my new hair cut (my hair's now a little shorter than shoulder-length) he said, "Is it just me, or did you get a hair cut??" Such a funny way of asking it :D
• Christopher is still cute :) The first day I was doing the "this little piggy" on his toes as I had done other times, and he remarked "Esther, you do funny things to me." Another day we were playing outside, and he picked up a stick. "This stick's going to watch us," he announced, and proceeded to place it carefully where we wouldn't step on it. Some other time during lunch he proceeded to make up a little song (some background is that they got cookie cutters in the shape of Star Wars "Tie fighters" to cut sandwich shapes): "Tie fighter, Tie fighter.....I eat my samwich {he still mispronounces it...} in a tree house because it has a table"...No idea where the last part came from :D He's also decided that playing restaurant is great fun. We did it for a couple hours each day the last week :)
• Both of them were sad I had to come back to college. I was telling Brian when I'd have to go back to school, and he asked when I'd be back. I told him I'd probably come see him during Spring Break, which is in March. "But that's a long time from now!" he moaned. Yes, I know bud. I'll miss you too.

2. Family is special~~~Not only was I able to spend time with my immediate family (Dad, Mom, Nathan), but we also made a trip up to NE for cousin Brad's wedding and saw most of Mom's immediate family. But we came home one short, since Nathan flew back to USAFA from Oklahoma City. And he most likely won't be coming back to Dallas until Thanksgiving. Which is sad :(

3. I love my friends~~~even if Nathan says it's silly that I say that to my girl friends.

• Mrs. S is my everything lady - she was my co-op teacher in high school, she's let me work for her for a super long time, we can sit and talk , I get to make cards with her - Teacher, Boss, Friend. I'm super grateful for her :)
• Courtney - even though I only get to see her when I'm in Dallas on breaks, it's always a joy to spend a couple of hours just talking together (usually at Starbucks :D). I'm also glad that we chat online once in a while.
• Sarah - she's an absolutely amazing friend :D This semester she's studying abroad, so I miss her A LOT. But the other day I got a sweet letter from her that made my week :) So thankful for her :)
• Jessica - my sweet roommate who willing puts up with me day-in and day-out :) We can laugh with each other, making fun of ourselves and what happens to us - or we can talk about serious things. I'm going to miss her when she graduates!
• Lynnette - she's one of those people who I know I can talk to about anything (as are most of my friends on this list....). We've had several adventures together - like walking all the way around the Dogwood Trail in a foot and a half of snow or going on a horseback ride out at New Life Ranch.
• Hannah and Laura - who formed the most terrific Honors Orientation mentor group ever! I'm thankful for and love both of them individually, but when you get the three of us together, you had better watch out! It was so a God-thing that they were "my" girls - I soon recognized that we would be good friends beyond the class :)
• Sojourn girls! - I love my hall!!!!! I've been in the same dorm room for three years now, and even though the hall does change some from semester to semester, it's a great place to live :D

4. Time is a weird thing~~~This is something I've really noticed in college. It works something like this: the days go fast, the weeks go slow (it takes forever to get to the weekend), the months run away, and the years simply fly. I'm 21 now. And yes, that's a rather scary thought. To celebrate that milestone, I {ok, you can quit holding your breath! I didn't do anything crazy!} wrote my first Christmas letter :)

5. God's got me~~~Over break I really wrestled with the question of whether or not to enroll in the IPJ program after I was accepted (If you don't know what this program is, ask and I'll be happy to explain - I just don't feel like typing it out right now). Part of me feels as though it's almost selfish to go and do something like that when there are other people who will be using their summers to serve overseas. But I have come to peace that this is what God wants me to do at this time - and yes, I am excited :D As Lynnette said, often times when we come to a cross-roads a lot of the growth process is choosing which path to go down - and the choice prepares us for travelling down the path. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel as though I'm listening a lot better now than I have in my life before. And I have faith and believe that God will continue working in and through me :)

6. New Year, new me~~~right? So also in honor of my first year as a 21-year-old, I made my first New Year's resolutions:

• Workout six days/week, for at least 30 minutes. So far so good on this one. Having swimming class twice a week and being expected to swim two hours outside of that certainly helps! (And no, I can't swim. That's why I'm in the class!) After last semester of barely working out at all, I can't run nearly as far/fast as I would like. But it's amazing how much variety I've had so far - I could do core, PT, bike, run, play intramural basketball (yes, I'm horrible), swim, etc. etc.
• Read for 30 minutes five days/week (outside of homework). Last year I was completely addicted to a TV show. I've had at least eight books sitting on my shelf for that same year that I've been wanting to read. I go to my church library and there are so many books I'd love to read! So I've quit my TV show cold turkey (no, it wasn't a fun decision) and made a point of reading. Some of the great books I've read so far?
  --Crazy Love
  --Discerning the Voice of God
  --Kisses from Katie
  All great books I highly recommend! :D I can tell this one's going to be a little tough as the semester gets busier. But I hope to keep it up!
• Write for 30 minutes five days/week (outside of school papers etc.). Even though I've done pretty well on this one, there are still more times than I can keep up with when something will get me thinking and reflecting. I feel as though I learn more from what happens to me when I write about it. Blogging, journaling, they both count - and I like them both :D

7. Yes, I'm busy~~~I'm taking 18 hours of classes (two of which require major chunks of time outside of class), writing and working as a page editor for the campus newspaper, serving as the CEF GNC ministry leader, working 10 hours/week as a TA for workstudy, and trying to keep my New Year's resolutions AND my sanity. Yep, I think I over-committed myself. As I've done before. Yep, you'd think I'd learn....but noooooo :P It's hard for me to admit this as a perfectionistic over-achiever who likes {or maybe did like} to be a perfect student.....but I'm beginning to realize that maybe busywork assignments aren't the very most important thing in the equation of my life. No, don't worry. I have plenty of the busybee honors student in me still to not fail my classes (I think). And I am still struggling some with how to balance doing well at my occupation right now (I am primarily a student after all!) AND investing in people which has so much more eternal significance. It's not easy, especially since I often tend to over-think things....

So...that's all I can think of right now....and I need to head for bed soon. So thanks for reading, and if you think of me I'd appreciate your prayers that I would 1. Keep my perspective on God, 2. Focus on listening for His call, and 3. Learn how to properly balance how I spend my time.

Our Crazy Weather and My Fun Day

We've had crazy weather this winter...both in Dallas and here in NWA. I haven't been in Dallas for the crazy weather, so I'll mostly talk about the NWA part :) The crazy weather has been in the form of snow - and TONS OF SNOW!

It snowed a bit on the weekend my parents brought me back to school - Jan. 9. But it wasn't much. It did stick around for several days though.

Our second snow storm came on Jan. 20th. It started early in the morning, if I remember right. I walked to my 9:00a.m. class through the falling snow and enjoyed taking some pictures of it :)

I would guess it snowed 2-4 inches....so not too much. Most of the snow disappeared in about a week, except for places where there had been a big pile of it.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the weekend of the 29th, with highs in the 60's! I went for a walk to downtown and took pictures - I may have even been in a t-shirt.

It changed pretty quick after that though. On Feb. 1, it started snowing at about 1a.m. and continued to snow for well over 12 hours. It was basically a blizzard that morning - that's what a weather website was calling it! Campus closed down at 10:30a.m. and all classes for the rest of the day were cancelled. My prof. had cancelled my 9:00 class even before campus closed. I heard that only six classes were held that day.

Since that was a Tuesday, we were supposed to put the newspaper together in the evening. Because classes were cancelled, we decided to do it in the afternoon instead - so I had to walk the quarter mile or so to the honors house where the Threefold office is.

The snow was still falling at that point. After I finished laying out my pages for the paper, I went to dinner in the cafeteria. While I was there, one of the other students got the email saying classes were cancelled for the next day as well. It was so funny how cheering broke out in the cafeteria, kind of in waves as more students figured out what was going on.

So the next day my friend Brooke and I decided to get outside and take snow pictures! It was about 10*, but we didn't let that stop us :D We had a blast for nearly an hour and a half.

Most of the trees were really pretty because they were covered in icicles that were glistening in the sun :) I would guess there was about 6" of snow from that storm.

Our adventures included following deer tracks through the woods to an area I had heard looked like Narnia,

walking across the soccer field to get back to my dorm,

me being "forced" to eat snow after I shocked Brooke by saying I couldn't remember eating snow before (I liked it - I just look funny because I was laughing so hard at Brooke's shocked-ness),

and taking pictures of each other.

On Friday the 4th we got a little more snow - but not for too long. It just made everything pretty again :)

While Brooke and I were out and about, I had further shocked Brooke by admitting I had never been sledding before. I mean, come on - I'm from Dallas - when does Dallas ever get enough snow to go sledding? (Well, last year and this year it has...but I haven't been there either time!) So the next day (Sat. 5th) we got together to go sledding. But first we had to get the six inches of snow off of her car.......that took a while...and then we had to get her car out of the parking spot. And once we finally did get out, we weren't sure where we would find sleds. So we went to a hardware store and got "drip pans" instead - they look like giant cookie sheets. We think they're meant to be used under running generators, but not sure. Anyhow, we went with two of Brooke's other friends over to the honors hill which is THE sledding hill of Siloam and had a lot of fun sledding :)

(This is us trying to go down with three people on the cookie sheet - it didn't work. Two people worked great though :D)

And I loved it! :) After we finished sledding, we made snow cream (like ice cream - but made of snow and condensed milk - YUM!) and enjoyed it together :)

The snow from that storm is still around, although it had been cleared off most of the roads and gotten very trampled down everywhere else and was actually getting a little dangerous, what from the melting and refreezing it's done. But the weather wasn't done with Arkansas yet!

Tuesday night (8th) another snow storm was forecasted to hit our area. After I finished my part of laying out the paper in the Threefold office (at about 1:30 in the morning), I walked back over to my dorm. The snow had been falling for 30-45 minutes at that point, and was just a light dusting on the ground. I loved it because it was dark outside, so the snow falling through the light beams from the street lights was really pretty, and I could listen to the snow falling, and I felt like Lucy discovering Narnia :)

I went to bed in pretty short order, and woke up at 6:30. I got an automated call that classes were cancelled for the day because of the snow - which made me so happy because I had been feeling very overwhelmed about that day's homework. So I went back to sleep until 9. When I got up and looked outside, I could hardly believe my eyes. It had snowed so much that I could hardly see the cars in the parking lot - there were just lots of car-shaped white humps with antennas sticking out of them! It continued snowing until about 2 that afternoon - a total of TWO FEET!

That afternoon (yesterday) I trekked across the Quad (breaking my own path through the snow that was up to my knees!) to work on my homework assignment for the next day - it was fun, but it sure was cold toooo!!! When I was at dinner, I once again witnessed students' jubilation at learning classes were cancelled for our fourth snow day of the semester. That freed me up from worrying about homework that would have been due today, so I went to a movie night in a friend's room. I also hung out with some of the girls on my hall and talked with Nathan on the phone for an hour :D

So that brings me up to today - and was it ever a fun day!

I woke up at about nine, spent some time talking to Mom on the phone and doing other stuff until 10 when the Health Center opened for the day. Went down there and rode the bike machine for an hour (went 10 miles) and did some weights stuff. While I rode the bike I was reading John Perkins' autobiography for one of my classes.

After that I ate lunch with several friends of mine, and they invited me to play Wallyball with them. So we played that for an hour and a half or so, and I was actually doing all right at it! When I had tried it before (back in my freshman fall) I had done poorly...but this time I was actually a tiny bit co-ordinated!

After we finished playing, we decided to go sledding. But this time, we went to the big tall hill near the 100 stairs. We'd heard about a slope there that somebody found.

(I "stole" this picture from one of my hall mates of when they went down the big hill yesterday. We didn't have this sled today)

By the time we got to it, though, there wasn't much snow on parts of it because so many people had gone down it. So we promptly put more snow on it! As we were putting snow on it, the twins and I ended up sliding down it (without any type of sled under us!). I actually got stuck partway down on a vine type thing that was attached to something at the top and the bottom...but I was able to get myself loose.

After everyone in our group had gone down the hill, we had to hike up the 100 stairs which was a tad dangerous because they were covered in snow! But lots of other people had been going up/down them, and there was a handrail to hang on to, so it was fine :) The next time I went down, I tried to use my "sled" - but it decided it didn't want to go down the hill. My body, however, decided to keep going without the sled! That time hurt a lot more - and I got a bruise from it - but it was still fun :D The crazy thing about this slope is that as you're going down you're kicking up a lot of snow that flies up in your face - and then at the bottom there's this mound of snow from everyone sledding down - so it's quite the ride :) The third (and last) time I went down I used a friend's inner tube - and that was definitely the best :D

Lynnette and I then decided to walk the Dogwood Trail all around the campus - it was her idea and a bit crazy, but we had a ton of fun. It took us about an hour to go the 1.8 miles, following deer trails or human trails...but we were still walking in snow that was at least to half way up our legs. We made the mistake of going the uphill direction though :/

We wrote our names with our fingers in the snow. Lots of other people had been doing it too. At one point we saw four or five dear crossing the trail - we felt so sorry for them being out in this cold and having to walk through the deep snow!! There were also lots of cute little birdies out singing :) Of course I felt even more sorry for them than for the deer!

When we got about halfway around the trail, we stopped and lay down in the snow for a while - it was kind of cold but it actually felt nice too! It was so quiet and peaceful and the moon was up (it was only about 4:30p.m. at that point) - it was just wonderful...I could have almost fallen asleep :D

We came back around to the parking lot area for the library, and there was a big mound of snow around a lamp post - so I suggested that we climb up it - and we did, crazy as it was for us to do that :D It was pretty difficult to climb because of sinking into the snow anytime we tried to step up. But we did it in the end!

Of course, once we quit walking in the snow and were walking on the cleared sidewalk is when I started to realize just how COLD my ankles and feet were. I was very glad to get back to my room and take off my snow-packed boots and socks and take a nice warm shower! But the hot water made my feet hurt so bad because they were so cold--they're all right now though :)

Since then I've just been blogging and doing some homework reading and enjoying the last of my snow day...tomorrow I have a test in my one class, but then it will be the weekend all over again! While I'm enjoying the time off, I'm also ready for all the snow to just go away. This weekend it's supposed to get up to 50 degrees, and by next Thursday the high is supposed to be 70, so I'm really looking forward to that! And then my parents come for Family Weekend!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I've had such a wonderful day - thanks to all my friends who made it possible! :D