February summed up in one post

Ahhh!!!  I can't believe a whole month passed and I haven't had time to get on here.  Actually, considering everything we've been doing, I'm not surprised!  We were visited by Paige's family, we welcomed Eric's sister and family (our new teammates!) and another visitor, Micah.  It's been a bit crazy, but absolutely wonderful!

February started with an amazing visit from the family of our MA, Paige.  She is one of 10 kids and her entire family came to visit for two weeks.  We had such a blast with them!  Here is a smattering of pictures:

So many little girl giggles to be heard:

We went hiking one day to Chebonet Falls.  Since it was dry season, the falls were barely flowing, but it was fun!

Even Talitha managed to make it down (mostly sliding! ha!) and back up with lots of encouragement, but only a little help!

 On their final day, a few of us went with them to the zoo in Entebbe.  So much fun!

Camel riding:

The adult size people got to go in the pen with the Cheetah and pet him.  So amazing!

Trying to get the Rhinos to stand up.  They didn't.

 In the end, we had a new set of really great friends.  And it was oh so hard to say goodbye.  We were so thankful that God blessed us so much through Paige's family and grateful to God that he made the way for them to come.

Then, after Paige's family left, we had one very busy weekend after which we welcomed our new teammates to the field...who also happen to be Eric's sister and family.  They will be serving at our Karamoja station.  Mark will be doing diaconal work and maintenance.  So, the very next week we were back at the airport picking up "the cousins." (eight cousins plus Uncle, Auntie and their missionary associate)

They were able to spend a week with us in Mbale before driving up to Karamoja.  It was a rough week as some of the kids were sick and they were all trying to recover from jet lag.  Lesson fully learned: sick one-year-olds don't recover from jet lag very easily, but "Gogs" make a lot of things better.

After one week, we said a smaller goodbye and they went on their way to their new home.  We are still enjoying the fact that they are only a couple hours away now...really!  We have family on this side of the world now!  How wonderful is that?  I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as they re-establish their family in their new home.

And, in the middle of all of that, we also welcomed one other visitor, Micah.  He flew in the same day Paige's family flew out and stayed until the beginning of March.  He was a blast to have around.  He hung in there with all our craziness, let us bunk him in the same room with all the boys and ended up being quite the entertainment for all the kids around. (which was usually about 18 plus friends)  haha!  His "official" task here was to shadow Eric, which he did.  But, he also ministered to our kids and family in an amazing way and I was so thankful to the Lord for that sweet gift.  I snatched the following pictures from my kids.

So do you agree that I was justified in not blogging through the month of February?  Whew... it was busy, but oh so much joy!  So thankful for all we were able to do and all of our visitors!