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!

December Photo Project: Day 14

Day 14: In which we eat pancakes then torture our MA, Paige with a game of Chinese Numbers.  

Turning 40!

Yesterday was my 40th birthday!  What a blast!  I was totally spoiled and surprised all.day.long....far more than I deserved.  This is a total photo dump because the celebrations started at 7:00 am and didn't finished until the evening!  

Tuesday mornings, I meet with a group of missionary ladies at a local coffee shop to pray.  They surprised me this morning with confetti, a sweet card, flowers and a banana cake.  Super sweet!  These ladies are such a huge blessing in my life...continually carrying me before the throne of grace!

I thought I was just going home afterwards to relax after my back to back trips to Kampala over the weekend, but instead my girls had a secret plan to go get manicures together.  (They only cost $1.50 here...how fun is that?)  Talitha was more than impressed with the multiple shades of pink to choose from.

Then I was told that there were even more plans!  The boys were meeting me for mini golf!  Mini golf in a unique experience here.  Starting with the fact that a police officer with a very big gun is the one who finds the clubs and balls for you.  We lucked out this time and actually had a club and ball each...usually we have to share.  :-)

In addition the course isn't exactly the cleanest course ever.  There are numerous leaves and sticks that only add to the challenge.

And we always wonder if the makers of this fun place just saw a picture on the internet and thought..."hey, lets do that..." Some of the holes are just plain impossible!

But who can argue with a great hour that is only $0.35 a person?

After that, I went home for an hour until I was supposed to meet Eric for a lunch date at 1.  Turns out our "lunch date" was an afternoon at the nicest hotel in town.  Unknown to me, the kids had asked him if he could get me out of the house for the entire afternoon (they had further plans...more on that in a minute)... my gem of a husband, who knows me so well and knew I would be absolutely exhausted after back to back trips to Kampala, decided to let me rest ALL afternoon.  Pure bliss! 

He told the hotel, he was bringing me for my birthday.  They took it a step up.

A welcoming sign outside: 

Our room was "340", but in honor of turning 40, the taped off the 3!  haha!!

The bed!  All the lettering was in flower petals...

And they made a cake for me!

When I came home, were the surprises done yet?  No!  The neighbor kids had decorated the gate and sang to me as we drove in!

Then, I thought surely all the surprises done, but the kids had totally out-done themselves and had a beautiful candle lit dinner for two!  (That's why they needed me out for the afternoon!)

They also made a video of all them speaking sweet messages, which of course made me cry.  Then they all prayed for me.

Then we had cake!

And why get forty little candles, when you can get one huge one for each decade? ;-)

This was certainly a birthday, I will never forget!  The only thing missing was Timothy!  (I talked to him later.) Huge thanks to Sarah Jantzen who I hear, had a huge hand in organizing this crew of mine.  :-)  I'm so blessed and I'm so thankful to be one step closer to my eternal home.