Today's Happenings

Two fun things for today that have very little to do with each other...

First up, we got two guinea fowl.  We let them out of the coop for the first time today.  They are fun little birds with very little brain. 

And second, I took the church girls' volleyball team swimming.  Too fun!  Only downer was that we missed our former MA, Miss Paige who used to do so much with the girls' volleyball team. 

Hockey Tournament

What happens when you plop a Canadian into Uganda?  A hockey tournament, of course!  Today, Uganda celebrated Independence Day.  Schools and many businesses are given a holiday.  So Eric organized for the youth to play hockey at the church.  Some of the youth made lunch and they had a great day! (Photo Credit: Eric Tuininga)

A Smattering of Happenings

We've just finished up our third week of school.  So far, it's gone very well.  I'm so thankful for that grace from God.  The littles and I do all our work in the pavilion.  We love being out there and make a fair bit of a mess before the days are finished.  I think I can safely blame William for most of the mess though.  I realized that he rotates around the table, picking a new spot for each subject and leaving a trail behind.  haha...  I find it funny to see where my kids choose to do their school.  I have some that claim the same spot day in and day out, only changing every few months.  Others are migrants...they choose a new spot almost daily.  

We've also been busy doing other things.  Here's a smattering:

Our little friend S, is finally done her treatment for her leg.  A little bit more than a year ago, we found her in the hospital by herself (her grandma had gone to the village to find money), with her leg infected to the point that her bone had rotted, broken and then burst through her skin.  But now, she is healed and able to live life to the full.  Here she is with her grandmother who loves her so so much!

Our Saturday night tradition continues to be to have a huge meal followed by a sermon.  It's a highlight of our week.

Our church continues to grow.  Last Sunday we welcomed many new members and had a lot of baptisms.  We rejoice with these dear friends.

The church expands this way too...here's the newest little addition!

Talitha's cat had one little kitty a few weeks ago.  So cute and so sweet!

And Benaiah's duck is finally laying eggs.  He is over the moon excited about it!

The boys built a Lego ship, with a styrofoam hold and attached Timothy's EV3 to it, as well as quite a few LED lights.  The local hotel let us come up one night and send it on its maiden voyage around the pool.  I think now they are working on a second version.

Compound Happenings

Life continues to breeze by at a crazy pace, but we've had some excitement here on our compound.

:: The first is that we had a pavilion built.  It sits just outside our kitchen door.  We had long outgrown our dining room and dining room table.  Even on the rare occasion that it was just our family, we still sat elbow to elbow.  Most nights, however, we would just spill out into the living room.  But we are loving this solution. Although, admittedly, it's taken some convincing to get the kids to spread out around the table.  They have complained that we are too far apart now and Talitha still tries to swing her leg over my leg while we eat just like she always did inside. haha!  Sitting outside is actually so relaxing.  The mornings are so cool and refreshing!  In addition to meals, this space also offers too much for our ministry.  Timothy's robot club now meets out here.  We also are hoping to get copies of all the Ugandan school textbooks.  Uganda does something similar to common core, so there are standardized textbooks available.  Unfortunately, most students never see them.  We are excited to be able to have a space where students can study their textbooks during open compound.  The kids really enjoy just hanging out here too.  So much blessing and so much potential!

This picture is courtesy of Timothy.  :-)

First family dinner:

Hanging out.  We hope to get doors made soon for the areas under the counter.

Secondary Students getting their supper last Wednesday:

:: The second is all the drama this hole has created...actually...it's not the hole...but that the hole is home to a very huge cobra.  Denise was on the back porch (about 15 feet from this hole) when she looked up and saw the cobra start to poke his head out during a rainstorm.

We got help from a group of men that are working on a building that is being constructed next door to us.  The hole was difficult to get to though.  It was on an embankment but on the other side of the fence from us.  They took two very long poles...one of which had a spear attached to the end of it... and tried to stab it.  The cobra came flying out of the hole with its hood out (SO BIG!) and landed in all the bushes below.  In the chaos of everyone trying to stay safe, the cobra disappeared.

 This is the building that is being constructed.  The men that didn't come over to help, gave plenty of advice while watching from a safe place. haha!

 We thought that maybe it had retreated back into its hole, so we burned our tire swing to try to smoke it out.  Nope.

Two days later...once again...it began to poke its head out during a rainstorm.  We tried again to get it but were quite unsuccessful.  So yes...there is still a very large cobra somewhere around.  Sigh...I'll be glad when we find it!

:: Katelyn enjoyed dissecting a worm for biology this past week.  We named him Fredrick.

:: And Benaiah's birthday is today!  At first, he wanted an ostrich.  Then he wanted a flamingo.  Finally, he settled on a duck.  Have I mentioned we've been studying birds?  He's spent quite a lot of time pouring over the bird books.  haha!  His name is Puddleglum and I hope I was not being too much of a Puddleglum when I reminded him repeatedly that his sweet duck is at the bottom of the food chain around here.  Here's to hoping he survives.

:: And for all my lamenting that we only have Pied Crows on our compound, we actually have quite a collection now!  The most exciting finds being a Coucal, a Plantain Eater and a Yellow Billed Kite.  We also had to add the Barn Owl that rested on our compound for a day a couple years ago.

Bullet Post

The weeks have continued to pass by quickly.  Here are a few of the highlights:

:: We celebrated the first wedding in our new church building.  It was such a fun day!  Denise, Katelyn and Rebecca were all bridesmaids, Talitha was a flower girl and Benaiah was a "peg boy"...aka ring bearer.

When we got to the church with the girls, the crowd was so large and so loud!  I was sure that Talitha would get scared and not want to walk down the aisle...especially when she had to go first!  But she was so brave and danced her way in.  Afterward, Eric asked her, "Weren't you scared?" She said, "No, everyone was looking at me and how beautiful I was!" Eric said, "I think everyone was looking at the bride."  She said confidently, "No, they were looking at me" This does nothing for her humility. haha!

Here's a small sample of the excitement of the crowd!

They did the very non-Ugandan thing and kissed at the wedding.  As you can see by the look on the attendants face behind, it was a bit shocking to most people... haha!

Aw!  What cuties!

Such a fun day!

:: For Fourth of July, the British missionaries in our community hosted a BBQ.  Now affectionately referred to Brexit1776

Katelyn made a super cute cake for the occassion.

It even looked like a flag when it was cut.

::  We've also celebrated three birthdays:

First Rebecca turned 13 (we now have five teenagers in the family!!)

Then Matthew turned 14:

Then Denise turned 15:

::Then, this past weekend, we had an end of year picnic with the students and their families at KTC.  It included a volley ball tournament between the KTC students and some of the youth of New Life Presbyterian Church.  Our church youth won.  

Here is a picture of all the students and their families:

This is a picture of all the students that attend or are currently pastoring PCU churches:

And while the former group was lining up, these brothers, not to be outdone, insisted that I take a picture of the "presbycostles" as they affectionately refer to themselves as.

::And I'll leave you with just one more picture, simply because he was a cutie...a dangerous one...but cute nonetheless!