December Photo Project Day 7

It's late at night now, but we just arrived home and I still need to post my DPP for the day!  Today was wedding day for the Magala's daughter who was introduced last year on our compound.  In Uganda, it is the groom's family that hosts the wedding and they usually take place at the groom's home church/town.  So today, we traveled down to Jinja for the day.  

While we waited for the bride to prepare herself (in true Africa fashion, the wedding began a few hours later than planned) we watched the kids play (being diligent to not allow them completely failing to keep them from playing in the rain), visited with other guests and thought about how the angels are waiting for the bride of Christ to be prepared for the great wedding.

Finally, the moment arrived and Pastor Charles walked his dear daughter down the aisle.

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth and Diana...

And finally, a group shot of everyone from Mbale, that was able to join in the festivities today...

December Photo Project Day 6

Friday night is team pizza and party night.  Every week we switch between our house and the Weber's house.  

Talitha is particularly fond of going to the Weber's house these days simply because they have a trampoline.   My girl loves to bounce... 

December Photo Project Day 5

The Mt. Elgon Rally is coming to Mbale soon.  They will be racing 361 km through the greater Mbale area...and just to comfort you, a recent news article was quick to point out that the recent rains had not washed away the roads.  Some of the cars were parked at the hotel just up the road, so we took the kids to see them...

"The Kids" being the 16 we happened to have on our compound at the moment...

Oh, yes...we're feeling Africa's Energy... 16 times over...

December Photo Project Day 4

Early Morning...

...cooking breakfast...

...content to sit and watch...

...carrying all needed items to the table...in one trip...

December Photo Project Day 3

This week we have two very special visitors staying at our house...the brothers of Baby Gift.  Just like most mamas of 5 children, ages 7 and under, their mama is overwhelmed, a bit tired, and is also fighting an illness.  It is a very cultural thing here for kids to go spend a week or more with an Uncle and Auntie or Grandparent when times are tough.  Since much of the extended family is Muslim, it doesn't really work for these boys to head elsewhere in their family, and we thought it would be fun to have them visit for a week, so here we are playing Uncle and Auntie for a week and here they are...in all their cuteness...

Like most boys, they are full of energy...they are also full of words, but we can't understand most of them because they don't speak English.  :)  Thankfully, we usually have a friend or two around that do speak their tribal language, so we've been getting along quite well.

They sure do remind us of the early days with Matthew and Jimmy!

Their days have been full of

...exploring the workings of our toilet (everyday, I hear them sneaking into the toilet room flushing and pulling the back of the toilet off to see just where the water comes from!)

...splashing around in the shower...

...turning on and off the light switches...

...learning all about the ipad...

...sneakily dropping yucky Mzungu food onto the floor when they think no one is watching...

...looking at books...

...coloring...

...and learning that our big dogs really are quite friendly...even when you gently pull their tails!

So happy for these two!

December Photo Project Day 2

We constructed and decorated our Christmas tree today.  So thankful to the Lord that I'm finding it so much easier this year to get into the "Christmas Spirit" and actually enjoy our warm weather and fake tree.  

We had the usual kid crew of eight to help us get everything out.  But we also enjoyed the company of 5 friends who had never decorated a tree before...bringing the total number of kid crew members to 13...ages 2 to 13.

Friends on my facebook feed who are fellow fans of Ann Voskamp are proclaiming the greatness of being quiet and learning to wait during this Advent season.  And I walk into the living room and see only the need to live in the noise and chaos of hospitality and love this Advent season, as I wait to see God work in the lives of these kids...

...some of whom told me moments earlier, that their daddy never plays with them like pastor does...

...and who can resist the wonder in their eyes...

..and as we wrap a small fraction of the crew up in lights, I know that this is what the Lord has ordained for us in this moment and I thank him for it.

December Photo Project Day 1

Yes!  It's December and it's time for the 2013 version of the December Photo Project.  The goal is to post a picture every day between now and Christmas.  This is my fourth year to participate and I really enjoy the push towards creativity it gives me.  Want to join the fun?  Visit View from the Prairie Box to sign up.

Today, our church here in Mbale was blessed with a record attendance of about 125.  We also welcomed a new member, had the Lord's supper and we had our monthly fellowship lunch.  The idea of everybody bringing a little something to share and not just expecting to receive is a new concept here, but what a blessing to see the church growing in this area.  Even some of the children that come without parents will bring a few bananas or rolls.  This morning as more and more new visitors walked through our gate and more and more chairs were collected from across our compound, because once again we ran out (even though we just bought another 15 last week!), I knew the Lord was going to have to stretch and multiply the food today!  And, he was faithful...we had just enough to feed every soul.

Among our new visitors was one mama who Eric met at a store a couple weeks ago.  Her husband is Indian and a Hindu, but she is Ugandan and a Christian.  Another visitor was our security guard from two weeks ago.  He had joined us for worship that day and today he came back as a visitor (not our as our guard) and brought his wife and newborn baby.  Also, the mama of 4 boys that regularly attend by themselves also came.  Such a blessing to see parents being brought in by their children.

Then after lunch, we have the most spectacular clean up crew...our group of boys that love to hang out with us.  They washed ALL of the dishes and they mopped our house since it tends to get quite a bit of mud tracked through on Sundays.  Afterwards, while they waited for our Sunday afternoon festivities to begin, they sat and colored around the table.