Welcome Party

On Thursday night, the Tuiningas held a party to welcome us to Mbale. We enjoyed a Ugandan feast including rice, meat in Ugandan sauce, groundnut sauce, posho, matoke, chapati bread, sodas, and chocolate cake. The Webers were in charge of bringing the rice and chapati bread.

Since Jenna and I had never made chapati before, we had some friends over to help us. When Jenna and I would take a turn making bread, our Ugandan friends would chuckle at us. We are not sure if this was because our technique was terrible or we just looked funny in general. Nevertheless, we had a good time.

Here are some pics of the girls making chapati:

Mixing the dough

Frying the bread on our handy new chapati pan

Here are a few pics from the party:

(not sure why Silas is holding his ears here :-)

Dianna and I

Jenna, Brenda, and Jennifer (aka the chapati girls)

Well, I better get moving. Our container is supposed to come today!!!

Settling In (Kind of...)

We are almost through our first week in Africa. While our container is still in container jail, we are working to make our new home feel like home :-). Here are some pics from around the house this week. We have been out and about in town too, but I haven't taken my camera with me yet!

We are so thankful that the Lord has provided Jenna van Eyk to stay with us for 5 weeks and help us get settled here. Jenna's dad is the pastor of Providence OPC in Greensboro, NC. She had spent the summer teaching in Karamoja, Uganda, and agreed to extend her stay to help us. Thank you Jenna! Here she is making rolls with Levi and our neighbors Sam and Benjamin.

Our house here...

Our yard (don't look too close - you might see our underwear :-). We don't have a washer and dryer yet, so all our clothes must be washed by hand and hung to dry. Thankfully, there is a dear lady, Jane, who comes for 6 hours Monday-Friday and helps me with all the housework.

On the porch with Heidi...

We have an old, empty swimming pool in our yard. It has become a favorite spot to hang out. Here are the kids playing a game in it :-).

Although we haven't seen any snakes yet (I'm not complaining), the kids have caught lots of lizards. Gid asked me to post some lizard pics. So, for your viewing pleasure...

Lizard in one hand and Lizard's tail in the other hand

Hope you all have a blessed Thursday!!!

Finally here!

We are enjoying our first night in our new home in Mbale, Uganda. I'll keep this post short because the power is out and I should try to preserve our laptop's battery!

We left the US on Wednesday after more bittersweet goodbyes, including a gathering of homeschool friends and a church going away party.

Our church family at Pilgrim OPC in Raleigh (I felt kind of goofy being the only person to get a seat!)

Some of our homeschool friends

Who says homeschool moms don't know how to have fun?

So, on Wednesday, we got on the plane at RDU and flew to London. Since we had a 14 hour layover in London, we decided to go explore the city. The jury is still out on whether or not this was a good idea, since we were all running on almost no sleep and were rather emotionally fragile :-), but nonetheless, we did it. We spent most of our time at the Tower of London. Here's a pic of our tired selves...

By the way, Silas was terrified of the Queen's Guard guys. There big fuzzy black hats were a little too much for him; especially when combined with a big gun!

We got on the plane again Thursday night and flew from London to Entebbe. We arrived around 7:00 a.m., and were warmly welcomed by the Tuiningas. We spent today getting to know our new friends here and beginning to unpack. There is a Ugandan family that lives on our property with us. They will be a huge help as we adjust to life here. In addition to the mom and dad, there is an 18 year old daughter, a 10 year old son, and a 6 year old son. A small prayer request - while our container has arrived in our town, it is currently stuck in the bond (aka container jail). We are hoping it will be released this week, so we can really settle in. Until then, we have plenty of furniture and household goods provided by the mission. A couple random pics from our day today...

View out of our bedroom window...doesn't do any justice to the sunset I was trying to capture.

Levi in the boys' new bedroom

Well, this has gotten way longer than what I intended! While we miss you all stateside,  we are really happy to be here and are excited to see what the Lord has for us.

Western PA & West Virginia Wrap-up

I can hardly believe it, but a week from today, we'll be in a plane on our way to Uganda, Lord willing. We have had a sweet time visiting with my mom, sister, and step-dad, with side trips to visit friends in WV and a college roommate reunion. Here's some highlights:

Adventurer Levi & his grandma preparing to head out for a swim in the creek

A visit to Waldameer Park!!!

Ice Cream!

Motorcycles!

Ferris Wheel overlooking Lake Erie with Aunt Heather

We spent the weekend visiting with our friends and church family from Reformation OPC in Morgantown, WV. They had a picnic for us, and it was great to fellowship with people who have been such an encouragement to us in our faith.

Take me home, country roads...

Carolyn, one of those dear friends

On the way back to my mom's from WV, we stopped in Pittsburgh for a brief college roommate reunion. The five of us have gotten together almost every summer for the past 15 years since college. I made them promise to Skype me when they're together next summer.

My girls 

(note how we are blissfully ignoring the small children scampering up the hillside :-)

Levi attempted to impress the crowd, by suiting up in this space man/football player get-up

We are now back at my mom's, preparing to head for NC in the morning. We ended our evening tonight with a bonfire, and these beautiful lanterns (and some tears...)

Philly, Rhode Island, & Jamestown Wrap-up

I've been thinking a lot about goodbyes lately, as our family has been saying a lot of them, and we have more to come. Having to say farewell is quite miserable, and I long for the day I won't have to do it anymore:

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. -Revelation 21:4

But while we're here on earth, we must be separated from those we love. It hurts. Yet it also reminds me of the sweet blessing of friends and family - what a gift from the Lord!

Here are some pics from our "Goodbye Tour" over the last two weeks:

We started by visiting with Mark's family, who live outside of Philadelphia.

Here we are with our niece, Cassidy, and Mark's parents

Mark's fam held a going away party for us, providing an opportunity to fellowship with dear friends and family, some of whom we had not seen in many years.

Silas with his "Aunt Mimi"

Dinner!

We couldn't leave Philly without enjoying Mark's fav food - cheesesteaks :-)

After PA we headed on to Rhode Island to spend a few days with my brother, Todd, his wife, Jensy, and our newest niece, Kiran.

Next we headed to my hometown, Jamestown, NY for a visit with my dad and our family there.

They even took us to Midway Park!