Aru Falls

Lady has quickly become part of the family, she shares her bed with Snuggle Bug...And this weekend she went with us on our first day trip. We were told about a waterfall that is about an hour and 15 min drive from our city and is a beautiful place to go for an afternoon excursion. We are planning to go camping in a week, and we thought it would be a great practice run before we left.The directions that went something like this: "Take Kitgume road till you reach the big bridge, shortly after the bridge you will turn right, just before the the trade center. Follow the small road for about 20 min. Then you will turn right again, you will know it is the correct turn because the road dips down." We only had to call once to confirm the location of the turn for the small road. They said we would be straddling the grass ... .and we were! This place is really out in the African bush! in the middle of nowhere. It is rough, and untourist-ized. It was beautiful!The last time we went camping, it rained and we discovered that the van leaked! IT was not a pleasant night.... and before I was going to sleep in the van for a week .... during rainy season... we had to get it fixed!! I thought of putting a tarp over the top of the van. That would help keep the water out, maybe even allow us to keep the windows open if it rains (it gets stuffy with the windows closed.) And this is what Kent came up with.... it worked really well. Daddy, you would be proud!Here is our camping stove.... we heated up leftover soup for lunch and added yummy pineapple to finish off our meal. I actually had to cook several meals on this stove, when our cooker (stove) ran out of propane and the gas station was out as well.

Before we headed down to the falls we met Bosco, who came out of nowhere! He was a true God send!! There was NO WAY we could have made it down the mountain with out his help. The descent down was treacherous, there were times that my life flashed before my eyes as I thought Lady was going to pull me head first down into the rocks! There were several rivers that we had to ford (isn't that the fancy word for cross??) That would have been impossible with just us: 2 adults, 4 girls, 2 chairs, and umbrella and a puppy! But is was all worth it, wouldn't you say.... just look at the view! There he is.... the silent watcher, sent to help us maneuver down a mountain so we could enjoy one of God's MANY wonders!

Please observe that the chairs we hauled down the mountain, were NOT fold able, easy to carry camping chairs..... they were these, hard plastic lawn chairs. And the Umbrella, was NOT the small compact type that fit into your purse or backpack.

Here are the girls playing in the only shallow place we could find. They had so much fun, once they recovered from the journey down. For the trip back up we made a few changes. Kent carried, Curly Sue on his back, I passed Lady to Baby Girl and took Snuggle Bug on my back. Sweat Pea, wielded the umbrella and Bosco took the chairs! It wasn't as scary going back up, except for the time I fell in to the river... but I didn't drop Snuggle bug! Of course I was the only one who WASN'T dressed for a swim ... oh well!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!

Easter Weekend Confessions

Easter "weekend" started for us on Thursday when Kent and I headed to the Capital..... ALONE! Can you believe it, God as given us FABULOUS babysitters here in Uganda! We ate burgers, bought cereal (even at $10 a box) ate pizza, bought butter and cheese, and even ate Mexican food! ... I LOVED IT!

We were home by Saturday. The kids had colored eggs with Miss Ashley, so Sunday was a low key, recover from supply run, kind of day. Sunday night I was making a HUGE pot of spaghetti sauce... home made.... from scratch, and as I was moving it from the counter, back to the burner...... I DROPPED IT!

I'm not sure what the actual trigger was, could be the fact that we live in a foreign country, could have been all the time wasted cooking, could have been the food that was lost, yummy, fresh good food, or it could have been the fact I was exhausted from staying up until 2:00am while we were in the capital. Who knows..... but I LOST IT!

I started crying like I had just lost my BFF. Kent thought I had received bad news via a text message or something. I couldn't explain it, I just cried, and cried.... and cried! It was really the first time that I have cried since we moved here. Kent was super husband and cleaned up my mess while I went into our room and sobbed. The kids were angles and all volunteered to eat noodles with butter and cheese. (Fortunately we had picked up some Parmesan cheese while we were in Kampala.) There was enough sauce left in the bottom of the pot for a few of us to enjoy the creation.

Easter Monday is a holiday here in Uganda, so Kent, one of our neighbors and Lawrence planned a huge BBQ or Roast. There was a ton of food that needed to be prepared. Fortunately I didn't have to cook it all, I just had to help. We cooked a gigantic amount of Matoki (green bananas), a huge pot of potatoes, lots of noodles, bunches and bunches of Bo, and EIGHT KILOS of RICE! All this was in addition to the three chickens, a side of beef and 7 pineapples.

In all honesty I didn't have a very good time. I found it extremely hard, after having a rough night the night before, to force myself to have a conversation with women, who didn't WANT to talk, or who COULDN'T talk (at least in my language). I really tried hard a first. We started preparing food at 9:00am. And I sat and helped, while listening to them chat in Acholi. Occasionally I would ask Susan (one of the ladies who spoke English) what they were saying, and she would tell me, but not with out some annoyance in her voice. After a while I gave up.... I was emotionally SPENT!

BUT God was good, when he gave me those Awesome babysitters, he planed it so that they would be my friends too! So at 5:30pm, my friends came and kidnapped me for a girls sleepover. We had dinner.... I didn't have to cook, and we talked.... with out being interrupted. Then we watched a grown up movie..... The Lord of the Rings, part one. (We flirted with the idea of watching all three movies, but we didn't think staying up that late was wise, and now we have a GREAT excuse to have another sleep over!).... I came home the next morning so refreshed!

THANK YOU JESUS for friends who will babysit and who understand life in a third world country. After keeping the girls for three days, they were amazed at how I manage, which is why they spoiled me on our girls night! I feel so loved and blessed!

Evergreen

In my last post I shared the testimony of Daniel, the bartender, who gave his life to Jesus, after a college outreach. He asked Kent if they could start having a bible study. This week was their first meeting, they met there in the Evergreen Bar and while they were going over the basic plan of salvation, with verses and all, one other employee and three waitress gave their lives to JESUS! So there are now 5, yes FIVE, new believers that are basically having church in a bar! GOD IS AWESOME!!!

In other awesome news... Dennis W, the young man Kent is discipiling, and Kent were out the other day looking for goats. They saw some nice meaty ones, and when they stopped to see who owned them, they discovered a little girl with a NASTY cough. So they laid hands on her chest and prayed for healing! Then they went to find the owner of the goats, but he wasn't home, which gave them a great reason to go back the next day. Dennis returned to ask about the goats, and while he was in the neighborhood, Kent told him he should check on the little girl too. The mom said that the girl had slept all night, for the first time in two weeks! Dennis put his hand on her chest, and he could feel the difference. The day before her lungs were SUPER congested, the next day they were clear! Another story for the GLORY of GOD!!