Marshmallow fun

This is my sweet friend Adina.  We have know her and her Husband since before they were married!  They were the team leaders for the GIANT 32 person team that came this summer.  With all those people we loaded them down with trunks and bags to bring us.  Christmas, birthdays.... you name it they brought it.  Having been an MK (missionary kid) her self, Adina knew how much joy could come in one little package.  She and her husband brought buckets, and buckets of happiness for out family!

 One thing she brought us was a book called "The Marshmallow Incident", a bag of mini marshmallows and some tooth picks.  Reading the book and then creating things with the picks and mallows made a great family night!

Blessings in a Bag

So, remember how my last blog post talked about ice cream..... and how Kent always asks for "Blue Bell" .... Well this was my Mother-in-loves fix for that.... always creative.  An Ice Cream maker, and it doesn't doesn't require ice!  HOW COOL is that?!?!  Ice is always in short supply in our town!

 With Summer teams we always get goodies.  Gram always sends stuff.  I order things that I need for school, or gifts for the girls.  Usually we are limited to one or two bags.
 But those bags can hold some AMAZING things!  Like YUMMY cereal!  Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds and Honey Nut Cheerios are two of our MOST favorite flavors!

And Corn chips...... so wonderful!  I miss me some chips and salsa! crayons, tang, mac and cheese, spices..... the list goes on and on.  I LOVE the personal things too.  Like my dad sent our old recorders and a pitch pipe as well as his piano book!

 One of the best items that those bags bring is.... BIBLES!  They are so expensive here, so we try and have the teams bring over English NIV bibles, so that we can use our bible money for purchasing Acholi Luo bibles. Oh the blessings of short term teams!

"Stay"cation part 2

A trip to the "big city" is never complete with out ice cream.... and since we were still on "vacation" we went for the mambo-jambo sundays at Java's.  ;)

Sharing ice cream has always been a family favorite ever since..... well it just always has! (Remember Braums?) When people ask Kent what they can bring us, he always says "Blue Bell".  So far, no one has ever brought any.    ;)

"Stay"cation part 1

Mid July was the only time all summer we had a few weeks (two to be exact) in between teams. Our hope was to have a fun trip to the coast, part of our push-pull methods....  But it didn't work out, so we stayed in Kampala instead.  We went for pizza one night and the girls were able to make their own pizzas... super fun being chefs!

 Waiting for the process to begin.

 Suiting up! Can't be a chef with out an apron.

 Flour faces!

 Daddy checking the progress!

 Adding the topings

 Whoop! In the oven it goes!

 The finished product..... wallah.

SB was having a breakdown at this point, so she didn't make the final picture.

T-shirt painting

This summer.... yes I know it is fall...... Our wornderful Waco grandparents sent the girls some great craft goodies.  Each girl got a t-shirt and had the joy of designing their own shirt.  I am always torn between, helping so much that it is done well, but is not their own creation, and letting them try on their own and then being dissapointed with their results..... This time I did both!

 Sunggle bug choose the fish stencil and the paint colors, but I did the work.

 Baby girl was and independent artist.....no help what so ever!

 Snuggle bug in the creative process....

 Curly also received no outside help....

 Baby girls final shirt..... I need Jesus. (the white is a dove)  Later she added John 3:16.

Curly Sue has "joy" with some leaves and a heart for the "o"

I added everything SB wanted, clouds, bubbles, "movement" lines and the "water" underneath.

THANKS MAMA LINDA for the wonderful goodies.... sorry I took so long to post them!  LOVE TO PAPA KENT!



Nature at Work

Some my find these pictures disturbingly gross, I however find them extremely interesting. I'm just sayin....

So we get DSTV here in Uganda.  And it is really kinda fun.  It gives Kent and I an way to keep up with world news, the kids have the occasional treat of cartoons, (many of the cartoons are from when I was a kid, too), plus our favorite is the National Geographic Chanel.  The day after we watched an episode on Extreme Insects and learned all about ants and how they help in the decomposition process (I said they were gross)..... we found this in our yard.

This is one of those GI-MORMUS rats that comes in our yard sometimes. That Lady must have killed during the middle of the night. Only it is COMPLETELY covered in ants.  i couldn't even tell what it was at first.  It was only after poking and prodding that I was able to discover what lied beneath the dark, wiggling mass.

Cool...... and gross all at the same time.  Science lesson!  Aren't you glad you don't have these guys in your yard?  (both the rat and the demolition ants.)

Whoop

Where to begin...... So last year, if you remember, we were so totally blessed by a young lady named Ashley.  She was here for six months and was a great help in getting to have a few date nights while we adjusted to living in a new country.  Well her sister, Laura, came to visit her here in Uganda, and Laura is and Aggie. 

Both young ladies kept our young girls one weekend while we went to Kampala for supplies.  When we got home, not only was our home booby-trapped, but Laura had taught the girls all the A&M cheers.  As you all know Kent is a HUGE Texas Tech fan.......

So this summer when we had a team from College Station come, Laura and Ashley sent us a care package. In it was this t-shirt for Kent.  It was a hoot watching Kent get his new shirt, and at first he refused to wear it, but now he wears it all the time.  So thanks Laura and Ashley for broadening Kent's horizon.

WHOOP!!!

Now you see it..... now you don't

THIS is why I love having that nifty new camera that fits in my bag and go with me anywhere!

 This little birdy fell from it's nest one Sunday at Church. The girls got so excited and everyone wanted to hold it. So most of them did.

At least while they could. The bird flew off while I was trying to snap this picture.

The local Children wanted to tourcher it or something.... the local women were discusted by it...... my young ladies wanted to take it home and try and raise it.

 Ummmmm....... so I was supposed to upload a picture of Snuggle Bug with a pouty look saying "why can't we keep it mom?" But for what ever strange reason it is not working like I want it to. Bummer.

Alice

This is Alice.  She is a WONDERFUL addition to our little Church. She started coming last summer and was one of the major testimonies of healing and deliverance, and she has been coming ever since.  For MONTHS Alice came to church wearing only a dark yellow skirt and a white blouse.

Every.

Sunday.

We would secretly have someone ask about her clothes thinking we might have them take her to the market, but she never seemed really interested. She just kept coming faithfully.  After a while she started wearing some new clothes, but I think they were items that she was borrowing from some one, cause they were always too small, and looked to "young".

 A few weeks ago, during worship, one of our young men felt that we should take up and offering for Alice so that she should get new shoes.  The out pouring of this Church was AMAZING! We didn't ever count it, but I know her socks were blessed off..... um on..... anyway she got hooked UP!

The next Sunday she came to Church so proud of her new dress and shoes.  It was sweet.  She is really growing in her walk with Jesus.  A week or so after the shoe blessing she started sharing with me how she had gone to the hospital and was preaching and praying for people to be healed. Now you have to understand that Alice is a VERY quite woman, and while she was re-telling me this story her voice got louder and her arms started waving all over.  She is passionate about telling others about Jesus.

Another neat Alice story.... While preaching at the hospital she gave away her Bible.  So later in the week Kent went to her hut to find her and give her a new Bible. She wasn't there.  So they thought they would try her sister's charcoal shop.  She wasn't there either, but before Kent left he saw her come running around the corner.

As soon as she saw Kent she started giggling and laughing and was extremely excited. Once she got her breath back she explained that she was just about to go into the market and do some shopping when the Holy Spirit told her "rush home, pastor is waiting". She stopped her shopping and started running back toward the house.  That is when she saw Kent at her sisters shop!  Cool huh!?!

The Birthday Party

Sunday was Daddy & Snuggle Bug day after Church.  Daddy took the birthday girl to lunch at the Coffee Hut while the rest of the Clan wrapped, iced, cleaned and planned for a PARTY!  SB was so surprised to walk in after her date to find her sisters and a few of her friends waiting for her with bubbles!

  The Surprise party welcoming committee!

 Some of the fun activities included.... "pin the tail on the lion", the ring toss and a water balloon toss game. Everyone received a prize. I think that this was SB's first honest to goodness party with friends and everything..... I remember when she turned 1.... and when she turned 4 and now 5, but I forget 2&3???  Is that bad???  Can anyone help me remember????

 The cake.... I find it harder and harder to be creative with the cupcakes and one cake pan. In the states we would go to Michael's each birtday and let the girls pick out a new Wilton cake pan. I would bake the cake and decorate it the way they wanted....... oh well.

 For ever it seemed that SB was asking for new sunglasses. She told me, "I used my sun glasses to make a home for the ants, and the Lady chewed them up."  She was SUPER PUMPED when she opened these from her sister.

SB also got another primate..... named Sleepy (cause he came with a blanket). Another big hit for the birthday girl.

 One of her last gifts was a new backpack...... it was another item that she had been asking for, for a very long time..... her ladybug bag was "spoiled" she said.  Every time we would drive through town and she would see a pink backpack, she would let me know that she still needed a new one.

She is a HAM!!!  I wish I could truly capture her personality in writing so that I could share it with you!

Thank you Lord for my SB!  She is a joy and the life of our Family!  We are so blessed to have her as one of us. May you use her passion for your service ans glory one day. I pray that she will be an influencer and a world changer.