Blue Bug

Ok..... these really aren't the best pictures I have ever taken, but these bugs were too weird to not post about.  We have seen some really strange incects while living in Uganda , but this has by far been the most colorful!

 They are blue!.... no this is not some photoshop trick or tecnique... they are really blue.

We found them in pairs living on the discarded wood of our beloved ficus.  There were 10-12 of them roaming around, paring off. I haven't a clue where they came from.... it their eggs were in the tree, or if they just stopped by for a visit....  either way, they were shy and hard to snap a good close up picture of.

Bye bye beautiful tree.....

This used to be a big BEAUTIFUL tree that was in our front yard.  It was the kid's favorite climbing tree, it gave great shade, it blocked the view of our ugly dirt driveway.... it was an all around AWESOME tree.

 A huge storm blew through one night... the kind that makes Hubby and I rearrange all our bedroom furniture to keep it dry, cause the water is pouring in!  Where you spend a good hour frantically running from the bedroom to the school room, trying to mop up the water that is flowing down the walls.

 The next morning, we woke up to discover that the tree was half gone.... well at least have fallen over. The girls ran out in their PJ's to get in on last climb before dad finished it off  took the rest down.

 Look closely..... can anyone tell what kind of tree that is??  It took us 11 months to find out, and only after my mom flew all the way from the US did we make the discovery.

It it / was a ficus.  Yes, a ficus tree.... that skinny tree you keep in pots in the sun room, or you buy imitations of at Hobby Lobby.  They grow to ginormous sizes when you give them the freedom to.

Good bye beautiful tree!!!

Chalk Art

I enjoy having budding artists in the house.... the only problem their art gifts are so different than mine that sometimes it is sad that we can't be artsy together, on the same project.... oh well.

Another wonderful item we got this summer in packages (i am not laying it on to thick am I: we love packages!) .......... SIDE WALK CHALK!  Baby girl drew this amazing scene with the forest, and barn and field and the ocean.  LOVE IT!

 Curly was quick to follow with her own version of the farm..... nice. Keep imitating your big sis.... she is a good example!  :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea and Curly Sue!

August means Birthdays!  SP and CS had their party at the pool this year.  Look at that AWESOME table.  What a cute tablecloth (score again for the summer teams!)  This party was a surprise... Daddy took the two birthday girls and their little sister to lunch, while big sister and I scarfed a PB&J and then headed to the pool to prepare.

The birthday girls entered..... completely surprised.  Dad had cooked up a story about needing to see the management at the hotel, to book rooms for the next team. And it worked!

If only my camera had worked as well........ This was the only other picture that I got of the whole party!  Somewhere, on a memory card in Karuma are a few shots that my friend took, but I haven't ever seen them.  OH WELL!

Funny story about the birthday party:   In June my mom (Mimi) asked Sweet Pea what she wanted for her birthday.  Pea replied that she wanted a KINDLE.  This was a very appropriate request see that she had read EVERYTHING on the shelf and then some!  Most of them she had read twice!

So when the Abilene team came, they brought the KINDLE.  My wonderful friend Adina carried it with her on the plane, and was in the process of telling me it was in her room when Pea walked up.  When she heard the word KINDLE her ears immediately perked up. I made her stay in the lobby while I went and retrieved the goods.

Later when we were driving to my house Adina commented that she hoped the CANDLEs made it OK.  Once again Pea's ears perked up and she started asking about the KINDLE.  I quickly corrected her, that our conversation was not about a KINDLE, but about a CANDLE that mommy had asked for. That put a stop to that.

Me, being the mom who lives in a third world country and wants to make each birthday last as long as possible decided it you be fun to milk the CANDLE for all it was worth.  (insert sly grin)  I looked in the Capital and found the perfect gift.... a CANDLE, that was actually labeled in big letters.... "CANDLE".  I bought it and wrapped it up.

On her birthday Pea opened up her CANDLE first..... and was quite surprised.  She was trying so hard to be grateful.... seeing her concern , I asked her.... "Isn't that what you asked Mimi for?"

She looked up and said, "Well, I asked for a KINDLE, but OK!"   I LOVE IT!   I told her, "Well maybe she misunderstood you.  I'm sorry.  Why don't you open this one."

I grabbed another package and she began to open a series of books that she wanted for the KINDLE.  (we already had one, but three readers and one kindle, does not make a great combination. :)

FINALLY the last package she opened was the real KINDLE.  Oh how we laughed and laughed when I reminded her of the conversation we had had with Adina about the CANDLE.  When Mimi heard the story we got another round of giggles and tears.!!  TOO FUN!

Package Bonus!

On of the nice things about recieving teams that can bring packages is that they can also bring packages for other people who don't have teams that come.  This is Mama V., she has a childrens home here in Uganda with 13 kids!

 For her birthday her daughter gathered up cards and small gifts for mom and sent them to our Seattle team.   It was so fun to get to be a part of her surprise and blessing for her birthday!  Mama V is a HUGE blessing to so many here in Uganda, that it was nice to watch her gat blessed for a change!

Becky Ann

Contrary to what her fingers say.... Becky Ann is now one!  Crazy how time flies!  I can't believe that this is the tiny little thing that I caught a year ago! I love my Girl!

More on Packages

So this summer when the GIANT team brought all the wonderful goodies... they also brought birthday presents! (and Christmas presents too)  I held on to these cute bags from Gram for a month before the girls got to receive them.  So if you ever send a package and you don't get a "thank you" right away it is probably because I have hidden the package until the right moment.  Extending the joy of receiving!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE getting things from home!  Always a fun and exciting treat!  Maybe onday we will actually get a package in the MAIL!  Wouldn't that be fun a package in February, not just in the summer!

.....and we're back

So I have a confession to make.....  Sometime shortly after our vacation Curly accidentally deleted all of our pictures from the camera.  Some of them I had already transferred to the computer, but some are now gone forever!!!  This combined with the fact that I was already behind on my blogging..... well to be honest it was depressing.  really depressing.  so i avoided all things bloggy for a while.

But I am working hard to get over my anti-blogs and trying to get going again.  So for some of you dedicated readers.... you will be delighted to know that there will (hopefully) be a new post every couple of days while I get caught up on all that has happened in the last six months.  (Can you hear the loud cheer from all our grandparents??)

So to start off the blog-a-thon I thought I would post these random pictures of Lady and Bisky dining together.

 Apparently in Africa dogs aren't much of a threat to the animals here.  When we were writing our script for our Christmas play, we had a scene with the shepherds where they were joking about the days work and what would happen if the "wolves" came back to get the sheep.  Well they don't have WOLVES in Africa and nobody really knew what they were so we changed it to DOGS.  But that didn't really work well either, case the dogs here aren't a threat to the goats and chickens. Eventually we landed on LIONS, David fought and killed a lion while tending the sheep right, and everyone in Uganda knows what a lion is, even if they have never seen one.  Lion was a good choice!

 On another note.... Bisky is the strangest cat!  But then, what cat doesn't have their quirks.  He attacks my legs ALL the time. He will sit innocently until I walk past then jump out and try to grab my leg!  Crazy. He has also taken to coming in from his night time... um ..... parties by sitting in MY bedroom window and meowing until I open the window to let him in!

And as you can see.... He won't eat CAT FOOD! I mean really??  He avoids it like the plague. He would much rather have dog food especially if there is something yummy on it like left over chicken broth!

Well check back every few days and we will get caught up on the latest Ugandan happenings!

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.