PA Team

For the past I-don't-know-how-long-but-pretty-long-time I have been busy preparing all the details for a team of 18 people coming to Kibaale/Timothy Centre from Pacific Academy! On Sunday morning the first group of 9 people arrived in Entebbe, and Paul and I picked them up and brought them down to Kibaale - the rest of the team arrives later this week, some of which will be spending their time at the Timothy Centre. Hosting teams is a lot of work...doing grocery shopping, making beds, organizing activities, etc...but it is also rewarding, and a lot of fun!

The group spent their first day meeting people as they toured Kibaale and figured out what areas they will be involved in. Some will work in the clinic, some in the sponsorship office, some doing maintenance projects, and some in the school. It will be a busy few weeks of leading devotions, building a mud hut, teaching, taking school photos, helping the students make Christmas crafts to send to their sponsors (yup, Christmas already!), speaking in chapel, painting the new student dining hall, etc. etc. etc.

Fran, Margo, Sam, Elly and Kayla

Touring the vocational school

Ken & Carina's 4-year-old twin girls got a lot of attention from the catering class!

Among the team members that have arrived are the Drisners - the family that will be moving to the Timothy Centre in September to be the field directors of both our projects. They lived in Kibaale for 4 years back in the day, and to say they were excited to be back is a huge understatement! It was so great watching Carina connect with all her old friends and former students who are now in various leadership positions. (It was also embarrassing to hear her speak a crazy amount of Luganda and realize that I have definitely failed in the language-learning department.)

Welcome to Uganda, team! We're looking forward to having you here over the next 3 weeks.

Playground

For the past few months I have been helping an American group, Kids Around the World, organize their itinerary for a trip to Uganda to build a playground at a local Christian school in Masaka. Kids Around the World partners with ACSI Uganda to set up the details of their playgrounds (they built one last year too), as well as organize teacher training workshops. My job involved booking hotels, transportation, conference venues, etc. before they arrived. This week they've been working on assembling the playground and today was the dedication day! I stopped in for a bit to see the finished product and watch the kids express their gratitude for their new equipment!

The Kids Around the World team

Worship and prayer time

The finished playground - at the end of the dedication the kids had a chance to play on it for the first time. I didn't stay long enough to see them use it but they were definitely all very excited!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to our dads!

This was from our wedding - Paul's dad looks like the president and my dad looks like his bodyguard, bahaha.

Also happy Father's Day to PAUL who is a soon-to-be daddy! I know he's going to be a great one.

Things That Happen at 4:00 am

This morning we all got up at 4 am to watch the Stanley Cup final! We were able to stream it online and then project it onto the wall...almost like a big screen, sort of. So while we enjoyed our coffee/tea/breakfast we watched the Canucks lose. Darn. I'm not convinced it was worth getting up for but at least we can say we watched it! (And then went back to bed for two hours.) It's always nice to see glimpses of our home city (except for the aftermath of the game - how embarrassing).

Still hopeful

Thanks for the shirt, Jeff!

The homemade big screen

Getting Closer...

The front

The back

View of the living room from the front door

View of the living room from the kitchen towards the front door

Well Done Little One!

Yesterday we went to the midwife for an ultrasound, and according to her everything is good and normal with the baby! When she was listening for the heartbeat we could hear little swooshes, which she said was the baby moving around - apparently he/she doesn't like to sit still. Paul thinks this means it's a boy, but I say girls can be active too, come on!

Spine...stomach...head...arms...everything in its place, phew!

21 weeks

2 Months and Counting...

It's hard to believe there are less than 2 months to go before we leave Uganda! How will we be spending our time, you ask?

Paul will be...

- painting

- tiling

- installing cabinets, toilets and showers

- hanging light fixtures and curtain rods

- buying furniture

- making trips to Kampala in order to do all of the above

- training his supervisors to be in charge when we're gone

I will be...

- finishing some final touches for the guesthouse to be fully functional

- buying dishes and kitchen utensils for the new house

- choosing curtain fabric

- hosting a team from Pacific Academy

- making sure the KCF sponsorship office is up to date with thank-you letters and photos

- continuing my computer classes with the TGC girls (and teachers!)

- growing a baby

We both will be...

- involved in leading a service at our church

- wrapping up with our Sunday school classes

- packing bags to send home ahead of us (already finished 4!)

- spending time with the friends we will miss so much after we're gone!

There are a lot of things we're looking forward to about being home, but we know that 2 months will fly by in no time so we want to make the most of every last moment!

Pig in a Puddle

Yesterday as I was driving to Kibaale down the terrible, bumpy dirt space that is supposedly a road, I came across the cutest and dirtiest little pig playing in a muddy pond, which is also known as a pothole that hasn't been fixed in a really long time. He was so cute that he almost made me appreciate the pothole.