Inside the New Casa

About a month ago, Sue and I spent a fun couple of days in Kampala choosing furniture and curtains for the new house. As of this week, the house is finished, fully furnished, and almost ready to move into (aside from a good clean and a few last minute touches)! Maybe I'm biased since Paul was the one who built it, but I think the house is beautiful! And our furniture choices were not bad if I do say so myself. *Ignore the haze in the air and the thick layer of dust on every surface. Like I said, it needs to be cleaned!

Living Room

En Suite Bathroom

Second Bathroom

Kitchen

More Matchy Matchy

A gift from our friends David & Doreen! You can't really see it in this picture but the fabric has giant flying horses on it!

The Girls!

Here's a little clip of the girls singing at Masaka Full Gospel yesterday morning!

The Goodbyes Begin

Although there are still 2 weeks before we leave the country, this morning was our last time at the church we have come to call "home" here in Uganda. It was hard to say goodbye! (I cried. Several times. And not entirely because of pregnancy hormones.) Over the last 2 years we have taught Sunday school classes, led worship, preached, brought teams, planned a youth camp, and made so many amazing friends. We really couldn't thank our church enough for the way they have invited us and allowed us to be involved in so many ways. This morning's service was another example of their love and care for us as they honoured us with thanks and prayers - they even (in true Ugandan style) had some clothes made for us to wear. And (also in true Ugandan style) me and Paul were matchy matchy.

The clothes made me look 90 weeks pregnant and made Paul look like a woman. But at least we matched! And according to our fellow church members we looked "smart."

To join in on the occasion, all 24 of the girls from the Timothy Girls College piled into a van and led the service with some special song and dance numbers! They were the stars of the show and sounded amazing!

Lizabee was asked to preach one last time, and shared from 2 Timothy.

Pastor Elijah and his wife Florence with Lizabee

Though we hate saying goodbye, we are so thankful for the relationships we've made with many people at Masaka Full Gospel, and we're excited for the day we will be able to come back and see them again, whenever that may be! Welaba, church!

Church at TGC

This morning Paul and I decided to forfeit a Sunday at our usual Masaka Full Gospel Church, and take the opportunity (the first and probably the last) to visit the church service here at the Timothy Centre. We're so glad we did! It was so much fun to worship with the girls - it's impossible to describe how amazing they sound, and even a video wouldn't do it justice. But here are some mediocre pictures to give you an idea!

The service was made up of the TGC girls, the headmistress, the matrons, a couple of our security guards, a few neighbours, and a bunch of muzungus (white people...that would be us).

Lizabee, getting into the grooooove

The team - Werner, Allison and Gary - introducing themselves before Lizabee preached

Saying goodbye to these girls (all 24 of them) in 3 weeks is going to be the WORST!

Pool Day

Our visiting team from Pacific Academy has been working hard both in Kibaale and at the Timothy Centre over the past two weeks. Yesterday was pool day - a well-deserved break! The Kibaale group came to Masaka and joined us at our Danish friends' swimming pool for hamburgers, swimming, and sun-tanning (or sun-burning in my case). Those staying in Kibaale who have been living off bucket baths also enjoyed having a normal shower!

It's nice to have friends with a pool!

Sipi Falls

So much to do, so little time left to do it! Visiting Sipi Falls was another item on our sightseeing to-do list for before we leave - since we only have about 4 weekends left and they are filling up fast, we made the getaway for the Canada Day weekend and our friends Paul and Sonia met us there. I was dreading the 7 hour drive to Eastern Uganda, but we broke it up by staying the first night in Jinja and the last night in Kampala. I survived with no car-sickness, yipee! Plus, the paved highway was a pleasant surprise!

Sipi Falls is actually 3 separate waterfalls all connected by Sipi River. The lodge we stayed at was right at the base of one of the falls and it was beautiful! We also hiked to the other 2 sets of falls (and by "we" I mean "everyone else except me" - the hike to the 3rd waterfall was steep and slippery, so I played the role of responsible mother and stayed behind with Octoby!) But it was so worth it - it's a gorgeous place!

Sipi River Lodge

Ready to hike!

Breakfast (and every other meal for that matter) was amazing!

Ready for a full morning of hard-core reading

Octoby at 24 weeks in Jinja!