Acacia and some friends at her 6th birthday party! L to R & F to B: Vicki, Barbara, Anya, Acacia
Millie, Stella, Kasana, Toby & Kevin
A little American football to round out a super Thanksgiving together
Never open a HOT soda (left in a car in blistering heat ALL day!)
Kids making a regular trek to the secondary site to visit our new family, Tal and Tiffany Anderson and their 5 kids! We are so thankful to have them here at New Hope!
Geoff killed this snake at a neighbor's house and the kids enjoyed examing it!I can't believe we've rounded the corner to December!!! Living out in the bush far from the "big" city creates a cocoon which shields us from the onslaught of Christmas decorations, billboard ads and hoopla to buy, buy, buy! That part is nice, but the lack of visual stimuli in conjunction with 100+ sweltering heat stirs up a need to be proactive in Christmas activities and attitude!!!!! The kids are really enjoying our advent calendar which has a daily Bible verse in each box and when the Christmas songs popped up on the computer Saturday in the midst of Acacia's birthday party, I suddenly realized, "Oh yes! That IS appropriate! EVEN though it feels like July!!!”
Acacia turned 6 on Saturday and she was thrilled with her princess party (we played “Pin the tiara on the princess” and ate strawberry cake—yum yum.) Directly after the party we piled in the van and trekked down the road to the vocational school where a huge Ugandan lunch was waiting for us courtesy of the tailoring and weaving students! Then Geoff and the boys took a motorbike home while Acacia and I went to the local open market and bought some used dresses. Wasn't quite like the mall, but she loved it still! Today when we read our advent calendar verse (James 1:17--"every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights") she jubilantly announced, "Hey! I am wearing a gift from God!!" (she has on one of her "new" dresses today.)
Two days before, we had a Thanksgiving to remember as all the Americans (and a few British) played American football and then sat down to a huge potluck meal! The kids will always remember the turkey desserts made of ritz crackers, hersheys kisses, candy corn and chocolate icing thanks to Katie Herbst’s mom and the her friend Jen who brought the ingredients with her from the states! Geoff's memorable moment, however, is not a happy one! The sodas for the occasion had been left in a hot car all day long and when he tried to open his, the bottle cap shot off and hit him square in the nose! It made such a loud noise that all 40 people in the noisy room stopped and turned to see what had happened! God's mercy kept the cap from hitting him in the eye!!! Had that occurred we'd have spent our Thanksgiving in the hospital and Geoff would have most likely lost his eyesight!
We walked a few minutes down into the valley yesterday to visit with Joyce and her family. While the kids played soccer we visited with Joyce and her mom and introduced Joyce to the idea of interning for a year at our baby house. She didn't make it into secondary school and this opportunity will give her some basic skills in the caretaking of babies. Complete with a certificate at the end of the year, she may be able to work in any number of baby houses throughout Uganda. She seemed very receptive to the idea. It was the first BIG smile regarding her future that we've seen since she received the news that secondary school was not going to be an option.
The New Hope kids will be starting their holidays on the 15th. We will be getting away from the 10th - 17th.
We pray you are able to enjoy these days leading to Christmas and that God's power and blessing will shower you with joy this season.
Acacia turned 6 on Saturday and she was thrilled with her princess party (we played “Pin the tiara on the princess” and ate strawberry cake—yum yum.) Directly after the party we piled in the van and trekked down the road to the vocational school where a huge Ugandan lunch was waiting for us courtesy of the tailoring and weaving students! Then Geoff and the boys took a motorbike home while Acacia and I went to the local open market and bought some used dresses. Wasn't quite like the mall, but she loved it still! Today when we read our advent calendar verse (James 1:17--"every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights") she jubilantly announced, "Hey! I am wearing a gift from God!!" (she has on one of her "new" dresses today.)
Two days before, we had a Thanksgiving to remember as all the Americans (and a few British) played American football and then sat down to a huge potluck meal! The kids will always remember the turkey desserts made of ritz crackers, hersheys kisses, candy corn and chocolate icing thanks to Katie Herbst’s mom and the her friend Jen who brought the ingredients with her from the states! Geoff's memorable moment, however, is not a happy one! The sodas for the occasion had been left in a hot car all day long and when he tried to open his, the bottle cap shot off and hit him square in the nose! It made such a loud noise that all 40 people in the noisy room stopped and turned to see what had happened! God's mercy kept the cap from hitting him in the eye!!! Had that occurred we'd have spent our Thanksgiving in the hospital and Geoff would have most likely lost his eyesight!
We walked a few minutes down into the valley yesterday to visit with Joyce and her family. While the kids played soccer we visited with Joyce and her mom and introduced Joyce to the idea of interning for a year at our baby house. She didn't make it into secondary school and this opportunity will give her some basic skills in the caretaking of babies. Complete with a certificate at the end of the year, she may be able to work in any number of baby houses throughout Uganda. She seemed very receptive to the idea. It was the first BIG smile regarding her future that we've seen since she received the news that secondary school was not going to be an option.
The New Hope kids will be starting their holidays on the 15th. We will be getting away from the 10th - 17th.
We pray you are able to enjoy these days leading to Christmas and that God's power and blessing will shower you with joy this season.
1 comment:
I look forward to checking your blog to see if there are new pictures. Looks like Thanksgiving was a blast (no pun intended Geoff). I am very glad that it wasn't a more serious injury. The kids are getting so big!! Toby is super de duper tall!!
We miss and love you all very much.
Post a Comment