Blog fodder

I was sitting here lamenting that I hadn’t updated the blog since Geoff’s birthday last week. I love to include pictures and yet we’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t even touched the camera. As I sat waiting for another friend’s blog to materialize on the screen, my blog fodder arrived on the motorbike and before they could dismount I snapped a picture.


Most afternoons after school Toby enjoys the company of his good friend and our previous neighbor, Abraham. This week they have been going down in the valley to Abraham’s family’s garden area with an older brother. Today, Kevin and Toby both went and Uncle Tony (Abraham’s dad) returned our “white monkeys” as he calls them, on his motorbike. We sure miss having our former duplex neighbors nearby, but we're really not that far away . . . however, we can't hear Uncle Tony's infectious laugh nightly like we used to. We are privileged to have such wonderful and dear friends. WE LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!

$!

The sticker reads, "It's My Birthday!!"

February 17!!!!! Geoff's Birthday!!!! I prepared one of his favorites ... french toast.

Sidenote: A bit of entertaining newlywed miscommunication to all you young marrieds . . . In our first year of marriage I asked Geoff if he would like some french toast for breakfast, to which I heard him say, "No, I don't like french toast." So, I never prepared it again. About four years later we were at his parents' house and his mom was preparing french toast, to which Geoff exclaimed, "I LOVE FRENCH TOAST, but Mary never fixes it for me." Thus ensued the whole discussion and analysis (which we still revisit occasionally when we have nothing else to do -- ha ha!) on how the miscummunication ever occurred. By the way, we've never come to a conclusion---I still believe I heard him say he didn't like it and he stills believes he didn't refuse french toast that morning with those exact words . . . The moral of the story???? Don't be sooooooo set on proving you're right, be willing to shrug it off and be quick to forgive and forget.

OK, marriage lesson over . . . back to the birthday at hand.

Last year was a BIG ONE!!! But, we expect this year to be even more eventful. WHY? Look at the title of this blog . . . did you know that the upper case of the number 41 is $! The scriptures say, "money is the answer to everything" so I guess this will be a year of answers :) Of course I'm kidding, but upon turning 41 a little humor (and a little $!) are definitely in order. And, while we're finding humor in our day, I'll leave you to find the passage from which I pulled the above quote. Happy hunting.

"Sgt. York"

Ever seen the old movie Sgt. York?? We showed the David Family that movie two years ago. They loved it and thought it was hilarious. . . and apparently they still fondly remember it.

Recently the kids were slashing bush behind our house in the ever present need to expand their garden area. (A note of utter pride here -- our family group has put tremendous effort into their gardens and have produced the best harvest consistently over the past few years of the seven family groups we have on site.) Usually Uncle Mulu (father of David Family) is in the garden with them, but on the day I snapped these shots, he was offsite visiting a nearby village. Jennifer (one of the girls I have Bible study with each Sunday afternoon) took it upon herself to be "Sgt. York" and direct her David Family siblings in their digging. They were singing and digging in rhythm while laughing, dancing and giggling the whole time. What a blessing to see them enjoying each other and their time of work.

Jennifer (far right) "gives orders" to the others, while they sing, dance and laugh.

After they finished their work, they MARCHED in rhythm through our compound and back to theirs. Note: you only see the girls here because the boys were on the other side digging up tree trunks.

Ate our way through the weekend . . .

We went to Kampala Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a bit of rest. As always when we go to town we enjoy the specialty foods that we don't find out here in the village. Friday we ate at "Khana Khazana" which is some of the best Indian food we've had, and then it was on to ice cream!!! We rewared the kids for their excellent work on Bible memory verses by taking them out to ice cream. Two and one half hours later we arrived back at our hotel QUITE tired of sitting in traffic!!!! (What should take about 45 min. all said and done can take extraordinary amounts of time in a developing country in which traffic laws and traffic lights are generally non-existent--In fact, even if there are lights, the police position themselves in the intersection and "direct" traffic themselves!! Geoff and I have a saying that if a traffic back-up is LONG, there are probably police stationed up ahead!) Saturday we had yummy pizza and ice cream (this time the ice cream was AT the restaurant which was also very close to our hotel.) Before we left town today we had pizza again because we just couldn't get enough and tonight, because we were so stuffed from the weekend of culinary treats, we had popcorn and smoothies for supper. Bubbly and Toby were out in the yard playing American football when I was starting the popcorn. Bubbly came running as soon as she heard the popcorn popping! She ran so fast she slid into the house and almost missed the kitchen door. Doesn't she look absolutely overjoyed at the thought of popcorn???? It is her FAVORITE!!!

Tongue hangin out in anticipation

Picking up treats thrown to her from Geoff

Catching them mid-air

Eyes on the prize

What a fun dog!!!!!

Feeling SLUG-gish

Our enterprise farm is growing some wonderful things in addition to the maize we grow to provide for the children we care for here at New Hope. Additions in the past year include cauliflower, collards, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, basil, spinach and okra to name a few!!! This is a great boost to the normal fare offered in our area.

Yesterday I ordered collards, green peppers and cauliflower which were delivered at my doorstep within the hour for less than a total of $2.

I promptly put them in the frig to ensure continued freshness. During breakfast this morning Geoff pulled out the milk container for cereal and found this SLUG (UGH!!!) on the side of the lid! Apparently it was in either the collards or cauliflower and decided it needed a drink of milk!

And in other Enterprise farm news, they killed a 10 foot cobra on the farm yesterday!!! Given the choice I'll welcome the slug anytime!!!

On the Radio!!

As I write, Toby is just finishing his debut on the radio!!! A new ministry of the Kasana Community Church is a local radio station in which we at the moment emphasize the goodness and truth of God through music and a minimal amount of talk. We've only been on the air a few weeks and soon we'll have more programming. But, for the present, we are mostly sharing music. The dj today is one of our own young adults from New Hope. She requested that Toby and his friend Rachel share the airwaves with her today. Toby was interviewed about what he learned in Sunday School, and how he was planning to apply what he learned; he was asked to share advice with his friends--to which he replied, "treat others with kindness and love"; he sang his favorite song; requested a song to be played by "Echoes of Hope" (our New Hope Uganda singing group); and he shared about his favorite teacher (ME!!) and spoke of what he's learning in school--and lastly he sent a shout out to his friends Abraham and Joel. The picture shows the kids and Geoff listening to the radio while Toby and his friend Rachel were on the air.

The weekend is here . . .

After one VERY BUSY week, all I have the energy to say is . . . Toby still reads anytime, anywhere and in this picture Acacia spies to make sure he's also taking good care of her cat. The cat doesn't care too much about anything but a comfortable place to relax. And since it is now the weekend, I hope I'm as successful as the cat at relaxing.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Blistering Hot!!! It has been near 100 here this week and we are FEELING IT! The rains finally stopped and the heat is here. It will probably be hot like this for another month before the next rainy season begins.

1. School started today for all the New Hope Uganda children and it was a delight to see them smiling and laughing as they passed by our house on the path to school.
2. 
   

Geoff began another year of courses at the Vocational Institute today and it was BUSY. In addition to receiving new and returning students, the Maize mill was a swarm of activity with customers overflowing into the compound area. The mill has been pumping out maize flour almost around the clock for the past few days after last week being down with broken machinery and then a lack of government power for the electrical machines. All was back up and running just before the weekend and with the demand for the flour for the first day of school the mill employees worked almost all weekend.

On Sunday our children who are in the last year of secondary school left to begin their term, and next week we'll take to school those who are beginning the next level of school beyond what we offer. Some of the University students have already begun their terms and others will be going in the coming months. (Universities here are not on a coordinated schedule.) It was very quiet around the house today with the kids off to school again. It is exciting to see the New Hope children moving forward in their education.

A boy and his dog. Toby was reading out on the porch, sitting on the cistern cover. Bubbly just had to check out what he was doin.