Birthday Weekend!!!!!

We had the Peterson kids staying with us toward the end of last week and Kara's birthday was on Friday. Toby made her a yummy chocolate cake and I made her homemade sourdough pizza. (OK, the pizza was for all of us, but it was VERY good!)Singing happy birthday to Kara brought a LOT of smiles!!! That thing looks like it's ablaze, but it wasn't as bad as it looks in the picture!!!Toby's birthday was on Sunday and he also made HIS cake!!!! It was lemon, but he wanted to color it red! The icing was supposed to be blue, but somehow it came out green. Oh well, it tastes wonderful no matter what color it is!!! He and Acacia made the icing, put it together, iced it, decorated it and we ALL ate it!! I can't believe Toby is into the double digits!!!

My Mom sent some things with Uncle Cody to bring to us. Acacia received two of the princess parable books that our friend Jeanna Young wrote. She loves reading them and looking at the pictures!

Toby sneaks a peak at a princess parable book . . . Kevin received fuzzy monkey slippers and couldn't wait to put them on . . .

The best part of the night was receiving his "Dangerous Book for Boys" and the Dangerous Book for Boys Game that Grammie sent!!!

These photos are out of order, but at least they posted!!!! This was at the guest house on the morning of Toby's birthday. We gave him the 2011 Guiness Book of World Records and his friends, the Peterson's, gave him two new Asterix and Obelix comic books. Aunt Constance made him a prince crown to wear for the morning!

For supper we went to the Gately and the boys quickly found the couch and books to read . . .

Two good friends, Tim Peterson and Geoff, enjoying visiting with each other at the guest house.

Posing for the camera . . .

Uncle Cody

Aunt Marian and Aunt Constance

It was a great weekend with friends and family!!!!! Happy birthday again to Kara and Toby!!

Wish I could provide sound effects . . .

All in the course of 30 minutes our house blew wide open . . .

Geoff rewired the solar set-up in order to keep the govt power from going through our inverter . . . NO, he didn't blow anything up, but I'm not sure how he was able to concentrate with all the mayhem that was going on . . .
Alex, who collects water for us came by and he ALWAYS likes to talk . . .

Kara (and her brother Micah are staying the night with us for two nights) and Acacia got busy in the kitchen making pie crust for a pumpkin pie from total scratch . . .

Fun times and lots of noise

Joel, who takes piano lessons with our kids on Thursday mornings, came by to practice and to have me photocopy his theory lessons . . .

Perez, from the IY program and EYO (Emmanuel Youth Outreach) and Joel, from the IY program came by to complete some planning and computer work . . .

Toby, Micah, Elisha and Kevin decided to make a jungle gym out of the boys' room--lots of noise there!!!!! And the dog just needed to scratch . . . (which reminds me that not too long before all this happened, I found PART of a bloody mouse tail on the floor of my guest room, with guts smashed into the curtain . . .)For an introvert, I handled the chaos quite well I think. And now I need to go because we are having company for dinner . . . oh my

On the shores of Lake Victoria

Last Thursday we traveled to Musana Camps, New Hope Uganda's land on the shores of Lake Victoria. The vocational school staff enjoyed a retreat together in an absolutely beautiful setting. Many had never been swimming before and they enthusiastically jumped in!! We hiked, waded in the stream, swam, ate fish, and meditated on God's word while soaking in the magnificence of His creation! At the campfires each evening we sang, laughed and looked again at passages of scripture--applying what they mean for us as leaders of children in the school and in our own families. The camp staff did an amazing job of keeping us comfortable, fed, entertained and warm!! (It was freezing our last night!!!!! The wind was blowing hard and even the camp staff who are originally from the East Coast of the U.S. were bundled up around the campfire!!)Aunt Diana and son, Silas, enjoy swinging.

Damilie, our staff weaver, and Kate, one of our tailoring instructors enjoying the time to just sit and visit in the beauty of the campsite.

Uncle Shylock, our carpentry instructor and his wife and youngest child look out over the lake as we take a tour of the land.

Uncle Robert, our building instructor, and his wife Diana. Uncle Dan, our driver, and Aunt Irene, our cashier for the maize and timber mills, listen as Uncle Dave shows us the creek from the fresh spring.

Looking at the tall trees which grow down by the creek.

Acacia and Katelyn were sooooooooo excited to finally see each other again. Katelyn is the oldest daughter of Camp staff members, Dave and Andrea Bouffard.

Dave did a great job of showing us what the plans are for development of the site. Nala, one of the two dogs who live on site, kept a close watch on all of us.

Sam, our headmaster of the vocational school and his wife, Irene.

Enjoying some volleyball together.

Getting the campfire started each evening was a favorite activity. The little boy is John, son of Nathan and Kendra, camp staff members, and he has an amazing vocabulary for not yet being 2!

Nathan and the 4-wheeler. Kevin took the opportunity to make a quick trip with him back to the house to retrieve something for the campfire. Aunt Hailey is a short term camp staff member, and Bambino is the other camp dog seen here.

My camp hair! It's a good thing I have a sexy husband or this picture would be a loss!

Everyone wanted to take home fish!!!!! We bought oodles of it the last morning and strapped them all over the top and sides of the van for the ride home.

A group picture on our last morning, just before we left for home.

Every morning we took an hour alone for quiet, reflective time with God. Sooooo peaceful!

Geoff went on an explore with Kevin, Katelyn and Acacia---they fully immersed themselves, clothes and all, in the creek!!!

Nathan took Sam and Dan to observe the construction on the newest building going up on site.
Nathan involved Toby as he worked on the vehicles and Toby was in heaven!!! Toby chose working with Nathan over taking a hike with Geoff and the other kids!!!

So much FUN!!!!!!

We played games that taught us trust and gave us a unique perspective on the hand of God and others in our lives.

The view from our safari tent.

Our three monkeys splashing in the creek.

Toby begged me to buzz off his long locks, so we went to Nathan and borrowed his clippers. This last bit of hair was stubborn and it took a long time to finally get it all buzzed!!!!! Everytime we go to the camp Kevin spends a good amount of time climbing the rocks! This trip was our 3rd visit.

Here we are hiking together as we get an idea of the vast amount of land we have the opportunity to develop and use for God's glory in the lives of young people!!!!!!

The trees are unique!!

We'd love it if you came to visit us sometime!!!!!! We'll take you to the shores of Lake Victoria and beyond!!!!