"Free" service / A surprise visitor

We came down from the mountain on the 4th, which was my birthday, so my family took me out to eat.  While we were eating, a friend of Doug's spotted us and came to the table.  He said a female friend of his was trying to build her clientele at her salon, so I should go and get my nails done for free.

Two days later, I was in the chair.

My nails are far from glamorous, so she had to "create" some nails so she would have something to work with.  I had never had this done before, and it was quite an interesting process.

What I learned along the way is that she wasn't just short on clientele, she was short on trained workers. 

I was put with a "trainee" who was learning the process of gel nails. 

She worked on me for over three hours!!

Something else that came along with this "free" service was the absence of my opinion.

They said, "What color?"  (I showed them)

They said, "What accent color?" (I told her I didn't want an accent color)

They said, "Oh yes you do! How about white?" (I repeated that I really didn't want an accent color)

They said, "What sticker would you like?" (I told her I didn't want a sticker)

They said, "Oh yes you do!  Look at these books." (I looked and then said I was really ok without a sticker).

They said, "OH! This one is pretty.  How about this one?" (I just smiled).

                                                                                                    

January 6, 2020

And that is how I got nails like I have never had before :)

Eleven days later there was a missile attack at our airport.  

We had a surprise guest for Karis flying in at the end of the month and now our airport was closed!

But somehow, God worked it out.

I told Karis I was spending one night in a hotel to have some study time, but I really flew to a nearby country and met up with her friend who flew in with her mom (who was on her way to another destination). We had a quick visit in the airport with her mom, and then Karis' friend and I slept in the airport waiting for our flight the next morning to go back and surprise Karis.

It worked!!

We have the sweetest video of Karis answering the door when she arrived :)

One of the first things on the agenda was taking her out for a national breakfast here.  

It was amazing!!

Anyone else want to come for a visit??

Our second grader (at the time) finally lost the tooth she blackened (at age 3) by hitting it on a table and killing the roots.

And guess what?

She misses her black tooth :)

January 23, 2020

Having/Being Guests & Dancing

We had some wonderful guests come to see us from southern Uganda.

Becky Miller was at our church in Louisiana, and I went on my first mission trip to Africa with her.

Timo, the boy with Caleb on his shoulders, was a new friend to us, and Henry, the one between me and Becky, was my translator when I came to Uganda in 2007. It was a sweet reunion for all of us!




















Later that afternoon, Jack, my piki driver, had our whole family over for a meal. We walked to their home, had a lovely visit, and we met everyone on the compound.

























































THEN...later that night, the girls had their dance performance.

Meg, sadly left May 17th, so this was their last time together.

She fixed their hair.

We put make-up on the girls.

Our friend Sherry let us borrow her house for the night, and she made homemade ice cream for the performance.

It was a lovely evening!