Soccer ⚽* Driving * Thankful * Mail 📬and Rain 💦

Blog Post About Summer 2020 

We got back to Texas and enrolled the girls in ballet at the same studio they had attended four years earlier, and through a friend, we found a soccer club for Caleb to join.

He quickly had his very first game, and it was on a regulation-size field. 

There are very few regulation-size fields in our overseas country, so he had never played on one. Not only that, the heat this particular day was nearing 100 degrees. I was burning up just watching him, but when I went on the field after the game was over, the heat emanating up from the ground was mind-blowing! I have no idea how those guys don't pass out every time they are out there because the temperatures on the field seemed at least 10 degrees hotter!

August 16, 2020

A big day for Karis was August 17, 2020, when she got her provisional license (hard copy) in the mail.

I am so glad she had time to practice in America before coming back overseas because it's just hard to learn how to drive when so few people around you obey the rules.

August 17, 2020

August 18, 2020

*She's thankful for her brother and her mom

*She's thankful for Target and her mom

*She's thankful for Macaroni & cheese

*She's thankful for kangaroos

*She's thankful she gets to play "Littlest Pet Shop"

Keira rarely gets to bring things like this home, so I found great joy in seeing what did in Sunday school one day.

As we traveled around to visit friends, we often visited different fellowships, and if Covid rules of the church allowed, Keira got to visit a different Sunday school class each time. A couple of times we would get to a church and they would tell us you had to sign up the Wednesday before each Sunday to attend.  Since I rarely knew about this rule, I must say, there were a few really gracious places that let her go to class anyway!

On a side note of her being thankful for her brother (whom she adores), I love pictures like the one below from 2015 that show how early on she started modeling him :)

August 8, 2015

Keira had also never received a letter in the mail.

When my father learned this, he made the effort to send her a letter every week or so telling her about things going on at his house. 

She liked roller skating out to the mailbox to check to see what had come each day.

August 20, 2020

Keira has always loved to play in the rain. The pictures below are from when she was 2 1/2  years old.

May 2015

A warm Texas rain with no lightning present was a welcome invitation to play outside...every single time.

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August 26, 2020

 

A Night, Day, and a few Months of Crazy

On Friday, March 13, 2020, we were in our weekly Bible study 

when the adults started receiving texts and notifications that the city 

was going to go on lockdown for 24 hours starting the next day.

Not really grasping how crazy the town might be (because it was only going to be 24 hours),

we stayed and visited awhile before we all slowly started leaving the house where we were gathered. 

We got to the grocery store in our neighborhood, and of course craziness ensued.

The pictures don't do it justice, but inside and outside in the streets felt like 

Black Friday at a Wal-mart.

However, unlike America, the most popular item to fly off the shelf 

was not toilet paper. 

 

Water and eggs were the things quickly disappearing.

We also went to the fruit stand, and their crates were quickly emptying.

Doug and Kylie walked about a mile to find us eggs while we waited in the car, 

and then we headed home.

March 13, 2020

That night it rained, and everyone except medical workers were snug in their homes.

The streets were eerily quiet, 

And then a large amount of rain fell that the drains couldn't keep up with.

Thankfully no one was driving because the water slowly kept rising.

March 14, 2020
 

And you probably guessed that 24-hours was not the end of our lockdown.  

At midnight, we were informed we would be starting a 72-hour lockdown.

The government said we could go out and get food, but it had to be done on foot.

I guess it was better for people to get their heads around a little amount of time, because

After the 72-hours, they added 5 more days.  At the end of those 5 days (on March 24th), 

the government said the lockdown would remain until April 1st, and citizens would be arrested 

if they were out for any other reason than getting food on foot or seeking medical care.

On April 1st, they added 10 more days and said that schools would be back by April 16th.

But even in the middle of that 10 days, on April 5th, a 48-hour mandatory lockdown 

(no leaving the house) was mandated.

On April 23rd, for Ramadan, the government said people could move around to see family, but there was an evening curfew.  Still no restaurants, no airport.

Long story short, it was 46 days before I got in a car again. 

On May 11th, everything in the country opened except for the airports.

A surprise at the end of Ramadan (on May 23rd), we had another 72-hour lockdown to keep people from gathering and celebrating.

We squeezed in a graduation party on May 28th before we were locked down again from June 1st-June 6th.

(I'll continue blogging to catch up with all of these dates, but I wanted to chronicle the Covid response by this country's government from March to June in one place.)

Dust Storm

Since I mentioned the dust storm in the last post, I figured I would show you a few pictures.  We were in another neighborhood at another house when this blew in.  

The room we were sitting in, all of a sudden, had a yellow glow to it.  When we looked outside, this is what we saw.

Of course, it was raining as well, so it was more like "mud-fall" than "rainfall."

Everyone in town had a car that looked like this, because we all drive white cars.
(I'll show you in the next post).

After an hour or so, it slowly starting clearing off.

And the next day, the rain was even a lot cleaner.

I took this picture from far away because I was "spying" on this man as he sprayed his orange tree (behind the palm).  I've zoomed in, but I'm not sure you can see what he's doing.

He has his water hose, and he's trying to clean the leaves and fruit on his tree. 

I've noticed that people here like to clean "outside" a lot.  It's very important to them.

They hose down their front porches AND the street in front of their houses daily.
They wash their cars often.
Businesses wash the sidewalk in front of their store daily.

When it comes to their personal lives, Oh, how I wish they knew that their Father doesn't look at the outside.  He is concerned with the cleanliness of our heart. 

That is always a good reminder for me, too!

Dust, Rain, and Celebrating Doug

We finally had some much-needed rain the first week of November. 

It was one night.

It was a small amount.

But it helped clear the air from the dust storm that had blown in the same day.

This was our porch area the morning after the rain brought the dust down.

 It looks like it ran down the walls, too.

(This part of the world has no shortage of dust, in case you were wondering.)

It gave Keira and I a chance to play in the water. 

We got the hoses and squeegees, rolled up our pants, and made it all shine again.

However, I didn't realize the walls were dirty until I looked at these pictures, so I guess I still have some work to do.

Oops!

It was a drippy day, but nothing could keep us from celebrating Doug's birthday.

I picked out a new restaurant that none of us had ever been to over by the Consulate.  I had seen it one day on a taxi ride, and I carefully memorized how to get there.  Somehow, with our language abilities, we made it back.

The kids were in school, so only Keira and I treated him to lunch.  Keira thought the mint lemonade was the best.

Thankfully, Doug's birthday was on a Wednesday, and that happened to be a day when Doug wasn't teaching and none of the kids had evening activities.

I don't know if Doug got any say-so about where to eat for dinner either because the kids were excited to choose.

Burgers won.

We love Doug.  

We love celebrating Doug.  

I am so glad he is my husband.

And he is an awesome Dad, too.

Happy Birthday, Doug

Spring & Fusion

 

 

Spring and Winter have arrived.  

That means the rains have started, but it's also the coldest part of the year.  Weird, huh?

 

There is new birth everywhere, including these twin goats that hang out on our road.

Apparently, their cuteness is irresistible. 

Caleb is still injuring himself every chance he can get.  I think he enjoys it.

I think the cooler weather got the kids in the mood for a sleepover.  I just don't understand why they would all three want to sleep on ONE mattress, but they had a good time, and this wasn't the last one.

I have been remiss in not posting pictures of Fusion.  Let me introduce you to them (now that they are gone....sorry)

 

 The four girls:  (L to R)  Leigha, Dara, Casey, and Abbie

 

 

Leigha's 20th birthday (minus Brett who was sick with malaria and not feeling well)

We spent the most time with the girls because they were in Arua more.  Brandon and James spent a month in Congo; and Joe, Will, Brett, and Blake spent a month in different parts of South Sudan.

 This one below was taken their first week here in January.




We took this one below the last day before getting on the bus to go eat and head to the airport at the end of their four months.

L to R:  Will, James, Doug, Leigha, Joe, Karis, Dara, Caleb, Brett, Casey, Kylie, Blake, Abbie, Brandon, and Kat

Facial and head hair, weight, likes and dislikes changed over these short months.  They were adventurous and tried many things, caught (and sometimes ate) many different types of animals, learned to cook, walked hundreds of miles, sat for hours with nationals, hosted a goat roast for about 50 people, learned how to find true strength in the Lord, and grew tremendously.

At the end of our time together, Doug asked, "I already know the answer to this question, but did any of you grow over the last four months?"

There was some silence, and then our Karis said, "I'd say I definitely grew about half an inch."



Our last dinner together on the beach of Lake Victoria.



Bye Fusion.  We won't forget your time here and the joy you brought to us and to many people in Arua.

Ditch diggin' - Road fixin'

Well, our road does need fixin', but no one is doing anything about it.

What you can't see is that down past our gate, the road is impassable to cars, so only bikes, motorcycles and foot traffic can get through.




It really is worse than it looks.

The poor condition of the road is caused by run-off.

All the drainage ditches are filled with years of caked mud and grass, and so water jumps the ditches and runs down the center of the road.

Enter Doug Taylor. My amazing husband.

One Saturday morning, he got out there with his tools to see what he could do about the drain.

It really was bad and needed A LOT of work.

(not so much this end, but the other end where he is - water and dirt never got this far because of the "caked" effect where he is working)

As he worked, he began to draw a crowd.

First, Sunday (a watchman from across the street). Then Kylie.

Digging out the ditch...

Then hauling the dirt to fill the holes in the road. (a temporary solution)

Then Caleb realized he could put on his gum boots and join the fun, so he did.

Plus, he got the added bonus of holding a real, live tool.

As it neared lunch, more people were stopping.

Geoffrey (in the white) ended up spending the rest of the day helping Sunday and Doug, and his outfit was not so white at 5 o'clock.

And even though Karis came out, she and I didn't do any actual work.

Moral support, my dears. Moral support.

Geoffrey and Sunday created some interesting tools to get the caked-in dirt out from under the cement-covered ditch.

This is one of a few "new" tools they adapted.

Well, the good news is that many hours, several wheelbarrows of dirt, and a few buckets of water later, the ditch was completely clean.


Fast forward one week...


Enter God with an amazing rain storm.

The ditch did great and stayed clear, but...

the rain was in such abundance, it ended up jumping the drain in the same old place where some rock has worn away, and it washed our road out same as always.

In my humble opinion (because I AM the humble-est), a little cement might do the trick on that break in the drainage wall, but it looks like that might be another job for Doug, Sunday, Geoffrey, Kylie and Caleb, because I feel led to be moral support...

and the picture taker.

Don't forget, I do it all for you guys, so you can see riveting stories like this from the continent of Africa.

Here for you... :)