Dispicable Me

Warning: This is one of those posts that only grandparents will care about.

Kelli and Alissa left a box of chalk here for my kids when they left, and my kids decided to use them to the fullest.

Here are some of the fruits of their labor after four hours!

Caleb with Missing Link, Ginormica, and B.O.B. from "Monsters vs. Aliens."

Karis's re-creation of "Dispicable Me."

And Kylie's...

Karis' armless Snow White.

Kylie's armless Snow White

Caleb's "Sleeping Beauty."

There was so much more, but you get the point.

Then...

It rained.

They didn't even care. They went out the next day for four or more hours, and went at it again.

Caleb's "Monsters vs. Aliens"

Kylie's "Monsters vs. Aliens

Kylie's "Dispicable Me"

Karis' "Monsters vs. Aliens"

Patrick, our watchmen, even got involved.

When our other watchman, Jeremiah, arrived, he drew some pictures, too.

These guys are great - especially with our kids.

When Jeremiah came in the gate yesterday on his bike, Kylie asked him to ride with her for a minute, and he took a couple of spins around the driveway with her.

Well, this was after the efforts of three days.

Yesterday, I went to the "office supply" store and bought another whole box for $1.00. You can't beat that for entertainment.

Batman

Doug got a call from our one remaining journeygirl a few mornings ago to say she hadn't slept well.

The reason being was that a bat had somehow found its way into her room and became quite lively during the night.

She finally located it hiding on a bottom shelf in her room.

It's that yellowish-looking thing attached to the wooden wall in the picture below.

This is after the Tupperware container that was next to it had been removed.

He was a tiny little sucker.

My heroic "batman" came to the rescue with his own set of Tupperware.

I think every good super hero should be armed with Tupperware (but don't let Doug know I said that)

Cute, huh?

Kampala

Our trip to Kampala was not for re-stocking, so instead of running around looking for what we needed, we got to have little fun exploring.

In one store, I found this...so I bought it.



It was really good, especially when served over ICE. Our friends the Skuza's in Kampala have a freezer cold enough to make ice because they don't lose electricity at night. It was so nice.













The next day, we found a store with this...












I will confess right now, that we spent way too much money on Dr. Pepper, but you must know that this was the first one we had seen since before we boarded the plane in Houston, January 4th.

That's really a bad excuse, but that's all I've got.

Each can was $1.65.

We bought 3 for everyone, and would probably do it again given the chance.

We carried them back to Arua, and we are using them sparingly.

The sad part is that I thought Dr. Stripes was just as good as Dr. Pepper.

Doug says that is blasphemous to say, but I just think it's sad because maybe I've lost my taste for it.

The good news is I found this, too.

It was heavenly, and so much cheaper than Starbucks.

Let me tell you another reason we had time to leisurely look around for these luxury items...

Doug and I were on a date. For real.

Lynn and Jan Skuza kept Karis and Caleb, fed them and played Uno. Sandra took Kylie with her and some other ladies to the Ndere Center where Kylie watched again the dance show we had taken her to in June.

This one.















And this...I have no words for...

Our reason for going to Kampala was to take Kelli and Alissa to the airport. Stan and Pam blessed us before they left for America by giving us money to take the girls out for steaks. They chose to eat at Spur, and the steaks were really good.

There is even a trampoline inside for the kids to play with.

Another treat was getting to go to the movies for the first time since Zambia in May. An appropriate movie happened to be showing, so we went. You will see evidence of the kids having watched "Dispicable Me" in a later post.

Rhino Sanctuary

Our team leader is in America, so when the time came for two of our journey girls to go home, it fell to Doug and I to take them to the airport.

On our way to Kampala, we all stopped off at a place we hadn't visited before.

The Tiwa Rhino Sanctuary.

This is the only place rhino are in all of Uganda.

You pay a park entrance fee. Pay for a "tracker."

And then the tracker drives with you in your own car somewhere in the bush.

There are 9 rhinos in Uganda.

This is what happened to the rest of them during the war.

Horrible, isn't it?

There are three dads, three moms, and three calves.

The first baby born here was named Obama. His mother came from Disney World in America, and his dad came from Kenya. :)

(By the way, Obama is pretty much a rock star over here, but that's beside the point.)

Our tracker radioed to some soldiers who are assigned to guard the three families. Three soldiers radioed back to say that one family was near.

We parked and started our trek through the bush.

Let me stop here and say that there was a sign we read when we arrived.
1. You must be wearing long pants
2. You must be wearing close-toed shoes
3. (I forgot #3 - we were already failing at the first two)

I got my kid's tennis shoes out of the back end of the car.

We all travel in flip flops, except for Doug. He wears Chacos.

We couldn't do anything about the long pants, and no one said anything, so we went on.

Doug had some alternate shoes to put on, but not me.

I was graciously loaned some boots -

in fact, all the girls were.

Pretty, huh?

Found the mom...

Found the dad...

Walked around a tree, and we saw the whole family.

This is not Obama and his family, by the way.

So close.

Pretty amazing, huh?

It's a good thing they were all napping. Our tracker said that if the baby hears the clicking of the camera, he walks over to inspect it.

Momma again.

He crouched down to look.

Then I cracked up.

He took the position of a lion about to pounce.

Pretty much all of them were napping now.

Kelli and the kids. Can you see how close we were?

In 15 years there might be enough rhinos that they can re-stock the national parks here.

That would be nice.

Not just chickens

This is what our dog killed in our back yard last week.

A monitor lizard.

Thankfully, unlike the chickens, they apparently only like to kill the lizards, but not eat them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the wrongful death of a lizard any more than most of you, and believe me, my dogs have killed their fair share of lizards. It's just that I'd rather see it all in one piece, if you know what I mean, rather than "spewed" across the yard.

"Lizard chase" is one of our dogs favorite games.

They love chasing them and hunting them down, but sadly after the "chase" has been won, they leave the carcass for the ants.

Stiff as a board.

By the time I got home to take a picture, it had been laid out for a while so the neighbor kids could keep looking at it and so Caleb could show me.

What a nice guy? Saving a lizard for me.

Karis is usually not afraid to touch anything - she's even picked up a dead coral snake before, but she was squeamish about touching this. I don't know why.

And apparently, Caleb is not the bravest one in the bunch.

Daniel

The kids performed "Daniel and the Lion's Den" for the parents at Bible study this week.

One of our journey girls, Kelli, narrated it and organized the whole thing. They all did a good job.

Kylie was one of the "wise gals" who "advised" King Darius.

Here is one of the angels closing the mouths of the lions. Caleb is in a striped shirt and Karis is in an orange dress.

Caleb was in appropriate "lion colors" at first, but unfortunately, 5 minutes before the play, we discovered he had rolled around in chicken poop somewhere in the yard.

New shirt!

More closing of the mouths... (I think they even accidentally shut Daniel's mouth).

Kylie is "throwing herself" into the pit after King Darius decided to punish his advisors.

The lions are "devouring" her.

The cast. We are from Uganda, America, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands!

My three, close-up.

Kelli, on the left, organized it all. She and Alissa (on the right) were finishing their last week in Arua. They are headed back to America now. Bye girls. We'll miss you!!

Mercy

The reason we went to Kampala recently was to see this family.

This is Cody and Melissa Busby and their newly adopted daughter, Mercy. They have two other daughters back in Kansas who are anxiously awaiting their arrival back home.

Mercy is adorable.

Melissa saw her when she was just three weeks old last year. Her mother had died in childbirth, and her father was
already dead. Her uncle already had too many children to care for, and so Melissa started the long process of adoption.

To see all this time and work come to fruition, is absolutely amazing.

Doug went to seminary with Cody in Mississippi, and they were both student pastors at neighboring churches near Jackson. It was such a joy to see "home" folks.

I didn't know I was actually homesick for people I know until right before I knew we were going to see them. For three nights in a row before we saw them, I dreamed about them every night.

We were glad to see them, AND Cody and Melissa agreed to take our obsolete solar power inverter back to America for us. AND let me add, Melissa had been in Uganda for a month handling court appointments and paper work, so when Cody came to join her, knowing he
would see us, he brought treats!!

Only one other person has ventured to send me Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the mail (thank you, Kelley), and Cody came with an armload. I am now set for QUITE some time, and I'm sure to gain back all the weight I have lost.

Gotta love chocolate and peanut butter!

As an addendum, I will add that we will shortly be making the trip BACK to Kampala. Our team leader's father is very sick, and the whole family went to America to see their family during this time.

Two of our journeygirls, Alissa and Kelli, will be returning to America next week. Had everything gone according to human plans, the Wafler's (our team leaders) would have driven the girls down to Kampala on Sunday the 17th, and then stayed to see them off on the 2oth. Since the Wafler's are in America, the privilege falls to us.

We weren't quite ready for a return trip so quickly, but we are getting ready, AND we are going to visit a place called The Rhino Sanctuary on the way down, so I'm sure I'll have some more pictures for you after next week.