One of the unique things about Uganda is the many different animals, specifically birds, that we have run into. There are the "I want to eat your children" birds--the Ugandans say when these birds squawk it sounds as if they are saying, "I WANT TO EAT YOUR CHILDREN!!!" Then there are the adorable little brown birds, that look like sparrows but the size of huming birds and have bright cobalt blue bellies.
Then there are the storks.
From day #1 we have been absolutely blown away by the presence of storks. They are everywhere. And, they are ridiculously large. When on the ground they stand about as tall as the average American 8yr. old child. We were originally very confused as to why the presence of storks even exists in Uganda, as we assumed them to be the type that dwell near oceans--not in countries surrounded by land. However, our dear friend Ivan pointed out they are here due to Lake Victoria. Usually, we are very humored by the storks. We enjoy watching them, perhaps chasing them, and are daily enamored by their ability to sit 12 at a time in a tree without causing the tree to collapse branch by branch beneath their weight. Today, however, we were not so amused by said storks.
Today while walking under stork-infested trees-- the storks decided it was about that time, to take a poo. That's right. We were poo'ed on. By our beloved storks. DIS-GUSTING. So as we sit in the internet cafe which is currently crammed with people meaning we may get kicked off at any given moment, we are covered in bright green bird crap and smell horrendously.
We have also encountered predator-like animal today--called man. Today while at our "spot", which is Baka's store where we purchase soda and sit and chat, Stacie was approached by a very friendly Ugandan man. He took a seat next to her, or facing her rather, straddling the bench and proceeded to profess his undying love for her. Rather, he interrogated her as to why she was wearing a wedding band when she clearly was not married. Stacie insisted over and over again that she indeed is married, and even callaed her 'husband' in the states to prove so. However, the man was unrelentless. Almost in tears, he continued to question, demanding a certificate of marriage. Finally, he gave up the good fight--his very last parting words, in near tears, "I LOVE YOU."
Ohhhhh the joys of Uganda.
On a more spiritual note. . . We are learning much about the power of the Spirit. It is often times that as Christians we tend to ask God for certain characteristics--such as "God, please grant me strength," or peace or endurance or whatever else. It is as if God has all of these qualities and we expect Him to kindly hand them to us in small servings whenever needed. Not so. Because the Holy Spirit lives in us--He indwells us--we ARE those things! We are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, etc. etc. So rather than praying, "God grant me patience. . ." We should instead be asking, "God, please help me to recognize the patience that I already have."
Good stuff :) God is continuing to grow and stretch us both as He slowly reveals His plan and will for our time here in Uganda. It is so exciting to learn of what power we have thru Him /His Spirit!
Thank-You Jesus for storks and crazy men and the power of your Spirit.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Come here you rich white person!!
Living in Uganda is very different from living in the United States. Reason #1 being there is only one season. Locals say that there are two seasons, a wet season and a dry season. But being from a country that has four distinct seasons, it is difficult to distinguish between the two seasons and we like to just call the one season HOT. Because that is just what it is...HOT. However, even with it being dreadfully hot, there is always a very nice cool breeze so we rarely ever sweat. Not sweating is definately positive about the breeze, the downside of that is when we are wearing a shirt without sleeves, we get burnt easily without realizing that we are burning. And that is what has happened, we are very burnt, so pray for healing of the burns!!!
Reason #2 for it being different is that you walk outside of your house and clap your hands and a "boda, boda" (which is a little mo-ped type bike) comes flying down the street knocking down all the other drivers who are trying to come up to you. These nifty drivers will get you to point A to point B in no time...but you gotta watch out because they like to raise the prices at times.
Reason #3 is that everywere we go, we are noticed. We mean we know we are good looking and all, haha, but seriously, the whole town stops and stares. Often times they hollar out Oh-lee-oh-tee-ya Mzungu. Translation- "How are you rich white person" Our response being Jhen-dee Moo-doo-gah-voo. Translation "Very fine you black person" We think that it may be offensive to call them black people, but who gives them right to call us rich white people :-)
AmyRose is going to get hit by a vehicle sometime soon. Which isn't good because Stacie says that she needs to walk faster because if she gets hit, we are not paying for it and if a leg is broken, we will just have to tape it up with our first aid kit. AmyRose thinks that is ridiculous. :-)
We are registering as an NGO tomorrow. It will be really nice because then we can start on the orphanage. We have found a house that is huge. It has nine bedrooms, three bathrooms, a huge dining area and a servants quarters hooked onto the house. It has rich soil for growing crops and a nice yard for play. It has a three car garage that could be turned into a three room school-the garage is HUGE!! The house is also on the beach side and if the house is purchased than we would have part of the beach property as well. This would be perfect for the future because if you have beach property than you can set up a buisiness on the property and teach the orphans how to run a buisiness as they get older in the orphanage. We feel like God is giving us big plans. So be praying for these plans. The total cost of the house is going for $355,000...so be praying that the funds will come in if that is what the Lord is wanting. We feel like it is since we are really not cool enough to come up with all that God has put on our hearts. Thank you again for all of your support..without it, it would have been difficult getting here!! love you all!!
Reason #2 for it being different is that you walk outside of your house and clap your hands and a "boda, boda" (which is a little mo-ped type bike) comes flying down the street knocking down all the other drivers who are trying to come up to you. These nifty drivers will get you to point A to point B in no time...but you gotta watch out because they like to raise the prices at times.
Reason #3 is that everywere we go, we are noticed. We mean we know we are good looking and all, haha, but seriously, the whole town stops and stares. Often times they hollar out Oh-lee-oh-tee-ya Mzungu. Translation- "How are you rich white person" Our response being Jhen-dee Moo-doo-gah-voo. Translation "Very fine you black person" We think that it may be offensive to call them black people, but who gives them right to call us rich white people :-)
AmyRose is going to get hit by a vehicle sometime soon. Which isn't good because Stacie says that she needs to walk faster because if she gets hit, we are not paying for it and if a leg is broken, we will just have to tape it up with our first aid kit. AmyRose thinks that is ridiculous. :-)
We are registering as an NGO tomorrow. It will be really nice because then we can start on the orphanage. We have found a house that is huge. It has nine bedrooms, three bathrooms, a huge dining area and a servants quarters hooked onto the house. It has rich soil for growing crops and a nice yard for play. It has a three car garage that could be turned into a three room school-the garage is HUGE!! The house is also on the beach side and if the house is purchased than we would have part of the beach property as well. This would be perfect for the future because if you have beach property than you can set up a buisiness on the property and teach the orphans how to run a buisiness as they get older in the orphanage. We feel like God is giving us big plans. So be praying for these plans. The total cost of the house is going for $355,000...so be praying that the funds will come in if that is what the Lord is wanting. We feel like it is since we are really not cool enough to come up with all that God has put on our hearts. Thank you again for all of your support..without it, it would have been difficult getting here!! love you all!!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Worst Day ever in Uganda
So after today, we litterally wanted to pull our hair out.
Okay so the reason for this terrible attitude is we got our hair braided today. We sat through 12 hours of intense braiding and weaving only to find that it is not finished and we have to go through 6 more hours the next day. What we thought was only going to take about 6-8 hours is now taking almost twenty!! :-)
Stacie got hers braided in tiny braids which was not very painful because they are braids. She sat listening to nothing but the hair stylists speaking in Lugandan, not having anything to eat so she was starving, from 8 in the morning until 7 at night....just sitting. Then the stylist had her tilt her head back the opposite direction it is supposed to go so for 45 MINUTES!!! Just so that she could get the top part finished. Joan, I am sooooo sorry for what you have to go through. I will never sit through that again.
AmyRose on the other hand, sat from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening, getting her hair twisted. It was super painful because they only twist seven strands of hair in with the weave and so basically it feels like you are getting all of your hairs plucked from your scalp. Then around lunch time they offer food which was amazing since the granola bar she packed with her got forcefully shared with everyone else in the room once she busted it out. So she looked at what it was and was so thankful. Pork. She popped it in her mouth and realized the texture was awfully chewy and tough. Oh it was not pork, but Cow intestine. She kept praying, Lord do not let me gag.
The hardest part about the whole situation is that we were not able to be together. We had to be in different salons so we had no idea what the other person was doing or how each other were feeling. Since we have been here, we have had it pretty good so far. Everything has worked out well and and we have had really good food and have been living well. After discussing how terrible it was today we realized that we are not always going to have it good...which is good because we learn the most in difficult situations and if sitting through hours of getting our hair...then I think we are going to survive!!
Okay so the reason for this terrible attitude is we got our hair braided today. We sat through 12 hours of intense braiding and weaving only to find that it is not finished and we have to go through 6 more hours the next day. What we thought was only going to take about 6-8 hours is now taking almost twenty!! :-)
Stacie got hers braided in tiny braids which was not very painful because they are braids. She sat listening to nothing but the hair stylists speaking in Lugandan, not having anything to eat so she was starving, from 8 in the morning until 7 at night....just sitting. Then the stylist had her tilt her head back the opposite direction it is supposed to go so for 45 MINUTES!!! Just so that she could get the top part finished. Joan, I am sooooo sorry for what you have to go through. I will never sit through that again.
AmyRose on the other hand, sat from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening, getting her hair twisted. It was super painful because they only twist seven strands of hair in with the weave and so basically it feels like you are getting all of your hairs plucked from your scalp. Then around lunch time they offer food which was amazing since the granola bar she packed with her got forcefully shared with everyone else in the room once she busted it out. So she looked at what it was and was so thankful. Pork. She popped it in her mouth and realized the texture was awfully chewy and tough. Oh it was not pork, but Cow intestine. She kept praying, Lord do not let me gag.
The hardest part about the whole situation is that we were not able to be together. We had to be in different salons so we had no idea what the other person was doing or how each other were feeling. Since we have been here, we have had it pretty good so far. Everything has worked out well and and we have had really good food and have been living well. After discussing how terrible it was today we realized that we are not always going to have it good...which is good because we learn the most in difficult situations and if sitting through hours of getting our hair...then I think we are going to survive!!
A Phenomenal Painting Party Project!!
Okay so we have painted the rooms of Abba House!!! It was a lot of fun and a lot more work than we thought it was going to be but from the smiling and appreciative faces of all the kids, well worth all the hard work!!
First off, even though Stacie said that she had painted before, the only thing she has ever painted was a piece of pottery...That's right she had no idea how to paint...but it was her idea to paint the rooms at Abba. AmyRose, on the other hand, had painted several houses so Stacie thought that with AmyRose experience and Stacie's confidence, that they could get it done in no time.
The walls are lime stone. So we couldn't just start painting like we thought in the first place. We had to sandpaper all the walls which took forever because we were given a 6"by6" piece of sandpaper to use. The limestone was going everywhere and making it difficult to breathe and see. But after 5 hours of sanding, we were able to apply the undercoat. We applied the undercoat and then left for it to dry. The next day we went to paint. We chose light blue for the rooms and as we were applying it, we laid down newspaper for it to drip onto that way it wouldn't get everywhere. Well they kids kept walking on the newspaper and trailing little blue footprints everywhere, so we trashed the newspaper and now have light blue cement floors as well as walls. :-)
A two day project has now turned into a two week project...but this is Africa. You can never get anything done in what we would think and efficient amount of time...
Which leads me to the next blog...
First off, even though Stacie said that she had painted before, the only thing she has ever painted was a piece of pottery...That's right she had no idea how to paint...but it was her idea to paint the rooms at Abba. AmyRose, on the other hand, had painted several houses so Stacie thought that with AmyRose experience and Stacie's confidence, that they could get it done in no time.
The walls are lime stone. So we couldn't just start painting like we thought in the first place. We had to sandpaper all the walls which took forever because we were given a 6"by6" piece of sandpaper to use. The limestone was going everywhere and making it difficult to breathe and see. But after 5 hours of sanding, we were able to apply the undercoat. We applied the undercoat and then left for it to dry. The next day we went to paint. We chose light blue for the rooms and as we were applying it, we laid down newspaper for it to drip onto that way it wouldn't get everywhere. Well they kids kept walking on the newspaper and trailing little blue footprints everywhere, so we trashed the newspaper and now have light blue cement floors as well as walls. :-)
A two day project has now turned into a two week project...but this is Africa. You can never get anything done in what we would think and efficient amount of time...
Which leads me to the next blog...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
"Nakabuye and Muhumuza"
AmyRose had her first experience with Ugandan food. What she tried was a tasteless potato-like yellow blob called Matookie-(Muh-toe-key) They eat it with everything. She was not so much a fan of it. But choked down as much as she could stomach so that she wouldn't offend the ones who were offering it to her...
AmyRose now has a ugandan name called Muhumuza...meaning Comforter. Stacie is actually quite sad because she has found that the meaning of Nakabuye, her Ugandan name is in the line of "Enchima" which is monkey in Luganda... However, they did inform her that it was a wonderful name and is respected. :-)
We went to visit Abba house on Saturday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Abba House, a few of our friends came to Uganda in July of 2008 under an organization called House of Friends and built the foundation for an orphanage. The orphanage, Abba House, is now complete and is housing 29 children. The children heard that we were coming about two weeks in advance and they had been anxiously awaiting our arrival. We had taken with us a bag full of "sweeties" which were tootsie roll pops (Thank you very much Cynthia for all the candy donations...they are being used well :-)) and smarties and the sweeties were devoured instantly.
While visiting Abba, we both felt like we should do a project there. So we have decided to paint all the inside walls of the house. There are three rooms for the children, one room for the aunties, a storage room and then a living room. We are really excited to begin getting hands-on and start painting.
FYI Harry, Reuben, Bethany, Emma, and Johanna...You all have left an everlasting impression on these kids because they are ALWAYS asking about you and asking when you are coming back!! Johanna, they kids have named their dolls after you :-)
Well I guess that is all for now...Hope you have an awesome time back at home and keep us in your prayers!!
AmyRose now has a ugandan name called Muhumuza...meaning Comforter. Stacie is actually quite sad because she has found that the meaning of Nakabuye, her Ugandan name is in the line of "Enchima" which is monkey in Luganda... However, they did inform her that it was a wonderful name and is respected. :-)
We went to visit Abba house on Saturday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Abba House, a few of our friends came to Uganda in July of 2008 under an organization called House of Friends and built the foundation for an orphanage. The orphanage, Abba House, is now complete and is housing 29 children. The children heard that we were coming about two weeks in advance and they had been anxiously awaiting our arrival. We had taken with us a bag full of "sweeties" which were tootsie roll pops (Thank you very much Cynthia for all the candy donations...they are being used well :-)) and smarties and the sweeties were devoured instantly.
While visiting Abba, we both felt like we should do a project there. So we have decided to paint all the inside walls of the house. There are three rooms for the children, one room for the aunties, a storage room and then a living room. We are really excited to begin getting hands-on and start painting.
FYI Harry, Reuben, Bethany, Emma, and Johanna...You all have left an everlasting impression on these kids because they are ALWAYS asking about you and asking when you are coming back!! Johanna, they kids have named their dolls after you :-)
Well I guess that is all for now...Hope you have an awesome time back at home and keep us in your prayers!!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
An eventful day in Uganda
Catastrophic Events in Uganda
#1 Destruction of the Oil Lamp
For those of you that are not familiar with Uganda, the country sells their electricity to the neighboring country Kenya. In the past trips here, we were lucky to have electricity 4 out of the 7 days a week.
We have been fortunate enough this trip to have only been without electricity about eight hours. However, our light in the room that we are staying in does not have a light so we have resorted to the dimly lit oil lamp for our source of light in the evening. We have really grown to love the oil lamp. Well, Stacie this morning decides that she wants to get into our make-shift table which is a tub with a blanket layed across it. While doing this, she knocks over our only source of night light, shattering the oil lamp into a million peices. Good news is that the electrician guy came and fixed our light...so as long as the country has electricity, we are able to see.
#2 Coffee time
Stacie (our dedicated barista) decides to make some coffee...go figure. After asking how the foreign pot works, begins hard at work brewing the coffee. The odd little pot is divided into three sections: top portion for pouring ONLY boiled water into, the middle portion for putting ground coffee into, and the bottom portion for catching the final product-a delicious cup of fresh brewed coffee!! Stacie pours the ground coffee and boiled water together into the TOP portion and waits 20 minutes. She checks it and finds it is still at the SAME level as it was when she poured it ino the pot.
Stacie: Uh, is it seriously supposed to take this long??
AmyRose: Yes. It takes time for it to drip into the bottom.
Stacie thinking to herself: 'Wow, I really don't think I have the patience to wait this long for a
tea-cup sized cup of coffee.
That was when they both realized there were 3 parts to the weird little pot...not only two.
#3 Stacie and the Cell Phone
So there we were. . .walking the streets of Enbebbe, on our way back to the house from the Internet Cafe. Stacie, being the much faster walker of the two of us, was going her usual walking pace of 25 miles an hour, while AmyRose was walking her usual 5 miles an hour.
Then the cell phone rang.
Stacie answers the phone, and begins quite the conversation with her dear friend Amy S. During this conversation, Stacie unknowingly begings walking faster than she already was, apparently very excited about the conversation at hand. Meanwhile, AmyRose struggles to keep up, while wearing new flip-flops that are a full size too small (apparently ugandans do not have feet larger than size 6), which are producing massive and painful blisters. Also, AmyRose is wearing a skirt wrap, handmade by herself, which is beautiful but ridiculously long and uncomfortable--resulting in impossible walking conditions.
Then comes the ditch. Stacie still on the phone, still at 25 miles an hour, and in a short flowing skirt and flops that fit, quickly and effortlessly jumps across the ditch... AmyRose struggles to jump across ditch without falling face first.
Result: AmyRose trips, catches herself, but barely--resulting in the bottle of Coca-Cola in right hand splattering all over AmyRose's face, shirt, and skirt. Coca-Cola dripping from eyelashes and face, Stacie is completely oblivious to entire scenario. . .and still on the phone :)
We went to visit Mercy Home of Children today which is the orphanage Stacie stayed at for nine weeks her first visit to Uganda. It was difficult for both Stacie and AmyRose to be there because the children are not being taken care of anymore. The area, which used to be a beautiful building is now torn up, trashed, and dirt splattered EVERYWHERE. Where there used to be singing, dancing, and smiling faces is now lonely, shattered, and empty hearts. We are asking the Lord to show us what we should be doing to help the children while we are here. Join us with our prayer and let us see what it is that God wants us to do.
The reason for this change is due to corruption. Corruption seems to be what all African countries are built on. Many orphanages are viewed as buisinesses. It is a means of making money for the pleasure of the ones in charge of the orphanage. Their hearts are not in it for the children. That is what has happened to the orphanage. They, maybe, started out with good intentions but those intentions quickly turned for the worse when money began flowing in. We just do not understand how anyone can claim to be believers and preach the gospel, yet have such evil hearts and mistreat the children in the name of the Lord. The more that we thought about this the more difficult it was to do anything. Then reading in our quiet times the spripture came up in Titus:
"To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not
believe, nothing is pure. In fact both their minds and their consciousness are
corrupted. They claim to know God but by their actions they deny him. They
are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." 1:15-16
What scripture says to do in situations such as these is to silence them. Do not ignore it. Rebuke them sharply so that our conscience will be saved. So be praying that if we ought to do anything, which we believe the Lord is telling us to, then that we do it in prayer and using wisdom.
Thank you again for all of your comments and viewing our blog!! Remember that we love you and miss you all very much!!
#1 Destruction of the Oil Lamp
For those of you that are not familiar with Uganda, the country sells their electricity to the neighboring country Kenya. In the past trips here, we were lucky to have electricity 4 out of the 7 days a week.
We have been fortunate enough this trip to have only been without electricity about eight hours. However, our light in the room that we are staying in does not have a light so we have resorted to the dimly lit oil lamp for our source of light in the evening. We have really grown to love the oil lamp. Well, Stacie this morning decides that she wants to get into our make-shift table which is a tub with a blanket layed across it. While doing this, she knocks over our only source of night light, shattering the oil lamp into a million peices. Good news is that the electrician guy came and fixed our light...so as long as the country has electricity, we are able to see.
#2 Coffee time
Stacie (our dedicated barista) decides to make some coffee...go figure. After asking how the foreign pot works, begins hard at work brewing the coffee. The odd little pot is divided into three sections: top portion for pouring ONLY boiled water into, the middle portion for putting ground coffee into, and the bottom portion for catching the final product-a delicious cup of fresh brewed coffee!! Stacie pours the ground coffee and boiled water together into the TOP portion and waits 20 minutes. She checks it and finds it is still at the SAME level as it was when she poured it ino the pot.
Stacie: Uh, is it seriously supposed to take this long??
AmyRose: Yes. It takes time for it to drip into the bottom.
Stacie thinking to herself: 'Wow, I really don't think I have the patience to wait this long for a
tea-cup sized cup of coffee.
That was when they both realized there were 3 parts to the weird little pot...not only two.
#3 Stacie and the Cell Phone
So there we were. . .walking the streets of Enbebbe, on our way back to the house from the Internet Cafe. Stacie, being the much faster walker of the two of us, was going her usual walking pace of 25 miles an hour, while AmyRose was walking her usual 5 miles an hour.
Then the cell phone rang.
Stacie answers the phone, and begins quite the conversation with her dear friend Amy S. During this conversation, Stacie unknowingly begings walking faster than she already was, apparently very excited about the conversation at hand. Meanwhile, AmyRose struggles to keep up, while wearing new flip-flops that are a full size too small (apparently ugandans do not have feet larger than size 6), which are producing massive and painful blisters. Also, AmyRose is wearing a skirt wrap, handmade by herself, which is beautiful but ridiculously long and uncomfortable--resulting in impossible walking conditions.
Then comes the ditch. Stacie still on the phone, still at 25 miles an hour, and in a short flowing skirt and flops that fit, quickly and effortlessly jumps across the ditch... AmyRose struggles to jump across ditch without falling face first.
Result: AmyRose trips, catches herself, but barely--resulting in the bottle of Coca-Cola in right hand splattering all over AmyRose's face, shirt, and skirt. Coca-Cola dripping from eyelashes and face, Stacie is completely oblivious to entire scenario. . .and still on the phone :)
We went to visit Mercy Home of Children today which is the orphanage Stacie stayed at for nine weeks her first visit to Uganda. It was difficult for both Stacie and AmyRose to be there because the children are not being taken care of anymore. The area, which used to be a beautiful building is now torn up, trashed, and dirt splattered EVERYWHERE. Where there used to be singing, dancing, and smiling faces is now lonely, shattered, and empty hearts. We are asking the Lord to show us what we should be doing to help the children while we are here. Join us with our prayer and let us see what it is that God wants us to do.
The reason for this change is due to corruption. Corruption seems to be what all African countries are built on. Many orphanages are viewed as buisinesses. It is a means of making money for the pleasure of the ones in charge of the orphanage. Their hearts are not in it for the children. That is what has happened to the orphanage. They, maybe, started out with good intentions but those intentions quickly turned for the worse when money began flowing in. We just do not understand how anyone can claim to be believers and preach the gospel, yet have such evil hearts and mistreat the children in the name of the Lord. The more that we thought about this the more difficult it was to do anything. Then reading in our quiet times the spripture came up in Titus:
"To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not
believe, nothing is pure. In fact both their minds and their consciousness are
corrupted. They claim to know God but by their actions they deny him. They
are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." 1:15-16
What scripture says to do in situations such as these is to silence them. Do not ignore it. Rebuke them sharply so that our conscience will be saved. So be praying that if we ought to do anything, which we believe the Lord is telling us to, then that we do it in prayer and using wisdom.
Thank you again for all of your comments and viewing our blog!! Remember that we love you and miss you all very much!!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Why did the octopus hop onto land?!?
Well, here we are in Uganda, AT LAST...
It's still almost unreal. We have been planning for months and months and now that we are finally here, after a 36 hour plane ride, it just does not seem real.
We left KCI Monday evening @ 6pm, which we almost missed boarding time. This is how it went.
Overhead speaker going off:
"Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77. Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77."
AmyRose: Stacie, I think that they just said my name.
Stacie thinking AmyRose is crazy: Uh, no way. I don't think they did.
"Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77. Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77."
AmyRose: Yes. I heard my name for sure that time. And they are calling yours as well.
Stacie: Why would they be calling our names. This doesn't make any sense.
AmyRose: I don't know but we have to go find out.
Sure enough boarding began @ 5:30 and it is now 5:48pm... They had been calling our names repeatedly for over ten minutes. The not-so-nice gentlemen at the gate accused us of sipping on our lattes far too long and not paying attention.
So our families and boyfriends watched through the window as we ran to the plane--the very last to board :)
We get to Chicago in plenty of time and head straight to the Gate, which we happened to arrive at our gate an hour BEFORE boarding time just to be on the safe side. Lo and behold walking upon the gate we hear "Shaw and Tomlinson, please return to Gate 55." We both, out of breath from running to our gate, look at each other and laugh saying," Not again." This time, it was a mess up from KCI and they had said that we did not pay for the extra baggage, which we had. They got it figured out and we made it in time for our flight.
We got to Lond0n with a nine our layover awaiting us. We decide to take a bus to Windsor castle. There we took lots of pictures of the castle and visited a STARBUCKS...Yes can you believe that they had a STARBUCKS??? Stacie was ecstatic...AmyRose wanted to run the opposite direction... :-) Stacie says this is for real the last time Stacie gets treated to Starbucks over the last six months..Unless someone wants to send her some.. hint hint..
We had a great ministry opportunity to an elderly gentlemen named Bill in Starbucks. You always meet the loveliest people at any Starbucks you go...(That goes out to all of Stacie's customers :-)) We got to share with him about how the Lord has led us to Uganda and how we know that we are doing the Lord's will. After sharing about Jesus, He tells us that he had zero desire to know Jesus...So I think he may have thought we were a bit crazy...but we told him that he would be in our prayers.
We actually slept really well on the first nine hour flight from Chicago to London. But the second flight from London to Uganda was not the same. Since we had such a long layover in London, and it was bitterly cold outside (Some locals said it was the coldest day they had in over 15 years) we headed back to the airport early where we pushed some couches together in Starbucks to make a little cozy cot and to take a nap. Many comments were made by passersby concerning the two young women passed out in the coffee shop booths :) The nap turned into five hours which caused us to be insomniacs on the 2nd plane ride. The entire plane was passed out and in the dark, at around 3:00AM, while we had our little overhead lights on, watching movies and reading. When the rest of the plane woke up, we met the man sitting next to us. His name is David and he is from Kampala! (about an hr. from where we are staying) He was such a blessing to talk to, and very encouraging of our mission in Uganda.
ALL of our luggage arrived with us to Uganda which is a huge blessing!! Getting our visas went well--for the most part. We were told we could not get a 6-month visa and were given a 90 day pass and told to apply for a longer one when our 90 days expires. Alma, or "Judga" as most call her (meaning Grandma), and Ivan and Jimmy were awaiting our arrival at the airport. Cramming three large suitcases, 2 large tubberware bins, a guitar, two carry-ons, and 5 people into the car was quite a site.
Alma's house is BEAUTIFUL!!! We feel like we are living in a mansion. The house is gated, and we live right next to quite a wealthy engineer. House also comes equipped with a night guard :) Almost as soon as we got to Entebbe we went grocery shopping and had our money exchanged into shillings, then we headed back to the house and visited with several of Alma's friends including Pastor Kaya and his wife. We were EXHAUSTED from jet lag, so we passed out for almost 8 hrs!! This was most def. NOT a good idea, as we had much trouble sleeping at night because of it...
Alma made sure to make us feel very welcome in our home and reminded us that this is 'our' home as well for the next 6 months--we are not visitors, but her daughters :) Thomas and Reuben called right before we went to bed--such a blessing to hear their voices! Stacie and I went to bed tired but both woke up at 3:30AM wide awake!!! This is when we realized the 8hr. nap was a terrible idea. We were both starving so we broke into the 'hot n' spicy' cheez-its (perfect late-night snack), and then attempted to go back to sleep....pointless. We were wired all morning, which ended up being a total God thing, as we had some wonderful late-night conversation.
I don't think either one of us has ever been so excited to see the sun rise!! At about 6:30AM, the phone alarm clock went off.
AmyRose's thoughts: "Seriously!?!? She was actually planning on waking up this early on purpose?? This will be a long 6 months."
hahaha :) We began our first morning watching the Ugandan rain and thunder, eating fresh pineapple, and ... doing sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, and jumping jacks. ALL Stacie's idea, of course :) Then we decided to put our expert chef skills to work. We made Alma a delicious meal of fried diced potatoes, red onions, garlic and eggs, with a side of bread and strawberry jam. YUM. (the electricity decided to go off in the middle of this, by the way, which thank goodness didn't matter b/c it was a gas stove).
So we think we may be without electricity for the day...so we may have to cut this pretty soon.
I bet you are all, especially Harold Hartzler, just dying to find out the answer to the ocotopus question...
While in Chicago we met a lovely little boy named Benedict Thomas Lloyd. He was a five year old boy from England and had the cutest accent. He took a strong liking to the both of us and was flooding us with jokes.
Why did the octopus hop onto land was his question. The answer is that the octopus wanted to find out what heaven was like. We didn't realize the depth of this joke until much later.
The octopus represents us in many ways. Just like the octopus being curious and coming out of its natural environment, so are we. We came to Uganda, away from what was comfortable and natural to experience heaven in a sense. We know that God has something so much greater for us and in order for us to experience that, we must be available. So we have come up onto land and have made ourselves available to experiencing his kingdom on earth...
So, we must go now. But we want you all to know that we love you and appreciate all of your support and your prayers. Continue to pray for us and keep commenting. We love to read your comments!!!
It's still almost unreal. We have been planning for months and months and now that we are finally here, after a 36 hour plane ride, it just does not seem real.
We left KCI Monday evening @ 6pm, which we almost missed boarding time. This is how it went.
Overhead speaker going off:
"Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77. Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77."
AmyRose: Stacie, I think that they just said my name.
Stacie thinking AmyRose is crazy: Uh, no way. I don't think they did.
"Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77. Tomlinson and Shaw please report to Gate 77."
AmyRose: Yes. I heard my name for sure that time. And they are calling yours as well.
Stacie: Why would they be calling our names. This doesn't make any sense.
AmyRose: I don't know but we have to go find out.
Sure enough boarding began @ 5:30 and it is now 5:48pm... They had been calling our names repeatedly for over ten minutes. The not-so-nice gentlemen at the gate accused us of sipping on our lattes far too long and not paying attention.
So our families and boyfriends watched through the window as we ran to the plane--the very last to board :)
We get to Chicago in plenty of time and head straight to the Gate, which we happened to arrive at our gate an hour BEFORE boarding time just to be on the safe side. Lo and behold walking upon the gate we hear "Shaw and Tomlinson, please return to Gate 55." We both, out of breath from running to our gate, look at each other and laugh saying," Not again." This time, it was a mess up from KCI and they had said that we did not pay for the extra baggage, which we had. They got it figured out and we made it in time for our flight.
We got to Lond0n with a nine our layover awaiting us. We decide to take a bus to Windsor castle. There we took lots of pictures of the castle and visited a STARBUCKS...Yes can you believe that they had a STARBUCKS??? Stacie was ecstatic...AmyRose wanted to run the opposite direction... :-) Stacie says this is for real the last time Stacie gets treated to Starbucks over the last six months..Unless someone wants to send her some.. hint hint..
We had a great ministry opportunity to an elderly gentlemen named Bill in Starbucks. You always meet the loveliest people at any Starbucks you go...(That goes out to all of Stacie's customers :-)) We got to share with him about how the Lord has led us to Uganda and how we know that we are doing the Lord's will. After sharing about Jesus, He tells us that he had zero desire to know Jesus...So I think he may have thought we were a bit crazy...but we told him that he would be in our prayers.
We actually slept really well on the first nine hour flight from Chicago to London. But the second flight from London to Uganda was not the same. Since we had such a long layover in London, and it was bitterly cold outside (Some locals said it was the coldest day they had in over 15 years) we headed back to the airport early where we pushed some couches together in Starbucks to make a little cozy cot and to take a nap. Many comments were made by passersby concerning the two young women passed out in the coffee shop booths :) The nap turned into five hours which caused us to be insomniacs on the 2nd plane ride. The entire plane was passed out and in the dark, at around 3:00AM, while we had our little overhead lights on, watching movies and reading. When the rest of the plane woke up, we met the man sitting next to us. His name is David and he is from Kampala! (about an hr. from where we are staying) He was such a blessing to talk to, and very encouraging of our mission in Uganda.
ALL of our luggage arrived with us to Uganda which is a huge blessing!! Getting our visas went well--for the most part. We were told we could not get a 6-month visa and were given a 90 day pass and told to apply for a longer one when our 90 days expires. Alma, or "Judga" as most call her (meaning Grandma), and Ivan and Jimmy were awaiting our arrival at the airport. Cramming three large suitcases, 2 large tubberware bins, a guitar, two carry-ons, and 5 people into the car was quite a site.
Alma's house is BEAUTIFUL!!! We feel like we are living in a mansion. The house is gated, and we live right next to quite a wealthy engineer. House also comes equipped with a night guard :) Almost as soon as we got to Entebbe we went grocery shopping and had our money exchanged into shillings, then we headed back to the house and visited with several of Alma's friends including Pastor Kaya and his wife. We were EXHAUSTED from jet lag, so we passed out for almost 8 hrs!! This was most def. NOT a good idea, as we had much trouble sleeping at night because of it...
Alma made sure to make us feel very welcome in our home and reminded us that this is 'our' home as well for the next 6 months--we are not visitors, but her daughters :) Thomas and Reuben called right before we went to bed--such a blessing to hear their voices! Stacie and I went to bed tired but both woke up at 3:30AM wide awake!!! This is when we realized the 8hr. nap was a terrible idea. We were both starving so we broke into the 'hot n' spicy' cheez-its (perfect late-night snack), and then attempted to go back to sleep....pointless. We were wired all morning, which ended up being a total God thing, as we had some wonderful late-night conversation.
I don't think either one of us has ever been so excited to see the sun rise!! At about 6:30AM, the phone alarm clock went off.
AmyRose's thoughts: "Seriously!?!? She was actually planning on waking up this early on purpose?? This will be a long 6 months."
hahaha :) We began our first morning watching the Ugandan rain and thunder, eating fresh pineapple, and ... doing sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, and jumping jacks. ALL Stacie's idea, of course :) Then we decided to put our expert chef skills to work. We made Alma a delicious meal of fried diced potatoes, red onions, garlic and eggs, with a side of bread and strawberry jam. YUM. (the electricity decided to go off in the middle of this, by the way, which thank goodness didn't matter b/c it was a gas stove).
So we think we may be without electricity for the day...so we may have to cut this pretty soon.
I bet you are all, especially Harold Hartzler, just dying to find out the answer to the ocotopus question...
While in Chicago we met a lovely little boy named Benedict Thomas Lloyd. He was a five year old boy from England and had the cutest accent. He took a strong liking to the both of us and was flooding us with jokes.
Why did the octopus hop onto land was his question. The answer is that the octopus wanted to find out what heaven was like. We didn't realize the depth of this joke until much later.
The octopus represents us in many ways. Just like the octopus being curious and coming out of its natural environment, so are we. We came to Uganda, away from what was comfortable and natural to experience heaven in a sense. We know that God has something so much greater for us and in order for us to experience that, we must be available. So we have come up onto land and have made ourselves available to experiencing his kingdom on earth...
So, we must go now. But we want you all to know that we love you and appreciate all of your support and your prayers. Continue to pray for us and keep commenting. We love to read your comments!!!
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