gym class!

Assuming all went well, I arrived in America yesterday!

 Sadly, that means you might not receive any blog posts for a while. 

So in the meantime...

Here are some pictures of the little gym class that I've collected over the past 7 months; we meet twice a week for 30 minutes. 

We play games more than any actual physical exercise...but it's a fun opportunity to hang out with a really awesome group of kids. 

chicken face!

more camp photos

The theme of our family retreat last week was "Wholly Surrendered," especially focused on purity. It was a hard topic at times for the kids, but so good for them to hear! We'd spend the morning hearing a presentation, breaking into small groups for discussion, and hearing testimonies from staff. Good stuff! 

can't beat a small group discussion with this view!

Of course, I think the highlight of the trip for many people was swimming in Lake Victoria! 

Swimming with the kids was a real bonding experience, as many of them had little previous water experience. I had up to 3 kids at a time begging me to teach them to swim! There's only so much we could do in 4 hours of swimming through the week, but hopefully they've got a good start for future practicing. 

I got a sweet tan...and hopefully NOT bilharzia! 

 It was also sweet to see the older kids playing and helping with the younger kids in the water. 

The week ended with an unexpected adventure...our mini-bus was about 2.5 hours late! We finally arrived back home at 10pm. I was fighting a nasty head cold, which means that trip definitely takes the cake for 'worst road trip ever'! 

the back half of the coaster

back from camp!

Some pictures from last week at Musana Camps with my family group:

We've arrived! 

It was a really awesome week! We had fun together as family, discussed some hard topics, and were refreshed by the beauty of creation.

Team Golola wins the carpetball tournament!

There were traditional camp activities, such as carpetball, team challenges, and hiking...

Trying to push the ball across the right team line!

Befuddled by how to complete the challenge...but Team Rhino eventually placed second!  

...and there were some un-traditional camp activities (at least, from my camp experiences!), such as drumming and challenging the local fishing village to a football game! 

these guys have cah-razy drumming skills!

        

Apparently every family group that comes to camp challenges the village but no one has ever won. 

We came close, though--we tied!

the soccer game

April 2013 Update

April 2013 Blog Update

auspicious day

 I love New Year’s Eve, though more for the excuse to reflect, ponder, and process life than for the opportunity to lose sleep over a robotic glittering ball. 

This year, I wasn’t able to spend much time pondering on New Year’s Eve because I was busy renewing friendships, creating memories, and anticipating the future (which, by the way, is another perfectly legit way to spend that holiday). Plus also, I wasn’t much in the mood for reflecting, since 2012 held a lot of good-but-really-hard changes for me.

Today, however, provides an excellent position from which to reflect on the past year. It’s an auspicious day: on April 24, 1154BC, the Greeks invaded Troy via the Trojan Horse, and on this day in 1969, Paul McCartney uttered his famous phrase, “There is no truth in the rumor that I am dead.” 

thanks Meg! 

Today is also my birthday. 

So as I am pondering, here is a list of the significant things I have accomplished, experienced, or learned (though not completely!) during the past year of life:

• I quit a job after 3.5 years.
• I worked at an adventure camp.
• I found my passion.
• I became homeless (almost a year to the day!).
• I battled fear.
• I watched a DEAR friend get married.
• I cried for the first time at a wedding.
• I moved to Africa.
• I learned to live day-by-day, moment-by-moment.
• I toured Uganda with one of my favorite persons.
• I developed a new community from scratch. 
• I gave up my passion.
• I choose to put others ahead of myself.
• I started a 1,000 gifts list. 
• I learned contentment.

my awesome housies & psuedo-housies who threw me a surprise party! 

when there is no electricity...

The only dishwashers are the two attached to every body:

a common sight at our house...it seems like we only do dishes when we need them for the next meal...but really, it's just that there's no dishwasher to hide them! 

Blending requires a little more effort:

Manual chopper (which can also be a blender) from Pampered Chef...best invention ever! 

Cooking is done by headlamp: 

thankfully our stove/oven runs on propane, not electricity...there's a reason for that! 

And gourmet coffee is the norm:

French Press: no electricity required.
FYI, drip coffee also requires no electricity.
What can I say, I'm a coffee snob now...

No electricity? 

No problem!