a year ago today we arrived in uganda. it seems like just yesterday and at the same time it seems like we've been here for forever.
kampala is home now. the traffic doesn't make me fear for my life {oh wait, yes it does. sometimes. but definitely less so.} and i'm not weirded out by the non-refrigerated cartons of milk that line the grocery store shelves {in fact, despite how much i miss the taste of canadian milk, it's incredibly convenient to have milk sitting in my pantry when i run out!}. the weather here is amazing and i love our cool mornings and evenings.
our view is epic and today was one of the clearest i have ever seen it.
of course uganda likes to throw its curveballs and we were without power since yesterday afternoon until tonight - with a fridge full from a recent grocery shop. of course.
but the cool thing was that i just finished talking with the boys and praying and asking God to turn on the power so our fridge when minutes later {literally!} the power turned on. it's so cool to see answers to prayers like that with my kids!
this year has not been without challenges and frustrations. blessings and laughter.
i am so glad we moved our family here. it has given us the chance as a family to bond together in a way that would have been near impossible had we stayed in guelph, surrounded by amazing friends and close enough to family. we are us. and i'm looking forward to this next year even more so, knowing the blessing of discovering on our own what we like to do, how we do christmas or birthdays and other holidays. it's a precious gift, this time and i know that i will never have a time like this again. both my boys are at home with me all day and another precious little man is about to enter our family. sometimes my mind projects into the future and i get what i've called "future fears" where i worry about what's to come and start grasping onto what we have now for fear of losing it all.
but that's foolishness.
this upcoming year will be a different one from last year with a slightly different team and a new baby and feeling more settled, but i'm ready to embrace all that God has for my family, for me and for our team.
happy 1 year to us!
Showing posts with label monthiversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monthiversary. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
10 months in motion
we've been here for 10 months. amazing. some days it feels like we've been here for much, much longer. some days i can't believe how fast time has flown by.
last night as i lay cursing in my head at our stupid inverter, i thought to myself that i still find things to get angry about. to complain about. have i even changed at all?
i killed a cockroach last night with a kleenex box.
i say "keep your body to yourself" about ninety seven thousand times every day.
there's a bajillion pieces of lego on the ground.
oh hey there big belleh.
i made these delectable donuts a couple weeks ago and devoured about 6 in the span of 5 minutes. i'm going to make them again. {and i'll share the recipe when i do. and take better pictures.}
today or tomorrow. i should make them today because unlike my hometown of toronto, we're not experiencing high temperatures combined with humidity. i keep saying it, folks. perfect weather here in kampala. perfect weather.
i'm sitting on one of three couches in our living room. it's a one-seater. there are two little boys crouched behind me. fighting-playing. this always happens.
i want to set up our room for the baby. but jamie wants to wait until the guys move out of their house and we clean it so we can move our desk {which is in our room} to a clean "party house".
i may or may not have browsed mls.ca a couple days ago in two specific cities in ontario. and then i stopped. i need to live in the now. there will be time to figure out where we'll be living. but now isn't that time. and i also need to pray hard. i have loved living with less {although our house here is likely larger than any house we could afford in canada} and i don't want to get caught up in wanting, wanting, wanting. i want to live in a place that suits our needs and a place that allows us to freely give of our finances without having to pour them all into a temporary building that doesn't last for eternity.
i just said "keep your body to yourself". again.
jude thinks the living room carpet is a perfectly acceptable place to leave his finished apple core.
i have changed. but it's more of a changing. something that's continually happening. sometimes it's one step back and two steps forward. but always changing. moving. in motion.
i need to make some sandwiches for lunch. and maybe today i'll get around to exercising.
last night as i lay cursing in my head at our stupid inverter, i thought to myself that i still find things to get angry about. to complain about. have i even changed at all?
i killed a cockroach last night with a kleenex box.
i say "keep your body to yourself" about ninety seven thousand times every day.
there's a bajillion pieces of lego on the ground.
oh hey there big belleh.
i made these delectable donuts a couple weeks ago and devoured about 6 in the span of 5 minutes. i'm going to make them again. {and i'll share the recipe when i do. and take better pictures.}
today or tomorrow. i should make them today because unlike my hometown of toronto, we're not experiencing high temperatures combined with humidity. i keep saying it, folks. perfect weather here in kampala. perfect weather.
i'm sitting on one of three couches in our living room. it's a one-seater. there are two little boys crouched behind me. fighting-playing. this always happens.
i want to set up our room for the baby. but jamie wants to wait until the guys move out of their house and we clean it so we can move our desk {which is in our room} to a clean "party house".
i may or may not have browsed mls.ca a couple days ago in two specific cities in ontario. and then i stopped. i need to live in the now. there will be time to figure out where we'll be living. but now isn't that time. and i also need to pray hard. i have loved living with less {although our house here is likely larger than any house we could afford in canada} and i don't want to get caught up in wanting, wanting, wanting. i want to live in a place that suits our needs and a place that allows us to freely give of our finances without having to pour them all into a temporary building that doesn't last for eternity.
i just said "keep your body to yourself". again.
jude thinks the living room carpet is a perfectly acceptable place to leave his finished apple core.
i have changed. but it's more of a changing. something that's continually happening. sometimes it's one step back and two steps forward. but always changing. moving. in motion.
i need to make some sandwiches for lunch. and maybe today i'll get around to exercising.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
7 months and randomness
it's hard to believe {and yet somehow not hard} that we've been here for 7 months now.
this is home.
it's not always easy, but it is definitely our home.
my mind often wanders ahead into the future and thinks about what life will be like when we move back to canada. where we'll live, how the boys will adjust to school {noah will be in grade 1 and jude will be in j/k! so mind blowing for me at this point}, seeing friends and family again, how we will adjust to orderly traffic and winter and western society again. yes, my mind it wanders.
yesterday noah was asking if we could buy a chuggington train and i told him that they don't sell them here, only in canada {and also that it wasn't his birthday and that he had plenty of toys already and that whole lecture}. and then lo and behold, jamie walks in with a package that our dear friends had sent over 5 months ago for a birthday package for noah and it had FOUR chuggington trains in it! sweet blessings from Jesus. so, so good. except that the aftermath has been two little boys screaming and fighting over one specific train. sigh.
i haven't picked up my camera in almost a week. i'm not sure why.
tonight we're going out for a fun team dinner at fang fang's, the best chinese restaurant here that makes a killer sweet and sour pork dish that i'm for sure ordering a large plate of. *salivating*
the only thing about going out at night is that the traffic here doesn't usually clear until sometime after 9pm so if we do go out, we're in a standstill for most of it, hence why we {as a family} don't often go out at night. the guys can take bodas, but there's no way that i would ever take a boda with my kids. uh uh. no way.
there is a team of canadian staff and students from power to change coming in may and june and we're getting excited for them to come. i look forward to interacting with more people on a daily basis {this is me, the hermit speaking} and for the boys to get to hang out with "the canadians"! {also i'm secretly - or not to secretly - hoping they'll all bring me some reece's peanut butter cups. *more salivating*}
yesterday me and elizabeth {our house girl} made tortillas! i told her they were like chapattis, but thinner. so we did our "level best" {as they like to say here} and we'll see how they turn out later this week for dinner. they sure looked good.
tomorrow elizabeth is going to teach me how to make ugandan beans and cassava {it's a root vegetable. almost like a potato}.
so this is life in uganda.
this is home.
it's not always easy, but it is definitely our home.
my mind often wanders ahead into the future and thinks about what life will be like when we move back to canada. where we'll live, how the boys will adjust to school {noah will be in grade 1 and jude will be in j/k! so mind blowing for me at this point}, seeing friends and family again, how we will adjust to orderly traffic and winter and western society again. yes, my mind it wanders.
yesterday noah was asking if we could buy a chuggington train and i told him that they don't sell them here, only in canada {and also that it wasn't his birthday and that he had plenty of toys already and that whole lecture}. and then lo and behold, jamie walks in with a package that our dear friends had sent over 5 months ago for a birthday package for noah and it had FOUR chuggington trains in it! sweet blessings from Jesus. so, so good. except that the aftermath has been two little boys screaming and fighting over one specific train. sigh.
i haven't picked up my camera in almost a week. i'm not sure why.
tonight we're going out for a fun team dinner at fang fang's, the best chinese restaurant here that makes a killer sweet and sour pork dish that i'm for sure ordering a large plate of. *salivating*
the only thing about going out at night is that the traffic here doesn't usually clear until sometime after 9pm so if we do go out, we're in a standstill for most of it, hence why we {as a family} don't often go out at night. the guys can take bodas, but there's no way that i would ever take a boda with my kids. uh uh. no way.
there is a team of canadian staff and students from power to change coming in may and june and we're getting excited for them to come. i look forward to interacting with more people on a daily basis {this is me, the hermit speaking} and for the boys to get to hang out with "the canadians"! {also i'm secretly - or not to secretly - hoping they'll all bring me some reece's peanut butter cups. *more salivating*}
yesterday me and elizabeth {our house girl} made tortillas! i told her they were like chapattis, but thinner. so we did our "level best" {as they like to say here} and we'll see how they turn out later this week for dinner. they sure looked good.
tomorrow elizabeth is going to teach me how to make ugandan beans and cassava {it's a root vegetable. almost like a potato}.
so this is life in uganda.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
5 months
here we are. 5 months in. it feels like forever ago since we got on the plane in chicago and headed to london and then arrived here in kampala. tired, but excited. ready to start a new kind of life here.
and so I find myself tired. and not really too excited. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of adjustment phase and I'm okay with that because I'm still confident that this is where God wants our family, regardless of what I'm feeling right now.
I am missing home. my friends. my family. the familiar. but we've been brought here for such a time as this and so I am desperately trying to seize each moment instead of yearning for ones to come.
we leave for Spain in 5 days and I could not be more ready. ready for refreshment. ready for a change. ready to be with co-workers who are doing exactly what we're doing but in different places.
I am so ready for this:
granted it will be around 12 degrees and feel absolutely freezing compared to the weather we have here, but still. jeans! scarves! jackets! shoes!
sometimes you just need a change. 5 months in, bring on the change!
and so I find myself tired. and not really too excited. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of adjustment phase and I'm okay with that because I'm still confident that this is where God wants our family, regardless of what I'm feeling right now.
I am missing home. my friends. my family. the familiar. but we've been brought here for such a time as this and so I am desperately trying to seize each moment instead of yearning for ones to come.
we leave for Spain in 5 days and I could not be more ready. ready for refreshment. ready for a change. ready to be with co-workers who are doing exactly what we're doing but in different places.
I am so ready for this:
granted it will be around 12 degrees and feel absolutely freezing compared to the weather we have here, but still. jeans! scarves! jackets! shoes!
sometimes you just need a change. 5 months in, bring on the change!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
one
happy first monthiversary to us!
to celebrate living in uganda for 1 month we {me and the boys} made rice krispie squares with {lots} of sprinkles. i gave jude a little container of sprinkles thinking he'd pick them up with his fingers and delicately sprinkle them all over the rice krispies.
oh silly, silly me. why of course he just dumped the entire thing out in a pile on top of the rice krispies.
they tasted amazing.
then the boys helped me make {whole wheat molasses} bread.
and then i made italian ground beef and veggie soup with apple crisp for dessert. jamie even came home with strawberry ice cream so we served it up with a scoop of that deliciousness.
and then {just now} i found out that i won a contest i entered on this fantastic kids style blog i subscribe to.
what a day of blessings.
what a month of blessings.
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