Last Post of 2008

Hello all! I hope you had a very merry Christmas and we wish you the best in '09. This year has been the best one in a long time! Hope '09 will be just as much fun. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas. We gave Drew and Ann Claire to the Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park hotel, for Christmas. They knew it was 9 days away but Ann Claire went ahead and packed-including her toothbrush! I'm sure you'll see pictures from that too!

Merry Christmas from Pittsburgh

Kevin and I cheated and celebrated Christmas early this year. We gave each other a trip to beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. We walked around town on Saturday and watched the Steelers beat the Cowboys on Sunday. I have NEVER seen Kevin so excited and overjoyed in my life. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. During the game it was 9 degrees and windy. In the picture of the 2 of us at the game, we had just won and neither of us could feel our faces.

Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas.

Brrrr...First Cold Weekend in Dallas

It was finally cold here this weekend so we made some soups and some queso-got to love a crockpot or 3. The picture with Kevin and a fork behind his ear is only funny to about 7 people-very very long story- but I wanted to give them a shout out! Also, thought I'd add a picture of our house, Dirk and Mattie. If you've not seen Dirky in a while, no that's not a weird lighting thing; he's really that white and old-manish. Glad we put the leftover soup in the freezer since it's going to be 75 tomorrow. Love that Texas fall!

Pics from Big Bend-October 2008

The San Angelo boys had been planning a trip to Big Bend for about 2 years so I'm glad they finally got to go. I did tell Kevin that it'll be a LONG time before he gets to leave for an entire week again. The pictures are gorgeous; it's hard to believe they come from the same state! I was all set to book a trip for the 2 of us until Kevin said something about "bringing out your own waste." That's right-you have to carry your poo with you. I'll have to really think about it before I agree to something that crazy. That doesn't mean I'm not going to attach a picture of it-that's Jeff on poo-patrol. By the way, congrats to Jeff and Mitzi who are expecting a little one in the spring. Guess Jeff will be doing a LOT of poo-patrol then!

Hope you're enjoying your fall. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

Howdy folks!

Here are 2 pictures from our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas. This was Will, Avery and Preston's first trip and I hope they had fun! They're a little too young to enjoy the vast array of culinary delights that we ate-including but not limited to: chicken fried bacon, fried pb&j&banana sandwiches, fried grilled cheese, corny dogs and roasted corn. The corny dog was invented at the State Fair and, in my opinion, is truly the greatest contribution Texas has given to the world! The first picture is of Kyle, Chris, Kevin and Chris riding 2 Extreme. It's a ridiculous spinning ride thing that costs $15 dollars. This is part of why we only go 1 per year! We always have so much fun with all of our friends at the fair and this year was no exception. We're so spoiled to have so many good friends living so close to us.

Speaking of close friends, Will Halpin turns 1 year old tomorrow! (That's him with Heather and me in the second picture. To Will's dad: Yes, I put the Steelers hat on your son! He loved it.) Can't believe it! This year has flown by and he's changed so much. Can't wait to see what the next year brings him.

Hope you're doing well!

Eureka!

The pictures of our Gourmet Club in June were finally found! We have our dining room both before and after and one of us before the feasting began. Our Oktoberfest was very fun. I was the bad guest because I wouldn't eat the veal. From what everyone else said, it was my loss. Oh well. Next up is New Year's Eve at the Lewis-Putnam house. We're going to switch it up next year and Kevin and I will host New Year's Eve '09. Yes, I already have some ideas!!! We have had so much fun with this.

Gourmet Club June 08

Happy Fall Y'all

Can you believe how fast 2008 is going? We put out all of our Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff today which was odd since it was 85 degrees outside.

Speaking of weather, this picture is of my dad standing in front of (what was!) a 200 year old tree at my grandparents' home. Hurricane Ike made its way all the way from Houston to outside Nacogdoches. Winds were between 85-90 miles per hour. My dad, uncle and cousin spent last weekend chopping up trees and assessing damage to the area-thankfully it was minimal and no one was hurt. They were hoping to make a coffee table from the tree-it was 4 feet in diameter-but the tree was too damaged to save. They're going to try and think of something cool to do with the salvaged wood. It's a shame what happened to Galveston. We have lots of fun memories there. We hope that they can rebuild both buildings and communities. We'll be back when they do!

Hope this finds you all well.

PS-I forgot to say last time that I have officially been hired at American Heart Association. Soon I'll be telling you how important it is to be CPR trained...as soon as I go through it myself!

PS 2-Top Chef starts on Nov. 12th. Woohoo!

Happy late Labor Day!

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend! We went down to Aggieland to watch the first in several home games for this season....let's hope the games don't all have the same results! Kevin and his dad worked on the trailer on Monday. I'm not sure exactly what progress was made but Kevin assures me that he's re-energized about this project and is going to work on it a lot more often now. I'm including a picture because so many of you ask about the trailer. After seeing the giant RVs in the parking lot of Reed Arena, I'm not exactly sure how this will work!

We took a picture of our gourmet club from our June event which was at our house but it's been misplaced. The theme was "Gourmet Thanksgiving in June." Everything was sooooo good. The menu was: Mini-crab cakes with Tomato-ginger jam, Dandelion salad with warm pecan vinaigrette, creamy creamless squash soup, challah, sweet potato and parsnip puree, green bean salad with pumpkin seed dressing, crispy seared duck breast with jack cheese grits and tequila lime sauce (this was a recipe from Tre Wilcox from Top Chef season 3), maple pumpkin pots de creme and pecan tart. It was as good as you think it was! Kelli and Rob Weitzel are hosting in October and we're going to have Oktoberfest! I can't wait. We'll have to take another picture of that event. Prost!

Hope all of you are doing well and that we can see each other soon!

Pics from trip

Here are a few of the many, many pictures we took in Uganda.

Home Sweet Home!

We're back home now. Thanks so much to all of you for your support and prayers. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to share all of our pictures and videos with you. The trip home wasn't without adventure. 5 of our 7 team members were stricken with food poisoning or some other kind of stomach bug-very very unfun. But we're home safely and that's the most important part.
Talk to you soon!

Building Homes, Building Relationships

It is with a sad heart that we post this last blog from Uganda. We are settling our bill and out the door for a VERY long car ride back to Kampala. We are excited to get home but sad to leave this place and these people. We all feel this was a most important and meaningful trip of our lives. We thank you all for your support and prayers while we travel-keep them up!

See you all soon! We land at DFW around 1:30 on Wednesday and I'll update when I get to our house.

Thanks!

The Mission Team

Saturday Morning in Uganda

Hello again! Our time here is almost done and while we're excited to go home, there is much to be done while we're still here. Yesterday we returned to Mukongoro where the students danced and sang for us for an hour. Allison, Emily and Cindy led the students in "Jesus Loves Me." I hope the guys don't mind if I reveal that they were a little emotional while we did this! We left there and went to the Bishop's Primary School. We met with several of the teachers and toured the facilities to get an idea of what we can do to help the teachers with their curriculum. While the ladies talked with the students, the guys played volleyball with the students. We got to meet and have tea with the Bishop of Kinkizi. He invited us to spend the day with him on Sunday, including going to his church and lodge for dinner. When we returned to the guest house, we got to eat a proper Ugandan dinner of metoke, groundnut sauce, rice & beans-so so so good! We ate too much but enjoyed every bite.

Today we're off to Kihembe to connect the reeds that will frame a new mud hut for the chairman of the Batwa Development Program.

We will see you all soon. Get ready to view lots and lots of photos and videos-we're averaging about 200 photos each day and about 10 videos each!

Thanks again for all of your support!

The Mission Team

There are no words for today.....

Today was the most physically and emotionally draining that we've had yet. First we walked approx 1.5 km straight up the side of a mountain to our destination of Mukongoro. Then we toured a school with 200 kids-in 3 grades. The P1 class, consisting of 4-8 year olds, had 120 students. There is no power, no desks, no paper system but the students' will to learn was inspiring. We introduced ourselves to them in Rukiga which they found very funny. The missionaries from St Johns were able to pass out their t-shirts which were a big hit! Then came a huge shock for us all. The leaders in Mukongoro had arranged a special lunch for us. There was a table set for us with plates, folded napkins, coffee cups, etc-all inside a mud hut home. They proceeded to treat us to a feast akin to our Thanksgiving. It was truly humbling. They rolled out the red carpet for us. By the time lunch was over, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Their hospitality and warmth was so genuine....I'm at a loss for words. A special thank you to Charlotte Wiles. We gave the cross necklaces to them after lunch and to say they were well received is a huge understatement. Wade said that his wife couldn't be there but Rev. Hope quickly corrected him; she is with us. I could go on and on but words don't do it justice.

We have felt all of your support and prayers! Thanks and please keep them going.

The Mission Team

Mukama Asiimwe!

That means Praise God. Reverend Hope is teaching us a few more words in Rukiga-apparently we need a refresher course! Yesterday we handed out T-shirts from St James to the villagers of Biumba. Wow! What a treat. In gratitude, they danced and sang for us and asked us to dance with them. We made fools of ourselves but did it happily. We took several pictures and videos which we can't wait to share with everyone. Today we are going back to Biumba to work. The building that was a school is being turned into a medical clinic. Some of us are painting and some of us are just cleaning. During our lunch break, Allison, Emily and Cindy played with the children. This was challenging b/c many of them are terrified of white people. The braver ones played Ring Around the Rosey with us and seemed to enjoy it.

We miss all of you and appreciated your continuted support and prayers. Oh and thanks for all of your comments; they really brighten our day.

Love to you all,
The Mission Team

Agandi again from Uganda!

Life has been very exciting since our last blog. On our drive to Bwindi-our final destination-we were able to see a leopard, several monkeys, and 7 lions. We were within spitting distance of the lions and took approx 865 pictures of them. Apparently they saw us as a non-threat b/c they posed for us. We are leaving now for the Bwindi Health Center to start (officially) our ministry with the Batwa. We're on our way to deliver shirts and Bibles to the hospital and Batwa community. More later. Thanks, as always, for your constant prayer and support. We have felt them both!

Love,
The Mission Team

We're Here!

Agandi from Queen Elizabeth National Park! After 2 days of travel, we finally arrived in Uganda. We spent one night in Entebbe and then were off to Kampala to pick up supplies for our mission. We were able to purchase 132 Bibles in the Rukiga language thanks to the generous donations from St James and St Johns' churches. Over 8 hours including a brief stop at the equator for copious pictures and lunch-incl guacamole!-we finally arrived last night here at Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here to greet us were a family of elephants, 2 lions, a puff adder and a very friendly hippo-he was eating his dinner next to us as we ate ours. This morning we were able to see more elephants, a leopard, herds of water buffalo and antelope, lots of warthogs-who are actually much cuter than you might think. Our team is slowly adjusting to the time and culture changes. The people along the roads have greeted us warmly with shouts of "Muzungo!" (spelling approx) which means "white person." Tomorrow we leave here and head to the Bwindi forest en route to meet the Batwa. Thanks, as always, for your support and prayers. Pictures will be forthcoming as bandwidth allows.

Miss you all!

Love,
The Mission Team

Two Weeks til Uganda!

We finally have picutres of the prep work we've been doing for our mission trip. On June 8th, St James and St Johns got together to play a friendly game of kickball. St James eventually trounced the St Johns team, 10-9. A good time was had by all and we raised almost $1,000. We've decided to make this a twice-a-year tradition but maybe when it's a little cooler outside. Thanks for all of the support you've given us. We're really getting anxious to go now. There will be lots of pictures to post both during and after our trip so stay tuned!

One Month to Go!

We're getting down to the wire here. We leave for Uganda in 30 days. We've gotten 6 shots each and have one more to go. We're attempting to learn some words in Rukiga. Last Monday we met the former Archbishop of Uganda, which was surreal and amazing. This is taking up the majority of our lives right now so there's not much else to say-sorry for that!

Happy 6th Anniversary to my wonderful husband! And Happy Father's Day to our dads and all of the fathers in our lives!

Happy Memorial Day!

This is our first blog so please be kind!

Hope that you're having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Please keep our men and women of the Armed Forces in your prayers, as well as their families. Let's hope they can all be reunited safely soon.


Hope to see all of you soon!

Kevin&Emily