Images from our Christmas week

Christmas Greetings

We wish you all a great time over this special Christmas season. We are looking forward to spending some time off this coming week to enjoy the celebrations and to have some family time. We hope in the new year to be in better communication due to the arrival of a new computer. Blessings to you all.

Orphanage school

Joshua's school class support a school for orphans. A few weeks back they went on a school trip to take some toys etc to the children. They were able to interact with some of the children at the school.

A whirlwind

This week has been extremely busy for us due to the outbreak of the deadly virus Ebola. Thankfully, if the newspapers are telling us the truth, there has been a drop in the number of cases which is a huge answer to prayer. Simon and some of the other pilots have been doing numerous trips into Bundibugyo, the epicentre of the disease, to take Dr's as well as food for the missionaries that remain there. On their return flight they have been bringing back blood samples to be tested. World Harvest Mission who work in Bundibugyo had several missionaries come out with their children whilst they still could. They are now being housed in MAF's main guesthouse. It was a bit of a mad dash to get things ready and organised but we made it. Although then I had the challenge of taking care of future bookings that had been made. One family were due to stay in the Guesthouse two days after we let WHM use our main guesthouse. Where was I going to put them??? We eventually opened up the old guesthouse and scrambled around for furniture to make it livable. Thankfully, with a team of willing helpers, we made it just in time for the guests arriving. Just pray that we are able to successfully borrow things for future guests as Jacqueline (partner in crime for the guesthouse) and I are trying to make a 3 bedroomed guesthouse fit bookings taken for a 6 bedroomed guesthouse. Its a challenge but we hope to make it work.
Please continue to pray for those in Bundi and for the families who are split up at this time. These days are not easy for them. Pray that Scott and Jennifer will be able to get out for Christmas to be with their children.

Communication challenges again and a quick update

Sorry for not writing for a while. We are, again, having problems with our internet/email connection. We are able to get on for a few seconds then we lose the connection again. As you can imagine it is quite frustrating as our inbox is growing at a fairly fast rate. Apologies to all of you who have written to us recently and not had replies. I promise we will get to it eventually.
As I write I have just lost connection again. Hopefully it comes back so I can upload this post. :) I am also writing in the dark as the power is off. I guess thing are back to normal now that the Queen is gone :)
This week I have been attending a MAF training forum. It has been a hectic week but we are coming to the end. Hopefully I will have time to process all that I have learned over the next weeks.
Simon and the rest of the pilots have been busy this week with flying. Just last week there was a confirmed outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in Western Uganda. It has claimed a number of lives and many are infected. Simon flew a team of Doctors in yesterday and will fly in more people tomorrow. Please pray that this outbreak can be contained and pray for wisdom for the medical staff as they treat infected people. Pray for the missionaries in Bundibugyo where the epicentre of the disease outbreak is. One family in particular has had to fly their children to Kampala for safety while the parents wait out the quarantine time so that they can be reunited. It is a difficult time for many.

Well it is very late so I am going to finish here. Will hopefully have better internet connection soon so I can do regular updates again.

We made it through CHOGM...

Well CHOGM week has come and gone along with the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Then there were 53 Heads of State and 5000 delegates who all returned to their homelands this past weekend.

Simon along with another pilot did a VIP flight last Friday for Sir Trevor McDonald who was reporting on the Queen and Prince Philips visit. Simon was able to see Prince Philip on a couple of occasions and get a glimpse of what a day in the life of a Prince looks like. By the end of the day Simon was more convinced than ever that being Royalty isn’t all that its cracked up to be.

After that we were invited to join some friends who were holidaying about 2 hours east of Kampala in Jinja. We took off for the weekend to visit them and met up with a few of Joshua’s school friends who were also escaping the chaos of Kampala. It was a relaxing weekend and we enjoyed it a lot. We left Saturday afternoon to go to Jinja and that afternoon Prince Charles and his wife Camilla arrived in Jinja just 5 minutes from where we were staying. They had wanted to come and visit the place where we were staying but the owners said that it would be too much disruption for the guests so they had to go visit somewhere else. I guess even royalty have boundaries. 

CHOGM

The acronym has many variations (some quite funny) but the true one is Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. This meeting is taking place this week and it is no ordinary meeting. HRH Queen Elizabeth II will be arriving tomorrow. There are also 53 other Heads of State and 5000 delegates arriving during this week too. For most countries it would be a bit of a logistical challenge to host such an event and for Uganda we would say that it has been a bit more than that. Having said that we have seen roads re-surfaced and some roads even seeing tar for the first time in their lives, hotels springing out of nowhere, rubbish bins being placed around town and various other amenities that we didn’t think we would ever see in Uganda. Most Mzungus (white foreigners) are seeking refuge in various other parts of Uganda or neighbouring countries to avoid the impending chaos. For us, we decided to stay and “enjoy” the event. School children are especially happy for CHOGM as they have no school this week. It seemed it was easier to close schools rather than teachers and parents have to battle through traffic, cope with road closures and numerous other inconveniences that might arise. MAF is open for business although flights have been greatly reduced to avoid too much disappointment if they can’t go ahead because of closed roads or airspace. Once we get into the post CHOGM stage we will re-surface again and let you know how it all went J

Jesus Film Ministries

Sam and I have had a difficult time over the last couple of months trying to find time to sit together to put stories together for the MAF space. Our schedules have been quite hectic but thankfully last week we managed it. You can check on the JFM link at the side of our blog for some new stories. I hope to be able to update the JFM space on a regular basis just as before. Enjoy reading again of what God is doing in Uganda and Sudan through JFM.

A visit from a friend and a trip to a Game Park

It was a sad day on Wednesday when we had to say goodbye to a good friend of mine from home, Sharon Brown. Sharon came over to visit from Scotland for two and a half weeks. We had a lot of fun together and Joshua and Zara were thoroughly spoiled. We were able to take a couple of days holiday and visit a game park. After a very long game drive (5 hours) we finally managed to see lions. 5 to be exact. We also saw a baby elephant which had to be helped up an embankment by its rather large mummy and also witness the first few steps of a Ugandan Kob (deer like animal) which had just been born 5 minutes before we arrived. It doesn't seem to matter how often you go on safari you always see something new. More pictures will follow in the future as Sharon took a lot more than us :)

Scots come to town

John McKinnon (Pastor of Calderwood Baptist)

Group from Calderwood Baptist Church

A few weeks ago Simon flew a team back from Yei in Southern Sudan to Kampala. You might be wondering what was so special about this team that I would write about them. Well they were all from Scotland. It was a wee touch of heaven having a bunch of Scots all together at one time (as you can see I am not biased at all). They were a great bunch of guys and we were able to have them over for a barbecue and enjoy some Scots fellowship. Joshua and Zara loved all the additional attention and even got to stay up late that night so that was an extra bonus.

Wunderli's are back in communicado again

Due to being silent for a couple of weeks there is a lot to tell. Don't worry I won't give you a detailed account of all that has happened but an overview :). If my memory serves me well you will remember that Jacqueline (Partner in crime for the guesthouse) and I were busy getting ready to move to the new guesthouse. Well it has happened. We had some very long days in order to make it work along with a few willing helpers. We had one day to move, get everything set up before more guests arrived. If that wasn't enough of a challenge there was no power. So it was a race against the clock to get everything done before 7pm. Of course it didn't happen but thanks to my husband and a few helpful souls we managed to get one light on in the house using our car, our invertor and a few wires connected in the right places. The whole move looked like one of those TV shows back home where a team have one week to remodel a house. The only difference was that we didn't have a week. As we were preparing to go home after a VERY long day we got a phone call from our bookings officer to say that she had come across 2 Irish couples looking for a bed for the night. They had tried to get into other places but to no avail. All we could offer them was a mattress on the floor as two of the rooms were not ready to be occupied. It was all hands on deck to make the room look presentable with the only difference being that there were no beds just some lovely made up mattresses. The two couples were relieved that they didn't have to sleep in their cars and greatly appreciated the hospitality offered. We are now into our second week and there is still bits and pieces to be done but a great improvement from two weeks ago.

Yippeee....a computer by Friday (possibly)

Sorry about the silence from this side of the world. It looks like we may be able to borrow a computer from friends of ours on Friday which is an answer to prayer. I will do a proper update then. The computer I am using in the office is working at a snail pace even by African standards and is a wee bit frustrating to use to say the least. Looking forward to giving an update on Friday.

Another Challenge.....

Unfortunately our email/internet connection is still down due to some problems in the office. This is not our only challenge as our computer has crashed. Thankfully it turned on once more so we could get some of our files off of it. We are looking to purchase one from the States and hope to have it brought over sometime in January all going well. I am currently doing this post in the office and has taken me at least double the time than normal due to a very slow computer. Bear with us in the next couple of months if you don't hear from us as regularly.

Connections problems

We are currently having problems again with our internet/email connection. This means I need to come down to the office to check emails and/or write blog updates. Now for anyone who has visited us that is not a big deal as we are living opposite the office but when you are used to having access in the comfort of your own home it takes a bit more planning. We have a cable that runs from our house through a tree, over a wall, across the road, over another wall and then down into the MAF office where it is connected into the server. Somewhere between our connection at home and the connection in the office the world of cyberspace has gone dark. Hopefully we will be able to get it up and running again next week so we can be back in regular communication again with you all.

New school = New challenges

Since Joshua started at Rainbow International School it has been a steep learning curve for us all. I need to get to grips with whether its a PE day or normal day and then dress Joshua and Zara accordingly (just to make it more confusing they don't have PE on the same day). Then there is their reading books, library books and also homework to be done at the end of the day. Phew its tough being a 4 year old! Zara even comes back with homework - learning nursery rhymes and her library book. Sometimes it feels like a military operation in the morning getting them ready for 7:30am to leave for school. Once I get back home I feel like it should be lunch time :) Having said all that Joshua and Zara are loving their new school and are doing really well. Joshua is being challenged which is what he needs and is loving his new teacher, Miss Lunt who is from the UK. I had his first parent/teacher conference last week. He got a glowing report which is always good for the first one. She did say he liked to talk a lot so its a good thing to keep him busy :) We give thanks for answered prayer that they have fitted in so well to a new school.

Morulem, Northern Uganda

Last Saturday Simon was flying up some freight (salt, soap and mosquito nets) to Morulem which was requested by a Japanese Doctor working in the area for a short time. This doctor is a nerve specialist working in one of the main hospitals here in Kampala. He committed to working for a year in Uganda whilst his family remained back in Japan.

Simon thought this would be a good opportunity for Joshua to go along with him as it wasn't a long flight plus the second flight wouldn't have any other passengers just freight. Joshua, Zara and I drove out to Kajjansi to meet Simon for his second flight. Joshua was really excited about flying with his Dad. Before I knew it Zara was all excited too and wanted to join her big brother. So it ended up that we all went on the flight. It was supposed to be an hour long but ended up being a lot more than that due to a strong head wind. Joshua was up front with Simon acting as co-pilot while Zara and I were behind playing games. One of them being looking for crocodiles in one of the rivers far below....there were a few objects that looked like crocodiles but they could have been a few other things too.

When we arrived at Morulem we were greeted, as usual, by a crowd of people. Joshua and Zara were the star attractions of the visit as the people pointed and wanted to touch them. Joshua is not into big crowds so he was quite happy to stay in the security of the plane. Zara, on the other hand, waved at the crowd and laughed with them. She was quite the character and would have been swamped if she had come further out the doorway. Simon allowed some of the children on the plane so they could see what it was like and one boy even had his photo taken. It is quite the highlight of the day when a plane lands at the airstrip.

The Dr. was overjoyed to see us come and couldn't help thanking us for the work that MAF does. He said that he had visited all the people that morning that he was going to distribute the soap, salt and mosquito nets to. The distribution would happen that afternoon to about 300 families if I remember rightly.

These supplies that the Dr. had purchased would not have made it up to Morulem any other way that day because of the recent flooding with roads impassable and collapsed bridges. It was a joy to go on a flight again and see the difference that MAF makes here in Uganda as well as all the places round the world.

(Sorry for the lack of photos to back this story up....we left the camera at home due to the fact that we though it was only Simon and Joshua going on the flight....maybe next time :))

Toilet Trouble :)

Kami has moved on....

Our recent guest, Kami Rice, left us in the early hours of Saturday morning. Her next destination is Zimbabwe. Pray for a productive time there for her and a safe time. Zara used to visit Kami early in the morning with dolly and her bear Pinky. She was a bit surprised when she went into the room and found Kami gone. At breakfast Zara informed me that Kami had gone flying like it was the most sensible solution to her disappearance.

The plight of Sudan

We received an email this morning alerting us to the fact that the peace accord in Sudan could disintegrate very quickly over the next coming days and weeks. The peace accord was signed two years ago but is now in a fragile state. MAF has been asked to prepare for possible evacuations of NGO's and missions if things get too bad in Southern Sudan. To read the full BBC story of the situation you can click on the following link..
http://news.bbc.co..uk/2/hi/africa/7039616.stm
Please pray for peace to come to Sudan and that the Northern and Southern governments can find a solution to the issues that remain - mainly oil and where to cite the border between north and south.

Bubble beards and other bath fun!

The end of Ramadan

Today is Eid Ul -Fitr which is a holiday in the Muslim faith which signals the end of Ramadan -the month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic term meaning "festivity" or "celebration" while Fiṭr means "to break the fast". Now you might be wondering why I am mentioning this in our blog seen as we don't hold to the Islamic faith. Well the reason is that up until last night we didn't know if Joshua or Zara would be at school today. The day does not come about on a specific date but depends on the sighting of the new moon which is checked for after sunset. This can be a bit of a problem on a cloudy night when you can't see the moon. Plus some Muslims disagree with this notion of "Moonsighting" since it does not appear in the Quran.
Anyway not long after sunset the sounds from the valley made it quite clear that Ramadan had finished. The calls to prayer all mingled together as each mosque started their celebrations and we awoke this morning to ferverent calls to prayer. As Christians let us pray for those in the muslim faith that they might come to know the true and LIVING God.

The changing times of pass the parcel :)

Last Saturday Zara was invited to a party of one of her friends at school (Naomi, the birthday girl, is also a MAF Kid). Joshua was invited by default as Simon wasn't going to be at home to look after him. Joshua was more excited about it than Zara. They were to dress in their favourite outfits. For Zara this means anything pink and for Joshua he picked his Swiss cow t-shirt. As you can see from the photos above there were a lot of fairies and cinderella type outfits. Zara hasn't gone down that road yet but I am waiting on the moment. How long it would stay remotely fairy like on Zara is another question entirely. They played the usual party games including pass the parcel which Zara never really got the hang of. Although I have to say pass the parcel has come a long way since my childhood. Inside each wrapper is a sweetie so you never go home empty handed even if you don't get the big prize at the end. There is also enough wrappers on each parcel so each particpant gets to unwrap a layer and get a sweetie. Some parent must have come up with the idea when they were tired of dealing with distressed children who never got the big prize or never got to unwrap one of the layers. Now that I have two wee ones I sympathise entirely. Zara was very passionate about being able to unwrap a layer and get tucked into the sweetie within.

Flooding

Many of you have been asking about the flooding in Uganda. If you follow this BBC link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7014227.stm you will see pictures and read the extent to which people are suffering at the moment. There are more rains expected this month but we hope to see a drier November.

Another story please.....

Kami Rice has been staying with us during her time in Uganda. MAF has kept her extremely busy. As I write Simon, Kami and Layton (Photographer) are flying to Bundibugyo (western Uganda) to do a story on World Harvest Mission. They will be gone until tomorrow.

One of the nights that Kami was here she got cornered by Joshua and Zara to read the bedtime story. Simon and I normally limit the number of books to be read to one otherwise we would be there all night. I think Kami had gone through quite a plethora of books by the time we called it quits. Joshua and Zara enjoy having guests especially the ones that spend time with them playing or reading stories to them. As you can see from the photos above they were having a ball.

Friend or Foe

The other night we heard Chewy barking incessantly. This meant that there was something or someone bothering her. If its at the gate we don't think too much about it as its usually just someone who has got to close to the gate for her liking. This time she was barking underneath Joshua and Zara's slide. When Simon went to investigate with his rather heavy torch, which also acts as a good defence weapon, he notice a rather large lizard of a colour we hadn't seen before. We gave it plenty of room although Chewy was not for letting it roam around "her" garden so we had to literally drag her away from it until it felt safe to move on to another abode. The delights of living in Africa. You never know what you are going to see next. :)

Family and Work Update

It has been a while since I have posted anything. It has been difficult to find time to sit down at the computer and write anything. Apologies if this post is rather long :)

Everyone is healthy in the family again so we give thanks for that. It was a bit of a rough week last week with Simon and Zara not feeling too well but they are both doing great now. Thanks to all who prayed for them. Zara is back at school twice a week and having a lot of fun with her friends which is encouraging to see. Joshua just seems to be thriving at school. When I ask him how his day went he tells me "...great and lovely.." long may that continue. His teacher was telling me this morning that he knows 18 sounds and will be moving onto books with words this week. It is amazing how much he has learnt in such a short period of time. He is definately being challenged which is what he has been needing. He has such a hunger for learning new things and his teacher is doing a good job of making sure he gets that. He will keep her busy :)

On the work front life has stepped up a gear. Flights are increasing with most planes out every day. Due to severe flooding in various parts of Uganda the only way to travel is by plane. This has definately attributed to our busyness. It is amazing to see so much dust where we are and then not too far away people's houses and roads are awash with water. I will attach some pictures taken in , Yei Southern Sudan that were sent to us recently. These roads show one of the main trade routes which is currently inpassable. All the trucks and cars you see lining the roads are stuck and have been for a while.

My new role with the Guesthouse has taken up most of my days recently. Since I last wrote we have looked into a new property which is a lot bigger and has lots of potential. We are still in negotiations with the landlady. We have also employed a new staff member which we are excited about and trust that she will do an excellent job on the housekeeping side of things. Yesterday Jacqueline (my colleague in this venture) and I sat down with our short term IT guy to put together a bookings database. Up till now it has all been done manually which is not ideal. We hope to bring the whole ministry up to a more professional standard.

We are praying that the work to be done on the new guesthouse will be agreed by the landlady and the work will completed by the end of October. This timescale would enable us to release the two flats we have rented for overspill and enable us just to concentrate on one property. The timing is a bit ambitious but one can only try.

The sick house is recovering

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for our health this week. We have turned a corner and seem to be on our way to good health again. Zara is doing much better today. The fevers have gone and she is more like herself. The doctor put it down to a virus which caused her tonsils to enlarge and said we should see a difference in her within 6 days. 6 days is a long time when your wee girl is not well. Thankfully we have seen a difference in her in less than 6 days.

Simon wasn't well this week either as he had a suspected sinus infection and general cold symptons. This grounded him for the rest of the week but he seems to be on the up and up the last two days.

Joshua and I seemed to have escaped the worst of it all which is a blessing. Long may that continue.

Gecko 1 - Cockroach 0

The picture above was what faced me the other morning as I walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. I guess something else was feeling a tad hungry too. How the gecko caught the cockroach was one thing but how the gecko was going to eat it was, to me, quite another issue. The gecko didn't hang around on the wall too long and suddenly disappeared to enjoy his rather large breakfast.

My race with time

Zara sleeping off her cold and fever

If the start to this week could be described as a race it would be definately be classified as a 100m sprint with a few hurdles thrown in for good measure.

My job with the guesthouse has started at a fast pace with much to be done but never enough hours in the day to get it finished. There is a possible new property to rent which would be better than our current facility, new beds to buy, things to restore and bugs to beat. If that wasn't enough there are staffing issues to be dealt with which are slightly of a delicate nature.

Our guest, Kami Rice, arrived last Friday night. Kami is a freelance journalist and has hooked up with MAF UK to write some stories for them on the work of MAF Uganda. We know Kami as she was a roommate of a good friend of ours in the States. She is on a tour of various countries of Africa. She started in Ghana then onto Kenya. She is now in Uganda and from here onto Zimbabwe where she will finish up in South Africa. As I write she is on her way to Bunia, Eastern Congo for an overnight. When opportunities arise you need to take them. :)

My race with time came to an abrupt halt this morning due to Zara being a bit under the weather with a cold and a fever. The days plans were dropped and we ended up on the sofa watching pooh movies and me trying to catch up on my Bible study. God has a way of slowing you down in unexpected ways. Simon and Joshua are also struggling with coughs and Simon came back from his flight today complaining of sinus trouble. Thankfully my voice has come back as it had disappeared over the weekend. Well I'm glad its back!!

Pray for Zara that this flu would go as quickly as its come and that we would all be healthy again very soon.

A new job

Last week I officially took over the management of the MAF Guesthouse. This is going to be an exciting challenge and I am looking forward to getting started. (our holidays end tomorrow :)) The housekeeper at the guesthouse has just gone on sick leave this week for at least a month so pray that I find the right person to replace her temporarily. Hopefully she didn't take sick leave because she found out I was going to be her new Manager. Ooops!!!
Our time in Fort Portal was a blessing in disguise as we were able to meet up with friends of ours who also use MAF services. They were able to highlight some of the things they would like to see in the guesthouse and what would benefit them when they come to Kampala for a rest. We hope to put some of these things into place over the next weeks.

Exciting holidays!!!

A bit out of sequence but Zara enjoying the open space at Mountains of the Moon Hotel

On our way to Ndali Lodge....it was quite the road. We didn't stay there just visited. At $250.00 a night it was cheaper just to visit. :)

A view of one of the crater lakes from Ndali Lodge



Zara relaxing at Ndali Lodge. She is waiting on her apple juice :)

Joshua with the crater lake in the background

Joshua enjoying the freedom to run around at Mountains of the Moon Hotel
(we didn't stay there either although maybe we will next time. The hotel was reopened in April after a major renovation project)

Zara sitting on a pot that made up one of the garden features at the hotel

It is difficult to see in this photo but a rare sighting of the glacier on top of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). On the other side of these mountains is the Congo.

We just returned from our couple of days holidays to the West of Uganda. Instead of it being a 3 day holiday it turned into a 5 day holiday. As we left Sunday morning to return to Kampala, a four hour drive, the water pump on our car gave out. Now that is probably not a problem where you come from but for us this was going to be a challenge. God, however, in His goodness allowed it to happen just as we were leaving Fort Portal and right outside a garage. The garage of course could only supply us with more water for our radiator so that we could find a garage in the centre of town that could help us. We found a garage but, as is common in Uganda, they wanted to cheat us out of money plus they didn't have correct size of water pump for our car.

Thankfully we have friends in Fort Portal so we were able to call them up and ask their advice. To cut a long story short they towed us back to their house (bordering a tea plantation) and then called the mechanic they use to help us. He had to order a part in Kampala which was supposed to arrive so we could leave on Monday. By the time we got the part on Monday it was too late to set off. The matatu (minibus taxi) that was carrying the person with the pump had some mechanical problems on the way so hence the delay. The two mechanics were able to fit the pump last night so we could leave this morning. About an hour out of Fort Portal there was a strange noise coming from the back of the car. One of the back tyres had blown. Simon was able to change it and at the next big town we were able to get a new tube for the punctured tyre. We couldn't risk driving too long in the middle of nowhere without a spare. Despite two stops on our journey back we made it in 4 hours which is a bit of a miracle as it took us 4 hours to get to Fort Portal with only a brief stop for petrol. Mind you on the way there we hit a hail and rain storm which slowed us down considerably.

Having said all that we were able meet up with some friends while we were in Fort Portal and enjoy a lunch and a dinner in the Mountains of the Moon hotel that has just be refurbished. Wow it was really nice!!!

We are now glad to be back home and to enjoy all the comforts that it brings although having said that the power is now off. I guess some things don't change. :)

Island Ministry

Sam from Jesus Film Ministries has been looking for some land to purchase out in Lake Victoria for an Island base for JFM. This is an exciting project and a big one at that. The plan would be that Sam could set up a conference centre on this land as well as guest facilities and also an airstrip. This means he could better serve the Islanders with medical/dentist clinics, Pastors Conferences, counselling services and the list goes on. Simon and I are really excited about this opportunity and ask that you pray with us that God would provide financially for this project. Sam and I will be putting a project proposal together outlining the whole project. If you would like a copy of it please let me know and I will forward one onto you. Your prayers are vital as we seek God's will in this plan.

Holidays - Yippee

For the next week and a half we are on holiday. It is quite a strange feeling not to do any work. Our email and internet service has not been working for the last few days so that has helped to slow us down. God works in mysterious ways :)

Due to Joshua and Zara being at school we didn't plan on going anywhere but to use the time to do some things around the house. Of course there will be the odd trip to the coffee shop with some friends in between all the work :)

Having said that at the last minute on Friday I booked for us to go to Fort Portal for two nights this coming Friday. It is about a 3hr road trip from Kampala heading west. The road has greatly improved hence the reason we are going. We also have some friends who started a church out there so it will be good to catch up with them. We haven't told Joshua and Zara yet otherwise they get too excited. We will pick Joshua up early from School on Friday and head out. This means both him and Zara might sleep a bit of the way there.

Baby News

Last week our nightguard, Moses and his wife Robinah celebrated the birth of their first daughter. We are happy to say that all went well with the birth and both baby and Mum are doing well. Moses is on Paternity leave at the moment but we hope to go down to visit the little one soon.

Moses and Robinah gave us the great privilege of naming their little girl. We also got to name one of their sons whom we called Andrew. To name another family member was truly a honour. I asked Moses to give me a day to come up with a name. I didn't tell him that it took us 9 months to come up with a name for Joshua!!!! Of course Simon enjoyed coming up with some really crazy names but we eventually agreed on Ruth Joy (Ruth meaning "Friend of God" in some name books)

Joshua's first day at School and Zara's first day at Kindergarten at Rainbow International School

Today was the big day for Joshua and Zara. They had been talking about it for weeks how they were going to the big school and now the day had finally arrived. Joshua walked into his classroom and hardly said goodbye when we left. His teacher is Miss Lunt and she is a Mzungu (white foreigner). That is what Ugandans call all white people. This is the first time she has taught in Uganda as she is from England. She seems very nice and Joshua seemed to take to her. It will be a bit strange for Joshua as all his previous teachers at Little Swans were Ugandan. It seems also that his class is all boys - well that is what Joshua told me. I will need to check tomorrow :) When I went to pick him up this afternoon the teacher said that she only had 11 children and that it had been a good number to start with.

Zara took a little more time to settle but once she got engrossed in playing on the computer that was it. There was no looking back. Simon and I were laughing when we looked back on our school days as we didn't get introduced to computers until High School and here is our little 2 year old playing on one at Kindergarten....YIKES.

Joshua and Zara are both exhausted now so I think it will be early to bed tonight including Mum and Dad!!! What an eventful day.