Christmas Carol Ugandan style

First I have to note that this was written after 8 hours in the car on Christmas Eve (their traffic is just as bad here and you also have to add the element of BEAT UP roads). It brought us much laughter as we put into the song some of the festive way Ugandans celebrate Christmas that we had been observing.

Notes to try to explain what in the world this song is talking about are red.

Sung to Nat King Coles famous song " Merry Christmas to You"

Tilapia fish roasting on each Corolas grill Taken to relatives in areas with no lakes(litterally strapped to the grill of thier cars most of which are Corolas.
Sunshine burning up yous nose
Christmas hair being worn everywhere I've never seen so many colors or so much poof
and folks dressed up like who knows How about Neon orange and Lime green

Everybody knows Matokee and some gnut sauce Masked bananaish food and peanutish sauce
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
will find it hard to sleep tonight

They know uncle Godfrees coming ova I think we know a hounred Godfees
he's loaded lot of goats and chickens on his boda Note Chickens still alive, Boda=Motor bike
and every mothers child is going to spy
to see if the chicken will break loose and fly

And so I'm overing this simple phrase
for kids from 1 to 92
although its been said many times many ways
Merry Xmas too you I've never seen it written CHRISTmas here
it is always written Xmas.


Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!!!!

Moments

SO I can't get the picture to work here at the internet cafe. So sad!!! Hopefully I painted a good picture with my words. Kels

Where has time gone??? It has been forever since I have written ANYTHING. Since the last time I wrote Travis and I have celebrated our six month marriage and living in Uganda anniversaries. I am just going to write a bit about a few things that have happened in the last month so it isn’t like it was completely lost. h

Thanksgiving. I thought it would be terrible. Thanksgiving is my fav and it is just not the same without family, fall leaves and cooler weather. It is hot hot hot here and it just didn’t seem like Thanksgiving at all. However, the Lord truly blessed us and surrounded us with great brothers and sisters in Christ that we were able to celebrate with and to my delight it actually did feel like Thanksgiving day. So all in all I was very thankful for so very many things that it would have been silly to dwell on the not so perfect things. I also tried my hand at baking Thanksgiving style. I managed to successfully make, carrot cake, apple pie, a chicken, Pumpkin cream cheese cake (it was a box so it doesn’t really count), and my family’s FAVORITE rolls (they were actually the one disappointment because they didn’t raise). Here is a picture of my works of art. I even made a ridiculous boat for the chicken to float in on and named it the cauliflower after my adorable nephew Canaan.

Christmas cookies. Hip hip hurray for girls my age (well close anyways). One thing that I miss more that anything is of course my sisters and girl friends. There are great ladies whom I love and learn a lot from but most of them are twice my age. Anyways, one of the missionaries daughters came home for the holidays and so I have been able to have girl time which has been sooo refreshing. We made beautiful Christmas sugar cookies together the other day and had way to much fun just being girls and laughing about silly things like girls are suppose to. I loved it because I wasn’t sure if they would think my Binkley way of artistically decorating each cookie as a unique individual was insane or not and miraculously they were just as precise. Here are the masterpieces.

Grasshoppers. We have enjoyed wonderful North American delicacies the last few weeks so it was only natural that we should try some of the Ugandan ones and yes I am talking about crunchy grasshoppers J. I need to you realize that Entebbe is a quite modern town with many wealthy and middle class people. The UN has a large base here and the international airport is right outside of town and so there are constantly people from all over the world filtering through. Sometimes I feel like I am hardly in what I have always thought of as AFRICA. Then there are times when strange and not so normal things happen like when all the workers in the Air Serv office were practically dancing because they are so excited to have found some grasshoppers at the market. Well I tried then and they really weren’t that bad after all, you’ve just got to look them straight in the eye and tell yourself “it’s ok, this is all quite normal”. They were even sautéed in a nice oil and onion mix.

AIM Air. Travis and I are going to be finishing up at Air Serv December 15th and through the Lord opening miraculous doors we will be serving with AIM Air from January through March. AIM (African Inland Mission) is a mission organization that has an aviation programme which we are going to be volunteering with for three months. We will be staying here in Entebbe and stepping into the shoes of a few of their missionaries while they are back in the States. I am going to be doing admin work in the office and Travis will be flying so we have been super busy learning all that we need to know to take over this thing while the permanent guys are gone. We will be moving into one of the missionary’s houses who is going to be in the US.

Steps Of Faith Uganda Christmas Praise Concert. Last Saturday SOF Uganda (the group of girls that that I have been teaching dance to) put on a little (ended up having around 60 people show up) Christmas concert where we went through the story of Christ’s birth through the girls reciting scripture, everyone singing carols and of course DANCING. The girls did a great job for their first time performing! I was really excited to be able to do a dance as well. I hadn’t really planned on it because with the computers and Ipod gone we have no music and it would be really difficult to get any here. But God did His thing and, surprise!!!! provided a Christian bookstore with Christmas music, CD with Breath of Heaven (a song I have danced to in the Nativity SOF before) and the coolest part was that is was actually a recording that had been redone by Sarah Groves who is an AMAZING artist (I sang one of her songs to Travis at our wedding). God is so cool!!!!!!!! It made me cry to see how He just patches up everything. Then He and I got together and shared beautiful moments of Him teaching me a dance in which I could worship Him and share the Joy of Praising Him at the Concert.

These are just a few moments that we have had in the last few weeks. I’m glad I got the drive to sit down and share them with you. Till next time. Kels

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare

and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling even the LORD,

who is my refuge-then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because he loves me," says the LORD,

"I will rescue him; I will protect him,

for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Yesterday Travis and I got a call while we were out that someone had broken into our house. After and insane drive back from Kampala (not only did we want to get home to check on the house but we had just watched the new 007 movie. Travis new that this was his one chance to drive, well, like 007 without me screaming the whole way home. Those who know me know that would NOT BE COOL) We arrived home to find papers shrewn about the yard, the back window to the computer room busted up and our computers, Ipod, hand held GPS, sun glasses baught to protect Travis's eyes while way up in the clouds and Travis's back pack (which had his pilots license and other important paper work including passport in it), gone. The thieves had used bammboo (which had been put up to hold some ivey in the yard), and a hoe to pull things to the window and then take them out through the bars. After gathering up all the paper work that they had thrown out of Travis's back pack we found that miraculously they had thrown out his passport. Our smart little puppy had found it and about torn it to pieces. We also found that they had thrown out a Bandana which Andy had given Travis before leaving which has the scripture from above printed on it.

So rather than spending time fretting over the things that have been taken from us I want to remember the most precious thing that no one can ever take away. That is our relationship with a loving, protecting, caring friend, savior and father, Jesus Christ. In the midst of the stressful and scary situation that we were in yesterday God used a little bandana to tell us that there is nothing to worry about because He is almighty, He is our refuge and our fortress and He will deliver us from all that the attacts of those who try to come agaist us.

Please do keep us in your prayers at this time. We are also in the process of switching jobs. Travis will be done working with Air Serv in December and we will begin a short time position working with AIM AIR which is part of African Inland Missions, in January. We feel that it is no coincidence that many of the things which were taken are important to Travis's flying. AIM AIR is ALL about giving glory to God and serving those who are serving the Lord in Africa.

HOME MADE BREAD!!!!!!!!!

I Kelsey Joy Harris successfully made home made bread today, and not only that but it was whole wheat home made bread. I was seriously beginning to think that Bethy just got all the bread making jeans and here I was in a country where good bread is hard to come by, not fare if you ask me. I was starting to think that God was calling me to become a brick maker cause every time I attempted to make bread, and mind you I did it JUST AS THE BOOK SAID, I ended up pulling out two lovely brinks out of the oven. Good maybe for building a dog house or something but no good for eating. Then it hit me, don't think bad of me cause it took me so long to figure it out, my yeast was DEAD. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. Halleluja!!! Maybe things weren't as bad as I had imagind, maybe I have the bread making jean in me after all. I began to have hope once more. I found some new yeast and put myself to the test and by golly, I succeeded. The end

Go Macho

Yesterday Macho really proved himself to be worthy of his name. We have been working hard with him and at times I think that I am going to pull my hair out because he drives me nuts, pulling laundry off the line, bringing random dead rodents to the front door to present to us, jumping unrelentlessly on everyone who walks in the gate (poor water meter lady), just for a few examples. But he has always been a great barker letting me know when anyone is passing by the house, and pretty early on he got a nice big dog bark which I figured would scare anyone away who was trying to pay us a visit for the wrong reasons. Yesterday I had taken Travis to work and was just getting ready to go pick him up when I noticed that Macho was really going at it with the barking and growling and he sounded more threatend than usual. I looked out the window closest to where I could hear him barking and I couldn't see him anywhere but to my surprise I did see a man pulling himself up on the back wall through the razor wire and everything. I immediately put on my deepest most scarriest voice I could and yelled "hey, hey, get out of here" his head popped up and when he realized I could see him he pushed himslef back down and ran off. I then went for Travises mag-lite flash light, its one of those big ones, and ran for the door, right before running out I realized that trying to chase the guy down when I was the only one home was probably not the smartest thing to do. So I called Travis instead and he had someone bring him home so I didn't have to leave the house alone. In the midst of it I forgot that we have panik buttons in the house which are suppose to alarm a company that sends out guards to your house, Travis had me pull it so I could have someone come and look around to make sure the guy wasn't hanging around anywhere.

I finally got some butterflies in my stomach after things calmed down and looking back I started laughing at myself wanting to chase after the guy. What was I thinking? I am just thankful for Macho because if it wasn't for him I would have had no idea that this guy was coming over the wall.

Just to give everyone a little assurance, I always lock the doors when I am home alone and I always have my mag lite :).

Oh Uganda!

Once upon a time there were two countries, one names Kenya and the other Uganda. The borders were often closed between these two countries which made it vary difficult to transport goods from one to the other. Thus bodaboda boys were born. The boys would stack up goods on their bikes/motorbikes and haul them across the borders using small trails. You guessed it they got their name because they crossed from border to border. That is where it all began and here are some pictures of how it has blossomed and these courageous (crazy) guys are continuing the legacy not only near the borders but through out Uganda.

Who needs a truck when you've got a bodaboda?

I have not idea whot that is but it looks funny to me

Matoke anyone? (banana like food they cook and smoosh up)
If you look closely you can see that he is holding glass

Two of my favs I have yet to add to my collection of bodaboda photos. One is Chikens on a boda, the other fish. The chickens were tied together by thier legs and drapped over every possible inch of the boda, there must have been about a houndred stacked up on top of eachother and squacking away, yep they were alive.The Nile Perch were plopped on the back of the boda behind the driver and were HUGE. They had to have been over four feet long. Bigger than the one that Travis cought the other day (check out the Catching up blog for photo). Oh and how could I forget the bed on the boda and best of all boda on a boda.

That is a turket on his shoulder (alive)

I've been told that what he is carrying is tea

These two non boda guys made it on the boda boda blog cause I just thought they looked funny :)

Catching up

I thought that I should try to catch up a bit on what we have been up to.

We were able to go out to the Seesee Islands with some friends of ours who work with the Baptist Mission. The islands are in Lake Victoria about a three hour boat ride from Entebbe. The ride out itself was awesome! Combine huge body of water, a little wind and a small boat and it equals fun fun fun, at least I think so. We were tossing here and there and were absolutely drenched by the time we got there. Way better that Six flags if you ask me. Once we were there we visited some of the fishing villages they minister in and I got to play for a few hours with some precious little kids. We took a hike (also the trail that the kids hike everyday to get to school, 45 minutes or so) on the main island that we stayed on and see the view from the top.


We went fishing several times but had absolutely NO bites until finally Travis pulled in a 30 pound Nile Perch. It was HUGE and really yummy when fried. According to Ricky and Brenda ( the missionaries) it was a little guy. They have caught ones upwards of 160 pound.

We also were in Nairobi for a few days. We flew a plane over for some maintenance. It was one of the most beautiful flights I have ever been on. We flew over countless Island in lake Vic that were just amazing and then once we got into Kenya the view was gorgeous. The land is so fertile, and there were parts where the earth just rolls then suddenly it just drops straight down into a huge valley. Our time in Nairobi was great!!! We stayed in a Baptist guest house and it was like being at home it was so comfortable. We even had a kitchen so we could cook for our selves. Some of my favorites about the trip were...
~Bagels and strawberry milkshakes at Java house
~Put put yes put put at Village Market
~Hanging out with AIM Air people, great company, great employees
~Going to the Nairobi National game park, Giraffes are hilarious and I love them


And the best off all was when we were flying out of Nairobi, my face was plastered to the window to catch as much of the view as possible when suddenly there was a cloud under us but it didn't ruin the view because I saw the coolest thing ever. I could see the shadow of our plane on the cloud and encircling the planes shadow was a rainbow. I felt God promising that he is and will always be surrounding us with his protection. This was especially encouraging to me since Travis and I are in Prayer right now asking the Lord to direct us to where he wants us to go next. We will be wrapping up with Air Serv Limited in Uganda in mid December. While we were in Nairobi we were able to Meet up with people from Aim Air ( a Christian mission aviation group) and we are really impressed with the mission but are also considering many other job opportunities and waiting on God to give us the go ahead for which one he can use us at best. A reminder that He is all around us and taking care of us really lifted my Spirits and reminded me once more that all the concerns that we have are best off in His hands.

Were back online

So WE HAVE INTERNET again. I went into the store yesterday first of all I felt as usual that I was walking in on someones private residence cause neither of the ladies working there said a thing to me as I walked in they threw me a side glance then went back to talking to each other and working on something on the computer, so I introduced myself and said look it has been a month since our internet has been down and you guys have promised to come out several time and then did nothing ( the annoyed customer), then I said the internet is the only way we can keep in touch with those that we love from home ( the puppy dog face and all), ( I thought I would try a few different methods for getting what I wanted) the employees apologized and said that they had been busy but there was no excuse for a month of waiting. They called the technician and said kindly. He will be there within the hour. (back track for a second, we had already figured out that the router that blew was worthless so we paid for a new one like two weeks ago and the only thing that is left to do is for the technician to bring it to our house and set it up) One of the employees even showed a sign of customer service by asking for my cell so that she could call and make sure that he arrived within the hour. Two and a half hours later I called up and asked what was up. The lady said "oh, he is still at another house he will come". I asked come tomorrow, today? I don't think that she liked my question because then she said "today" and hung up. OHHHHH it took all that I could not to call back and teach her a bit about customer service. I had to go back to my days at covenant studying cultural differences. I remembered that her saying "within the hour" could really be within the next 8 hours and "today" could really mean next week, literally because they have such a different since of time. Also it is not that they are trying to be dishonest, they just want to make me happy so they tell me what I want to hear. To make this story shorter I will just go ahead and say, after three more calls two more promises that he was going to come, a night of rest trying not to get angry or give up on the internet all together WE NOW HAVE INTERNET and not only that, because they were out of the router that we had paid for they brought us a wireless one. I also have to just throw in there that from the time that the technician got to our hour to the time that he headed out the door it was no more than 10 minutes. I ask, why in the world did it take so long for him to get over here but since I have no answer and I'm sure I never will, I will just be ok with it and thank the Lord for the fact that we even have internet here when for so many people in the past and even in the present internet is not even a possibility. I will also pray really hard that nothing goes wrong with the internet.

Home agian

So we ended up staying in Nairobi instead of going to Mombasa :(:( because Travis had to be back to fly on Monday. I have to admit I was a little bitter at first because we had specifically asked for the day off and had purchased a ticket for me to fly to Nairobi with Travis so we could go down to Mombasa for a few days. Since Travis and I have Birthdays close to each other we decided to take a little vacation rather than doing gifts for each other. I was SO looking forward to the beach. It almost kills me to be living just a five minute walk to beautiful Lake Victoria but not be able to swim in it (risk of getting Belharsia, don't know how to spell and don't really know exactly what it is just know that it is really bad). So it would have been GREAT to be able to spend time in one of my favorite environments WATER.

But bitterness is NO fun and profits absolutely NOTHING. So we moved on and made the most of the time that we had in Nairobi. We shopped a little, thank goodness not back to the shopping center that I had just spent two days at. Thankfully there is more variety in Nairobi than in Kampala as far as shopping goes. There was a great book store in the mall and Travis and I read all the time so we picked up a few books. We were able to go to Carnivore which is a really well known restaurant in Nairobi. As you can guess by the name they are know for all the varieties of meat they serve. It is one of those restaurants that you pay a set price and eat until you can't go on, litterally you put up a white flag of surrender when you can't take anymore. They usually have all kinds of exotic meats, the only one they had when we were there was crocodile, which servers bring to the table on swords then they carve off a piece onto your plate. Pretty cool. I think that the experience what better than the food itself but the food was still pretty good. One of my other favorite things was getting a yummy no better than that, super (for Em) duper delicious FRESH strawberry milk shake, a real one made with ICE CREAM from the Java house, another well know restaurant/coffe house in Nairobi. WOW!!! Travis and I haven't stoped raving about it since we have been home. I haven't seen strawberrys or any berry for that matter in Uganda but apparently they have them in Kenya.

So we ate and we read pretty much. I think that a lot of people like to eat, shop and drink in Nairobi because that seemed like that was all that was listed in the tourist book. We don't have much nead for shopping but we definately need to eat so we got to enjoy toe of Nairobi's best known restaurants and that was pretty much our trip. Good times :):):)

Chilling in Nairobi

Chilling in Nairobi
Travis and I flew out of Entebbe yesterday to come to Nairobi, Kenya for a few days. The main reason for coming is so Travis can attend a training session (not quite sure what it is on but something for flying), but we thought that it would be neat for me to come along and when he is not busy we can do things around Nairobi and then hopefully get to go down to Mombasa Kenya on Friday after his training is finished to enjoy a few days at the beach. I’m really hopeful that this works out cause our plan is to take an overnight train which is an old English train with private cabins and a food car which I think would be great fun! We might have to go on back to Entebbe because although Travis got permission to take Monday off they scheduled him to fly, ARGGGG, so anyways we might have to cut the train and mombasa off the agenda and hang out in Nairobi. I guess that I shouldn’t be complaining, I am in a country that I have never been before and there are lots of things to do here, I was just really looking forward to the BEACH.
Travis's training is at the UN compound in Nairobi and thankfully there is a mall close by for me to keep myself busy in. It is too weird I can’t get used to my new disinterest in shopping. I have read almost the entire day and the only money I have spent was on food. I have walked the entire mall and window shopped but my favorite part was Nakumatt, the Grocery store and even there all I bought was some flavored tea. I did spend a good amount of time walking the isles in the grocery checking out what all they have here that we don’t have in Uganda. My favorite isle was of course the ice cream isle. They for sure have more variety and it is soooo much cheaper. In Uganda to get a 1liter ice cream tub, which isn’t even that great, is $16 here the same stuff was almost half the price and there was some other brands that looked way better for around the same price. OK enough about food. Well there is one for thing they had real milk in cartons. Now I am done.
I guess that is all I have to say for now about Kenya because really besides the airport and our hotel room the only other part I have seen is The Village Market mall.

MOM & DAD'S VISIT

Mom and Dad
The best birthday present was to go to the airport and know that my mom and dad were going to be coming out any minute. I have been looking forward to it for months and now it was finally here. Travis was able to go in and help them with the bags cause he had his pilot uniform on, it was great for him to be able to help them with their bags and get them though quickly so they could get out to me faster. I loved seeing moms smiling face as she came out to meet me. I was glad to know that it was still possible for her to be smiling after such a long flight and her back was doing fine. With her back having been out recently we were really praying that the flight wouldn’t put her back down. I also loved seeing my daddy with his suit jacket on, I don’t know how he does it I always choose the most comfy close I have to travel in and he seems to do the opposite, but he sure does look nice.
The Next day it was my birthday, Travis’s birthday and Christmas all in the same day. Mom spoiled us with so many goodies they hardly all fit in the bags. It truly did feel like Christmas as we pulled it all out of the bags.
Mom also brought dance shoes, leotards (which had been donated by Steps of Faith) and colorful dance spots for my little ballerinas. A few of them had leotards from dress up but it was so fun to see how excited they were to get real leotards and shoes. One of the little girls was so excited about her shoes that she kept asking her mom if she could just carry them with her the whole day, and even sleep with them at night. It was so adorable!!!


Shopping in Kampala
Daddy headed up to Gulu (a town in Northern Uganda) with Timothy a friend of his who is from the area and is operating several development projects. Mom, Travis and I spent the day in Kampala showing her around the city and then taking her to a craft market and that is when the fun began. Ever since I have been here I really have NO drive to shop, Travis and I will be in Kampala picking up things like dog food and such and I will be ready to go way before Travis, however, with mommy at my side I was ready to go. We shopped and shopped and bargained and bargained some more and it was great. It was mostly little gift for mom to take home for people but it was just so much fun. Thank you mom for the great time!!!! Sorry Travis for having to wait around for us

The Haven
Poor mom has barely seen anything in Uganda, we took her to Kampala and she has seen a little bit of Entebbe but other than that she hasn’t really seen much. So when dad got back from Gulu we decided to take a little trip to Jinja. A few months ago I had found this really neat eco friendly lodge that is right on the Nile near some rapids. We had seen it when we were rafting the Nile and it was truly a beautiful place. I addition to its great spot on the Nile it is also in an area all to its own away from the hustle and bustle of Jinja. There are several different options for accommodations ranging from cute little bandas (huts) which share a community bathroom to the nicest of all a Honey moon sweet with a perfect view of the Nile and the rapids from almost the entire banda and a great big tub. Since the place wasn’t very busy the owner said that we could just choose what we wanted when we got there. Well we got lucky and when we got there Travis and I ended up being blessed with the Honeymoon sweet. The place was so beautiful that almost every moment we were there we were just soaking up the scenery and the nature. In the evening we went on a little boat ride up the Nile seeing many beautiful birds and also enjoying being surrounded by local fishermen, women gathering water, people washing clothes children splashing in the water and more. I will definitely upload some pictures from the trip when we get home. The trip up and down were quite eventful with some basket shopping, a random purchase of really cheap chairs to go on the porch, fitting back in the car with the random purchase of really cheap chairs to go on the porch, being pulled over by the police (we were speeding, ooops), paying for the speeding ticket, and checking out the fields and fields of sugar cane and tea.

Leaving mom and dad
It is a normal thing to take someone to the airport when they have been visiting your home for a while and it is time for them to return to their home but it is strange to say your goodbyes and then go in through the airport security and them stay. Something just isn’t quite right with that, it should go the other way around they should be going in through the security and you should be staying. Well we decided to put a little twist on the normal farewell that you usually encounter as you take someone to the airport. We decided to leave too and leave before them as well. Travis and I headed to Nairobi and mom and dad headed back to Georgia. Love you mom and dad.

Little ballerinas

I am overjoyed!!!! Last wednesday I taught my first week of dance classes here in Entebbe.

I had been praying that God would use my passion for dance in some way while I am here. Several opportunities had come up for me to teach dance at a few schools in Kampala but I didn't feel led to any of them. I was actually getting frustrated because I was starting to think that God and I had some major communication issues going on. I felt very strongly that I was going to have the opportunity to share the Joy of praising the Lord through dance here but when the opportunities came there was nothing in me that said pursue it. I kept asking the Lord "am I not hearing you or are you just not speaking?" Finally I got a go ahead from the Lord to try to start my own classes here in Entebbe. There were some little girls who go to a fellowship that Travis and I attend and they just kept coming to my mind. Just a few days later I was at the fellowship and mentioned to their mother that I was wanting to start teaching some dance classes and asked her if her girls would be interested. Her little girls eyes and her own lit up immediatly. She said "are you kidding, my girls have been praying that the Lord would bring a dance teacher here to Entebbe". My heart skipped a beat cause I was so excited to get another confirmation that this was God speaking.

Over the next few weeks I have been finding out about more people who are intereted in dance classes and I have ended up with two classes so far. One for 3-6 year olds and the other for 7-10 year olds. I have had several moms asking if I would consider doing an adult class as well which I am hoping to put together soon.

I am sure that during the first class I was just as excited to be there as the little ballerinas several of the moms even told me you looked like you were having a blast. I am just so grateful that God is such a close God, he doesn't leave us in the dark to figure things out on our own. He gives us the yes when He really wants us somewhere and sometimes His no is just silence. We just have to be patient to wait for His voice.

I just want to add to this that I truely appreciate Mrs. Julies ability to schedule classes so well. It was Nearly impossible to get the schedule figured out so that everyone would be able to make it. Thank that Lord that he got it to all worked out in the end cause I didn't want anyone to miss out.

Lake Victoria

It is Sunday afternoon and Travis and I just got back from enjoying a picnic on lake Victoria. We went into Kampala yesterday and decided to swing by Quality Cuts, which is where we get our meat. Local meat isn't so great and although we can purchase minced meat and chicken legs at the local shopping markets their electricity is as unpredictable as ours and so there is no telling how many times it has been thawed out and refrozen. Anyway we went to Quality Cuts to pick up some lunch meat(Travis insist it should be called sandwich meat) and some REAL cheddar cheese both delicacy's and special treats for us (isn't life funny). So we drove out to a place that we had discovered one time while out and about trying new roads and seeing where they lead. The location is actually really close to a fishing village so we were accompanied by a constant flow of young and old fishermen coming out with their makeshift fishing poles, some fishing boats pulling in their nets Bible style, and a butt naked bather (once again I want to say isn't life funny). The lake was gorgeous and we could see several islands from where we were. From almost any point in Entebbe you can see the lake because Entebbe is on a Peninsula but this place provides a particularly beautiful view of lake Vic. There was a countless array of birds including some King Fishers who are pretty cool little black and white birds who dive in the water to grab their meal, and also to see the fishermen working so diligently and patiently to bring in a living through fishing. After eating we started a new book about a young girls life in Somalia, Travis and I have enjoyed reading a few books together since we have been here about different people in African nations. All in all it was just so great to be out in the Ugandan sun (should have put some sunscreen on) and just see how beautiful a country and a people God has put here remembering what a privilege and a joy it is to be here.

Grace

I feel like I am unable to put the words into the right order to be able to share this story with you and I know that my little post on it will not even come close to expressing it to its fullest, but I feel it is better to have what I can write written than nothing at all. This is the story of a little girl named Grace,

A few weeks ago a family at a fellowship that Travis and I go to sometimes shared a prayer request with everyone, they told of a little baby girl who had been found in a pit latrine. She was only a few hours old and yet had been thrown into the toilet to die. Those who found her just heard a slight whimper because the little baby had been wrapped in a flour bag before being thrown into the pit. The rescuers were able to lower someone very small into the pit in order to bring the baby out and by the Grace of God they got her in time.

After being pulled from the bit the authorities tried placing her in an orphanage but none would take her the reason being, as ironic as it sounds, she was too healthy. She miraculously hadn't suffered any harm in her first few hours and was free of AIDS and any other life threatening illness so she was rescued but without a home.

Through the next few weeks, Graces story of hardships continued she was then placed in a home with a woman from a local church but it was difficult for the woman because she worked full time and therefor had to place her in the care of a house girl most of the time and on top of that her husband was not a believer and had a not so flattering history. To say the least it seemed like Grace's life had improved very little in terms of safety.

The really good news is soon to come but first a few more facts, In Uganda like many other countries it is bewildering because there are seamlessly countless orphans with very few having opportunities to be taken in by people and yet it is very difficult for anyone not from their country to adopt them or have custody of them. Well by another act of God's grace the police authority gave custody of the baby to the couple who had lifted her up for prayer a few weeks earlier.

Grace is in the care of a family who now have four precious little girls. Two biological and now two from Uganda.

I got to see Grace for the first time on Sunday and it was all I could do to keep myself from crying because she is such a beautiful little girl and to think of how someone out of desperation and fear (or whatever reason it was) could throw her into a pit and leave her to die is just unfathomable.

Grace's story is a reminder to me that like her we were are born in a pit and yet God hears our cry and not only rescues us out of the bit but adopts us into his family as one of his own. Loving us and caring for us our whole life through.

There is still a long road ahead for Grace just because the authorities have given her into the custody of a loving and caring family the process of adoption is long and unpredictable. Please pray that God will bless the process and open doors and windows where they need to be open.

Our house

Our house is really looking like a home now especially since the recent addition of curtains in the Kitchen and some wall hangings in the living room and bedroom that help to fill up the blank white walls. Almost all the walls in the house are white and therefor extremely plain. It has been a fun challenge trying to find ways to cheaply fill up the walls. Surprisingly wall hangings, baskets, pictures, frames and other African crafts are way more expensive than I expected then to be. Since we are probably just going to be here for a year it would be silly to spend too much on decorating the house. From my experience in other countries you can buy things at markets for pretty cheap if you know how to bargain. Sometimes you even walk into a market and the people practically chase you and save you the effort of trying to bargain by selling it to you for an unbelievable price. Here they are not like that, some people don't even want to bargain at all and you know that they are charging you way too much. You try to offer a price and they bluntly say no and then you try the walk away strategy which normally works in other countries and they turn around and walk away to. Not to much fun. But none the less I have been able to get some things to help to make our house look more like a home.

Here are some pictures...

Comical

I think that it is pretty comical that we get internet at the house and then neither of us have written in almost a month. We will have to see if we can change that.

INTERNET

Exciting news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just got internet at the house so we will be able to keep on top of things (our blog, e-mails and more) much better now. I am excited because we will also be more aware of what is going on in the world as well. We have kinda been living in a little Ugandan bubble.

Ice?

Ice, ice baby

I have to start this out with a positive note, the power in Entebbe is impressively dependable. Far more reliable than I thought that it would be however, it is a regular occurrence for the power to be off ALL DAY on Sundays. It isn't such a big deal as long as you get up before it goes off and get a shower and don't have any food that will spoil in the fridge. Last week that wasn't the case, after coming home from rafting we got in around eleven so the power had already been off for a while, we had purchased a great deal of meat on Friday, we had yogurt, milk, cheese, and some left over that I would have hated to go to waste. So around 2:30pm we headed out in search of “ICE”. We approached the first gas station with confidence, I jumped out to run in and grab a bag. I go in search around the store in each of the refrigerators and coolers with no luck. I went up to the lady at the counter and asked “do you have ice” “Ice”? She responded. Yeah, I said you know ice to keep thinks cool. She gave me a confused and said “no”. I ran back outside and relaid what I had learned to Travis. We went to the next gas station, we asked a women working inside if they had ice anywhere? She gave us the same confused look and then said “oh, you mean ice cream” and pointed us to the cooler of ice cream. We said “no like frozen water. So our second attempt was as fruitless as the first. We then preceded to the little grocery, and finally some one knew what ice was. They said “yeah, ice, we don't have that here. Go to Fish ways” We had never heard of it before so after getting an idea of where it is at from the woman we headed on over. It ended up being a HUGE fish packaging factory where they package Nile perch and send them to Europe. We approached the gate and the guard aproached the window he looked at us like “what are you guys doing here?” We asked bluntly, can we buy ice here? He gave us a strange look again and so we went into the whole story of the power and the meat and how no one sells ice and he let us in. We were really feeling funny as we walked into a nice air conditioned office and were brought to “The Boss”. He was an Indian guy sitting at a overly large desk. He gave us the same strange look that by this time we had become accustomed too and asked what can I do for you. We gave him the spill and some puppy dog eyes with hope that we could convince him to sell us some ice so we could save the meat. He laughed and said yes you can have some ice, I will give it to you but I will tell you this, you should just get a generator. Whooooooo. After all that time we finally had a simple bag of ice. We finally got back to the house about two hours later (note: none of the places we went were more than 10 minutes away, things just take a while here). The day was successful the meat and we had a big laugh thinking about the oh, so simple mission that we thought we had started out on but had turned into an our event.

P.S. I think that I spoke to soon when writing about how the power is pretty good besides Sundays, yesterday(Wednesday) the power randomly went off in the afternoon and just came back on around 8am this morning. Thankfully we saved our precious ice in the freezer and so it helped to keep things cool.

P.P.S. I really spoke too soon it was off again. I must of jinxed us LOL.

Rafting the Nile

White Water Rafting

Last weekend (July 12th-13th) Travis and I decided to take a little road trip to Jinja, a few hours drive from Entebbe, where we could raft the Nile. The Nile actually has its source in Uganda from lake Victoria and then flows up though Uganda, Suddan, and then finally to Egypt. Travis had rafted at the same place a few years ago when he was doing relief work in Sudan. I too had been rafting before down the “mighty” Occoee. Wow! Was I in for a surprise/absolute shock/saw my life pass before my eyes.

We had a great group of people in our boat, two Israelis who had been traveling Africa for the last year, two Norwegians here for a few weeks working in local schools, and a very grumpy, yet some how hilarious, Keewie (New Zealander) as a guide.

The trip started out much the same as the rafting I had done back in the states with the helmets and the life jackets etc... then there was a few kilometers of calm water where we practiced all the maneuvers. We even went down a small grade two rapid out of the raft so we could practice what to do “if” we were to fall out at some point. The first thing that should have gotten my attention was that there were as many “rescue Kiyaks” as there were rafts, and in addition there were two rafts whose purpose was also for rescuing. I thought that they were just a little more precautious here than at the Occoee. It wasn't long before I realized that this was not the Occoee, and they weren't overly cautious they had those guys there for a reason. On the first grade four rapid we went in with excitement cause this was our first big one, next thing we know the raft is completely flipped and we are sucked under, when you are in the rapid there is no fighting it so we all just held our breath and hope to be swept up and be able to get a breath soon. I let go of my paddle when we flipped then suddenly there was one next to me so I grabbed it then I was under again when I came up there was Ingred (a Norwegian) I have never seen such FEAR in anyones eyes, it made me even more concerned then I already naturally was. In a second she was gone then there was another paddle then back under for me and I decided forget the paddles and let go when I came back up thankfully there was a rescue raft and they pulled me up. WOW!!!!! All of that while wearing a life jacket. We all finally got back to our raft coming from all different directions having been rescued by, other rafts, or Kiyaks. After such a traumatic experience Travis tells me “yeah I think last time I came we flipped six or seven times” AHHHHHH! This is an all day trip and I am beginning to wonder if we are going to make it out alive.

To make a very long story short throughout the day, truly by the grace of God, we only ended up flipping once more. I was comforted when I found out that although it was an all day trip there were at least three areas where the water was very calm and we simply paddled through those areas providing a little rest from the intensity. The last thing that I have to mention is my favorite rapid which included a ten foot waterfall. Yes we braved the rapid and then plummeted off the edge of the waterfall. It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced. It was almost as neat to watch the others go off the edge as it was to experience it yourself. It was especially interesting watching those go before you one minute they are rafting about thirty feet in front of you and then suddenly they are gone, not to be seen again until you yourself take the plunge.

All in all it was a fabulous experience and we really enjoyed those that we were rafting with. The next week Travis and I were driving from the airport back to our house when out of the blue we see the Israelies (Smadie and Nadav) walking down the street. We swung a uie and headed back to where we say them. We ended up spending the rest of the evening with them eating supper with them then having them over for coffee and dessert. While they were at our house they noticed the guitar and so they asked Travis to play, we ended up singing praise songs an worshiping and it was so neat to see how God had his hand on who we sat with while rafting and then brought them back into our path to be able to hang out with and share our love for Christ with. We also picked them up the next day to take them to the airport as they headed back to Israel. We are praying that the Lord will bring other Christians into their lives as they are back in Israel and that one day we will be able to meet with them again if not on earth than even better in Heaven.

KURMUK!!

In Proverbs 25:25 it says, “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land” (NIV). Since the year that I spent in Kurmuk, Sudan back in 2003; I have heard no news about the people I worked with there. So it was truly like “cool water to a weary soul,” when I was told that I would be flying some people to Kurmuk and staying there for several days… For years I had been longing to return to Kurmuk and see who was still living in the area, and what there lives were like. So it was a huge blessing for Kelsey and I to go Kurmuk on Sunday and return on Wednesday.
To my great surprise, many things in Kurmuk have changed in the last five years. And it was mostly development due to the peace between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Southern Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). The town’s population has visibly tripled because of all the returning refugees. There is cell phone service by three different providers, which totally blows my mind because I thought Kurmuk was as isolated as you could possibly get. There are over 14 different relief and development organizations working in the area on various projects, as apposed to 4 when I was there. The market in Kurmuk has even turned into a massive bazaar with all kinds of produce. The niftiest thing I saw were stands where the salesman had many electrical plugs on a table beside a small generator so that he could charge customer’s cell phones for a small fee.
Although it was great to see and take in all the economic development going on in Kurmuk, the best part about the visit was just getting to see old familiar faces. I got to see many of the old hospital staff, our old compound guard, and Gurshi (who used to be the director of the community center). Gurshi used to go to great lengths to help me go show the Jesus film in various villages in the area. He was a very devout Muslim, and would get permission from all the various Muslim leaders in the area for us to show the movie. On various occasion God has really placed a heavy burden on my heart for this man. So it was really good to see him and get to visit. For some reason God placed it on my heart to give him a really nice pocket size New Testament that I had been carrying around with me for several months. Gurshi has been working with Samaritan’s Purse for the last five years, so he has had access to many free Bibles. But somehow I feel that God could really use this small NT to help Gurshi see the truth. Please be praying that God would speak to him powerfully.

Land Cruiser

Land Cruiser

We were able to pick up our brand new nineteen ninety-two land Cruiser last Tuesday. We are so excited to be able to have purchased this car because it is in great condition and has all that we were looking for including, manual transmission, four wheel drive and an air conditioner that works, more for the dust than for the heat but we will admit it is so much nicer to be cool and not arrive at your destination with a wet back.

It was pretty neat because we had found a car that was being sold my an aid worker who was leaving to go to the states it was the same make and model but was a automatic, the air conditioner wasn't working and the interior and exterior weren't in to great a shape. We thought well you don't always get everything you want and we can settle for this and get the AC fixed. It was a great price and we were pretty desperate for a car since there had been some confusion about us having a temp car provided by Air Serve so we went home that night and were asking for the Lord to lead us and speak to us about the car. We picked up our Bible and were reading from our daily reading which we were in 2 Chronicles reading about King Amaziah. King Amaziah had hired some troops from Israel to help him fight the Edomites but a man of God had come to him and told him that he need to go to battle without them because God was not pleased with Israel and would cause him to fall. Hezekiah responded “But what shall we do about the houndred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this”.

Travis and I both felt the Spirit leading us back to that verse, like Hezikiah we thought that the best thing would be for us to get that car and then have our own transportation we would be better off more able to acconplish the things that we needed to but we felt that the Holy Spirit was telling us that he had something better planned for us, he was able to give us much more. So we continued looking and and few days later found this car at a car ware house (they call bond shop) which have freshly imported cars from Japan. It was in GREAT shape inside and out and had all the things that we were looking for, it even had new tires as well. After looking over it for a good while we jumped in to take a test drive. One of the workers rides with us and guides Travis telling him where to turn suddenly out of the blue Travis says “hey Kelsey, recognize this place, the guy had unknowingly directed us right past the residence of the previous car we looked at. We both started laughing because this is Kampala, it is a pretty big city and the chances that we would end up in the same residential area where we had looked at the other car was insane. We felt like the Lord was saying “see I told you that I had something better for you”.

Our God is SOOOOOOOOOOO Good, praise the Lord for his provision!!!!!!

Puppy Love

We have a new addition to our family :) We met a family yesterday who had ten little puppies (They actually work for AIM Air) and so we decided to take one home with us. The mom was a German Shepherd mix and the dad was a golden retriever mix so we are not quite sure what he will end up looking like. He has shorter hair than any of his brothers or sisters and is also darker than all the others. We thought he was by far the cutest.

It has just been one day and we have already experienced the Joys of raising a puppy. It is going to be a lot of work but we are really excited to have him. I have yet to tell you his name because we really haven't chosen one yet. We have one that we are trying on to see if it fits. If anyone has any suggestions throw them out at us.

Fellowship

Over the weekend we were able to go into Kampala, the capital city which is about 30 minutes away, and meet up with some friends of Travis's. They are a couple who Travis worked with when he was in Sudan a few years back. They have just recently moved here to Uganda and plan on being here for several years. They have two adorable little girls who were so much fun to play with. It made me miss my little ballerinas. It will be fun to have them close by for when Travis and I want to spend some time with little ones so we don't get any ideas about having our own any time soon, LOL just kidding. :) It is kinda funny we have been teasing about babies a lot because there are TONS of storks here. I never realized how huge and really hideous they are. It was soooooo great to be able to spend the evening visiting with them they were really helpful giving us all kinds of helpful information about where to find things in Kampala. Shopping here is like a scavenger hunt, as we dive anywhere Travis and I are looking out the window scanning the view to see if there is anything of interest. There are two mall type places in Kampala where they import groceries and other stuff from South Africa and Kenya so we have been able to find some cereal and stuff there but because most of the stuff is imported it is REALLY expensive so we don't want to shop there for things that we can buy locally. However, the locals don't put all their stores together in a little mall like we do so they are spread out in the most random places so hence we keep our eyes open all the time.

I am also always keeping my eyes peeled for any place where I might be able to get involved volunteering or working. I have passed an orphanage and also saw a dance studio in Kampala. I have been told that there are a few private schools in Kampala who might be interested in having someone come and teach dance. We will just see what happens.

God also blessed us this weekend by hooking us up with another missionary couple who has a house right here in Entebbe. They spend most of their time out on Islands in lake Vitoria but have a house here for when they come back to stock up. They invited us over for dinner and we had a wonderful time hearing about their ministry and just getting to know them. They were also VERY helpful and gave us all kinds of helpful hints about living in Africa. Travis and I just keep remarking on how it is just so amazing how we were complete strangers to them and yet through Christ there was a bond and because of that they automatically took us under their wings and showered us with love. What beauty there is in the body of Christ.

Yesterday we were also able to hang out with one of the pilots that Travis worked with in the Congo who was passing through Entebbe on his way to go raft the Nile. I can't wait till Travis and I get the chance to go.

I think that my favorite adventurous endeavors have been riding the public transportation, like I mentioned earlier they drive CRAZY here and although it is kinda dangerous it is fun at the same time. It is also just neat to be with the people, once we have our own vehicle there probably won't be as many opportunities to take the local transportation. I also had a great time going to the Saturday market which was pretty much right across the street from our house. It is so neat to buy the veggies and fruit SO fresh and so cheap.

One more note before I close. My Cooking/baking has vastly improved since the disastrous peanut butter cookies. I want to through out a thank you to whoever has been praying for this because it truly is miraculous.

GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uganda

We haven't even been here for a week and yet Entebbe Uganda feels so familiar. I guess that it is typical to feel comfortable in a place that you are so excited to be at. We got to Entebbe late on Friday night June 6th and were able to come straight to our house which was soooooo nice. The house was pretty dirty so we had to do a little cleaning that night so we could feel comfortable. We were able to find our bedding and bathroom stuff in the midst of the bags that we had

brought with us. We are so grateful to have nice bedding and towels with us and are so glad that we were able to fit it in our bags. Being able to have nice clean sheets, bedspread and beautiful towels, shower curtain rugs and

etcetera helps to make things comfortable. Thanks sooooo much to everyone who blessed us with the linens.

We have spent a LOT of time cleaning the last few days and it feels like we still have sooooo much to do to feel like our house is truly clean but it really is an adorable house and we are so grateful to have it as our first home.

We have also spent a good deal of time looking for a car. The driving around here is CRAZY and so although there are public modes of transportation we are going to be investing in getting a car to be able to drive ourselves. Air Serve (The company Travis works for) has been letting us borrow a car until we can purchase one but yesterday they had to use the one we have been driving for something else and so it was the Borra borras (Motor bike taxis) for us. WOW!!! I have to admit that it was pretty fun but when you are on a bike and the cars are flying around each other on the left and the right, without much thought about the bikes, bicycles and pedestrians that are also on the road it is a little

frightening.

I wish I had some really neat stories to tell about what we have seen and done but I would have to say that some of the most interesting moments have been me attempting to cook and bake :). Well, Binkley family I guess that my reputation for being a disaster in the kitchen lives on. Travis got to enjoy some lovely peanut butter should have been cookies that tastes more like bread a few nights ago. We did make some lovely spaghetti together which we have been eating for three days now. Next time we won't make the entire bag of noodles (that part was Travis's idea I knew that that would be WAY TOO MUCH). We did have some monkeys show up at the house which was a neat experience. Apparently they come around pretty often.

Altogether our first almost week has been so much fun and we have been enjoying being here together getting used married life and life in Uganda. We feel like every day we have been growing closer to one another and learning

more about each other. God has been so good to us and has been leading us and we are so excited to get settled in here where he has brought us.

We hope that all of y'all are doing well. We miss you!!!

In Christ,

Travis and Kelsey

Honeymoon BLOG

As Travis and I got on the plane together to fly to Honduras it was cool to realize that although both of us have traveled all over the world this was our first time to ever travel together. Honduras was absolutely wonderful. We spent several days on a private cay that we rented. Which was off the coast of Honduras. The cay was adorable with a little house two docks, lounge chairs, hammocks and was surrounded by coral reefs. It was truly a little paradise and it was really neat to spend a few days just the two of us, well that is except for the other residents that we discovered on the island including countless Hermit Crabs, which appeared each night and seemed to cover the island, a few friendly bats, and another resident who seemed to have run out of food because he kept invading ours, yes I am referring to a mouse. We managed to get along with the other residents on the island and really enjoyed those which lived in the coral reef around the Island.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was simply the boat trip from Little cay to Utila, the main island that the cay was off of, a storm was on its way and the water was really choppy so the ride was a blast we were bouncing and being tossed around like crazy, it was sooooo much better than any Six Flags or Disney World ride I have ever been on. I also got to see a flying fish just gliding above the water near our boat.

We spent a few days in La caiba which was really neat because it is one of the cities where Travis grew up. While we were there we hiked to a beautiful waterfall (I think that we must have a thing for waterfalls...Engagement). We were also able to meet up with a few of Travis's REALLY good friends while we were there.

Wedding Blog

I don't think that the wedding could have turned out any better. The weather was perfect, the location decorated looked absolutely beautiful, the food and cakes were marvelous and ceremony went well without a single train going by and to top it all off the fellowship and dancing afterwards were priceless.

We have to throw in here a HUGE THANKS to everyone who helped out, the hard work that y'all put into the wedding was what made it go so great. We weren't able to thank you all personally but we want to let you know that we really are thankful for y'all. Also thanks to all the guest who came and celebrated with us, it was such a joy to have you all there and to those who weren't able to make it know that you were missed.

There are moments that I think man all those months of preparation for just a few hours

maybe we should have just alloped, but then those moments pass and I remember how much fun we had shopping and finding great deals and awesome things just dropping in our laps. I remember how much fun mom, mare and I had shopping and being on the lookout for things for the wedding and I realize that I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Karibu Sana!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our blog. It might have been a while since we have communicated with many of you, and you might not even be aware of the path our lives have taken. Last November Kelsey and I began dating, and on March 3rd we were engaged while on a visit to South Africa. We first met many years ago while in elementary school as a result of our parents friendship, and their mutual interest in foreign missions. In early 2004 Kelsey and I were reacquainted with one another, and developed a very close friendship which we have maintained over the last several years. We consider ourselves incredibly BLESSED to be joining paths to serve the Lord wherever he calls. Kelsey and I will be getting married on May 24th. Shortly after, we will be moving to Entebbe, Uganda were I will continue working with Air Serv. I have been working with Air Serv International as a pilot since mid December 07 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We have created this blog to enable us to easily communicate with friends and family. Although we may be separated by great distances, we can still share special moments in our lives as we daily seek to walk in complete trust and obedience to the Lord. Kelsey and I are very excited about embarking on this lifelong adventure together. God has truly blessed us beyond measure!

Yours Truly,
Travis & Kelsey