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.