people we went with

Here are Amber and Terril. They are who we were blessed to spend the holidays with. They are an amazing couple working up in the North Eastern part of Uganda. I really encourage you to check out their blog and learn more about them and the neat work that the Lord has them involved with. http://schrockandawe.blogspot.com/

Things we saw

Crater lakes are adjacent to the game park and are part of the reserve. I have to say that they were truly one of the most picture perfect places that I have seen in Uganda. They seemed so completely untouched by humans, in the two hours or more that we spend driving around the craters and crater lakes we only saw one other car.

Here are a few of the animals that we saw. The hippos were so neat, it was my first time seeing them. From what I saw they seemed cuddly and sweet but in reality they kill more humans than any of the other animal. Very territorial, although you wouldn't know it by the way they cuddle us beside the buffalo and the crocks in the water.

Another crater, this one without water. Isn't it pretty!!!

Places we stayed

Here are a few pictures of the places we stayed while on our Christmas trip. We don't have pictures of the first place but the lake sunset
pictures in the following blog were from there.

The first picture is from Mountains of the Moom, AKA MOM, which is in Fort Portal. It was my FAV out of all the places we stayed and I really hope that we get to go back at some time. We're talking, great view of the Rwenzori Mountian, gardens galor, huge fire place, stone pool, sauna, steam bath (just watch out for the naked guy, seriously), great food... alltogehter a neat place.

The next two pics are from King Fisher Lodge which is near the Queen Elizabeth game park. Awesome view from the lodge and while we were around there we had a blast weeing tons of animals, including chimps!!!

The last picture was from Bunyonyi Overland Resort. Nice clean place with cool furnished, raised and covered tents but AWFUL service.

More Pictures from Christmas Trip

Here are a few pictures from the beggining of our trip. We had just arrived in Fort Portal after a beautiful 6 hour drive on gorgious paved roads and then a 45 minute drive on a rollercoaster dirt road. I can't take credit for many of the pictures that are to follow because despite how prepared I felt we had forgotten to charge the digital camera. Thankfully Amber and Terril had their camera and were picture happy so we got a lot of good picture from them.

SKYPE

PEOPLE,

We have pretty good internet at the moment so PLEASE get on SKYPE so we can talk.

Thanks :)

Little blessings

Last week I started dance classes again. I was planning on doing the classes at a new location where there are beautiful wood floors and not much furniture to move out of the room but sadly the floors are in need of repaired so we are not sure when we will be starting classes there. Meanwhile the classes are at our new house which although the living room is much bigger there is also twice as much furniture to remove from the room. But in spite of the slight hassle we have to hold classes here I am so blessed each week by the classes. It is such a privilege to prepare lessons and teach these little girls about an awesome creator who made us in His image, who inspired us to be creative and the best part how through dance we can bless Him with our creativity. The girls are so eager to learn and so excited about blessing God. I thank the Lord for the ability to share that excitement with them. I'm considering starting an adult class but now that Travis and I are keeping so busy working with AIM I'm not sure if it is going to come together.

Thinking of AIM reminds me of another little blessing I want to mention. Travis and I started last week working at the AIM Air office here in Entebbe. It was CRAZY at first, there were so many things that were unknown and others forgotten from when we did some training. There were also things going wrong right and left with our day to day life like the car BROKE, the power was off for over 30 hours, the car got back to us then started having issues again.... and so on. You know the craziness of it all just mounds up. I'm getting to the blessing in this :) Anyway, we felt totally overwhelmed and exhausted!!!!! Then one of the many times I was taking it to the Lord God blessed me with some of His heavenly wisdom. Here it is, sometimes life gets so hard that we just want God to take the obstacles out of the way, move the hurtle so that we can really run the race, however it is through jumping over the hurtles and finding a way through the obstacles that we get stronger and wiser. Its hard, YES, and sometimes that is our own fault, sometimes we are making it harder on ourselves by trying to carry all kinds of stuff with us as we jump the hurtles and go through the maze of obstacles. You know carrying doubt, resentment, fear, confusion...... when actually that stuff is suppose to be in Gods hands while we run. It makes us look completely ridiculous and exhaust us way more that need be. Rather than coming out of that particular obstacle course tired but feeling good we are dead with exhaustion. So in the end the blessing was actually the hardship, was the hurdles and the obstacles, it was the realization that I can give the baggage (in this case expectations) to God and then run a bit better through the course. To be fit you can't just sit on your butt, you have to exercise. I don't want to be a weak and lazy Christian so I'm thankful that through last week Travis and I gained a little muscle that will hopefully help us to face the next set of hurdles with a little more grace.

Monkey buisness

Mare remember when we used to carry those silly little stuffed monkeys around with us? Well last week I got to experience our dream come true. I got to see what it was like to have a pet monkey. Travis and I went to a MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) pilots house to pick up a few things for a friend and as soon as we pulled in to the driveway I knew we would be there for a while. First two cute little dogs came out to greet us which were followed by a soaking wet (supposedly he likes to take an occasional swim in the tub) little MONKEY. Now I have seen a tun of monkeys while living in Uganda but they are the annoying Vervet monkeys which are completely untameable and to be honest just plain yucky. They poop all over the yard and try to get into things but anyways back to my dream come true monkey. He was a little Red Tailed monkey whose name was Sheeta (which means something like trouble). He was one of the cutes things I've ever seen, full of trouble yes but also full of fun. I got most of the pics outside but it was inside for the next three hours that I really fell in Love. The little guy got into everything and literally swung from the chandeliers but it was so adorable when he did it. In one of the pictures you can see him trying to get a drink from Travis's Mountain dew bottle. He would come and sit on my shoulder and them swing from my arm to jump on the back of one of the dogs and take a ride until the dog could knock him off. It was three ours of pure entertainment. I can't leave out the amazing couple who take care of him. They were SOOOOO kind and ended up feeding us the yummiest vegi Lasagna that I have ever put in my mouth. They have been Missionary pilots for over twenty-five years and are real troopers. We really enjoyed their company and are looking forward to getting to hang out again with them and enjoy the chaos of their littlest family member.

Christmas cookies

Here are the pictures of the Pontier gals and I baking up some yummy sugar cookies for Christmas. This was super special to me cause Christmas cookies are a very important tradition to the Binkley's. Travis was willing to participate if he had to but he got off the hook when Amanda and Brianna joined me. It was great to have the girls to crack up with, it made it more like being home with my sisters.

Our Ugandan Delicacy

I'm trying to catch up on pictures. I wrote about our grasshopper experience a month or two ago but I know that it means more when you can actually SEE it. You will notice that the legs and wings are not on the little guys. This doesn't mean that we were spared, they simply fell of while being fried with the onions and seasoning. You can be sure that when we took our handful we were sure to get a few of each.

Remember that you can see the collage larger if you click on the picture

JOY

My world is full of joy today as I have discovered Picasa, a photo organizing and editing program. I can make a collage and it only counts as one photo when it is uploading. this means it takes a fraction of the time to upload it to our blog. Hopefully this will mean that our blog will have many, many more pictures. I have waited for up to one and a half hours for five pictures to upload to our blog and that is why we don't have them very often.

I have discovered this beautiful program thanks to my amazing in-laws who are visiting and brought Travis and I a computer to replace the ones that were stolen. So not only do we have a wonderful new computer we also have a great program that will make my life so much easier, at least when it comes to putting pictures on our blog.

Joy Joy Joy!!!!!!!

Christmas Praise concert 2008

Click on the collage to see it larger

Hiking in the Rwenzori

Happy New Year!!!

Hello to all of our dear friends and family,
Well, it's our first year married and we are already off a little on the Christmas card sending ,so maybe we will just start a tradition of New Year’s updates and say that was our plan all along… Happy New Year!!
DUM DUM DUMDUM, May 24th Travis and Kelsey's paths joined together PERMANENTLY, yippee!!! Yep we tied the knot, and the seven months since then have been amazing. After the wedding we enjoyed a honeymoon in Honduras and were back in the states for three days of crazy packing for the year ahead. We headed to Entebbe, Uganda and set up our first little house.
Travis has been working with Air-Serv Limited in Uganda faithfully for the last seven months. However, after a change in the company's management, we felt the Lord calling us to resign from Air Serv. This meant surrendering the security of a paying job, but what can you do when the master calls but follow? We gave a three month notice to Air Serv at the beginning of October and started praying. After a month of seeking direction from the Lord, and through a series of truly divine events; God led us to volunteer for a short term position with AIM Air right here in Entebbe. AIM Air is the aviation branch of Africa Inland Mission. It is composed of pilots and mechanics from various mission organizations such as SIL, SIM, IMB, AIM, and Samaritan's Purse. AIM has asked us to fill in for a pilot who has gone on home assignment, and we will tentatively be serving with them January through the end of March. We are now living in the AIM Air pilot's house who is on furlough. Kelsey will also be working in the AIM Air office doing administrative work. We are still in prayer at this time asking the Lord for further guidance as to where he wants us to be after our time of serving with AIM is up. Please pray with us that God will reveal where he can best use us.
Other than flying, we have enjoyed a variety of opportunities to serve, and to experience Uganda. Kelsey started two dance classes, which have been a thrill for her to teach. Most of her students are daughters of missionaries living in the area. They put on a fabulous Christmas praise concert that helped start the Christmas season thinking of the wonderful gift of Christ. We have also been very involved in a local fellowship called Entebbe International Fellowship, where we have had the opportunity to serve through leading worship. The past seven months in Uganda have been amazing, and we have shared some very unique experiences that we will cherish for a lifetime. We survived rafting the Nile; were able to visit Kurmuk, Sudan where Travis spent a year working with Samaritans Purse in 2003; and we were able to accompany some friends to their mission base on a group of Islands in Lake Victoria (Where Travis caught a 30 lb Nile Perch). We continually marvel at the array of wildlife and plants in this lush fertile country of Uganda, which the British called, "The Pearl of Africa." Recently, we just got back from a week of travelling with some friends in western Uganda. Besides the joy of bouncing along on bad roads, we were able to hike in the highest mountain range in Africa, go trekking for chimps (AWESOME), and take a launch trip along a channel full of crocks, hippos, elephants, buffalo, and more.
Although we have stayed busy and have had so many unforgettable experiences while in Uganda, we still have missed the comfort of friends and family back home. However, God, in his wisdom ,blessed us with a visit from Kelsey's parents back in the middle of September, and tomorrow we will again be blessed with the arrival of Travis's parents. Of course both parents, in their wisdom, have brought many "American Goodies" for us…
In the past year we feel that God has truly blessed us beyond measure. In Proverbs 16:9 it says, "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (NKJV). Looking back on the last year it is amazing to see how God has directed our steps. We feel so humbled and privileged to follow such an Awesome God. May he bless you all in this coming year!

With Love,
Travis & Kelsey

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