Ch-Ch-Change

Just reflecting today on how my day-to-day life is not quite the same since living in Uganda.

For instance:

1. I use filtered water for cooking and drinking
2. I wash dishes in a basin
3. I add bleach to every dish load to get rid of germs
4. I wash my feet every night before going to bed
5. I use stiff towels (our dryer is not hooked up, so when the towels air dry, they are pretty crispy!)
6. I use filtered water to brush my teeth
7. I make pizza from scratch (and I must admit--it is yummy!)
8. I eat cereal without milk (I miss American milk!)
9. After buying eggs at the store, I drop them into a tub of water, to make sure they all sink (if they float, they are rotten)
10. I count the hours between times we have power!

Not that change is bad...just different (well, except for the dry cereal part--that is just SAD!)

To the Market We will Go

It was hot, dusty, and tiring.

Lots of walking, people staring, vendors greeting...bartering, laughing, chattering...hunting, searching and wading through piles for just the right thing.

There was no air-conditioning, no dressing rooms, no price tags.

Shopping at the market is definitely a different experience than I am used to.

It was an event that brought me to exhaustion.

On top of that, I didn't even find what I was looking for.

But, it wasn't a total loss...

There were a lot of shoes there, which made me think of my mom.

Many Old Navy & GAP tags, which have my sister and Hayley written all over them.

Children's Place clothing that made me picture Elias & Evie.

I loved being reminded of some of my favorite people.

And when I go again, I'll see if I can find something that reminds me of you (and maybe have some luck in finding what I'm looking for)!

Christmas Fun

Here she is--Anaiah Dawn, celebrating her 1st Christmas! Isn't she cute?! She was the star of the show--I think that at one point, Jeff, Cheryl and Andrew all had their cameras out, and all were pointing toward her! Needless to say, she is not lacking attention since we've been here.

I think that she enjoyed her first Christmas...she did help open one gift and then I handled the rest. She received many cute clothes from Jeff & Cheryl, Jennifer & Bob, an African doll from Doug, Destiny, & Jotham, a glow worm from Grandpa & Grandma, a care bear & blocks from Nana & Papa and a monkey from Santa!







Anaiah did very well the entire day with all the hustle and bustle. We attended a church service Christmas morning, then came back to the house and got it all ready for Christmas dinner.

Five missionary families came over to the Cashes to celebrate. We had TONS of good food, gift giving & receiving and many laughs throughout the day.

One thing that we did not do this Christmas is take a family photo, so I guess I'll just have to put this one of Andrew, so that we remember what he looked like on this day:

Isn't that a pretty gash over his eye?? Well, the day before Christmas was Alex's birthday and we were celebrating at the Mountains of the Moon Hotel where there is a really great swimming pool. Andrew was thoroughly enjoying himself, until he took a dive in not so deep water. He came up out of the pool and blood was running down his face. Luckily, the bleeding stopped soon after and he did not have to get stitches.

Although he did not feel very well Christmas Day, he was able to get up for a while and enjoy the company. His headache has not been as severe the past couple of days, so he is recovering.

All-in-all, this was a wonderful first Christmas in Uganda. On top of it being a good day, it was also a good night, as we were able to contact both of our families back home and hear about their Christmas days.

Hope that your day was as much of a blessing as ours was!!

"Iganda"

So, Elias (my 2.5 year old nephew) and I were talking about him flying in a big airplane to visit Uncle Andrew, Cousin Anaiah, and Aunt Aimee in Africa and a few minutes later in the car, he had this to say:

Eli: I go in a big airplane to Africa. See Andrew, Aimee, and Baby Naiah.

Mommy: Okay, maybe someday we'll do that. That would be fun.

Eli: Dora go to Africa.

Mommy: Yes, Dora did go to Africa. She went to Tanzania. Aimee, Andrew, and Anaiah will live in Uganda. Can you say Uganda?

Eli: I-ganda.

Mommy: What? It's Uganda.

Eli: I-ganda.

Mommy: Oh (light clicks on), You-ganda, I-ganda. Got it.

Cute. Very, very cute. :)

Time Marches On

It seems like life is happening so quickly these days.

First of all, it's June--did you hear me? I said June. I feel like just yesterday it was Christmas time and Andrew & I were in Idaho celebrating the marriage of my brother and Hayley. I must be getting old, because old people always say, "Well, where has the time gone?" And that's how I feel.

The sea container has been packed and shipped and will soon be arriving in Kenya, to be driven by truck to Uganda. What seemed like such a daunting task is now done...a huge milestone in our pursuit to move to Uganda. Thank you to my husband, Ryan, and Jeff for working so hard on a gigantic job--they did GREAT and sacrificed many hours of sleep to get everything packed "just so."

Andrew and I are working hard to gather the remaining start-up costs that are needed for our move, secure a salary for our family, meet with every life group at Vancouver (our sending church) so that we can get to know people better, and talk out the details of emotional/spiritual accountability with our missions committee. (and we only have 6 months to get this all done!)

I am in my third trimester of pregnancy and am due to have our baby girl in 86 days.

I am having a baby...WOW!! It still amazes me that God created this little life inside me, when we had all but given up on trying. I am excited and apprehensive for everything that will come along with this new life that Andrew and I will be caring for.

Whenever she does come into this world, she'll hit the ground running. From trips to Idaho, California, Thanksgiving and early Christmas celebrations before we leave for Uganda, our schedule will be packed and Andrew and I will most likely be worn out. But it will be great and she will be loved.

I know that time will continue to tick away and before I know it, Andrew, Anaiah, and I will be boarding a plane to move to our new home in Fort, Portal, Uganda, Africa.

Until then, I think I'll just take a deep breath, relax, and see what God has in store for me today; after all, the Creator Himself told me that I should focus on today and He will provide for all I need and take care of all that lies in store for me.

"Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:34