Holidays...

Hey there! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. The holidays here are just about as busy as they are at home! We finished out the first year and our first quarter as missionaries very well. We were able to purchase many gifts for the Children's Home and celebrated with them a few days before Christmas. The girls got new dresses, the boys got new jeans and shirts, and we also purchased some soccer balls, candy (of course!), and some other items the home needed, like kitchen wares. The kids and the staff alike were very happy to receive even the simplist of items. This is Gina & Brenda with their new Christmas dresses. The kids were very excited to get their pictures taken with their new clothes on. (Notice the tag still on Gina's shirt?!) After we "wrapped up" Christmas at the Children's Home, we loaded up and headed off to Uganda to spend Christmas with Shawn & Linda Tyler and their team in Mbale. We have grown very close to this team and were looking forward to spending time with them over the holidays. Our Christmas was complete with caroling on Christmas Eve night; fresh, homemade eggnog; stockings on Christmas morning; and a BBQ Christmas supper with a White Elephant gift exchange.
During the week in between Christmas & New Years, we went to Jinja town, where the source of the Nile River is. (This is Rebecca Evans, a teacher for the Mbale team's kids, with me at the source of the Nile.) There is another Church of Christ missionary team there who we had met and wanted to get to know better, so we crashed with them and enjoyed pizza (delivered!), mexican food, real espresso drinks, and white water rafting down the Nile River. The couple days we spent with them were very refreshing (emotionally as well as physically... nothing like getting dunked by a class 5 rapid on the Nile to revive your life!!!)
For New Years, we headed back to Mbale. We spent the last few hours of 2005 eating and visiting before we prayed in the New Year. It was a very calm, but fun way to ring in the New Year. We got up New Year's Day and headed back to Kitale. We have now officially moved into our compound, which has kept us very busy. We are so greatful for how God has blessed us with such a beautiful place to live. We still have many things to do and to purchase to make this place "home", but we're on our way. Yesterday Carrie & I baked our first batch of cookies (peanut butter!) and made pizza for dinner. There's nothing like home cookin' to make a place feel more like home! :) Well, I guess that's all for now. We are in the middle of doing a lot of work at the Children's Home, so I will update you more this coming week on how that's going. Blessings!