The last month

This last month has been a busy one! Following are just a few pictures to show what we've been up to!

Pack Walks have added a biking element to them! Frankie is now sturdy and stable on his bike and the two enjoy biking in front of the Pack during Pack Walks now.

Leaving us in the dust, as usual!

The Pack! Please note a HEALTHY RANGER! His liver is healed and he's eating well now, putting on weight again, and has all of his steam back.

They all look different but somehow the same. Oh how I love these dogs!

Bike Rider One

Bike Rider Two

Billy likes to sleep in the oddest, tiniest places

Surrounded by children's toys, like every good family dog should be. But good family dogs shouldn't EAT the children's toys.  

Like mother like son. Frankie is following in his mother's footsteps washing dishes in his Stringtown apron. Oh the memories this apron brings back, of working in a small bar and grill in Bridger, MT for 9 years!

Lucy, the day before her surgery

We have the GREATEST vet - he actually lets the kids "help".

Here's one of his little helpers - white gloves and all. Oh my, she was quite the kick!

Not sure why this is tipped, but Frankie helped too, by holding a foot. He was not as in to it as Ella was, and yawned the entire time.

Whiskers! Yep, I'd probably look like that too if I was being spayed ;)

Our Danger Ranger. Yep, he's gotten into the bad habit of sleeping on the furniture. Sanyu and Bridger are the only dogs allowed on the furniture but because he was so sick and slept all the time, I made an exception. Now that he's better he still likes to cash in on the perk!

I made a trip to Bundibugyo in western Uganda, this last week. By plane! It has taken me 7 years in this country to ever have the opportunity to fly in a small plane over Uganda. It was so much fun!

Lucky for me my best pal, Prossy, went too. This picture cracks me up. We started out working together seven years ago. The difference between then and now is hilarious!

Our MAF plane

I was there to visit this translation project, in Bundibugyo Town.

The Bamba translators. I love these guys because they are all built like me! Short and thick. I'm not the minority when I'm around them!

Bundibugyo is on the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains and cocoa is one of their main cash crops. I never knew cocoa grew on trees and I was completely taken by them! They're beautiful!

Cocoa pods

The airplane drew quite the crowd!

The airstrip

Back to Kampala!

Christmas party at the ZOO!!!

Today we had our annual office Christmas party -at the zoo again! Now it's been a while since we've been to the zoo. It's a crime really. We are zoo lovers and sort of feel that this is "our" zoo. Our zoo pass expired in April and since that one was such a pain in the arse to get, I just put off getting another. So we were good and ready to return to the zoo today! And wouldn't you know it, I was able to EASILY get another zoo pass, too! The first quote the gal gave me was 250,000 for a years pass and I was like, "Um... no!" but then she "lowered" it 100,000. Yeah, I think someone was wanting a little extra Christmas bonus!

Oh how we missed our zoo - and we were THRILLED to see the new baby elephant that is resident there, too!

The tots are finally big enough and coordinated enough to work a teeter totter by themselves! Helps that Frankie weighs 20 kilos and Ella 22 :). That's right - Ella is only 2 kilo's heavier than Frankie, who is 2.5 years younger! That boy is PACKED.

Ella and our spunky little friend (who is moving in January -crap) riding the camel! I think it was our little friends first time and her parents were pretty surprised. You never know just what will happen with your kid when you send them off with the H's... Which is probably why I rarely if ever babysit! Your tot just may end up on the back of a camel :)

Frankie, our little camel lover and enthusiast, actually missed out on the camel ride because of - get this- a TOOTHPICK.

Our office group ate first and the kids (and I!) had a blast because we didn't sit together. Frankie and Ella sat with Simon, who works one day a week at our house when he's not at the office. Well, Frankie got into the "control Simon" mode and was having a ball.

We headed out to the playground and were diverted by the camel laying there, ready for riding. Frankie decided to run back to the restaurant while the girls were boarding the camel, to tell Simon to bring him a toothpick (!), oblivious to my shouts.

The girls got on and Frankie happily came back, as happy as a clam. Soon after, Simon came out with Frankie's requested toothpicks and proceeded to pick Frankie's teeth for him!!!

Now, my kids don't get much opportunity to so openly exploit the kind intentions of adults like that, so Frankie was pretty smug. The smugness turned into absolute shock (and horror) though after the girls got off the camel and we had to join the rest of the group before he got a ride! He did not cry but fixed me with his steely glare for the next 30 minutes or so. He did not want to hang with the girls, much less me, but he can not have fun when burdened to control adults. So I insisted that he stay with us and by the end of the time he was having fun again!

"Merry X-Mas!" Courtesy of the crocodiles. Ha ha ha!!

Nothing is better than visiting the zoo, unless you can do it with twenty of your best friends! Oh my, did Ella ever enjoy herself! She got every ones thoughts, feelings and opinions on their favorite animals, the most scariest animals, you name it!

Lydia, Irene and Prossy

The office crew. We all work together in the office in EBB. Not everyone could come, but this was most of us. We're a fun bunch :) I love working with these folks!

The four EBB "missionary kids." There would have been more "normal" kids there too but two went to their mothers office party at the Serena and the other three were recovering from their circumcisions. Ha! I just love Uganda :)

This way of exercising your kid is somewhat like a hamster wheel. Our little friend would run around and around in circles pushing, while my two did tricks on top :) Gone are the days of just sitting on it. My little ones are growing up!

So big! Notice Ella's bare feet. Again - I just love Uganda!

Frankie climbs up the play area much like a floppy or drugged little monkey

Then he jumps off! Absolutely no fear! I mean, I had fear that he'd break a leg and have to go to the hospital, but he sure didn't have any!

And of course, what one must do the other must also do

I had read in the newspaper a couple of months ago that the zoo had gotten an orphaned baby elephant from Queen E park, and we were hoping to see it. It wasn't on display yet though, so no luck. Until we were heading out and there it was, being exercised in the waterbuck and forest hog pen! The little guy/gal (I didn't find out which) is six months old.

It was amazing to watch him use his little nose to touch things. It reminded me just of the way a baby touches everything! Ella was worried that he'd eat his nose :)

All the poor waterbuck were like, "Holy crap! What's that?!!!!"

And last but not least... "Coke does the body good!"

Work and play (with the cat)

Um, so, I figure I should post something on my blog! I haven’t really taken any pictures of the kids in the last few weeks, or much of anything, but I did find a few older pics of Billy (big surprise) and the kids playing with the cat that I had on my camera.

Last week was pretty crazy at work. Not only is it nearing the end of our financial year, but we had one of our project funder reps in town, who just happens to be from Montana :). I got a phase review of one project and an extension request, complete with updated budget, done for another, and we left both on the same page which is always a huge step in the right direction. Hooray for Montanans! We cut the blab and just do the job : ) Also met with our newest translation team, the Kwamba (from Bundibugyo and DRC), and got their work planned out in detail for the next three months. Thursday I didn’t get home until 7pm and I had to go in on Friday for a few hours, so it was a busy, long week.

And how can I forget! Late the night of the 17th one of my bestest friends – PROSSY- came home! She’d been studying in the U.K for the last very long year and is now home again, much to my selfish relief. She’s staying with us until her new house ( which she found within the first week of being home – no, she’s not a procrastinator like me!) is ready to be moved into, sometime the beginning of October. Not only is a relief to have her back in the country, but it’s always nice to have another adult in the house. Especially one that will cook dinner now and then, AND clean dishes : )! And no, haven’t gotten a picture of her yet. She doesn’t look that different than when she left, to tell you the truth! Although I’m sure she’s smarter with all that added higher education ;)

This week the rest of our translation teams come in and we get end of the financial year finances all squared away, and go over each of the projects goals and translation schedule for the next year. Today I sat down with our two Uganda based consultants and we somewhat finalized our FY12 consultant checking and training schedule too. All of the translation teams and all three of our consultants (one is coming from the U.S) will be working in EBB next and the following week at a two week Paratext workshop, but I’m not responsible for that (we have a great I.T department!) so it won’t be any extra work for me. And I’m excited to see the amount of work they can accomplish in doing basic checks on all their previously translated work.

I also started a group Bible study – something that I haven’t participated in for 4 years! We are going through the study guide to Shepherding a Child’s Heart, by Ted Tripp. We’ve only done two chapters so far. I’m also reading The Five Love Languages of Children by Chapman and Campbell, which is a GREAT balance to Ted Tripp. I’m still trying to figure out Ella’s love language (quality time perhaps? Still not sure- that girl LOVES them all ;) but Frank’s didn’t take much study. He is a snuggler, touchy little boy and when asked how he knows his mom loves him he says, “Because she hugs and kisses me!!” So yeah, his love language is definitely TOUCH!

So, anyhoo – all that to explain why I haven’t updated my blog as of late!

And finally, here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Baby of the Pack - my how he is growing! He's going to be a BIG dog if he keeps this up!

Odd ball of the Pack. Sorry, but he is.

Somewhat of a mutual understanding.

Don't fart, Billy!

Ella, proudly presenting her tupperware with...

... the cat inside (who was gasping for breath, poor guy!)

The gloved hand reaching for the cat was the surgeon. They were pretending to do surgery after surgery on the cat (no real knives or needless, don't worry!), hence the "surgical" gloves.

This is a little safer activity - getting pushed in the stroller. I'm not sure but I think he still might have been a bit dazed for lack of oxygen...

The cat torturers, I mean LOVERS!