We've Got Tickets to Uganda!

Yeah!  We just got tickets to Uganda, and we'll be leaving in less than a week--next Wednesday!  As you can imagine, we're running around like chickens with our heads cut off (I've never really thought about how gruesome a visual picture that is, until I just put it in writing--sorry about that) trying to sort out a ton of last-minute details and saying goodbyes and packing.

Here's a shot from up in the mountains a few weeks ago--we won't be seeing any more snow anytime soon.

We're SO very grateful to YOU, our ministry partners, friends, family, churches, MAF--all of you who've encouraged and loved on us over the past months as we've been in that weird transitional place in the U.S.   We're supposed to feel at "home" in our "home country", but it never feels normal after you've lived so long overseas.  And in our case, moving from one region of the world to another, and just passing through here on our way, has just magnified that.  Yet, we've been blessed by your patience, and your understanding, and your support.  And we're thrilled that God has restored our health, and energy, and spirits, and we're all very ready and excited for the next chapter He has in store for us--for Uganda.  Well, I don't know if we're "ready", but we're ready to take that leap of faith and hang on tight, which is as ready as we'll ever be. :-)

It's been fun for the kids to make new friends here, to get re-acquainted with grandparents, cousins, family they've never known or didn't remember.  It's been fun for them to experience snow, and hot chocolate, and cold...though we're all actually looking forward to the warmer weather again.  It's the little things.

We've been blessed in so many ways--not the least of which is just the chance to take a breath of truly fresh air, and marvel in the beauty of God's creation--which surrounds us everywhere here in the Northwest.  It's what our souls needed.  And it's been refreshing.

Having said all that, we're not naive--we've moved twice, already, to "foreign" places, and only a fool would think it's easy.  It's not.  It's certainly adventurous and fun if you have the right perspective, but it's not easy.  There's SO much to learn and absorb, and it takes a huge amount of physical and emotional energy to do it well.  New cultures, customs, values, beliefs, taboos, friends, teammates, food, places to shop or eat or relax, school, work, ministry--it's all different.  

So we appreciate your prayers for us as a family--and especially for Joy and the kids as we make this transition, and each find our niche in our new home--Uganda.  Pray for all the obvious things, but especially pray for at least one or two, really good friends for each of the kids and for Joy and me, that can become the kind of people we can truly confide in and grow with and learn from and be transparent with...because that's what we're all going to need when the going gets tough.  We know that from experience.  That's the kind of friends we had, and still have, in Indonesia--true friends, for life.  It makes all the difference.  And we'll need that in Uganda too!

This will likely be my last blog post for a few weeks, as we're extremely busy from now till we leave next Wednesday morning.  We'll be arriving in Uganda on Thursday night, but it will take a week or so, I'm sure, before I have the time and ability to make another post.  Keep checking back though, because when I do, I'll be sure to update you.   Thanks!

Update, and Bryce Canyon National Park 4

We're super busy right now with seemingly hundreds of little details that always pile up just before departing the country for a few years--packing, organizing, last-minute doctor and dentist appts., etc. etc.  I'm also trying to wade through and absorb a bunch of Ugandan aviation regulations so I can hopefully pass a license validation exam shortly after arriving.  I'd also like to find time to study some of the aircraft flight manuals and operations manuals, and also try to work in a renewal course for my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor Rating) that's due soon.  Fun. Fun. :-)  We're hoping to be leaving in the next week or two.  You can be praying that my work permit comes through soon, and that MAF can find reasonable tickets for our departure.  Thanks!

In the meantime, here's a few final, scenic shots from Bryce Canyon.  It certainly is an awe-inspiring and strangely beautiful place!  I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the beauty of God's creation in the National Parks of the Western U.S. over the past few months.  I'm looking forward to seeing the beauty of Africa soon too--the people, the land, and the animals.  

Bryce Canyon National Park 3

This one is all about the hiking we did in Bryce Canyon.  All said we walked about 25 miles or more during our four days in Bryce.

The air was so clear and crisp, and the skies were so blue--it was all very refreshing.  Of course, anytime there was a pinnacle of some kind, or a place where you could go stand on the edge of something steep and dangerous, that's right where I wanted to be.  And a few of my kids have that same propensity.  Joy, however, doesn't--at least not when it involves heights.  So at least there was someone back on the trail to take our picture! :-)

We completed the "Hike the Hoodoos" challenge, and earned some cool metal pins.  Actually, we did about 3 or 4 times what was required.  The kids were pretty excited about that. 

 Isn't that cute?

This one is called "Thor's Hammer".

Critters 2

Here it is, "Critters 2", the sequel to the original "Critters" video that many of you saw after our first four years in Indonesia.  This is a faster, crazier, weirder version, that's a lot of fun for both kids and adults alike.  It's not fun if you don't dig slithery, creepy-crawly, biting, stinging, chomping, poisonous critters.  This little video captures, in high definition, some of the critters we encountered during our past four years in Indonesia.  If you can't handle the photo below, of Britt w/ all the snakes, (a still grabbed from the video) then you probably won't want to watch the whole thing.  

However, if you like what you see here, check out the moving version below.  It's much better!

Or, here's the direct link to the "Critters 2" video on YouTube:  Critters 2 - YouTube .  Enjoy!

And a big thank you to Eric Heatherly for permission to use the song "Down by the Bay" from the album, Country Goes Raffi.

Bryce Canyon National Park 2

Wow!  Isn't this a glorious sunrise?  I had to get up nice and early and hike out onto a secluded part of the rim of the canyon before the sun popped over the horizon to get this shot.  But it was all worth it!

Of course, it wasn't always that sunny and cheerful.

The nighttime skies were amazing!  This is one of the darkest night-sky places in the U.S., so we really enjoyed the stars!  This was the "story time with dad" time of night, when we'd all sit around the campfire and I'd tell the kids stories--sometimes they're true, sometimes not.  I've got plenty of exciting true ones to tell from my own childhood in the Amazon, or various adventures and trouble I've gotten into all over the world.  But sometimes I just make one up, so ridiculous that the kids know it can't be real.  They like both kinds.  I usually try to have some sort of moral or lesson that can be learned at the end--but sometimes they're just for nothing but fun.  Anyway, I decided that it would be worth capturing these moments, and I had already set up the camera on the tripod for some starry night photos, so I took this one of all of us.

Here's a few more random shots of the beauty that was everywhere.

We're still waiting for word on my work permit, so we still don't have tickets for a departure to Uganda.  However, we're still preparing as if we might leave in the next two weeks--packing things up and putting things away.  But we might be delayed a bit if we don't get the work permit soon.  I'll keep you posted.  We're really busy right now with all the "last-minute" stuff that happens when you're leaving the U.S. for a few years.