I'm Still Here

Wow, it's been nothing but crickets chirping here on my blog for quite a while, but I'm still here! Those long periods of silence on my blog are indicative of how super busy it's been here. The summer was a blur, and it hasn't slowed down since. 

Here are a few random shots from the past few months. Above, a flight I did for Every Village from Tonj, South Sudan.  Below, I flew a team from World Vision Korea to Kaabong, northeastern Uganda.

This is one of several Congolese refugee settlements that has sprung up on the Western side of Uganda in the past six months or so (on the Eastern shores of Lake Albert.)

The pink (magenta) line is my intended flight track. There's a good reason why my plane is off to the left of the intended track. All of those yellow marks represent lightning strikes up ahead--indicative of a massive, and very 'hot' thunderstorm. We have to give a wide birth (even up to 25 miles or more) to large convective weather like this, which is not all that uncommon in the tropics.

Someone brought this cute little critter up to my plane. It was on a leash. The guy then let it go, and it promptly ran underneath the cargo pod, where it nibbled the grass in the cool shade.

This summer we were blessed to have my younger sister and two nieces come to visit us here in Uganda for a few weeks.

I was able to take them along for day of mission flying throughout Uganda. Above, they are posing in front of the big rock at Kalongo. Below, there are always lots of kids to greet the plane in Kotido.

Hannah got to ride along on that flight day as well, which also happened to be her 16th b-day. (I'm sure you already spotted her in the above photos.) Here we are posing in front of the vast, East African grasslands. She might be 16 (and thinking she's going on 25) but she's still daddy's little girl.

And speaking of Daddy's little girl, here's my other little girl, Sanyu. She was very, very excited when Joy brought her to visit me at the airport. She got to sit in 'daddy's airplane' (on the ground) which she hasn't stop talking about for weeks. I can't imagine how excited she'll be when she takes her first flight.