And I'm enjoying some of that coffee right now.

In the wake of violent bombings and hostage situations in Mumbai, India, 125 people are dead and 327 are wounded. When we first discovered the goings-on last night it happened to be just after 6 pm here, so we flipped on the news.

No one said anything about the hostage situation or the bombings. (Granted, they were probably covering it on CNN, but we do not have cable.

If you're still out of the loop, you can read up on the events online.

My husband informed me this morning that "only" three Americans were injured. I am reminded that each of those people have a family who are not having such a happy Thanksgiving. In all, over 450 innocent people were killed or injured in these attacks, and all of them have family and friends who are grieving, scared, or worried.

What better time to remember all the things I am thankful for.

1. First and foremost, I'm thankful that my hope is not in this world (because it always seems to be falling apart!). I trust in a God who is always good, who loves me and accepts me, and a Savior who will someday bring about the peaceful, perfect existence I long for. In the mean time, I believe there are more important things than the economy or being physically comfortable. I just have to keep reminding myself!

2. I'm thankful for my husband.

3. I'm thankful for friends that remain close no matter what the physical distance is between us. (And, yes, I am including family in this category as well.)

4. I'm thankful for air-conditioning and heating.

5. I'm thankful that God provides us with so much more than we need so we can help provide for others.

6. I'm thankful for the mountains (even though currently I have to travel a loooooong way to enjoy them).

7. I'm thankful for a car that gets such awesome gas-mileage and has very few maintenance problems.

8. I'm thankful for good coffee. From the Netherlands.

9. I'm thankful for books.

10. I'm thankful that I have a job, and that it's a job where I can minister to women and make a difference in people's lives.

11. I'm thankful that I could make this list so much longer than it already is (but I won't because a.)even though a feast awaits this afternoon, I should eat something for breakfast to make it until that time, b.)I need to wish some family members a happy Turkey Day by phone, and c.)the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is on!).

What are you thankful for?

Kingdom Coming

I have some Good News.

And it's more than just the announcement that I will not make any of you read some mundane, uninteresting ramblings today. (Life is at once busy and shockingly routine as of late.)

Today, I'm offering a chance for you to listen to the Good News yourself...and get a free download from Shaun Groves. Check it out!

A Long Overdue Update

Since this is a public blog, anyone searching for information on Ethiopian Airlines might somehow end up here...reading our Ethiopian Airlines horror story. In all fairness to the airline, we need to post an update on the twice-paid-for airline tickets.

(In a chaotic mess of heat, masses of people, tempers, ignorantly stubborn airline employees, and dwindling time, we were made to pay for our Ethiopian Airlines tickets twice in order to board the plane from Accra to Kampala.)

It turns out that John's conversations with airline managers in the Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia airport during our long layover did indeed effect a refund. While at first we only got our original ticket payments refunded (of course the second time we paid the price was more), we have now received another refund making up the difference in price of the first and second ticket transactions.

Ethiopian Airlines was the cheapest transport we found for flying across Africa, the service on board was good, the seats were larger with more legroom than American Airlines, and all our flights were on time.

So, my only recommendation is that you take care to keep the credit card you use to charge your tickets with you at all times while travelling. Allow an extra hour at the airport to show management your credit card to prove that you paid for your ticket with a valid credit card.

That, or just take your chances on the price by paying for your ticket in cash once you get to the African country out of which you will be flying to another African country.

Speaking of flying, in this season of harried airline travel, long lines at airports, and the added stress of near-disastrous economic times, many airports will be offering special holiday promotions such as musical entertainment, shopping discounts, and even pictures with Santa. Keep your eyes and ears open in the airports if you're travelling this holiday season. I'd love to hear the most creative entertainment you find at an airport.

Recap of our Uganda trip

Now that we have the appropriate technology, here's a 15-minute summary of our trip to Uganda. For those of you that are new, we participated in Compassion International's sponsor tour to Uganda in October 2008. It was a truly inspirational experience, and we're excited to be able to share this with you.


Part One



Part Two (this is the one where we meet Ronnie)

Flashback to 1997

We don't get new toys very often around here. In fact, some think that we're still living way back in the 20th century. Maybe it's because we just got caller ID a couple months ago, or it could be those rabbit ears that are perched atop our tiny (and square) TV. Well, over the weekend we moved another step closer to the 21st century with the addition of a new computer. You heard right. Brand new. Not bought secondhand from craigslist or ebay. I didn't make it myself (Erin doesn't let me do that anymore, for good reason). We're excited, but we're also concerned that we're drifting uncomfortably close to modern times. On that "note," here's a little something from 1997 to balance things out.

Video Skillz

That's right. We have some video skillz.

It's too bad we can't post our fab Video here for all to see, but I'm afraid if I try to do one more thing with that video on this little computer of ours, the computer might explode.

Somehow we compiled our week-long trip with Compassion International in Uganda into a 15-minute video, complete with background music, subtitles, and incorporated still pictures in the mix. It was awesome (for people who have never really edited video in their lives).

(If I do say so myself.)

However, we now seem to have a need for a higher-powered computer. Maybe even a Mac.

Not that we're going to start a home business making and editing videos...but it could be a hobby.

OK. It would be an expensive hobby if we went to all that trouble to purchase a quad-processor computer, but a hobby nonetheless.

As John's cousin says, while getting The Video edited and attempting to burn it onto a DVD, our computer started making noises "like it was going to eat us".

I, in turn, let the poor machine rest as much as possible today.

So, all in all, our sweet video camera that John so frugally researched, stalked, and finally purchased at the lowest possible price from ebay rocks, our $15 video-editing software is pretty much foolproof even for dummies, and we have a short multimedia extravaganza to help share the great work of Compassion International with people.

And maybe when we a.) get a super-computer or b.)let this machine get some more rest and have the patience to fight with it again over large video files, we will share The Video joy with all of you.

(Note: I might have exaggerated the splendor of The Video, so, realistically, don't set those expectations too high. We are amateurs.)

Cold

Returning to the USA must have been a real shock to my system (or breathing the germs of thousands of people on three legs of flight and four airports over a period of 30 hours took it's toll) because I have a cold for the first time in a couple years.

All my energy has been spent just trying to get through each day, so that's why the posts have been few and far between.

I'm still dreaming about Africa in my sleep and trying to come up with the perfect 30-second answer to the question "How was Africa?" during the day.

I wish I could find a brilliant way to answer that question. Something that would make even the people who ask the question with no real interest in the answer start caring a lot about my trip to Africa.

Because these kids totally care about our Compassion International trip to Africa.

And they need you to care, too.

One person, sponsoring one child, does make a difference.

I insist on enjoying one holiday at a time.

I just returned from two and a half weeks in Africa.

It was hot, humid, green, and the holiday season was the last thing on my mind.

I have been catapulted into autumn with leaves changing color and trees in our yard shedding all over the place. Temperatures are mild.

My enjoyment of the autumn season has been cut short, however, by the fact that while shopping in Walmart I distinctly heard….Christmas music.

Can I please just enjoy Thanksgiving for right now?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I just enjoy Thanksgiving as well. I should not have to sacrifice one to observe the other.

Maybe if we moved Thanksgiving to October we could enjoy more time between the two holidays. But then, the weather wouldn’t be quite right (at least in Texas) for Thanksgiving, so maybe that wouldn’t really work.

All I know is that it is discombobulating, after being on holiday in Africa for so long, to return home, be surprised that Thanksgiving is around the corner, then hear “Angels We Have Heard On High” while grocery shopping.

The Untold Day

Unfortunately, one day last week I was quite ill after not being as careful as I ought to have been about the food I ate while in Africa. Therefore, a recap of one of our days in Uganda is missing from this blog.

Also unfortunately, my memories of that particular day are tainted by the discomfort and pain I endured in the midst of heat, humidity, and children hanging on me while I tried not to yak on them. Thankfully, I succeeded in keeping all the contents of my stomach in place.

The day began with a long bus ride, complete with a couple wrong turns. At one point we turned around so often that we passed the same lady on the roadside no less than three times in a span of about eight minutes. The look on her face was priceless: a mixture of incredulity, confusion and amusement.

When we finally turned off the main road to enter the rural village that was our destination, we experienced dirt roads in Africa after a night of heavy rain.

Being in the second bus, I witnessed the first bus swerving, veering, losing control and ultimately getting stuck in the mud. That is why we are all walking in this picture. We decided we could brave the thick red mud and walk the ten minutes to the village church rather than continue on and get the second bus stuck in the mud as well.

(Some local men used ashes to put in front of the tires to get our bus unstuck, and by the end of the afternoon the mud had dried sufficiently to safely drive the buses back out of the village.)

So, what with all the wrong turns and getting stuck in the mud, we were later than usual to the Compassion project. While we visited the bore hole that Compassion helped build for the village to have a source of clean water, we did not get to hike out to the old water source for comparison and contrast. While I did get to go on a home visit, our project staff person who was translating was not so fluent in English so many of our questions went unanswered.

Compassion has special programs available to help their projects supply clean water for communities, to provide mosquito nets for young children since malaria is the biggest preventable killer of small children in Uganda, and to make sure that Compassion children and their family members have access to medications for HIV/AIDS.

What most stuck out to me at this particular project was the involvement of the sponsored children’s families.

Moms and caregivers came together to cook lunch for us.

The rooms that are being built as an addition for the center are being constructed with the help of family members.

The kids and families have helped dig a large vegetable garden for the project to use.

We were told that the Compassion families were even the ones who erected the latrine (which came in so handy for me that day!).

Compassion not only helps out the children we sponsor, but it offers great assistance to the children’s family members as well. The caregivers, siblings, and parents of the Compassion children could not have been more grateful for the medication, mosquito nets, water, housing and food assistance they receive. These complimentary interventions are yet another way Compassion is making a difference in Uganda.

After trekking through all that mud all day, we returned back to our hotel and threw our shoes out on the balcony, not sure we would even have the energy or determination to clean them off enough to repack and take back with us to the U.S.

To our utter astonishment, when we arrived in our room the following afternoon, John spotted our shoes (the very ones that were caked with mud, weeds, and who knows what all) spotless, sparkling, and almost as good as new, sitting in our room by the luggage! Apparently the housekeepers took it upon themselves to scrub our disgusting shoes. Obviously, the level of service at the resort we stayed at was top notch. I wish I had a before-and-after picture, but who thinks to take pictures of their dirty shoes after a long day of being sick and hot and tired?

Whew. What a day it was!

Coffee and Chocolate

We are no longer in Africa.

With a 4-hour layover in Brussels and 11 euros in our pocket we have found a quiet spot by a wall of windows to enjoy the sunrise, drink a cup of delicious coffee as can only be had in Europe, and nibble on some Belgian truffles.

Wow. What a total change of environment and culture from just 12 hours ago.

We will arrive back in Dallas tonight after some 30 hours of travel. (It will be more like 48 hours since we've gotten any decent sleep or a bath - which will make for a sweet homecoming!)

Our plane has been preparing for our boarding since early this morning, so we have high hopes that it will at least be clean for us.

Tot ziens!