Week at a glance

I haven't done a very good job of keeping you guys updated. Sorry. 

Here's an idea of what my week generally looks like:

Mondays: Days off. Time to just chill and do whatever. I've done everything from having skirts made   to swimming to getting my nails done. Next Monday my friend and I may get a message.

Tuesday: I have a 3 hour language lesson. Then we go eat local food. Then we shop in the market. And then we eat at the Martin's/my house with all the interns and sometimes watch a movie.

Wednesdays: We work on the farm... All day... And then go to women's Bible study. I actually really like farming, I'm just generally zapped when we come in to shower.

Thursday: Thursdays are different days. Every thursday is a bit different. It always consists of going to play group though. Play group includes all the Muzungu (white people) moms around town. It's such a cool thing.

Friday: Generally we go to the village or my friend Taylor and I teach the missionary kids. Depends on what else is happening.

Saturday: I usually go over to the Tucker's house and hang out. Then we have neighborhood play group where all the kids around come and play and then learn a Bible lesson and eat popcorn! This Saturday though, Taylor, Aimee Jo, Shawna, and I are going to the village to spend the night.

Sunday: Church, lunch, and then worship night (either just our group or community worship, which everyone is invited to).


Here is my schedule at a glance.

Here I am Africa! The first several days

When I first arrived in Mbarara at the Martin's house, poor baby Naomi was sick. My first night I stayed awake as LONG as I could. Then the next day we went to the children's hospital in Mbarara to just get Naomi checked on (hospitals are kinda different here and all the Doctors that the Martins generally go to are in America right now). Naomi is all better now. Ruhanga Nimarungi (God is good).
Later that day we had a play date at the Martin's with all the Mazungu (white people). I love what they are doing here. It wasn't just their team, but all the teams around. If  I ever am a missionary, I want to do the same thing.
Taylor and I had trouble staying up through the afternoon, but I think we both made it to night before we slept. Jet lag is interesting.
The next day we went to the town church on our way to a village. There I saw Livingston and Alexander. Alexander sneakily tricked me into thinking he was Richard, although I knew better. Silly Alexander. Alexander was one of my dearest friends. Then we saw Richard another friend. Then we went to a village. They fed us and we listened to sermons and wonderful singing! I liked the matoke (it kinda tastes like potato...kinda), but I struggled with the meat. We saw lots of cute kids and gave them stickers and pipe cleaner people. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of us with the kiddos and at a scenic place.

Lots of children

Look at that smile.

Us stopping and viewing the beauty of Africa

Road to Africa: Travel

Hey friends and family and stumble readers!
I've been here in Uganda for over a week now and. . . I LOVE IT! I've had many adventures already. I will try to get y'all all caught up.
So my trip started on the 21st of May. I woke up SUPER early and showered and drove to the airport from our team reunion (every year the team I grew up with in Uganda, meet in Arkansas for a couple days). When we got there, I had some trouble with luggage and such, but we got it taken care of. The first airplane I boarded was in Arkansas was... tiny to say the least. There was condensation coming out of the air vents and I thought the plane was going to poison me. However, I'm still alive and well. My first stop was Chicago. I ran across that airport lugging my backpack and the camera bag. I made my connecting flight in perfect time! When I got on the plane a sweet elderly couple asked if they could use my seat and I could just sit one seat up. I was totally fine with that. I would hate to separate a cute older couple. I sat down and my new Canadian friend sat with me. I thought I'd sleep, but I was glad to have company. He was touring part of America on a civil war tour. Next, I landed in Washington and met up with my new team. Then we flew together to Brussels and walked around in the airport for a while. Then we went through the security check and searched for our gate. We flew on a fairly empty flight to Kigali, Rwanda. I slept for a couple hours! It was wonderful.Then we had a short flight to entebe.
After we reached Entebe, we spent the night there. We woke up to a beautiful view of Lake Victoria. Here's a picture: 



After that we traveled around  Kampala and shopped. Then, we drove to Mbarara. And there is all of the traveling!
Well, I know that wasn't much of an update, but I'll try to catch y'all up more today.

The road to Africa: Arkansas!

Howdy!

This is the last update until I’m in UGANDA!!!! Tomorrow is the day I leave town (America) and head on my international journey. I am SO excited! I would like to ask all of you to pray for my time traveling and my time in Uganda. I will fly out of here on the 21^st (tomorrow!!!) and fly out of Uganda on the 26^th of June. 

On a somewhat separate note, I have gotten to spend the last few days in Arkansas with my friends (or as I like to call them “family”) that I grew up in Uganda with. It’s been such a blessing to spend time with them. I adore them all. They bring me such joy and I can see the good works being done in and through them. 

I hope all of you have a great week.

The road to Africa: California

So, now that I'm all packed up and such, I've been traveling America. I am in California right now doing crazy fun things like biking across the Golden Gate Bridge; touring Alcatraz; tomorrow I will go to Yosemite. Then, later I'll be heading to Arkansas to see the team I grew up with in Africa. We try to get together as much as possible and just catch up. What's really neat is I fly out of Arkansas, saying goodbye to my team, and then fly to Uganda to say hello to the new team! It may even be that I stay in some of our team's old houses. I am SO pumped. 

ONE WEEK!!!!

Packed!

So, I think it was a small miracle, but I finally have my bags all packed. I don't leave the country for several more days, but life is just going to be kinda busy up to the day I leave.

This is kinda how packing went for me: 

But now it's all over and I can just enjoy myself. I cannot wait to go. 10 days left (in an hour it will be 9 days left!!!!). 

Packing

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've posted ANYTHING on here. Well, that's about to change. I am going to Africa this summer and will hopefully be able to post about my adventures while I' m there on here. 
Right now, here's just a short post (I should be packing). Packing is gross. I dislike it. I really want to just be going and forget all of this packing stuff. I can only have two bags, and they have to weigh less than 50 pounds. So if anyone wants to come pack for me, I'd be ok with that :D 
Well, sorry for the short post, I just have to go and stop procrastinating. I hope you enjoy the upcoming posts.
I'll come back later and tell more about why and how and where and all that stuff about Africa. 


This time for Africa!

And some days...

Some days, I just want to run away. Escape and explore the world and not care what i'm thinking about or doing. Just get away from all of it. Take a break from real life. Pause it. Actually fast forward through the hard times. But, then, I guess, what would I learn. I'd never grow. I'd never feel truly accomplished. Conquering hardness is why life isn't boring.

Other days, I just want to live in a moment for all eternity. Maybe when I'm hanging out with a friend and realize that we really have an awesome connection. Or when you sing that song you've been practicing and you hit it perfectly. Or maybe when everything's just going your way. That day that you are sitting out in God's wonder and there's a gentle breeze on your cheek. The sun is shining. The sky has Toy Story clouds and wispy clouds. Or watching a thunderstorm roll in with all it's lightning.

And yet other days... Other days have moments in them. Every day has it's struggle and joy. It depends on how you view life on which you will focus on. Every day is special. Live each day like... it's the best day ever! (You thought i was going to say your last. Tricked you).

Go have a fantastic day(s). Focus on the joy. On the people. On those special moments.

BLUEBERRY FEST PART DUO!

I LOVE BLUEBERRY FEST!

My family are those kind of people that say something is a tradition once we like something. Well, needless to say, blueberry fest is one of those traditions. Every year we can, we are in Nacogdoches to try out their blueberry goodness. My family even made dorky... i mean awesome t-shirts that were blue and superhero-ish. On the back each of us had a name that had to do with blue or berries or both. My name was "The Incredible Blueberry" (yes i stole that from incredible hulk). We also had names like "Blue Lantern," "Captain Blueberry," "Wonder Blueberry," and "Aqua-Berry." Then the shirts said, "SAVING THE WORLD WITH BLUEBERRY GOODNESS." Oh and our van also said this in blue, and it was called the blueberry-mobile. Get it, Bat-mobile, blueberry-mobile...

Anyways, this year my family put aside special time to go! So what's so grand about blueberry fest? Well, it has blueberries and is a festival. What's not to like? But really, there are little stands everywhere that you can buy things from; there are blueberry pancakes; there are blueberry treats; there is free water; and there is Cowboy Max! My family got to see Cowboy Max's show this year and my dad actually participated. Cowboy Max whipped something out of my dad's had whilst my dad was blindfolded and Cowboy Max was "blindfolded." In other words, Cowboy Max said he'd be blindfolded, but he wasn't.

But back to the blueberries. Sadly, my family missed out on blueberries. We waited too long to buy them and then tried to pick them and the farm closed on us. I was so sad. I love blueberries. So next time we go (hopefully next year), we will go right after our blueberry pancakes.

So, I probably could have merely typed I LOVE BLUEBERRY FEST, and y'all would have gotten the gist, but this was more fun! I hope you enjoyed. Now here are some pictures:

Things of past, things of the present, the future

The past:
As this day has progressed, i've realized how much OC has changed my life. I miss all my friends from there. I miss the days on campus where i can walk anywhere and everywhere. I miss walking out my door and not having to make any plans, but being able to go do something with ANYONE! I miss the winds (i know, it's crazy talk). I miss the clocktower. I miss the people.

The present:
The things i love about right now! I love that Kaila and I are hanging out. I love getting together with friends here. I love the laziness. I love the car i'm getting to drive and the freedom it gives me. i love the free food provided by my parents. I love the relaxing. I love these friends too.

The future:
I look forward to spending more time with friends here. I look forward to spending time with OC friends when we go back. I look forward to a new post about something fun! I look forward to all the activities next year. I look forward to being Sophmore female rep. I look forward to the admissions job i have. I look forward to possibly helping recruit for the engineering department. I look forward to Engineering Summer Academy. I'm looking forward to Earn Your Wings where i will help freshman earn their wings and become part of the OC family. Oh, did i already say i'm looking forward to all the people i will meet, hanging with all my home friends, and hanging with my "new" school friends? If not, that is what is most heavily on my mind. Friends. I need to see them. I need to hear from them. Make sure they are ok. See what is going on in their lives.

Well, that's all for now. Sleep well friends.
till later.

GREATGRANDMA

"Hey!!! Grandma is out of surgery and did great!!!! They put in three pins and expect her to be up tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers." --My Cousin who is keeping us informed!
Please pray she keeps healing!

Kristen

UPDATE ON GREATGRANDMA!

ALSO! My Greatgrandma hasn't gone into surgery, they are still too afraid that her blood is too thin. However, she is on pain meds. Thank you for the prayers and please continue.

THERE HERE!!! THERE HERE!!!

EEEP!!! Ok, so tonight i looked into my sea monkey habitat(?) and was so disappointed. However, i used the magnifying glass and saw little squiglys. Since i have hw i need to be doing, i'll just upload a couple pictures and tell y'all more tomorrow.

Grandma Great 911 prayers

Hey everyone,
i know i've been posting silly stuff recently, but if y'all could pray for my great grandma, that would be awesome!
She fell and broke her hip and she's at a very delicate age right now. And she's on some meds that thin her blood so they are afraid of other meds they can give her (including pain meds even though she's in a lot of pain), and afraid of the surgery. It will be preformed sometime tomorrow, so please pray that the doctors can help her and that she has a speedy recovery. I'm quite concerned for her and about her! Also pray for my great grandpa and all the rest of my family.
Thanks. Love you guys!!!

and so it began...

Day two of this wonderful new adventure! I let the water purify for 24 hours, and just now I added the sea monkey instant eggs and am letting them sit under a powerful light (aka, my desk light) for several days while I wait for them to grow. It is tiresome work, but totally worth it. I will love these little guys like no other 18 year old would (or should be)! What’s even better is now I’m buying my older sister sea monkeys and giving them to her over sister’s week, and I may even get some for my younger(ish) sister too!

I am truly excited! Here’s picture numero duo :D
Enjoy.

Sea Monkeys ("It's the start of something new")

Ever since the beginning of school when I learned we could own fish, I’ve wanted sea monkeys! However, I had been unsuccessful at finding this rarity. UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT! Well, seeing as I was RUSHING to curfew, I didn't buy my new pet(s), but patiently waited till I woke up on Saturday (at 1, then I took a shower, then I went and ate) to start BEGGING my friends (Alex, Jordan, and Lawson) to take me to Wal-Mart again. I eagerly asked what color container I should choose, green, blue, green, blue... at which point someone stated, "Green is my favorite color." It was decided. Green.

Well, I took my precious new friends to my room and then went and watched several movies.

Now, here I am, purifying my bottled water for my new friends. (Since sea monkeys are multiple beings, I don't know how I’m going to name them. Especially since they all look the same...). Here is a picture of the first stage: WATER PURIFICATION! Tomorrow, around this time, I will add the little tiny eggs. Then in a couple days, I will begin to see them. Oh, the joy. I'm so excited! I haven't seen sea monkeys since I was a kid.

You want to know the best part? They are supposed to live for at least two years!!! I'm so elated by this.

Well, I’ll keep y'all posted on this exciting adventure. Here is the first picture!

P.S. If you want to know what sea monkeys are go to http://www.sea-monkeys.com/

New start

Semester two. I can't believe it. I feel like only yesterday i was walking onto stage to take the paper of congrats, and now. . .
Now i am starting my second semester of college. This semester should be intresting. I'm taking programming two, calc two, discrete math (shhh, it's sneaky and quiet), Acts (the Bible book), a class where i get to make and program a robot. So yeah... Wish me luck.
Well, i can't focus any more so that's my little thing.

Life as we knew it

Wow, what a crazy, wild, memorable year. 2010. I'm sad to see it go, although honestly i didn't think i was going to survive it. I joked for years about how i'd never see my graduation or make it to my 18th birthday, but thankfully all those were just silly little comments. I have made it. I have actually made it and have made it 9 months into my 18th year of life. Now if i could only pause life. Pause. Pause it right here. That's right. Just keep living the last 9 months of my life over and over and over again. Put it on rerun.
Why? Why, you may be asking. Well, in the last 9 months i have turned into a "kiddult" as my dad would put it, graduated from high school, moved to college, started my degree (electrical engineering), met a ton of new friends, tried to keep up with old friends, traveled, sung songs, and just had a blast. As i look over the last 9 months (almost 10 now), i see that life is flying past. Am i taking ahold of EACH & EVERY DAY? no. No i am not.
So, as time goes on, don't forget. Each day is a blessing. Each day, well, you just don't know when you won't have a day. Somedays i forget that life is short; other days... well, i wonder if life will ever go on.
That was a random rant. Sorry for not posting so much. I guess it's cause, when i'm writting/talking, things like that ^ come out. I don't remember if there was any other point to this post. I guess the main thing i wanted to say is below.
I just wanted to thank all of you who have been so amazing in 2010 and i hope to stay connected to you in 2011!

Georgia!

I have a friend who lives in Georgia and today (it's midnight, so it's technically today) i get to see her! I am so excited! If you want to live on the countdown with us, feel free at http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?month=7&day=1&year=2010&hour=13&min=40&sec&p0=25.

Goodnight everyone. I mean good morning.

New beginnings

Well, as some of you may notice, my background is a different background. I thought i'd change it partially just to change things up, but also to symbolize my new beginning.
As many of you know, this next year i am moving off to college. Well, this week is one of the few weeks i'm not crazy busy, so i am packing to leave. It's an exciting and terrifying thing. I can't believe everything is going so quickly. It seems like just yesterday when i was starting 9th grade. What happened to my four years of high school?
I know what i've been doing, but to look back on it, everything doesn't seem quite so busy as it did in the present moment. It's weird how looking back makes everything look different, huh?

I hope to be keeping y'all in touch with what's going on in my life in the next four years, and i hope y'all do the same!!!

Here's to new beginnings,
Kristen