Acker Adventures

2011-11-21T06:35:00.010Z

The girls on the way to Lake Nabugabo where we took a recent trip

The beautiful lake! AG enjoyed looking at birds with the binoculars and learning their names

On the way to the Lake you pass the equator

We joined good friends at the Lake and the kids had SOOOO much fun

camp fire and roasting marshmallows

girls sleeping under mosquito nets

Celebrating Saudi's Birthday

Firecracker candle :)

We celebrated the end of October by having friends over for a dress up party and candy huntAll the kids together all dressed up!!

KJ the "angel" lol after getting into the chocolate cupcakes...

AG the doctor

all the kids watching a movie

Lidya and a friend

Meron

The amount of dishes after the party was....overwhelming??? :) Lidya hard at work!

Shelah pulling her hair out at the sight of the kitchen-- a common thing around our house :)

2011-11-17T09:18:00.010Z

This year we were invited to the US Marine Ball in Kampala

Jade was asked to lead the invocation which was cool (he did a good job)...it was great fun and we got to dance and enjoy the evening with some really good friends of ours.

With the Prados

Happy Birthday Marines!

Leaving the dance floor after some serious getting down :)

It was recently the Eid holiday, celebrated by Muslims to commemorate Abraham's near sacrifice of his son.

We were happy to be invited to some of our student's from the Center of Hope's house for the celebration.

AG and Daddy

Delicious Food - it was a FEAST!!

Friends

KJ playing with her friends

Ackers and Host

As it was time to leave we noticed that AG and KJ were nowhere to be found...we thought they were in the back of the house playing, but then were told they had left the house and compound with some of the other small children!!! Trying to remain as calm as possible and not panic we sent out three different search parties to go through the slums looking for them. Thankfully, as the only blonde in the area, AG's hair was spotted by a friend from a distance as she walked past a small passageway. I have to admit the relief was immense to find them again. They were completely unaware of anything even after we explained that they cannot just leave someone's house and go wandering all over the place without telling us...they only talked non-stop about all the chickens and goats they had been able to see. Oh, my...

This picture was taken after they were found again!!

2011-10-02T10:44:00.004Z

2011-09-04T09:39:00.012Z

The Ackers are back in Uganda!!!

Well, sort of...Angelo and Lino were accepted

into a high school in Canada for their senior year.

So, Shelah accompanied them to Canada.

Below you'll find the most recent photos of life in Uganda and pictures of

Lino and Angelo in Canada!

We had fun yesterday playing with the fishing game that came back with me (Shelah) from Canada! It was hilarious. Lots of laughter and screaming. There is always some sort of competition going on around this place! Even the fishing game turned into a big competition, with Saudi coming out on top!

Saudi with his catch

The week before Lino and Angelo left we took some pictures

One special treat that we like to indulge in here is getting sodas - usually it is only for something special- and everyone has their favorite soda. While we were in the USA we saw these shirts and couldn't resist getting one for each person representing their favorite soda. The only difficulty was that one of the favorite drinks here isn't found in the States so we had to substitute a few...

Meron and Abraham

The Mountain Dew drinkers

Meron the Fanta drinker

Angelo - Pepsi

COKE!!

Sprite

No, we do not normally let our girls drink soda like this...really!!

The girls

Soccer stars! KJ kicks the ball with serious concentration.

Anna-Grace- and yes, she really did kick that ball that high all by herself. She is excited to be on the girls team at school this year.

She even gets up in the mornings sometimes to "practice" before school

Lidya and Kaelah-Joy

Before Lino and Angelo left we all went out (and they even paid for it with their own money they earned this summer) to eat at the Mongolian BBQ place. It was very fun!

Barakat getting his food

Volleyball

Trip to Canada

Earlier in the year we found out about an opportunity for Lino and Angelo to go as international exchange students to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada for their last year of High School. It required a lot of paperwork, getting accepted into the program, as well as getting one year student visas to Canada. Everything came through quickly except the visas. We found out only a month ago while we were in the USA that they were granted the visas and then we had to begin hasty preparations for them to travel to Canada. So, just a week ago, I traveled with them, while Jade held down the fort here in Kampala with the girls, all the other guys, the Center, the Office, etc. It was a fast trip but well worth it!

While in Regina, they will be staying with a host family whom they met in Kenya several years ago when they were living and going to school there. We are so grateful to the Furlan family for offering them this wonderful opportunity and for hosting them this year!!

I flew with Lino and Angelo to Calgary where we were met by the host family they will be staying with in Regina, Saskatchewan. We went to Calgary first for two reasons: 1. the ticket was cheaper 2. we had to go to the American Embassy to try and get them visas to the USA so they can visit the States during their year in Canada

In downtown Calgary

Lino- it was very bright outside even though this picture was taken at 9:00 PM.

Cool trees

At the train station

Angelo

Angelo with Grant, the son of the host family they are staying with, and who is also in Grade 12.

At the airport in Calgary saying our final goodbye.

It was very hard and sad for me to say goodbye and I do admit I shed a lot of tears on the flight back from Calgary. It is still hard to realize they are gone. My mom shared a quote with me that goes something like "Being a mom means you have your heart divided up and walking around in other people's bodies all the time" I think I understand that feeling very well. I feel that parts of my heart are now in Regina, Canada in addition to being in Kampala, Uganda. The great news is that the guys are in a good place, with a great family, in a great school. This will be an incredible experience for them and for that we are happy. We look forward to all that will come from this year and for what is in store for them!

2011-07-13T18:43:00.011Z

Summer Fun in the USA!!

Cousins

2011-05-03T17:56:00.009Z

The girls and a new "brother" Meron.

Meron and his older sister, Lydia, have been staying with us for the past few months and have become part of the family now.

A competitive game of twister

Meron and A-G are out...

K-J plays on and is the victorious winner :)

Birthday parties are nearly a bi-weekly event it seems...in a household of however many people live here (we can't seem to keep up with the numbers anymore)

Happy 16th Birthday Lydia!! Our very brave, one and only, adolescent female in the house! At least our girls now have a big sister finally!!

We had a joint party for Lydia and Abraham, whose birthday was in April

Easter Weekend

The crew just before the big Easter egg hunt, the first of its kind because we included "big" people in it this time.

The race is on!! It was hilarious how fast everyone took off, particularly Mubarak--who is now in Teacher Training college, but who was just as excited about an Easter egg hunt as our girls.

Lydia looking in the bushes

Found!!

Abraham finds an egg in the drain pipe, and he actually ended up finding the coveted price of "airtime," or phone credit. He was then able to make a call home to Sudan!

Angelo

AG searching diligently

KJ finds an egg in her bicycle

Dying eggs was fun this year since both girls are older and able to enjoy it more... yes the mess was still there, but at least the goal of coloring an egg was somewhat accomplished...

We did explain that Easter is really about Jesus and His resurrection and that eggs don't have anything to do with the resurrection, but are just something fun to do...AND really they were fun to make and turned out very pretty.

KJ "helping" Saudi wash his clothes

Finally asleep-- we found KJ in this position in the rocking chair one night where she apparently had decided she wanted to sleep.

In the garden

Digging

Getting our hands dirty

2011-02-10T10:55:00.005Z

Acker family (at present)

Acker extended family at present :)

Potential future Acker family members: Lydia and younger brother Meron

Lydia is 15 years old from Eritrea. Here she is making traditional coffee at our house- delicious!

Ready to drink!

Paw Paw enjoying his "boon" coffee and all his grandkids, and adopted grandkids during their January visit!

Kaelah-Joy turns 3!!!

She is still our fearless climber.

Mimi playing "rock school" with the girls
It became an afternoon tradition while she was here.

The competition was fierce

Which hand is the rock in Mimi??

KJ enjoying her cake. Sorry for her our camera battery died...so we were limited on our photos of this momentous ocassion!!

Happy sisters

Still a fashion queen, KJ is sporting big earrings and a necklace

2011-02-10T07:58:00.006Z

Nana and Papa came for a visit in December

Relaxing by the pool

Making sugar cookies with Nana

At the Source of the Nile

A fishing village on the Nile

A local shrine to the Nile god

Mubarak has at long last finished high school and we danced to celebrate

Mommy and AG dancing at a local dance performance

Jade's parents came for a visit in January and his mom helped out at the Center of Hope with the sewing and cooking classes

Cutting out skirt patterns

The guys all home for Christmas (and Hussein on the far left who works for us) Abdul is now back in Sudan and Mubarak has finished school. In two years they will at long last all be finished with High School!

The girls decorating for Christmas

Sweet girls!

Christmas morning!

Gifts

Princess wave with tiaras

The guys opening gifts

Saudi's hero is Nelson Mandela

Abraham's gift

Christmas dinner--we had both American traditional food and then the guys roasted a goat :)

Christmas dinner with friends

Playing at the pool!

Playing Sudanese dominos at the pool

KJ with 2 of her brothers

2011-02-09T09:15:00.014Z

KJ and Shelah

Making a gingerbread house with Mommy

I am still not sure it was worth the sweat and tears...but must agree it was a pretty impressive undertaking... :) It was devoured on Christmas day so at least it wasn't only for looks.

Going out to the source of the Nile in Jinja

With Nana and Papa

AG is 5!!!!

Opening presents

We had her party at "Wonder World" the local version of an amusement park

On the rollercoaster

Tea cups

Merrygoround

Fall "Rain" Festival at school. Each class picked an international city and decorated their classrooms, dressed up in costumes and participated in a parade. AG's Kindergarten class chose London as their city. Here they are with Big Ben in the parade.

AG was the Queen of England

KJ's class chose Agra, India

She was very pleased when she won an award for her outfit

KJ hanging out with Angelo at home

Lucky for us we have friends here with the US Embassy who invited us to be their guests at the Marine Ball in Kampala!!

It was a nice rare event to get all dressed up and go out! (did we actually do things like this before kids??)

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a full house with 30 people and 14 kids!

2010-10-21T13:43:00.008Z

Our family

K-J is our fashion queen.

She loves to change outfits several times a day and always wants to match. She insisted on wearing this birthday hat with high heel slippers all afternoon!

The girls also love going to the pool near our house

A-G loves the water and is becoming quite a good little swimmer. We are very grateful and blessed to have such lovely daughters... and to live in such a beautiful place with amazing swimming weather all year long!

2010-09-23T04:47:00.000Z

2010-09-21T08:13:00.014Z

The Center of Hope has been a busy and happening place the past two months! We had a big celebration to start off registration for the new term and now have between 50 -70 students enrolled in English, computer and sewing/crafts classes

A-G with Abraham (one of her "brothers") at the Center of Hope A BIG thank you to Mary Jane C. for providing funds for 3 sewing machines for the Center of Hope!! The ladies are working on patchwork quilting patterns!

Drawing and designing patterns

Shelah's awesome class!! I LOVE my class!!

Taking time out from English lessons to try new foods. Ironically this is a Korean dish being served by a Sudanese!! Each time I am with this group of people I feel so privileged. They truly are special.

More students at the Center

Home Life

The girls decided to have some fun with sidewalk chalk the other day and decorated our front steps!

Kaelah-Joy showing off her handiwork!

KJ floating in the pool

and licking the water...

Goats for the orphanage purchased by our neices and nephews!

Thank you William, Ronette and Tori!!

Lino and girls with the goats

Happy kids at the Redeemer House!!

2010-07-30T01:41:00.016Z

Family comes to visit:

So this report is being written by Melody Kortbein, Jade’s older sister and also his seventh grade math teacher. During Jade and Shelah’s visit during September 2009, they started talking to all of the nieces and nephews and asking them when they were coming to Uganda to visit. After much prayer, it was decided that I would accompany my children, William (age 17) and Ronette (age 15) and my niece, Victoria, a.k.a. Tori, (age 15) to Uganda from the end of June and the first part of July.

Tori, Melody, Ronette and William with their eight bags of luggage

We had a wonderful visit, had lots of fun, and worked very hard. My journal was over 14 pages long – so I won’t share it all. But I would like to share some of the highlights. The work that Jade and Shelah are doing is time consuming and hard. But to see the gratitude of all of the people that they work with is heartwarming.

We spent our first couple of days helping to clean up the Center of Hope, located in Kampala. My church, Niceville United Methodist Church in Niceville, Florida, collected money during VBS to buy the English curriculum needed. They also raised enough money to provide children’s books for the library. Jade, Shelah, and their team are also working at the Center of Hope to create a playground for the children of their students. In addition, they are building a “hut” to practice outreach in the more rural parts of Africa. It was great to meet Dickens, their day guard, who is a pastor of a local church. He is keeping the Center safe, as well as growing some wonderful vegetables and flowers in the compound.

Ronette and Tori got to “set up” the library

The Center had also just acquired several computers and a Xerox machine. William was able to set up the computers and network so that the Xerox Machine could be used as a printer, scanner, and copy machine.

William “networking” the computers together.

Though the center was not too busy while we were there, they were signing up new people to take the English classes that they offer. It was also wonderful to finally meet Peter and Harriet that I had heard about in the past. The work they are doing there is so beneficial to the neighborhood and to the people involved. We got to experience life in the city by taking a taxi ride as well as several boda-boda (a motorcycle taxi) rides. The city is always busy and there are people everywhere.

We were able to visit the small village of Greek. Though work seems to be moving slowly, there is progress that can be seen. We visited the nearby school and took them a soccer ball. I was amazed at the number of children (and cows) that attended the school. The two pastors that we met were so appreciative of all of the work and supplies that Refuge and Hope are giving. The trip was long and difficult – but the scenery was beautiful.

Workers showing progress on the multi-purpose building

Children coming to greet us at the school near Greek. Notice the classroom under the tree.

Though we were not able to see all of the projects going on with Refuge and Hope, we did discover one of our own projects right across the street from Jade and Shelah. There is an orphanage located there that is home to 7 boys and 7 girls ages 4 to 14. We were very touched by these children and the songs that they sang to us. We were pleased to be able to provide a meal and some new shirts for all of these children. Ronette and Tori also wanted to buy a goat for the children so that they can learn responsibility and hopefully get some milk. That project is still ongoing and we hope to continue to support these children.

Orphans expressing thanks for their meal and new shirts

Ronette with two of the children

William teaching one of the orphans how to play guitar

Tori taking pictures of the kids

Since I am a school teacher (Ronette and Tori have expressed interest in becoming teachers) we were able to visit several schools. Two of the schools were located in slum areas. We chose to “tour” the slums when we were done with our visits. The people who live in these areas have to overcome so many adversities. I think the kids came away with an appreciation for all that they have been blessed with. The primary and nursery schools were our favorites because the children seemed so excited to meet a Mzungu and they loved to sing for us and sing along with us.

Children at Little Light Preschool

Children at Gracious Lord Primary School

Children at Hope School

The work that Refuge and Hope is doing with the Sudanese boys is amazing. It was so great to meet 4 of the other boys (we had the pleasure of introducing Lino to the USA when he came to visit in June) before we left. They offered many insights to what life is like at school in Uganda. They are each unique individuals and have different gifts and talents. I am certain they will all succeed in life, as well as in volleyball.

Another rousing volleyball game at the Acker home.
I am very proud of my baby brother and his wife and all of the work that they are doing. I would encourage you to continue to support them and all of the work that they are doing.

2010-07-30T00:35:00.012Z

FUN THINGS

On a personal note, we did find some time to do some “fun” things. We toured Amsterdam in our layovers going over and coming back. The only problem we had was that the kids were suffering from jetlag during our tours of the canals. While in Uganda, we enjoyed the Ndere Troupe dancers show, we went swimming at Speke resort, we visited the Martyrs’ Shrine, we visited the source of the Nile River, we went shopping at Friday market, we hiked to Sipi Falls, we hiked to Murchison Falls, and we went on Safari. We were exhausted at the end of our 13 days, but I feel like we would do it again. We loved it.

The kids “enjoying” the canals of Amsterdam

Ndere Dance show, William and Lino got to participate

Melody getting help hiking to Sipi Falls (like she had a choice)

At the source of the Nile River

At the Martyrs’ Shrine Ready for Safari, where we saw thousands of animals

In front of Murchison Falls

William and Ronette performing at the Sudanese church.

2010-07-17T04:49:00.016Z

On the airplane!!!
Getting to crash in Mimi's lap while she read stories

Six Flags

What a blast!!

Lino wasn't very impressed...

except with the turkey leg that he devoured

Lino was totally unamused with rollercoasters.
His comment, "why would people pay money to scare themselves...if they want to be scared they should go to where there is a war"
It was a very fun day and we left very wet and very happy.

Jade engaged in his favorite stateside activity...eating :)

Visiting Melody and family at the beach.

(This was Lino's first time to ever see the ocean)

2010-07-16T14:05:00.014Z

Picnic on Memorial Day

One of the most special things about being together this time is that my mom had finished her chemo treatments several months back, so she felt really good and well enough to do lots of fun things!!

Petting Zoo

(not quite sure Lino got the concept of the fact that the animals are not there for any other reason than to pet them)

Fun with cousins

Mountain Biking

At the lake

Tubing was one of Lino's favorite things by far

Something we always love doing in the States is going to playgrounds and parks.

Our girls had a blast at cityfest in Alabaster

With the lions at the zoo

2010-05-04T07:56:00.012Z

One thing that is hard about living and working overseas is that people come and go so often. Saying goodbye is never easy! A-G had to say goodbye to one of her "most favorite" teachers at Heritage last week. She wanted us to be sure and get her picture made with Miss Eunice before she heads back to her home country of S. Korea. We are so thankful for such a wonderful teacher and she will be greatly missed!!

The good news is that her other favorite teacher, Miss Rhona, is still around!!

Since K-J transitioned into a "big girl" bed- meaning the rails have been lowered- she has taken to sleeping with big sister. It is actually sweet how they love to snuggle together in bed at night. Of course, not so sweet when they kick and wake each other up...then it is a different battle to keep them out of mommy and daddy's bed!!

School Holidays

All the guys are home for the school holidays this month, making for a busy and crazy time. We were especially happy to get to have Angelo (Taban) home for a few days from his boarding school in Kenya.

He is doing well and we are all anxious about his big exam coming up in November!!

This is Angelo and Barakat taken last week.

Angelo is now officially taller than Shelah.

We have a place on the door frame where we measure them and he has grown 1/2 an inch since December!!

The Heritage Basketball team that Jade coaches in all his free time...ha, ha :)

Playing against another International School

Lino is number 6

Jade turns 40!!!

This year we had a blast celebrating Jade's "over the hill" birthday!! We decided to have an "80s" party at our friend's Japanese restaurant.

The couple in full 80s attire!!!

80s girl power

Fun and great food!

Eye of the Tiger

The highlight of the evening was when Jade finally got down and did "the worm" I probably shouldn't mention that his back has been hurting ever since...:)

Peter enjoying some American cake

Total Eclipse of the Heart

K-J getting into Jade's birthday cake the morning after his party. We were peacefully unaware that she had gotten out of bed, gone into the kitchen, pulled down the cake container, carried the cake into our bedroom, dumped it on the floor and devoured it with enthusiasm. All of this occured before 7:30 am on a Saturday morning. Needless-to-say, it was a shock when we discovered what and where all the noise was coming from, but we were too amused to be very angry :)

2010-04-15T18:32:00.005Z

The girls at a recent CBF team meeting in Kenya at the coast

We had 2 nice days of fun after the meeting and A-G really wanted to ride a camel. As we were riding down the beach she asked, "mommy, are we going to Egypt?" I had to smile! :)

2010-03-10T20:15:00.007Z

K-J and Saudi enjoying the day

Never to be outdone, A-G sprints across the grass

"Family" push-ups
Yes, maybe we don't have a lot to do in the evenings... (and notice who is missing)

... and sit-ups

Board Trip and Friends!
It was so awesome to have three of Refuge and Hope's board members come visit in February-- particularly because one of the members is a dear friend and former roommate from Samford days!
Here Leska and myself are posing with a very old tortoise who belongs to the King of Buganda. To read an awesome write up by Leska about the trip, be sure to visit http://www.refugeandhope.blogspot.com/

The group visited Kigali, Rwanda during their stay to spend time at the genocide memorials.

In addition to having my friend Leska here, it was great for Jade to have his very good friend and former "Journeyman" buddy Marty here (Jade was a Journeyman for two years in The Gambia, West Africa and Marty was in Rwanda). Marty was actually serving in Rwanda during the time of the genocide --yes, we even saw him on CNN being evacuated all those years ago-- so for him, it was a trip back. Trisha (standing beside Jade) was also a Journeyman in Zambia at the same time as Marty and Jade, and she is now living here in Kampala working with the Embassy. So, it was a 15-year reunion in Kigali for the three of them!! Kind of crazy.

The third member of the Board who came out was our Uncle Joe Acker! It was SO fun for the girls to have Uncle Joe visit! Here he is reading them a "night night" story before bed.

Quick Trip to the USA

Right after the board members left, Shelah flew to the States for a Missions Conference at Westwood Baptist Church-- awesome time, thank you Westwood!!

While there she also was able to speak in several other churches, visit her mom, have a Board meeting and work on some partnerships for Refuge and Hope! This check is from Shades Crest Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where we are about to start an exciting partnership! Thank you Shades Crest!!!

Center of Hope

Yes!!! We are so excited to finally have a place secured for the Center of Hope!! It is a great house in a great location (and even better is that it is where our good friends used to live- who have now relocated to Jinja- so our girls already think of it as a great place)!

The Center will officially open at the end of April if we can manage to get everything ready.

We are still in need of many things to furnish the Center and to operate the classes, so if you would like to help out in any way with this, please let us hear from you!

The Center will offer ESL classes, sewing and crafts, sports, Bible studies, cultural events, computer training, as well as youth conferences and camps during the school holidays. We are also hoping to have a library/reading room particularly for students.
The people being served will come from such countries as Sudan, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and of course Uganda. We can't wait to get started!!

2010-02-09T08:42:00.002Z

Sweet Kaelah-Joy with her lollipop
Feeling quite pleased with herself!

We were so happy to celebrate with Peter, our Refuge and Hope Field Coordinator, his graduation from Makerere University in January!

Way to go Peter!!

BA in Community Psychology and Field Coordinator extraordinaire!!

2010-01-21T11:18:00.003Z

Birthday Girl!!!

It is hard to believe our "baby" is now 2 years old!!

Yummy!!

Nice orange mouth! She definitely enjoyed her birthday more this year, especially the cake!

Hanging balloons with Josephine
A-G had a great time because it was yet another birthday party to celebrate, meaning eating lots of cake and playing with balloons!

2009-12-29T08:23:00.011Z

A-G turns four years old!!! Amazing!!

She has been talking about her 4th birthday since her last birthday and had it all planned out for months in advance.

When she woke up in the morning she ran and jumped in our bed and said "Yea!! I am four today...and then soon I get to be five and have another birthday party!!!"

Butterfly cake!

Blowing out the candles

Presents!!!

Friends!

It was a fun party and she is already planning the next one in detail.

We also enjoyed celebrating Angelo's (Taban) birthday in December.

He and the other guys who are at school in Kenya spent the Christmas holidays with us in Kampala. It was great to see him again and he is doing really well!!

We took the guys for a fun day to swim and work out in the gym.

It was quite impressive as Saudi and Lino were able to do 440 pounds on the leg press...not bad!

Saudi in the pool

SANTA!!!

Acker family with SANTA (guess who??) at a friend's house

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!!

Angelo and "Santa"

Yes, Lino decided to be Santa for our girls and some friends!

It was really fun and he was a really amazing Santa!! Anyone need to hire a Santa for next year???

K-J wasn't thrilled about sitting on Santa's lap until she knew who it was.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had a nativity story play

AG insisted on being Mary and the rest did a variety of jobs including shepherds, wise men, angels, innkeepers and even a donkey...here is a photo of the award winning cast

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a manger

Then we stayed up working on our big Christmas construction project... a doll house for the girls

Jade and Saudi built the house and several others worked on painting it. Jade was up putting on the finishing touches till nearly midnight Christmas Eve.

All ready for Christmas morning.

We modeled the doll house after one that Shelah's parents have in the States so when the girls ran in the living room the next morning, AG stopped and stared and said, "how did this get here from Alabama?"

K-J enjoying some of her gifts

What Kaelah-Joy really liked was the candy cane she found in her stocking. She enjoyed the candy cane so much she forgot about everything else and concentrated soley on consuming it until she was a sticky mess. There is still candy cane residue on most of the toys she got for Christmas...which brought out the ants in full force.

Thank you to Mimi, Paw-Paw, Nana, Papa, and all my Aunts and Uncles and cousins!!!

Once the candy cane was over and KJ realized there was a bicycle there, she was quite the fearless rider.

The GUYS

Having six Sudanese young men with us for the holidays made it a very eventful time with never a dull moment. For more on them, see our Refuge and Hope blog!!!

Here they are all dressed up and ready to go celebrate Christmas at the Sudanese church.

Lino looking quite grown up

Lino and Angelo, who has grown several inches since the last time we saw him in August

The guys opening their Christmas presents!! How fun!! Thank you to all who gave to help make this a special Christmas for them!!

They also drew names among themselves and bought each other presents, so it was fun seeing what they picked out for each other.

The girls got lots of attention and had endless people around to play games with them

One hundred percent mischief!

KJ will be celebrating her 2nd birthday next month!

Helping Josephine do the dishes

AG singing a duet in her end of school chapel service

Dancing in the school program

She has been taking a ballet class once a week which she really enjoys

Swimming!! Yes, we get to go swimming here even in the middle of December.

This was a big first for AG...head under the water and hands not touching the bottom! Can't help but wonder if this next year will be a year full of "firsts" for all of us...whatever is in store we are thankful for God's grace and guidance and promise to provide and sustain.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

2009-12-09T08:01:00.005Z

Cute Girls !!!

They get along nicely...most of the time!

Ballerina

Still a messy eater, but at least she enjoys herself while making the mess

AG and Lino

(AG is making her "hyena" imitation)

Jen did an afternoon photo shoot before she left, and it was like pulling teeth to get everyone to cooperate.

After probably over 100 pictures, this one turned out somewhat okay (besides the crooked smile on the far right :/ )

Jen and Harriet

AG's school Christmas program was this past Friday and

I have to say this was the most diverse Christmas program I have ever seen. There was everything from Hawaiian hula dancers to Stomp! performers-- and of course all kinds of nationalities. AG is sitting here with some of her classmates and one of her teachers.

Refuge and Hope Christmas Celebration

To see more photos and to read more about this, please click here and visit our

Refuge and Hope Blog

Refuge and Hope hosted a Refugee/International Christmas Celebration on December 5th for several different nationalities living in the Kampala area. The purpose was to celebrate unity in Christ...and also to have a good time!! It was a beautiful day of fellowship and fun.

Sudanese dancing and jumping.

This guy jumped without stopping for 20 minutes straight!! He would have continued if we hadn't put a time limit on the presentations :)

Food from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, USA and more!

YUM!

In the afternoon we played unity and team building games

It was really something to see people participating in the activities wearing their best clothes.

Clothes didn't seem to stop anyone from jumping right in and joining the fun.

The Association for Evangelicals in Africa

donated Christmas shoeboxes to be given out to all the children who were there.

These boxes were filled with toys by children in Holland and it was so wonderful to have the AEA donate them for this event.

Unloading the boxes

AG helping hand out shoe boxes

Watching the kids open the gifts was so fun. They were so excited!!

One little boy could not stop smiling as he played with a toy car that was inside his box and the girls loved the stickers and stuck them all over their faces and clothes.

*If you have never stuffed a shoe box for a child at Christmas time, we encourage you to do so!

Click here for more information

2009-11-12T10:34:00.013Z

AG all dressed up for the "Rain" Festival at Heritage International School. Since there is no Fall here, and it is the Rainy Season, the school has a "Rain Festival." The theme for costumes was "At the Movies." Thanks to our friends Tim and Trish, who let us rummage through their dress-up clothes, our girls both had outfits to wear!! AG was very pleased and proud of herself to be Jasmine -- even though she hasn't even seen the movie yet!! How kids learn who all these characters are is still a big mystery to us!

She was so happy with the outfit that she wanted to sleep in it...it took a great deal of convincing to get her to change!

KJ was much less impressed with her outfit as a ladybug. The struggle was not in getting her to take off the outfit, but to keep it on!!

Again, thanks to a good friend (Misty), we finally managed to get a picture of her in the outfit!!

One thing we have enjoyed about living in Kampala is our huge yard, which allows for an experimental garden! We have had fun trying out growing different things and one of the most successful endeavors has been with our zucchini. HUGE zucchini. We have probably eaten zucchini at least once every single day for a month now!

Hussein, who works for us, showing off the garden

Look closely and you can see a very cool looking praying (or is it preying??) mantis on this flower

up close

KJ in her favorite attire (as little clothing as possible), in her favorite place (outside--and either wet or dirty) having fun

The Team

We were happy to have Dr. Scott and Susan Christie and Dr. Doug and Sherri Dickens join us for a week in Uganda to teach about issues related to people who have been traumatized by war and conflict. Issues such as forgiveness, grief, depression, PTSD, etc. This is the group at the mall in Kampala with Peter, Jennifer and Harriet

Trip to Rwanda

We traveled with the team out west to Rwanda, where they led a conference with leaders working among people affected by war and conflict. On the way to Rwanda, we crossed the equator.

Jennifer (Southern Hemisphere), Shelah (trying to be in both) and Harriet (Northern Hemisphere)

Rather than pay the man $5.00 to demonstrate the direction that water swirls in at the equator, Harriet decided to give us an explanation...

Did you know that it goes clockwise or counter clockwise depending on which side of the equator you are on??

At the Uganda/Rwanda border and also Gorilla territory

Dr. Doug Dickens teaching a group of leaders at the conference

Dr. Scott Christie

Beautiful mountains and volcanoes surround this area

Beautiful sunsets too

Conference participants singing

Rain forest

Trip to Goma, DRC (Congo)

*we had the permission of the students, women, and children shown below to take their photos

In 2002 there was a volcano which erupted and destroyed a large portion of Goma. As a result nearly everything there is covered in black volcanic rock. The roads, the houses, everything is built out out of, or on top of, volcanic rock. Also, there has been a terrible fighting in Congo over the years, resulting in millions of deaths, thousands of children forced into conflict and high incidents of rape and violence.

Millions of innocent people have been traumatized and displaced from their homes as a result.

Shelah in Goma, DRC with some of the students we are sponsoring, in partnership with Pastor Stephen Bamoleke and Shalom Transformation Ministries. Most of the kids are former child soldiers, or have been displaced due to the terrible war.

It was so special to meet them face-to-face. We can't wait to go back and get to know them better!

The Shalom Church, who is taking the responsibility of caring for many of these traumatized kids

These five guys are now OUT of the army and back IN school!

Unfortunately, due to the war and violence in Eastern Congo, there has been terrible and widespread occurrences of rape.

This group of women at Shalom are involved in providing a support group and assistance to victims of rape. There is a stigma associated with rape, so the women go out and try to find women who need help and then get them to treatment centers and reach out to them in friendship and love

Another place we visited offers rehabilitation and sewing classes for victims of rape and violence so that the women can have a livelihood

Around Goma

Kids from Shalom church

local houses

a road in Goma town

market

Rollar blades!!

He only had one but he could get around on it very quickly!

Local bicycle used for transporting all kinds of things

* For more see our Refuge and Hope blog at www.refugeandhope.blogspot.com

Heritage Guys Night Out

We hosted some Heritage Secondary boys at our house on October 30th for a guys night. They had a good time playing twister and watching movies and NOT sleeping. Besides not having enough to feed them, and feeling rather old and out of it (particularly in the area of technology), we enjoyed it!

Lino (he does have a slight advantage with his long arms and legs)

After a long long long long night....the group poses!

2009-10-02T10:26:00.010Z

A farewell to one of our "sons"

We first met Jacob in 2001 when we were working in Sudan at the transitional camp for demobilized child soldiers. Jacob stood out because of his friendly personality, leadership skills, and English skills. He often was our interpreter in the camp. He was so bright and showed great potential. He became a soldier at a very young age and had been in combat several times. He was once shot and left for dead on the battlefield but managed to survive and make it out.

In 2003 we were able to get Jacob out of Sudan and into Kenya so he could go to school. So for the past 6 years we have been sponsoring Jacob as he has studied in Kenya.

This past August Jacob let us know that he was ready to return to his home in Sudan to try to find his family and begin his life as an adult. We were sad to let him go and will greatly miss him, but we also have always known that this time would come and are happy that he is able to go home. He called us after arriving back in his village to let us know that he managed to find his parents! We are still praying for him- that God will direct his path as he now makes his way in Sudan!

Jacob the night he left for Sudan

September Trip to the USA
We traveled to the USA the beginning of September and attended the 50th wedding anniversary of Jade's mom and dad. It was a special celebration as they renewed their marriage vows (I guess after 50 years they truly understand the meaning of those vows!!) and celebrated their anniversary with family members. (It was also a special weekend because I (Shelah) got to see my brother Jason's daughters Ashley and Kerri whom I had not seen in a very long time!)

A-G and K-J got to be the flower girls

The Acker "Tribe"

Our girls enjoyed getting to do things they can't do in Kampala, like riding the merry-go-round at the mall.

They also had fun with the bubble machine

Refuge and Hope Fundraiser

Another purpose in our trip back to the USA was the annual Refuge and Hope fundraiser.
It ended up being a really fun afternoon and we are so pleased and thankful for the money raised that will help our work among people affected by war and conflict in this part of Africa! Thanks to all who came out and helped make it a success!!!

Art work which was donated by various artists for the silent auction

We had a great time reconnecting with friends, especially the student.go team who were in Uganda this past June working with us

Anna, Carson and Abby! :)

Christina!!! She came all the way from Chicago!!! Thank you!!

The BEACH

Thanks to some very dear people (whom we can never repay!!), we were able to have 2 days off in a beautiful condo in Florida. It was especially a blessing because some of our best friends (Chad and Leslie and their daughter) were able to join us at the beach!

AG in the sand

KJ liked the water

and the sand!

Making sand castles

A-G learning how to fly a kite

Trying to hold it down

Jade's sister and family also live in Florida so it was good to get to see them one last time before departing back to Africa

A-G and cousins Ronette and William

Reflections...

This trip back was different for us in many ways. One being that we now have two small children and that made a huge difference in our energy level when it came to speaking, attending meetings, and trying to get work done. Secondly, I think we are just getting older, and our families are getting older, and it makes it harder and harder to say goodbye each time we leave. At the same time, we really missed Uganda and our "family" and work here. It is a very "divided" sort of feeling. We were excited to get back home and into our work, but felt a stronger sense of sadness at leaving our family than ever before. Much of this is due to my mother's illness. It was hard seeing her sick and having to undergo chemo treatments and leave knowing she has 6 more months of chemo to endure.

Also, while we were stateside there were riots and some unrest in Kampala, which was hard because Lino was here, alone at home, while we were there, separated. Thankfully things were calm by the time we returned and Lino was fine (in fact he really did great!) We still haven't been able to get legal guardianship of him so it made us realize that he really would be "stuck" if something ever went wrong here and we needed to leave. We are battling frustration over the difficult process of trying to get legal rights over someone we have cared for since 2003! We hope this will be the month for that to finally take place! Please pray for this!!

So, here we are back in Kampala and trying to sort out all these different emotions. We do feel like this is home and 100% that this is where we are supposed to be and we are excited about what the future holds. Every single day is an adventure and we certainly are never bored, but we do miss our family and friends (okay, and Papa Johns Pizza too)!! We take comfort in knowing that this world is not really our home, that we are just living on borrowed time, and that one day we will never have to say goodbye again...so for now we will do our best with what we have been given and try to live each day to the fullest for the Kingdom of God.

Also, please visit our newly updated website: http://www.refugeandhope.org/ and the Refuge and Hope blog at http://www.refugeandhope.blogspot.com/

2009-08-21T06:28:00.013Z

Sunrise over Lake Victoria.

Jade's most recent experiment was to build this swing for our yard! It turned out great. He is training some of our guys in making more of them in hopes they can sell them. Anyone need a swing??

K-J showing off her teeth

A-G on her climbing wall (another of Jade's building projects!)

K-J, who is actually a big climber, trying her best

Made it!!! With some help of course :)

Active girls

Taking a break

From climbing walls to ballet

K-J enjoying her breakfast...prior to fixing her hair

Lino 6 ft. 2 and still growing shooting baskets with Saudi

The guys enjoying a game of "knock out"

Angelo (Taban) jumping high in the air!! He is on his school break from Kenya right now and spent a few days with us on his way back to Sudan for a few weeks. It has been 6 years since he left Sudan, so we are hoping this will be a good visit for him.

Barakat

At a birthday party for one of our friends

During a recent visit to see the other guys in Eldoret, Kenya.

This is at the Kip Keino Secondary School.

Jade with Kip Keino, former Olympic gold medalist. He provided a home for our 9 guys for several years when they first came from Sudan. Now only one of them, Al Jehli, is still living there while he attends school.

Lino's birthday party

Opening presents

AG and her good friend, Blessing

Last month we made a visit to "Chimpanzee Island," a chimp sanctuary in Lake Victoria, with some friends.

Watching the chimps eat

It was rather amusing that we were required to wear surgical masks on the island to protect the chimps from swine flu!! Not easy to convince an 18 month old to wear a mask.

No swine flu for these chimps

Waiting for the boat to leave the island

On the boat

Wind blown mommy, desperately trying to keep K-J from falling or jumping out of the boat. Thank goodness for lollipops.

To view the Refuge and Hope blog click here http://refugeandhope.blogspot.com

2009-07-08T09:28:00.013Z

Something that never fails to warm our hearts are the beautiful, precious children in each place that we visit in Uganda! This sweet baby is from the village of Lokalis, across the river from Greek, in Eastern Uganda. The student.go team who were here working with us in June gave a training about malaria and distributed 141 treated mosquito nets to this resettlement community.

The treated mosquito nets come packaged in blue bags, which obviously make pretty comfortable cushions to sit on!!

(*some of these photos were taken by the team members and we have nabbed them to use on our blog!!)

Nets were also distibuted in suburbs around Kampala--in children's homes, as well as in slum areas.

This is the community of Lokalis gathered for the training and distribution

Demonstrating how the nets are supposed to be used

The tribes in this area are traditionally pastoralists (the importance of cattle cannot be underestimated). Cows are extremely treasured and loved. This reality hit home when a leader stood up and asked if there would also be mosquito nets given to their cows!

Sweet kids from Kaberamaido!

Kaberamaido is where we have some projects going on and was the next destination for the team to visit.

Beautiful feet!!

These children from the orphanage in Kaberamaido played traditional instruments and sang for the visitors. Nets were also distributed for the children in the home.

We were so excited to facilitate a youth conference on "Character" and "Developing a Vision for Your Life" for 100 young people in Kaberamaido over a weekend in June.

Playing volleyball with the youth

The Participants

Shelah with a group of High School girls at the conference

The girls said the biggest challenge they face is being pressured into marriage at a young age, which usually means dropping out of school and giving up the chance of an education. Several girls shared how they want to break this cycle and encourage their peers to finish their educations

The Wolves Football (Soccer) team in Kampala, wearing their new jerseys that Carson and the team brought out! Thank you Carson!! They loved them!

At the youth conference

(Anna, Abby, Shelah, Lino, Debbie and Carson)

Kids Games!!

Sports Friends International (a group we partner with), along with many other organizations, hosted an amazing sports day for over 900 orphans/street kids at Heritage International School. The student.go team got to help lead the games and coach the kids. It was an amazing day. For many of these kids it was the first time they had ever left their slum areas. Some from children's homes had never been out of their neighborhoods so it was an exciting experience.

ACKER FAMILY LIFE!!!!!!!

In May we had three of our Sudanese guys home with us during their school breaks from boarding school. It was a crazy... but good time!

In the above picture is Peter (who works with us in the Refuge and Hope office), Saudi, Lino and Abraham with the girls. This picture was taken the day Abraham went back to school-- that is why he has on a school uniform and tie.

Saudi hanging out and sharing breakfast with K-J!! The girls never lack for attention with all their "brothers" around

K-J is growing up!! She is 17 months old already!!

Yes, I am the one who emptied out all those drawers full of plastic containers. I love to empty drawers and get into trash cans and closets!!

I also like to say "up!" Probably because I am a serious climber. I think my climbing causes great panic to my parents, especially when I stand up, wave my arms and march on top of whatever I have just climbed...

Playing with neighborhood kids who come over in the afternoons

I think the necklaces suit me well!

What can I get into while my big sister is reading her book???

A-G actually sitting still...posing and smiling for a picture!! Very rare indeed!

I love to play football with anyone who will play and my daddy says I am quite good!

A-G calls the neighborhood kids her "friends from the bushes," because she met them by talking to them through the bushes! Never the shy one, she came and asked if she could invite over her new friends from the bush to play and before we knew it we had a yard full of kids!

Lino!!

Lino is doing very well!! He is on school break right now. He ended up making As and Bs on his end of school report card and received the Christian Character Award for the term. He traveled with the student.go team to help out and really enjoyed it.

This is him at Sipy Falls in Kapchorwa, Uganda.

Our electricity goes out regularly...so this is Lino reading by flashlight in the dark

Shelah just celebrated her birthday on July 6th.

A-G was more excited about it than anyone. She woke up talking about it, helped decorate the cake, had all of us wear leftover "1st Birthday" party hats from K-J's birthday, led the song, helped blow out the candles... and ate lots of cake!

A-G shoveling cake into her mouth at lightening speed... and Jennifer, who is eating her cake with somewhat greater restraint and dignity

This past month Jade helped out at a basketball camp at Heritage International School. Here he is demonstrating defense!!

Acker family with the student.go team, whom we felt like were extended members of our family by the time they left. Carson, Abby, Jade holding A-G, Shelah (with mouth WIDE open) holding K-J, Lino and Anna

It has been a hard month in many ways...most of all because Shelah's mom, Dorothy, was just diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery a week ago. This is still something we are struggling to understand and come to terms with. She has not seen an oncologist yet, so we will have much more information after that. Please pray for her and for all of us.

Also, we are in the process of adopting Lino!! Yea!! We are excited about this since it has been a dream for a long time. However, it is NOT a straight forward or simple process and we have been discouraged by many things in the past few weeks. Our first court appearance didn't go so well... because he is from Sudan and is a teenager (a very tall, large teenager) and it is harder to adopt teenagers. We have another court date in August and are praying and hoping for a favorable ruling at that time! Please join us in this!! It may be necessary to travel to Sudan and acquire more documents before the August court date. This adds more time and expense, but we will do what it takes on our side and leave the rest up to God!!

Overall, we love our life here in Uganda! We are blessed beyond blessed with our family, our friends and our colleagues. We are thankful! Thank you for your friendship!! We love you!!

The Acker family!!

2009-04-24T12:45:00.012Z

Acker family

Jade's birthday party! We won't say how old he is!

Japanese food!!!! YUM!

The birthday boy (yes, Jade is the one in the hat)

Of course we can never do anything here without playing volleyball

Blowing out the candles- this requires a lot of help!

A-G on the playground

A-G's school program. Her class is very multi-ethnic, and her best friend is a girl from Ethiopia.

Jumping!

Jumping again!

We are so excited that A-G is able to jump without having to worry about her leg. It has been over a year since her surgery and she is definitely back to 100%

Grey balloons for daddy's birthday... next year will be black!

K-J's Easter dress

K-J and daddy looking at the goldfish

15 months old

K-J in destruction mode. She empties out Shelah's box of memory cards each day and scatters them all over the floor.

Who me?

Gentle with the cat!

Lino, AG and KJ

Jerry and Dorothy- Shelah's parents were out for a visit this month. It was a great time!

Nana's Birthday cake!

AG and Papa relaxing

At the King's tombs in Kampala

Inside the tomb. The kings are said not to die, but to "disappear into the forest" and the secret forest is behind this hut/tomb and it is forbidden for visitors to enter

Who is older? This is a 300+ year old tortoise that was brought here by one of the kings.

We have planted a small garden in our yard and are just now starting to enjoy eating from it!

Shelling peas from the garden!

Not sure if AG was helping or not

We are very happy to have found a Sudanese church here in Kampala. This church feels like home for us and we spent Easter Sunday with them.

Dorothy speaking at the Sudanese church

Easter Egg Hunt

We could have looked for the eggs again... but we ate them

I'm good

Too good.

Barakat helped find eggs too. In fact it was quite a competition. More competitive than we could have ever planned for!

KJ and Barakat

Kids of Kaberamaido

Church Leadership Conference

Stewardship Workshop

Bibles in the Kumam language

The Kitchen where the meals were prepared each day for the conference

A traditional fridge- water in a clay pot, surrounded with charcoal. It keeps the water very cold!

Paster holding his Kumam Bible

Widows receiving soccer ball. Irene is the lady on the left and is a widow raising 9 children, and the leader of the widows group. She is an amazing woman and was thrilled to get the soccer ball so the ladies can play when they meet together.

2009-02-16T13:54:00.014Z

A-G in her "blue whale" swimming pool

We love the great swimming weather here in Kampala

KJ and AG

AG and KJ by Lake Victoria

AG with the guys swimming in the lake

Mom and Dad (Acker) with Shelah at the source of the Nile

The Nile River, which begins in Uganda and flows up through Sudan to Egypt

Mom and Dad at the Equator

Taking the Sudanese guys to an all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ was quite the experience!

They certainly got their money's worth!

Peter, our enthusiastic and hard-working field coordinator.

We truly don't know what we would do without Peter!!

Our favorite place to shop is the Super Supermarket. A-G has such a reputation there that she gets free candy every time we enter the store.

Or maybe the nearby Praise Supermarket

Boda-Bodas, or motorcycle taxis, are one of the main forms of transportation here.

If you come see us here, you will likely be subjected to playing volleyball every evening (or at least babysitting so we can play)!

Lino has worked hard to start this tradition of ending each day with a good game of volleyball.

We especially enjoyed playing last month when the other guys were on break from boarding school.

The guy's quarters behind our house where they stay when home from school

K-J, who turned one in January

At her birthday party

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Presents

Not too impressed with cake...she licked off all the icing and then threw the cupcake down.
____________________________________________________________________

Below are pictures of the Greek resettlement Village in Eastern Uganda.

We recently visited Greek to meet with the local pastor there and to strengthen our relationship with the community. This is an area that has been through much hardship, where the people have been repeatedly displaced due to conflict. The people have been living in IDP camps for years, but are now returning to rebuild and start life over again. They have been provided with security now, so they are ready to resettle and build up their community once more.

Greek Resettlement Village in Eastern Uganda

Children in Greek

Houses under construction

Cute kids who need a school

Parents

Current school classroom

Church under construction

Pastor and family

Pastor receiving soccer ball donated by the VBS kids at Westwood Baptist Church

A church leader (the lady) with some children

It is hard work to live in a place like Greek.

This woman had to walk a long distance to collect this grass for thatching the roof of her house.

House after house being constructed as people are trying to resettle and begin life again.

2008-12-30T06:18:00.008Z

Merry Christmas!!

KJ is really excited about this photo!

Mommy and KJ

Basketball!!!

Christmas Lunch with friends

School program

AG got a CAT for her 3rd birthday

AG birthday party

Hello?

Does the water spin clockwise or counterclockwise here?

Beautiful Uganda

After church in Kisoro--Western Uganda near the Congo border

You can almost see the rainbow in this photo- it was very bright in the sky.

The agriculture in this area is amazing.

This volcano separates Uganda, Congo and Rwanda

Gorillas live in the mist up on this volcano

At a church in Kisoro

Refugee assembly and reception camp. Thousands of Congolese have fled to Uganda due to the recent fighting. CBF has provided $5,000 to use for emergency food and shelter. Refuge and Hope is also looking at ways to assist with the situation among the displaced in Congo. Thousands of children (unaccompanied minors) have been separated from their families and the needs are overwhelming within Congo itself.

If you buy fish(Talapia) from the roadside market,

how do you keep it from smelling up the car? Just strap it to the front!

Locally made baskets going to the market.

Kaberamaido Town

This is the town where some new work is opening up for a community/training/resource center

See you next time!

Flat tire!

Discussing with the village elders about the project in Kaberamaido

Surveying the land

Lake Kyoga

Fish anyone?

The Greek river near the border of Kenya. Fishing and swimming.

The village of Greek recently received a borehole. 1 for about 3,000 people.

Children singing at the Greek church

The Greek church. We had well over 50 inside.

Sipi Falls

Circumcision procession. Thousands of boys are circumcised during the month of December. Unfortunately many girls undergo FGM also. The Ugandan government is supposed to pass a law in April 2009 to ban the practice of FGM, but it is still very prevalent in this area.

Happy KJ!

Future soccer star!

2008-11-08T07:39:00.017Z

Lino

Taban (Angelo) at the pool

Soudi at the zoo, petting rhinos!

open up and feed me! these guys eat! Those are crocodiles behind with their mouths open.

KJ pushing her chair

I like to swim!

AG loves her giraffe

Taban, Lino and girls

FUN!!!

Swinging

KJ clapping

Hide-n-seek in mommy's closet

Lino teaching AG how to eat sugar cane!

Great form!! Future Basketball star!

I like pumpkin a lot!!! I even eat it sometimes too!

KJ likes to make this face

No comment necessary!

Oh! You wanted a cute photo!

Trying to get a good picture of both girls together is harder than running a marathon!

Try number one: too much smile AG!

AG choking KJ

is this better?

KJ screaming

Please stop and just look at the camera!

Can you hear our frustration by now???

Oh well, we give up. Does it get better when they are older???

Jade teaching basketball

Lino at the school festival's "dunking booth"

WE love chocolate!

Having to get out of the pool

Shelah with some old RVA friends who also live and work here in East Africa

A girl in Northern Uganda (next few photos taken by a friend of ours who works for the International Bible Society and was doing a pastor training course up north)

Soccer ball made from plastic and string

Sunrise on our first morning back after our trip to the USA in September. The girls woke up EARLY!!!!!!

Back in the US the girls had a great time seeing family again!

KJ began crawling everywhere!

And standing...especially with the help of her cousins

KJ and Pawpaw

Let's ride!

AG with her cuz!

KJ with dad

At the mall with Nana and Papa!

I've got Nana in the palm of my hand!!

KJ loved being with family!

2008-08-19T13:17:00.004Z

First day of school at Heritage International School for Lino, Taban and A-G

Lino and Taban learning how to make cookies
We are still amazed at how much these guys can consume!!

K-J on her 7 month birthday!

We are so thankful that A-G is such a good big sister

2008-08-09T20:31:00.007Z

First taste of "real" food. Delicious Ugandan Avocado!

Yummy
6 1/2 months
One tooth and one on the way

Reading with big sister
Learning to crawl
push-ups

I'm finally up

Back down!

Up again!
on the move
Finally got what I was after!
Trying to pull up

reaching for the duck
this is hard!!
Yea!!! I did it!!
Soudi and Taban enjoying Lake Victoria! They came to join us here in Kampala the first of August and will now be going to school here. Our family has increased!! The other 6 are still in Kenya and will finish out the school year there before deciding what to do. We have a place fixed up for them to live in the back of our house, so they finally have a "home" to come to when they are on school holidays.
Lino, Taban and Soudi. Lino is as tall as Jade now and Taban is taller than Shelah. Lino will be in the 9th grade at Heritage International School and Taban will be in 8th grade. Soudi will attend a British/Ugandan boarding school where he will be in Senior 3 (like 10th grade).

Enjoying a picnic with the boys
AG with a new friend from Sudan she "found" at the picnic.

AG is really enjoying her new "brothers" They are teaching her how to play football (soccer)Tackling Taban

KJ is also enjoying all the attention
A few weeks ago we had a team of students out with us from the USA. They were a team specifically here to see what Christian organizations are doing to address the UN Millennium Development goals (there are 8 UN MDGs) addressing poverty issues. On their day off we decided to offer them a whitewater rafting trip down the Nile River...
Yes, that is their raft flipping over...
In the rocks...on the worst part of the river to flip...

looking for people in the water
coming to the rescue
Jade being "rescued"
Though very battered and bruised, we are very thankful that nobody was seriously injured. Jade is still recovering from his arm, rib and back injuries. Apart from that, and some stitches and sore muscles, everyone was okay.
Jade before being taken straight from there to a clinic in Kampala for x-rays. At least now he has a story to tell!

2008-07-06T10:07:00.003Z

Five months old!!!

2 1/2 years old

Our family June 2008

2008-06-28T12:06:00.020Z

Two girls living in an internally displaced persons camp in northern Uganda

(They are sitting on top of a large ant hill)

There are so many children everywhere and they always love to have their picture taken

Gulu town in northern Uganda

How much can be loaded onto one truck??

Bicycles lined up outside of a church...no cars in the parking lot

Men and women in the camp singing and dancing

A local instrument

Food drying in the sun

Little girl pumping water to carry back to her home

This old man really wanted us to take a picture of him holding his radio

Grinding flour

So much time is consumed in just surviving and getting food and water.

The camp is one hut after another. About 6 people live in each hut.

Drying clothes

School

Writing

For school, the lesson is written on the board and then all the students copy the lesson in their book. There are no text books, desks, or chairs in this school so the students just sit on the floor.

A latrine-- there is only one for every 30-40 people

Gifts from children in Holland being distributed to the children in the resettlement schools and camps

This school has around 980 students

Teaching in a setting like this with no curriculum is difficult to say the least!

These young men were so exicted to get the sunglasses in their gift box they were dancing around and laughing

Bubbles

Girls getting their gifts

Sharing

A typical scene all throughout Sub-Saharan Africa is women roasting maize on charcoal stoves

Drying cassava

Hopeful

2008-06-18T17:32:00.008Z

Come and see us!
Please!

I will show off for you!!
I'll introduce you to all my friends
Daddy loves to take naps
The front yard of the house where we will be moving.
AG and KJ are getting a swing put in this tree

Lake Victoria from our house
AG's favorite attire!

Sitting up on my own!!
My favorite toy
Got it!

Lots of bananas, or motoke, one of the staple foods here. There are many different varieties and thankfully our family really likes bananas!

We took a recent trip outside of Kampala
It was a long drive
We visited a school run by Cornerstone Development, the organization we are working together with here. The school is training future leaders.
The school's chapel
AG loved seeing the cows

What is on my head?? Actually these hats are made from used plastic bags which are woven together to make all sorts of things. Making bead necklaces and bracelets out of paper and hats and rugs from plastic bags are some of the projects that can help widows, as well as helping the environment by reducing waste!
AG and some of her new friends (also Americans living in Uganda) having tea time
I can fly!!!!

AG playing with a lizard. She loves insects and reptiles much to her mother's dismay. She will spend hours outside talking to lizards and bugs. She likes snails and caterpillars in particular.

One of KJ's favorite activities is sucking on her toes
Mimi and Nana travelled to Uganda with us to be here during our first two weeks! What a help!!
With Nana

I love my cube!!!
I love my big sis!!
AG loves playing with playdough!
KJ and AG's dedication service in the USA the Sunday before moving to Uganda

AG with Uncle Jason
I love my PawPaw!
I love my Papa
AG loves fishin' like her dad!

2008-03-22T19:03:00.011Z

looking at my big sister

I love my bouncy chair!

Sisters

KJ being dedicated at Shades Crest

2008-01-26T03:11:00.000Z

Almost there!

This was a few hours before going to the hospital...we had a feeling this was the night so we decided to take one last pregnancy photo.

Little Angel
8 pounds 1 oz
21 inches

What happened? How did I get here?

I want to hold her!
A-G had just come back from having an MRI but was still so excited to see her little sister.

Kissing baby sister!

Daddy loves his little one!

Hi!!!

Hello Mimi!

Love baby sister again

Both sets of grandparents