My trip to Uganda (Part 1) and an update

So it’s definitely time for an update! If you saw my last post (linked to my other blog) you saw the list of things we had going the last couple of months. To sum it up, Jake and I got engaged after dating for 2 years in March, and knew we wanted to get married before he started his new coaching/teaching job this fall. So before we knew it, that meant a July wedding with an early August honeymoon and only 4 months to plan the event which was held in Colorado! To throw in another big milestone, I went to Uganda in June for 9 days.. but I’ll get to that in a bit J We also moved to Dallas, TX and Jake got a new job while I left mine in Oklahoma City right before the wedding in CO. SO….. it’s been a crazy few months if you can’t tell. But we are loving married life, survived the big move, rented a new place, had a WONDERFUL honeymoon in Maui and Jake loves his job- all amazing blessings we try to make sure and count every day in the midst of the madness.

I’ve been enjoying the two months off of work, although it has only felt like a week or two now that I’ve caught my breath. I’ve loved putting the house together, cooking meals for Jake, taking care of our dog Boss, running errands, switching my name on EVERYTHING, going to the gym regularly, making a new budget for us, babysitting a little and just being a wife. What an adventure! And who says this isn’t work? J People ask me all the time what I’m doing now, and I honestly could make a list a mile long… I love it!

So that is why the blog(s) have been so far behind. But now I want to catch up and the first thing I want to write about is Uganda.

While the trip was in the midst of my crazy 4 month engagement, I really was able to detach and really enjoy the 9 days I had there. I went with my Grandma and cousin and really cherished the time I got to spend with them. Because of work, I was actually only in Uganda for 5 days, with 4 days of travel time… unreal. I don’t think I’ll ever go for such a short time again just because it’s so hard to travel that much for such a little visit. But man were those 5 days amazing!

This picture is of my cousin Danika and I with another girl named Becca that came on the trip with us. The "welcome to Uganda" sign was held by our driver at the airport to welcome us when we got off the plane.

This was our room at the hotel the first night. We got in so late at night that we weren't able to travel to the village until the next day. I wanted to take a pic of the mosquito nets, since so many of my friends have never seen or slept under these :)

Lake Victoria

We got to see a lot of Uganda because we traveled around a lot. These pictures I took from our jeep, so the clarity isn’t great but it shows life as they know it there…. I kept trying to get pictures of the babies because they are the key to my heart, but man, that jeep was going fast!

This is a large slum in Kampala (the capital city). I tried to get a couple pictures but again, we were zooming through the city!

The Rafiki Village is about an hour or two from Kampala. What a great site it was as we drove up to the gate! It looked very similar to the village in Ghana I've visited and was just as beautiful! We were all so excited to see where we would be serving for the week

Our wonderful cottage

Right outside our cottage grew this Jack Fruit. It's HUGE! We tried eating some and it was pretty good too!

These were Safari Ants/Army Ants which are pretty famous for traveling in large groups and destroying whatever is in their path. This was just a little stream/line of them by our cottage. Man do they bite! I got bit by one and I couldn't get it to let go of my leg! These ants are even known to kill small pets and animals.

Well I have TONS more pics so stay tuned for Part 2....