Family and Fun

My parents got to come and visit for Christmas! It was so wonderful! We had so much fun and shared a lot of great adventures. We jumped right into the adventures as soon as possible. On the way back to Mbale from the airport, we stopped in Mabira Rainforest. Let me just say, that hiking around in a rainforest at a time when the rainy season still hadn't really ended was an adventure in itself! We were slipping all over the place. We managed to make it out unharmed and having laughed a whole lot at each other! I was the source of quite a bit of the laughter because I had not brought shoes with me and was hiking in flip-flops! Needless to say, I lost them in the mud several times and by the end of the hike my feet had been exfoliated quite well.

Before we started our hike, we were given a map and shown the best way for us to go for the amount of time we wanted to spend. The guy that was explaining the map kept telling us that there would be a big tree to use as a landmark. We were a little skeptical about knowing which tree he meant, but he assured us that we would know it when we saw it. As we were hiking we came across several big tress, but none that we felt really stood out. Then we saw it. He had been right, there was no way we could have missed it. It was massive!


Another adventure took us up to Sisiyi Falls where we hiked around the waterfall and climbed up on some huge boulders. I have been there before, but I am still amazed at how beautiful it is!


We also had lots of holiday fun! My parents brought a Santa puzzle for us to work on and a gingerbread house that provided all sorts of fun and laughter. We baked cookies and had Christmas movies playing often. We even played games by candlelight when the power was off.


On Christmas Eve, we had a fantastic meal that was as close to our traditional family Christmas meal as we could get thanks to the goodies that my parents brought. It was so much fun to share that meal together as a family. My parents pretty much adopted the other girls in our house as their daughters, so we were just one big happy Ugandan family.

(Even before dinner, we had changed into our comfy pjs in preparation for some good eatin' and lots of fun!)

It's my family's tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve, but most of the other girls usually wait until Christmas morning, so we decided to do both. We all opened some presents Christmas Eve and saved some for the morning.

(Chocolate covered Oreos! YUM! Thanks for finding them Kristen!)

(I got a Luke's mug! Any Gilmore Girls fans out there will understand.)

On Christmas morning, our team led a Christmas service at Mbale Church of Christ, and then met at the Shero's house that afternoon for a Christmas cookout! We had so much fun, but it was a little strange having a cookout that resembled common Fourth of July celebrations more than Christmas.

Here are some of our Ugandan family photos that we took Christmas Day with our little "Charley Brown" Christmas tree.


What a blessing it was to have family and friends to share with this holiday season!