Monday, June 29, 2009

Cute kids the world over

A Ugandan family was introduced from the pulpit in church last Sunday. The husband has been attending seminary in Portland, supported in part by NW Hills. They have a daughter who must be about four. When asked, she whispered her name into the microphone, then hid behind her mother's skirt. Once she forgot people were looking at her she began to jump and dance around. She was just as sweet and unselfconscious as could be. I thought to myself, if there are children this cute in Uganda, maybe I can make it there.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A small shock

We discovered yesterday that Scott's school, Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, goes through mid-July, not mid-June as we had assumed. That throws a bit of a monkey wrench into our plans. Do Paul and I stay another month in Kampala, or should we come home as planned and Scott can travel home on his own when school is out? There are lots of factors that come in to play, and some unknowns as well. We're booking our tickets one-way, so we have flexibility in figuring out our return date.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

You can skip this entry

This is just Karen wondering aloud about what form this blog will take, so there's no actual information here. The blog could almost function as an online diary for me. I probably won't write much anywhere else about our day-to-day lives and my response to all we encounter; this could be my way to remember what happens. On the other hand, as any English teacher from middle school on would tell you, it's important to consider your audience when you write. If my audience is not primarily myself, who will it be? My family and closest friends? People who dip in occasionally to catch the latest? Religious people or non-religious? Often when I write I find I subconsciously have one person in mind as my audience, though I have little idea why I've chosen that person, and it's a different person at different times.

Or maybe as often as happens with blogs, we'll end up not writing much at all. We'll be busy living, and there's no harm in that.

What I'm really wondering, of course, is not just about the blog, but what our lives will be like in Kampala. It's a big unknown, and I hardly know how to begin thinking about it.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Scott accepted at RVA; plans progressing

We were pleased to learn that Scott was accepted at Rift Valley Academy. It's a relatively large school with a rich history and many opportunities. It was founded to serve missionary kids and still does for the most part. (I think; we'll learn more at the orientation when we drop Scott off.) The odd thing is that it will put us in two countries. RVA is located in Kenya, Uganda's neighbor to the east.

Meanwhile, the details are keeping us busy, things like insurance (leaving behind my work policy for a year and picking up an international package, changing car insurance), cell phone changes, plane tickets, and, joy, shots. Our tentative plan is to leave from PDX on August 11th, spend a few days with my cousin and her husband (Julie and Steve) in London, leave London on the 16th and arrive in Uganda on August 17th. We'll all three spend about a week in orientation with EMI and then fly with Scott to Nairobi to deliver him to RVA. Then it's home (?!?) to Kampala, Uganda, and on to water things.

Paul