the last few days of our last summer break

Currently Freeland is having a root canal done. OUCH! (both physically and financially speaking)

Then we are off to eat lots of soup and drink lots of liquids the rest of the afternoon.

Here's the deal. As you all know Freeland is on his very last summer break. And lets be honest when he is sleeping in its not easy for me to be motivated to wake up & start my work day. Which means my schedule is also all out of whack. Which means the rest of my life is out of whack. Not that Im good at getting anything done normally but its even worse now.

And (dont read this part Freeland) his summer break is going by FAST! In just a short 13 more days he will be back at school!

BOO!

So Im really avoiding sitting down at the computer because I only get him all to myself for a few more days. Once school starts again Im sure I will have PLENTY of time to sit on the computer while he is studying again.

But we have been trying to soak up every day we can.. grilling out, drinking sangria, taking the dogs on walks, sleeping later than usual, going to all the festivals we can, reading on the hammock, eating smores, and hanging out with friends.. and our family thats come all the way from Texas to visit..

and plenty of other things.

SO eventually I promise to get all the rest of our pictures posted on here. (and to all of you that I have promised pictures to .. those will be sent to you soon too! I promise) But for the time being Im taking a mini break. (seems like this entire summer I have been taking a break)

PS - Have I mentioned how much I love summers up here? If not - I LOVE THEM!!

its peanut butter jelly time..

do you remember that song? "its peanut butter jelly time.." its stuck in my head
everyday in Africa we ate PB&J Sandwiches
This was the one My loving husband made for me that day
Some people were sick of the sandwiches by the end of the trip
Not me
I loved it
and still crave them everyday
it felt like I was back in school again

Speaking of school - Freeland is taking a test right now
Yes, in the middle of summer he has an exam
The joys of med school.. but really its just to get it out of the way so he doesnt have to do it during the semester when everything else is so busy.

Oh and I havent told you that we have visitors coming! Freelands mom & Carl are coming in tomorrow. And then my mom & Mark are coming the next week! Its going to be fun. We have lots planned. Im sure more than anything (besides seeing us) they will just love being out of the Texas heat.

Stay tuned I promise to post more pictures from the Orphanage and around Uganda so you can see what it was like! And now that Freeland is home - Summer has officially started - which means the festivals around Erie are in full swing!

Thank you for your emails & thoughts about our friends! They said before that they definitely feel everyone's prayers so I know they covet all of yours now.

joy comes in the morning

As I said before having Freeland home has been wonderful.. and honestly couldnt have been at a better time. He got in on Friday night and then on Saturday morning we got some news that one of our close friends up here was going through something very tragic & hard. And honestly something that Im still having a hard time believing has even happened.

I have tried to think of how to share this or if I even should for some time now. But I havent. And I still wont obviously because its not the time, place, or mine to share.

I will say this though - the last few days have been bitterly hard & incredibly sweet at the same time. And if you think about it - our friends could use your prayer. Its truly been an honor to see God move & bring joy & peace through something so hard.. So that is the part I will share.

You realize when something like this happens exactly what community is for. You realize how much the relationships you have really mean and why the people who are in your life are there for such a specific reason. You realize how quickly God prepares your hearts for each other and what an honor it is to be able to share the joyful moments and the hard moments too. You realize that even though you feel so helpless - your tears & prayers are enough.

I truly feel blessed getting to walk through this with their family and just be there to grieve with them. Its been incredible seeing everyone come together .. and I know everyone else feels the same way. And even though nobody understands why such hard things happens all we can do is just pray & know that God is Good. I dont feel like I need to elaborate on how good God is even in the midst of tragedy. Im sure in some way everyone has experienced this. And my words would never do it justice.

But if you think about it please be praying for our friends.

Camille posted a sweet blog & a song on her blog also if you want to listen to that click here.

our first piece of art

I dont know if you can really see this picture or not .. Its a painting that our friend in Uganda, Mike, painted just for Freeland. We met mike through some other friends because his son's eye was infected and they didnt know what was wrong. Then later during our trip we realized Mike was also the "amazing artist" everyone kept telling us about after we walked into his store.

While we were there standing in awe of all of his amazing pieces and the incredible talent God gave him he asked us to come and look at something. We walked to the back and he pulled out a sketch book and started sketching.

Once he was done I walked over and looked at it and started balling crying. because it was perfect.

And so he painted us our very own picture. Its currently still in Uganda. Some other friends were nice enough to coordinate it being sent back with someone else so we didnt have to pay to ship it. Once we get it I will share a larger picture of it - but for the time being here is the picture that most of you have heard a lot about:

Its a medical clinic in a village. Freeland is standing in the front seeing patients and Im standing to the side of him holding a baby. It melts my heart every time I think about it & Im so thankful we will be able to hang it in our house as a reminder of everything we have experienced. Im so thankful that Mike felt led to draw & paint it for us.

PS: We also got a phone call from one of our friends, Johnny, in Uganda yesterday!
PPS: It has been SO nice finally having Freeland home! More on that soon!

Celebrating America's Birthday

This year celebrating the 4th of July went a lot like this:

Christie & Bill invited everyone over to their new home downstairs from their previous one. (which was nice considering they moved in like the day before! -and its beautiful BTW-)

It was by far the most perfect location to see the big BOOM!

We spent the rest of the night just hanging out. It was a true all American celebration. Down to the very last smore!

And even though it was a huge bummer being without Freeland on my favorite holiday - I was thankful to have such great friends to hang out with!

Here are some pictures:

of course there was lots of food


and lots of games



and lots of hanging out



PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE WEARING JACKETS ON THE 4TH OF JULY!





oh and I told your their view of the bay (and BOOM over the Bay) is not just good.. but really flippin amazing right? Case in point:



everyone else was crowded on the street.. we had the entire yard to ourselves and nothing in our way of the fireworks! Ive never been that lucky before! I felt like VIP or something. (Apparently little things make me feel important I guess.)

After this year I have officially decided Im never spending the 4th of July without kids around again. They make it so much more fun.







precious huh? They werent the only ones playing with the sparklers and fireworks:





and then of course the fireworks!

and then of course my camera died.

But after the fireworks we lit up the fire and roasted some mellows to make smores.

It was the perfect evening. Minus the hubs not being there.. thankfully I wasnt the only solo one. Camille & Henry were also out of town (first time since Henry was born) so Adam also came solo. (he is in rotations so he couldn't go with her)

I want to do it all over again. I told Freeland if he feels like he missed out Im okay with pretending its the 4th of July again tomorrow and doing the same exact things with him. We'll see .. cause you know what he gets in tonight!!!

even better - as I type this his feet are back on U.S. soil!!! (in NYC) How appropriate!

on his way home ..

on the coast of Uganda looking at Lake Victoria

these 2 little guys were attached to Freeland the entire time we were there
and Im pretty sure he was just as attached to them also!

Exciting news my friends

Today is the day Freeland begins his travels home

meaning he wont actually be home for something like 38 or 40 hours.

Im not really worried about doing the math on that one

Im just SO excited and SO ready for him to be home.

Dont get me wrong, I have LOVED the insanely romantic emails he has sent me everyday and there is something wonderful about being apart that makes you appreciate each other more.. but I would rather have him here.

I shared all my wisdom with him on how to travel alone (since obviously I am the more experienced one here who had to do it before him.. ignore that I traveled back with our entire team but ..)

We have lots of big plans for this weekend.. and then we both pretty much decided we aren't leaving each others side ever again. (especially since we only have a couple weeks before school starts again.. boo)

I cant wait

ps - however there are a few things I may have gotten a little too used to. Like - I am really going to miss not having to cook (haven't cooked in over a month) not having to clean, and most of all not having to shave.

The Budondo Clinic in Jinja

So since most of you have asked what it was like at the clinic and what we were actually doing I thought I would show you these pictures first.

I want to preface that we tried hard to actually not take that many pictures. Mostly because if I was going to see a doctor - I wouldnt want someone taking pictures of me. Especially with this huge fat camera. I wanted to be sensitive to that and I realized we were there to work so these are just some of the ones I was able to get.

So our entire team that went on the trip was divided into 3 groups: The Medical Team, The Outreach Team, and the Orphanage Team. Freeland & I were both on the medical team. There were 6 of us total on the Medical Team. This year has been hard so there were less of us on the team than they normally have. But we still made it & were able to see about 250-300 people a day. (with only 1 doctor (freeland), 3 nurses, & 2 non medical people -like me- insane!)

So every morning at 8:00 we loaded up the bus with all our equipment and then stopped to pick up our translators. Then we headed straight to the clinic to start right away.

This is the Budondo Heath Center where we set up our clinic while we were in Jinja.





This is what the "waiting room" looked like before anyone in the village knew we were there


This is the room Freeland saw patients in


This is where we kept all the medicine


more medicine

So thats basically what the clinic looked like.

The first morning we got there at 8:30 and there were already over 100 people there waiting. It was crazy what those first 30 minutes felt like. Knowing that within the next hour more people would show up than we were going to probably be able to see that day. Its heart breaking knowing we are going to have to tell them we cant see them.

We handed out number so that we could try to get people in as quick as possible and there wouldnt be any fighting over who was waiting first (because there was already fighting even with the numbers) Once we got everyone seated (thanks to our translators) here is what it looked like:



these are the people who were waiting inside to be seen




and here are SOME of the people who were waiting outside to be seen.

and that was just the first day. Every day we showed up there were more & more people there waiting. It was very overwhelming and heart breaking to see.

Here are some more pictures from around the clinic:

Of course there are 1000 more pictures .. and lots of Freeland actually with patients which just makes my heart leap out of my chest .. Im hoping to put those all together and post them at once. I just wanted to show you what the actual clinic was like first so you could get an idea of where we were and what we were doing while we were in Jinja (the first part of the trip)

As I already said - it was incredibly emotional and overwhelming to see patient after patient come in with so many things wrong. I was amazed to see the little things I take for granted like wearing glasses so I can actually see or even just being able to take advil when I have a headache. Its especially hard when babies would come in. (Most of them without even diapers on.. which we learned the hard way) but they would have fevers over 103.. and their parents would say its been that way for a long time. Its sad seeing that so many things could be treated easily if they just had the means to do it. I cant count how many people all had Malaria thats never been properly treated. TB, Aids, and STD's were also common. And it wasnt rare to see children who had been neglected also. Once Freeland is home I will have to have him share his experience working with every patient and hearing their story.

I think the thing I quickly learned is that anyone can help. Obviously Freeland's role was clearly defined.. and he was able to do so much with barely any experience too. So I questioned/struggled with what I was going to be able to do or how I would help when I had really nothing to offer medically. But after being there just 1 day I was able to see that even with no medical experience or knowledge there is still so much that you can do that helps. (I helped with intake, organizing the people who were waiting to be seen, praying with people, and loving on them while they waited or after they had been seen) and of course there were also all the things the other teams were doing too (more on that later)

Still in the end the hardest part was having to leave everyday knowing there was so much more you could do to help if you just had time. You leave hoping that what you have done was enough and just having to trust that it was.. and that you did all you were supposed to.

Now Im just praying that we get the opportunity to go back!

Okay .. more pictures soon..

The Start of our Trip

Well you have to start somewhere right? Sorry, these probably arent the pictures you came to see.. but its a start. Ive made the (executive) decision that I am not going to edit my pictures. I really wanted to sit down and go through them all but if I do that you probably wont see any of them until July 2010 so in an effort to share them before next year Im just going to leave them as they are. Hopefully you dont mind! :) Just Kidding, Im aware that Im the only one that cares.

For whatever reason the actual "traveling" part of the trip was one of the things I was really looking forward to. Freeland & I travel well together. (Thats because once again he takes care of everything.. see our post about our passports to see what happens when I take care of things) So I actually love traveling with him. And since we have never been on such a big trip or on a plane for 20+ hours I was really excited.

I know its not normal to be excited about the long trip on a plane.. but this girl was. (or maybe it is normal? I have no idea) Especially when I learned we were flying Emirates. Have you seen their planes before? More importantly have you seen the flight attendants? You should go & see their website to see what Im talking about.

In summary - they treat you like royalty. (meals, hot towels, unlimited movies, snacks, drinks, etc.) Even on 3 hour flights. If only our airlines were as wonderful I would fly all the time.

Our team leader said it best - Enjoy the flight because the next 2 weeks will be nothing like it. (which it actually does feel very strange to be traveling to Africa to serve for 2 weeks in such a nice plane and everything else)

So here we are in the airport. We were waiting for our team to arrive:

I wish you could see the amount of luggage we had. (remember how I packed mine all in a carry on suitcase - just wanted to make sure you remembered!) But we had suitcases full of medicine and lots of other stuff too so we had 4 suitcases + our carry ons. It was a lot to keep up with. Freeland had to give me a tutorial on how to carry it all through the airport.

This is the international terminal at JFK. I loved sitting there & people watching. It really was amazing to see all the different people traveling in & out from all over the world.


This is our team waiting for our first flight to board in the middle of the night. Dont be jealous of our matching shirts. (they really did help get us through customs etc. much faster since we were clearly all together)


This is the HUGE plane we were on. People were gracious and moved so Freeland & I could sit next to each other. I wish I had a picture to show you the business & first class. (they had mini fridges and the seats reclined into a bed!)


Thats what Im talkin about! These are the entertainment systems that everyone has on their flight. Complete with over 100 different movies, tons of tv shows, the news, internet, gps to watch your flight, and even Nintendo. my favorite was calling from seat to seat though.

As you can see the plane ride was very exciting. I felt like a little kid in a candy store the entire time. They give you blankets, pillows, socks, headphones, etc. And dont even get me started on the food. We got lots of yummy food.

And then before we knew it we were landing in Dubai


This is the most I saw of Dubai though. It seems really nice from what I could tell.


I will say that the Dubai airport is the nicest, cleanest thing I have ever seen.



We had to stay at a hotel that night because our flight into Africa wasnt until the next morning.


Freeland trying to see Dubai in the middle of the night from our hotel room.

The next morning we woke up early and made our way back on the plane and then into Entebbe, Uganda. From there we loaded a bus and drove into Jinja where we were the first week.


our team all crowded on the bus eagerly waiting to get to Jinja (and take a shower!)

Next up - pictures actually from Africa.

just another week + 1 day

Us outside our hotel in Entebbe .. chillaxing after a long day playing with kids

When I get emails from Freeland telling me every detail about his day (seriously every detail. I love it) and how he loves what he is getting to do but is ready to be back home with his smokin hot wife (thats me) .. I realize how much I miss him.

and then when I wake up and its raining in the morning .. (because it has been the last 4 days & he happens to be the worlds best cuddler) - I realize how much I miss him

but also when I had to mow the yard on Sunday and when I have to balance the check book & make sure bills are paid - I realize how much I miss him

and today when I smelled something funny and discovered the dogs got sick all over our carpet (you dont even want to know what that entails when its a dog that weighs over 175 pounds) .. I realize I miss him


all the days when I sit down and see a movie on TV I want to watch - I realize how much I miss him

and when I go to bed at night and the other side of the bed is empty .. and there isnt anyone saying turn out the light so we can go to sleep or laughing at my retainers - I really realize how much I miss him

but also when I stare at ugly walls that need to be painted - I realize how much I miss him

or when our vacuum breaks and I have no idea how to fix it .. or when I have to do laundry by myself and there isnt anyone here to see what a huge accomplishment that is and celebrate it with me - I miss him

but its the worst when he is able to call for a few minutes and I get to hear his voice and hear him laugh - I really really realize how much I miss him then.

and the list goes on and on and on... just another week + 1 day.

(Yall must be dying - it will be an entire month since you last saw Freeland by the time he gets home .. how are you dealing?!)

PS - oh and the dogs are fine. They arent sick anymore! not to worry.

PPS - I didnt brush my hair for pretty much the entire 2 weeks we were in Africa.. I did wash it. Just never brushed it.