What a wonderful visit with our dear family friends!
Thought pictures would be most appropriate to describe our week.. Jon and Haley are not only quite photogenic they are awesome photographers…many of the shots below are theirs!
EMOTM
EMOTM…
Every minute on the minute…is a killer workout. It also speaks about how I am learning we were designed to live:
Watoto Village Visit
Visiting Suubi was like “coming home”…amazing to think 15 months ago we were visiting this incredible place and had no idea we would be returning and spending extended time in Uganda.
Got a chance to visit with the children we sponsor which was treasured time. We love Watoto Children’s Villages and the vision they have for the next generation of Ugandan leaders!
God Mad Mi Grte
Last week Kylee began making notebooks for each of the children. Caroline decorated the front of hers and then immediately began writing. Her words below stopped me cold and took me back to a not so distant memory. The words reminded me of why we were determined to embark on this journey:
Cockerham Family 2014 New Year’s Day Card!
Happy New Year!
Ooops…we missed a family Christmas card this year so it turned in to a New Year’s Day Card!
The Places We Go…
Dr. Suess speaks to me. All his alliteration and rhyming words settle deep in my soul.
A Less Commercial Christmas
What would I be doing RIGHT now this week if I was in the US???
Parties, decorating, shopping, school activities, church activities, more parties, memories to make, traditions to keep, family to see, cooking, baking, candle stick making. If I am honest I almost make Christmas a sport as I try to fill our calendar with wonderful memories and magical moments the whole month long! All wonderfully wonderful things–and some that I truly miss this year. But there is a fraction of that here in our corner of the world. Even if I wanted to, there is no competition for me to enter when it comes to the most holiday events to attend, parties, and festivities to fill your calendar. As far as I can see the emphasis in Africa is just different. I could drive for hundreds of miles and never see a blow up Santa. (I mean do you have any idea the amount of electricity that one of those takes to run?) I am just thankful when my fridge stays cold all night!
5 Means to a More Meaningful Christmas
Can you feel it? The feeling of slight dread, sprinkled with heightened aggravation, and then topped off with a huge overwhelming sense of guilt? Somehow these feelings are gift wrapped with tinsel, bright beautiful red bows, covered in holly berries, pine needles, and an aroma of gingerbread and cinnamon.
Take Off the Cape Superwoman!
I do not know enough about the blogging world to know whether this blog is too honest or raw…I guess in my ignorance, I am just going to post it. I wrote this blog about 18 months ago–but wasn’t ready to share this message until I had stepped out of the chaos and had gained some perspective. I know that I run the risk of being judged by some or the possibility of disappointing others. I realized though, I am okay with all of that. I feel slightly vulnerable…and yet I think that is what real people do. They give you a piece of their real lives and their real hearts and their real struggles, their real selves. That is what makes them normal and human. This is longer than most typical blogs but it is a message that I hope might encourage just one woman who feels like she has to be “Superwoman.” If you are not comfortable with this type of honesty read no further.
St. Nick VS. Santa
So when you are starting to run a little low on curriculum for your children and are waiting for your next installment of material to come in…
You improvise. Yesterday knowing that somewhere around the 1st of the month people somewhere in the world celebrated St. Nicholas, I decided we would do a little research to find out more about who he was and what he was all about. I knew enough to know that he was a good dude, one we could learn from and model character traits. After gathering some basic information…we did a little scavenger hunt around the compound…looking for clues…learning about his birth place…his history of generosity…and many other fun note-worthy facts about this historical figure.
100 Cups of Coffee 