Our Ugandan Adventure: January 2015

Happy New Year!

We had a thoroughly busy December with school concerts and wrapping up the year, followed by a completely relaxing and re-energizing break. Both Jay and I had a 2 week break from work and we cannot describe how wonderful it was to be able to spend so much time together as a family without big plans or agendas. The other day, when the kids came and woke me up in the morning (as they do each day), I realized that I wasn't tired: I was fully rested and the feeling was pleasantly surprising. I had forgotten what that felt like, and I was grateful for that moment:)

Spending Christmas and New Years away from our families was challenging for us, but we were blessed to be able to Skype with all of our parents on Christmas morning. As you can imagine, the commercialization that marks the Holiday Season in Canada and the US is not so prevalent here. Some of the big malls here definitely decorate and hold contests, but the rest of the city is unaffected. With no TV commercials and daily fliers telling us all of the things we need to "make the Season bright" we found ourselves reflecting on what we wanted Christmas for the Whisnands to look like. And it was beautiful, although our families' presence would always have been preferable:)

Rather than share all of the details with you, we've decided to show you what it was like through pictures. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our break!

Much love always,

The Whisnands

The Moms and Tots Group that meets at our house had a Christmas party! The kids are holding up a Christmas craft they made.

I made snowflake Christmas cookies this year: which was about all the baking I did:) Please note that there are only 6 cookies on the cookie sheet. This is not because the cookies are so big, but rather, because the ovens are so small! I refer to mine as "My Easy Bake" oven. Needless to say, I only made 1 batch:)

The finished product. I really enjoy piping the icing onto all of the cookies.

A sad moment for us this break was saying good-bye to our friend Paul, who lived with us on our compound (here with his sister Laia who came to visit with their mom). Paul has returned to the village where his mom and 3 sisters live. Because we may be moving in the next few months as the EMI office relocates farther out of town, if Paul continued to stay with us, he would likely have to switch schools part way through the year. Because schooling here is so privatized, schools don't recognize each other's assessments and so Paul would be held back if he changed schools mid-term. To prevent this, he will be going to school in the village. Please continue to pray for his health, as the last time he lived in the village he became very ill. Also, please pray for his dad, Moses, our guard, who misses his son very much.

This is Nathaniel as a shepherd in our church's Nativity production. It was done with a lot of enthusiasm, but definitely felt a little bit like the novel "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

This is our little sheep at our church's Christmas Nativity.

Bethany and Nathaniel did an AMAZING job in thier preschool's Nativity production. They knew the songs and the actions and were so sweet as an angel and a stable cow. Nathaniel even added a few impromptu lines of his own that were pretty funny, particularly when the wise men brought their gifts and our little cow told them to "give it to me!"

Jay and I attended a Christmas concert with a small orchestra and a choir at a gorgeous church in town. It was a lovely experience.

We used a friend's sewing machine to make stockings! Here Bethany is with our friend Jenny, proudly displaying the beautiful stockings she made for her family.

At the start of our break we went out west to a town called Fort Portal with another family from EMI. We had a great time relaxing, swimming and jumping on the trampoline. Here, Nathaniel and I enjoyed a nature hike on the property. He did great for his first hike! We'll see what he's ready to tackle when we're in the mountains of BC:)

At our guest farm in Fort Portal, we woke up early in the morning to milk the cows.

Look Mom! I'm milking a cow!

Over the break, Jay through a celebration party for the site workers of the MAF/EMI office project: a BBQ pork lunch for meeting a deadline. The guys had a great time and enjoyed the nice meal, and it was great to be able to reward them for a job well done.


Probably the best Christmas gift that we received this year was this family. They were previously unknown to us, but they were evacuated out of the DRC a few months ago and wanted to be with friends in Kampala over the break, and so ended up staying the empty-over-the-break guest house on our compound. They brought with them their 2 young sons (4 and 7), who in turn, brought their Legos. Needless to say, Bethany and Nathaniel couldn't wait to spend each day with their new friends! We were so blessed by their short visit!

Jay, proudly with his apple pie/tart he made!

With the Christmas tree at the mall. Note, the national representation.

This is our picture with Santa this year (look for him in the upper right of the picture). You will notice that this is Bethany's most happy picture of this variety.

Celebrating Christmas Eve at our friends' house. It was a beautiful evening with a lovely meal, presents and carols by candle light.

The kids on Christmas morning.

How I wanted us to look on Christmas morning...but this was actually taken a week later...after Jay had all the ornaments off the tree...and then we re-decorated it for these pictures...he is a good man!

Grilling yummy sausages for Christmas lunch!

Christmas Eve we took a road trip to the Equator! It was a pretty drive, and the first time the kids and I had crossed! We had a great time playing with local kids and getting tourists to take this picture of us...and the photo-bombing tourist behind us:)

So there you have it: our break! We hope you have enjoyed the visual tour! Here are a few other fun pictures from our December:)