We Made It Here!

We made it! Barb and I have arrived safely and mostly soundly in Uganda. To say, “It has been an experience” is an understatement. Let me tell you a little about it.

We were scheduled to fly out at 5 p.m. on Saturday, the 22nd. After we had checked in, we, and a lot of fellow travelers, found out our flight had been canceled. We trek back to the ticket counter to find alternatives. By the time we got through the light to the agent, he announced that our flights had been rescheduled. We would now be leaving Peoria at 1:35 Sunday afternoon. A little bit of quick math in my head questioned whether we would still get in Uganda on Monday morning. He looked at a couple of screens on his computer and, “Yes, you’ll still arrive Monday morning at 8:30.” Great we thought.

On the way home from the airport, disappointed we were still on the ground, but grateful that we would still arrive on time, we began pondering the wonders of how we could put a 19 hour flight into less than 10 hours on the clock. Hmmmm. Some thing was wrong somewhere. I checked on line for our reservations and found out we were arriving in London at 6:30 a.m. the same day we were landing in Entebbe, Uganda, at 8:30 a.m. The flight from London to Entebbe was still scheduled for 11:05 Saturday evening! I grabbed the phone.

After about three hours and two buck-passing airlines, we were scheduled for our original flights, just two days later. Disappointed that we would not arrive until Wednesday morning, and spend Christmas Day in Heathrow airport, we were still grateful that we were able to go. We were now waiting for Monday afternoon at 5pm.

Sunday about noon, we found out that our originally rescheduled flight on Sunday afternoon was canceled. Is there a pattern starting up here?????

Monday morning we are anxiously checking the airlines for flight delays and cancellations. There was that big storm on Saturday, fog on Sunday, and who knows what else was happening. The airlines tend to get backed up with delays like that. 12:00 noon – our flight is showing a 50-minute delay. 12:10 – being just a little AR, I checked the flight coming in from Detroit upon which we were to fly to Detroit. It was showing canceled. I quickly moved to the Peoria airport site and now our 5 p.m. flight was showing canceled. Grab the phone – quickly.

Buck-passing continues between airlines, each one saying it is someone else’s responsibility, call them. British air finally found us seats on a 3:40 p.m. flight that afternoon which would enable us to catch our Tuesday night late flight to Entebbe. However, because they did not issue the paper tickets, they could not go ahead and issue new tickets. Call Northwest. Around 2 p.m. we finally got everything straightened out but we were supposed to have been at the airport by 1:40 to check in for this international flight. While I’m finishing up online, Barb is gathering all the things we needed and getting them in the Jeep. We dash off to the airport.

Fortunately, there is no line at the ticket counter. Strange, we thought. They, American Airlines, were able to book us through to Entebbe. We dashed back to security, said hello to the people who cleared us on Saturday, and walked leisurely to our gate. On the way, I stopped at a vending machine to get something to drink. I put in one dollar bill, and it took it. The second, it refused. We had no change, and no other dollar bills available. I hit the button to return our dollar and got… 20 nickels! Then I returned to the other side of security to get some change. Mission accomplished, change in hand, return through security. But, alas! The security door is closed with a sign saying they will reopen at 3:45 pm. My flight leaves at 3:40! Knock, knock, knock. One of the Security people ambles over and says they will be open at 3:45, like the sign says. I tell them my flight leaves at 3:40, and they say, “No, it doesn’t. It’s been cancelled.” didn’t you hear the announcement?” I told them Barb was back there still, and so they went after her. Two very sad puppies right now because if we miss this connection, we can’t get to Entebbe until Saturday morning!

Back at the ticket agent’s counter, we begin investigating options, which are slim. They could get us to Chicago on a United flight later that evening, but that would miss the connection to London, however, they could book us on a flight through Brussels (Belgium) later and get us into Entebbe at 11 p.m. Wednesday. With the travel arrangements already confusing and set in Uganda, that was not an option. Option #2, we could drive to Chicago and try to catch the 7:55 p.m. flight to London. Hmmmm. It is already 3:00. If there is no traffic, if there is no weather, we might be able to make it on time. We’ll try. Thank you very much, we tell them.

We get into the Jeep – it needs gas. We head out and drive to Chicago, getting gas en route. Not being real familiar with O’Hare, we get on the phone to Picker who gets us the information we need. He said “Lot D” is the closest to the international terminal. We should park there. As we drive up to drop Barb off with the bags, all six of them, we notice that Lot D is only $50 a day. Hmmmm. $50 a day for 13 days. Ouch! I drop her off, and find the Economy lot; it’s only $16 a day! But that is better than $50. Now how do I get from where I am to the terminal. There’s an elevated train. Never been on it, don’t know it’s schedule, but I don’t know where I am from the terminal anyway. Take the train.

By the time I got to the terminal, Barb was still in line. We waited patiently for the agent to help us. When he pulled up our itinerary, his chin hit the floor it was a mess! We were already checked in for the Chicago to London flight, and checked in for the London to Entebbe flight, but they were wrong! About 50 minutes later, and a very gracious ticket agent – his name really is Richard Anderson, and he worked like McGiver - we were on our way back to Security and the gate. You may have noticed that we haven’t eaten yet. No problem, there’s a meal on the plane. McGiver did give us better seats on our London flight, so that was a nice flight. We didn’t sleep any – who can sleep on an airplane?

We landed on time in London and were looking forward to our Christmas day experience in what we thought would be a nearly deserted Heathrow. Do you know how many people are traveling on Christmas Day? We staked out our territory by Gate 7 – it was nearly empty when we arrived. Watched it fill up and empty; walked around the airport; had some tea; ate some lunch; ate some supper; kept returning to our staked out Gate 7, and bided out time until our flight had a Gate assigned and we could go there. We would fly out of gate 1C. We had a home we could go to! Our flight! While we are waiting, another flight is “night stopped” – it won’t fly. Will our Entebbe flight go out tonight? How empty will it be? How many people fly from London to Entebbe on Christmas night? Simple answer: a lot!

The flight was uneventful, though long in coach seats. We tried the other meal British Air was offering. Watched more movies, listened to more music, and bided out time until we landed at Entebbe.

We landed in Entebbe a little early. Betsy had told us how to get through immigration and where customs was, so we were ready. We stood in the immigration line with our $60 for visas and waited. While we were waiting, we heard the agent in the next line tell his people that the visa was $50. We handed the agent our passports, shot records, and $60 for two visas. He looked at them, tossed the money into the drawer and gave us a receipt for $100 for two visas. Where is customs? Where are our bags? Did they even arrive?

The bags did arrive – all of them. So we got a cart (they’re free in Entebbe International Airport, and larger than in the US), loaded them with our bags, and headed to customs. There are two lines at customs. Well, one very short line, and two signs: red customs and green customs. Red had one family in it. Green had no body in it. And almost everyone was heading straight to the exit. Let’s follow the crowd. If they stop us, they stop us. They didn’t stop us! We saw Betsy and D’rae waiting for us with signs, and everyone was very happy. But we hadn’t experienced riding in a Ugandan taxi yet. Oh my!

If I tell you the ride was harrowing, believe me. If I tell you we thought we were going to die in Uganda in a traffic accident, believe me. If I tell you we thought our driver was going to run over bicyclists, moped riders and motorcycles, believe me. Traffic laws. I don’t think there are any. We saw one police car in the next 4 and a half hours of our journey. We’re told there is only on per district.

Since I am writing this, you know we made it safely to Mbarara where Betsy lives. We slept well that night - the first sleep since Sunday night. It was now Wednesday night. We slept for about 11 hours! It was good to be here.

On Thursday, we spend the day in the Ruti village area. We visited with three families in three different villages around the Ruti trading center area during the day and had our first two experiences with Ugandan food. Same meal almost exactly at two houses. It was edible, but very bland. The Ugandans don’t seem to use any spices in their cooking. That is not necessarily bad.

Getting to the village was an adventure in itself. First we walked from our lodging into town. It was just a few blocks. We stopped at a market and picked up gifts for our hosts in the village. This something the missionaries always do because the village people always put out there very best when they visit them. The village of Rutu was outside of town several miles. We could walk, but it was about an hour and a half walk. Betsy convinced us to ride the boda-bodas. These are mopeds with an extra seat on the back. What an experience! We’ll have pictures of it later. And we’ll tell you about the meals later also.

Friday, we got up at 3:15 to get a taxi to the Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is a game preserve on the western side of Uganda next to the Congo. It was an experience, again, like we’ve never had before. We saw some great animals. Did you know that hippos wipe their bottoms with their tails while they are emptying their bowels? Neither did we, but we saw it. Hilarious site! That hippo was about 15 feet from us and walking about free. One of the staff at the lodge where we ate breakfast and lunch in QENP, told us not to get too close. We really didn’t need that advice, but he stayed around anyway to make sure. There were also wart hogs, a momma and her baby, wandering around the gardens of the lodge. We were supposed to take a boat ride on the channel between Lake Edward and Lake George, but it didn’t work out. So we went on our afternoon “game drive” – driving around the park looking for game – to see some elephants. It was now about 3:30 in the afternoon, and the elephants were going down to the lake for water. We saw a herd – a bull, three cows, and five calves! We were excited! That bull elephant was HUGE!!! That sight made our early morning trip worthwhile. But there was more to come. In all we saw over 100 elephants that afternoon.

God’s animals are beautiful. Stubborn, but beautiful. One of the young male elephants was crossing the road in front of us. There had been a mixing of two herds at that one point, and that is a bit tenuous. This young bull was about last. He was trumpeting, stomping, and just really showing out. He saw us and directed is tirade towards us. No problem for a third grade teacher – Barb talked to him. And he seemed to listen. She was elated, and we all had a great laugh.

Speaking of funny things, there were several that day. In the morning, we were looking for lion. Our guide, who was also our taxi driver both times, kept in touch with other guides and we found out there was something sighted at one place. We went there and found a number of Kob, that’s a small antelope kind of animal. As we watched, we saw a lion poke its head up from the grass, and begin herding a lone Kob. Then we found out there was another lioness lying in wait not far from where we were. We found that out as Barb was walking along the grass by a brush outcropping, and our guide said, “There’s a lion in that bush.” You should have seen Barb’s face, and her quick retreat. Granted the lion was about 75 yards away, but it was scary, but funny afterwards.

Oh, by the way, Thursday was our second anniversary. You should have seen the looks on Barb and my face when Betsy mentioned it. It was hilarious. We had both forgotten it in the tiredness and hecticness of our journey.

Today, we are waiting for a celebration this afternoon for some of the locals Betsy and D’rae know. They have no family locally, and this is going to be a Christmas celebration. Gigi, a local whom the missionaries hire to cook, is preparing a typical Ugandan meal for the celebration. It will be almost identical to what we had on Thursday, BTW, what we ate on Thursday with the exception of goat meat and millet, are the diet of the people in the villages, and for the most part in town.

This journey is quite an experience. God has blessed us, taught us, and carried us. The glory belongs to Him.

Where Has It Gone?

August, September, October, November, December… Where has this year gone? In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, the second half of 2007 has flown by as we have been busy with life.

School started up for us in August, and it is has been a very busy school year thus far. That’s not a bad thing. Barb’s class is a nice size this year, but it has its challenges, as each class does. She learned of a Pilgrim project in early November and put it in place in time for Thanksgiving. It was quite an adventure as the students embarked on their own crossing in their own Mayflowers with their family and friends as their co-travelers. It was an exciting time, but consumed a great deal of time in preparation (this was the first year for it) and in executing it in the classroom. It was a great breathing break when Thanksgiving came around.

I was privileged with teaching a class at the East Peoria church during this fall as well. I had approached the shepherds about teaching on Wednesday nights from time to time, and they took me up right away. Then they handed me the base material – it was to be a study of the times between the Testaments. It was also a topic that I had never taught in more than twenty-five years of full-time preaching and teaching. The opportunity had simply never come up. So, the adventure began, and what an adventure it was! It is said that the teacher of a class gets more out of it than the students, and in this case, that was certainly true. There were many hours of preparation each week for the mid-week adult class.

There was another blessing in it for me as well. In my work with the school children, I am able to introduce them to and help them use various Microsoft Office programs, including PowerPoint. This class allowed me to use some of the theory what I had been teaching my school students in a real world setting. If those in the mid-week class were candid, they may acknowledge that the accompanying PowerPoints improved over the three month teaching period. Though I am not able to use it with my Sunday sermons, I am thankful for the opportunity to have been able to use it in my teaching.

During these past few months we have also been making plans for a great adventure. In July, I surprised Barb with tickets to Uganda. In just a few short days, Christmas break will be upon us at school, and we will be flying to Uganda to spend the holidays with Betsy, Desarae, and their friends. The last few weeks have been filled with getting everything together for that adventure. We have filled a couple of tubs with food and gifts for them. I know they will be eager to open the tubs and see what family and friends are sending to them, but even more, I look forward to that first hug and Mom and Daughter share when we arrive in Entebbe on Christmas Eve. Thank you, God, for blessing your children.

There have been family changes this year as well. Some of our children have moved around this vast nation. Betsy, of course, moved to Uganda (but only for a year – this time). Sean and his family moved from western Iowa to Morristown, Tennessee. Stacy and her family moved from Maryland to San Antonio, Texas. They also added new grandson Caleb in the process. Grandma got to spend a week with them. Ben’s girlfriend successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and has taken a position in Evansville, IN. (The highways will be much better because of the additional gas taxes he will be contributing.) And Jeremy and Kendall moved from Arkansas to the Houston, Texas area for her graduate work. God blessed Jeremy with a full-time position with the Clear Lake church primarily working with the young people. Laura and Jeremy are still around here, but Jeremy did change his teaching position, and in February, their family size will change as well when Ansley makes her debut.

It’s been a full year. It’s been a taxing year. But, behind it all, is the God who loves us and carries us through all the challenges living presents. To Him be the glory this day and each day.

Birthdays and Remembering

Life and death are both marked by tracking time. In death, it is how long since one’s loved one died. In life, it’s birthdays! When a birthday has a zero tacked on the end of it, it’s a special birthday. This summer we celebrated the 70th birthday of a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Part of the celebration was pulling off a party without Grandma knowing it was happening until the very last moment!

The days before the celebration were hectic. Invitations needed to be sent; chairs and tables needed to be gathered; sitting areas arranged; cake ordered; food prepared. Perhaps the most difficult task was keeping Grandma out of the mix. You see, Grandma is a hands-on, help-you-out, do-what-needs-to-be-done kind of person. A ruse was devised to keep her occupied until the evening festivities began. Even a family dinner at an alternate site was announced to Grandma, complete with a ruse to get her to stop by the REAL party site on the way to the PRETEND site. But Grandma being Grandma was ready to go more than an hour early – there might be need of a little last minute help! Panic phone calls were sent and received while another ruse was put in place to stall her as long as possible. When time would wait no more, she was brought around to pick up food from our house to take to the party.

Cars were parked all around the neighborhood as some 45 of her family and friends had secretly arranged to surprise her for her 70th birthday. The ruse was found out when others were still walking in as she was driven up to the house. But the look on her face as she came through the door was beautiful! It was her moment with her family and friends.

The Keeping Room – a place where family and friends meet to share the joys of life as we mark off the years of our sojourning.

More pictures of the celebration can be found at at "Barb and Dave's Family Album" link above.

Serendipities

Our eldest son and his family are in the process of moving from Iowa to Tennessee. He has accepted a teaching position at Carson-Newman College in the Physics Department. Moving always has its good points and less than good points. Their move is no different, I’m sure. But this is not about their moving experience. It’s about God’s serendipities with which we are blessed as we sojourn through along life’s paths.

Sean and Melynda closed on the sale of their home in Iowa this past week. They are purchasing a home in Morristown, but will not be closing on it until later this week. Since we are along the route, and about half-way, they are visiting with us for a few days. We were really looking forward to their visit with us. When grandchildren live a long way away, the times you get to share are really special.

They all got here right on schedule Friday evening. Sean and I were downstairs looking at a little basement project I have going on right now. We were talking about options, possibilities, means – you know how it can be when two people who like to do things around their homes get together and talk shop. While we were chatting, there came a real clatter from upstairs. It was the sound of happy voices, happy as in very pleasantly surprised voices. We went upstairs and found out that there were going to be more beds filled, more mouths fed, more visiting to take place. My younger son Ben and his girlfriend ShanShan decided to drop in for the weekend – from Cleveland!

There was a hidden blessing in there unexpected visit. We had talked a few months ago about taking a family vacation this year. Coordinating schedules from Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio can be difficult, but not impossible. We had tentatively planned on getting together in Tennessee if Sean and Melynda got everything worked out with their move. Each of us has timetables of our own that have to be considered. But alas! It wasn’t going to work out. We (Illinois) had planned to be in Tennessee the last weekend of July and into the first of August once we found out when the Iowa son was moving there. Unfortunately, the Ohio son’s schedule didn’t match up. He teaches college classes during the summer and the term ends on August 1. He had to be there to grade the finals and turn in the students’ grades. He was not going to be able to be in Tennessee until the following weekend. But – it’s hard, but try to follow along – Melynda needed to be at a certification camp for Tai Kwon Do that weekend in Missouri. And we (Illinois) need to begin working in the classrooms at school for the opening of our teaching year. It just wasn’t working out at all. Until, Ben (Ohio) decided to just drop by and visit all of us in Illinois.

It has been a whirlwind visit, to be sure, but wonderful nonetheless. On Saturday, we visited the Wildlife Prairie Park with them. More of the animals were out this time than when we were there two weeks ago with Kennedy and her Mom. We walked, we talked, and we enjoyed the afternoon. The day was capped off with a cookout, ice cream desserts, and a couple of bouts with Hillbilly Golf. Melynda and Savannah, Sean and Melynda’s daughter, were the grand champions. The guys came in a great second. But it was also last place – only two teams.

Since we drive over to Bloomington where I preach on Sunday mornings, the boys made arrangements locally. We had a great Sunday dinner together. (If you see the person who invented the crock pot – thank them for us and everyone else who gets to eat on time after a busy Sunday morning.)

The weekend ended, and after a great breakfast of French toast, Ben and ShanShan had to leave for Cleveland. Duncan, Sean and Melynda’s son, enjoyed driving Grandpa’s yard tractor around the yard. His foot just barely got to the brake, so there was no mowing involved even though we had talked about it earlier. He had a great time. Savannah really didn’t want to try her hand at the tractor.

Tomorrow, we will say our goodbyes to our son’s family as they go on to Tennessee. But, there’s more to the story. We will be following them down in a couple of days. We’ll stop and see our church friends in Anderson, IN, surprising many of them for Thursday night’s VBS session. And then it’s on to Tennessee to visit some other good friends for a couple of days before seeing Sean and Melynda again for a couple of days. When we get back home, the classrooms will be calling us to work on them.

Serendipities. Those special happy occasions which fall into our lives from time to time. Actually, they are unexpected blessings from a gracious and loving Father in heaven.

Extraordinary!

Vacations are wonderful times to get away from the ordinary and to experience the extraordinary. Sometimes the extraordinary shows up where you may have least expected it. But really, we should expect the extraordinary wherever we are in God’s wonderful world. Let me tell you about the extraordinary unfolding right before us while we were in San Antonio. But first, let’s take a little side-trip to visit Naaman.

The account of Naaman’s cleansing from leprosy is familiar to many of us. He was a leper whose servant girl told him about Elisha. When he went to see Elisha, Naaman was told simply to dip seven times in the waters of the Jordan River. Naaman was expecting something extraordinary from the prophet; he protested, until his servant reminded him what kind of things he would have done in order to be cured of his leprosy if the prophet had but told him to. Naaman then went to the Jordan, dipped seven times, and the extraordinary happened in a simple act – he was cured of his leprosy. The extraordinary unfolded in a simple act of trust.

Our granddaughter Sidney will soon be two years old. Last year when we vacationed with family at the Gulf, we learned that she has no fear of ocean waves. She would crawl right down to them. If she got splashed, it was no problem. We saw this year that she has not lost her fearlessness towards water. Before supper, she wanted to go out and get in the sprinkler. We had brought a birthday present with us from her Aunt Betsy – an Elmo sprinkler. We got it all set up, turned it on, and she went out to it, but didn’t seem to appreciate the mist it was putting out. She went over to the side of the house and got the regular grass sprinkler. “This sprinkler. Sidney want this sprinkler.” She liked that one so much better. It would spray her in the face and she just giggled. She didn’t mind water in her face at all. Extraordinary for a child not yet two. But there is more.

We took her to the neighborhood pool. As the sky was overcast and it was still morning, we had both the kiddy pool and the adult pool all to ourselves. She soon tired of the kiddy pool and wanted to join her daddy Brett and uncle Jeremy in the adult pool. We walked through the gate with her, letting her daddy know that she was coming. He met her at the edge of the pool and helped her into the water. They all had a great time together. The water was splashing everywhere. She loved it. She had no fear. She was with her daddy.

Brett took her to the side of the pool, setting her on the apron. Moving a short distance out from the pool’s edge, he out his hands. “Jump, Sidney! Jump!” Do you know what she did? She jumped – right into her daddy’s arms! Over, and over, and over again. Uncle Jeremy wanted in on some of that fun, but Sidney would not jump out to him. She jumped to her daddy! She trusted him to catch her.
Uncle Jeremy could fly her through the water; she would ride on his back (She called him a sea dolphin.); she would let him hold her and she’d kick and paddle; but she would not jump to him.

She jumped to her daddy. She knew him; she trusted him!

An exquisite lesson seen in the actions of a child who is not quite two years old! Now, that is extraordinary! See, as we get more mature, we learn to trust less and less. We’ve been let down; we’ve been hurt; we learned that trust can be and is betrayed by those in whom we trust. But not so with small children. They have not experienced that let down. They trust those they know. The more they know them, the more they trust them.

Jesus said, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. There is something about children that is worth imitating, yea, that it is essential we imitate if we are to be heirs of heaven. Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. (Pro 3:5) Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. (Isa 26:4) Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. (2 Cor 1:9) Trust, like unto that of a small child for his or her own parent!

A child trusts his or her parent because they know they are trustworthy. It’s all they know. Extraordinary! Now, the difficult part for us is learning to trust unconditionally like a child does: unconditional trust in the ability, the promise, and the love of God. Talk about your extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary!

Vacations

Vacations are wonderful times to see family and friends. We're returning home today after a wonderful week with part of our family. The Texas branch of the family, Stacy, Brett, and Sidney. South Texas is a different place than Illinois, and during our visit there was a lot - think of gopher wood lot - of rain. But we were not in Texas to view the weather. We have a wonderful granddaughter there. Her folks are there also, and a son to be baby brother.

Although her birthday is not until August, this was the chance we had to celebrate her 2nd birthday with her. Her Aunt Betsy who is a missionary in central Africa sent some goodies with us that she purchased before she went overseas. Two years is a great time of life. Children have an interesting perspective on life. For instance, birthday automatically brings to mind cake, at least with Sidney. It is said that picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let the picture do the talking.

Needless to say, we had a wonderful week with our Texans. But it is also good to get home.

The Keeping Room

The Keeping Room - a place to meet and visit with old friends and to meet new friends. Maybe not the dictionary's definition, but it'll work for here.

We hope this will be a place where our friends can keep up with what is happening in our life.