Flaming guitar fingers.

Okay, I really did it this time...

So, the "little volleyball injury" that I mentioned earlier has turned out to be kind of a big deal. He has a hairline fracture just outside of the joint of his pointer finger on his left hand...a pretty important guitar finger. He is currently coming up with a list of songs that only require using 3 fingers to play. And to think, we haven't even had the first show of the tour yet... :)

Family all around

As soon as we pulled up to Phil and Kathy's on Sunday evening, it felt like we were able to fully relax and settle into "tour mode". I think while we are at home, we forget about what an extended family we have on the road, but it's true...it really feels like we have this totally separate life of family and friends that we just love to see and spend time with while we are toting around in the van from state to state. After we left Phil and Kathy's and realized we had a couple of more days until we needed to be anywhere, we called Diane and Hub to see if we could swing by...and now 3 days later we are still here. :) It's great...we feel so loved. Last night Diane's daughter invited us to come and play volleyball with her league. Ryan was hesitant because of his fingers being so valuable, but knowing how much he loves volleyball, I unfortunately encouraged him...and now today he is sitting around icing his finger which is swollen and black/blue today...I'm feeling pretty disappointed in my poor tour managing behavior. :(


And, the bump by nose ring is starting to go down...but not without faithful salt water soaks....


Basically, we are creating a hospital and Diane and Hub's for ourselves. :)

bumpy tour...

The tour was to start at 8am yesterday. Ryan woke up at 3am the night before with the flu though, and remained "sick" until well after 9am...and was still feeling weak and queasy after that. So, at 10am, Cameron and I made the decision to plow forward with the day's 11 hour drive to Amarillo, TX and have Ryan meet up with us in Kansas City via plane on Sunday. With the ambulance-sized van packed with mittens and long underwear, we left warm sunny Tucson behind. At 11:30am, Cameron got a phone call about a family emergency. Luckily Ryan was at home and could do the computer work to book Cameron a flight to get out to be with family. The only flight we could find departed from Oklahoma City, another 6 hours past Amarillo...so the 11 hour drive became a 17 hour drive, and the band dwindled from 3 to 2 to 1. Today I'll be driving 5 hours to Kansas City where I'll pick up Ryan and we'll stay with some of Cameron's family (family on the other side...not involved with the emergency).

To those in Tucson...we miss you alreaady!

To those in Michigan...we wish there wasn't a lake separating us while we are touring Wisconsin!

To those everywhere else...we hope our van wanders into your neck of the woods soon!

House Cleaning

On Saturday we leave for tour, and on Sunday renters move in for the month. The renters asked to have someone come in and clean the house mid-way through their stay, and since we've never used a house cleaner before, I thought I should have one come today to familiarize themselves with the house. It's nice. Her cleaning products leave a nice smell to the air. She is way more thorough than I ever am. And, I know that in an hour, our home will be clean, while I was able to do other things that needed to get done before we leave. The only thing I don't get about having a house cleaner though, is that I had to spend most of the morning cleaning the house to get ready for her to come. She can't clean very well if there are clothes all over the bedroom floor, piles of papers (and maybe more clothes) in the kitchen (..living room, dining room, guest room, and maybe even the bathroom). Oh well, it was worth it for this moment of peace knowing that at least this week I won't have to be mopping floors when I'd rather be spending time with family and friends on our short retreat at home.

HOME!

We made it home safe and sound after 36 hours of travel (in the economy class section of the plane this time). Somehow though, I was still able to sleep for about 20 hours...not sure how I'm ever going to train my body to be on the right time zone now. We had such a wonderful trip...I can't wait to upload and share my photos with you. From where I left you last, we had Charlene's baptism party....not really what you'd think of as a baptism party...there was a DJ, dancing, lots of food, and it lasted through the weee hours of the night. There were some fun surprises in the evening, Ryan was gifted with traditional Ugandan male formal wear, and I was given some beautiful fabric that we had made into a skirt and top. African culture is full of speeches, so I was asked to give a speech at the baptism, I gave it some real American flare by keeping it under 15 minutes. :) And then, the real kicker was at the end of Liz's speech she announced that Ryan and I were going to start the dancing for the night by dancing to the first song alone! Ack...what?? Good thing for swing dancing lessons... :)
We took a 3 day safari in the northwest region of Uganda. It was a pretty jaw dropping experience of getting to see elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, etc in the wild. We saw the rhinos while we were on foot...only about 20 feet away...a little intimidating to say the least. :) Good thing for dramamine...as the trip was pretty rough and bumpy.
We spent a day in the village...wow, they are living my Little House on the Prairie dream life! Although, I think it's much harder than I realize. There is no electricity or running water at all...and with that, no jobs, or money, or food other than what they grow. As the night grew dark, they had a gas lantern lit that we all sat around...about 30+ people came from their village to greet us and sit around and chat by the lantern. One little girl (about 2 years old) was soo scared of us, as we were the first white people she had ever seen. I felt so bad, and the more I tried to help the situation, the worse I think I made it. She screamed like I had never heard a child scream, and then wouldn't open her eyes the rest of the night. I was surprised by how many of the adults had never seen someone white before either, other than in a car driving by while they were "in town" (I put that in quotes because their closest town only consists of a little stand where they can by food, the same food that they grow in the village...and I think that's about it). Over and over, they just kept laughing and saying how shocked they were that we were in their village....kind of a weird feeling for us since we didn't think anything of it. My favorite, was how much EVERYONE in Uganda is excited about Obama being the next US president. We were greeted by one man in the village with, "We are so happy that we have people from Obama's nation visiting us." A club right by Liz's house changed it's name the night of the election to "Obama Club" and a butchery by the orphanage was called "At Obama Butchery". Everywhere we went, people commented about Obama. It's so nice to travel internationally and have people excited about our soon-to-be leader.
We had a wonderful time at Bitone (the orphanage). The children were so unbelievably talented, well-behaved, and family-like...I can't wait to share more about our time there with you via video clips. Thank you for the sheets and sending money for us to bring over to buy more items for them! We were able to buy sheets for all of the kids (their current beds just consisted of a foam mattress with no sheets at all...several kids often to one small mattress on the floor)...and we will be wiring them money this week for bunk beds, mosquito nets, more mattresses and blankets...THANK YOU!!!

Ugandan Living

Hello!
I'm back at the internet cafe. I wish I could post photos now so you could see what it looks like. There are 11 yellowing computers from the 90's on tables lined in a row. No overhead lighting and a low ceiling. The term "cafe" doesn't really apply as there are no refreshments. Loud music is playing behind us...not really sure what is going on...we'll have to walk over there after we're done here. It only costs 25 cents for a 1/2 hour worth of computer time...but the connection is slow, so you need at least a 1/2 hour to do anything. Unfortunately the internet cafe is one of the only things with a "fixed price"...the only other fixed prices we've found are for gas and milk...everything else (sugar, toilet paper, clothing, etc) requires bargaining, which I am not too big of a fan of. And, Liz said that since we are white, they think we are rich, so they've been increasing the starting price for everything. We did a good job though with buying fabric, and got them to decrease the price so that we only had to pay 60% of the original asking price. As for going to the zoo the other day though, the price was 4 TIMES as much for us! Liz tried bargaining, but they wouldn't budge...$2.50 for Ugandans and $10 for the muzungos (white people).
On to other things...
Yesterday we attended Liz's cousin's wedding. Ryan was asked to accompany Liz's brother as he sang two songs at the reception...afterwards the councilor of Kampala asked if he was available for hire...sorry!
Today was the baptism at the church...I love just watching the children here. The girls who are able to go to school all have their heads shaved (it's part of the dress code for school), and they look so beautiful with their eyes standing out so bright! There was one girl in particular who had Ryan and I captivated. There was also a little boy (3 years old-ish) who was just clapping and singing through the whole service while standing next to his mom in the choir. This afternoon there will be a big party at Liz's in celebration of Liz's baptism.
One of my favorite things so far is just walking around the streets where Liz lives...so many people living in such small places...lots of cooking (everyone cooks outdoors using charcoal.
I'd write more, but I have to look up a few things online yet before my time runs out.

We're here!!!

Hello!
Our flights yesterday went well. When we checked in at the kiosk in London, we couldn't get it to bring up the Amsterdam to Entebbe part of the flight. So we saw someone at the counter and she gave us seats 7A and 7B. We boarded that flight, and to our surprise...we were in the World Business Class section!! Not really sure how we finnagled that, but we were happy to be able to fully recline with our feet up for the 10 hours. (We were actually too nervous to open the blanket or touch anything until the flight took off because we were sure of that someone was going to come and move us.)
Liz, her brother Matthias, and her sister Sheila picked us up from the airport and drove us to their house in Luzira (a town about 20 minutes outside of Kampala). Matthias was nice and drove slow for us on the windy roads so that we wouldn't get sick. He told us he liked to sing, and the next thing we knew, he was putting on a concert for us, singing Kenny Rogers covers...I love how there is no pretending to be shy here about talent.
Liz's family is wonderful! Everyone is smiley, chatty, loving, and wanting to feed us constantly. Mountain Dew just found it's way here two months ago and it's the new thing...we are trying to avoid it as much as possible, which is a bit hard to do since they are so excited about it. Her family is totally spoiling us by giving us our own bedroom, while in the room next to us, 3 of the sisters are sleeping together with just a curtain covering the doorway.
This morning we had our first African shower experience...I had to ask Liz to give me a tutorial at first, as I wasn't really sure where to begin. There is a small basin (wide enough to just put both feet in it and at most ankle deep) on the floor that you fill with water, and sponge bathe from there. Next to that, is a hole in the ground that you go to the bathroom in, and in the corner is a sink where you can wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc.
We spent the day driving around...I am loving just looking out the window and seeing what life looks like. Lots of people get around by foot, bicycle, scooter, taxis (which look like minivans with about 20 people inside), and then some by car. Bicycles are often used just to lighten the load...they walk along side of it while holding a huge pile of things on top to push home.
Ryan got a guitar today! We met the guy who made it, took a look around his factory (a small tin hut), and plan on playing it this evening.
We are going to go watch the fireworks to bring in the New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!
p.s. my nose ring seems to be getting a little infected since being here...please pray that it gets better soon as I have no idea what to do for it!...thanks!

1/2 way to Africa!

We arrived in London yesterday afternoon after a 10 hour flight...and tomorrow we'll fly 10 more hours to Uganda! We are excited, to say the least. Today was great toting around London. The sky was blue, yet the wind was chilly.
Highlights:

-The changing of the guards...we actually arrived about 2 minutes too late to see the guards change at Buckingham Palace, but we were able to see them change at all of the smaller guard stations. Lots of stomping, pomp and circumstance. One girl got a little too close while taking a picture (she tried linking arms with the guard--a big no no)...the guard yelled, stomped his foot, and hit his bayonette a few times...I wasn't so sure about getting a photo after that, but Emma (Liz's brother who we are staying with) insisted we go up. (All pictures to follow our return).

-Big Ben (I got a picture for you Big Ben!)

-Westminster Abbey

-The British Museum (we did a great guided tour with London Walks).

-And, one of our favorite spots was a great restaurant in the basement near Covent Gardens...nice and cozy!

Well, dinner calls us now...more when we return to Arizona!

Almost there...

Our bags are packed! Ryan and I are each bringing a backpack for our personal clothes, and then 2 suitcases each of things to leave there. It's a little intimidating to think of lugging all that around, but thankfully someone is picking us up in London, and also in Uganda, so we won't have to be the total Americans on public transportation with a gagillion bags. I probably won't have much internet access while I'm there...so ta ta for now...see you January 13th!

Gifts for Uganda!

So, I've been slowly collecting gifts to bring over with us to Uganda. The problem I'm having though is that I am naturally drawn to everything African looking, and well, I don't necessarily think they are needing me to bring them something from the States that looks African, when they can get that right where they are...and probably much more beautiful looking...and not made in China.
I was absolutely appalled when I was at Target looking for a Baptism card to bring Charlene and all of the cards that had babies on them were white babies. Hello, this is the year 2008 (almost 2009), why is this sort of thing acceptable? I live in a community that is largely Catholic Latino, at least give me Latino babies on the cards!

Glad yesterday is over...

Ryan had an endoscopy yesterday morning, so I went with him to be his designated driver home. He has different reactions to the anesthesia every time. When he had one done when we were in Boston, he became Mr. Funny Man and wouldn't stop singing Jason Mraz, trying to get every word in during the "rap" sections...the nurses and I were laughing until we almost peed our pants.
Last year's endoscopy left him very very sick.
And this year, he became Mr. Well-Informed. The nurse told me that Ryan told her all about why she needed to do certain biopsies and how they are done. She asked if he was a medical student, and he just replied with "I get these done all the time." The best part, is that Ryan doesn't recall any of this conversation, nor does he really know why or how to do the biopsies.
As for the need for the endoscopy, Ryan has something called Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) and Barrett's Esophagus, so he needs to get regular endoscopies to monitor how his esophagus is doing. Nothing to worry about, but feel free to pray about!

So, as for the title of this blog...I couldn't seem to get anywhere with anything yesterday, no matter how hard I tried. While I was waiting in the doctor's office with Ryan, I tried sewing some mittens for a Christmas gift. After I finished the last stitch, I tried them on only to find that I had made two left handed mittens!

While Ryan was sleeping at home, I decided to run some errands on the other side of town that I had been procrastinating, only to get to the store and find out that it's closed on Mondays!

I decided to head home to check on my patient, but instead of being a caregiver, I fell asleep for 3 hours.

Walgreens pharmacy informed me that NONE of Ryan's prescriptions that the doctor wrote will be covered by insurance.

And, when I finally started making dinner at 9:30pm, I discovered that the ground beef had gone bad.

Today has been much better though so far. It's rainy and cool (60s) here, which has the same sort of feeling as a snow day (although not nearly as pretty). I stayed in my pajamas until 10:30am, and even then I just put on some yoga pants and a shirt that I thought looked presentable for going out and about. We are heading over to Papa David's tonight for Christmas with him...I'm looking forward to spending time with family for the holidays, and it all starts today!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

p.s. for anyone wondering, the previous post is NOT a photo of me, although I do hope I look that beautiful when I'm pregnant some day. :)

7 months

Beautiful.

Christmas Craftin'!

A little glimpse of what I've been up to lately...

Coasters


Stationary Wrap




Mittens made from recycled wool sweaters...

A little remodeling...

The master bathroom shower has always been on the "needing to replace" list. And, we decided to just go for it this winter. Unfortunately I forgot to take a "before" photo, which I'm a little sad about. But here's the final product (it still needs to be washed, but we have to wait for the grout to dry)...

Winterhaven!

Winterhaven is a neighborhood in Tucson that likes to take Christmas decorating to the next level. Here were a few of my favorites...

Christmas lights in time with the music:


The 12 days of Christmas all in one yard!

12 drummers drumming...


11 pipers piping...


10 Lords a leaping...


9 Ladies dancing...


8 Maids a Milking (MY FAVORITE!)


7 Swans a Swimming...


6 Geese a laying...


5 golden rings...


4 Calling birds...


3 French hens...


2 Turtle Doves...


And a partridge in a pear tree!


Where else besides Winterhaven could someone have Santa buried in the sand in their front yard without seeming a bit crazy?


Snow, skiing, ice skating...this person must not really be from Tucson... (please note the oversized barbie doll behind the white picket fence on ice skates)...

Visitors!

Last weekend our friends Will and Orla visited from Boston! It's a fun treat to have people we know so well from somewhere else come visit where we live now. It was also a great reason to stop and be still over the weekend and just live in the moment with friends.

We went to the DeGrazia Art Gallery, one of my favorite places in Tucson. I've probably posted photos here before from there, but I love it so much that I'm going to post them again. :)

Outside the gallery, what also used to be Ted DeGrazia's home:


Outside the Chapel:


Inside the sanctuary:


We hiked the phoneline trail in Sabino Canyon. I never knew the leaves changed color in AZ, but we learned they do!...beautiful golden leaves decorated the taller trees in the canyon.

It's True!

For my birthday, Ryan took me to get my nose pierced! I've been wanting to get it pierced for several years now, but just never quite had the courage to do so. The guy who did my piercing told me that if I've ever had my eyebrows waxed, then I've experienced far worse pain that what it would feel like to get my nose pierced...such a lie...it hurt big time!

Pacing as my jewelry was getting sterilized...


I feel like piercing and tattoo parlors have such a bad rap for being dirty, but it's just not true. I actually would dare to say that this place was cleaner than most dentist/doctors offices...not sure what that says about my dentist/doctor, but it's true. Everything was super sterile, I wasn't allowed to touch anything, everyone used gloves, etc. I was very impressed with the cleanliness.

Before...


After...


I must admit, I love having my nose pierced! Walking around the grocery store, doing laundry, etc...I don't know what it is...but I'm enjoying it. The funny thing, is though, is that NO ONE says anything about it. At first I thought that it was because a.) they didn't like it, or b.) what do you say anyway? But, I'm realizing (through people telling me) is it's because it's not very noticeable...a good thing in my opinion. I didn't want anything big, just a little sparkle, and I think I succeeded in getting just that.

The Great Cover Up!

There is an annual 3-day musical happening in Tucson every year called The Great Cover Up where local Tucson bands take the stage covering other mainstream acts. Ryanhood is participating for the first time this year...their disguise? Flight of the Conchords! I've included a youtube video of one of their performances...if you haven't heard/seen them before, have fun...they're fun...



In preparation for this event taking place tomorrow night, Ryan has been growing a beard, and we bought a wig to try to get the hair looking just right. In the picture online, the wig looked PERFECT for Ryan's character, however once we got it...it looked like a total clown wig. So, to the Hair Tree we went to try to get it cut/straightened/real curled/etc.


This morning when he tried on the wig though, he thought it still needed some trimming. So, it was my turn to cut away. The one thing that I didn't take into consideration when I offered to cut it, was that Ryan comes from a beauty salon family. (His mom owns a salon, his grandma used to cut hair, etc.) I was quickly getting requests for jagged cuts as to not make it look to straight...to thin it out...and to put layers in it...I did my best. :) It was fun, and the wig looks rockin' now!



If you are in Tucson and want to come...Saturday night (Dec. 13)...10pm (please note the time change)...Club Congress.

200!

Well folks, this is my 200th blog post since it's conception in March of 2006. I originally had thought that I'd do something fun and list my 200 favorites...but to be honest all I have time for is a short post. :) A couple of friends have had this video on their blogs, and well, I like it...so I wanted to share it with all of you!

Hike!

Ryan and I went for a hike last week on the Finger Rock trail in the Catalina Mountains. It's a beautiful place to hike at sunset. We got off to a bit of a late start so we didn't get to hike as far as we had hoped to...yet the view was still breathtaking.

Happy Birthday Vitale!

Today was Vitale's first birthday! Having Vitale and all of his family in our life has been such a joy! I have been wanting to go to Africa ever since I can remember, and I am soo excited that we'll be heading there in a few weeks!! But, Ryan brought to my attention today how cool it is that God has brought Africa to us by means of having wonderful friendships with people from there all around us. It's true, if it weren't for God sending Liz to my doorstep (literally) 5 years ago, we wouldn't be going to Uganda this month. And if it weren't for God urging us to the ESL camp this summer (that we were so on the edge of not attending), we wouldn't have met our friends from Congo! It's been a gift to be apart of their vibrant community, and we got to see an even bigger picture of that today at Vitale's birthday party! The church community that Bienvenue, Elodie, and Vitale are a part of was having a house warming party today for a place they were just able to purchase to hold community gatherings, ESL classes, etc in...and it just so happened to coincide with Vitale's birthday, so they threw a party in celebration...this was the first traditional American birthday party that any of them have ever been to! Bagimba, the pastor the church, is from Burundi and just came to the States 18 months ago as a refugee...he has accomplished sooo much in such a short period of time, it humbles me. He has started this entire church which now has over 100 people, mostly consisting of refugees in Tucson...it just goes to show what a need there was in Tucson for such a gathering place.

Here is a video of some of the music that was sung at the party...


Prayers for Vitale...


Birthday cake...


Piñata...


Onlookers...


Candy Gatherers...


Presents and Vitale's acceptance speech (he was a man of few words)...


Sound asleep...


While at the party, I saw some great ways to carry babies...can't wait to have some vibrant colored fabric and a baby on my back!

Happy Baby Shower Melissa!

On Saturday Melissa's sister, Valorie, and I had a baby shower for Melissa at our house. It was a wonderful gathering of girlfriends sharing in tea, food, crafts, laughs, and hugs. We are so excited to have Baby Giambelluca join our community of friends and family in Tucson!