Photographic Tour of Home

Inspired my our teammates' blog (visit Rugarama Hill to get a tour up the hill to where they and we live), I thought I would post a stream of photos that will give you a feel for our home.

Before I begin, a quick update:  

• Many of you know that Julia was diagnosed last week with shingles.  Yep, shingles!  Now that we have the right medication, she is improving and doing very well.  Thanks for your prayers!
• Sadly, Lucy is evidencing the same symptoms.  We're watching her, and at least this time we know what to expect.
• I'm on my third day of undiagnosed illness -- a virus of some sort -- but I'm actually feeling better today.  Those that are praying for us, pray for an end to all this illness.  There has been at least one person ill in our home for the past 3 weeks.  Leslie especially is quite weary, and we're ready for a season of health!
• I pressed through on Sunday and participated as deacon in my first service at St. Peter's Cathedral. I'm very excited about working under the cathedral staff.  Two of the three have just arrived (all Ugandan), and they have the energy and vision you would expect of new leadership.  There is much to learn from them.
• Kids have only 2 weeks of school left, and we need to figure out homeschooling for December-January so we can get them caught up for the next school year.
• Leslie's aesthetic has reawakened, and she has begun to organize the home as best as possible with what we have.  The more homes we visit, the more we realize that the university here worked hard to give us a good, beautiful home.  Here's a glimpse:

This is the path up which we walk from BBUC to our house. The kids know it well and traipse up and down alone on their way to the Morrow's house or to chapel. (They take a different route to school.)

Turning left from the top of the path, you can see our gate hanging just a few meters away.

I love this gate.  It has its own mottled beauty.

These steps lead you up to our house.

Another shot of this view...it's one I love, and I often pause here before going further.

A couple of steps past the gate, and you can see our duplex to the right.

We live on the right side of the duplex, next door to the chaplain of the university.  (He and I actually met each other Trinity almost 9 years ago!) You can see clotheslines and electric cables strung across the yard.  The satellite dish is for our neighbor.

Front view of our home. The window to the right of the door is the master bedroom.

Side view of our home. You can see Sharon doing some washing. Just past the satellite dish are the steps you saw earlier.

Looking down the side of our house, you can see the water tank that provides water for the bathroom.  This area we will be turning into a flower garden.

When you walk out the kitchen door at the back of the house, this is what you see.  Our back yard, of sorts.  I think it's a lovely patio area, but it slopes too much to use it for much.  To the left we're planting another flower garden. Up higher are banana trees and a vegetable garden our helper Protase has planted.  There is another vegetable garden just behind the "boys' quarters," the building immediately to your right.  The small structure higher up is the outhouse, and a garbage pit is to the right of it.

Here's a view of the "boys' quarters."  The first door on the left is Sharon's kitchen.  She does all her amazing cooking on three charcoal stoves like the one below. The door to the right is where our workers take their breaks, and also where Maureen naps her son Jeremiah.

The charcoal stove.  From this perspective it almost looks like a misshapen jack-o-lantern!

Going up the patio area, you can see the first vegetable garden to the right, behind the boys' quarters.

A bit higher up is the second vegetable garden, with Protase typically hard at work.

This is the view standing at the top of the steps behind our house, looking back down at our house.

Coming back down the steps, you can see the doorway into our kitchen.

This photo actually tells so many stories! The blue bucket is our water filtering system...the green bucket is the garbage that gets burnt or shared with neighbors to feed animals...the produce is a daily adventure in the market to find and purchase...the cabinets that were long awaited and made by a man of remarkable quality and character....

The coffee shelf in our kitchen. A very important place. The odd little box is actually an antiquated but highly functional converter bequeathed to us by a departing missionary, along with her coffee grinder.  We will be forever grateful. Yes, the star on the mug is the badge of the legendary Texas Rangers.

Our dining room table.  Note the contrast of technology: our laptop alongside the wooden utensils for making chapatti, the local flatbread.  The art on the walls is the only art we currently have, made by the girls using supplies sent by our missionary care giver of Global Teams.

This is the view from our front porch. In the mornings it's completely shrouded in mist. Almost every day I tell the kids to stop, look, and enjoy the beauty we have here. I love just sitting on our porch.

The tree in our yard is an avocado tree! We've been enjoying its fruits.

To the left of our yard (our compound, as they say here) is a long fence made of bushes and barbed wire, with a vine of morning glories creeping all along it. It protects us from a highly traversed path just on the other side. We hear the voices of passers-by throughout the night going further up the hill.

A close-up of the morning glory.

And just past the morning glories you can see another hill with more beauty -- and a couple of hotels which have provide a nice getaway for us! We order tea and french fries (chips) and sit in the lawns while the kids play.