My first Ugandan Pedi

As a nice little end to a pretty sweet day, Bev had a fantastic idea for us to go and get a pedicure. This was my fifth pedicure that I've gotten in my life and the first one I've gotten in Uganda. It really wasn't nearly as sketchy as I had anticipated it being and they seem to have things fairly sterile so here's hoping I don't get any gnarly foot fungus. Needless to say, my feet haven't looked this pretty since before I left six months ago.

I'm legit!

Today was our SOM graduation where we went to this restaurant overlooking the lake. It was awesome just hanging out, eating amazing fish and chips, and shedding a couple of tears.

An adventure day

Today in order to truly start my new school-free life with a bang, I went on an adventure with Ryan and Judy to check out the big part of Lake Victoria. It was unreal just how big it was! I seriously kept accidentally referring to it as the ocean. Anyways we were able to check out a lot of cool views of the Lake from on top of some hills and then even down by the water, it was awesome! If you have Facebook, I posted the pictures on there. We began our adventure with picking up coffee milkshakes from Ozzies (an Australian run kind of diner in Jinja) and then driving through areas where there was actually not a road and in the end we got some great views of the area and we even saw some monkeys, I have to say it was quite a successful adventure.

It never gets old

Ryan got a set of Sesame Street DVD's for the kids and today I broke one out to watch with Aryanna, even though she's not even two yet, she was loving it as you can see. The episodes we were watching were from about 12 years before I was even born, but it still is the best kid's show around.

**If you come across dvd's of Sesame street, Barney, or Reading Rainbow and you want to send some our way, we wouldn't stop ya ;)

A perfect day

So not only did I finish school today, but it was just an all around awesome day. After school, I ended up getting in touch with some more of my artsy side and while I was watching Gilmore Girls, painted a few pieces for my new apartment, nothing fancy, but they'll do the trick. After that, we had service where it was one of those where at the end you felt like you were lying on the floor being kicked and stomped on, but in a good way. Then I was able to hang out with some of my girls for a little bit and answered some questions and laid down the law. We also had an afterglow which I used to be leery of, but it wasn't nearly as weird as I was expecting and it was just an awesome night of prayer and it was too cool because I was just sitting there and some of our local staff came up and prayed for me (all at different times), it's just so cool to have that pedestal that I feel sometimes I'm placed on be knocked down and for us to truly be a body, it was awesome. To top the night off, Ryan, Judy, and I played scrabble and...I WON!!! I've never won before in my life, I couldn't believe it! It was truly a great day!

I'm done, da da done

Well, after 5 1/2 months of waking up before any person ever should, outlining every chapter (minus Psalms) of the Bible, being broken, humbled, and purely brought to the state of being in awe of how amazing our God is, I'm now officially done with the School of Ministry. Today was our last test and class. I have to say it was bitter sweet and I may or may not have shed a few tears. I mean, to think of all that has happened in this time and all that God has taught me, it's just crazy to think that it's over and now it's time to really apply it. I'm so thankful that I was able to have the opportunity to come here and go to school because it definitely was the perfect dynamic for me to not only learn the material but grow closer to some of my co-laborers as well as learn more about the culture.

Along with finishing SOM, I came to the realization that I have NEVER stopped going to school since I was a wee girl in Kindergarten and now I'm really done. I honestly don't know what to do with myself and I haven't even been done for 24 hours, I know it will come and I'll be crazy busy with teaching in schools, doing business stuff, and whatever new things God will bring me to, but it's I guess the whole unknown that's kind of crazy.

6 Months!

Wow! Today marks 6 months that I've officially been in Uganda. That's just crazy to think about, now as I'm wrapping up school of ministry (only four more days left!) and moving into a new apartment, I honestly feel like I'm jumping into a new chapter of my life here, it's exciting yet SOOO intimidating. Today was one of those days too that kind of give me a reality check with just so many little things going wrong that it just made for one of the most difficult days here ministry wise that I've experienced so far. I look forward though to what other things God has for me here as He continues to amaze me with how He uses me, to quote the Psalm, "who am I that you are mindful of me?"

On an additional note, I will be writing more and sending my newsletter out soon (if you want to be on my mailing list just let me know) as soon as I'm done with school, these final couple of weeks have just been doozies.