Fields of Hope: October 2006

Star

Eric and I received a sad email this past week. Many of you have met our dog, Star. She is currently living with my dad in Florida. One of the hardest things about leaving was saying goodbye to Star. That might sound silly to some of you but she is our baby.

Well apparently Star was having some eye problems which led to the iris rupturing in her left eye. She was taken to the vet where the only option was to remove her eye. I still can't write it or think about it without crying. It hit both Eric and I very hard. She seems to be recovering well, but we seem to be in a state of mourning. Star is very rambunctious and loves to play fetch so we are mourning for how this loss might affect her quality of life. However, she is too full of energy to be too slowed down too much. Dad has assured us that she is being a good patient. We don't know if you have ever prayed for a dog, but we are asking anyway.

Star if you see this, "We miss you and love you!"

Obstacles of Driving

We have already posted stories about driving in Uganda so here are some pictures to go along with some of the challenges. Mom Bailey likes to know all of the details so this first picture is for her.

Eric with the Toyota Hilux that we use

One of the reasons that we have a 4 X 4-- extremely bad road conditions.

One of our favorite shots-- the back of the bus says, "God likes Patience". We found this very amusing as we waited and waited for buses and trucks to make it through the mudholes. Also notice the people. They had to get on and off the bus as they came to different obstacles.

A very common obstacle- COWS.

Trying to maneuver our way through Kampala traffic. Quite a challenge when you are driving a big pickup.

The Nile and Murchison Falls

We just got a new internet service provider, and it seems as if we are really going to be able to post some pictures. It has been extremely difficult to do this in previous posts. Hopefully you will find the vast array of photos enjoyable rather than overwhelming.

This first set of photos is of the Nile and Murchison Falls. We cross the Nile one or two times, depending on which route we take, as we travel to Kampala. It is a beautiful sight and a highlight of the trip. We also go through Murchison Falls National Park depending again on which route we take. Murchison Falls is created by the Nile squeezing through a 9 meter space. Unfortunately we are unable to give you the real experience as the water thunders through the crevice. We have both visited Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls but somehow they don't compare with the power of Murchison Falls. It is amazing.