Team Smith's Anniversary

This post was written 1.5 months ago, but we were waiting patiently for our internet speed to be fast enough to add some photos. It has been too slow at our house so if there are photos accompanying this post it is only because the internet speed was fast enough in Kampala. Anyway, read and enjoy... oh, by the way, the baby animals pictures (if they upload) are dedicated especially to our niece, Erin. We love you, Erin.

Eric and I arrived back from a trip to Kampala this past Saturday. We were away for a week and a half so it was good to be back home. There were many things that took place during this week and a half, but I am going to first post the thing that I am most thankful for.

On Oct. 23rd we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. How could I ever express enough thanks to God for bringing us together? I absolutely love being married to such an amazing man. He has in a very real and human way shown me a glimpse of how God loves us. As I could go on about my love for this man, I will save that for another time and another format and instead talk about what we did to celebrate.

Team Smith spent two nights at a lodge in Murchison Falls National Park. It was a nice break from the usual. We enjoyed having a pool to cool off in as Arua is a place where it feels like you should always be able to go swimming but never can. We also were able to take some longer game drives. It was the first time in the park that we were actually able to sit and watch without any time constraints a large family of elephants. Our favorite part though was the boat trip that we took up the Nile to the bottom of Murchison Falls. It was a three hour trip in which we saw beautiful scenes along the river's edge. My favorite part was being able to see hippo after hippo. The only sad part was that when we first saw a mother and baby hippo, I got so excited (I know, shocking! :) that I must have dropped one of our largest camera cards into the river. Below are some of the shots from our time in the park.

While we stayed in the park for two nights, our actual anniversary was while we were in Kampala for a partner forum. Eric, however, had a master plan for our celebration. He ordered dinner from our favorite restaurant and was planning on taking it back to the office and surprising me with a candlelight dinner on the balcony on top of the office. Unfortunately, like our wedding day, it was overcast and chilly so everything had to be moved indoors. However, Eric had some of his coworkers pick up some beautiful flowers to brighten up the room. (One bonus of being in Uganda is that they have amazing flowers that cost nothing compared to flowers in the states!) Along with the flowers, Eric also continued in his tradition of continuing the ballad that he first wrote for me for our engagement. In the ballad, the African Queen and the traveler have set off for another journey. I can't do justice to the beauty of the ballad, and I know that Eric would be somewhat embarassed if I posted it, but sufficed to say, the journey is continuing. Praise the Lord!