Dresses and Roots

before we left Uganda Elizabeth was in a "pretty dress" phase. Every day she would tell me, "let's go choose pretty dresses, mama. I will choose for you." And so we went upstairs and dressed for the day. No matter that our days were filled with sandboxes, swings, paints and playdates. We dressed. And sometimes she dressed me fancy. for grocery shopping. or school pick up. And that's ok. It's kinda fun having a personal stylist living in my house.

There is another layer of meaning in this "pretty dress" season. My mom lovingly preserved a few of my dresses from when I was small (and even one of her own) and gave them to me when I was expecting Elizabeth. and she loves wearing those pieces of history. my mom has given my girls the gift of roots. and that is beautiful!

and my mom also made sure to get the heirloom christening gown to Uganda so Rebekah could wear the same gown all my kids have worn, in honor of the christening gown generations of my family wore as they were dedicated to the Lord. i love that Rebekah didn't miss out on this piece of history, connection and roots. belonging is so important.

Tropical Christmas

Christmas came to Uganda! Even though there was no snow.  It was awesome because we got the Lego Movie set we have been waiting for: Lord Business' Office Tower! We got a swing set, new sand in our sandbox, and a bunch of Ninja Turtles.

Some of the things that are the same about Christmas in Uganda are: 

• we still get presents
• we have a Christmas tree
• we have Christmas stockings
• we made a gingerbread house
• we celebrated with yummy food with people we care about.
• we celebrated Jesus' birth

Some of the things that are different about Christmas in Uganda are: 

• there is no snow
• it is HOT outside
• we didn't have Grammy's hershey kiss cookies
• we didn't have dinner with grandparents and cousins.
• we got a whole month off of school for Christmas break

•