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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:03:05 GMT

For the Love of....Doors

If you are wondering...I haven't always been in love with these magnificent looking pieces of art. It all started when I spent a semester studying abroad in Italy. For some reason the doors and the architecture struck me as very interesting and unique. I am not an artist and I had never been interested in artsy things. But after that, I was done in for. I remember by the time I left Italy, everyone I was there studying with knew of my love for doors and they, eventually, were even pointing them out to me!

About two weeks ago I had a day off. I finally, after much debate and writing lists, decided that I wanted to take a trip to Taos to the door place. I actually have no idea what it is called but it's the place with all the doors...hence the door place! :) I grabbed my camera and took off. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! I got there and started snapping. I wasn't trying to worry about position or lighting...even though I did try pretty hard on a few to get just what I wanted. When I got home I put them on my computer and had more fun with them!! Here is the result of a day well spent!! Enjoy....

This one is my favorite.... :)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:45:36 GMT

Easter

I went home for Easter to join my mom and dad, my sister and brother and their families. It was a great weekend! We do what most families do, I think anyway....eat....and eat some more! :) It seemed like everytime we did anything, right after it was time to eat again! We are pretty good at watching movies, and talking a lot....of course the location of the conversations are usually in the kitchen...that way we don't have to go so far to graze!! Sunday after church and lunch we dyed eggs with the kids and then hid some outside and watched as they tore it up looking for them. Abby, my youngest niece of almost two years got so excited that she jumped and almost all of her eggs fell out of her basket! It was great! :)

Here are some pics from the weekend....

Me and my siblings in the first picture.....my sister (Rachel), and my dad and I....and then the original five! :)

Memaw and Grandpa with the grandkids. And then my nieces Kristen, Ashley and Abby

Me and my brother Les.....Rachel, Nathan (brother-in-law) and I.....and then Mom and Les.

Tristan, Kristen and Ashley getting ready to dye eggs.....Abby eating pancakes....and the mad dash through the yard to find the eggs!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:52:52 GMT

Changes....

I have to apologize...I thought I posted this publicly and I forgot...so sorry!! :)

Since I have been back in the states and planning my return back to Uganda, I felt that I haven't been very decisive. My original plans were to return in May. I thought that would put me back in time to help with summer visitors and that way I wouldn't get too comfortable here in the states! Well a few weeks ago I realized that plan just wasn't working so well. I needed a date to work towards. One that I felt good about and felt was guided by God's hand. After praying about it and getting to visit with some people I decided that I would return in August. I think this is the best decision for me right now and couldn't be happier about it. Staying until August gives me more time to see my family, more time to work and save money and more time to fundraise. Shawn and Linda Tyler, one of the famililes in Uganda, will also be returning to Uganda in August so it will be nice to travel back with them! I'll keep everyone posted if this changes again!

If you are interested in my work in Uganda please feel free to contact me at rebeccaramsey@hotmail.com or if you want to make a donation you can make the check out to Str8way Ministries and send it to: Str8way Ministries, Greg Johnson, 14859 CR T, Bountiful, CO 81140.

Thank you to all for your continued prayers and support!!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:23:41 GMT

Volleyball

Some people have asked what I have been up to since I've been in Red River. Well...mostly working but playing when I can. I already did a blog on my jobs so I thought I'd write about one of the things I look forward to most during the week .....Sunday afternoon volleyball. Sunday's are my days (day?) off and I thoroughly enjoy it! It isn't much of a restful day, besides just getting rejuvenated for the next week. Most have started with church in the morning, lunch , then volleyball at 2:00 pm till 5:00 or 5:30 sometimes, then who knows in the evenings...usually hanging out with friends.

Each week has been a different combination of people, but there are a few of us "regulars". We play anything from two to four on a team. We play indoors at the church, the court is a bit smaller than a legal size, but we still have fun. We are waiting for warmer weather so we can get outside on the sand court!!

So here are some pics....they aren't very good ....hard to really catch the moment.. :)

Joel, Tim and Steven.....and then Tim going up for a hit....

Randy and Ronnie....and then Randy and Steven talking trash...I'm sure... :)

I think they saw my flash!! Di going up for a hit....she doesn't play with us every week and it was SO great to have her there!!!

We laugh constantly, have fun... and play serious.....what sweet fellowship...can't get any better than that!!! :)

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:39:50 GMT

To Shamrock, Perryton....and back....again....

Last weekend I went home for a few days and made some presentations at two churches. I drove home on Friday, drove to Perryton Saturday night, drove back to Shamrock on Sunday and then back to Red River on Sunday....so I was a busy driver! :)

I talked to the youth at the Perryton Church of Christ Sunday morning and then visited with the elders and the preacher Sunday after morning services. It was good to meet them and get to share what I did and what I will be doing. They helped me financially when I decided to extend my stay to December, and then have also decided to help me when I go back. When I got back to Shamrock, I did a presentation for my church after services on Sunday night. It was great! Several people had been looking forward to it, and that makes it better when people are actually excited about it! We had finger foods and then I talked and showed some pictures.

As most of you know, I am raising all of my own support to return to Uganda. I am still planning to go back in May, but am seeking God on that decision as well. If anyone has any questions or is interested in helping financially or in prayer and want more information, please contact me. You can email me at rebeccaramsey@hotmail.com or just make a comment on my blog!

Thank you for all of you who support me, finanically, and through taking my future to God through prayer.

Here are some pics of me with my sister, brother-in-law and neice and nephew!!

Me and Carlee in the first picture, and then with Carlee and Tristan in the second picture.

With Nathan, Carlee, Tristan and Rachel. I got to use my new tri-pod I got for Christmas....I haven't used it enough to be an expert yet...thus the off centeredness!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:14:44 GMT

Starting Again....

Two days after I stepped off the plane from Uganda, my sister offered me a job in Perryton, Texas, working with her in her office. She works for an oil company. A week later my friend from Red River calls and offers me a job with her. She had just bought a business in Red River and wanted me to come work for her in the office.

So, on top of adjusting to the US, constantly being cold and trying to make future plans, I had a HUGE decision to make. Of course I wanted to work for my sister. I would be around my niece and nephew more, and be close to my family. And of course I wanted to be in the mountains. For those of you who know me, know that I live and breath for the mountain air. Red River is quite a bit farther from home than Perryton is. I know that when I mentioned it to people, they automatically knew that I would choose Red River. I have been coming up here to work for almost five years during the summer and winter breaks in between semesters at school and pretty much call this place home. When I left for Uganda, I wasn't sure I would actually come back and live here. Of course, I have been saying that since the first summer I came up here..."well you guys, I guess this is it...I don't think I'll make it up next summer"...and then for some reason would always return! :)

So back to the big decision... I didn't know what to do. I was completely torn. I lost sleep over it, stressed out till my mouth hurt like crazy (my mouth is the first thing that goes when I get really stressed! :) ) I prayed hard that God would guide me in making this decision and that it would be the right one. I would wake up one morning and decide that I was going to go to Perryton, then by the end of the day I would think Red River was the best decision.

Without going into to MORE detail than I already have, I finally made a decision. I realized that if I moved to Perryton I would be starting over. I know my sister and her family, obviously, but as far as friends that aren't related, none in Perryton, TX. And, as most of you know, I'm usually not concerned with picking up and moving somewhere different. However, with all of the other adjustments I had ahead of me I decided I needed some consistency in my life. So...I took the job in Red River.

I was a little worried about where I would live, and was working that out when I got a call from my good friend Diane Johnson. She said that the managers at the Auslander lodge in Red were looking for some help. I told her I was already committed to Jenny at Reservations Unlimited, but she said they were looking for even one day a week. So I made some phone calls, and boy was that a blessed day. By that night I had two jobs and a free place to live. Could God have made it any clearer than that? I felt good about my decision and was really excited about my new jobs. I had always had two jobs in Red River, but it was going to be two new ones!

I am employed by Reservations Unlimited and work four, sometimes five days a week. Reservations Unlimited is a booking agent for condominiums, townhouses and free standing cabins and houses. I answer phones and make reservations, check people in and out, and check property before and after they leave. I work one day a week at the Auslander Lodge and do basically the same thing there. I have enjoyed both of them very much, I get along great with both of my bosses and have loved being in the mountains!!!

Here are some pictures of the office and of the view I get everyday! :)

The desk I sit at most of the day!

These are the windows I look out of when I'm not extremely busy!

AND this is what I get to look at!!! Pathetic isn't it! I know you are all feeling very sorry for me right now!!!! :) The first picture is of one of the ski runs so I get to watch people come down the face....I've seen some pretty bad wipe-outs too!! :)

Me in the office after I decorated for Mardi Gras!!!!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:00:59 GMT

New Year's

I was so very fortunate to spend New Year's with my dear friends from Uganda. We were all back in the states, with the exception of one...my roommate Kimberly :(. At first I wasn't real confident that we would pull it together. But God had his hand in it, of course, and we were re-united!! :) Heidi picked Laurie and Jennifer at the airport in Tulsa, then they drove to Shamrock. Audra picked Laura Beth up at the airport in Amarillo and then drove out to Shamrock to meet us!

Since it was Sunday..and my mom is SO wonderful and has a GREAT memory...she made us pancakes that night. We had pancakes every Sunday night in Uganda at the Shelburnes and had some great times!

The next morning we got up and drove to Amarillo and met the boys...Josh and Stephan Shelburne. We talked Josh into going to a movie with us....we went to see Enchanted...and I do believe it is his new favorite movie! :) We met Stephan later and then went over to Audra's house for our New Year's party. It was wonderful to be with everyone again. One of our favorite things to do is sing...so we got out the guitar and sang for a while. When we were finished with that we just visited and reminisced the rest of the night!! Here are some pics from those 2 days...

The girls at my house. Jennifer, Heidi and Laurie were somehow amused with the stools in the kitchen! I think Jen and Audra missed each other....aren't they cute!! :) And then there we are with our pancakes!

This was New Year's Eve...we all went out to dinner...talk about one lucky guy....

This was our last group picture of 2007 and then the first one of 2008!

We had so much fun and I am greatly anticipating the next reunion!!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:58:24 GMT

Christmas

Some Pics from Christmas...just a little late :)

My BEAUTIFUL neice, Carlee....

My brother, Lester and his wife Rachel and their youngest, my youngest neice, Abby. And memaw's sweet girls giving her a hug!

This was Christmas day with my mom's side of the family. The first one is in our kitchen while my cousin Kate and the kids decorate a ginger bread house. The second picture is all of us gathered around a table so we could play games....very cozy! :) And the third picture is my mom on the left with her brother and sister...aren't they cute!!!

My dad sitting on Santa's lap...he comes to see us every Christmas Eve....or at least every year he knows that the kids will be there!! :) The second picture is Christmas morning. My sister, Rachel and my brother-in-law, Nathan and Tristan and Carlee were there with us that night and morning.

It was SO great to be with my family for Christmas and loved every bit of it!!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:09:40 GMT

Catching Up!

Once again I have no good excuses. I am back in the great US of A and trying to get my feet under me! I seriously thought about not writing a blog on Thanksgiving and my last trip to Kitale, Kenya. However, I have had these pictures uploaded for a few months now and decided that since I already had that done then why not!

Thanksgiving was great! For some reason it wasn't at all like the year before. If you remember, I sat on the couch all day with a cup of coffee. This year I couldn't sit still. It even rained a little, so it was nice and cool. We had plenty of yummy food and awesome company, but I couldn't decide on anything I wanted to participate in! Here are some pics from that day!

That morning Kimberly was going to make mashed potatos and we had so many she was putting them in the blender! We got them in there and didn't have enough power to blend them! :) She ended up going to the Shelburnes to finsh. Finish she did, and yummy scrummy they were!! :)

Shawn in the kitchen cutting the chicken...yes chicken, not turkey...they get a little tough around here! And Danetta and Linda getting things ready for the meal!

The meal.

We had the food out most of the day and ate till our little tummy's were full.....and then some! :)

The day after Thanksgiving Kimberly, Jennifer, Heidi, Leila and I all loaded in the Tyler truck and headed to Kitale, Kenya. It was mine and Heidi's last trip over there before we left to come home. It was also going to be my first goodbye :( . The trip was great. Mama Nancy said she would teach us how to make chapatis on Saturday...I was pumped! I got to see some of my other friends that I have formed relationships with while we were there also. Friday night we went to their house for fellowship where we sat around a campfire...it was perfect!

Everything was great until about 6:00 am Saturday morning. I woke up and was sick! I was thinking it was food posioning, but you never know around there! As I was leaving the bathroom the floor came right up and hit me in the face. Yep, passed out cold and the first thing that hit was my nose! Kimberly helped me back to bed, but I was there all morning. I finally made it to the childrens home in the afternoon but missed the chapati making! :( I was also looking forward to playing sports with the kids, didn't do that either! I felt better by the evening so I was lucky it didn't last longer!

Sunday we had church and lunch with them before saying our goodbye's and heading back to Mbale. It was hard to say goodbye but nice to know that I'll see them again soon! :)

Here are some pics from the trip....

Uncle and the Aunties working in the kitchen.

Amani and Mashavu. Mashavu is 'cheeks' in Swahili. This little guy's real name is Shawn but he's got some cheeks on him so I asked Nancy what the word for cheeks is in Swahili :) .

It was a great trip, besides cracking my nose (I think), and I miss them all dearly!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:57:05 GMT

No Excuses, Just Results...

That is what my coach in high school used to say, thank you Coach Whiteley! That was the first thing I thought about when I began writing. I wanted to write paragraph upon paragraph of excuses why I haven't written in so long. I am totally ashamed that I have not written or updated since the first day of school. When I think about it I don't feel like it has been that long. Then I actually look at a calendar or think about the date and I have to hang my head!

I have been extremely busy these past months. School work has kept me loaded down, along with making trips to Kampala and the usual every day things that occur around here. So with all of that said I am going to try to give a brief..yes I know you must be laughing...overview of the last couple of months!

September

September was a crazy month for me. As I look back in my daily planner I realized what consumed my time! School had just begun and I was trying to balance all of the subjects I am teaching and trying, somehow, to find a routine. The first two weeks of the month I was also helping Shawn with some accommodations for a group called FAME. They were coming to put on dental clinics around and in Mbale. I made the reservations for hotels and booked transportation. You might think that would be a fairly easy job. Well I am still in Africa, so now picture trying to communicate over the phone to African's who barely understand you. Or just tell you what you want to hear. Needless to say, I was on the phone a lot. However, I enjoyed every minute of it! :)

We also had our open house in September. We don't have any new students at the school so it was a great time of fellowship with the families we already have in the school.

I had a few last minute trips across Uganda as well. Our teammates in Ft. Portal (western Uganda) were going through some rough times and they are there without other teammates. They do have other American families there but they are the only family with NTCC. Kimberly, Heidi and I decided that they needed a visit. We decided on Friday night that we would get in the truck and drive across Uganda the next day. And that we did! We left early Saturday morning of the 15th and drove 8 hours...or 9 can't remember...to Ft. Portal. We had to return on Monday so it was a quick trip, but what a blessed trip it was! We weren't really sure what we were going to do when we got there. That didn't seem to matter! We wanted to be there for them and whatever they needed. And, I don't know who got more out of it, them or us!! It was a weekend full of laughter and great conversations, and inside jokes that will last forever!! Their daughter, Kinley, was baptized on Sunday and we were there to rejoice with them. That was a huge blessing!

One of the things we laughed the hardest at was how cold we were. Granted we were in the Rwenzori Mountains and it had rained all day so of course it is going to be a little colder but let me tell you how cold I was. My feet, nose and hands were all freezing. I had a sweatshirt on and sweat pants (or capri's). I left the room momentarily and when I came back everyone was laughing hysterically. They asked me how cold I thought it might be. I didn't have a clue...all I knew was that it was stinkin' cold! So I took a peek at the thermometer. Ready for this one? It said 69 degrees. And no I'm not lying. It was just about room temperature and I thought I was going to freeze. And yes I am coming home in the dead of winter! It was funny...we still laugh about it! We had a great weekend and so glad we jumped in the truck and took off!

The next weekend was another unexpected trip. This time just to Kampala. I say "just to Kampala", that does still mean a 4 to 5 hour trip, over horrible roads and through traffic. But, not as far as Ft. Portal! I traveled with Heidi to take Margaret Thompson to the airport and to pick another group that came in. Margaret came over for about three months to do some vet work for us out in the villages. She had a family emergency and had to fly back to the states. The group SEE ministries came in the day after she left so it worked out good. SEE ministries is a organization that does eye glass clinics and has been coming over here for 9 years. They were here for about 3 weeks and did some amazing work and helped a few thousand people! Oh yea, and I went because I was in desperate need of a haircut!

That is a story in itself. There is a mzungu woman, or a few I guess, that cut hair in Kampala. The one I went to before was booked and couldn't get me in. SO, Heidi and I decided that we were brave enough to go into an African salon. This particular one was called "Sparkles Salon". We walked in, a Ugandan man took me over to wash my hair and I explained to him how I wanted my hair cut. The whole time I was explaining he was just staring at me and barely nodding his head saying, "yes madam, ok madam, yes madam". Yeah, that was definitely reassuring! He washed my hair, and massaged my head, and yes it was a little awkward. Finally made it to the chair and he began combing through my hair. It took him like 15 min to brush through it all because he went so slow and he just kept looking at it like he had never seen mzungu hair before. So I finally broke down and asked him if he had ever cut mzungu hair before. And he assured me he had. Heidi and I were across the room from each other but luckily they had those handy mirrors so we could still make eye contact. We would look up at each other every once and a while and I was pretty sure we were thinking the same thing, "what on earth possessed us to get our hair cut by an African?". Well, to put your mind at ease. It all came out ok. My hair looked fine. It took him a good hour and a half to cut and dry it. Probably a record, considering it has NEVER taken anyone that long to cut my hair. Heidi had a few more problems, but I'll save that for another time!

October

So, September was a little longer than I expected, so maybe you should take a break now before you read October!

October started with Fall Break and our team retreat in Jinja. It was a great, great time of relaxing and fellowship. I missed all the girls that were here last year because we had so much fun together. But it was still fun and definitely enjoyable. We went to Kingfisher Resort, which is where we went last year. It is right on the banks of the Nile River. We didn't go out on the lake like we did last year but we down to it a few times. We still played games and visited and watched the kids swim. We got the guitar out several times and played, well, I didn't play but I sang!! :) It was a great time to be rejuvenated.

School continued to keep me busy. I don't know if I ever found a routine though! It is hard to find one and stick to it around here. We did basketball and soccer in PE and the kids really enjoyed it. They, of course, hate doing the drills and the fundamentals but they survived! I haven't taken any pictures of them playing. Audra used to be good at that during PE and since she isn't here I haven't been so good!

October was quite a stressful month for me. I had been thinking, even before October, about my future plans and what I wanted to pursue next in my life. During this month, I thought a lot, prayed a lot and finally came to a conclusion about something I wanted to work towards. It was very scary to talk about and even now as I type, it is strange that I am sharing it with all of you. I, God willing, am going to come back and work on the Mbale Mission Team as their hospitality coordinator. With that said, I am sure a lot of you have furrowed brows right now and maybe even went back and read that sentence again. Yes, you read it correctly! Of course now you must be saying, "what on earth is a hospitality coordinator?". Well, I could go into great detail about what that job description looks like, but I won't. Right now I am working on figuring most of that out as well. The Long Rangers (the families that are here indefinitely) and I are working on that together. This was a position they were looking to fill and I happen to be thinking the same thing. In the end it is still up to God to decide. And I have been doing my best at laying it all at His feet. When I come home I have to fundraise and talk to Churches about supporting me. That is the part that is the scariest. So there it is! I do ask for your prayers as I follow this path.

November

Well can you believe it! I made it to November, and it's not even over yet!! :)

I must say that I am extremely excited because.....Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!!! :) Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE the holiday's!

So far in November I have made one trip to Kampala. We had our quarterly meeting this last weekend, the 11th and 12th. I was able to stop in Jinja and get some shopping done before I come home. That was nice to get a big chunk of that done. The meeting was good. It is always good to see the other families in Uganda and hear about the work they are doing.

I am planning on going to Kitale next weekend, after Thanksgiving of course, on Friday to visit the childrens home one last time before coming home. I am really excited about that but sad I won't see them for a while.

As of today I have 4 weeks and one day before I arrive in Amarillo, TX. I almost can not believe it! I couldn't be more excited about coming home to see friends and family. It is great to be so excited about going home to the USA and just as excited to come back here to my home in Uganda!

So there are a few things that I would still like to blog about. Hopefully they will be up soon. I don't think I have put any pictures of our dog Thatcher. We got him during the summer! He is pretty cute! And I still haven't blogged about all the funny signs and weird things we see written on the backs of trucks and matatu's (taxi's).

I will blog again before I leave. That is a promise! :) I hope you enjoyed.....until next time....