Birthdays, bugs and broccoli!!!

Rebecca loving the balloons on her birthday!

Rebecca is one! Yesterday we celebrated Rebecca's first birthday with cake and balloons and all our MAF friends. It was great fun and a welcome break in the middle of a busy week. I cant believe it is a year ago that we were in the UK sitting in hospital trying to work our how this tiny little spinning baby was going to come into the world. Now a year on we have a gorgeous little lady with a great personality. She is so peaceful, easy going and loves spending time with her big sister. More and more we hear squeals of excitement from them both as they chase each other around the floor or hide under the table. Tiny nuggets of pure joy in the day which just make all the other hassles of life fade away! 

The girls are loving exploring all the weird and wonderful bugs and insects that are all

around their feet. Chameleons, lizards, crickets, grass hoppers, praying mantis, beetles, ants, sand lions to name a few. I often look out to see what Rachel is doing, only to see her squatting and digging in the sand looking for sand lions. Tiny little insects that live in the sand and eat ants. They make a small hole in the sand above themselves for the ant to fall in and then they pop out and eat them, so if you are quick and drop an ant in (or gently blow the sand in the hole) you can catch them! All good fun!!! Rachel is also enjoying seeing horses pulling their carts around town. (Okay, thats

not a bug, but brightens a journey!) Talking of horses, last Saturday we went out of town to a horse farm with two other MAF families. The children were able to have a short horse ride which was very exciting and Rachel loved being able to ride the horse. 

These last two weeks we have had two visitors from the MAF programme in Uganda and both came bearing gifts. I never thought I would say this, but fresh broccoli really is better than chocolate!!! And that is quite something coming from me (yes I do love my chocolate!). A few weeks ago one of the supermarkets here had fresh broccoli for sale....it was 8000CFA ($16/ £10)...for one head of broccoli!!!! So you can imagine our excitement to receive fresh broccoli and cauliflower. Every last bit was enjoyed by us all!! And then our second visitor brought us fresh oranges, apples, passion fruits and home made cookies from a friend at our church in Kampala along with cards and messages from so many friends at KIC. We feel incredibly loved and were so grateful to receive so many messages from dear friends. 

So now we are on the countdown to Rachel's 3rd birthday. She knew Rebecca's birthday came first but lacks the concept of time, and so each day is expecting it to now be her birthday!!! Today she told me it was now her turn for presents and cake!! Roll on 30th November!!!

Lastly we praise God as Rachel is now happy and content going to her pre school each day. She went back happily after half term and we have hardly had a tear since. Our little lady is growing up and feeling more secure and happy in her new surroundings. Thanks for all the prayers on this, please do keep them coming!!