Handfuls of Blessings

Surprise! Somehow, we managed to pull it off - a surprise birthday party for Keith's mom.  Our gift was 60+ reasons why we love her.  She had fun reading the cute sayings for each item  We live two hours away from Keith's parents who also live in the same town with Keith's sister, Alisha, and Keith's brother, Matt and his family.  Alisha and Keila planned the whole party in the theme of the oldies, and we did our part and showed up unexpectedly.  Alisha, the master planner, with Skyler, Shiloh, and the dogs We had so much good food, ice cream, s'mores, and ice cream floats that no one had room for cake.  However, we will enjoy that tonight after church.  The 50's look of the Stensaas men and boys It was a great, memorable party that was enjoyed by all.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

A most common question we get asked while in the States is whether or not we have wild animals roaming around.  Actually, our children have grown up seeing farm animals every day and seldom get to see the African wildlife.  Any time we leave our house, we will see goats, cows, sheep, pigs, and mongooses.  We own several dogs, and at least one of the children will be seen carrying a chameleon around.  We have several varieties of birds and other lizards, too.  However, the lions, leopards, elephants, and water buffalo are seldom seen outside of the game parks.  However, on Wednesday we had a visitor. One big monkey jumping on the roof! Shae-Lynn was hanging clothes outside when she excitedly began yelling, "Mom, come here quickly!  Hurry!"  There was a monkey on our roof trying to make his way down to the stalk of bananas I had hanging off the back porch.  The children had fun running back and forth trying to keep track of the monkey as ...

I love my Crocs.  They come in all colors and styles.  They are light-weight.  They are easy to wash and are easy slip-on-slip-off shoes (important for living in Uganda).  I had not realized how they all seem to have the same, comfortable feeling until last Sunday. Our family's collection, washed and drying Our Sunday schedule is something like this - 7:00  Breakfast 8:00  Leave for church 8:30  Luganda service 10:00  Sunday School 11:00  English service 1:00  Lunch 1:30  Take those who preach to the prisoners to the prison 4:00  Leave for soulwinning 4:30  Soulwinning 7:00  Home It is a busy day for us, but everyone really likes the new schedule of going soulwinning on Sunday afternoons.  We find so many more people at home and willing to talk.  Back to my shoes.  The shoes I wear for church, I don't usually wear around town.  They are a little more dressy, so I don't like to wea...

Since we had our grand celebration yesterday on the 3rd, it really doesn't seem like today is a holiday.  We were blessed to have the Applegate and Telman families join us for a cook-out and homemade ice cream.  With 17 children running around, everyone had someone to play with.  The ladies even sneaked off for a couple of hours to roam the market, and the men enjoyed a couple of games of Wii golf.  It was a fun-filled day, and we all enjoyed ourselves. My July 4th "Cake:" Vanilla & Strawberry ice cream layered into a bundt pan But my thoughts go to the men and women stationed around the world - both military and government employees - who have devoted their lives to keep America free.  America has strayed far from the godly principles it was founded upon, but I am still proud to be called an American.  There is no other country like her, and I will continue to pray for her. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD"