Some Noteworthy Events

Two noteworthy events have happened in our little life.

1. Our new American neighbors moved in on Saturday! They have three little girls and a baby girl, so now we have four little girls and two babies on our compound :). We all took a nice walk in the Botanical Gardens yesterday, escorted by Bridger and Sanyu. Had loads of fun. It will be really good for me and Ella to other kids living so close.

2. Ella planted her first kiss on Spike's fuzzy little forehead this weekend. After 8 months the hog is finally used to her and will come out of a ball while she's around. She's seen Mommy kiss him so she had to too! And more than once... ;)

A noteworthy but not so happy event also happened this weekend. The battery in our car died :(. Yah. Bummer. I noticed last week that it was sounding a bit different so was kind of expecting it. Sure enough, Sunday when we headed out for church it wouldn't start. Dead. So we ended up taking our boda instead. I sure am glad for an alternate mode of transportation in times like that!

As usual, I took quite a "few" pictures of "The Child" over the weekend. A friend of mine and my Moms commented to my Mom, "Ella is probably the most photographed child in Africa!" and well, she's probably right ;). And Lord knows I have plenty of pictures of Bridger sleeping!

The threesome. As usual, the little girls are enjoying each other (Sanyu's about to bite Ella's foot, which Ella thinks is uproariously funny) while Bridger is fast asleep in his own little Bridger world. Sometimes he reminds me of my oldest sister. Not exactly a compliment. It is truly all about him!


Nothing like being sandwiched between two dog butts, with your head pillowed by a monkey. I feel a little sorry for the poor little monkey... ;)

Children learn by example and like to mimic things that they see. Ella is no exception. As I've mentioned before however, there is always an odd little twist in Ella's otherwise very normal play. That's why I enjoy her so, I think, and why she fits into the Halland family so well.

Ella likes to put the trash can on her head and pretend to sell peanuts. It's pretty common around here to have someone selling peanuts, corn, bananas, fish or other tasty treats, from baskets on their heads.

Wouldn't you like to buy peanuts from the head of this charming young salesman?

Whoops!! What's this?? I've never seen anyone wearing their basket before! I'm not sure if L's future as a peanut salesman is incredibly bright...

All little girls like to play with babies, right? Feeding them, bathing them, dressing them, etc. Here in Uganda folks carry their babies on their backs so it's natural that Ella would like to strap her babies onto her back.

But, I've never seen anyone strapping a chicken on their back before!

Amazing at how the child takes after her chicken loving Granny. She was also putting her cloth diapers on her stuffed dog, but I didn't get a picture of that ;) Takes after her mom in that department.

Ella played for about 20 minutes with her chicken, Agatha, strapped to her back. I think Aggie enjoyed it :) All that feather - to - shirt contact really promotes bonding and attachment and trust me, our household is all about that!!

Oops. A moment of weakness as a succumbed to the cry of, "Mom! Take my picture!" Have we got each other trained or what ? Sigh.

Ella in her stunning new outfit that our friend Sue brought for her. What a big beautiful girl she is!

The First Thanksgiving

This year was Ella’s first Thanksgiving and my first Thanksgiving with Ella home. And what a great Thanksgiving we had! I think it was by best Thanksgiving in Africa so far.



We trooped over to our friend Summers house where we joined her American family, our soon to be new American neighbor family, and several Ugandan singles and couples. There were a total of ten kids, all under six, a Jr. High girl and a four month old baby.

Following the tradition of the last two years, I baked two pumpkin pies. I didn’t actually taste them but they looked all right. There were too many other yummy looking desserts that I had to try instead :)

Ella wore her fancy new PINK duds that our friend Sue got her. This really made keeping track of her amongst all the other similarly sized kids a lot easier!

Hmm now, which one’s my kid? (There is a certain benefit to dressing your child in such incredibly bright and PINK colors I guess!)

Imagine our surprise and amazement when an Indian and a Pilgrim (Eliana and Eliza) showed up!!

Lined up waiting their turns for Pin The Feather On The Turkey

L with her buddies, Ezra and Eliana. I was trying to get a picture of Ella’s footwear. She was wearing one rubber boot. And it wasn’t even pink! Why? I do not know. But Eliana turned out to be a much cuter picture than a rubber boot…

Chow time!! The little guys lined up outside on a bench. It was almost like real little pilgrim children who stood while they ate (at least that’s how my parents always told me pilgrim kids ate), only these guys kneeled.

This was our AMAZING hunk of pork that Summer made– complete with pig hair!! (there’s some of it on the left side). It was super delicious and I pigged out!! Hee hee ;)

There was an awesome spread of food. Maybe everything seemed more delicious this year because Ella was finally home to enjoy it with. I don’t know but this food was GOOD! I ate so much that I almost bloated and had to come home and lay on the couch and watch a movie. Ella ate so much that her belly button was starting to pop out! I’d never quite ever seen anything like that before… I think it will probably go down in Halland Thanksgiving history!

Ella enjoyed the other kids and the games they played, as well as the food. I enjoyed the other adults, the kids (which is really something as there were lots of them!) and of course the food.

I am SO THANKFUL to God that my daughter is safe at home this year. She has been SUCH a blessing to my life. I really thought I had a pretty darned good one before she entered the picture but WOW – I had no idea how much better it would become! Right when I thought “life couldn’t get much better than this” God gave me this amazing blessing!

Through Ella, my relationships with people have really been strengthened. With my family, with “old” friends, with new friends and even colleagues. Some people warned me about how my life would change and how I’d be “tied down” with a kid, as if my world would shrink. The exact opposite has happened! Yes, my life has changed, but for the better! I am so thankful for the good friends that God has given me and Ella here in Entebbe. I just love my mixture of friends!

How To Properly Care For A Cat (Dedicated to Becky)

Being as we are such a cat focused family (NOT!), I thought I’d include an informative little post on proper cat care.

The models I am using are our own Ella Monica and Cody William.

# 1. Feed Your Cat

If your Russian neighbor gives you a can of expensive canned cat food all the better – just don’t forget to share it with the family hedgehog.

# 2. Hold Your Cat

For transportational purposes, you should know how to properly hold your cat. One arm supporting his neck and chest (try not to choke him/her) and one arm supporting your kitties butt. This method works well even if your kitty has a full tummy.

# 3. Pet Your Cat

Kitties like to have their ears scratched. This encourages bonding and proper attachment between you and your kitty.

# 4. Nap Times For Your Cat

Provide and monitor nap times for your cat. Cat’s are mighty hunters and like to hunt at night, so daily nap times are a must. Monitoring is crucial to be sure that your cat gets adequate sleeping space, especially when larger dogs are involved.

# 5. Dress Your Cat Appropriately

Only dress your cat as the weather requires. You don’t want to overdress or under dress your cat. A light sweater should be adequate for cool fall days.

#6 Read To Your Cat

Kitties should be read to in order to stimulate proper brain growth and development.

By following these 6 simple steps you can greatly enable your feline to lead a happy, healthy, well adjusted life.

Cat in a Sweater

Who looks happiest about the whole "cat in the sweater" episode?


Despite experiences like this one, we are seeing a LOT more of Cody these days. He comes in the house and pretty much spends ALL day sleeping on my bed. He has decided (after almost eight months!) that he loves Ella. Now that she's older and has more experience with animals, I let her pick him up, which she loves to do. He jumps up on her leg to be pet and she'll scratch his ears. Really cute! The after affects of her Aunt Becky's visit are still lingering... ;)

Score at the market!!

I scored big time at the market on Saturday! Imagine my surprise and delight when I found our cucumber lady selling broccoli!! Yep, you read that right – big beautiful heads of broccoli!

I’ve NEVER in my almost four years here ever seen BROCCOLI at the market. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t ever have it, just that I’ve never seen it before. And I LOVE broccoli!

You can afford to be an impulse shopper at the market so I ended up buying two heads , despite their rather exurbanite price. They were 1500 Uganda shillings, which is the price of a good sized pineapple. But, being as that is only around $.90 I guess it didn’t break the bank too bad…

Since it was her birthday, we also got one for our neighbor Kathryn. We gave her a “broccoli bouquet” instead of a more traditional (and non edible, unless you give it to a goat…) bouquet of flowers :)

So, I turned this delightful delicacy (the broccoli- not Ella) into…

… Chicken Primavera!!

Yum, yum if I might say so myself. Put on bow shaped pasta with a smattering of (expensive) Feta cheese, with a bit of French bread on the side, and you have a pretty darned fancy meal for this household! Then wash it down with a sparkling plastic cup of Coke … ;)

Ella also scored big time at the market. She takes her little bag and it’s just like taking your kid trick or treating, only by the end of the day it’s filled with vegetables instead of candy J. She made out with two carrots, a tomato and two of something that I don’t have any idea what it is. People call her by name :).

Budding Photographer

I did something that I’ve never done before. I let Ella loose with my camera. Doesn’t sound like a very smart thing to do but she did great! There is still a camera left and I was impressed with some of the pretty good pictures she got. She’s only 3.5 years old after all!

Here are some of her better ones:

Bridger sniffing some marigolds (Spike actually, who was sleeping under the marigolds)

Her mom – after she told me to “lift your chin”. So, I did :) I look like I just climbed out of the toilet but oh well!

Her plastic truck

Her puppy – Like mother like daughter… I cracked up when she’d hunker down and stick her camera into a dogs face! I guess she’s seen that done a few times before!

The neighbors, Uncle Gift and Baby James

I let her take pictures of whatever she wanted and it was interesting to see what she wanted to photograph! Sanyu was her first choice, Spike her second (that was pretty unsuccessful), then flowers, her slide, the swing, the cars, the neighbors and me.

I was really impressed with how careful she was with the camera and how she figured it out. It turns off when the shutter is even slightly bumped and she figured out how to open it again to get it turned back on.

Ella’s friend, Eliza

Ella has one of the cutest little friends. Her name is Eliza and she’s only a month older than Ella. They are so cute together because they look alike – same size, build and hair (Eliza’s is a bit longer).

Eliza’s strong, too!

And brave – she was making friends with Sanyu. Eliza’s middle name is Sanyu so I think they felt a special bond :)

Ella and Eliza at ballet – too cute!

We’re blessed to have friends like Eliza and her family :)