Hey there! I thought I better send an update, for all those who are curiously awaiting news from our end. We left Freetown a few days after the last blog post, and we stopped in Spain for a belated honeymoon trip on our way back to the States. It was a wonderful week, two nights in Barcelona and 3 nights in the Pyrennees (near Vielha, a little ski town in the mountains) It was beautiful, and relaxing, and perfect weather (Not Hot at all!) and we had a fabulous time. Dan has the camera with him in Uganda right now, so next time I'll try posting a picture of the mountains. We'd go back there in a second, and we recommend it to anyone who's interested!

When we got home (a week or so before our luggage) we were able to visit with family, even attend my grandmother's 90th birthday party! (see pics) and get our container ready for its 3 month journey across the Atlantic Ocean, down around the Cape of Good Hope (i think its still called that?) and up the Indian Ocean to Mombasa, Kenya, where our container of household goods will then travel overland up to Gulu, Uganda and hopefully arrive at our front door. We had about 2500 pounds of stuff, we were allowed a shipment of 5000 pounds, but there was so much that we weren't sure about, so we went "minimalist" to see how things go.

It was a busy couple of weeks. And, Dan flew out to Kampala (the capital of Uganda) about two weeks ago. He's been in meetings, and had briefings from all his co-workers. He sounds pretty excited about Kampala. There's a movie theater, all kinds of restaurants, and he found out there's a place that makes Bagels. So it's a little different than living in West Africa. He found a shop called "Game" that's basically a target, and he's going there this weekend to buy our stove and fridge. Our house in Gulu is really empty. But not for long hopefully! And I'll be there in about a week and a half to join him there. I got a job, working with an organization called Action Against Hunger, so I needed to wait until my work permits got processed and everything seems set now!

We'll keep you posted, uganda's supposed to have lots of parks to visit, mountains to climb, gorillas to watch, rivers and lakes...hopefully we'll see some interesting things and be able to share them with you.

Gulu is on Google Earth, if you want to look it up. Its pretty much straight north from Kampala, about 5-7 hour drive I heard, depending on the weather and the driver. Its the end of the rainy season right now, Dan's said it rains for a little while every few days, and he's found it to be less humid than Sierra Leone. There was about 20 years of conflict in Northern Uganda, with camps for all the internally displaced people (IDPs) and lots of NGO/humanitarian activity to aid those living in the camps. In 2006 the security situation began to improve, with peace talks and mediations, and the involvement of the Government of South Sudan. Currently, the IDPs are returning to their villages slowly and steadily, and there's hope for maintaining peace and security in the region.

More soon. I just wanted to give you an idea of how we are. Things are good! Hope all is well with you. Much love --