WHAT IS HOME

Over the years "home" has become something different. Home is no longer an actual house with walls and a roof. Home is where my family is. Home is when we are all together. Home has literally become "where the heart is". 

A few weeks ago I was asked to pick one word that reminded me of home…it got me thinking about all the things that draw me back to that place of safety and love. That feeling when something reminds you of home and you are instantly caught in a daydream of memories, there really is nothing better. A few things that remind me of “home” are,

The smell of a campfire

Inside/stupid jokes

Moving boxes

Suitcases

Waiting till it’s almost Christmas day to FINALLY buy a tree!

Veggie stir-fry (and how much it bothered my older brother when that is what we would have for dinner)

Laughing till my stomach hurts

WHAT UGANDA TAUGHT ME

"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear."

Lately I’ve been feeling pathetic, lazy, and even a tad worthless. I look back on my life and according to the world’s standards I don’t have much to say for myself. I have no diplomas, scholarships, job opportunities, savings account or anything to show for myself…I let that get to me and oh, what a huge mistake that was!

I have come to realize that I have something worth so much more. I have a heart that is filled to overflowing with love. I have a memory of her first word; I have the memory of holding back tears as she called me “mama”, I have so many memories that I wouldn’t trade for the world. When people ask me what I’ve been up to over the past year I simply say “I’ve been living in Uganda” but that does not do it justice. 

Over the past year I have learnt how to open my heart to the lonely and forgotten.

I have learnt how to say goodbye even when I don’t want to.

I have learnt to let go and allow Gods will to happen.

I have learnt how to care for the child who is hard to love.

I have learnt how to hope.

I have learnt how hard it is to have those you love ripped from you forever.

I have learnt that I do have a voice and that I can stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.

Most importantly, I have learnt to trust God and let me tell you, it’s not easy…

I struggle

I fail

I hurt

I fall to my knees in tears…

And after all of this, after all of the heartache, pain and doubt God is there.

He lifts me up, he holds me close and whispers that all is well.

I still have days where I feel anger towards what happened. I still have moments where I cry, feelings of worry entering me but I no longer let it bring me down. I now choose to hold onto that hope.

Hope, faith and trust. Those three words describe my time in Uganda.

It’s not always easy for me to publish personal posts and put my thoughts out here for others to read. I hope that by me sharing a glimpse of my experiences and my feelings I can inspire others to hold onto hope. Turn to God, have faith in his plan, believe that everything will work out…and if it doesn’t work out the way you want, don’t give up…continue believing, continue hoping, continuing praying…I promise you that God will never leave you alone. I promise.

GOODBYES

As summer comes to an end I am once again hit with the reality of saying goodbye. 

I hate having to leave the ones I love but like Winnie the Pooh so wisely taught, I really am grateful that I have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. 

When you ask mom to take a photo...Im still trying to teach her the basics of photography ;)

Im a mommy's girl through and through!

ALL TOGETHER

Three weddings in one summer calls for a lot of family get-togethers and I am so grateful that I have gotten to spend so much time with my immediate AND extended family over the last couple months.

 Looking at this picture makes me wonder when the next time we will all be together again will be...it's fun watching all of us grow up and start doing our own thing and it definitely makes the moments where were all together more special and memorable.

COUSINS AND CAR RIDES

Thursday after my cousins wedding Rachel, Savannah and I all headed off to Kelowna for the rest of the weekend!

First stop was the gas station (YAY!) because I really needed to use the bathroom! I saw a bathroom sign at the end of the hallway but it looked like an "employee only" area so Rachel said "Just walk down and pretend to look at the magazines" (genius!)...I awkwardly started walking down, trying to figure out if it was a public washroom when the lady at the front counter states loudly for the whole store to hear "The bathroom key is right here!"So I awkwardly walked back to the front counter to pick up the key...not so genius after all.

Next, we stopped at Superstore where Savannah conveniently left her wallet in the car so she wouldn't have to pay and stocked up on car ride essentials...gold-fish, teddy bear grahams, liquorice and cookies (we're so healthy!)

With the radio on full blast we headed off! It was raining so hard we would start hydro-planing every ten minutes or so and every single time Rachel would yell loudly "HYDRO!". At one point we're driving along in our tiny car with a motorhome in front of us and a huge truck beside us and water is just pounding on our window haha from behind all you would see is this tiny car stuck in between these two huge vehicles getting dumped on with their water!

Then...we stop for another bathroom break and decide to take a picture on the side of the road. As we continue driving we all smell something odd...at first we thought we might be driving by something but after twenty minutes we were all secretly thinking that someone had gas...all of a sudden Savannah and Rachel just start screaming! Savannah had looked down at her shoe and after twenty minutes finally noticed that there was a huge clump of dog poo stuck to her shoe and foot! Thankfully we found wet wipes in the car and Rachel had some perfume in the trunk so for the rest of the ride we had this lovely smell of perfume and dog crap combined into one...best part was that Savannah was wearing Rachel's sandals...she was not impressed!

Five hours later we finally made it safe and sound! It was an entertaining five hours for sure and I'm positive we all lost our voices from singing Celine Dion at the top of our lungs!

That moment when the camera thinks the door is more attractive so it blurs you all out :/

UN-PLUG

We live in a world filled with technology where we can send a message or text instantly! As wonderful as this is, it makes it easy to forget about spending quality time with those in our lives. Sunday night Savannah, Ellen and I were all chatting over Facebook when my mom messages me (Yes she face-booked me from downstairs ha!) saying "Why don't you drive down to Ellen's and talk in person". With only a few weeks left to all hang out together Im so grateful for the reminder to un-plug and spend quality time with those I care about.

I don't feel the need to always have a planned event or activity to go to everyday. I enjoy the simple times like Sunday night where my evening was filled with lots of laughter and a beautiful view of the ocean!

SUMMER DAYS

Hiking is definitely one of my favourite summer activities and hiking with good company makes it even more fun! Im trying to enjoy every second we all have to spend together before Savannah runs away to Uganda and Ali begins school in a few weeks!

We made it to the top in good time and took our time enjoying the view...then I ripped my pants on a sharp rock, Ali tripped and almost broke her phone, Ali continued to trip the entire way down, Savannah pretty much ran all the way down leaving us in her dust and we finally made it back down in one piece! 

My Finlayson is beautiful and I always enjoy escaping the world for a few hours to simply enjoy Gods beautiful earth in its natural state.

What is the job of a younger sister? To point and laugh at your stupidity of course!

 Such a beautiful view!

Password - asummerhike

MY MISSION CALL

As I passed the mailbox on my way home Tuesday night my mission call crossed my mind. ”There’s no way its here already” I reassured myself.

I walked in the door and my Grandma jumped out from the hallway with a scream! In her hand was the big white envelope that had just crossed my mind! The first thing to come out of my mouth is “Shutup. No way!”

After a few phone calls and some screams of excitement I was gathered in my living room with all my family around, some calling in from Skype (thank goodness for technology!)

As they all started to guess places like Oklahoma, Colorado, Salt Lake, etc. I realized that I didn’t actually care where I went…of course I had a dream place in mind (England) but I really didn’t care. I’m not going on a mission to travel, I’m going to spread the Gospel!

(I’m pretty sure we all thought I was going to the Salt Lake City, Temple Square mission though!)

As I opened that big white envelope I started freaking out! Despite the anxious excitement building up inside of me I felt such peace. I knew I was making the right decision and that God was smiling down upon our living room that evening.

As I read the words “Dear Sister Holmes, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” I was flooded with peace and love…AND THEN!

I screamed! Because what I read next…

“You are hereby called to serve in the England, Manchester Mission!”

I screamed some more because I could not believe it!

It has been a childhood dream of mine to live in England…I considered going to school there once upon a time and almost travelled there two years ago. Obviously though, God had a different plan for me. He knew I wanted to go to England and he also knew my desire to serve Him and His children.

I am so excited for this opportunity I have to serve the people of the England, Manchester mission. I am SO excited to let those 18 months change me in ways I can’t even imagine right now. Well…the countdown begins and it’s going by FAST!

MURCHISON FALLS

When your cousin comes all the way to Uganda to visit, you obviously have to plan a road trip up to the beautiful Murchison Falls, and that’s exactly what we did! Rachel, my dad and me all rented a van and headed out on our adventure!

My advice if you plan on going on a long road trip in Uganda…go to the bathroom about ten times before you head out! There are ZERO public washrooms in this country…well ok, to be honest there are a few…but I wouldn’t go near them if my life depended on it! If you know me, then you know I’m huge into staying hydrated and I drink A LOT of water…note to self…bring my own portable potty on Uganda road trips ;)

We finally made it to the hotel where I was able to drink all the water in the world AND have a bathroom to use YAY! Best part was at dinner, we noticed a cashew and vegetable rice on the menu! Cashews, almonds, and walnuts all those delicious things are SO expensive here so the fact that they had a cashew rice was unbelievable! We were expecting to have three tiny cashews on it…IT WAS COVERED IN CASHEWS! Oh my goodness it was so delicious! I never even liked cashews before…it’s funny how when you can’t have something you all of a sudden want it.

Anyway, the next morning we headed out, enjoyed a nice boat ride along the Nile and then finished the day with the game drive.

The boat ride:

Last time I came we had an awful experience on the boat due to some very rude tourists and A LOT of rain…it was NO fun! This time however, we had an almost empty boat and the NICEST guide! Every time they would pull up close to an alligator they would tell Rachel and I to come up on the front of the boat to take pictures…at one point I could have reached out and touched this giant alligator.

We saw lots and lots of hippos but my favorite part is always the waterfall at the end. It is so beautiful and its incredible seeing Gods beautiful creations up close. Despite all the “ugly” that is in Uganda there are a lot of hidden gems and Murchison Falls is definitely one of them!

Forgot to pack sunscreen so obviously we all had to buy matching tourist hats :)

The game drive:

Last time we chose not to have a guide due to no room in the car and we also haven’t had the greatest experiences with guides here…they usually have no idea what they are talking about! However, this time my dad convinced us to have a guide in the car. BEST DECISION HANDS DOWN! I REALLY wanted to see a Lion this time and our guide wanted us to as well…we were driving off the road into the bushes to find us a Lion! We did find the Lions home…and its leftovers from last night’s dinner but sadly we didn’t spot any lions.

Near the end of the drive our guide says “Pull off here and lets go down to the water” We pull of the road and start driving down to the Nile. As we get closer I realize just how large the group of Hippos are that we are approaching and we keep going closer and closer! It was really cool being so close to the hippos. At one point were all admiring them and then Rachel asks, “How fast can a hippo run?” “Oh about 30km/hr”…haha were all just like “Oh that’s nice can we go back now!”

 How cute are they!?

Overall, we had an incredible time! We also went up to the top of the falls! You don’t realize how powerful water can be until you see it flowing down a huge waterfall! It was so beautiful up there!

Seeing all of the animals wild and free truly makes you realize how beautiful our earth must have been when it was first created. There is a certain feeling you get when you see these beautiful animals up close in their natural habitat. Hopefully we can continue to preserve these parks and the animals that live in it.