Christmas Letter 2008

Greetings!
2008 was filled with many of God's blessings!

The year started off with a vacation with one of my oldest friends, Olivia. We took a Western Caribbean cruise & enjoyed relaxing in Haiti, climbing the falls in Jamaica, snorkeling in Grand Cayman & swimming with dolphins in Mexico. A huge treat!

In February my little sister Dana married Nick Everett. They had a beautiful & memorable wedding & reception in our hometown, Sisters, Oregon. We were very blessed to have our entire family together, a rare occasion. Nick is perfect for my sister & we are very happy for them.

March, April & May brought on a lot of work travel. I had bonding time with my sweet Goddaughters in Memphis. They are now 13 and 7 and growing up too fast! I spent most of my free time plugging away at my Masters Thesis. Thank you to the people who never told me what an undertaking this endeavor would be. I also spent a weekend in San Francisco with Ziad ~ I love that city!

In June, I defended my Thesis & completed grad school with a MS in Psychology & welcomed having my life back. I took a work trip to Colorado Springs followed by a visit to see my Aunt in Aspen. I loved white water rafting the Colorado River & recharging in the pristine beauty.

July included trips to the beach, remembering how fun it is to read for fun, & following my heart by committing to serve a short-term Mission to Rwanda, Africa through my church.

In August, my parents and I went on a cruise through the Inland Passage of Alaska in lieu of birthday / anniversary (45 yrs. for my parents!) / graduation festivities. We ate too much, & were the ultimate tourists for a week of watching whales, glaciers & touring awesome sites.
September brought the big 3-0. It was a milestone I preferred skipping. Olivia came to my rescue & planned a fun girls weekend. My friend Lindsey from Portland even surprised me at my front door! We Disneylanded, beached, shopped & my Excellent Eleven friends met up for Japanese food for my birthday dinner. That's what friends are for!

October was two trips to Memphis & spending a whole lot of time babysitting earning cash for Rwanda expenses. Many friends & family made contributions which provided the necessary financial support to fund the trip. I am very grateful for the prayers & encouragement!

November was consumed with getting ready for Rwanda. Language classes, trainings, planning meetings, packing & learning. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience!

35 hours of traveling later, I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda with a team of 11. My team of 4 traveled to Byumba, a rural town north of Kigali. We showed love to & partnered with widows (largely widowed by HIV or the genocide), children & youth, orphans & the community. I learned more than I taught & left feeling humbled, impacted and changed. I will be chronicling my journey on my blog, so check for updates!

I am so grateful for each & every one of you. Your friendship & love mean so much to me. Merry Christmas to you & God's Blessing to you for 2009!

With love and gratitude,


Blog: mmhughie.blogspot.com
Email: melindamhughie@gmail.com Phone: 949.201.5349

Rwanda Cuties

Here are a few photos to hold you over until I can get my postings up. I was going to spend this afternoon uploading and journaling... but... instead I ate ice cream and brownies, took a nap and went to the movies. What else do families do on Christmas afternoon?

These kids live up in the hills in Byumba. The girls in the blue dresses are wearing their school uniforms.

The kids LOVED having their pictures taken. For some it was their first time being photographed and they couldn't get enough of seeing themselves on the digital camera screens.

The one in the front is Yvonne. She was super social and a quick learner. I taught her the hand jive and school yard clap-clap routines. She taught me some Kinyarwandan and I shared the English essentials.

My mom wants me to go back and adopt the second girl on the left. Aren't her eyes gorgeous? The kids were crack ups and I loved playing with them and watching them be carefree kids, depsite the circumstances they live in. Many are orphaned, have parents living with HIV / AIDS and illness and the majority are severely below the poverty line, living on less than $1.00 a day.

The women all carry their babies on their backs. When a baby is 8 days old they are old enough to earn back priveleges. The women all have excellent posture and carry many pounds of bananas, water... I tried it and it is not an easy task!

Hanging out in Byumba

This little guy (yes he is wearing a skirt!) was one of the few children I saw with longer hair. The majority have shaved heads. This is for convenience, hygeine and is a requirement for all children attending school.

I had to bring on the busted knuckles. The kids giggled and before we knew if they were all doing it to each other. It is customary for all Rwandans to greet each other and visitors by extending their hands to shake. I may have created a social faux paus by teaching them to, "pound it!"

More to follow. I took over 1200 photos... so I'll narrow them down and get them up here. Hopefully soon.

Happy BIRTHDAY, Jesus!

Stay tuned...

I will be uploading photos and highlights from Rwanda soon-ish. I'm having technical difficulties transferring my photos to my computer with internet access. AND I am still collapsing into bed by 7PM and can't seem to get off of Africa time!

Until then,
MMH

Jon and Kate Plus 8 vist St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Jon and Kate plus 8 visited St. Jude. The episode featuring their visit to St. Jude will be broadcast on TLC on December 15 at 9 p.m. EST.

and...

Check it out. Jennifer Aniston, Robin Williams, Antonio Banderas, Jason Taylor, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! Click here !

Christmas Questionnaire...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags! I'm wrapping paper challenged and never have quite learned the art of wrapping paper approximation.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I love real trees, and always grew up having a big ol' one in our living room. But, for now I have a few, "artificial" ones. I have two in my living room. One with St. Jude ornaments and one with my glass / Radco collection. In my room I have a small siver one with my Hello Kitty collection of ornaments and decor!

3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving, but they haven't made it up yet...

4. When do you take the tree down? January-ish

5. Do you like eggnog? Not even a little bit

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmmm. My parents and family are awesome gift givers and are thoughtful and generous. I like the sentimental gifts the best ~ probably a quilt that my mom designed and made.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Nobody! I love challenges and shop all year... and pick up things as I find them. My sister Dana is the one who takes most everything back... even if she picks it out!

8. Easiest person to buy for? My parents.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes! And I just put one up that I bought in Rwanda. Pictures to follow! I want one like Tysha's. It's on my wish list.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I've been known to do an annual Christmas letter. My siblings make fun of me though. This year I'm thinking a photo will suffice.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A oil painting of my cat.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? January!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I"ll never tell.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies with lots of frosting

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, more is more!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Both. Christmas in Oregon is my favorite.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course. :) Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen & Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The commercialism and hype about Santa.

23. What theme or color are you using? Bright and Whimsical

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Anything homemade

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To be with my family

I'm home! Back from Rwanda! Imana Shimwee!

With the giraffes!

Hi all!
I'm so excited to blog about my adventures in Africa! It was the trip of a lifetime and has changed me in more ways than I ever anticipated. I snapped over 1,000 photos and will be highlighting my trip very soon.

I picked up a nice gift for myself... a very nasty parasite / amoeba / bacterial infection. It's required two trips to the Hospital (once in Rwanda and once at home). Thanks to IV fluids / meds and some hefty antibiotics anti/parasites I am feeling better, but still pretty weak.

So, check back soon and hopefully I will have made some blogging progress.

Thank you for all of your prayers over my trip. God certainly blessed me and my team and I'm forever grateful.

My best,
Melinda

Day #14 Rwanda~ Homeward Bound with a parasite

Well, there you go. I've blogged about the highlights of my trip of a lifetime: My Mission trip to Rwanda.

I ended up VERY sick with major GI symptoms (I'll spare you the details) and was hospitalized both in Kigali and then again when I got back home. I somehow contracted a parasite (and I thought I was so careful) that wrecked havoc on my insides.

Thankfully the team thought to bring clean blood kits. The medical team was able to use the supplies to start my IV (after many attempts) to give my body some much needed fluids intravenously.

I spiked a very high fever and was very weak. I wasn't sure if I would be able to fly home with my team. But, thank you GOD, I was wheeled on the plane and met my parents at the airport who took me to the Emergency Room.

This photo was taken the morning of the start of it all....

And this is me before boarding the plane in Brussels, Belgium. (Nice forced smile, eh?) I knew if I could just get on the plane I'd be in the clear!

Getting a parasite was not fun, but made my experience in Africa all the more well rounded! And now, 3 months later, I'm almost better!

Day #13 ~ Back to Kigali

This morning we headed back to Kigali and left the serenity of the retreat and returned to the, "big city."

I'm not feeling well at all at this point. Lots and lots of tummy troubles!

We visited a clinic and Hospital today for Pediatric Orthopedic and HIV patients.

The kids were so happy to see us and were very playful. It broke my heart to see them stuck in bed... many in traction and many casts with pins and contraptions.

This little guy melted my heart! He was so excited to have his picture taken and wanted to play! I love how kids can still smile regardless of pretty terrible circumstances.

So beautiful

Resting up before Physical Therapy

We brought a sophisticated, "paint by number" project. One already completed and one ready to go for the kids!

All of the wheelchairs and prosthetics are very old but still seem to do the trick.

Specialized chairs for children are made at the clinic.

GQ Justin ("Justeeny")

We headed to a local area where crafts are sold. These two pictures are among my favorites!

Tomorrow we fly home. Back to the USA. And I will return to Rwanda!

Day # 12 ~ Akagera National Park

Today was spent at Akagera National Park ~ my first safari! Akagera is located on the border of Tanzania. It is 900 square kilometers and is home to giraffes, buffalo, impalas, baboons, elephants, hippopotamus, birds, zebras...

Sophisticated hand washing. This is actually a rare thing ~ having soap in bathrooms. Oh and having bathrooms too! :O)

Kristen

Buffalo

Check out those animals ~ Brent and Charlie!

Impalas

Hippos... In Kinyarwandan, known as, "hippo-pa-TA-mus." (Accent on the TA)

It wasn't until AFTER the trip that hippos are the MOST deadly animals in the park. Good thing I was so diligent in trying to coerce them OUT of the WATER!

I love how the mamas carry their babies.

Going for a ride... It was pretty cool to be so close!

A little bath in the river... (photo compliments of a zoom lens!)

Naughty monkey

Picturesque

Our guest house... We spent the night here. It was the perfect place to relax and debrief.

The beloved mosquito nets...

Being cheesy...

Kristen and Justin ~ just chillin...

Coca

Brent and Tirzah

And this culinary masterpiece, is, I do believe, responsible for my little friends the parasites that took residence in my digestive tract. Oh how lovely.

Or possibly, it was him...

Back to Kigali tomorrow and then... back to the US of A!