finally -- an update

Hello! This is a photo of me kissing Baby Jack, from the perspective of one of the teenage boys, Patrick, who, it seems, has an artistic eye and wouldn't settle for a straightforward snapshot. I thought he did all right.

Jack and I became nearly inseparable anytime I was at the children's house. I adored him (and still do!) and he seemed to like to be with me as well. He is two years old, smiley, funny and just all around irresistible.

As some of you may have heard by now, I am back in the States. The above picture was taken moments before I said goodbye -- which was a very hard thing to do. I know many of you were beginning to wonder if I forgot how to type or something. The last few weeks have been a blur and I apologize that I haven't kept you posted on all that was happening. I arrived home almost 2 weeks ago. I'll explain a bit more about that in a moment, but let me give you those long-promised before and after pics of the school, along with an update.


The lefthand side of the school as you enter. The door leads to the computer room and TV loft. Before...






And after!! The gentleman pictured here is Uncle Titus, who runs the school library. He also tutors the children in mathematics and helps to watch over them during their playtime, as well as performing various and sundry other helpful tasks. In short, he's a keeper!

The posters were a wonderful gift from Sue, the mother of director Nathaniel. The wood cut-outs holding the posters were cut and painted by some of the older boys and girls. The bright orange side table was sanded and painted by some of the older students. They did a terrific job on both projects.


A shot from the front door toward the back of the school (with the stairs to the library on the right).




A tighter shot of the same area. We arranged the screens to provide three distinct areas for learning, all of which can be seen from the teacher's desk (pictured with Titus). The children on the left are also enjoying one of the new "tall" tables that was built. Some chairs are still being built, but soon both tall tables will be at full capacity.

On the right you can also see a newly-painted blackboard -- also compliments of the older students' hard work. They all seemed to really enjoy getting to be a part of the process. Sometimes they were the ones coming to me saying, "Is it time to paint the next coat?"

In the center is an open area, perfect for the preschoolers to play with blocks and other educational toys. Opio and Sam are breaking in the new area quickly.



Two of the older boys, Solomon (left) and Rodgers, enjoy the freshly-painted computer room. Both boys are actually in secondary school already, and were home on semester break. The poster on the right is another gift from Jaaja Sue. It gives tips for test-taking -- perfect since there is also a desk in the room that provides a quiet place for individual students to take tests. The stairs lead up to the TV loft, where the children watch educational videos from time to time.




This last photo shows off the front of the school and the great paint job. On the right the new head teacher, Emmanuel, sits tutoring one of the younger students. The children call him "Master Emma". In the back, Janat flashes her unending smile.







As I mentioned above, I am home again. It was so hard to say goodbye to the children, but I also trust that I'll get to see them again. It has been wonderful to see -- and at least start to catch up with -- friends and family in the last two weeks. It's strange to be here too. The toilet paper in the States is so soft!:) And at least for a couple of days, I felt very spoiled by my hot showers. There are so many wonderful things about Uganda, and so many wonderful things about the US too. But I'm very aware right now of how very different the two places are.

As I often feel when I come home from a trip, I'm trying to figure out what needs to change in my own life, what I don't want to lose hold of that I learned while I was gone. How to be accountable for what I know about our world.

I spent most of my final days in Uganda at the other Aidchild home in Mpigi (see the Easter posting for pics from there) -- and got to enjoy my 31st birthday there with the kids. This post has gotten long so I'll close for now, but I will try to post some pictures and stories from my time there in the next few days.

As always, thanks for being involved and spending a little time with me!

making progess

Babirye enjoys her ice cream -- a rare treat!




Well, for a few days I've been hoping to time to let you know what all we're getting done. But I guess I've been so busy getting things done that I just haven't gotten around to it! I am headed to the other home in Mpigi in just a bit so can't write a lot now, but with the aid of some pictures, hopefully I can update you a little.



























The jaajas were here! Jaaja is Luganda for grandmother. The director Nathaniel's mother, Sue, and grandmother, Marge, came for a few weeks. The children were in heaven and enjoyed lots of time with the jaajas, and of course plenty of treats. Sue took a little time with the housemoms, teaching and encouraging them. Marge, a fabulous quilter, gave a mini-lesson to the older girls in quilting -- and in the important art of button-sewing. Marge will soon be 87 and this is her first visit to Africa! On the last day, they treated the children to ice cream! As Nathaniel said, it's hard to compete with jaajas...




The school is nearing completion. The painting is done, the tall tables are built, we've set it up in a great new layout and we've been hanging some new posters. This picture shows some of the older boys cutting triangles of wood to use as frames for the posters. I promise some before and after pictures of the school very soon!

asante sana -- webale nyo

I can't believe I forgot to mention this sooner, but I got to see Godlisten while I was in Tanzania!! Godlisten was the first child I ever sponsored through Compassion and we've now been together for five years. He was barely 7 when I first met him. He will be 12 next week and grows more handsome, sweet and smiley every day!

Connie, a woman I became friends with when she traveled with me on my last sponsor tour with Compassion -- to Uganda in February -- made these beautiful glass bead necklaces for the older girls at Aidchild. And when I say "made", I don't mean she just strung the beads. I mean she melted and painted the glass. They're beautiful! Here they are on (L-R) Topi, Maria, Ritah and Dora.



While I was in Tanzania, someone asked me how much Swahili I spoke. I told her the few words and phrases I knew and she said, "Oh, you know so much!" When I laughed, she said I knew all the important words. I'm pretty sure that's not true. But my title today is demonstrating some of my multi-lingual skills -- thank you very much in Swahili and Luganda.

I'm back "home" with all the smiling children and I'm very happy to be back! After posting the message on Saturday, I made my way happily to the airport, only to have them tell me that they had oversold the flight and I would have to wait for the next flight, departing in "a couple" of hours. A couple turned out to be five. So I got to know the Kilimanjaro airport very well, but at least did get a nice lunch -- paid for by the airline -- and a beautiful sunset out of the bargain. By the time I made it through my Nairobi connection and then immigration, baggage claim, customs, and caught my shuttle from airport, I arrived in Kampala at about 1 AM.

Still, everything was actually fine, if teaching me a little patience, so I can't complain. I spent Sunday and Monday in Kamplala taking care of some things, and then came back to Aidchild on Tuesday.
A news flash!! While I've been writing this, electricity has come back! We haven't had any for a month now, unless we had the generator on. But about 20 minutes ago, the generator was switched off and the lights continued to stay on. I am already looking forward to how simple it will be to get ready for bed with the use of lights, rather than carrying a candle around with me. I guess it's good that God sends us these times to remember that so many things we take for granted and feel entitled too are actually luxuries that we really can get by without. Still, need them or not, I have to say that those lights tonight are going to be mighty nice.

I'll try to update more in a couple of days, but I want to try to get this posted today so I think I'll close for now. Happy Electricity Day!

hello from Tanzania

I know it's been a few days since I posted anything, so wanted to at least say hello. Sorry there are no pictures this time, since I think that's probably the most interesting part sometimes. I'm posting this from an internet cafe and decided not to try bringing my camera, cable, etc, to try to post some pictures.

As the title mentioned, I'm in Tanzania right now. Just for a few more hours. I've been here since Tuesday morning and fly back to Uganda this afternoon (it's Saturday). I've been here doing some work for Compassion -- photography and story-gathering. Although I'm no longer working there full-time, I was very happy when I had the opportunity to sign a contract to continue doing some communications work for them. Since I was coming so close to Tanzania anyway, they asked if I could come down for a few days and follow up on some of the great work being done among sponsored children who are orphaned or in other vulnerable situations, as well as those who are receiving care through Compassion's HIV/AIDS program.

It's been a very inspiring week. As I always do when I travel to Compassion projects, I've met some beautiful, amazing children -- and their families. And the Tanzania staff are wonderful as well. Tanzania was the first country I ever visited in Africa and the first place I ever traveled with Compassion. So I've known some of the staff here for about 5 years. They were very nice and told me I am a local now.

One of the women took me to a handcraft market yesterday so I could buy a couple of things. After we'd been there a little while she asked me how I learned to bargain so well? She said she thought I had a better idea of what price some of those things were worth than she did. I don't know that that was actually true, but it did make me feel good. As anyone knows who has seen my house, I have spent a good bit of time buying artwork and handcrafts in markets all over the world and do enjoy the experience.

For the next few days I will be doing similar work for Compassion Uganda before heading back to Aidchild. When I said goodbye to the children there last Monday they wanted to know exactly when I'd be coming back. It was strange for me that Monday night because it was the first time in nearly 4 straight weeks where I didn't go in to say goodnight after they were all in bed. I'll be happy to see them again on Tuesday.

The painting of the school there was nearing completion when I left, and the taller tables had been built so I'm looking forward to seeing everything finished when I get back.

Well, I need to go finish packing up my things so I can check out of the hotel, so I think I'll close here. But I just wanted to catch everyone up on what I've been up to this week. I will try to get some more pictures posted when I get back to Aidchild. Thanks to everyone who has been staying in touch! It's so nice to have those connections to home.

stories of Uganda

How are theses for some amazing smiles? Marvin (left) and Sam look like this much of the time.

Mami Nakato sits with Suzan Gayle on the porch while they're waiting on the big kids to come for snack time. "Nakato" for women, like "Kato" for men, means she is a twin. This house mom and I have gotten know each other much better during my visit this time.

As I write this, I have completed three full weeks in Uganda. In some ways, I feel as though I’ve been here three months, rather than three weeks. I’m in my routine of getting ready for bed by candlelight and tucking my mosquito net in before climbing into bed and I start to wonder, are there really places where people don’t need a mosquito net? On mornings that I don’t wake to the sound of rain on the corrugated metal roof, I wonder, where is the rain today? And when the room gets dim while I’m getting ready for the day, I think, oh, there it is. I also know that on most days that it starts raining like that at 7 AM rather than 3 AM, it means it will likely be raining until lunchtime (and this morning is one of those days).

I’ve gotten quite good at fixing a breakfast of coffee, eggs and toast all with the use of a gas burner, because the generator is not yet on at breakfast time. And I love sitting at my little table by the window while I eat, watching the children run by in the rain on their way down to the school -- and waiting for the ones who always turn to look and see if I’m sitting at the window so they can wave. And it was sitting at this window on Sunday morning that I suddenly saw a giant banana leaf walking by, with six little legs. While I was watching, the leaf suddenly lifted just enough for me to catch a glimpse of Bula, Sam and Simon Peter, all with rather serious expressions on their faces as Bula called back some instructions or other to the other two. Alas, they were quickly on their way again before I could grab my camera. But really, how many umbrellas at home can cover three heads so easily?

At tuck-in time, I have my routine with some of the children as well. First to the girls’ room, where when I ask Maria, “Can I kiss you goodnight?” she always giggles like she’s embarrassed, but then always says yes. Two-year-old Babirye, who, if she’s awake when I kiss her, always says, “Nakato” -- reminding me to kiss her twin sister as well. Then Janat who must pull me back to give me “one” extra kiss at least three times. On to the main room, where when I say “Have a good night,” Rogers always responds with a very formal “likewise,” and Ezra always pretends to hide from me and Njuba lies far over by the wall so I have to actually sit down and duck my head under the bunk so I can get to him but then he always grabs both my hands in his while I say goodnight, and Simon Peter who sits with his lips puckered waiting to kiss me at least three beds before I get to his.

Then into the rooms where the bigger boys stay, where Kawuma always acts like he’s not going to say goodnight and even goes so far as to hide in the bathroom sometimes, but who always does say goodnight in the end, and where Nyanzi always answers every question I ask -- regardless of who it was directed to -- in a big booming voice (he is proud of the fact that his voice has changed), and where Mbabazi pretends to be asleep but always has a giant smile on his face so I know he’s awake. And where Kato #1 always takes my hand in both his and studies it so closely while we say goodnight and sometimes says, “Mami Phoebe, you look very smart today” (Kato keeps his clothes so nice and stays so clean -- how we wish it would rub off on the other boys!), and where his brother, Wasswa #1, suddenly one night called out, “Kwagara nyo, that means I love you so much,” and then asked me to say it and every night since he says it to me and I say it back.

I have rambled on a lot this time, but I will leave you with one last story. On Monday, we had one of those 7-hour rains and everyone was trapped inside for so much of the day. Finally, around 3:00, the rain stopped, and “white ants” emerged. From what I can tell, they aren’t ants, nor are they white. They are, however, little ant-looking bugs with white wings, which I suppose is where the name comes from. They come out in droves after a big rain, and are evidently a big treat. You can eat them raw (not to say still living), wings and all, or you can wait for them to be cooked. I did summon up the courage to try one cooked. It wasn’t so bad, really, as long as I just didn’t think about the fact that I was eating a bug. I’ve been offered bugs of various descriptions in many of the places I’ve visited, but had avoided it till now. But the kids were so excited by this special treat that I couldn’t really say no this time! I managed to get a few pictures of the event, so you can see it for yourself.





There is more than one way to collect white ants, I learned. The small children like to try to bat them out of the air while they fly. While not very effective, it is very fun to watch. Maria is more practical and waits till they've come back down to earth. She was the one who offered me some of hers later, once they were cooked.








Richard demonstrates eating them "fresh".





White ants, up close and personal.

a lot of great things going on

The beautiful little Suzan Gayle


Hello again! I know it’s been a few days since I posted anything. The good news is that it’s because there have been so many good things going on. I’ll try to catch you up to date.

We have a new head teacher for the school! As of yesterday, a wonderful man named Emmanuel officially accepted the position. He will spend the next few days moving and will start to work next Tuesday. “Head teacher” actually means school principal/administrator here. He will also be helping to develop individual studies and focuses for the children, and overseeing their work, so he will be their teacher as well. He will likely be hiring some tutors to further help the children in the near future as well.

Because the children have such varying educational backgrounds, as they get closer to high school we are focusing more on meeting their individual needs and less on a traditional classroom setting. Emmanuel is a very creative person and we are excited by the possibilities that this non-traditional environment will offer to all these beautiful children.

We are also using this opportunity to do a little remodeling and face-lifting to the school. Here are some of the projects we’re working on:

• Repainting all the walls
• Recovering the screens that serve as moveable walls during the school day
• Building 2 more classroom tables and chairs for them (a footnote on this one: while there are still plenty of young and small children, it’s one of the really great blessings to me that a good number of the children have grown up so much since they originally came that their knees are now higher than the tables they used to sit at and so it’s time for “regular height” tables)
• Building “cubbies” so that each student has a place to store his or her work and personal belongings

Hopefully in another week or so I’ll have pictures for you of the children with their new teacher, as well as the progress on the school!

In the meantime, here are just a few more great moments that I haven’t yet had a chance to post. Enjoy! (More are coming very soon, I promise.)
These flags are a tribute and memorial to the children who have died at Aidchild. There are nine total. They are replaced from time to time to keep them bright and beautiful. The children assist in changing them out. Pictured here are Kato #2, who shimmied up the pole to retrieve a broken line, along with Rose (left) and Rogers.

A "double-wide"swing was recently installed to accomodate the posteriors of us adults, who don't fit so easily onto the smaller swings. The children were delighted, and Mariam (left) and Diana decided it was just perfect for them!

a week of smiles

Did you know that in Uganda, the Easter holiday includes a 4 day weekend? In addition to Good Friday, the Monday after Easter is also a holiday from work and school. It's an excellent idea, I've decided. And if that isn't enough, Aidchild had their celebrating extend even a little longer -- with parties on Tuesday (at Mpigi) and Wednesday (at Masaka)!

We're still having time to get work done too though, even with all this fun, and have been conducting interviews for the new head of Aidchild Academy. With a title of Lead Academic Facilitator, this role will serve as the head of the school from both an administrative and education standpoint. We're very excited with how this is going and I hope to be able to announce who that new individual will be very soon.

At Mpigi, Okello flashes his great smile while he waits for his egg to dye.

One of the beautiful little girls at Mpigi definitely held her own against the "big kids" during the egg hunt! (She is new since the last time I had visited and I'm afraid I forgot her name.)
















At Masaka, all the toddlers took this egg-dying thing very seriously. Here they are on their way down to get started. Mbabazi kindly served as their host and guide.












Even after instructions were given and the eggs had been dropped in the cups, Jack still wasn't totally sure what he thought of this idea...


















The bigger kids took the the process with a little less skepticism and dyed eggs with enthusiasm.







I seem to have reached my limit for how many pictures I can post on today's page, but after kids hunted the eggs, they rehid them so the adults could hunt them. They got great pleasure from then showing the adults where they were hidden.

After all the dying and hunting at both parties, we enjoyed french fries (or chips as they call them here), sodas -- and boiled eggs!! Oh yes, and some chocolate and jelly beans that I managed to get from the States without it melting (or me eating it). All in all, the parties were a huge success and the kids ended both parties by thanking us for the party. They're pretty great!

Happy Easter!

The two beautiful faces above are Brian and Dorah.














This is a familiar sight – the kids hamming it up for the camera. Pictured here are (L-R): Simon Peter, Ezra, Kato #2, Opio and Sam. (For future reference, between the 2 homes, there are 3 sets of boy twins named Kato and Wasswa – I’m calling them 1, 2, 3 according to age order.)





















And this one of me and my young friends is also a pretty typical scene. Anytime Elizabeth or I sit down for more than a couple of minutes, we soon have kids of various sizes crawling on and around us. We don’t mind!

As I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon, most of you are probably just starting to get up and think about getting ready for Easter Sunday. But here, the children have long been changed out of their church clothes and we have had Sunday dinner and are enjoying a rather lazy Sunday afternoon.

We had a special meal that included chicken – a rare treat for the children – to celebrate the day, but we will continue our festivities on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a special party at each home. This way there is plenty of time for coloring and hunting Easter eggs, good food and lots of fun at both places, and we'll get in on both parties.

In other news, it has been raining! I know I shouldn’t be surprised since it IS the rainy season... It usually just rains for 3 or 4 hours, but while it’s raining, it really pours and finds every window, crack or any other little place where water might come in.

I don’t mind the rain, actually. It started late this year so everyone was relieved when it finally came. Uganda isn’t a place that usually gets dry and crispy, but they were more that way than usual this year. The reason I think I’ve been noticing the rain so much though, is that, while I managed to pack most of what I needed, I’ve been amused by the one small thing I forgot. My rain jacket.

In about 20 trips during the last 5 years, I remembered it on every trip. And yet, here I am in Uganda during the rainy season, and my jacket sits in its handy pouch on the shelf in my coat closet in Colorado.It’s nothing a trip to Kampala won’t solve, but it is funny! In the meantime, I’ve found one more great use for the plastic grocery sacks I always have on trips – a rain cap!

It's also a bit chilly in the mornings and when it rains at this time of year. So I spend quite a lot more time that you might imagine in a sweater. I don’t mind though. If it weren’t quite so humid, the hot days and cool evenings could be Colorado. Plus, this way we get to enjoy a fire every evening while we have dinner and it’s very cozy.

Let me fill you in on a few other things that have been happening.

Driving lessons! As an incentive for good behavior, some of the older children have recently gotten to start learning to drive. The driveway here sort of does a big loop that makes the perfect practice route. There are about 7 or 8 of them so far who have had the opportunity to try, and they’re all doing quite well – and it’s a 5-speed truck, so I think they’re doing pretty well just to be able to reach the clutch. Pictured victorious here are Kato #1 and Topista. In the photo with Kato is Nathaniel Dunigan, director and founder of Aidchild, and now, driving instructor as well!

Photography lessons! One of the boys, Kato #2, has been completely intrigued by my camera ever since I got here. Yesterday afternoon, I asked him if he’d like to learn how to take a picture. He was very excited and between his limited English and my drawing pictures occasionally to help explain, I think he may now be on his way to a love for photography.

Kato holding the camera soon attracted a lot of attention and quite a few of the older boys started asking to take pictures as well. This was fun because they tend not to hang around as much as the little ones. So this started about an hour of taking turns posing for and shooting pictures. The little ones joined in and didn’t even ask to use the camera. They seemed to realize maybe it was just for “big kids”.

The first picture above, I am afraid I don’t remember who took it. The second one was by Mbabazi. He seems to have a near perfect eye for framing a picture, and got the hang of pushing gently to focus and then snapping the picture more quickly than anyone else. What I also love about these is that the children were just arranging themselves. We would tell them “scoot back”or “sit down lower”, but otherwise they got to be in charge of the scene. I thought they did a pretty good job!

A few more pictures

Hello again! Today is Good Friday and it’s a public holiday here. So the children are enjoying a day away from school. Although after a long downpour this morning everything -- including us! -- is a little soggy, so there aren’t a lot of outdoor activities at the moment. The sun looks like it might come out soon though so maybe things will dry up a bit this afternoon.

As I type this I have an adorable little guy crawling over and around me. His name is Sam and he’s about 4 years old. He’s very curious and it’s a little hard on him that I won’t let him click the mouse or play with the calculator or take the key laying here on the desk or anything else that looks especially interesting and appealing to him. And yet he’d evidently still rather be here watching and climbing in and out of my lap than off doing something else, and so he tolerates all the “NOs”.

Here are a few highlights from the last couple of days:














Yesterday we had an Africa geography lesson, led by Elizabeth, who is here volunteering for a few weeks. She has been kindly going through school materials and monitoring responses to the job advertisement that was posted, and lots of other wonderful things.

Thankfully, you can't see too closely the map she's standing in front of. We had no large map of Africa anywhere so she asked if I'd try drawing one on the board. It was a bit shorter and wider than it should be, but when the kids walked in the room they still said "Africa!" so I was glad to know it was at least recognizable. Over all, the country borders weren't too bad either, except for poor Angola -- they were the last country drawn in and sort of just got what was left!















Tomusange (Tommy, left) and Mbabazi are more quiet than some of the boys. They are about 11-12 years old. They both have very sweet, gentle personalities. They let me take this picture while we were waiting for others to arrive for classtime.

More to come soon, I hope!

I made it!

Well, I had a nice long posting written and when it was almost done, the power shut off and I lost everything. So I probably won't write as much right now and just hope that I can get a picture posted before it happens again! Hopefully I'll work out some of the kinks and have a little more success as time goes on.

But here are Bula and Ezra hamming it up. The kids are very intrigued by the fact that the camera I've brought this time lets them look at themselves on the back of it after I take a picture. Bula (right) is five now, but is his same funny, loving, loyal self. And Ezra, who was recently arrived and quite sick when I was here in 2004, is now a lively and stocky six-year-old -- but he still has that same slightly gruff little voice that I loved so much and answers "How are you?" with a deep "I am fine. How are you?"

It's great to be back!

Heading to Aidchild

Welcome, friends!

I'm heading to Uganda! As many of you know, I've had the chance over the last few years to take photographs for an organization called Aidchild. They have two homes in Uganda, East Africa, for orphans living with AIDS. The homes are among the most incredible, hopeful places you will ever see. The children receive holistic care, including schooling, emotional nurturing, nutritional and health care, antiretroviral therapy (ARVs) and lots of love.

Aidchild is in a period of transition, growth and change. The number of children has doubled in two and a half years, and there are now three in high school and a dozen more ready to follow. This is truly amazing if you consider that when these children arrived at Aidchild — many of them several years ago — their life expectancy was only 30 days.

This time of growth has led to the "Aidchild Academy Expansion Project." The school was originally begun when the children were young, and now is in an exciting transitional stage as it expands and adjusts to continue to provide the optimal learning experience for the children. I feel privileged that they've asked me to be a part of the project. I've been blessed to get to know many of the kids during my visits and love them all!

I am heading to Uganda on April 8 to devote 6-8 weeks to this project. We'll be focusing on assessing such areas as:

• Curriculum development and expansion
• Optimal classroom size and layout
• Current and future teaching staff needs
• Expansion of educational tools and resources

I'm so excited about this opportunity and wanted you to know about it. I so appreciate you keeping me and this project — and all the beautiful children I get to spend the next few weeks with — in your thoughts and prayers!

Several friends have asked me about the financial aspects of what we're doing. Aidchild is helping me take care of my personal expenses. The anticipated costs related to the project (including expansion expenses, purchasing resources, expenses of hosting me, etc) will be $4,750.

One thing I greatly admire about the way the Aidchild homes are run is how self-sustaining they are. They have poultry and vegetable farms, as well as two amazing art galleries that bring in resources and income to fund a large portion of the daily operating expenses and care for the children. So as we plan this project, my personal hope is that we use as little as possible of Aidchild's regular support and income to finance it.

So many of you have listened to my stories, looked at my pictures and fallen in love with the children over the last couple of years, and most of you have been involved in various fundraising endeavors for them. With the financial and emotional investment you already have in the home and the children, I thought you may also want to be a part of this project.

If you're interested, you can donate in a couple of different ways. The easiest way is to go to the website, www.aidchild.org, and click on "Donate" in the top right corner. When you enter your credit card information, you can type "Aidchild Academy Expansion Project" in the "payment for" line. If you'd rather pay by check, you can send it to: Aidchild, P.O. Box 26100, Christiansted, VI, 00824-2100, USA.

Also, if you have friends and family that you think might be interested in this, please feel free to pass this along to them.

I'm very excited about the coming weeks and will do my best to keep you posted!