Easter day beach party!

i had never spent easter away from my natural family.....forever easter has been a day of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, a huge family dinner and maybe a game of bocce or softball or croquet. this year was a first.....oh, i still celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, but here when you say "hallelujah, the Lord has risen", no one says "the Lord has risen indeed". or, maybe i just didn't say it to the right people! i did not spend the day with my natural family, but i was honored to spend the day with my african family....including andrew and illona, patrick, 30 kids from the safe house and of course, TONY.....though not african....part of my adopted family! we didn't have a huge dinner, instead we had sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit juice and (thanks to george) the most delicious pink and blue peeps! the kids loved them....just knew they would! we didn't play bocce, or softball or croquet, but we did play a long, rousing game of duck, duck, goose introduced by tony. i seriously had to bow out early because i knew as the oldest, and definitely slowest, person sitting in the circle, i would get "goosed" way too often.....well i know THAT didn't sound right, but you gey my drift! andrew and illona didn't play so we paid andrew back by burying him in the sand....he was a good sport, but i'm reasonably certain he did not appreciate my wonderful idea.....the kids liked it though, and after he was buried we danced around him in a circle and i was reminded of that scene in Lord of the Flies, though not sure why.

it was really a fun day! we got to the safe house at noon and everyone was HYPER and ready for their outing. tony did flips and push ups, kids hung from the tree, everyone was full of energy and just plain ready, set and waiting to go! the bus arrrived and we were at the park, on the shores of lake victoria in entebbe, in no time at all.....when we arrived, we told patrick we had a gift for him and presented him with a brand new 'two old hippies' guitar and case donated by one of art wasem's friends. patrick was so excited! he said he had been dreamimg of this all his life and now his dream had come true! i told him to dream bigger, dream better, dream higher!
everyone had to make a pit stop, even tony, but that's a whole other story.....we paid the entrance fees, and headed down to our spot on the sand.....the kids had soooo much fun just being there. they were all wearing their josten's t-shirts and bandanas and looked so cute! we played games and they ran around and burned off a lot of excess energy!! we had our lunch...most are really not familiar with the concept of a sandwich....which is really strange to me....think if i lived here permanently, i would invent a beans and rice sandwich...what do y'all think? maybe add a little salsa and some sliced onions, bet they would love it. also we discovered that no one had eaten cheese before and it was NOT a hit with the kids. it was, however, a huge hit with the stray dogs!

the kids swam and swam. the water stays shallow for a very great distance, so it was not really difficult to watch the 30 kids. tony and i discovered that we were the only 2 who could swim and when i saw him on the beach eating a huge plate of tilapia and fries, i realized i was the only one on the baywatch team...which was a really scary concept...but the kids were just fine. they really were so well behaved and agreeable and appreciative......wonder what our next outing will be. don't think it will be until george, erin, demetra, kaleigh and i return in june...but there will be something fun on the schedule for sure!

as for me, i really missed the hashbrown casserole, turnip greens and jalapeño cornbread that i knew was in tennessee.....but seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter was an incredible way to spend the holiest day of the year. "hallelujah, the Lord has risen. the Lord has risen indeed"!
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