my 'vacation'!

i've been back in the USA for a month now....hard to believe, the time has gone by so quickly. i've enjoyed visits with friends and family, my faithful 'Holly dog', ballgames, movies, awesome church services at Perfecting Faith Ministries, mall shopping, a Sidewalk Prophets' concert, MEXICAN FOOD, and even a week in the hospital! no, i really didn't enjoy that and perhaps i will cut back on the south of the border comida! the other day, someone asked me if i was enjoying my vacation! i thought that was an odd question because in my mind vacations involve room service, tours, maps and brochures and new sights. i had not recalled any of these things in the past month. but then again, i don't know....need to think about this.


i do know we keep busier than most 'retired' people. we were able to watch the loading of the huge 40' container full of medical equipment and supplies which is currently bound for mubende, uganda. the people of Project Cure are amazing....in case you aren't familiar with this organization, they collect used medical equipment and donated medical supplies and GIVE them to charities. the charities must then pay the shipping to the final destination which in our case was $22,000 which was oh so generously donated by John Paul deJoria of Paul Mitchell Systems. the container also has many boxes of clothes, bibles, and miscellaneous supplies which we will distribute to naguru children's prison and orphanages in kampala. we were also able to attend a musical production at kirkpatrick enhanced option school in east nashville. what fun! brian and kathi gilleland have been working tirelessly with kirkpatrick supplying 'extras' like the costumes for the production, field trips, food, etc. YAY desana team.....globally you rock!

andrew continues to work in kampala in my absence. we are back working at naguru after the government blocked our visits for a month. andrew has been bringing fruit, hygiene items, clothing and other items. this week we provided the funding to spray the facility as 6 residents were admitted to the hospital with dysentery. andrew says my puppies are getting big and that they miss me.....now i know he is just saying that to be nice, but i do miss them. who wouldn't?

george and i are leaving on 6 june to visit our russian projects with elena antropyanskaya, our russian project director. we will travel to nizhny tagil where we will visit with the children of the kind heart shelter and also orphanage #1 where elena and i will conduct a mexican food cooking class! ok gang, this was elena's idea, not mine. Ole' we will also travel to petrokamensk to visit the hospital where children removed from their homes are kept prior to residency in an orphanage and zaimka-childrens village. we will have a huge american bbq there with hot dogs and watermelon and games.....a really fun time for these amazing kids. lastly we will head further north to karpinsk to spend time at the hospital for handicapped children. this place is heart breaking. it's almost impossible to describe the facility and the patients....i don't think it is possible to visit this hospital without shedding tears. we have made some wonderful improvements since our initial visit a few years ago. there is some consolation in knowing it is a better place now with desana than it was before desana......it is always my theory that doing anything positively impacting the lives of children is far better than doing nothing and wishing you could change the world. we will return to the US on 13 june.

Normal people would rest after such a long journey, but, well, you know us! we will repack our suitcases on 17 june and head to uganda with kaleigh, erin, and demetra! this is going to be so so much fun! i think maybe kaleigh is thinking that lions roam the streets of kampala and there are swinging vines and chimps in our backyard! at any rate, she is up for the adventure. i will stay in kampala for 3 months and the others will return 3 july. george is hoping to go to the jungle in peru in august to spend time with the Dentists Without Borders campaign.


i believe i am happiest when there is a stack of airline reservations on the desk.....knowing there are places to go and people to see and things to do! i can't imagine looking forward to watching tv or reading a newspaper....there's still way too much i haven't seen or done. there are babies to be hugged and teenagers to pray and dance and sing with! God is good! so, i still don't know if this is the vacation or if kampala is the vacation...which leads me to one conclusion....my entire life is a vacation! well, let me make the hospital stay an exception! "I'm leaving on a jet plane........."