times flies............

this past week has flown by.....each day we have been busy working and/or playing. actually i consider most of the work we do, great fun! i think this means that I LOVE MY WORK! i think erin and demetra and kaleigh are becoming africanized a bit...this, in general, means they are used to the electricity going out, hot water being a real luxury and eating cold leftover beans and rice for dinner. kaleigh has been a trooper and never complains about not having tv or having to spend hours in the van or my puppies aka demon dogs, tearing her clothes to shreds or coffee pot showers. now there have been a few complaints about slowwwww internet, room temp cokes and mucho mosquitos, but all in all everyone had adjusted well. demetra even likes matooke and erin loves samosas and george has been a great camera man....kaleigh, well, she keeps everyone laughing. we have all worked to develop british accents, well not george. i don't really know why....but sometimes we have laughed so much that kaleigh has fallen off the sofa!

last friday we went to naguru and it was so so so great to see the kids again. the girls were so happy. we brought them nail polish, flip flops and knickers and all sorts of fun stuff. fiona and maria are still there, but are to be released really soon. i will miss them both. we have beeen supplying the prison with food....mostly posho and beans..seriously, you would think the ugandan government would supply the prison with food but the warden told us they have run out of money due to a high number of residents and will not receive funding for supplies until mid july. how can this be? it is just wrong! we brought frisbees for the boys, it was fun watching them PLAY....something these kids don't get much chance to do. everyone in our 'team' spoke for a few minutes and gave the kids a pep talk...they told us all the things they really need and we left wondering....'what's the deal, exactly what does the goverment supply'?

monday we went to raising up hope orphanage in bulenga to visit patrick and the kids...omg...talk about getting mobbed by happy, smiling faces!! the children sang and danced and were so happy to have company, they always are! the gals were given ugandan names that the children picked out and then pastor william even baptised them. kaleigh is now subbi, meaning hope.....erin is kisa meaning grace and demetra is kwagala meaning love. these little kids are SMART...perfect names for these great gals. we then went to the house of hope, which i preveiously called the safe house. we walked because patrick said it was very close.....well, that is relative, isn't it? it was so so muddy and we were all in flip flops and by the time we arrived we all looked 2 inches taller as the soles collected a nice thick layer of red clay. it was awesome seeing the kids again...some of the ones whom i knew, were gone and that was really sad. we did sing and praise and pray and that was great fun. the kids seemed genuinely happy to see me agin, i missed them so much. i told them we would be back weekly to provide what we could.....can't wait to work with patrick in the slums....that is one of my goals during my stay here.

tuesday morning we got ready EARLY to travel to kiganda to visit the highway secondary school and check on the water project. we sat in the van in the driveway and said a prayer before we left the driveway because y'all know our track record regarding the van breaking down on our kiganda trips. most of us dozed on the journey, well except andrew...fortunately! haha the students presented a wonderful welcome reception with singing and traditional dances. we enjoyed visiting with the staff and students. we were treated to a traditional lunch, which was the first for erin and kaleigh and demetra. kaleigh loved the liver.....i keep saying this child's appetite is not normal for a 10 year old! we walked to see sssenyonga john's mother and grandmother in kiganda center...what a treat, they made us fresh banana/cassava pancakes...yum yum yum! then as a real surprise they gave erin a hen (now named 'henny' and kaleigh a chick (now named 'penny'). y'all know my record with domestic fowl (foghorn ran away the first day because i had no cake)....we are keeping henny and penny in a coop but so they are not murdered by demon dogs! we are thinking they look bored, so will give them some yard time tomorrow to hunt and peck...will have to keep the pups in the garage, so the birds can enjoy their time out. we made it back to kampala without any van problems...yay! maybe the tide has finally turned....i surely hope so.

we decided to treat ourselves wednesday and thursday and went to murchison falls in north western uganda. WHAT FUN! my friend, raymond of rayz tours, put together a great package for us. our driver, isaac was so wonderful...funny, efficient, and so helpful! after arriving at our destination we started the day with a 3 hour water tour on the nile. we saw hippos and monkeys and crocs and an awesome elephant and eagles AND the falls! so cool and almost surreal....like what are WE doing floating on the nile seeing these amazing animals????? we stayed at the paraa safari lodge and ate nonstop! then we enjoyed HOT showers...such a treat. the alarm went off shortly after 4 so we could be ready for isaac to pick us up. he arrived with james, our park guide and his friend AK47...just in case we met up with some charging elephants. we traveled to the park for the driving tour...unbelievable!! the ride lasted for about 3 hours starting at dawn....elephants, giraffes, a lioness and her 2 cubs, monkeys, mongooses (mongeese? nah, surely not), warthogs, hippos and awesome birds! it was like watching a national geographic show, only we were in it!!!! kaleigh did a great job of spotting the animals...she wanted to sit on the vehicle hood..but thankfully the top of the van raised up so we could stand on the seats and see out perfectly, so she could do her job from the inside of the van :) after this, we drove up to the top of the falls and enjoyed walking around and getting sprayed by the cool cool water.

today we revisited the house of hope and provided the pizza party that i had promised before i left the country in april. most of the kids had never had pizza....it sure seemed like everyone loved it....also brought cokes and juice and bananas and kabalagala (pineapple which is one of the few local words i know!). we had brought hackeysacks for everyone and some personal items for the girls, mercy and sarah. again we sang and danced and praised for a very long time. then some of the children who had been to kampiringisa prison gave their testimonies....so sad, heartbreaking actually that a 10 year old has been to that evil, evil place is almost more than i can bear.

yes, it was a very busy week....george has taken hundreds and hundreds of pics and videos. everyone will be heading back to nashville soon. i think they have all had a really good time....it has been such fun seeing uganda through erin and kaleigh and demetra's eyes. kaleigh is now thinking that maybe she needs to go to peru also and i am thinking we have created a world traveler. i'm so thankful that she has no fear of leaving her comfort zone and experiencing God's world and God's people. thank you Jesus for this wonderful week, for this wonderful country in all it's beauty, for my family and friends and for allowing me to wake each morning and the privilege of doing Your work.