The Greatest thing in Life...Kids!

Miracles do occur! Today I got out of bed early; a little afraid to still be asleep if Susan showed up on time! I knew if that happened there would be no stopping her from coming in and jumping on me. So all-night I slept the restless sleep of little children waiting for Santa to arrive! And what to my wondering eyes did appear…but Susan, thirty minutes early even for Mzungu time! I ran outside to greet her and collapsed to the ground in shock and admiration! She thought I had died; but I told her today is not my day! She then had that evil look and hoped to be able to get Liz but even she was up and already in the shower. Susan was so disappointed! And so at 9:44 we backed out of the driveway right on schedule! And off to Jinja we drove! What a beautiful drive that is. I am still amazed at the driving along the “highway”. On one hand there seem to be no rules. There is passing over dotted lines and there is passing over solid lines, white and yellow both. There is passing on flat stretches and there is passing while going uphill and down. On the other hand, the drivers are very courteous. If you are in the passing lane and someone is coming right at you, heading for a head on collision, they will move onto the shoulder to avoid you until you can get back into your own lane. Maybe this is self-preservation. I prefer to think of it as kindness. Trust me, I have seen more cars heading straight for me since being here than in my whole entire life. It makes driving an adventure especially when I have my head out the window most of the time taking pictures and all of a sudden look up and go whoa!

Once we got to Jinja Liz and I jumped out of the car and the shopping began. We probably only walked through eight shops at the max but we kept seeing things we liked. This meant, of course, that we had to go back after scooping out all the other places to see if they had something we liked more. Phil and Susan tagged along, I’m sure wishing we would hurry up and stop acting like tourists. We’ve all been there when others are doing the shopping. Boring is all I can say… Little Adrian was with us as well and he had a great time touching everything. I finally bought him a little car made out of wire that he can push along with a wire handle. That brought a huge smile to his face and he was a happy camper after that. The woodworking they do is phenomenal. The carved animals are absolutely gorgeous and since we are going on a safari I felt that was something I just had to have. Not to mention the few other things I bought. The real question now is how I am going to pack it all to fit for the flight home. But that is not today’s problem. I don’t have to worry about that until Thursday night! And for those of you who know me you know I will wait until the very last minute!

We would have stopped and eaten at the Source Café but unfortunately they were closed today. Ugh! So on the way home we stopped at a gas station pizza shop for lunch. Sadly they only had one pizza already made and it would have taken at least another hour to make a second one. So we split the one cheese pizza and got back on the road. Forty minutes later we were back at Phil’s and the kids were on their way so we could do more interviews. One of the girls that came was wearing a dress that was ripped right through. The entire waistband was hanging lose from the top of the dress. So I brought her into the house and provided her with an extra “Haiti” dress. She was thrilled. While waiting for the older kids to get out of class Phil put in Lion King 1 ½ for the little guys to watch. Even though it was in English they were mesmerized. When the big guys got here the interviews started. We didn’t get through very many but it’s interesting to find out how many of our kids are related to one another. We have a lot of siblings and we also have a lot of cousins. I’m still in awe at how well all the children get along and how much they look out for one another. I’m also surprised at who they have told us are their best friends. As far as I can tell it has nothing to do with age. Many times it is a sister or brother. At other times it is someone much older or younger. But then their schoolmates are often not their own age.

As we were doing interviews tonight I had a group of the older girls all around me. I just loved it. As I was walking out to take a picture of one of the boys Rehema Naigaga asked if she could speak to me. She took me by the hand and led me down the hallway to our room. She then put her arms around me and told me she loved me very, very much. She started crying and told me she would miss me very much. I love this young lady very much as well. She has such a gentle heart. Her father was a businessman who sold truckloads of corn and other things. He was traveling north when he was ambushed by thieves in 1997 and killed. Her father had two wives at the time and shortly after he died his second wife died as well. So now Rehema’s mother takes care of her three siblings as well as her father’s other three children. That must be where she learned to be so kind because it is very rare in this culture to care for someone else’s children. This 14 year old is so sweet; I am going to miss her like crazy.

I have asked Phil if Rehema, Angela Kitasala and Sylivia Nangobi (Liz’s child) can spend the night on Wednesday so we can have a slumber party. These three have touched our lives in such a special way. This is not to say the others have not impacted our lives because believe me they have. They started the trip living here because Sylivia was sick so we thought it might be a good ending to our journey. I ask that you all pray for the kids. Pray that they all come to know Christ in a way that they can truly rely on Him and trust Him with all issues in their lives. Pray that they know He will always be there for them as for many this is a feeling they have never had a chance to understand. Pray that they know they are loved. Also please pray for Liz and I because leaving these kids is going to be incredibly difficult. Pray for Liz as she tries to process all that has happened in the last month. And remember I love you all and am praying for you every day.