My Favorite Things...

So, I have made a list of things I'm excited about seeing in Uganda as well as those things that I don't particularly care for. Ready?? Here goes...

1. Marabou Stork - these guys are about 4 feet tall and linger all in the city especially around trash piles. They are disguisting to me! And then they will nest in trees, but they look so heavy that it seems as though the tree is going to break. Yeah, NOT looking forward to these!

2. Chicken on a Stick - my Mom thinks this is gross and it probably is if you think about it, so I just don't think about it! The road-side vendors will run up to your car along the highway if you dare to stop and they sell all kinds of things like roasted bananas, water, drinks, and this delicious chicken on a stick that has been roasted over a fire with lots of salt to flavor it. Just don't think about the lack of sanitation! Can't WAIT to have a taste of this deliciousness!

3. Chicken and Chips - is exactly what it sounds like. Fried chicken and french fries. We will usually eat this at restaurants!! Healthy I know! But it usually will come with some sort of vegetable mixture similar to slaw. So I'll eat that!!

4. Bodas - this is a very common form of transportation. I kind of have mixed feelings about this one though. It is so fun to ride, but I know it isn't the safest form. Let's just say I pray a LOT on these things!!

5. AMY!!!! - super excited about seeing my friend who has been gone since July 12th. We will celebrate Thanksgiving together in Uganda!!! super thrilled for this one : )

6. Hand Sanitizer - although I know this stuff is good I get really sick of using it EVERY DAY for EVERYTHING. To not even be able to wash your hands in the sink...not good. By the end of my trip last time my hands were peeling from using this stuff. I'll be taking lotion along this time!

7. MARY BETH!!! - okay so this doesn't have much to do with Uganda, but I'm putting it anyway. On the flight home from Uganda we are getting to meet up with my sister who has also been absent from my life (at least in body) since July 12. Can we say...Christmas Party anyone??

8. Mosquito Nets - I know how important these things are, but they are STIFLING!!! Imagine with me being up in the middle of the night feeding a hungry baby and sweat dripping off of you because there is no breeze. DRIPPING I SAID!! Don't worry though...I'll be sure to tuck it in around me each night for bed.

Well that's all for now folks! Not even sure if anyone is even reading this thing so far ahead of my trip. In exactly 7 weeks though I will be on Ugandan soil...super thrilled about that one!!

Back again!

Well, the Lord has provided a way for me to travel to Uganda again this fall for a five week trip. It blows my mind that I am going twice in the same year! Most of you know my friend Amy Washington who is there now (she has been in Uganda since July). Her brother, Mark, who also traveled with Amy and I back in January, has been in Uganda since mid-September.
I leave Atlanta on November 10th with Amy and Mark's sister, Deanna. As a side-note we will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Uganda which will be fun. Amy has already started making a list of what we need to bring with us to make that happen...stovetop stuffing, sweet potatoes for sweet potato crunch, chocolate chips (we'll just eat these plain I'm sure).
It will be an adventure this trip because we aren't really sure all that we'll be doing. It will be great to see familiar faces as well as meet some new ones. I ask for lots of prayers for this trip. I don't want to be sick again, but know that I can handle it if I do. I'll post more soon. Thanks for keeping up with my travels!

Last Thoughts...

We've been back from Uganda for almost 5 weeks. I miss Uganda tremendously! Having spent six weeks straight with these babies and these people, it's weird not to be around them at all. It hits me at the weirdest times that I can't just drive over to Sonrise and say hello. They are many miles away! I can't hold the babies or play with them. Miko, Ian, Catherine, and Nulu have started school. I wish I could have been there to see them on their first day.
Brenda has still been sick and was actually in the hospital for several days in Kampala. They tested her again for TB and HIV. All the tests results aren't back yet so we're still waiting. That's the hardest part...waiting.
Lots of people keep asking me how my trip was and it's hard to even begin to describe it in a short conversation. I just keep saying that it was awesome and life-changing. The Lord has really just opened my eyes to the plight of orphans, opened my heart to be available to go wherever He leads whenever He leads, and to trust that He will provide everything that I need.
As you can imagine, this trip was very expensive. I had been working my tail off every chance that I could and saving every cent. I wanted to try to pay for this trip with my own money, but God provided money from people that I never even expected. I have had a large jar on my dresser since I started saving for this trip and kept putting my money into it. I paid for my plane ticket and then as the trip drew closer I knew how much money had to be in the jar in order to meet the budget requirements. I went to church the Sunday before we left and had our church family pray for us. As I was leaving, I had two or three people come up to me and give me some money for the trip. After lunch, I brought out the jar and Mom and Mary Beth helped me count it all. I told them how much I needed and we began. We each tallied up our stacks and then added them up together and the grand total was exactly how much I needed. What a huge blessing!
I can see how the Lord orchestrated every part of this trip and worked in my heart before, during, and even after the trip.
Everyone wants to know if I will be going back and the answer is a very clear yes. The when part is a little bit more foggy. I feel that I can't ask off work for awhile since I was just gone for six weeks, but I feel certain that God will take me back.
So thanks for following us on our trip. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. I look forward to seeing where God takes me next!

Rafting the Nile River

Yes, we are back from Uganda, but I still wanted to finish telling you all about the last few days of our trip. Saturday, February 20th we awoke to thunder and rain...the last full day in uganda and also the day we had chosen to go white water rafting down the Nile River. Not good... We headed over to the outpost and they were still gearing up to go. Their philosophy was "you're going to get wet anyway." Oh well! We paid and ate breakfast which was provided then headed to get our lifejackets and helmets. It only took about 10 minutes to get to the river where we would put the rafts in. Each raft could hold 7 people plus a guide. We loaded up (still raining) and paddled around in the open area to practice different skills we would need such as pulling someone into the raft, going down rapids in the correct position, what to do when you fall out of the raft, how to re-flip the raft, etc... I had just gotten my hair braided and wasn't supposed to get it wet. Guess who was chosen as the "volunteer" to model how to get back into the raft? Yep - me! That didn't last long. We went down the river on an all-day excursion which included lunch on the river and dinner back at the camp. We went down rapids from Class I to Class V which was loads of fun. I was scared at some points - not going to lie, but our guide was excellent and we made it safely through them all. We only flipped once on a Class III which seemed pretty puny since we made it through all of the Class V rapids fine.
We got back to the campground for dinner and realized that we didn't have our shoes. They were in the other truck which was supposed to be coming to the campground, but somehow we missed it. We called back to the outpost in jinja and they said they had a box of three pairs of shoes. Great! We had to ride the boda back to Jinja barefooted. Did I mention I was sunburned. Oh yeah! I didn't put on sunscreen that morning because of the rain and then when the sun started coming out I put some on. Then another raft came over and splashed us and it washed off of me. Wonderful!
We got back to Sonrise that night and Betty, Aisha, and Damali had planned a going-away party for us. Lots of people came over who we had met on this trip or who were involved with Sonrise. They thought it would be funny to have an eating contest between Mark, Amy, and I - I came in last place : ) There was a big banner that said Thank You on it and also an individual note for each of us expressing thanks for our being there. It was so sweet! It was very sad to think that we would be leaving the next day.

The Last Days...

(Leah) So sorry for the lapse in time since our last post. We are furiously working to get as much done as we only have 3 days before we leave. When we booked our flights we saw that we flew out of Entebbe on Monday, February 22nd. It didn't hit us that the flight time was 12:30am meaning we have to head to the airport on SUNDAY around 5:00pm. In our minds we have lost a complete day to spend at Sonrise. We briefly thought about extending our trip by that day, but then thought that our parents would not be happy. And so, we have realized that it is hard to squeeze everything into our last days. We are trying.

Mark has spent the last few days at Musana Children's Home in Iganga. This is where Amy spent her first 5 weeks of her trip this past summer. He seems to be having a great time, although we have only heard from him once.
Amy is still not totally healed from her sickness although it is now just a bad cold. I, on the other hand, have been feeling really good (knock on wood). After my kidney stone, I think any sickness will be easy to handle. : )

This week has been CRAZY. We started out with a list of items that needed to be done, and it seems as though we haven't done much. Amy and Damali have been running around Jinja and Kampala all this week to meet with a lawyer about getting Sonrise registered for adoptons and trying to get all of the signatures on multiple forms (of which we have to track down these people for these signatures). It seems that everything takes three times as long here in Uganda as it would in the US. And I thought some of our government officials were bad...HA!!
Damali purchased a file cabinet and a large medicine cabinet in Kampala on Wednesday, so Amy and I have been working hard trying to get all of the meds organized and getting all of the information for each child into a folder, as well as receipts into respective folders according to month...such a hard job.
I think it really hit me last night that we are really about to leave Uganda. I don't know when I'll be back. I definitely plan on coming back, but it probably won't be for at least a year (unless the Lord has other plans). When I get back Catherine, Nulu, Ian, and possibly Miko will be going to school and all of my babies will be walking and starting to talk. It will be hard to miss all of the "firsts" in their lives. I finally got Brenda back for baby duty last night. Nanny Norah has been sleeping with her for awhile when we were sick and then had multiple babies to split up between the three of us. But, since it's my last few nights, I thought I would "give her a break" and take her back to her rightful place with me! I just held her last night and prayed for her and cried. It's going to be hard to leave her here. It did kind of hit me last night that having parents like mine, I have been prayed for often. These children don't have anyone to pray for them (or at least they didn't). So, I laid in bed praying for Brenda specifically and then praying for the children in general (I was too tired to pray for each by name). This is my new mission while I'm away - to pray for each of these precious children the Lord has brought into my life. I know I will cry my eyes out on Sunday when I have to say goodbye, but at least I can go knowing I am still able to touch their lives even from so far away. I will miss Miko yelling "Auntie Leah" everytime she sees me, little Fred who can't say my name so it ends up coming out "Eah" (no Auntie), hugs from Junior and Nulu, and all of the other small things that make Sonrise so special. I have seen how it changed Amy's life when she returned this past summer. Now, I got to experience it for myself. Let me tell you - the Lord has worked in my life tremendously and this trip has been amazing! I would be lying if I didn't tell you that this trip has also been really tough. I haven't been able to share everything on this blog, but it has really been a tough trip. Lots of great moments, but tough spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally. God is at work at Sonrise Baby Home and I am so thankful that I have been able to be apart of it. We are hopefully going rafting tomorrow and then a quick visit to Musana on Sunday before we head to the airport that evening. I will try to do another post with pics before we head out of here, but if not - SEE YOU ALL ON AMERICAN SOIL. Love to everyone!

Safari Pictures!!! =)

Hey! Here are some awesome, and hilarious African Safari Pictures! Hope you enjoy! =)

first morning of safari!! GORGEOUS African sunrise (SO weird to spell sunrise that way!)

mark and lan on an actual african safari! Lion King anyone??! 

with Murchison Falls in the background. So beautiful! 

me and lan on the boat cruise - hippos, and crocodliles everywhere! 

me and mark - heading to the rhino sanctuary 

Leah and Mark, I mean, Bear Grylls Rhio Tracking! The video is HILARIOUS, let me tell you!

Rhons Bella and hr baby behond us -so neat! 

me and betty on a picnic - chicken and chips are the best! :) LOVE it! (and her!)

 Leah ad Catherine - beautiful girls! 

Mark and "Wittle Gift" as MArk affectionately calls her :) 

oh the joys of clinic and hospital rooms! Waiting for Leah's first ever ultrasound!! YAY!

Mr. outdoorsman  in his hammock inside the Sonrise compound - so cute! 

MACARONI AND CHEESE!!!!!!!!!! SO much better than our first attempt! Great night of Mac and Cheese, Kool-Aid, and Star Trek - bit of home-away-from-home! :)

PICTURES!!! =)

Hey! Leah sent me some pictures of her hair being done! =) Here they are!! HOW CUTE!!!!!!