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!!!!!!

MY HAIR!!!

(Leah) Today, I got my hair braided. Everyone here and back home has been pressuring me into doing it, so despite my better judgment (or should I say here in Uganda you do things you normally wouldn't do) I went ahead with it. It was a 5 1/2 hour process - not quite as long as Amy's 7 hours, but I was about to die by the time she finished. I sat on a 2in foam mattress which is NOT cushiony at all after that long. My rear is SO SORE!!! And the tugging on my hair and turning my head this and that...not fun at all! I consider myself to be pretty hard-headed, but after today I'm not so sure. I can't wash my hair for the approximate two weeks it will be in and to top it all off she had to put Vaseline in my hair to make it easier to braid. Isn't that disgusting!! Amy took her hair out yesterday and it looked HILARIOUS!!! She reminded me of an 80's rockstar (that I have only seen from pictures since I was born in the late 80's so have NO IDEA about any of that stuff). Hopefully we can sneak a picture up...shhh!! Anyway, sorry the pictures aren't great (I'm e-mailing them to Deanna, so I'm not exactly sure when they will be up). I'll try to get some better ones later, but I know my family is anxious to see the finished product. I'm not quite sure what I think right now, but Damali's sister Aisha who went with me today told me to not make any judgments until after 24 hours. Everyone here at Sonrise LOVES it though, so that makes me feel better. Until next time...Leah

My First Ultrasound...

(Leah) Ok, now I know I have you attention. Catchy title, huh?? I would LOVE to explain. First of all - I AM NOT PREGNANT so that is NOT why I got my ultrasound. Just wanted to make that clear!
Amy and I went to bed around midnight on Friday night. She is still pretty sick with a sinus infection, so I had Baby Moses again. I woke up around 1:30am feeling like I was about to wet my pants, but when I went to the bathroom I didn't go much, but still had that feeling. I thought it was kind of weird, but didn't think much of it. About 2:30am I woke up again with the same feeling and also a pain in my lower right abdominal area. I tried to shift around on the bed to get more comfortable, but nothing helped. I got up to go to the bathroom again - still not much - and felt the pain even more. My first thought was appendicitis - I know I'm thinking worst-case scenario here, but I'm just being honest! I woke Amy up (sorry, Amy!) and told her how I felt. I wasn't sure what we were going to do, but I was hurting pretty badly. We talked it out and decided to call my Mom and explain everything to her and then get her to call our nurse friend, Stephanie Bennett, to see what she thought it might be. By this time I was feeling clammy, sweating like crazy, and thought I was going to faint. It was not fun! I sat down on my bed and drank a ton of water and waited out the dizzy spell. Then Amy and I trooped into the living room for a middle-of-the-night phone call to Mom. Rachel (my sister who is almost a nurse) was very helpful in getting all of my symptoms down and relaying them to Mom who was on the phone with Mrs. Bennett. My pain was worsening and it felt like they were taking FOREVER in coming to a diagnosis. There were several options: Appendicitis, Kidney Stones, Gallstones, or Ovarian Cyst. Great...so many choices!! To help diagnose, Rachel had me do some jumping jacks. So, I stood in the middle of the living room at 3:30am and did about three jumping jacks no problem Apparently, if it was appendicitis I would be doubled over with pain. Ok, we could almost rule that out. I felt so silly! Amy was on the phone with Rachel this whole time who was relaying all of this info from Mrs. Bennett. Next test: I laid on the floor and Amy felt all over my abdomen pushing pretty hard so we could localize where the pain was. We finally decided it was right above my hip bone. Good! Mrs. Bennett said she thought it might be kidney stones. I have NEVER ever had a kidney stone in my life, so I had no idea what to expect. Next test: Amy put her hand over the area that hurt then put her other hand flat against my back directly opposite her first hand. Then she balled up her first hand into a fist and started beating it against her flat hand. "Does that hurt??" OF COURSE IT DOES...YOU ARE BEATING ME! I didn't notice any new pain so that wasn't helpful at all. I had to lie down at this point because the pain was pretty intense. Amy had me get up again to do more jumping jacks...still pretty silly looking, but no problems. Rachel wanted to know if we had any antibiotics I could take in case it was appendicitis. The only one we had was the one Amy had gotten for her sinus infection on Thursday. She ran back to get it and spelled it out for Rachel so she would know. It took about three tries to get the correct spelling while in the meantime I'm writhing on the floor in pain. I think at this point I yell out "Can you please hurry it up?? I'm dying here!" I was NOT a happy camper! The final test because we were still puzzled about this issue with my bladder (feeling like I had to go NOW, but not much coming out): Amy had to feel her bladder and then go to the bathroom and feel what it felt like empty. Then I was to do the same and we were to compare and see if I was fully emptying mine. She ran back to the bathroom while I lay on the couch. I was still chugging water as the pain intensified. Then it was my turn to go to the bathroom. I walked in and felt so sick! The next thing I knew, I was leaning over the toilet throwing up everything that was in my stomach - mainly the water I had been drinking. Amy had walked away, but came back when she heard me and told this to Rachel who relayed it to Mom who relayed it to Mrs. Bennett. We thought this might help pinpoint a diagnosis, but apparently throwing up from pain can happen with any of the four choices. NO HELP! I tried to go to the bathroom, but still had the same problem. By this time, I was in a lot of pain and was willing to do anything to get out of it. Amy didn't tell me this until later, but she apparently walked away while I was going to the bathroom and told Rachel, "Ok, Leah is in a lot of pain and she's getting very grumpy and ornery. I'm taking her to the clinic!" I didn't mean to be grumpy and ornery, but I was in so much pain and it felt like they were taking FOREVER with deciding what to do. So, at 4:15am we loaded up the car, Amy, me, Richard, and Betty, and headed to Al-Shafa Modern Medical Clinic. We finally made it after what felt like an eternal car ride. The doctor was there which was a blessing because I was warned that she might have to be called in since it was the middle of the night. Amy did a lot of the talking and Mrs. Bennett told us to get an ultrasound done. Unfortunately, Al-Shafa doesn't have an ultrasound machine, so we would have to go to another clinic in town that didn't open until 8:00am. Thankfully, the doctor told me that I could take some Ibuprofin to help with the pain. What a wonder drug!! I had almost immediate relief. We got back to Sonrise and Amy and I went into the living room to do some research and wait until we could head to Rippon Medical Center at 8:00am. I ended up falling asleep while Amy ate two bananas and some Digestive Cookies. She eventually went to bed around 6:00am. About 6:45 I woke up to more pain. I didn't think I could take more ibuprofin so soon, so I went to wake Amy up to help me get into a hot water bath (thanks, Logan for the tip). She was NO HELP whatsoever since she was so tired, so she told me to go turn the burner on and get the water going we had boiled previously. I was a little miffed since I was the one with the possible kidney stone...what a friend! I tried to turn on the burner which required using needle-nose pliers, but had no success. There was also a big roach a few inches away that I had to keep my eyes on at all times...no taking chances of it coming any closer. I finally gave up on the burner and tested the water. It was still pretty hot from earlier, so I lugged it back to the bathroom that was already filling with cold water. I poured it in and there wasn't much at all. I climbed in anyway and just poured the water over the area that hurt and felt some relief after only 20 minutes. I heard our room stirring, so I headed out to investigate. We still had some time before we had to leave. Eventually, I started getting restless and wanted to hurry up and get ready. The pain was returning, so Amy instructed me to take more Ibuprofin. It was about 7:30am by this time. I was trying to hurry, and Amy was still lying in bed too tired to move. She had started to feel bad with her sinus infection again and said she felt like she had been run over by a truck due to lack of sleep. It took her about 10 long minutes to finally crawl from bed and get dressed, but eventually we were out the door. We arrived at Rippon about 8:30am and were told to wait for the front desk guy to arrive (weren't they supposed to open at 8:00am?) He finally walked in the door about 8:45am and then informed us that the ultrasound guy wasn't due to arrive until between 10:00am and 11:00am. I wasn't in too much pain, but really wanted to start crying at this point because I was ready to get this over with. We took Steven to the clinic for a cough he has been having (he is doing much better from the measles though) and killed about 30 minutes doing that. We still had time to spare, so we headed to Flavours restaurant for breakfast. Amy and I split an omelette and had some delicious banana bread. About 10:30am we headed back to Rippon where we were told the ultrasound guy still had not arrived (WELCOME TO AFRICA Y'ALL!!). We waited in his office until he finally walked in about 11:30am. Morris from Musana had come by to check on me and brought me some pineapple. Amy explained my symptoms to the ultrasound guy (radiologist on his namebadge) and he said that it did sound like a kidney stone. I climbed up onto the ultrasound table. Morris had already left the room, so Betty and Amy stayed for moral support. The radiologist was about to get the sheet to cover me when in walked Morris again. He asked if he was supposed to leave and I told him that if I had to take off any of my clothes he needed to go outside. The radiologist answered "Definitely!" We all busted out laughing. Then it dawned on the radiologist to ask one more question..."Are you the husband? If so, you can stay." Betty, Amy, and I lost it completely! We were crying we were laughing so hard. Of course he wasn't my husband. Morris did go wait outside thankfully! We got ready for the ultrasound and I felt totally comfortable with the radiologist. He put that cold jelly on me and we started. He looked all over and didn't see anything, but said that I defintely did not have appendicitis or else I would not let him do the ultrasound due to so much pain. That made me feel good. He said that I most likely had a kidney stone which was pretty small because it wasn't showing up on the machine. He said to go home and wait it out. Amy forbid me from taking anymore Advil so that we could monitor the pain level to see if it was moving. We got home to Sonrise about 1:00pm and I immediately headed to bed. The pain was starting to come back, but was a dull ache at this point. I didn't want to get into a hot bath until the pain got worse, so I tried to wait it out. I couldn't go to sleep right away, but eventually drifted off about 2:30pm. When I woke up a few hours later, I felt fine. I went to the bathroom and didn't feel like I had that feeling anymore of I HAVE TO GO NOW that I had been having all day.
Right now I am pretty much pain-free!! I guess I passed it and didn't know it because it was so small. Amy and Mark kept telling me how much pain I was going to be in (not helping!), so I was prepared for the worst. I had been praying all day for the Lord to let it pass quickly and I know my family was praying as well. All I can say is, I have no pain right now. Let us pray that it is gone forever. It is so weird to have a kidney stone in Africa. I have NEVER had one, and here I am serving in Uganda and get one. Just another bump in the road as my Dad said. Anyway, just wanted to share my story!! Thanks for listening and enduring through all of the details. Hopefully not too graphic for some folks out there!!

Welcome Isabel Grace!!

(Leah) I would like to say welcome to the world my new niece Isabel Grace Brannon born yesterday around 3:00pm EST. I hated to miss the birth, but received two text messages when she arrived and saw lots of pictures soon after. She is absolutely precious weighing in at 6lb 5oz and only 19 inches long. I'm not sure what Alex (my two year old nephew) thinks about his new sister, so we will have to see. And my great Grandmother is so proud to have another great-great-grandchild, this time a girl! Hopefully she won't change too much before I get to see her!! Congratulations Daniel and Daira and Alex on the new addition to your family. I really wish I could have been there, but am glad that the Lord has me serving here. See you all soon!

Safari!!

(Leah) So, we are back from our African Safari. We ended up staying in Kampala until Thursday and didn't arrive back until late last night. Sorry for the long leave of absence, but here I am to try to tell you all about it.
We left on Sunday to head to Kampala and spent the night in a hostel owned by the company we were going on the safari with (Red Chilli). It was my first time ever staying in a hostel, so it was quite interesting although a positive experience. We got up early on Monday and loaded our van with our group of 8 to head to Murchison Falls State Park where our safari would take place. It was a long drive, but we eventually made it. We entered the park and I started to get excited...I was actually going on a real African Safari!! It wasn't long before we started seeing babboons and warthogs...also known as Rafiki and Pumbaa. Our first stop on our safari was to see Murchison Falls from the point right before it heads over the edge to become the falls. The Nile River was flowing so rapidly it was amazing. Gorgeous views all around of this beautiful country. We stayed for about an hour and then finished the journey to our campsite where we would be staying for the nights. We got checked in and were shown to our tents. They were so cute! It reminded me of "The Parent Trap" because they were so perfect with two beds (with mattresses and pillows) and a little table. By now it was dinner time, so we headed to the restaurant to see what the special was for the evening. Chicken and rice with a creamy honey-mustard sauce was what we decided on and it was delicious. I almost forgot that I was in Africa because it was the most delicious meal I had eaten thus far on this trip! We were pretty exhausted so we hit the showers and headed for bed kind of early.
Tuesday morning: We had to leave the camp area by 6:30am for our "Game Drive". We had been praying to see lions which can be rare, but I was optimistic. We crossed the Nile on our ferry with a gorgeous sunrise and entered the area where the wildlife inhabit. We hadn't gone far before we started seeing all sorts of antelope-type animals all around. I don't remember all the names of the animals, so please forgive me. Our guide was great at explaining all about the different animals and the difference between male and females. All of a sudden he started talking on his walkie-talkie with a group ahead and then said to us - let's keep going because there are lions ahead! Of course we were ready!! We drove a ways and sure enough, on our right-hand side lay two female lions resting. Under a bush in front of them was a dead animal they had just killed. It was fantastic!! After we had taken tons of pictures, we headed on down the path and came upon a huge elephant that kept shaking the trees trying to get a piece of fruit to fall. It was a HUGE elephant!! We were able to get pretty close to it because it was so close to the road. There we were snapping pictures and camcording, when all of a sudden it decided it didn't like us being so close and started snorting and charging us. Our driver quickly cranked up the van as if to drive away and he calmed down. It was amazing!! We saw other animals such as huge Cape Buffalo, Antelope, Giraffes, and more warthogs. We never saw huge herds of the animals, but it was kind of nice to be able to see all of these animals up close. At one point, we saw a male and female elephant with a baby. It was kind of hard to see since they were over the edge of a hill, so our driver suddenly turned off the beaten path and headed right towards them. So great!! The game drive was a huge success.
That afternoon, we headed out on a huge pontoon boat with two other groups for our river cruise. We saw TONS of hippos and some crocodiles. One of the crocs we saw was about three meters long. Of course right as we were going to take pictures of it, it slided into the water. Oh well! The hippos were so big - no one should EVER compare themselves to one because there isn't a human being on the planet as big as a hippo (thank goodness!). We saw an elephant near the shore and some more monkeys up in trees. The zoom on our camera wasn't the greatest, so it's hard to see them all, but we snapped pictures anyway. And the birds...so many different kinds and so colorful. We got back to the campground around dinner and ordered beef stroganoff with rice. It wasn't so great unfortunately! We all felt disguisting after riding around in the dust all day, so Amy and I were only too grateful to hit the showers. We then played some Phase 10 and then Mark decided to humor us by becoming Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild as he talked about a praying mantis that had found its way into our tent. It was hilarious!!!
Wednesday: We had to pack up and leave by 8:30am. We drove out of the park and headed to the Rhino Sanctuary for our last thing for the safari. I didn't know this, but rhinos are extinct in Uganda. So, they have this rhino sanctuary where they currently have 6 adults and 3 babies - the only rhinos in all of Uganda. We arrived around lunchtime and headed out to see them. The workers there keep track of each rhino 24/7 so it was nice to know exactly where we were headed. The rhinos we saw were Bella the Mom and Augusto the baby born in October. They were amazing! Rhinos are huge. At first they were both laying down, so our guide kept trying to call their names to get them to stand up. Finally they did, so we all started snapping pictures. Mark did another episode of Bear Grylls although we had to keep quiet, so I don't think it transferred well onto the Flip camera. : ( We finally made it back to Kampala about 4:30pm and made reservations again at the Red Chilli Hostel. Unfortunately it was pretty packed this time, so we didn't have a ton of room like before. When we found our beds assigned to us they had clothes from someone else. It looked like someone had used our beds to dry their clothes, so we piled all our bags onto one bed and decided to come back later to deal with it. We headed to the Kampala Tourist Market to get some souveniers. There must be a new law passed in Kampala about boda drivers because we could only ride one per boda (we had been squishing two on) and some had helmets that they wanted us to wear. Wow, a lot can change in just a few days! Thankfully, we made it safely there in one piece! Riding on Boda's in Kampala can be dangerous because of the traffic! Fun, but scary!
And so this concludes this post about our safari. We had a GREAT time and enjoyed the time away although we were all missing the babies terribly and were ready to come home. We will try to get some pictures to Deanna soon so she can post them. In the meantime, thanks for keeping up with our trip that is too rapidly drawing to a close.

More Photos!!! =)

Hope you enjoy these pictures of the adventures going on in Uganda!!!! =)

On our way to IHK on Wednesday with Brenda and Moses 

Leah and Brenda 

Betty with Moses 

Waiting for lab results to come back. It was nice to be in the open where the breeze could come in! 

Amy and Leah – at IHK on Thursday morning early. So exhausted from our 4am wakeup call...

Betty and Amy – eating lunch in Kampala after the hospital 

Silver fish – apparently these will help Steven get well from his measles?? They look and smell disgusting!!

Amy and Betty 

Chef Mark making his specialty – Mac & Cheese!!! 

Leah and Mark enjoying the dinner – Rolex and Mac & Cheese!  

New Post from Amy below! =)

Here are a few new pictures! =) sorry they are a little scattered! I will try to put up some more new ones tomorrow! =) -deanna

Leah and Amy getting ready for the bungee jump. Do not be deceived by our smiles – we were scared to death!

Off we go! We aren’t sure how we ended up with Amy off the platform and Leah still jumping off…it looks weird, but we were fine!

Mark with his journal 

Baby Gift 

Gift smiling. She does this quite a bit – such a happy baby! 

Amy feeding Baby Mark  

Leah and Brenda  

This is what she does too – does this remind us of someone…Mr. Washington?

Betty is the newest Washington Farms employee 

Betty and Amy – eating lunch in Kampala after the hospital

Osibyotwa!

(Amy) Osibyotwa!
Thank you for all for your prayers and support, love and encouragement! It means so much. The trip has been amazing, challenging, so much fun, difficult, exciting, heart-wrenching, exhausting, and completely wonderful.

For those of you who followed my blog while I was in Uganda this summer, you know that Jessie and I were VERY dilligent to blog and post about each days' activities and what we were doing - I want to apologize for me not having been able to keep you as up-to-date this trip. I had good intentions of keeping a similar blog this time, but it has just not been possible. Leah has tried to be better and I appreciate her trying to fill you in! But I was taling to my mom the other day and just told her that it has not been possible to blog like I had wanted to, but for various reasons it has just not been possible, but thank you for your prayers and encouragement and for caring about this crazy mzungu white girl trying to follow God's direction and leading in her lif - dragging her brother and her friend with her halfway aroud the world - all the while trying to keep her head on straight! Thank you - from the bottom of my heart.

Directing and fully running a Baby Home has been such an honor (I mean, who gets to do this????!!!!?!?!?!), a privilege (who gets to be "mommy" to 16 beautiful black babies who love you to death??!!), and yet difficult and challenging, as would be expected. But God has walked with me and led me each step of the way - of that I am 100% certain, as I don't believe I would be here if He hadn't been. He truly is an awesome God!

I love these babies. and I love these people. and I love this baby home.
My heart truly does feel a peace and a home here - these people took me in this summer, loved me, and cared for me - and they wanted me to join with them in this beautiful privilege of a mission to save babies in Uganda.

God has been working in overdrive since we got here!!! :) He has done so much in me and through me (and all of us, I would say - I'll speak for Mark and Leah too!!) that I just stand in awe. He has worked miracles, gone above and beyond dreams and expectations, turned me upside-down, emptied me of myself (daily!) and filled me with Him, taken me to my knees, comforted me when all I could do was weep at Jesus' feet, and laughed with me when I have been overjoyed. I've kept Him pretty busy, huh?!

There have been so many things that have happened and gone on in my life and heart and with the home while I've been here, and I'm sorry that I have not been able to share all that God has done and is doing, and all of my thoughts and emotions, but let me just say - GOD IS WORKING and moving in a mighty way to use Sonrise Baby Home to save dying babies and to bring Him glory. Praise to HIS name!

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures - I know they are not many, but be reassured, we HAVE taken over 3,000 so far, so you will see more and more later as well! I have a TON of pictures of "my" babies - and I have to keep trying to get pictures of other people, but they are just so unbelievably cute!!!!! :) I just can't help it :)

Well, tomorrow we will be heading to Kampala and will spend the night there before leaving early on Monday morning for our safari! :) Having already been on one this summer, I have felt kind of guilty for getting to go again, so I'll admit I haven't been very excited, especially knowing that my time is running out with the babies and being here, but Lark and Leah are VERY excited about the safari - and their excitement and anticipation has helped my excitement grow as well :) We will be gone on the actual safari Mon-Wed but will most likely stay in Kampala on Wed night and then head back to Sonrise on Thursday. All this to say, we most likely will not have any internet access during that time, but if we do - we will try to post more pictures and updates about any Simba or Nala spottings!!! :)

May God bless you! (oh, and Musa just finished his bottle and is attempting to sleep, but on behalf of His Royal Cuteness, I'll say "Goodnight"!)

DISCLAIMER:

I am sorry that I forgot to mention this in the post about us bungee jumping. Betty did have the video camera, but she has never used one in her life. So, we were looking at the video afterwards, you will probably get seasick watching it. She kept playing with the zoom and when Mark jumped it was zoomed in a lot, so she was trying to follow him bouncing up and down and I am not even sure he made it into the shot once. It was so hilarious!! Then she videoed as Amy and I are getting tied up and then the camera quit so no video of the screaming good time. SORRY!!! I wish there was a video, but we have pictures and that's all. Mom said we'll just have to do it again and get another video...not so sure about that one.

God is SO good...Brenda's Story:

So, there is a lot that we haven't posted on the blog in the past few days because we didn't want to scare anyone, and we also wanted to make sure of a few things before we shared them. Now I am free to share, so please enjoy this story - just one example of the mighty GOD we serve!!

As you know, Baby Brenda arrived only two days after we got to Sonrise. She has kind of been "my" baby as I have taken care of her a lot. We think she is about eight months old, but only weighed 5.5 kg when she arrived and now only weighs about 7 kg. She is so very tiny!! She arrived in ok condition - obviously malnourished, coughing some, ear infection. She stayed in the hospital several days on an IV for fluids and has been on some type of medication ever since either for the infection, iron for her low blood count, etc... We took her to the doctor last Saturday (Jan 30) because she was sick. I mentioned her cough still, although it had improved since we got her, and he listened to her lungs. He recommended a chest x-ray to check for TB. We had to take her to another clinic to do the x-ray and then waited around in town until the guy who reads them came that afternoon. We returned about 2:30pm to pick up the x-ray and I read his report...active tuberculosis! I was freaking out!! We headed back to Al-Shafa clinic and the doctor confirmed the diagnosis...she has TB. I was trying to remain calm, but inside all I could think about was how she had been sleeping with me, I had been feeding her, holding her, loving on her for three weeks. I kind of resigned myself to being exposed to it...but didn't know if I would get it or not. Tuberculosis is common in Africa and they actually have a vaccine for it. So, Betty and Damali couldn't understand why Amy and I were freaking out. We told them that it's not so common in America; they still said not to worry. At that point, I kind of ceased a lot of my contact with her except to feed her dinner. I was trying to be really careful. On Monday, we took Brenda to the hospital in Jinja to get meds and they said that they wanted to run further tests on her at the Children's Hospital. It was already getting late in the day, so we didn't get her to the Children's Hospital until Tuesday. Amy and Betty took her, and ended up leaving because it was not a good experience and the staff wasn't very nice at all. We still needed treatment for TB, so we decided to take her to the International Hospital Kampala (IHK) about two hours away to get tested again and speak to a doctor who actually seemed competent (never have I been more thankful for doctors/nurses in America!). Tuesday night, Amy told me some news that I wasn't aware of. Apparently, a lot of people who have TB are also HIV+ so not to be surprised if that is what we find out at IHK. This crushed me. I cried and cried on Tuesday night because if she was HIV+ she would be sent to another baby home that was better able to deal with the situation. It might as well have been a death sentence to me - I know I was probably over-thinking it, but suffice it to say I was really upset. Lots of tears were shed and lots of petitions were made to God on her behalf. We headed to IHK on Wednesday with Brenda and Moses (he had an infection in the blood and we wanted to make sure that it was gone). It was such a pleasant experience! They did full bloodwork on both of them and HIV testing as well. We told our doctor (Dr. Sam) about the situation with TB for Brenda and showed him the chest x-ray that we had. He had his radiologist review it and told us to check back later with him. Dr. Sam was an angel in disguise. You could tell that he actually cared about these children and about their health. We had to wait around that afternoon for the lab results and to speak with the doctor, but finally he was ready. We all crowded into his room and sat down. I was trying not to hold my breath. He read off Moses' results first: HIV- and no septicemia. He said that Moses was fighting a small viral infection, but not to worry because that would go away on its own. My heart was pounding as he moved on to Brenda's results: HIV-!! I could have cried I was so relieved. He told us that her x-ray indicated an infection around her right lung, but that it didn't look like TB from the bloodwork. He needed to do one more test to make sure - a test on the stuff she was coughing up. Sorry if this is gross, but when she coughs mucus comes up. Unfortunately, she doesn't cough it out...swallows it back. It was a two-person job getting this!! Amy held Brenda and I put on a glove and stuck my finger into the back of her throat to get her coughing. When she would cough really well, my finger would go back in to collect the mucus coming up. It was quite a task! I did get a bite a few times, but we eventually got what we needed. They were going to run the test, but to really be sure they wanted us to come back Thursday morning with another sample and then get the final results then. It wasn't ideal, but we agreed. The doctor told us to be there by 6:00am and then it would take about 3 hours to get the results. Not too bad we thought...HA! The ride home I was so thankful and praising the Lord for the good results. I was trying to sing every praise song I knew. Thursday- 4:00am wake-up call after three hours of sleep due to baby duty was not fun, but Amy and I managed to be on the road by 4:30am. We arrived at the hospital by 6:00am and got the sample for them (again, bite marks on my finger). We went to the lab to drop it off and no one was there. We were the ONLY people at the hospital this early in the morning. We waited and eventually a kind maintenance man went in and found someone to come and help us. Amy took him the sample and he wondered why we were there so early. We explained that the doctor told us to come early...he didn't know that the lab guys don't start picking up labs and testing them until 8:00am! He told us to give them plenty of time to run it and put the results in the computer and so we were told to come back around 12:30pm. GREAT!!!! We could have slept longer : ) Richard had gone to take Damali to town to see a friend and we didn't have a phone with us, so we sat down to wait. It was kind of cool and overcast (a nice change from the heat wave) and then started raining. We were exhausted and my stomach was hurting...such fun times! Finally Richard returned about 9:00am so we went in search of a restaurant to eat breakfast. We ended up at the Garden City Mall and wasted some time there before heading back to IHK. Of course it wasn't ready when we got back, so we had to wait some more. Finally, the lab results were ready. I tried to read them, but couldn't really decipher what they meant. It said something about a few pus cells present and another type of cell not found, but I didn't see anything about TB. I tried not to hope too much. The doctor called us back and gave us the results: NO TB!!!!!! He said that she definitely was fighting an infection that was common in children, but that it wasn't TB. We were overjoyed...I was grinning from ear to ear. He prescribed her two oral antibiotics, antibiotic ear drops for the ear infection, and something for pain. We were on the road home by 2:00pm. We were physically exhausted and I was emotionally exhausted. I was so thankful to God for this good report and for answering prayer. Here we were worried about us catching TB and bringing it back with us (I could see the headline now: "Mission Team Infected With TB Bring Infection to Passengers On Airplane!!). Then I was worried that she was HIV+. Now we find out she has neither!!!
I kept thinking of the words to the new Chris Tomlin song - "Our GOD is greater, our GOD is stronger, our GOD is higher than any other. Our GOD is HEALER, awesome Redeemer our GOD - our GOD!!" We truly serve a mighty and awesome God who answers prayer. A lot of you didn't know that all of this was going on, but you were praying anyway. You weren't sure what to pray for, but God knew - and I am truly grateful!
Thanks so much for everything! Leah

More pictures to brighten your day =)

Me and Ali - we have done this so much this trip :) He has just loved sitting on me and having me hold him. He is one of the littlest babies next to the baby-babies. he loves attention and hugs - he feeds off them :) We were just sitting outside playing and I started kissing him and tickling him - gales of laughter ensued :) Love this little boy.
ali! :) This was at mealtine and I often come up ad stand behind the bench that is closest to me and tickle heads. Then they get all excited and turn around and want to hug Mama Amy and rub all over her legs with their rice and bean covered hands! :) I love that part! And this was Ali turing around to say "Mama Amy" to me while he was eating - so adorable!

Mark and Fred!!! Mark was spining the boys around and making them laugh and laugh!!! Then they would get dizzy of course and have a hard time walking around - so cute! But this time Mark had thrown Fred up into the air and Fred got a little scared and then clung to Mark! He wa so cute and Uncle Mark was more than happy to oblige :)

Leah and Ali - playig outside :) I believe this is one of the ones that Catherine took while in possession of the camera - De, she might really have a future in photography!

Me and Trust :) And Catherine also had the camera during this little photo shoot! And i was very pleased with the cute pics she got of me and Trusty :) Trust loves the camera - and is always smiling and laughing! :) (well, execpt when he gets his feelings hurt and comes runing to me, grabs my legs, and shoves his little face in between my legs to cry - then he gets some extra extra love!)
Nulu at dinnertime!! So beautiful and so happy! She has the most beautiful smile! :)

TRUST!!!! :)

Leah and Fred - sharing a hug! So precious :) Sometimes a little TLC is all that is needed.
Me and Betty! Betty came into the living room wearing the white sweater set that Mom gave her - she looked so good in it! and got it all ready to wear to church the next day (before she got sick that night.) but she'll wear it soon! Thanks Auntie Donna!!!

Betty says, "I LOVE it! Thank you, thank you very much! God bless you! You're an amazing woman and an amazing mother!"
Me and Leah! Sitting with the babies on couch, we decided that we needed a "together" photo! and ended up gettig about 12 -trying to get a "good" one! Some ended up being even too hilarious and embarrassing to post - naturally! :) - what happens when crazy friends get together!