Goodbyes

May 4, 2012

     So if you're reading this, I made it safely back into the states!  After 2 consecutive 8 hour flights I'm finally relaxing in the Detroit airport drinking my Starbucks that I've been craving for a better part of two and a half months and it is worth every single craving I had while in Uganda!  For as miserable as the two 8 hour flights were, they actually went by really fast.  I had no time to rest in between because our flight from Uganda left an hour late and I only had a one hour layover so I had to book it when I landed!  In Detroit they overbooked the flight, so they kept trying to give out vouchers for people to take a later flight but there was no way after 3 months and 20 hours of flying that I was gonna wait 8 more hours!  Landing in charleston was such a good feeling, to finally be home and not have to get on an airplane again for a very long time was amazing!  I was anxious to see family and friends for so long that when I finally saw them it was sooooo exciting!  My first night back was a little overwhelming for me and I had a slight breakdown just being back in the American culture and away from Uganda.  I think I was finally realizing that I'm not sure how long it'll be until I go back and see all my friends.  Mom and I went to dinner that night and just hung out, it was definitely a great way for me to begin readjusting to the not so simple life.  

     Today is Tuesday, so be been home for 3 whole days and I finally feel like I'm starting to readjust to the time zone change.  Unfortunately, my body is taking a little longer to adjust to the food change :/... Feeling sick after everything I eat and not being able to pass anything is not fun! Haha sorry too much information I know.  Other than that adjusting has just been a process and will continue to be and I realize and am as prepared as I could be for it.  I will always miss my friends there and they will always be my Uganda family, but I know I'll see them again.  The fast pace of America is something I'm not thrilled to readjust to, but I know with time it will inevitably happen.  Luckily, I got a long term subbing position at the same middle school I worked at last year and I'll be teaching 8th grade math, which I'm pretty excited about.  I'll have my own classes, so I'll get to set everything up how I want to until the regular teacher comes back from maternity leave.  

     That is a wrap up of my trip and my blog.  I hope y'all have enjoyed following my adventure and I'm so grateful for all of your encouraging words and prayers.  I can't express how helpful they were to me and continue to be.  Y'all helped sustain me while I was there and I love you all so much for that.  Thank you for following and for everything! 

July 28, 2012

July 28, 2012      Ok, so this will probably be my second to last blog because I'll be writing about my goodbyes later this week.  Again, I'm sorry it's been a little while since I've blogged.  Everything here is coming to an end, and it's kind of hard to fully understand that right now.  I feel like I don't completely remember home, but I also feel like I just got here.  The children from school went on their holiday break on Thursday, so we got to be a part of their closing meeting with all the children, the few guardians that showed up, and the school staff.  Following the meeting, we had a very good meeting with the staff and Basco- the administrator of the school.  Amanda and I gave some more insight into different ways the teachers could continue to develop their school and teaching methods.  The teachers were so gracious and are just wonderful women that we were so blessed to have the opportunity to work with.      I wanna take this opportunity to sing Basco and Nancy's praises again because they invited us over to dinner last week for an absolutely AMAZING meal!  Now in case I haven't mentioned this before, the food here is somewhat lacking in versatility.  There aren't nearly the amount of options in food as there are at home, so anytime we get a chance for something new we get so excited!  Nancy cooked all day and everything was homemade- EVERYTHING!  Prepare yourselves because I'm sure you'll be drooling after I tell you what we had.  She made- homemade hamburger buns, homemade tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, passion fruit juice, sloppy joes, pineapple and banana salad, and a strawberry cake to finish it all off!  The hamburger buns were absolutely AMAZING! Needless to say, we stuffed our faces until we couldn't eat anymore.  The rest of our time here is pretty open, we will probably just be spending time with friends and trying not to think about saying bye :/- I'm not prepared for that yet.  Tuesday is Sarah's 22nd birthday, so I think we're gonna have a sleepover at our friend Christine's again on Monday.  As far as I know, we plan on heading to Kampala on Thursday and staying the night so we don't have to drive up Friday and be in a car for 4 hours then get on a plane for a day.  This is all I have for now, but definitely continue to pray for the ministry and sick people here-there are several sick people here rig now (typhoid and malaria are everywhere!).  Also start praying for our flights because I'm not looking forward to them! Love you all!

July 12, 2012

July 12, 2012            The past week has been full of my usual daily routine with school, AWANAS, and church with the exception of Monday.  Usually Monday's are our day of rest, but last Wednesday two new visitors, Todd and Roni, got here and so we ended up going hiking at Sipi Falls on Monday with them because Roni is only here until next Tuesday.  Last time I was here cara and I went to Sipi Falls so I knew what to expect and was excited!  I love hiking and the falls are on the top of Mount Elgon in a beautiful, cool, plush area.  As we got closer to the base of the mountain it started to look more and more overcast.  Last time we didn't get a drop of rain, but this time we were in for a very different, pleasant surprise!  As we got up to the first fall (not very far up) it started to trickle raindrops.  Well, we left that fall and continued up the mountain only to encounter the pouring rain as soon as we started up.  We were already pretty far up the mountain from where we parked, so the farther up we were hiking the colder it became.  Now believe me when I tell you at the top of that mountain the rain drops were huge and FREEZING!  At one point I'm pretty sure it was hailing.  Now I'm definitely not complaining because it made the hike so much more fun and exciting because we were trying to hike fast without slipping on the steep path in the mud.  It was hilarious watching everyone, including myself, trying to get down that mountain in the pouring rain using our walking sticks they gave us.  Long before we even got to the bottom we were literally soaked to the bone and freeeeeezing.  It was a great adventure and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I enjoyed myself a little more once I was home and showered in my sweatpants and sweatshirt under my covers, but it was worth it!      Wow, the three week point has come and I'm not sure how it got here so fast.    The days come and go so fast sometimes its hard to stop and catch my breath and remember to take advantage of every single opportunity i have here.  As i was laying in bed last night i couldnt get to sleep because i kept thinking about how im gonna say bye to everyone here.  Its amazing to me how many close relationships ive formed in the time ive been here.  I consider myself a friendly person, but at the same time at home its sometimes hard for me to get outside of my comfort zone and make friends.  Thats one of the most encouraging, genuine things about all the friends ive made here, they have no hesitations about making friends with someone theyve just met.  The biggest difference for me is that i dont feel like i have to mold to fit someone elses personality in order to be friends with them (not that i feel like i have to do this at home all the time but our culture is so much more physically and, for lack of better word, "popularity" aware and judgmental than the culture here and it's so refreshing).  Everyone here is so genuine and I can relax and just be myself.  Now if youve been reading my blog you know about Eva.  The main reason i couldnt get to sleep last night is because i kept thinking of what i would tell her when i leave.  With adults its somewhat easier because they understand the coming and going of missionaries, but with young children it's a whole different playing field.  The fact of the matter is I'm not sure when I'll be back.  How do I tell a 6-7 year old that?  How do I form this relationship with a child and become a trusting adult to her and then just leave her?  Sitting here writing about it is making me cry and i still have 3 weeks!  How in the world am i supposed to figure out how to do this?!  I'm sorry if I'm starting to sound dramatic, it just helps me to write things out in order to process them, and maybe somebody has some advice for me? That would be wonderful!  I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to realize but this is the catch 22 of mission trips, especially longer ones.  You're given the amazing opportunity to come and love a new culture and new, amazing people and then you have to leave.  I think I'm realizing this more this trip because of the consistency of being with the children everyday at the school and spending the evenings and weekends with the same staff people.  This has been my reality and life for the past 2 months and will be for the next 3 weeks.  Maybe that doesn't seem like a big amount of time but with the relationships I've made it's a HUGE amount of time.all of the relationships I've made here have also taught me so much and i haven't figured out how to thank them all for that yet either.  The lord is definitely using these relationships to help me grow and encourage me.  I was talking to Sarah the other day and realizing how far I have come personally since I've been here.  It amazes me how fast the lord has restored me (not that I'm completely restored but just how far I've come in so many different aspects of my life).  Ok, I think I've gone on long enough, so now for prayer requests and some praises!  Please continue to pray for some guidance for me and the other visitors when it comes to saying bye, even though it's a little ways away.  I know it's gonna be hard for all of us.  Also, I still need prayers for patience here please!  Also pray for becca and derek and their wedding planning, less than 3 months!Please pray for the ministry as well, they have some necessary projects coming up and definitely need help with the funding, so pray that the lord provides for them.  Please also continue to pray for Bryan and his family (our mzungu neighbors).  They've been battling different illnesses among the 7 of them and just pray that they can have a rest from all of that, but along with that comes a praise because Bryan is feeling better!  Mindy says he is still weak but healing, which is so good considering how awful he was feeling.  Lastly, my praise is that I'm feeling better also!  If you know me you know I'm a baby when it comes to being sick, so this is some stress off of me for sure.  Thank you always for your love and support and I hope you enjoyed getting caught up! Love you all!

July 5, 2012

July 5, 2012      Goodness how the time has gone by! I'm so sorry, especially to you grandpa, that it's taken so long for me to blog!  I've been so into my routine that I haven't thought of a specific event to share, but then after thinking about it I realized I haven't shared updates from school yet!  Amanda and I have been teaching at the primary school run by the ministry every morning from 9-12.  During this time we pull out small groups of children that are struggling and need extra help.  Unfortunately, it's not in their curriculum to teach phonics, so unless the kids are smart enough to just pick it up along the way, they end up really struggling in class.  They are taught to copy stuff from the. Lard in class but not letter recognition or sounds at all.  Luckily for me, I've been able to get tons of help from mom AND my exposure in preschool and kindergarten classrooms subbing has definitely given me some direction in our teaching.  We've also been fortunate to get supplies from mom through a team that came in June, which has helped develop our teaching methods here as well.  We start each group by going through alphabet flash cards and do letter and sound recognition.  We then break off into smaller groups and I work mainly with phonics through some great iPad apps that I have while Amanda goes over colors, shapes, and counting with them.  Halfway through we switch so every child is exposed to both teachers and both types of curriculum.  The kids have jumped leaps and bounds since we've started working with them, which is really encouraging to me.  They have come to recognize letter and letter combination with sounds and everything!  The most encouraging part for me personally is little Nora.  I talked about Nora in an earlier blog, but just to remind you she is a 13 year old girl who was severely malnourished as a child so her brain didn't develop like other kids and she suffers from mental impairment as a result.  At first I wasn't as optimistic as I should have been with her progress, but the weeks have proven me so wrong!  She can recognize almost half of her alphabet now and can do sounds and everything!  I have an app on my iPad where the children have to spell out words by picking the letter after hearing only it's sound and she does amazing at this game! She is really progressing and not only am I excited but she gets so tickled when she gets it right, which is precious! in a couple weeks another team will be bringing more supplies for the school, which will help build up the school and it's resources that much more because it's still in the very early stages of development.        As for me, unfortunately i haven't been feeling so hot lately.  Sickness is coming and going for me and I'm not exactly sure what it is, which is the most frustrating part.  At first, I went to the clinic and they thought it was worms so I took deworming tablets and they didn't have the effect they should have had if I had a parasite, so that has been ruled out.  After talking it through with one of the new visitors from the states who is a nurse, we have come to the conclusion that it's a protein deficiency paired with a high starch intake.  At home I eat so much protein and not so many starches that now after a month and a half of exposure to very very low protein and very high starch intake (as a result of the availability of foods here) my body is low on nutrients and it's making me sick and somewhat weak.  Luckily, I can start here and try and focus on taking in as much protein as is available and cutting down on carb/starch foods.  Right now it's more of a frustration and annoyance for me than anything else because I don't have tons of energy and have to lay down almost every day after I eat lunch, but other than that things are going well.        Ok so now for prayer requests!  A new mzungu family moved into our compound a couple weeks ago (a couple with 5 children under the age of 9 and their brother in law who is from Uganda) and since they've been here their 2 youngest have developed a staph infection and now the dad is very very sick and they're not sure what it is.  Please pray that they can figure it out so that it can be effectively treated, that the kids stay healthy, and that the mother will stay strong for the family.  Also please keep praying for the development of the school and the children.  Please also keep me and the other mzungus here in your prayers for our health as well because there is always some sort of sickness going around here (lately its been typhoid), and we have been fortunate so far to have steered clear for the most part.  Luckily, we have been immunized against most of the sicknesses that are very prevalent here.  Also please continue to pray for all of our patience in every aspect of our lives here. Again again thank you for your support and encouragement it is doing awesome things here! Love and miss you all thank you for keeping up and being patient with me! :)

June 23, 2012

June 23, 2012      Ok, so I wanna start this blog got by talking about you all.  Y'all are the foundation of my drive to come here and my continuous support.  Without all of you this journey would be a lot tougher.  Your prayers, encouragement, and support keep me going here.  Just to know that all of you are interested and reading and praying for me pushes and motivates me!  And I know the Lord is motivating me through your prayers, so thank you all so much!      2 Corinthians 12:9 is a perfect summarization of Gods grace and love for me here.  It says "Gods grace is sufficient, for His power is made perfect in weakness.".  I came to Uganda with a hope of learning how to fully trust in the Lord and grow and move forward in my life leaving the bad stuff behind and striving for a new good future.  Even more, I came with a desire to be taught.  Taught by the people, taught by the Lord, and taught by the other missionaries.  Little did I know, the Lord had/has similar plans for me but has been going about it differently than I would have hoped- the hard way.  Sometimes we have to learn the hard way in order for there to be a lasting impression, right?  My time here slowed down a little bit yesterday and my friend Sarah and I were able to go into town to a small coffee shop and read.  While we were there we both put our iPods on and zoned into our own thing.  I think it was one of the first times that I actually sat and focused solely on what the Lord is doing in my life here and what I've been/ continue to learn.  Now, if you know me you know that I'm somewhat selfish in different areas of my life.  I have found that coming through here as well at times and hate it.  I've been consistently praying for the Lord to restore me and give me patience and direction and trust in every aspect of my ministry here and my relationships I've been forming here.  Now this is gonna sound very simple and most of you will probably be thinking duh, but I'm gonna share it anyways bc I'm not sure I've really learned this until now because I've been living it.  First let me start by referencing back to the bible verse I mentioned.  Sometimes the Lord has to completely break us down in order to fully restore and heal us.  Towards the beginning of my trip and even still now sometimes I feel completely helpless and weak when it comes to helping these people, being homesick, and really trying to discern the Lords will for me here. In the beginning I completely questioned my whole purpose here and went as far as to ask if this was even in His will for me or if I selfishly decided to go because I knew I needed it in my life.  I have been through some very frustrating, irritating, and heart breaking situations here that have made me angry, cry, and again question my purpose here.  But through all of it I constantly feel the Lords presence and love for me and all these people here.  It's been an amazing and simple lesson for me here to remember that the Lord here is the same as the Lord in America.  He loves these poor, hurting, broken, joyful, loving, amazing people just as much as He loves me.  How can He not? In my opinion, He should love them more because of their unfailing and unceasing love, trust, and faith in Him.  Now after all those scattered and random thoughts I'm gonna go back to the simple lesson I was gonna say I've learned.  No matter how broken, hurt, upset, or weak I am if I come to the Lord and surrender it to Him in full faith and trust that He is the Lord of all things and can strengthen me in and through it then he will be faithful to me and restore me.  My emotions are a roller coaster here, which is hard at times but I'm also so thankful for it because I have not become complacent or desensitized to my surroundings.  We are told to rejoice in our sufferings because when we are weak, then He makes us strong.  The Lord is restoring and preparing me for my future everyday here and I'm so thankful that we have such a loving and faithful Lord that He promises us those things.        If you're sitting there thinking about how random and maybe nonsensical that all was I apologize!  I taught on that stuff in AWANAS today and felt compelled to share, if not for you all then maybe for myself to read in the future when I get discouraged.  If nothing else, I pray that this could be an encouragement for you in tough times.  We don't always know it or think about it at the time, but when we're going through hard times the Lord always has a purpose for it, we just need to be patient and he will reveal it in His perfect timing.  I love you all and thank you for your love and support it's really doing amazing things over here :)      

June 12, 2012

June 12, 2012      Hello everybody!  I'm so sorry it's been a little while since I've updated, we've been pretty busy with traveling, safari, and the team leaving over the past couple days.  I hope everyone is doing well as we are here.  The team concluded their crusade on Wednesday evening and we left for safari very early thursday morning.  I don't want to complain over and over about the actual bus and trip there and back, so I'll leave it at this- we were promised a new van with air conditioning and the van the driver brought was very old with NO air conditioning.  We traveled 8 hours there (first 3 hours on unpaved, pot hole covered road) and 6 hours to Kampala after the safari (first 2.5 hours on unpaved BUMPY road).  In case some of you were unaware, I get super car sick, so I was a little uncomfortable.  For about 40 min of the drive to kampala on the napped road there were swarms of tse tse flies, so we had to drive with windows up in the scorching heat with no air conditioning! All we can do is laugh about it now, but it sucked!        As far as the safari goes we definitely had an adventure!  We got there thursday afternoon and quickly had lunch and went out on our first game drive.  It was the perfect weather and we were out until dark, so it was just beautiful.  We were greeted at the park by elephants and around sunset of our night game drive we came n contact with a herd of about 50 giraffes that were about 50 feet away from us.  We were able to get out and walk towards them, which was amazing.  Giraffes are my favorite animal and it as such a "wow moment" to be up close and personal with that many giraffes in their natural habitat.  The next day we went out very early at 6 am for a morning game drive that ended up turning into a half day game drive haha.  Game drives in general normally go about 4 hours give or take a few, but we ended up being gone for 6.5 hours on ours.  About 4 hours into our drive our van got stuck in the sand in the middle of the tall grass region.  All I could do was laugh the whole time because the guys were literally using sticks they found around us to try and dig the sand out from under the car, and then all 9 of us would try pushing it out to no avail.  It really was pretty funny and definitely an adventure.  The guide didn't have service on his phone so we waited 45 minutes until another truck came driving down the path-I'm sure you can imagine our excitement!  Again, small world because the people that saved us were from Colorado and have been living in Kampala.  So after that we made our trek back to the entrance of the park.  Before we got stuck we actually got to see a 3 legged lion that lived in the park.  It was so neat because I rode on top of the van the whole time and we literally got 10 feet away from it and it just sat there and stared at us for a little bit.   The rest of the safari was good and we got to stay the night in Kampala which was a lot of fun because I haven't had an opportunity to spend a lot of time there.        Yesterday (Monday) was our much needed off day, which allowed us to catch up on sleep and get ready to get back into a routine.  I'm so happy to start the routine back up today and have a sense of normalcy back, but I really enjoyed our time with the team!  Today at school I found out Eva wasn't feeling well again, so she walked back to the clinic with Amanda and me and we found out she has a very high temperature and has to get treated for malaria.  Poor girl screamed and cried when they went to put the needle in for an IV, but luckily I managed to sit there and hold and comfort her again.  I took a little pb&j picnic in to eat with her and we watched Rio on a laptop while she had her treatment in the clinic.  I love that child so much it scares me to think about leaving her :/.  Please continue to pray for that precious girl.   I miss and love all of you and really really appreciate your prayers.  Sleep has been troubling again a little bit so please pray for peaceful nights as well! Thank you all!      

June 6, 2012

June 6, 2012    Ok, I'm gonna try and catch y'all up.  Sorry it's been a little while, since the teams been here we haven't really been able to get the Internet up bc there are too many people trying to use it!  It's definitely been an eventful couple of days with the team here, which has been good but exhausting.  Sarah and I got to take Monday morning off, which was so nice because we went to the pool in town with our friend Kristin.  In the evenings we've been doing what's called an open air crusade.  Basically it consists of live music with dancing and the preacher here from Florida with the team preaches a short message.  It's definitely been a new and fun experience.      Tomorrow morning Sarah, Katherine, Bosco, a family with the team, and I will be heading up north for safari.  We'll be there from Thursday until Saturday.  Katherine said we could go out for 2 or even 3 land safaris (if we have time) and 1 water safari.  Saturday afternoon we'll leave and head to Entebbe to drop off the team at the airport.  Saturday night the rest of us will stay the night in Kampala and head back to Kamonkoli on Sunday.      Now to the real stuff.  Last time I was here in 2009 I became very fond of a little girl (unsponsored at the time) named Eva.  When I came back this time I was so excited to see her again and find that she's sponsored now.  She's 8 years old and goes to the primary school that i teach at, which is exciting for me because I get to see her everyday!  Monday evening she came to the crusade with a black eye and a swollen jaw.  Katherine asked her about what happened and she told her that she had been beaten by her grandmother who takes care of her.  Now, I've also been told Eva is a very stubborn child and may have fought with her title sister, BUT there is still no excuse for that type of beating... At least not in America.  Pastor Charles took a look at her and told us to take her to the dentist to get looked at.  Sunday morning when she came into church it was 5 times more swollen than the day before, so Bosco and I took her straight into town to the dentist.  The dentist took a look at it and decided the tooth had been knocked loose and was infected, which explained the severe swelling.  He said he would have to pull the tooth in order for the infection and swelling to go away.  Now, I absolutely hate the dentist, so when I heard that I got scared but decided I wanted to play the "motherly" role in the situation and give her a sense of safety and security.  I stood right next to her holding her hand and stroking her arm calmly telling her it's ok.  The dentist proceeded to pull out this huge needle to numb her gums with.  Now, in America we get numbed with a topical numbing cream before the needle, but not in Africa.  So this little 8-year old girl is sitting in this chair screaming as the dentist puts the needle in her gums and I'm rubbing her arm and trying to soothe her while Bosco has his hands on her shoulders trying to comfort her.  I have never in my life seen a child in that much pain.  It was heart wrenching for me to watch and listen to, but I knew if I lost it it would make it even worse for her.  The dentist had to inject her twice with the needle and she screamed and cried the whole time.  While he was waiting for the numbing to take effect she just sat there crying and I was holding her the best I could n that chair trying to comfort her.  Finally, she calmed down but only until he pulled out this huge tool to pull the tooth with.  She started crying again and was gripping my hand and as soon as he got hold of that tooth and pulled she screamed a scream that sounded like someone was being severely tortured.  I lost it, just started crying.  Luckily, my face was behind her and she didn't see me and I gathered myself before she saw me.  After the tooth was pulled she just cried.  Now to preface what I'm about to say I need to tell you that Eva isn't a very affectionate child.  A lot of the children here love to be held and babied, but not really Eva.  I assume that it's a result of a lack of love in her home life, which has probably hardened her, which breaks my heart because she really is a sweet girl.  So anyways, after her tooth is pulled we go get in the car and I pulled her up in my lap and just held her (probably more for my comfort than hers) and she slowly stopped crying and laid her head on my chest.  We just sat there quietly the whole way back to the village.  I decided to take the responsibility of giving her her medicine for the next 4 days because I didn't wanna try and rely on her grandmother to be responsible for it.  So everyday for the past 3 days I've had the opportunity to bond more with her and she is almost completely recovered! The swelling is gone and her beautiful smile is back!  If you wanna see Eva I have a picture of her on my Facebook.  I wish I could adopt her, I would do it in a heartbeat if I could. I know I love that child.    So that's just one of the many many stories of children in this village and another eye opener of the differences in cultures.      A side note for everyone, there is a brand new clinic right in the village on the compound where we live that was fully funded by a doctor from Huntington, west virginia! How cool is that?!  Anyways that's all for now, safari tomorrow! Miss and love you all :)

June 2, 2012

Hey everybody, so i know the last post wasn't exactly lively and I apologize I just wanna try and give everyone some sort of an understanding of the good and the struggles  here.  today I think im gonna share more about the people and food and.    I first want to start by sharing about my friend Peace.  She has really been such a blessing to all of us here because she cooks, cleans, makes us African tea, and on top of all that has a 3 month old baby that she takes care of.   She really is wonder woman to us haha.  She makes great food and is always so cautious about us being taken care of... She spoils us, but the women here are all like that, what a wonderful culture!      The food here for the most part is great.  There are some specific dishes that I'm not crazy about, which wouldn't be so bad but during a meal that meal is your only option.  There's no choice b.  they also don't really snack here so it's either suck it up and eat it or don't eat at all.  I think my favorite thing here to eat is the chapatti.  It's basically an African tortilla.  But it's 100 times better than a tortilla you're imagining because they're much denser and thick and just amazing!  My least favorite dish is goat and matoke (basically matoke is plantain).  I think I might go hungry that night.. Haha.  Unfortunately, they also like to fry a lot of stuff here so peanut butter and jelly is gonna get old... Fast.  When it comes to food here I think about it a little differently tho.  I'm sure everyone has heard the phrase "there are starving children in Africa".  Number 1., yes that is true and number 2., it takes on a whole new meaning when those children live right outside your kitchen.  So, yes I do feel like being picky sometimes, but at the same time we don't waste food here.  Being well off and fortunate enough to have some sort of meat AND a starch here is such an anomaly that it really shows me not to take anything for granted or to waste.  I only get what I know I'll eat and nothing more.  at the same time, people here know they're blessed to have what they do have.  More often than not, being poor and not necessarily even having what they need doesn't usually shake their faith.  So many times when I'm talking to women here they greet me with "God bless you" and then they'll continue on to tell me about their lives, which is incredibly interesting and at the same time very sad.  But it never fails, whenever they're finished with the conversation they 95% of the time end it with "God will provide".  I mean gosh! Just writing that gives me goosebumps!  How many times have we questioned the Lords motives or existence at home when something bad happens? Or if we get into a bad situation? Or if we don't necessarily get something we want?! I mean geez if there's anything you take away from this blog please let it be that!  They literally have nothing and they trust that the Lord will provide because He is their hope and their strength and they're provision 100%, no questions asked.  I wish we could all live with a fraction of that trust.  I mean shoot if I could take even a small amount of that faith and trust from them then I would be so blessed!  That's definitely a huge lesson that I think the Lord is teaching me while I'm here.  Without the Lord there is no hope.  You can't look into these peoples'  faces and day that the Lord doesn't exist.  Take one look and you'll see, I promise!  Yes I understand sometimes we go through difficult things, but I promise you the Lord is doing something amazing with that tough time for you! Yes it is hard to see what He's doing at the time, but have faith and trust Him because he will provide.  Jehovah jireh - God will provide! Love you all

May30, 2012

May 30, 2012 Hi everyone, I have a unique blog today with a special request.  First of all, after school today we got the treat of going in town to a resort hotel and swimming, which was a great escape for a couple hours.  We laid out for a little while and then swam in the rain until the sun came back.  It was a great day to just enjoy the company of any, Amanda, Sarah, and our African friends David, Tim, and Diana.      Before I start this next part I need to give you a little bit of general information.  The most popular form of transportation here is by a piki piki, which is a motorcycle taxi.  They speed all over the roads with people hanging on for their lives.  More often than not the drivers don't have driving permits or taxi permits.  Sadly, it isn't uncommon for them to get in accidents and when they do, they generally jump off and flee the scene.  Here are the reasons they leave quickly: 1. Obviously because they don't have a permit, 2. So they don't get taken to jail, and 3. So they don't get flogged by the crowd especially if the accident is fatal and clearly their fault.  Now I'm sure a lot of you may guess this or just assume, but I'm gonna go ahead and state the obvious, their government and laws are a lot different and less enforced than ours.  For example, cars and buses and all other forms of transportation are allowed to freely pass each other and they don't exactly have speed limits.  Scary? Absolutely.  So anyways back to the story.  Some were driving back home from the pool and ahead on the road we see bushels of leaves scattered across the road and a mob of people surrounding a specific area.  We slowed down to try and figure out what was going on and to our displeasur we saw a woman sprawled across the road covered halfway by a shirt.  There was a huge cut across her leg and the bone was clearly sticking out.  Everybody was standing around staring at her.  At the time, we didn't know if she was dead or what was going on but there were 2 abandoned piki pikis nearby, so we assumed there was a motorcycle accident.  We were all speechless.  There was some sort of policeman at the scene, so we continued driving. As soon as we passed the scene, a huge (and I mean almost double decker size) bus flies screaming by us, not paying the least but if attention to the crowd or slowing down at all.  If you have a sensitive stomach please stop reading here.  We were all shocked by how fast the bus was moving that we kept our eyes on it to see if it would slow down, but it didn't.  Next thing we knew the bus was literally running over the woman's body as well as the piki pikis and people were literally running for their lives.  We don't know what happened next.  We all sat there in the car speechless the rest of the way home.  Nobody could really grasp what had just happened, we could only hope that the driver of the bus was apprehended and arrested.  Now I'm not just telling you this story for your jaw to drop.  If you're offended by it or don't like it I do apologize.  I just thought it would be an opportunity to ask for your prayers for Uganda as a country and it's people and government.  Apparently stuff like that isn't unheard of and they don't always capture people because they will flee.  Now understand that this is a touchy subject and people are sometimes hesitant to talk about it, but the government here isn't exactly like ours in terms of looking out for the people in the country it's more of a selfish type of ruling system.  Finally, please continue to pray for my time here and the people here and that the lords work is done in the crusade this week and during the rest of our trip as well.      The team arrives tomorrow and then start their work bright and early Friday morning.  I will be a part of what they do during the weekend and after school, but I think it'll be nice to have my own time at school.  There are 9 people in the team and they'll be here until the 9 of June.  Please also keep praying for my work a the school because I'm getting frustrated and definitely need patience with the children because they're struggling a great deal.  If nothing else I just wanna be able to love on them in that time and hopefully help them out at least a little in their school work.  I miss and love you all so much and again appreciate your prayers and encouragement and support so so much. 

Tuesday may 29, 2012

Good afternoon!  I hope you are all well.  I just got back from bible study and decided it was a good time to update everybody because this was my first day at school implementing my ideas in small groups.  I might have mentioned this earlier, but Monday's are our days off so yesterday we went into town for lunch with Katherine.  There's a really good restaurant in town called chat n chinos that is run by a Ugandan whose parents are involved in another ministry here.  The restaurant owners good friend is a muzungu and she helped him put the menu together so it's kinda become a muzungu hangout.  Anyways,  so at school this morning Amanda and I started our pull out groups n both classes.  We pulled the lower kids in the nursery class first for an hour and each had half of the group.  I took the lower half and we went over letter flash cards that I made.  It was a little more frustrating than I anticipated, but I definitely see potential for progress and learning.  The biggest challenge with the nursery class I think is going to be a girl named Nora.  Nora was severely malnourished growing up so she is very far behind developmentally and has been in the nursery class for 4 years now- Nora is 13 years old in a class with 3-6 year olds.  She has much difficulty retaining information and staying on task, but she is one of the sweetest kids in the class!  She tries very hard and in the classroom I try and work with her one on one when it's time for writing skills.  The other children treat her the very same that they treat each other, which is a blessing because she is so great with the little ones and she always has a smile on her face..      Amanda and I have come to discover that the school system here kinda skips basic skills. The children don't understand the concept of what sounds letters make or even how to identify letters.  I keep praying for patience because I can already tell this is gonna test it.  I've decided I'm gonna make a matching game with capital and lower case letters as well as just small flash cards with letters on them so I can lay them out and ask them to hand me the letter a and so on.  Any other ideas?  Keep in mind our resources are very limited :/ but I'm willing to be creative!      As for me,  I can still feel the devil poking at my insecurities and vulnerabilities, but I also feel the lord strengthening me and creating defenses around me.  I get homesick often but luckily I've become pretty decent at thinking it through and reminding myself that I need to take each day as it comes and really take advantage of the days or else I'll get home and look back and regret and feel ridiculous about wasting all this time.  Again, I'm so appreciative of all your love and support here because it helps keep me going.  I ask that you pray for the school and that God will really use all of us to encourage everyone here and use them to teach us.  Please pray for Nora and the other children of the Genesis primary school that they will be able to be on the same level as their peers in the near future so they can move up next year.  Continue to pray for the people and community here and for the team coming in on Thursday.  There's a team coming from Florida that plans on evangelizing in the community and leading a crusade during the night.  I love and miss all of you!

May 26, 2012    Hello! It's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting on the porch with my neighbors (nancy and bosco) and their family- they also work for the ministry. They are some of the most amazing people I've met here! Bosco is the school administrator and also helps with so many different aspects of the ministry. His wife nancy also helps with so many parts of the ministry and cooking and taking care of children.  Bosco and nancy came here from Kenya where they ran their own orphanage.  They have taken in Samuel, the 16 year old I talked about a couple blogs ago, which is amazing of them in itself.  They are very selfless people and go out of their way to make us more comfortable.  They really exhibit the love of the Lord in their everyday lives and it's so encouraging.  I feel so blessed to have them here with us and as a part of the ministry.  We just spent the last hour playing with photo booth on my iPad and they loooooved it!! We were all laughing so hard that we were crying... It's awesome to be around people like this, it definitely makes me feel more at home.  And now Bosco is tying the little ones up to a pole with a big rope and they are looooving it! He's one of the best dads I've ever met because he's just a big kid himself, so the kids love it!  One of the things I missed that really excites me about being here is walking to and/or back home from AWANAS because the children are so excited about muzungus that as we walk down the street children come from all over and walk with us.  They come and hold our hands and are excited to just be with us... I'm not saying this to sound like we're some big popular group, but it's so fun to be surrounded by them.  It's very funny at the same time because it's a big muzungu caravan- 4 white people and crowds of children all around us.  I'm sure it's a sight to the rest of the villagers.      Your prayers really have been working miracles here because I'm to the point where I feel comfortable and excited being here. Making friends and being around old friends really helps me feel at home, and I've also been sleeping better!  By 9pm I'm usually exhausted and looking forward to laying in bed and reading because I get up early and the heat itself is exhausting.  Anxiety comes and goes but I'm determined to overcome it and I'm reading/have read awesome books that have been helping me as well.   Thank you all so much again for your prayers and words of encouragement, I miss and love you all!

May 24, 2012

Hello!!!! I hope my last blogs didn't exhaust all of you! I hope you all are doing well also! So I've been observing the primary school all week trying to figure out how I can help and after a discussion with mom last night I think I've discovered ways I can help! It's so encouraging for me because the past couple days have been tough bc I have been feeling like, how can I help? What can I do to make a difference? It's been difficult to find my purpose or niche here, BUT I think I've found it! They have 2 classes in the primary school with only 3 teachers total. In each of the classes there is a very low group that has no idea what's going on and a higher group that follows, so we suggested to the administrator and Katherine that I pull out the low kids in each class for an hour each and work on phonics with them. They don't understand letter sounds or recognition but they're expected to spell and write and read English at 4 years old... Are you serious?! I really have hope that I can help with this and with time I'm sure it will be better, so please pray for that! Your responses are wonderful and your prayers are working! Thank you all so much! Miss and love you all!

May 20, 2012- may 21, 2012      Kozeo (hello) everybody!  I know maybe you're overwhelmed by everything I've posted at the same time, but internets been down for the past couple days and I haven't had the opportunity to upload anything.. Sorry!  It's Sunday evening at 7 and we are getting ready for dinner.  This morning Sarah and I taught Sunday school to the little ones and then went to church.  We taught the children about Esther and how she saved the Jews from being killed by Haman.  Church lasted about 2 hours, which is pretty standard here but pretty long for us being from the states :/.  It's tough because it gets pretty hot inside the church.  Last night I had difficulty sleeping again, which kinda sucks because it's definitely catching up to me.  My body is exhausted and my immune system seems to be getting weak because I'm developing somewhat of a cough and unfortunately it's allergy season here too, which sucks for me :(.  Anyways enough complaining, I know!  After church we had lunch at Katherine's and played with the kids for a little while and then Sarah and I went into town with our good friend Bumba.  The wifi Internet cafe was closed, so we headed to a non wifi Internet cafe which was slow but I got to see my emails and got a few sent out.  I also got to see all of your posts on my blog! I want to try and express to you how appreciative I am for your posts! They're such a blessing to me and a huge source of support and encouragement, so thank you a million times over and keep em coming!!!  After the Internet cafe Bumba, Sarah, and I went to a little restaurant in town for African milk tea (one of the most delicious drink I've ever had- its a mix of African spiced tea and milk).  We are preparing for dinner at the moment, which Katherine has made for us tonight.   Once again, as night falls and it gets close to go home to bed, I started getting anxiety about going to bed.  Sarah talked it out with me again, which helps me a lot.  I decided to try something new while going to bed and turned on a sermon on my iPad to go to bed to.  It helped me so much because it kept my mind focused on one thing.  I also sleep with my rosary at night, which comforts me a lot too. I prayed through my room before bed to build up Gods defenses against the devil.  I slept through the night and felt much more rested in the morning which was great!        Today is Monday, and ended up getting the day off.  We had breakfast at Amanda and Andys and then went into town to do some exploring.  We tried the wifi cafe out again so I could try and upload my blog, but of course they were out of wifi, and unfortunately Internet is still not working in the village :/. While in town we did some shopping around and got some great DVDs.  After town we came back home and will spend the rest of the day hanging out.  Right now, we are actually hanging out with the 16- year old boy Samuel I told ou about earlier and he seems better today than he was 2 days ago, which is exciting and totally a God thing!  I start at the school tomorrow and Amanda will be joining me in the morning and we will come have lunch together back at the house and then I will go back to school after lunch and she will help in the office for the rest of the day.  I'm very excited and hope that I adjust to the heat soon so I have more energy!! Enkutaka (I love you all) and miss you!      

May 18, 2012     So I know I already updated but I'm gonna post 2 blogs today only because I forgot to mention one very important thing in the other blog.  Today we were told about and met a 16- year old boy that is very sick with aids.  His mother has aids and so he and his sister contracted it from her.  His mother isn't around much and when she is it isn't exactly the best situation so his grandmother has been taking care of them most of their lives.  Sadly, his grandmother passed away recently and so his mother is supposed to be taking care of him as he gets sicker and sicker, but she doesn't seem to be around.  He's been in and out of the local clinic as well as staying with some of the youth leaders from Kenya who moved here to help with the ministry (they also have 5 young children, so they're definitely a God send).  Anyways, he has the mindset now that he has nothing to live for and his sickness is making him depressed and sad all the time.  Andy, Amanda (the couple here from colorado), Sarah, and I invited him and another one of our Ugandan friends to watch a movie with us tonight and they came!  So right now it's 9:47 pm and the 6 of us are sitting here watching Rio! He's laughing and enjoying himself, which is awesome!  How lucky are we to have families that love and care for us? If nothing else being here makes me so appreciate the everybody in my life because I've been so blessed and fortunate to have such an amazing family and friends.  So what I'm asking you all to do is please pray that he turns to the Lord in all of this and that his spirits are lifted and that the Lord can somehow use us to help in any way possible!  You're prayers are amazing and so much appreciated! Thank you all so much! Once again enkutaka (love you) and miss you all :)

Day 1

May 18, 2012      ok so its the first full day here finally.  last night was much better than the night before in terms of my fears.  i was still restless and had trouble sleeping, but it was more of my mind not being able to stop going a million miles a minute thinking about all kinds of different stuff.  In the end that was much better than staying up in tears, scared so I'm very grateful for that. All of your emails and blog posts absolutely contributed to that so please know how much I appreciate that and how much of a positive effect it has on me here, they honestly keep me going and keep my head on why I'm here, so I definitely can't thank you all enough for your support and encouragement- keep it coming!! Haha.  Today was wonderful! I'm getting so excited about why I'm here and what I'll be doing here after seeing my friends and the children, oh the children!  They are everywhere and sooooo excited to see muzungus (white people).  They run up to us yelling "muzungu, muzungu!" and shaking our hands and staring at us, it's so funny but also a great experience.  Not to sound selfish or vain but it really makes me feel like I'm here for them, to love them, and to do anything I can to show them the Lord's love.  It makes me smile right now just thinking about how I get to work with these children literally everyday for the next 2 and a half months :).  In case I forgot to share this before, I will be teaching at the primary school (kindergarten and 1st grade) Monday- Friday from 8 am to 4 pm!  Sounds like a long day at first, but then I reminded myself that's the exact same time I worked everyday at home at stonewall, so not so bad, NOT TO MENTION I get to work with the cutest kids in probably the whole world!  I will walk to and from school every morning (quarter mileish, maybe a little more) as well as home for lunch and then back because the food they make for the children isn't necessarily for muzungus, and I'd rather not take the chance in getting sick, soooo a mile a day isn't so bad! Yay for exercise the African way!  Saturday mornings we will have AWANAS (kinda like a vacation bible school for the little ones and youth of the community) where I will be helping with the "cubbies" smallest children (again YES!).  We will be teaching them about stories from the bible and doing different activities as well.  Saturday afternoons will be our time off where we may rest or go into town (Mbale is the closest town about 15-20 min away).  Sunday's of course we will have church all morning (lasts about 2-3 hours, seriously yikes, not to mention how hot it gets in the church :(, BUT we will have the rest of Sundays off I believe).  So there is my day to day in a nut shell! I'm really excited to have consistency this time and kinda be able to do most of this stuff on my own because I think it will really make me feel like a part of the village instead of an outsider.  Last time was great, but I'm glad to be contributing the same way everyday instead of going out to conferences every so often in different towns and not really knowing what I was doing each day. Please don't get me wrong that was wonderful, especially for it being my first time, but independence for my second time is so exciting!  I'm still worried about night time, which I know mentally makes it worse for me because I'm just expecting it to be hard, but I know the day will come when I'm completely comfortable because I already feel this time being different than last time.  On a side note I do have a lovely family of bats living in my ceiling where the only thing separating us s a screen square about 1 foot by one foot in the corner and then of course a ceiling the rest of the room.  But hey I'd take bats over bugs ANY DAY!      So let's talk about the heat, Y U C K!  It's very hot here (no air conditioning anywhere if anyone was wondering haha) and we visited the school where I'll be helping today and it's especially hot in there.  That just means doing more laundry for sure!  But if they can all do it so can I!  I know I'll adjust to it though so no worries.  Internet has not been working all day so I'm not sure if I will be able to really post this tonight or if I'll have to wait until tomorrow.      I apologize for this being so long if any of you are bored i just wanted to give a complete update, and once I get going its hard to stop because I don't wanna miss anything!  This morning we had our meeting basically just discussing our time here no what we will be doing, which went well.  Following the meeting katherine (lady who started the organization) and pastor Charles took us around to see everything that's been done since the last time I was here, exactly 3 years ago.  The church used to just be a cement building with windows, but now it is painted and tiled! It is beautiful!  The genesis school (primary school where I'll be working) is also the Sunday school room right behind the church and has also been painted and they have built a wooden divider inside so that they're able to have kindergarten on one side and first on the other, which is nice.  poverty is what hasn't changed though :/... It is still mind blowing that poverty like this exists in the world.  I'll try and paint a picture for you... As we were going down the road (which is just a dirt road through the village with potholes and everything) in the van little children were chasing us and waving, which as great, but half of them were naked and the other half maybe had a shirt with nothing else and to add to that they were completely covered in dried mud.  They live in what are called mud huts because they're literally built out of mud.  And the mud huts are teeny tiny, so they basically only sleep in them and live outside (don't forget about the heat I told you about).  Fortunately (don't take this the wrong way and I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying this) ignorance is bliss.  They've never been exposed to anything else so this is all they know.  And a bigger fortunately, the ministry does a great job at helping provide food and other needed items if necessary.  Following our "tour" we headed into Mbale for a lunch out and to run to the market for some things. Lunch lasted about 3 hours haha (beautiful thing about Africa- they're not really ever on a schedule, maybe that's why I love it so much! :)).  We got mini bananas, which by the way are amazing! Way better than American bananas.  So before I say what else we got let me preface it by saying last time I was here they only had bottled water (which is the only water we can drink, which is also the ONLY water we can use to brush our teeth with - sucky and annoying), bottled coke, bottled fanta, and bottled sprite.  So today we went to the market and found.. Wait for it (this is for you especially Jaclyn)... COKE ZERO!!!!!! How excited am I?!?!  Water gets boring so this is definitely a nice surprise and treat every once in a while!  Aywayssssss now I'm in my room resting and blogging and getting ready for dinner in an hour at Katherine's house (on the ministry's other compound about a mile away).  We will eat dinner at her house Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and every other meal on our compound with the 2 other Americans here and when the other teams come they will be joining us as well.  So I do believe I'm FINALLY finished for this round!  I hope it wasn't too boring or long, and please PLEASE leave comments I love seeing them (when Internet does decide to work), so thank you so much for leaving them last time I love and appreciate it so much!  I miss and love you all!

The beginning

      So I finally made it! After 20 hours in the air I finally get to have a break from flying!  Surprisingly I did a lot better on the flights than I thought I would (in case you're confused flying terrifies me).  Technically I'm still on a plane for another hour and a half because in a little bit we will make a drop off/pick up in Kigali, Rwanda (hopefully quick!).  Flight experience so far has been  pretty good.  The food is surprisingly better than i remember except that i feel like they're constantly feeding us (I've had 4 meals in the past 16 hours) (which isnt terrible except for the fact that ive been sitting in the same place for basically 20 hours and so has my food.)  Best thing about airplane food by far is the dessert, worst thing is the pizza because of its nasty chewy crust!        I met up with Sarah, the girl from Colorado who will be working with the ministry for the summer as well, and I think we're gonna get along so well! She's been to Kamonkoli (village where we will be living) 3 other times before.                  I'll be honest I am starting to feel a little homesick and kinda have that looming feeling that the adjustment period will be a little tough, but I suppose I expect that because of how different everything is and just the lack of communication I'll have with family and friends :/.  Fortunately, yesterday morning (while I was rushing to get everything done because I left it all last minute) I got stuck behind a car in the middle of a meltdown right after I said bye to my mom and the car had a bumper sticker that simply quoted psalm 46:10 - "be still and know that I am God". I honestly don't think there could have been a more perfect time for me to see that... I was scrambling all day and overtaken with anxiety and fear and as soon as I read that I was reminded that who am I to worry about this trip? Yes, it's very outside of my comfort zone, but that's when God uses us the best isn't it? The rest of the verse finishes by saying "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth". I mean really? I'm so amazed how God works sometimes because the beginning of the verse is telling me to give up control and let God do his job, and then the rest of it finishes by God proclaiming he will be exalted among the nations... I think it's pretty fitting since I'm going halfway around the world to do His work and spread His love. I am nervous and scared and anxious and excited and ready to see what He's gonna teach me here!  I'm chasing my lion (in case you're confused by that reference you need to read "In a pit with a lion on a snowy day" by mark batterson it's an amazing book encouraging you to step outside of your comfort zone and let God use you. I hope my posts don't get boring to anyone I'm gonna try and post as much as I can! Please leave comments because this will probably be the main form of communication I have! I miss and love you all so much and I can't wait to share my adventures with you! :)    So this is gonna be 2 blogs in one... We just got into kamonkoli (village where I'm staying) and luckily the hotspot is working right now so everyone can get an update! Last night was miserable for me :/ I think a big reason for that was because I was expecting it to be so I just allowed myself to break down unfortunately. Please keep me in your prayers, when night falls for some reason I just start to get attacked by the devil and my mind goes crazy. I'm 7 hours ahead of you all so start praying in the afternoon and it'll be my night!  The positive about it all so far though was how awesome it is to see my friends here! It's been 3 years but doesn't seem that long at all! My Internet connection here is through a hot spot so it's super spotty and won't always work and it's only in the office and isn't always on, sooo I will update as much as I possibly can! If you wanna shoot me an email feel free!! I love hearing from friends and family! I love and miss you all so much! Thank you all for your prayers!

Wow, 20 more days! That seems so soon, but I still have quite a few things left to do in preparation.  Below this post is a picture of the primary school kids get to work with in Kamonkoli.  How stinking cute are they?!  I will be working with our equivalent to kindergarten and first grade kids as well as a couple older kids that would qualify as special education.  I get to help with PE in the school and do some one on one work with some of the older kids.  The girl in the picture with them worked with them last summer and has told me so many great things about them, which makes me so much more excited!

BIGGER THan me

Good morning!  So yesterday I purchased my plane ticket; this is about to get real.  In less than a month I will be in one of my favorite places in the world, Uganda!  Now all I have to do is send the rest of the money out to Colorado to the HUM offices.  YIKES! Anyways, I'm gonna be honest, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous for this adventure.  Traveling, aka flying, by myself is terrifying to me, but how else am I gonna get there? 
Alright, so I'm gonna get down to the purpose of my trip.  The past couple months have been pretty rough and challenging to say the least.  There has been so much going on that I almost feel like I'm losing myself in the madness.  As soon as I got back from Uganda in 2009 I knew I wanted to go back at some point in my life.  I'll be honest, 3 months ago I would never have imagined that I'd be going back already.  Because of a series of events I've allowed myself to selfishly make this decision for myself by myself.  I do feel like it is a somewhat selfish decision because I'm hoping to be changed again while I'm there.  I'm hoping that the Lord will use the wonderful people that I meet to transform me more into His likeness.  I'm sick of doing the same thing everyday.  I used to love my job, but lately the sameness of it all is irritating me.  I'm sick of caring more about the kids' education than they do.  I'm sick of coming to work everyday and feeling like I have to convince them that their education is important for them to succeed in life.  I'm just sick of how selfish I feel everyday for not wanting to be here.  Now don't get me wrong, I do love these kids and wouldn't want to work anywhere else, but I just need to do something bigger than me to put everything in my life in perspective.  My counselor told me that I need to look at my life from 30,000 feet above.  I'm not sure he thought I would take it literally, but I'm a very literal person so why not?  I want to stop choosing to feel selfish about everything that happens.  I don't really like the person I've become in the past couple months because I tend to somehow make everything about me...nobody likes that person.  I'm sick of having pity parties for myself by myself.  I'm ready to surround myself with something that is so much bigger than me that I don't even THINK about myself!  Uganda here I come!

Soooo...I have decided to blog today because I'm bored in class.  The boys are making a foldable for context clues and have chosen to just play with their scissors (scary, I know).  Anyways, in regards to my trip I have yet to purchase my plane ticket (I know I know it's cutting it a little bit close).  The good news is these international flights fluctuate in cost every day, so today they're actually cheaper than they were yesterday!  I haven't exactly made a 100% commitment to an organization yet.  I'm between International Volunteer HQ and working with the same organization I met up with last time, Hines Ugandan Ministries.  I'm hoping HUM will work out because I'm familiar with the staff and there is another girl from Colorado who has been there a couple times before that is going for the summer.  Hopefully if that works out we can travel together for most of the flights, which will hopefully help my flying anxiety!  The only negative about HUM is that it's a bit more expensive :/.  I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and ask if anybody has any idea how I would purchase a micro sim card that I can use in Uganda for an iPad?  I hope this entry wasn't too boring! I'll try to make the rest more interesting :)

Hello all! I'm going to get right down to it...I'm going to Uganda again in the middle of May for about two and a half months and wanted to make this blog to keep a record of my day to day adventures and thought that maybe someone else would enjoy reading it!  I'm not so sure how effective this will be for 2 reasons, 1. I'm not sure what type of internet connection I'll have while I'm there and 2. I don't know how well I will keep up with it.  I think I will do pretty well updating though because I enjoy reading the journal I kept last time I went, so that should be pretty good motivation. That's all for now.  My trip isnt for another month so I probably won't be updating too much until then! Thanks for reading!