We were able to head back to the women's ministry this morning to have Patrick measure us for our skirts, shirts and suits AND learn how to make the paper beads! I was so looking forward to the bead making. I had my hands in so many beads re-making all my bracelets for my prayer partners, I could not wait to see the making of the beads! It was just as hard and just as time consuming as I thought it would be. Dang. These women rock and have so much patience to be able to do this stuff. My ADD kicked in, and 9 beads were enough for me. :) One thing that really got us giggling was when Judy B went to show one of the women's ministry ladies her newly rolled bead. Judy was so proud! The sweet woman took it, looked at it, and threw it in the bushes! It was no good! Good for us, but not good enough for them. Gave us such a good laugh! We decided we would not show off anymore of our beads just incase they were not good enough! Today was another day of finishing up stuff again, this time at Bulubandi. Finishing up the ambassadorship, finishing up the desks, finishing up passing out the mercy bags, and finishing up the pictures of the kids. I think we completed 2 out of 4. Not too bad. I was back on picture duty, and it BLEW my mind when Sue mentioned tonight at dinner that I took 1400+ pictures! That is a crazy insane amount of pictures. Still shaking my head on that one. 1400 beautiful shots of kids. 1400 different shots with personality. We made it through all the classes except for 1, thanks to the wonderful help from one of the English teachers, Bridget. She was a class picture prepping rock star and dang, did we wish we had her the whole time! She had some wonderful questions to for us, and was really hoping that we had brought an American English teacher to ask some questions to. As you can read from this blog, English is NOT my subject of choice, so I stayed way far away from that. Desk making was a success along with finishing up the ambassadorship. We had most of our team who wanted to go back to Kokombo. Pastor Stephen really wanted us to give out Mercy bags. Sue talked to him about wanting to go back to Kokombo, and Pastor Stephen was so sweet to totally understand, and wanted us to be lead to do what we were feeling called to. Love that man. I was also able to spend some more sweet time with both Gloria and Rigal again. Those 2. Gloria wrote me another letter and made me a basket made from notebook paper with 2 more pictures in it. Rigal held my hand so close to him I wondered if I would ever get it back. Geesh. I pray that I touched their hearts even a little bit, no match for as much as they touched mine. It was hard to leave today knowing that was the last time I would get to see the two of them.
After our sweet time @ Bulubandi, it was off to Kukombo. We were greeted but the gift of life, a baby cow being carried by a little boy, with the mama chasing him! (I think he thought the mama was tied up like most of the animals here.) We also found a brand new baby goat, only being delivered about an hour before we got there. Between the baby animals and the sweet human babies everywhere, it's a baby heaven! More sweet time loving on kids and the adults. At one point I looked at Jaimie and said, if my arm was my neck, I would have been suffocated by now. These Kukombo kids latch on to you more so than the other kids. AND…I never saw a single kid wearing one of the t-shirts that we handed out on Sunday. Cracked me up!
I remember Blake explaining some stuff to me to warn me about my trip, from experience from his trip 3 years ago. There was so much stuff he tried to warn/pre-tell me about, I remember almost getting lost in the conversations since I had not the slightest idea what to expect. One thing I remember pretty clear was the story about the days. The day or two when you get here and see it all. The day and day after you get here and think that the days will go on and on for you to be here. Then the day when you are getting ready to leave and you think, I can not believe it is over. I prayed pretty hard before I got here that I would not go through the first couple days of sadness seeing Uganda. That I would be prepared and ready to dive in for all of it. I have thanked God for my easy transition into this country. I never thought about the leaving part though. I did not pray for the end. I am starting to think about it now, and am starting to feel the sadness. Please join me in prayer for our team for the next 2 days as we finish up here in Uganda, the day and a half of travel back home, and the transition back into normal life.
Babe, though I am sad at the thought of leaving, I can hardly explain the excitement of knowing I get to see you and the boys in 4 days. Love you.
My first paper bead
Not bad for a Mzungu
Ugandan food...it's what's for lunch
This is Rigal who stole a piece of my heart and forgot to give it back. (and yes, that is a monkey sticker on my glasses. We bribe the children. HA!)
My awesome bed for the last 8 days, complete with mosquito net. :)
2 comments:
Wow, my sweet friend. I am loving the blog post. What a great way to keep up with what is going on!! i think a piece of your will always be in Africa. I can only imagine how hard the transition back home will be. The good news is you have a husband who has experienced this same thing--and now you have that new perspective to share. On Eli's fourth birthday I can't help but reflect on your beautiful heart for kiddos--the way God has been preparing you to minister and learn from these little people all these years. And just think one day your mzungu children and your african child will get to meet. Won't that be fun. Love you, praying for the transition back home.
So you gonna run a handcrafted bead making class when you get back to teach the rest of us?! I can't believe she threw it in the bushes, but love that their standards are so high!!! Just soak up the rest of your time friend...you'll be on the plane before you know it. Love you!!!
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