Day 9

Today is yet another day that I am again amazed at the Lord's handiwork. (squirrel…because I am a goofball and a terrible speller, I had to make sure I spelled handiwork right cause it had the squiggly lines. Is it with a y, an i? I was right the first time, thank you, but heres another look at how cool He is…the thesaurus look up for handiwork: noun - CREATION. Hello! Creation. His creation. Perfect description.)

Any-who…we were able to go back to Bulubandi again today. Guess what…those kids who greeted us with the most awesome greeting Saturday, did it again. Not because they didn't know us, but because this time they did. And were so excited to see us again. I wish I had that enthusiasm when I greeted my friends. Pure love and joy. There is a little girl there that has taken a front row seat in Jen Taylor's heart, Gloria. She is the one I talked about that took me in a couple of days ago. That sweet girl found me so quick. Sweet heart that girl is. AND, today she had a sweet picture drawn ready just for me. I asked her to write her name on it, and her face lit up like the sun. It was almost like I could hear her sweet self, so happy that I wanted her to write HER name. I told her I would keep that paper and pray for her. These sweet kids grab onto you with sweet love and affection. I pray that she has someone here that can love her as much as she has for others. I had to say goodbye to sweet Gloria for a little bit as we went down the road to the Women's ministry, where Pastor Irene pastors to these women. Some are widows, all are mothers, all are absolutely beautiful. AND one was named Jennifer. I gave a big whoop whoop for the power of the Jennifers, and she let out a loud "aye aye aye aye!!!!" Pure excitement in her name twin. :) We were able to gather in a circle with the women and hear their stories. These women care enough about their families to gather twice a week to better themselves so that they may better their families. Another beautiful picture of community. We were they able to see and explore their crafts that they make to support themselves. Beads, purses, hats, bowls and mats galore. All beautiful colors of our God's rainbow. Tomorrow we get to go back and see how the beads are made! Oh, I can't wait. 

After visiting with the women's ministry, we were able to take the red dirt road on foot to head back to Bulubandi. The people we pass along the way are remarkable. Some scream, some wave, some stare and some babies cry. Most all are fascinated with us Mzungu. I could only imagine it would be like people with purple or green skin walking down our streets at home. Back at Bulubandi, Gloria found me again as soon as she broke for lunch. This time beaming with joy as she passed me and showed me her lunch. She's awesome. Guess what…after lunch, another picture. She is an artist through and through, and I am blessed that she is sharing it with me. So…I had to give her something back. With my best block letters, since I can't draw worth a flip, I wrote out her name and a little letter to her knowing how much I will think about her and how much God loves her.

Then came time for pictures. This time, we were not quite as ready or prepared, and the kids smelled the fear. Goodness gracious, it was like herding kittens. Loud and crazy kittens. They don't do the finger over the lips and 2 fingers in the air to be quiet either. When mzungu does that, they look at each other and laugh. They also don't understand "shhhhhh…". Hilarious! They laughed and laughed, while most of the time our team looked at each other totally confused. But I can say without a doubt, Sue needs Lugandan lessons. She was a hoot! about 2/3 through the first (and only class we were able to get to), we finally gained control and were able to complete our task. Whew. We worked for our rice and beans today, let me tell you.

We left a tad early to hit the Iganga street market to find some fabric so that Irene's husband, Patrick, can make us skirts. Most everything here has been a new experience, but the market was in it's own category of crazy. People everywhere. Through my head "which one of us does not belong" played through my head as we walked through. I tell you what through, the fabrics were beautiful!! It was hard to pick one. I was a bit overwhelmed…especially when our friend Julie took us through a small & skinny pathway filled with shoes. We were on a mission to find some school shoes for some of the kids at Phil's. Praise God we had Julie with us, who was totally in charge! I wish I could have understood what they were saying! All I know is I walked out with 1 of the 2 pair I needed. We will be back to experience the market and finish up our shopping on Friday.

We were able to make a side trip on the way to the Mum back to the kids house with Hope Africa. Moses was there, and was so exited again. He did not know we were coming back today. He is just a regular teen age boy, not getting too close, but never leaving sight of me. Love that. He has been allowing me to love on other children who are not able to have someone here. One of them is Masiat, who I finally found again after about 15 minutes. The best I can guess (again with a language barrier) is that she went back to school when she saw up arrive to get her last math exam book to show me. Sweetness. I was able to sit down with her and we went over all of her answers she wrote. She told me the ones she got wrong, and if she didn't know the right answer, we went over then together. One question was a doozie, and I looked at her and said "girl, I'd need a pen for this one". She jumped up, and returned about a minute later with a pen. We were able to work through the remaining problems, this time with an audience! I felt as though I was able to be just like her sponsor, Julie, who is a teacher. I put on my best Julie Page hat, and went to work! She is a precious girl with a big 'ol heart. Her friends watch her and smile as she talks. She takes such pride in keeping her area clean in her room. She has beautiful handwriting. Her smile makes me tear up. I get to be a part of all of this, as my sweet boy Moses watches. I look over at him every couple of minutes and he smiles so big. My heart is so full.

I love our team of 12 + our remarkable driver Haji. I am sure this is the best team that has ever traveled to Iganga, and it is hard to think we will only be here for 2 more days until we head back to Kapala on Saturday to spend 2 days there. 

Babe, I was soooooo excited to face time you and the boys today, and am happy you got to meet our Haji. I don't remember if he told you he loves me 5 or 50 times. I hope Brandon had fun hanging out with buds with early out today, and that Camo runs super fast and makes his mama proud at his Cross Country meet this afternoon. I love you and miss you so.

Kids playing in the yard of the children's ministry. I have been trying to get a pic of a kid playing with a tire since we got here. I finally got 2. :) Kids here play with the darnedest things.

The beautiful colors of the crafts.

An unnamed, not talked about, and not photographed friend working hard at taking pictures. :)

One of my sweet pictures from Gloria.

Deep thoughts with Haji.

My sweet family, face timing at 6am their time.