Adjusting

Well, Nap was right.  I spent the first few days waking up at unholy hours like 2 AM, only to stare at the ceiling and debate with the fan over what I should be doing...folding laundry, taking a shower, editing photos, making lunches...

And Father Michael was right when he said the third day would be the worst.  I spent the whole day 3 fighting sleep, only to make it through one soccer practice, and crash in the kitchen.  Literally, Paul came home to me asleep on the kitchen counter with dinner in the oven.  And I just went upstairs, passed out, and woke up like normal at 5 AM.  Praise God, I am finally caught up.

Now, if I could only get caught up on cleaning, laundry, and organization, I would feel like the regular me.  But, one step at a time.  For today, I was content with spending two hours talking to the Holy Spirit Academy Home-School group.  It makes me so happy to be going through all of my pictures, and re-telling the stories of our Anawim trip.  It is as if repeating the stories over and over in grains them in hearts of the people around me, just as they are engraved on my own.

I can sit and talk to the 8 year-olds in Mrs. B's 2nd grade class, and watch their expressions as they flip through pictures.  I can see those students attach their little hearts to the children of Uganda.  I can listen to their questions, and give them the answers that their little ears need to hear.  "Ms. Russo, now if there are no rocks to cut the children, then they cannot make each other sick and spread infections as easily right?"  Right Max, you gave them a floor that was safe for their knees, and safe for the rest of their bodies, and it made their hearts happy to know that someone they do not even know, loves them enough to sacrifice a few dollars.  I was so proud of their brilliant little questions and I was so proud of how smart those children were, and how giving their hearts are.  Laura Thomas looked up and said, "Ms. Russo, I cleaned my room this weekend, and I can give them some dollies that I do not need."  Ahhhh, I love you.    Because of this trip, I can teach children about the needs of people their age, I can show parents how much their little children can love, and I can give them tools to help support this generous side of their children's lives and hearts.  HE always makes the sacrifice worth the reward when you do it in His name.

I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity to take this trip at this time in my life.  And now random people have seen the video clip from WSFA from an interview we did with them for "Family of the Year." (Here is the wsfa interview.)   It has been so strange for us, to be some place random, and to have people approach us and talk about our mission of love and service, but ultimately it has opened the door for us to talk about the needs of the people around us, the needs of the people in Uganda, and little acts of charity that are so easy to perform with little time or with little money.  We have been blessed with a very small platform, and hopefully we are being good stewards with what has been given to us.

 My first morning back, when Ms. Ceasar asked if I could say something about the trip, I thought I would cry.  I ran through a little list of what their money bought, and I tried to tell the kids how these few things changed those Ugandan students lives, but I just choked up.  How can you express how your heart is changed by making such huge changes for others?  How do you express your disappointment with yourself because you take too much for granted?  How do you thank these little tiny people for being so open and so giving to people they do not even know?  You can't really.  You can blog, you can present pictures of children and their living conditions, and then you shoot Him a prayer and hope He makes the mark on their hearts that is necessary to invoke life long change.

Hopefully change will come when I give each student here, a picture of each Ugandan student there.  I will be printing out a picture of every student at the school, that Maria and I took on our first day there, and each student will be paired to a Ugandan student, so that they can love and pray for a real person - a real face...not some far off idea on a map in their classrooms.  That is my mission for this weekend.  And next week, I will begin the rest of my classroom talks - completing them all on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving....so that each child will hopefully feel truly thankful for the gifts that God has bestowed upon them.

Yay God!

Our Last Days

(Pictures to come)

Day 9

So after the National Park yesterday, and staying out late last night, and having to get packed up and ready to go, well, let's just say that I slept well.  I hopped right up when my alarm went off at 5:30 AM, because really, who could pass on taking a shower without being electrocuted?

Anyway, I was pretty somber this morning.  I mumbled through breakfast with Nap, packed up my three suitcases in the car, and paid for my last night with a kind of cranky face on.  Even the hotel seemed eerily quiet as we started our final morning.  It just seemed to me that we still had so much that we could do, and although parts of the trip seemed like a distant memory, it did not feel like we had been on the ground for all of this huge amount of time.

We were told that Father had been asked to say Mass at one of the top 3 schools in the country.  They had top scholars at this boarding high school, football players who made the national team, etc.  And when we pulled up, it was a massive, beautiful campus.  And of course we were late.  We could hear the kids singing on the covered bleachers, cars, school officials, and security milling around everywhere.  We pulled in through the gates, and were led up to a room when they wanted to greet us and serve us a small meal, but of course we declined all, apologizing for the time, and promising to come back up after the Mass.

Father had given us fair warning, telling us that the event was to last 5 hours.  None of us were truly excited about the idea of spending 5 hours hanging out at a school listening to speeches, watching awards being distributed etc.  Well, we kind of changed our tune when we got down to the football fields and the Mass.  As we were walking down, the kids were praising and worshiping Our Lord and Savior in way that only Africans can do - loudly and beautifully and faith filled.  But once they saw Father heading over, the music changed, and the screaming started.  Like literally, it was rock star quality screaming.  We were being escorted down the bleachers towards the altar platform and kids were screaming that Father Michael was here, and coming.  And they were trying to touch him, and shaking our hands, and it was crazy.  This is how Ugandans respond to a man of God and this is why we support Father Michael in the US.  He touches and changes lives.

Anyway, he immediately began singing and we were escorted to some seats off of the side of the altar.  And as the Mass began for some 2000+ people, we all wished we had more battery life in our cameras.  Children were broken off into groups stretching across the bleachers; red, yellow, red, yellow.  Boys were in red, girls in yellow.  So why did they have to differentiate?  Well, if everyone has super short hair, and you were just looking from the shoulders up, it would be hard to tell them apart.  Make up is not allowed, and most girls did not have their ears pierced.

Father preached a beautiful homily, someone was slain in the spirit, people prayed over and for each other, Father blessed peoples studies, Nap was a Eucharistic  minister for over 500 people, girls were crying, the choir was rocking, and 3 hours later, Mass was over.  I could not believe that 3 hours had gone by when Jeff said what time it was.  My favorite part of the Mass, besides the choir, and the love and joy people had for the Eucharist, was the prayers of the faithful.  The girl doing the prayers finished, and Father stopped the congregation.

And now the whole trip had this urgency with it - to get as much done as possible, but also a level or worry about the lack of ability to communicate home.  Jeff's little angel, Peyton, was at home, sick, the whole time.  She had high fevers, had pneumonia, was up and down and all around.  And being 9 hours ahead, and being without service, and running out of air time, and not being home to help his wife.....well, Jeff was making a sacrifice of heart and spirit, being in Africa, and trying to stay focused, and you could tell that is was hard for him.  And Father turns to the congregation and says, "I have never done this before, but I had a friend in America named Peyton, and I want all of us, to bow our heads and send her our prayers. Prayers for healing, prayers of love, because if anyone can make her healthy, if anyone can help her, it is these thousands of youth here today."  And it was all I could do to not cry - I just totally ignored Jeff, and pretended like I was praying for anyone else's child.  Had I looked at him, and given any thought to his sacrifice, and Beth's sacrifice, and her hardship, I would have lost it.  But for over a minute, youth were quiet, and calling out prayers, and calling for healing for Peyton, and doing so with fervor and with faith.  And it was beautiful, and holy, and heart wrenching.

And of course, after Mass, Father introduced us, and then he made us say something to the crowd.  And if any of you know me well, you know that I HATE this part.  I can never think of the right words to say and I stink at public speaking.  Ugh.  Well, I just stood up there, mic in hand, and said the one thing that I know is true, "If America had half of your faith, half of your beauty, half of your love, "half of your joy, we would be a different, more beautiful, more successful nation.  Thank you for sharing your hearts with us."  It really was all that I could say.  I told father that I feel like Moses - I was stuttering Moses, and I needed a front man like Aaron to interpret things for me and spit them out.  Maybe I should rename my blog to Aaron.

When Mass was over, and Nap was done passing out awards to the Catechesis people, we were escorted back up stairs for drinks and refreshments.  Father took us down stairs to meet more individuals and we got a tour of the new grotto area.  A young girl came over and escorted me to the girls study rooms where they were diligently studying and getting ready for the exams tomorrow.  She kind of threw me in a room and asked me to encourage the girls studying there.  After the first room, I had to do the same in 4 other rooms, before someone came and rescued me.  I thanked them for being faithful, told them to study hard and to not lose their faith because God knew them, their needs, and their hearts, and that He would bless them in all things and provide for them.  I told them that Americans would be praying for them, and that we had high hopes for their success!

From the school, we went to a Shrine were miracles have been occurring; healings, and such.  We had to bring Jesus back to the tabernacle there.  It was nice to be able to seen one last Lugandan Mass,  pass out sweeties one last time to hungry curious children.  We said a few prayers for our beautiful intentions, we were blessed by the parish priest there, and we were able to have a few last moments of quiet before heading to a quiet little market for a few last trinkets to bring home.

This market was just what we needed to finish up our shopping list.  You can do pretty well with about 200,000 sh and a shopping list my size. I felt comfortable with my purchases, but planned on rounding it out in Amsterdam and with chocolate.  From there we headed toward Entebbe to see what we could see of Lake Victoria.  Father drove around the city asking people for opinions about the best place to go before heading to Hotel Protea.  Oh, it was beautiful - a private beach, outside and inside dining, wifi, nice interior bar where people were watching the Chelsea game.  We sat and order random things, talked, wrote out thank you cards, shopped inside at the gift shop - no CC allowed at the shop, but they do take American dollars.  We stayed until about 8 PM and headed to the airport.

We made our good byes, ran through check in, and were off to shop and spend way too much money in a hot, stuffy, smelly airport.  We were exhausted-ly debating the benefits of staying up the whole trip, when to sleep, and how much to drink when we were finally able to board.  We tried to sleep but ended up watching movies, and dozing in and out.  We landed in Amsterdam and shopped for chocolate, tried cheeses, drank a bunch of coffee and wandered from outlet to outlet charging various electronics.  And before you knew it, we were off again, another 10 hours to go.  Even as I write this, I am still not adjusted to the time.  Nap kept laughing at us telling us that we were going to wake up at 2 AM and not be able to get back to sleep.  Jeff fought sleep halfway home and Nap took over.  And during that first night, when I was wide awake from 2-4 AM, I laid in bed staring at the ceiling thinking, "Please just fall asleep so you do not have to admit to Nap that he was right!!!"

Oh they are the greatest.

The middle gate divides the football (soccer) fields and the school

Red & yellow divides

Praise and worship (yellow being the girls)

Nap's punishment for being antsy was that he had to pass out  the awards for Catechesis Ministry Service.

Our top 10+ lists

So to say that Jeff and I were pretty bored on the plane trip is an understatement.  Between watching movies and eating airplane food, we had a lot of time on our hands.  We decided to entertain ourselves by making lists of anything we could think of.

Here are a few of our favorite lists:

20 Extra Things to Bring

1. Ziplock bags for storing your shoes over night, for your toothbrush, and bags for garbage, dirty laundry, clean laundry, and wet items.
2.  Swedish Fish for Father Michael
3.  Candies – kids call them sweeties, chewy ones for toddlers, lollipops for babies, and harder ones for school kids.  Adults want candies too.
4. Collapsible cup for washing your toothbrush off in mouthwash
5. SD cards & jump drives (Father always asks for extras of these)
6. Converters for all outlets (Africa and Europe for layovers and in Uganda, power strips (for charging all your gear every night), car charger (you spend most of your day traveling with Father in the car)
7.  DEET spray (for everywhere), Dramamine (flight across the ocean) and sleeping pills for plane flights.
8. Razors, tooth paste and shaving cream for Father.
9. Hot pot – boiling water to brush your teeth with, rinse with, make tea and coffee with.
10. Bring the Ugandan cell phone.  When you get to Kampala, buy a UTL 100,000 UGX phone card to charge it with.  One week, for two people to use, you will burn through 100,000 pretty easily.  Kampala is the best place to buy the phone cards, plan for this when calculating your shilling need.
11. Sun Screen because if you are on malaria medication, you will burn.  Dioxcycline will help you kill any bacteria along the way, so chose that as your malaria medication of choice.  Stay hydrated or you will need UTI pills too.
12.  When getting your visa once off of the plane in Entebbe, make sure that they do not keep your yellow fever card, they will keep it and sell it later.
13. Poncho and umbrella, just in case it rains – it comes hard and heavy so be prepared.
14. Lots of pens and note pads, scissors and tape.
15. For schools – pencils (140 for Arthur's school, 130 for Buterbrere), erasers, sharpeners, paper, school supplies
16.  Any type of trinkets for kids on the road side
17.  Lots and lots and lots of hand sanitizer; liquid, spray, and wipes
18. Metal water bottles, boil the water for awhile in your hot pot at night, transfer to the metal water bottle when it cools, and you will have water for the next AM, but bring flavored packets because boiling it does not remove the awful taste.
19. Camera with at least 20 gb of space to take pictures, plus all of your battery chargers, and always charge from a power strip - so when the power goes out and the generator kicks on, your stuff will not fry.
20. Bring a picture of your kids, and your car, and your favorite soccer team.  Kids there seemed to love Manchester United, always asked to see my car, and to see my kids.  They love to hear the Christian names for your children and the saint you named them after.
21. To say that people are loud, and that the city never sleeps is an understatement.  If you sleep lightly, bring ear plugs.

10. Cultural things to do

1.       You always have to sign in – everywhere you go.  Some people have brag books of who came and how far they traveled to see you (like churches and friends).  Some places make you check in with a passport number and signature (businesses, state parks, etc.)

2.       When a man shakes a man’s hand, you introduce yourself, then ask them their name or they will not tell you. When shaking, shake normally down once, then link thumbs, then shake normally again.  See  "Úgandan hand shake" on youtube.com.

3.       If you hug someone, you hug both sides - cheek to cheek.

4.       When you wave, you should use an open palmed fingers spread wave to say hello.  If you have by opening and closing your hand, that means “Come Here” and if you do that to kids, you better have sweeties.

5.       Women bow their thanks, almost like a curtsy, but knees down.  Men, do not bow your heads or bow at all – it is a sign of weakness.

6.       Men should not wear ties, this intimidates other men.

7.       There are two smells in Uganda; garbage and BO.  Be prepared for both – nobody wears deodorant.

8.       You shake hands EVERY time you see someone.

9.    Do not try to take your own luggage through the hotel - this is an insult to the male bell hops.

10.  Do not tip, unless you want to at a restaurant.  Tipping people is very confusing for them.  And you should always haggle - you get no respect if you do not - even if it makes you feel awful, they enjoy it.

25 things you should know:

1.  Use credit cards to pay for your first and last hotel stays.  Basically use credit cards when you can because you do not want to run dry of shillings in Masaka.  Nobody outside Kampala (and very few in Kampala) take credit cards, and nobody exchanges anything less than $100 and they must be made after 2006 without a crease in it.

2.  If you have a chance to buy water bottles, do it.  If you buy a coke, you must drink it all before you leave, and you may not keep the bottle.  I had a coke bottle that said 1992 on the side - they reuse them, so drink out of a straw.

3    3. Picture the worst smell ever – that is how it is all of the time, and it can get worse, body odor, diesel, sugar cane factories, burning garbage, etc.

4    4. Father drives with the windows down – you will wash your face ten times before the dirt comes all of the way off.

5    5. Your toilet will not flush all of the way – hold the button down a loooong time

6    6. Never wash your face or brush your teeth with sink water.  Ever.  Always use hand sanitizer after you wash your hands.  Close your mouth in the shower.

7    7.. Father is one of the safest drivers in Masaka, but you would never know by how he drives

8    8. No matter what you do with Father Michael, you pay for everything; gas for his car, restaurants, snacks, entrance fees to things, etc.  If you are dining with any priest, you are paying. Priests do not make an income, and are doing you a favor by dining with you.

9    9. If someone comes to meet you, either at a hotel, restaurant or at the Delta, you are paying for their gas and their meal.

1    10.   Stay in Entebbe your first night, not Kampala.  Hotel Protea is on the beach of Lake Victoria and is an average of $200 a night, but worth it. Metropole is nice, but for a nice few, and to get in bed sooner, the Protea is worth it.

1     11.   Uganda time means if you show up an hour late, you will be about on time.  The more important you are, the later you are.  Appointment times are are relevant to your status.

1     12.   The pizza at ___ is good.  We ate there all of the time.  We loved to sit out on the patio overlooking Masaka

1     13.   Most places have wifi if you ask, but can be very very slow.  However, all wifi seems to pick up after midnight.

1     14.   Tuskar Malt Lagar and Nile Special are good beers, and Waragy is a good local gin. (It is strong so get a chaser/mixer)

1     15.   Father’s favorite foods/drinks – fried plantain, Chapati (thick Indian style tortilla), coke.

1     16.   Dress code – Men who get things done only wear nice long pants, nicer shoes, and nicer shirts.  If you want to be taken seriously, you will do the same.  Use the laundry service but expect it to take 2 days.  Bring all of your undergarments, plus some and never get these laundered.  Women wear long skirts (at least knee length and nothing shorter.  No tank tops, nothing shorter than a tee shirt.  Most Africans we met wear jackets all of the time.  Scarves for extra coverage from sun or places of business are excellent.

1     17.   If you are driving around with Father, you are paying for all of the gas.  We got gas 6 times at an average of $250 a time, in 1 week, and you must pay in UGX, plan ahead in Kampala and with exchanging money.

1    18.   Ugandans say love all of the time.

1    19.   Men hold hands a lot but they are not homosexuals, just best friends

2    20.   As soon as possible, children are made independent, roam all over the streets, eat and drink anything they find.

2    21.   Never put your stuff on the ground.  It will be covered in bugs, and people will pull over extra chairs for you to put purses, camera bags, backpacks, etc, on.

2    22.   Do not worry – every person of importance carries an AK-47 assault rifle, and when you go to important places, they check under your car for bombs.  Do not take pictures of these people, or of the dam on the Nile or of the embassy buildings or banks, or of government officials cars or homes, or anything with a gate.

2    23.   Never leave money in the safe, or anything in your room that has ANY value.  

2    24.   You must bring everything out of the car, every time you stop.  That means pack lightly because you are carrying it around at every stop - a 17"laptop, tablet, notebook, camera, umbrella, bug spray, sun screen, water bottle, protein bars, etc, through coffee orchards, farms, schools, through acres of land, uphill to the chapel, into gas stations, etc.  I will say that my back got a work out.

2    25. Bring your own pillow, towel, extra shoes - leave them all there.

Phrases & Their Meanings

Way-ber-lay-nyo – Hey, how are you

Callee – OK

Boda, Boda – motorcycle type taxi

Jam-bo – A casual hello to say out the window to people

Muz-oon-go – Busy white person, friendly slang for white person

Chip – French fries

Crisps – are potatoe chips

Callee Sobo – Yes sir

Nway-bo – Yes Maám

Papa – call any male older than you this – especially if you do not know them – gas station attendants, guards, older waiters, store clerks, etc.

A Christmas List from Anawim Uganda

Just for fun, on the 18 hours while we were on the plane, Jeff and I put together a Christmas List for all of you back home who are wondering what you can do to help.

You could always  make monetary donations to Anawim Uganda through our website or through a board member, but you may want to do something personal, and we applaud you.  We love personal gifts, especially ones that children participate in.  After reading this blog, if you feel connected with a particular group, project, or area of our mission, we encourage you to support them through the purchase and/or donation to whatever touches your heart.

Below is a Christmas list of things they need, that would help their ministry immensely!

Christmas List

Dan & Delta Maintenance:

Lawn Mower

Cutting sheers

John & The Pig Project:

25 poles for fixing broken barriers in the pig pens

Concrete feed dishes need to be rebuilt, or more added

More feed

Sylvia & Allen & Olivia:

Sewing machine

Fabric

Earring hooks

Zippers

Magazines

Lacquer

White glue

Crosses

String

Red wooden crosses

Basket making materials, materials for dyes

Money for school -220,000 ugx ($85) a trimester, for 2 years ($255 a year x 2= $510)  

Moses & Fred & Suzann for Soccer:

Soccer balls

Boots

Cones

Whistles

Soccer drills/skills books

Clipboards

Jerseys

2 tablets to take pictures, videos, email, set up schedules, operate a league from

The Delta Center:

Storage area built for feed and for chicken & pig feed

Book cases

For Running Youth Retreats:

9 more mattresses

Camping Tents for putting kids outside

4 more metal spring bunk bed sets

Blankets

Training materials

a printer with extra inks

songs/music

Catechesis materials

Serving trays

Arts n Crafts Building for Technical Training:

Art supplies

Fabric

String

Glue

tables

storage buckets

bookcases

The Chapel:

Bookcases for the chapel

Tabernacle cover

Reading stand cover

Altar cloths

For Buterbrere:

School materials

Curriciulums

Ecuational/School posters

Pencils

Composition books

Medical supplies & first aid training manuals

Storage boxes to protect supplies from the elements

Money towards the water collection tank ($700) and latrine ($1500) and farming/office/sick room/future expansion ($3,000)

Fr. Francis, Father Henry, Rectory:

Laptop Computer

Fridge

Office supplies 

Olivia:

Cookbooks

All metal sauce pans (they cook over an open fire)

Serving Dishes/cooking utensils

Maria:

Eating dishes, utensils

Card stock for Art 4 God cards

Art4God art supplies

Office supplies for daily office work

Father:

Van for music equipment

Solar powered generators

Money towards future car repairs

Day 8

Sunrise at the Maria Flo

I am King of the ...National Park

Father's Montgomery Catholic Holy Spirit Shirt

Day 8

Ooh early morning.  It is a good thing that I packed last night.  I am tired, and just for giggles, I tried to take a shower without being electrocuted – thought maybe it would wake me up….and no surprise, it did.  I will try again tonight and hopefully succeed.

We raced out to a national park this morning.  If you do not get out to a park like this early, you will not see anything.  And when you rate national parks, apparently there are the Big 5 (the elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, lion and black rhino), the Little Park 5 (giraffe, cheetah, zebra (saw), hippo (saw), crocodile (saw)) and then you could always go to a jungle preserve to see mountain gorillas.  Consequently, they also have the little 5 which are top 5 small birds and insects, and the Big 7 which is the Big 5 + The Great White Shark and the Southern Right Whale and those tours are done in South Africa.)

The 25 runners up to the top ten are:

Top 25 runners-up

Here's my alphabetical list on the must-see animal honorable mentions:

Baboon
Bat-Eared Fox
Velvet Monkey (saw)
Bushbuck (saw)
Civet
Dik Dik
Eland (saw)
Grant Gazelle (saw)
Hartebeest
Hyena
Impala (saw)
Jackal
Kudu
Mongoose
Nyala
Red Duiker
Reedbuck
Serval
Springbok
Thomson Gazelle
Warthog (saw)
Wild Dog
Wildebeest
Topi
Waterbuck

Now the idea of a safari is nice, but I am kind of like, “As soon as I see it, I check it off, and boom, let’s go.”  I am not one to want to go around and look at the same animals over and over, especially when time is running short and there are still things that we could be doing.  On the way to the park, Nap asked if anyone had any sweeties for him.  “Ahhhh, breakfast.” And to be honest, a piece for breakfast and one for lunch is the way that we have been going at this point.  It provides a little sugar and keeps your mouth from drying out.  We had the trail mix I brought one night for dinner, and there was one pack of that left, and I still had a few protein bars, but I was sure those would be gone after the park tour.

When we heard, once we were inside the park, that there was a boat tour that lasted 1.5 hours, I was less than happy.  Antsy really.  Once we were on the boat and in the lake, I had wished I had brought my tablet, or notebook or something to do.  Lucky Ol’Nap just kicked back on the back bench and took a nap.  Jealous.  I had a French couple in front of me that talked incessantly and acted like they had never been to the zoo.  Honestly, our Montgomery Zoo had more animals there than I would be able to see on a boat tour, and from all of my time at 6 Flags Marine World, I had already fed and pet dolphins; fed, ridden and bathed elephants; fed and pet tigers.  We all tried to be open minded, but the road to the safari was bumpy, and we were sleepy, and the air was very cold this morning with a cold breeze to boot.

Once we were out on the lake, Nap and Jeff kept me entertained with their quips like “Weav-a behd (pronouncing it like a South African)– check, let’s move.”  We did end up seeing lots of hippos and 2 baby crocs and 1 big daddy croc.

We left after watching Nap, Fr. Michael, and Jeff try to chase, pet scare wart hogs.  It normally ended up with one of them jumping back as the thing threatened to attack them, but I think we got the best of them.

When we left there, we had to drive the 1.5 hours back to Masaka to say good bye to Maria, and pick up Father Michael’s clothes and things.  Then we took the 2.5 hour trip back up to Kampala.  We will stay there over night, and then leave for Entebbe, after Father’s 5 hour Mass and celebration for the graduates.  The road back to Kampala was under construction was AWFUL.  I have complained before, but those were shirt little trips.  I kept trying to go to sleep and my head kept smacking the window.  I finally just woke up  - that whole self-preservation thing.  They have been working on this one road for  2.5 years, but people can be so corrupt that nothing ever gets done like it should.  All of the materials are literally just sitting there, and trucks moving in and out, and it just seems unnecessary.

Oddly enough, we are staying at the same place where we were treated so rudely and had $500 stolen from one of our safes.  I guess that is why people are corrupt, because they steal from you, you cannot do anything about it, and this is a very nice hotel, so you have to stay here again for lack of a better option.  Well I went up to my room to check on the shower situation and get my gear put away and Jeff and Nap and Father met with the radio mast guy.  Apparently the meeting was great.  From there, we went down to eat dinner.

We put the man who knows food best in charge of ordering, Jeff taught the bartender how to make me an amaretto sour, and I just sat and soaked it all in.  We ate at an outside restaurant, that had a Euro-Asian theme (weird colored lights, colored metal panels hanging from the ceiling at different angles and in different shapes, etc).  They specialized in Thai cuisine, so Jeff and I were a little nervous about what Nap might try to feed us.   And it was so dark outside that we used our cell phones to read off of the menus and see what the food looked like before we ate it.  All we know for sure is that Nap gave us something with shrimp, carrots, chicken, peanut sauces, spicy sauces, and mushrooms – the rest is unknown and probably should stay that way.  There was a fried rice that was really good with this super spicy mushroom dish, and there was a veggie stir fry that was good, but bland in comparison.  Nobody sells desserts, and Nap tried to order some off of the menu, but of course they were all out.  We got a fruit tray with pineapples that finally cut the fire that was in my mouth. 

You spend a lot of time waiting in a restaurant.  Americans always want to eat fast and move on, which we certainly do, so sometimes the wait for everything is a killer.  We spent our time going through notes from the trip, talking about the future of Anawim, our mission, our big 20 year plan, etc.  You can go to www.anawimuganda.org to see what we do now, and if you check it out now, and then again in a few weeks, you can see all new staff photos, pictures of the buildings, updates on projects, etc.

We really went upstairs and did nothing.  I showered without my fingers burning, but I traded being electrocuted for having everything covered in tiny sugar ants.  Hey, at least they are not fire ants.  I went to bed early 11 PM ísh and woke up at 4 to check to see how my kids soccer games were going in Decatur.  They are at Governor’s Cup which is their State Cup for their age groups.  Kolbe’s and Gabe’s teams are undefeated in their Friday/Saturday games, so they could finish in first place after tomorrow’s games.  Kolbe scored 2 times as a defender, so I am sure he is happy.  Michael is at home with Grandpa and Grandma, Anna and Matt.  They stayed home because the Families of the Year award banquet is Sunday at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and we needed to have someone from our family actually present to show that we were grateful for being nominated and for having won.  I am blessed with wonderful friends like Beth Worthington who definitely over-appreciates the tiny things I do for her, and for all of the people she used as references and such.  You guys are so very generous with your praise and appreciation.  We just like to love, and you make it easy!  Beth nominated us, and she will be introducing our family on Sunday.  Hopefully Paul and the kids will make it back in time, but there is no guarantee with a tournament like this one, and it being so far away.

Good night world!