I tried to blog last night, but my computer died and it didn’t save, so this will account for our experience so far.

Yesterday, we woke up early and traveled to Jinja, where Katie picked us up and took us to the AMazima worship day. We played, rolled around, got VERY dirty, and Mal and I helped serve lunch. (Preparing 300 bowls of beans/rice/chicken will wear ya out!) It was a great day, and we got to reunite with Katie and her girls…but the jet-lag definitely took its toll. By the end of the day, we were all dirty, bean-covered, and ready to hit the hay!

Today has been packed, so I’ll just give y’all a play by play of our day…

This morning, we woke up and walked to Katie’s, then all 25 of us piled in the van and headed to church. Church went well, it was different from our church in the US obviously, but was definitely a good experience and something I’ll remember.

After church, we headed back to Katie’s, and spent some time with her girls.

Since we have been here, one LITTLE one has specifically stolen my heart.

This is Lochoro. She is 4 years old, cannot talk or walk, weighs a little less than 15 pounds, and is extremely sick. Although she is not one of Katie’s girls, (she lives with her uncle, who leaves her at home alone while he goes to work during the day), she is living with Katie while she tries to get better. When I first saw her, my first reaction was “there is NO way this little bitty is 4 years old”...in my mind, a 4 year old is Caleb’s size (for those of you who know Caleb, he is a BIG dude), and he actually only three. The concept of not being fed for 3 years and starving to this extent of malnutrition is a little bit difficult for my brain to grasp. Especially a child this sweet! I’ve loved bonding and spending time with little Lochoro over the past two days.

Funny story from tonight…she was sitting in my lap eating a “sweetie” (a sucker). I looked up to see Katie’s jaw drop, and hear her say “DO. NOT. MOVE.” ….Because of the IV’s and meds Lochoro’s on, she pooped EVERYWHERE (including in my lap, and if you’ve ever had a child on that kind of medication, you’ll know that their poop is NASTY). So, Katie, dad, Mal and I cleaned up, and I bathed her and got a new diaper for her while Katie made dinner. One of the girls was playing with one of the cameras and just happened to take this picture right after she pooped and Katie moved her from my lap to the floor…hahaha.

One of the highlights of my day today was seeing Abigail Haynes! Baby girl is BEAUTIFUL, pictures do not do her justice. I loved getting to kiss all over her cheeks, love on her, and feed her. What made me happiest was that I was able to look into her big brown eyes and tell her that she has a mommy and a daddy coming to get her soon. And she has a sister who loves her, and happens to be my best friend. I showed her pictures on my phone, and she just grinned and grinned. Here are some pics…

Probably the funniest part of today was seeing the boys get their hair done. Katie’s girls had an absolute BALL braiding and twisting yarn into their hair. And they surprisingly kept it in all night…

I’ll try to post again tomorrow night, we are headed to Jinja in the morning to shop a little bit, visiting Amani and another orphanage, then all 25+ of us are celebrating my birthday with cake at a pool near here. I can’t wait! More to come later….

Grace

PS-I put all of our pictures on facebook, just an FYI for those of you who I'm friends with!

I forgot how much I missed this place! The people and their accents, the heat, the smell (it can be gross sometimes, but its part of what makes Uganda Uganda), the mosquito nets...EVERYTHING. I'm so glad to be back.

The airplane flights (and food), however, were not missed. We took a 2 hour flight from Nashville to D.C., then had a short layover and boarded the plane to Belgium...unfortunately, as soon as we boarded the flight, it lightninged so we sat in the runway for 2 hours

before we were finally able to take off. But hey, we're here now and that's all that matters...

Obviously, we haven't been taking pictures because we've been flying the past 24 hours, but I did snag a few on my phone...

Air plane food....I think this was mac n' cheese and tofu chicken...?

Landing in D.C....

Trying to pass time.... :-)

More to come as the week goes on! I'll try to post every night.

Mom, give the little ones love from dad, Michael, and Annabelle and I! Hope your conference goes well, love and miss you all.

-Grace

We spent our last night together celebrating Grace's 15th birthday. This will be the second time that she has spent her "special day" in the country that she LOVES with her WHOLE heart. AFRICA! Mike is taking our three oldest (Grace, Michael, and Annabelle) to Uganda today. The past several days have been spent packing and accepting all of the gifts to take overseas. My family CANNOT wait to see Katie and her kids....while I am GREEN with envy, I will stay home and hold down the fort here in the US. (because guess who gets to go see Katie in June? MAMA does!! Gwen and I will be going over to just hang out for some "girl time"..woohoo!!!! more details to come)

SO, I will be passing the torch the next week so that my family can blog while in Uganda. Primarily, to keep ME updated on what each day holds...but I'll let you guys join in on all of the fun!

stay tuned!!

til' they are all fed,

Suzanne

Mike was gone last week for five days on a trip. The first day that he leaves I am always COMPLETELY overwhelmed at the thought of "holding down the fort" on my own. Most of it is mental, but I just like to KNOW that if I need him, he is close by. He got home safely and the past several nights I have been up with my youngest with pneumonia. The weariness is starting to set in. As I took my first drink of coffee this morning, I glanced out of my kitchen window and noticed that my grass is turning green. RELIEF....the first sign that spring is around the corner. My tulip leaves are starting to peak up out of the ground.

Now, Michael is wheezing, MillerAnne is wheezing with a fever and so is Josie Love. As I take turns holding each of them my heart breaks. I CANNOT help but to think of all of the children out there that have no one to hold them when they are sick. I KNOW ya'll probably get tired of me speaking about this but I just cant help it. When I speak of "all of the children", one in particular pops into my mind....my sweet little angel.

When we were in Uganda and Josie was running a fever I went to the nurse and asked for some advil that am, she gave it to me and Josie started feeling so much better....when we returned from Kampala late that afternoon, her fever had come back. When Mike went in to ask for more the nurse replied "I gave her some earlier" and Mike replied "10 hours ago." As Mike walked back (advil in hand), I could tell that he was ANGRY. I will never forget giving her that advil thinking...would she have gone to bed with no meds to ease her pain?

Josie KNOWS. Tonight when she started feeling bad, she came up to me held her arms up, said "hold you" and laid her head on my shoulder. She LOVES to be LOVED. She gets the biggest grin on her face every time someone wraps their arms around her. She knows different. The caretakers in her babys home were very loving...but it was not a mommy's love. And it is not a 1:1 ratio, so sadly, she spent many nights alone in a bed, burning hot with a fever, with no one to love her and that is just the cold hard truth. Now that she is mine..that BREAKS me. I know her little wimpers. I know her little breaths when she has a cold. AND I know what her warm tears feel like as they roll down her sweet little cheeks.

SADNESS......that is what my heart feels. I cant help to think that if my heart feels this sad, what my heavenly father must feel. He loves us more than we can fathom, so the heartbreak must be SO MUCH more significant. I CANNOT IMAGINE.

So, while the circles under my eyes look as though i have been awake for months, and my chest is now congested and I am coughing...I feel peace. Peace in my heart that I am making a difference in someone's life. A child's life. MY child's life. Each and every one of my children's lives. Because they have a mommy and a daddy that love them with EVERY inch of our hearts. And I will do EVERYthing in my power to SHOW them how to SHOW God's love.

As I look around, I see A TON of people speaking of God's love. There are many women's and men's bible studies. There are MANY books to read. I see a TON of people attending all of these things and speaking of them...but not much DOING. If there is ANYTHING that I have learned from my sweet friend Katie, it is to SHOW love....not speak it. My heart wants to SHOW love, and it starts in my own home, with my husband, my own children and grows from there.