It's been awhile

Yes, I know, and a lot has been going on.

January went quickly. Way too quickly, as we were preparing to say good-bye to Walter who was getting resettled with his dad (and family). We had sleepovers, movie nights, Saturdays at the pool, trips to town with the aunties, and lots and lots of cuddles and hugs. We also were busy game-planning for 2014 – goals, ideas, things that worked, things that didn’t, Ekisa as a whole, social work specific, just all across the board. Lots and lots of meetings. Em and I had several meetings in Kampala with adoption agencies and other organizations that we are striving to work with. [Still waiting and praying through information received in those.] But like I said, time went all too quickly.

February 1^st, Walter went home with his dad, step-mom, and brothers and sisters. Talk about answers to prayers! Hearts very happy, but lots of tears in saying good-bye. Emily will be sharing more about his story in the Ekisa blog, hopefully soon, but such a story of redemption.

The next week Erika and I headed out of Jinja for a week vacation. A time to relax, unwind, recharge, and be refilled with the hope, strength, and peace that only comes from our Savior. We headed to Kampala for one night, and then took a bus to Lake Bunyonyi in southwestern Uganda for three days. It was beautiful, but not the lay in the sun, swim in the lake vacation I had thought. It was cold! Though everyone in America will laugh at this in comparison to your cold winter, we were freezing! Long-sleeves, jeans, sweatshirts, a wool blanket to wrap in wherever we sat, and socks with our flip-flops. I think we wore the same thing for three days because we only packed one “cold weather outfit”. My taste of winter this year! But it was really wonderful. We got to read a ton, play games, watch a couple movies, eat some great food, and allow ourselves to be completely under-whelmed with life when so much of life is Jinja is overwhelming.

When we left we headed to Rwanda. We were there for less than 48 hours, but still a nice little visit. We took public transportation to the border, had to walk across, then find public to get to Kigali. Oh what fun we had trying to communicate with people who do not speak English or Luganda, but French and Kinyarwanda – both of which Erika and I know not a lick. But we got on a matatu that we were pretty sure was headed to Kigali right before a huge thunderstorm hit. Sitting in the front of the van, driving on the opposite side of the road (or the same as the US, just opposite to Uganda), in the middle of a storm, swerving between Rwanda’s 1000 hills, there wasn’t a lot more we could do than laugh a bit. Just add it to the list of my travel stories!

In Kigali, we went to the Genocide Memorial, which was incredible to see, but so eye-opening to something that I knew so little about. To think this happened in 1994, and how everyone in Rwanda my age, or older, has the genocide as part of their story. It impacted them in some way. We were very humbled and thankful to get to experience this culture (even for a little bit) and get to celebrate with them in the reconciliation that has happened over the past [almost] twenty years. Afterwards, we got lunch with some Rwandans (friends of a friend), and then spent the rest of the day hanging out in the city.

The next morning we woke early to hop on a bus headed back to Kampala. Spending all day on the bus we drove to our lodge and got KFC – yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken in Uganda – for dinner. Not that I would really ever go there in the States, but the little things from home can be really exciting! Before going to bed, we watched some of the Olympics and got to cheer on some mogul skiers!

The next day we were going to head back to Jinja midday, but after getting back in touch with people from Ekisa, heard that it had been one heck of a week, and we had gotten close to 10 referrals for either admittance or our Community Care program. One of those little girls, we were going to meet in Kampala to take to the doctor’s, as she was very malnourished and possibly more severely sick. So after spending a bit more time in Kampala, going to the doctor, taking tests, and waiting on results, we got home around midnight – all to wake up and dive right back into the busyness of everything that was going on. Somehow, the week leveled out and with the help of our awesome social work and community care teams, most of our loose ends got tied up and we admitted several new families into our Community Care program.

Then this week I got to go with Diana, one of our rock star social workers, to do home visits for Jason and Walter. Oh, it was wonderful! I was kind of sick, with a pretty bad cold that I am still recovering from, but apart from that it was great! Getting to see both of them at home with their families. Going to school, walking home with Jason, seeing their houses, their animals, surprising Walter, eating lunch and drinking tea, getting to experience a small amount of the village life of these kids – I could go on, but I was continuously reminded and felt like I was seeing what the Lord sees and was smiling. Knowing that He placed them in these families to be loved for and cared for, to grow and to learn. I was happy because I knew He was happy and that families make Him smile. We have a pretty great God and I’m thankful to have been able to see and experience something that I believe He holds a little closer to His heart, a child going home and belonging in a forever family, just as He longs for us to come and be a part of His family that lasts for eternity.