I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you. John 14:18

Monday, July 1, 2013

Put on Your Sunday Best

I am a day behind with posting to the blog as you can see. So let me  begin with telling you a bit about our day yesterday...

It was Sunday here yesterday which meant it was, "put on your Sunday best" day.  We woke up early and dressed for church. Jackie drove us in to town and we headed in to service. Now just imagine this: You walk through doors but once inside you are actually still outside as it is not a building with four walls but rather a very large tent so-to-speak. There are chairs before you sitting atop red dirt. As you look around you see a large stage and colorful fabric hanging as decoration. There are twenty or so men and women on the stage singing and dancing (LOUDLY!) and chickens waddling under your feet.

Andrew and I sang, Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord for the congregation and we were thrilled that the musicians played along - we thought we would be doing it acapella! The pastor asked if we would sing another but we had only "prepared" (decided the morning of the service!) one song; we weren't expecting to be put on the spot like that! After church Jackie told us that if the pastor likes what he hears, he will ask for more and if he doesn't, he will say thank you and ask you to be seated, lol. So I guess he liked the mzungu's solo!

We went home after the service and enjoyed some lunch and a little rest. When Ricky returned from preaching at another church in town, we packed up and headed to explore the source of the Nile River. As any foreigner would, we envisioned where we were going, picturing something completely different from what we actually saw. In our minds, we figured we were going to a remote, quiet place by the river where you could walk up to the shore line and dip your feet in the water if you wished. We thought perhaps we would see crocks (not that we actually wanted to!) and that it would be a peaceful setting. Perhaps we could find a spot like this if we drove farther down the river but this is what we actually experienced...

We pulled up to a ticket booth, payed for parking and proceeded in to the park. It was definitely a tourist hot spot. There were souvenirs everywhere; men and women asking you to come inside their store to shop, ladies offering samples of beans and tour guides hoping to sell you a ride on their boat down the Nile, music playing (American pop songs like: Bruno Mars) and locals playing a game of pool in the bar.

As we were exploring, two Indian women - probably in their twenties, came up to me and wanted to take a photo with Maisy and I. We were laughing saying they probably thought I was a celebrity or something because I was wearing a large floppy sun hat and big sunnies (sun glasses). After gazing out at the river for a while, Ricky took us for a stroll around the remainder of the park. We saw wild pigs, a woman washing her clothes in the Nile and monkeys playing in the trees. One monkey chucked a piece of fruit at my foot and I joked saying, I bet they sit up there taking bets on how many mzungus they can hit!

Today marked the beginning of a new week and a new month. Jackie and Ricky left early in the morning for work and Andrew, Janna, Maisy and I slept in for a bit. When Jackie returned home she was weary and informed us of a protest going on in town. People were throwing gas and stoning public transportation vehicles due to payment increases. We were worried as we had to go to town later in the day to have another passport photo taken of Maisy. Jackie told us not to worry, that the government was taking care of the situation and that things will be back to normal in a few hours. Well, she was right. Things calmed down within a few hours and we made our way to town to run some errands. We made it in to town and you would have never known a protest had gone on earlier in the morning. Things were as normal as ever.

We went in to the passport office and had Maisy's photo taken but she didn't like it one bit. She didn't like having to let go of me and she really didn't like the strange man in her face trying to take a photograph of her.. We managed to get two shots of her, one where she is sitting on my lap and has her head turned sideways so one of her ears are hidden and another where she is looking straight into the camera but is screaming. Please be praying that the Embassy accepts one of these shots otherwise we will have to go back to the passport office again which will take extra time in the process and another day traveling to Kampala which makes for a very long and tiring day for all.

Jackie took us to The Source which is a internet cafe. We enjoyed a yummy latte and some good conversation. Then we did some grocery shopping around the fruit and vegetable stands as well as the Indian supermarket and headed home again.

I did some laundry this evening which is hard work! I'm going to be very strong when I return home! Only the women do the laundry and everything is washed by hand and hung up to dry. I have so much respect for all the women around here; you see women hiking up hills balancing boxes, sticks, bags, water jugs or buckets on their heads with babies strapped to their backs. These women are the epitome of Wonder Woman!

Maisy is doing wonderfully and day by day is opening up more and more. Today she let me put her down quite a bit and ventured in and out of the house - something she hadn't done since we arrived as she wouldn't let me out of her site. She is still keeping her distance from Andrew, though while we were in town, she played with him a bit (even though she was still in my arms) so we are seeing progress there. Please continue to pray for bonding between Andrew and Maisy.

We feel everyone's prayers and feel at peace about everything. We are not anxious about anything as we know God is in control. Our court hearing with be on Friday, July 5th. Time slot is TBA. We will be traveling to Kampala next Monday for a Dr. appointment for Maisy as she needs a physical before leaving the country and we will be going to the Embassy Monday as well to sign more papers.

We will be visiting another village on Wednesday so we will have lots to report yet again!

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