My goodness, we have had some excitement!
On Monday afternoon we pulled into the property while school was still in session. Our car, Bertha the Beast, is very loud, so you can hear us coming. It just so happened that a very large truck was delivering cement for the construction, so we followed him in. That meant that when folks heard the sound, they looked up to see this big truck instead of us. The truck was going past the school and we weren't. Once he passed, they could see us as we were pulling into our yard across from the school.
As Floyd turned the car off, we heard some commotion. We looked up to see ALL of the students running out of the classrooms and headed towards us. They were screaming in excitement! The first group hit us all at once and it was a giant group hug. I stood in one place as child after child crashed into me with a huge hug. It was wonderful!
My dear friend and one of our teachers, Madame Grace, was the first adult to reach me. She gave me about 14 hugs and had tears in her eyes. Then Makline, the matron (dorm mom), came to give me hugs. She was also just as excited. It was all overwhelming in a great way.
It so happened that I had my phone in my hand because I had just used the camera. In the commotion, my hand hit the record button, so I have a few seconds of the chaos on video. When I looked at my phone later in the day, I found the video.
We all stood around chatting for a few minutes but then we remembered that school was in session, so after shouts of gratitude from us, we told the kids to head back to finish their studies for the day. Of course, then I saw my little Edgar from across the way. He was down by the kitchen. I yelled out, "Eddie" and he just giggled. Being less than 2 years old, I wasn't sure he'd remember me, but he did. I put my hands out and he came right up into my arms. After a few minutes, I put him down and was heading back to the house, but he wanted to go. He spent the rest of the afternoon at our house playing and laughing. He can get up on the couches all by himself now. Eventually, he climbed up in my lap and fell asleep, so he took a nap in his spot on the couch.
To be honest, we weren't sure what reaction we would get. Maybe the kids would forget us. Maybe they'd be upset because we left for so long. We had done our best to encourage them and let them know we'd be back before we left. But you just never know how kids will react. The good news is that they reacted in the best way possible.
We have been surprised at the reaction every where we go. In Kawempe (near the capital), we stopped to fill up the car with fuel. I greeted the attendant and she said, "it's been a long time." Then we stopped in Kapeeka to buy eggs, and several folks greeted us (side note, there were NO eggs - that made breakfast very difficult today!). Timothy owns the shop and Betty is another lady that is usually there. Timothy said, "you're friend, Betty, is just down the road." I had actually already seen her because we parked right by where she was working. We stopped at another little shop to get water and the lady was glad to see us as well. She gave us 3 hard-boiled eggs as a welcome home gift. We stopped by the coke depot because we park right in front of it and we couldn't walk by without greeting Frank, the one who runs the depot. He also was glad to see us and we left with some coca-cola. :) I stopped for chapati (flat bread) and the two young people asked where I'd been. Needless to say, it's just so great to realize that you have become part of the community, at least to some extent.
On another great note, the lady who cuts my hair in Kampala, Ainslie, had time in her schedule to give me a haircut real quick on Monday before we headed out of the city. If you have gone 3 months without a cut, you might relate to my feeling that this was such a blessing. Also, we have a team coming this weekend and a very busy schedule, so it would have been weeks if I had not gotten in yesterday.
And finally, all of our luggage arrived on Monday afternoon. The rain and darkness prevented the delivery from happening, but first thing this morning (it's Tuesday morning here), we got the delivery!
We feel so blessed by the love that everyone has shown us!
On Monday afternoon we pulled into the property while school was still in session. Our car, Bertha the Beast, is very loud, so you can hear us coming. It just so happened that a very large truck was delivering cement for the construction, so we followed him in. That meant that when folks heard the sound, they looked up to see this big truck instead of us. The truck was going past the school and we weren't. Once he passed, they could see us as we were pulling into our yard across from the school.
As Floyd turned the car off, we heard some commotion. We looked up to see ALL of the students running out of the classrooms and headed towards us. They were screaming in excitement! The first group hit us all at once and it was a giant group hug. I stood in one place as child after child crashed into me with a huge hug. It was wonderful!
My dear friend and one of our teachers, Madame Grace, was the first adult to reach me. She gave me about 14 hugs and had tears in her eyes. Then Makline, the matron (dorm mom), came to give me hugs. She was also just as excited. It was all overwhelming in a great way.
It so happened that I had my phone in my hand because I had just used the camera. In the commotion, my hand hit the record button, so I have a few seconds of the chaos on video. When I looked at my phone later in the day, I found the video.
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| Edgar holding my hand as walk to the house. |
To be honest, we weren't sure what reaction we would get. Maybe the kids would forget us. Maybe they'd be upset because we left for so long. We had done our best to encourage them and let them know we'd be back before we left. But you just never know how kids will react. The good news is that they reacted in the best way possible.
We have been surprised at the reaction every where we go. In Kawempe (near the capital), we stopped to fill up the car with fuel. I greeted the attendant and she said, "it's been a long time." Then we stopped in Kapeeka to buy eggs, and several folks greeted us (side note, there were NO eggs - that made breakfast very difficult today!). Timothy owns the shop and Betty is another lady that is usually there. Timothy said, "you're friend, Betty, is just down the road." I had actually already seen her because we parked right by where she was working. We stopped at another little shop to get water and the lady was glad to see us as well. She gave us 3 hard-boiled eggs as a welcome home gift. We stopped by the coke depot because we park right in front of it and we couldn't walk by without greeting Frank, the one who runs the depot. He also was glad to see us and we left with some coca-cola. :) I stopped for chapati (flat bread) and the two young people asked where I'd been. Needless to say, it's just so great to realize that you have become part of the community, at least to some extent.
On another great note, the lady who cuts my hair in Kampala, Ainslie, had time in her schedule to give me a haircut real quick on Monday before we headed out of the city. If you have gone 3 months without a cut, you might relate to my feeling that this was such a blessing. Also, we have a team coming this weekend and a very busy schedule, so it would have been weeks if I had not gotten in yesterday.
And finally, all of our luggage arrived on Monday afternoon. The rain and darkness prevented the delivery from happening, but first thing this morning (it's Tuesday morning here), we got the delivery!
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| Yay! It's all here! |
We feel so blessed by the love that everyone has shown us!
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