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First off, thank you so much for all of your emails! It’s been so wonderful to know that people back home are thinking about and praying for us! I’m going to try to make this an all inclusive email and answer everyone’s questions.

So for those of you that asked for prayer requests here are some:
- keep praying for our safety and health. So far we haven’t gotten sick at all :o)
- pray for the mama’s they work with these kids so much and its so hard some days when you have 30 children in a small area and no-one wants to listen or you have 10 toddlers all crying at once.
- pray that the lord will give me direction in my life about where he wants me to go after this trip is over. after being here and meeting different people i’ve learned that there are many places and things i could do. but i want to wait and see what the lord wants.

heres what has happened in the past week.

i came over to africa being really exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally. after being here a week i can see how the lord has blessed me so much. i’ve gotten to hang out and play frisbee with the other volunteers, i’ve played football (soccer) with a lot of the kids at amani baby cottage, and i’ve went running one morning. on my run, i had a few little kids go running with me asking me for money, but it was nice because i had to tell him i didn’t have any with me and i wasn’t lying at all because my pants had no pockets.

however, there are lots of children here who go, “mzungu, please give us money” which means white person please give us money. sadly, if you gave money to each individual you would be broke within a days walk. so we bought candy and give them a piece of that and tell them that we love them, but can’t give them money.

heres a funny story. i fell asleep one night with my headphones on and then in the middle of the night i woke up and thought there was a bat flying around me and i was so worked up i was thrashing around only to find out one of my head phones came out of my ear and was hitting me in the face. hahahahaha

i also fell in love with a boy named george. we call him georgie porgie because he’s pretty fat. he’s always kinda crying or whining to be picked up but his face is the cutest thing ever. yesterday, i was trying to put 15 toddler boys to bed and georgie porgie kept melting my heart but pulling off half of his diaper and then going auntie and giving me the sliest little grin i’ve ever seen. then when it rained outside all afternoon we had a veggie tales dance party in the orphanage with the toddlers and george was my dance partner. he had such good moves i worked us a sweat

the little children here are definitely teaching me so much about being carefree, loving life, even if it means the same type of porridge every morning for breakfast and they are teaching me patience in every way possible. last week when i was trying to put the girls to bed in the evening there were a few that wouldn’t go to sleep and i was so tired so i just pointed my finger at the ones dancing in their bed and told them to lay down now. it wasn’t long after that that one of the little girls dancing started pointing her finger and me and talking sternly in ugandan hahahahahaha… i had no idea what she was saying but she softened my heart and i ended up laughing with them and gave them lots of kisses and hugs before leaving the room.

so thats how the weeks been so far. lots of kid time, fun time with the other volunteers, and i’m loving the slow paced life that has brought me back to having lots of time with god and people.