The pictures are mostly in order.
Uganda summary: GOD IS GOOD. :D
We got to the Columbus airport 3 hours early because we were a large group. I thought that seemed SOOOO early, but it took the lady over an hour to get us all checked in. So God knew. It was nice that we weren't stressed for time. Logan entertained himself by weighing himself and jumping up and down on this luggage scale. :)
Finally Uganda-bound. We had 4 meetings before we left, plus forms to fill out, the yellow fever vaccine to get (for Logan) and lots of other planning. It felt great to finally be on our way!
Logan trying to get sleep on the flights.
We are finally in Uganda. This is Caleb... he is 16 years old and so strong in his faith. It was a real joy to have him on our trip.
Our first meal in Uganda. This is me with Melissa and Beth.
What a moment. Even once we landed in Uganda, we stayed one night in a hotel, then we had to travel about 4 hours by bus, so it was a long journey.... but making it to the Carepoint, made it all worth it. They were singing and dancing about 1/2 mile before the Carepoint. Then, instantly, these guys had their arms around Logan. I was fighting back tears of joy. It was a moment I will never forget. The joy of the Lord shines through these people in such a unique and precious way.
ABEY!!!! This is Abey Ssere Grace, the kiddo that we have been writing letters to for over 8 years. He is 13 years old now. It was so cool finding him right away this trip since we had met before.
Logan at Surjios... which is where we stayed. Such a peaceful little spot.
Logan serving lunch at the Carepoint.
Racheal!! The Finneys sponsored kiddo. She is so so wonderful!
Abey and Logan!!!!
We went to check out the acre of land that some people from the Carepoint farm.
Our team!
This was our home visit. This is Beatrice, Abey's mom. There was miscommunication and Abey was actually at the Carepoint, when we went to the home visit. I was disappointed for about 10 seconds, but then the Lord just settled my heart and reminded me that this was my time with Beatrice, who I adore.
Beatrice is such a strong woman of God
She has such a JOY that can only come from God. I love her so much!!
Abey's home.
They have goats now!
Inside their home
Beatrice, Morgan and me
Beatrice pulled out pictures that we have sent them through the years. One of them was a picture of Maggie when she was a baby!! I cried happy tears throughout this whole visit!
This is Beatrice giving me a giant bunch of bananas. She also gave Logan a bookbag with a watermelon in it.
:)
She gave us this jackfruit. It is a GIANT jackfruit.
Praying for Beatrice, Abey and their family
With Beatrice. This was Logan's favorite part of the trip. We were the first home visit of the group. When I went 3 years ago, the home visit felt 80% sweet and 20% awkward (bc I wasn't sure what to say/do/ask).... this home visit was 100% sweet and beautiful. God blessed our time together and I will never forget it. Her generosity towards us is simply amazing. I don't even have the right words.
As we were leaving, we saw Abey's older sister, Tracy (who I had never met) and her daughter, Ruth.
Delicious fruit every day.
This is the sugar cane that Beatrice gave us.
This was Logan and I with Mata. She was so wonderful. She was our translator while we went around and evangelized to 4 different individuals/groups. We were with each group just 5 or so minutes. It was really wonderful and Mata was so sweet.
For lunch at the Carepoint, the team eats in a separate room bc we eat different food from all of the kids (our tummies wouldn't be able to handle what they eat with them using water, etc)... anyway, last time I came I waited in that little room for quite a while until whatever activity was next. This trip, I learned that once I ate, I could go out and chat with the kids. I had been chatting for a few, and went back to make sure that Logan knew that he didn't need to wait in that room. So I walked back over to tell Logan he could leave that room and go chat with the kids. And then, I walk over there and this is what I find....
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Hahaha, he was surrounded by kids, lol. Clearly I didn't need to go tell him he should go hang with the kids. :) So funny.
Me and Lynn- she was so much fun to get to know on the trip!
The cat at the place we stayed at... her name is Grace.
We swam in the hotel pool one night and had so much fun! It was after a very hot day, so it felt great.
Overnight Logan and I had diarrhea.... turns out, about half of our team did. Several people were sick for days. Logan got it pretty bad. So we tried to go to the field day.....
Saidi was our driver, and he said "We are here for you".... we were late going to field day to give Logan extra rest. Saidi wanted to stop and get Logan a coke (soo sweet! Logan doesn't like coke, so we got a sprite).
That pep in Logan's step, didn't last long. We were at field day about 1.5 hours. This is what Logan did most of the time.
I got to hang during field day for just a bit. This was Agnes and her baby brother James. He didn't know we were doing a pic.... then he cheesed nice and big.
CUTEST smile!!!!
We made it back to Surjios. This dog really was such a little cutie and put a smile on Logan's face.
Logan finally was up to reading a book on his ipad.
The doggie took Logan's shoes
This was the one field day game I played in. Transferring water from hands to hands and tried to fill a glass coke bottle. We came in last place!
This is Abey's brother, Yousef and a friend.
During someone else's home visit. Playing patty cake with other kids that came out.
One of the kiddos asked if Logan was wearing a wig!
Jackfruit tree
These kids loved Logan's watch and that it beeped when they pressed buttons.
We did the skit of the prodigal son for the Carepoint kids. Logan played the prodigal son and he did a great job. Calvin, our leader while we were there, was Logan's father!
Nangobee... she was always so so kind to me and helped me get the restroom unlocked etc. :)
At the Nile River
This was the Prodigal son skit. This is where Logan partied and wasted all of his money.
Our room at Surjios. It was the exact same room that I was in 3 years ago.
Final farewell. Abey and Edwin. Logan and I are also wearing what Abey and Beatrice gave to us. :) Beatrice put it on right over our clothes. So cute.
Our one tourist activity, a tour of the Nile River on Lake Victoria.
:)
Grace, me, Sydney, Rebecca and Morgan. We had such a wonderful team!
Logs!
Michelle, me, Melissa, Lynn and Seth
We got a smoking brownie on a pineapple
Suzan! She is 28 years old and so so sweet. She helps make all of the uniforms and other clothes for a lot of kids. She has a tailoring business.
On the ride back to Entebbe to go to the airport.
Bye Calvin! He was so so wonderful!!!
Logan and a fun drink
Playing Euchre while we wait to go to the airport
This was in Detroit on our way home. This is what Logan looked like on all of our travel days. :)
Overall, we are grateful for all that God is doing at the Kakira Carepoint. We feel so blessed that we got to go and see the kids and the guardians. One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to love on them and let them know how much we care for them.... but it's crazy how they love on us so much.
*As a side note, the travel is harder than I remembered.... it's mostly because this time I had a 12 year old. I was fine with the travel (it IS LOOONG), but Logan was very very exhausted. Our kids sleep a lot and we are very much on a routine, so he didn't do very well with the lack of sleep. For our family, I wouldn't take a kiddo younger than 12 years old to Uganda. They could go somewhere that is closer/easier travel. I'm writing all of that down just to remind myself in the future. :) (In Amsterdam on the way there, I was walking up and down the concourse trying to get my steps in whil)e Logan nodded off the whole time. :)
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