The Journey Begins.....Again

It's currently 3:16 am in Minnesota and I'm still wide awake. Why, might you ask? Well let's just say we have about 300 pounds worth of books, toys, medicine, and all of our provisions for a whole month in Uganda. It was one thing to have just a few toys and clothes and things to bring with us in addition to medicine, but this time, with my mom coming, she has all kinds of teaching materials that we are trying to cram. I love books, but clearly airplanes are not meant to take them! So out of our 300 pounds, we have to narrow down to 200 pounds spread across 4 suitcases, not to mention all the "heavy" stuff we are cramming into carry ons! This is the worst part of the trip and it makes it hard to get going, but once we get on the plane, we can rest assured that we no longer will have to worry about weighing every little thing that we own!

We know that this trip is going to be a good one! My mom has wanted to go for more than 3 years, and she finally has gotten herself together and decided to take the trip at age 60! She's such a trooper! Most days she has more energy than me and she's more than twice my age! I can't wait for her to see the Woolies for the first time! We've known these children for almost 4 years now and have gotten to see them grow from across the ocean! I can't wait to see what a year at Watoto has done for them. I know that God put them there for a reason. We now can be at peace knowing they are well fed, getting an education, and learning about Jesus! They are such special children and I pretty much consider myself to have 9 kids that happen to live halfway across the world!

So we've been preparing for this for a very long time and spent most of the past week just organizing and picking up things that we need to bring to the kids and things that we needed for ourselves. We had a great weekend at the cabin with all the neighbors and then I got to spend time with a good friend Laura down at the good old Eveleth Street dance to celebrate the fourth of July. The power went out in the city for a brief second and then came back. When we returned home at 11:30 we realized the power was out in the house and it didn't come back for over an hour! I was so glad that I spent $20 on one of those camping head lamps! They are amazing for doing anything in the dark. However, I don't think my mom was amused....she preferred using candlelight to organize the bills, even though I offered numerous times to give her my lamp. With the power back on, we have fans, lights, and the computer!

So I've rambled on for a bit, but what else do you expect at this time of night (morning)? This will be my last post from the states and then it is a drive down to the cities to hop on a plane by 3:30 tomorrow (today)! Hope everybody enjoyed their 4th of July!