New Hope Uganda--Kasana

We said goodbye to Micah and Grace and made it safely to Kasana yesterday after meeting up with our team from North Dakota.  Right away we saw Isa & Zephaniah--our younger 2 boys....I spotted them from afar and they recognized us right away......what a joyous moment!  Like most of this trip, it is so surreal that we are actually here, hearing their voices, seeing their smile, hugging them and not just praying over a still photo.  We also met Robinah & Rashida briefly...culturally girls are much shyer and quieter. They were in school, so we played w/ them every recess that they were out.  Then after school we walked w/ Isa to his house/family group and he gave us the "grand tour" of his family gardens, his bedroom, the fruit trees, etc.  He showed us his photo album with all our pictures we've mailed him.  Jonas & him have been attached at the hip. Then we went to meet Susan and visit her famiy group...they were steaming matooke (bananas that are mashed like potatoes, not sweet eating bananas, more of a staple).  We also bumped into Joshua, the artist (who drew the picture of us on our refridge).  Then we visited Christopher at his home/family group and walked together to evening prayers and worship.  There was a time to go up front and have your "parents" from your family group pray for you and he asked us to go up and pray with him....he is such a fine young man who loves the Lord....he also prayed for us...it was such a sweet powerful moment.  At the end we had a family hug and he would not let go...we stood there hugging forever! Alea was sandwhiched in the middle and she was sweating and said she couldn't breath, but every time we tried to let go, he just kept clinging to us. Worshipping in Lugandan and with the drums was powerful just like in Kenya!  WOW!  We are overwhelmed with joy to finally be here!!!  We still have 4 that we haven't met yet.  On Sunday, we will have a special lunch with all 10 of them (5 live out in the villages as day students....to qualify for Kasana, they must be fatherless, but many of them have an aunt or grandmother caring for them and a couple even live with their mother.
The realities of being in Africa have finallly caught up with us....Anissa has diaherra, Alea has ringworm (and then had a reaction to the anti-fungal cream we got from the clinic), Jonas has a ton of bad bites all aroud his unmentionables, he also has several open cuts/scratches all up and down his legs that they said to be careful about so we keep smearing him with triple antibiotic ointment.  The bugs are really bad here...Pastor Micah kept teasing that we were going out to the jungle.  You should see the size of the ants, catepillars (dangerous), and other unrecognizable creepy crawlies.  And the noises the bugs make all night are new to us....one of them sounded like a chainsaw! Electricity comes and goes (just like in Kampala, but here it is off more than on).  We actually showered with our headlamps on! And YES the showers are definitely cold.  Alea loves her bright pink mosquito net....she sleeps like a jungle princess. :)  We are thankful for the probiotics, vitamins, anti-diaherral and other medicines we've drug along.  It is also good that these 2 weeks are at the end of our trip, since they are the "harshest" conditions.
GOD IS GOOD!!!!  We are thrilled to be here!!!!