Re-stocking and Medical in Kampala, May 25-June 2

We flew from Zambia to Malawi to Kenya

This is Lynn Skuza taking a picture of himself with us, waiting at the airport in Kenya.

To Entebbe, Uganda.
The taxi ride from Entebbe to Kampala was an event in itself. Even though the driver we called had been told twice to bring a van, he brought a small Toyota car. Doug, the driver, and a guitar were in the front.
Lynn, Jan, me, a large suitcase at my feet, and three carry-ons were in the back seat with Karis, Kylie, and Caleb on our laps, respectively.
The trunk was full to busting with everything else. Keep in mind this was luggage for 7 people for a month! Craziness!
Lynn, Jan, and I did not have feeling in our feet when we finally reached the Baptist Guest House and two of the three children were asleep on top of us. Quite a 45 minute ride!
We arrived to find a note on the table telling us our crates had arrived in Kampala and were at customs. So Doug had to go early the next morning with our packing list to go through the crates and answer questions about what we brought and why we brought it. He didn't make it back until almost dinnertime.
The end of that story is that Doug had to go one more time, they weren't happy with a lot of our stuff, and said they would "be in touch."
Three days later they relented and let us deliver it to the Guest House in Kampala. Whenver we get to Arua and get unpacked, we can start packing up all the furniture and dishes the mission let us borrow, so that we schedule a date for our crates to arrive!!
Re-stocking is another thing we did in Kampala. Going into new stores, aisle by aisle, seeing what we needed. Some stuff we still needed to get for basic house set up. Shopping and traffic got to be exhausting, but we are so blessed to have a chance to do it.
Caleb also got his 4-year old shots and Doug and I got our third Hep B immunization.
Karis finally got her gift from both sets of grandparents and us. An American Girl. We carried her across the ocean in a suitcase back in January, so it was good to finally get her out, and Karis was thrilled. This is all she asked for.

Karis and Molly.

We crammed a lot into a few days. After getting all our errands run, we treated ourselves to a cultural adventure.
We drove to Ntende to see a company of orphans perform culture dances from all the different areas of Uganda. It lasted three hours, and I wasn't bored once.

Notice the pot on this girls head and then notice what happens in each picture.

In this last picture, you can see the other girls leaving the staging area and walking up steps with the pots on their heads. They not only did steps, but also did some major dance moves while carrying them around.

One extra blessing was getting to see my friend Becky. She and I traveled to Uganda together back in 2007, and now we both live here. Standing between us is Henry. He was my interpreter in 2007, and now he works for Becky. It was so good to see them both.

We went to a wood-carver's shop, and saw some amazing handiwork.

Bosco showing Caleb some of his carvings, and then...

he actually gave Caleb tools to use on someone's order! I was so scared Caleb would mess it up.

And right before we left, Doug and I fulfilled our promise to Kylie and Karis that we had made at 40/40. They could have their first pedicure. Believe me, after 40/40, our feet needed it!

I think they really enjoyed it.
We left the salon, and headed for Jinja, about 2 and a half hours away. Jinja is where the Nile River begins at Lake Victoria. This is the place where we were going to have our cluster's prayer retreat.