Monday nights are “friend night” at the Pierce house. We invite N and Q’s friends (who pretty much happen to be all Ugandans) over for dinner and play time. Naomi and Quinn look forward to it all week. Mondays I also cook “meat and potato” meal. Here is Bundi it is usually “fillet” steak (here in Uganda you pronounce the “t” in fillet) and sweet potatos from the local market (not like the ones we have in America. Our kids and the Ugandan ones all LOVE it. We through in some fresh-made bread and home grown veggies and it’s a hit.

Last night Naomi’s had two staff girls over and Quinn had the brother of one of our teachers. They gobbled down dinner followed by pumpkin pie then starting running around like madmen. Naomi was just SPARKLING, the girl I know and love coming back out after such a long transition to African life. They told me they wanted to dance and I turned on a latin music CD. What happened next was priceless, three girls on a homemade coffee table dancing away while “singing” into banana “microphones.” I loved watching them love their lives, celebrate their differences, embrace all things.

Next came a spirited game of Twister which involved multiple domino-effect falling down situations. Twister is hard for children who don’t learn colors or right from left in school. But these guys were bright enough to have figured it out!!

We finished the evening wiht a game of “drafts” (sp?) which I think is just another game of checkers. The kids play it with bottle tops from our Ugandan soda bottles. Quinn and his buddy Manzi were immersed in their game until almost nine pm while Naomi and I walked her friends home across CSB campus, shining our flashlight on huge spiders in the dark.

This was a night to remember, a night to rejoice in, a night to cherish. May many more nights of community come.