I don’t seem to manage blog posts these days though there’s so much to say.  So i’ll just summarize here.

1) Hair raising trip to the village to have sodas and boiled eggs with friends Milton and Peninah.  The road was terrible on the way there and THEN it poured during our visit.  The ride back was the closest thing to total wipe out that I have experienced.  THe kind of ride that makes you say Praise the Lord fervently when you reach the good dirt road. And you know it was bad when all the Ugandans in the back seat say “AMEN” loud and clear.

2) motorcycling up to Kalindi with a friend to visit another friend.  Heading up and down, up and down the road in a fruitless attempt to find her home which I remember so clearly as being ” next to the other mud hut in the kind big village.”  Smelling alcohol on the breath of our 17 year old driver and sitting three to a cycle so close that I feel awfully familiar with this young stranger.   Finally home two hours later, windblown and dusty, never even found the ladies house, had a lot of fun.

3) Baking lessons with two staff/wife friends.  Trying out cassava bread and laughing at the awful dirty-feet stink it made in the house (seriously people, do not try this at home).  Cooking eggplant parmesan straight from the garden and enjoying it with friends.  Washing dishes together.  Eating our bread together with hot tea.  Trying again the next day.  Dreaming with them about a bakery business.

4) Conversing with a young man who took a terrible turn when he picked up a drug habit at CSB this past year.  Talk about feeling like a failure – how I feel we have failed M.  But several months later, after a serious change in habits and reinvigorated walk with God I meet up with M and find him childish again, grinning and bashful and proud.  Redemption?

5) Tears falling down the cheeks of T.B who is a young man and would never shame himself by crying – except he is so desparate.  Trying to explain to him that our leaving isn’t the end.  Trying to teach him what little of faith we know.

6) Packing and finding our commissioning video from Mariners.  Watching with friends and shouting in amazement at the beautiful faces of so many old friends.  Realizing that I’d forgotten how many people know us and love us in America.  Feeling less alone in the transition.  Smiling at the thought of the hugs.

7) RATS – Ruwenzori Adventure Training School.  Naomi and Quinn’s alternative to RMS during our final two weeks is RATS; an all-Ugandan time of exploration and discovery with Anna.  They learn each day about stars and tadpoles and cocoa and weaving and anything else Miss Anna can come up with.  And they get to bring Ephraim along which makes it all so much more fun.

My heart flows freely between excitement at going “home”, anticipation for our future, and expectation of experiences ahead to grief, loss, fear, sadness, hurt, overwhelm.  One moment I am grinning, the next crying.  My poor friends just have to hold me through it.  Two weeks left.  Can my heart bear this place of change?