The Wall Bloggers

Wednesday, May 15 - Friday, May 17, 2013 After Monday and Tuesday at the passport office, we also spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there. As I prayed for our passports Monday and Tuesday, God revealed to me that we would need a mighty work of His hand for them to come to fruition, and that I should pray for Him to receive the glory. We kept our routine of sitting in the tea tent until after lunch time, and then headed for the shady grass by the bathrooms.  Occasionally, we would be asked to leave the grassy area by an employee, and we'd return to the tea tent for another soda.  Our children were little troopers with the minimal toys we could bring.  And W-- got several naps on my lap, as my hind side fell asleep at our concrete sitting spot.  We'd leave in sheer exhaustion, ride home in near silence, have dinner, put our kids to bed, and prepare to return the next day.  Thursday night, I spent extra time in prayer, asking God if we could ...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 W-- and I, (as well as the other families) faced exhaustion from Monday.  After breakfast, when W-- threw a tantrum over not wanting to share a toy with the other girls, I angrily carried his screaming body into our room.  We sat down on the bed together and cried.  And I cried out to God, letting Him know that I didn't think I could face another day like Monday, with those unforgiving benches, the heat, the squirming child on my lap.  It has become so clear to me while I've been in Africa that Americans are raised in comfort, expect comfort, and become angry without comfort.  Africans are raised most often in discomfort, they are accustomed to discomfort, and do not even find discomfort worth mentioning.  I do not know how to get past my cultural upbringing to find myself at a place where I can easily overlook it.  So I cried out to God about the dread of another day of discomfort.  And He is so kind.  ...

Monday, May 13, 2013 After being woken up from 4:00-5:30 by the ministry group leaving the guest house, we set out for the passport office by 9:00 am. On Friday, we had been told to come pick up our passports for our children Monday.  So, like Americans, we all set out with the impression that we would pick them up after maybe an hour or so of waiting.  Rashid led us back to the tent we saw last week when we first dropped off our papers at the passport office.  It is the only shade in the large courtyard, where when the sun is unencumbered by clouds, it is quite intense.  There was also the large shade tree, but anyone who stopped there was shooed away by angry officials.  So, we squeezed into the shadows by the edge of the large tent.  Under the tent were rows of wooden benches, crowded with Africans waiting for their various documents.  We waited with the expectation that it would soon be our turn to receive our prized passports.  But aft...

Sunday, May 12, 2013 Mother's Day.  But not much sign of it around here.  A few mentions of it.  Rashid's comment Saturday, "Oh, isn't Mother's Day sometime soon?" We ladies and our kids were blessed to attend Joy's church again.  W-- did his usual nap, falling asleep during the amazing and loud worship time, and remaining asleep through the end of the service.  After the service, Joy took us back to the "mzungu" ("non-African") shopping mall, where we bought W--'s shoes last week.  I was grateful to return, because those bargain priced kids Crocs were nagging at me.  :)  So that was my Mother's Day treat: buying a few pairs for the kids. The second part of the treat was getting to Skype those little people who those shoes were for.  I talked to Adrianna and Abel, with W-- at my side, at about 5:00 pm Ugandan time, 8:00 am their time, as they were eating breakfast before church.  As we Skyped, I got to watch Scott tryin...

Saturday, May 11, 2013 Early in the day, I got to Skype Scott as my father-in-law drove him home from the airport.  What a blessing to see him on the other side.  It was close to midnight there, and I'd had two nights of sleep while he traveled home.  Whew, that's a long journey. We also heard that Ivan, our paperwork man, had been back to the passport office to check on our children's passports, and they hoped that they would be ready Monday.  That was hopeful news for keeping our timeframe here.  Rashid's wife, Joy, invited the three families to her house for a traditional Ugandan lunch.  Joy took Mike and Melissa to the store so that Mike could get the supplies to make chicken enchiladas, so Joy and Rashid would have a taste of our traditional food, as well. In the meantime, Lisa and I waited at the guest house with our kids.  Lisa and I are getting lots of down time here.  In many ways, the rest time is a ble...

Friday, May 10, 2013 Scott's first day gone, and W-- and I were woken at 6:00 a.m. by the enthusiastic singing in the seminar above us.  W-- asked to go to the bathroom, and I feared that that was it for his sleeping.  Thankfully, I tried setting him back in bed, and he just whimpered for a few minutes before returning to sleep.  Whew. Later, W-- and I headed out to eat breakfast with Lisa and her daughter.  I thought it might be nice to make tea with a little ginger, like the Ugandans do.  Apparently I momentarily forgot that the only other time I had tea with ginger, I lost my breakfast.  I drank a few sips, and realized that it was not sitting well.  I tried finishing breakfast, and then convinced W-- to come into our room.  I grabbed a plastic trash bag in time, as W-- laughed at my sickness, not knowing what it was. I collapsed on our couch afterwards, wondering how I was going to conquer this single parenting thing.  I showed W--...

Thursday, May 9, 2013 I knew it was going to be an emotional day.  Scott's last in Uganda.  My last with my sweetie for over two weeks. Lisa and I told the guys that we needed to be included in the day's outing, as another day at the guest house sounded a little confining.  So Lisa, her daughter, Mike, Scott, Rashid, W--, and I all squeezed in Joy's car (a tiny Toyota sedan, similar to a Corolla), as Rashid's Land Rover was in the shop.  We headed to the lawyer's office to pick up our court ruling.  Alas, the court did not have all of the paperwork completed, but they had one part of it, which was enough to take to the passport office.  So, we of course headed for the passport office.  We waited for ten minutes for a parking space on the street in front of the office, while Rashid chatted with the parking attendant.  He explained to us that the attendant had been working in that job, in the hot sun, up until she was read...