2 days to go

Again all I can say is WOW. I can't believe that a month has flown by this quickly. It really helped that the past 2 have been incredible. Meeting the Morris family and Daniel and Charlie were truly gifts from God!!

So wherever I left off.....the Morris' invited us to Thanksgiving round 2 at their house on actual Thanksgiving Day. Dan requested that I make my mac-n-cheese casserole again so of course I was excited to do that again. This time though I added bacon. So good. I am not sure what I would do if someone ever told me they didn't like mac-n-cheese. That would be so tragic. We brought Charlie and Daniel along with us and of course they too fell in love with Dan, Loring and the kids too. If you met this family you would say 'how can you not?'. So they guys ran around for a while allowing the kids to climb on the like they were jungle gyms, which kept them out of the kitchen while we all tried to cook.

Let me give a quick life story about the Morris'. They have been living here for almost a year now. They have a contact for a few years, but they would like to even stay upwards of 10 years/life. I admit I was like 'ohh missionaries, I'm sure they are just soo cool'. Well they turned out to be just that, except literally no sarcasm. One of the coolest things to me is how they have integrated into the culture here. Most of the Americans that live here as missionaries live in these lavish houses in a gated community, just as if they were still in the US. The Morris' have moved into an area near to the largest slum in Kampala. They have made friends within their community and are living much more modestly than any American family I know. I think what they are doing sets a much better example for the Ugandans that they care about the culture instead of living in their fancy compound trying to save the world. Funny story: So Daniel, Meredith and I babysat for the kids while Dan and Loring went to 2 weddings on Saturday so we just spent the night so we could go to church with them the next morning. There is a taxi stand (here we call it a stage) half a block from their house. Well the taxis love to block their driveway. All of the taxi drivers love them though, but there are just a couple that are still pretty disrespectful. So their friend Sharif the taxi guy runs over as we are leaving and Loring tells him that there is a rude guy who continues to park in the driveway and just leave it there. So we pass this guy as we are leaving and Loring gives him an evil glare. Well, he flipped her off. She yells "DAN, HE JUST FLIPPED ME OFF, HE JUST FLIPPED ME OFF!" So Dan slams the car in park as the man takes off running. All the taxi drivers love them so they run to Dan to find out whats wrong. They told him they would find the guy. So the next morning Loring hears a knock out on the gate, stumbles out there in her pajamas and guess who? The taxi driver was there apologizing. This is a huge deal, people here DO NOT apologize. However, he knew that if he didn't he would have to be fearful of his life, literally. So it was pretty funny, maybe you had to be there, but their neighborhood loves them. I could go on and on about them, but I will leave it at that.

So Thanksgiving was a success. They had a bunch of friends over and we all enjoyed each others company.

Friday night Daniel, Charlie, Meredith and I went to a place called New York Kitchen that Loring had told us about. As soon as I looked at the menu I yelled out 'oh y gosh, brownie topped with icecream!'. Charlies yelled out 'cinnamon roll!' and within a matter of 15 seconds we had decided already we would be ordering deserts and sharing. Who gains wait in Africa?? Only me, only me. I always say that I am 'starving' when I am really hungry, but I have learned that people here literally are so I have had to remember not to use that word. Well it only gets better, this menu was decked out with deliciousness; bacon cheeseburgers, pizzas, calzones, pastas, deserts, you name it. Bet no one can guess what I got? Of course, bacon cheeseburger. It didn't exceed my expectations, but it definitely hit the spot. So after dinner when I ordered my brownie sundae I couldn't wait. They lady is bringing it out behind me and Meredith says, whoa Catherine you are going to be soo excited. Don't fret, she sat it down in front of me and I SCREAMED "Oh my gosh IT HAS CHOCOLATE SYRUP". I mean I was almost in tears I was so happy, in fact I didn't really realize how happy I was. Everyone was laughing hysterically, including the waitress! See, it's so easy to make me happy!

Saturday Charlie left for a quick overnight trip to visit one of his friends from Young Life. Mer and I drug Daniel to the craft market and then we discovered this place called Cafe Javas. Let me just say, we have been there 4 times in 5 days. We have discovered incredible American food, coffee and of course milkshakes. We talked the Morris' into going there Sunday after church and I got a brownie for desert, yet again. It wasn't quite as good as NYK, but it definitely didn't fail the taste test! We babysat the kids for the night and had a great time.

We went to church with the Morris' on Sunday. I really enjoyed hearing Dan preach. This is a very small church, no doors, dirt floor, plastic chairs instead of pews and music that has lots of room for improvement. The Sunday school kids (5 kids) got up and did a couple tunes, one of which being 'Sinner Man'. Daniel was confused because he couldn't figure out why the kids were singing about Cinnamon. You have to think alot when people talk because the accent can get in the way sometimes.

The rest of the week has been busy with the last week of projects, planning for all of the kids Christmas parties and preparing for my departure. I went to the market and finished all of my Christmas shopping, which was extremely exciting. This will be the best Christmas ever! This morning we have been practicing for our skitof the Christmas story. I am a lovely sheet clad angel. I have so much more to say about things around here, but I think this will be my last post until I get to the London airport or until I get home. I will do a recap though with a bunch of things I have forgotten. My time here has been incredible. I will miss the incredible friends I have made, working with all of the kids at our projects, my little boy Simon from Remand Home, my friend George who is sponsored by EAC, our neighbors Jovan and Joram and the list goes on. Things I will not miss: rice and beans for lunch, the constant smell of burning trash and old fish, bumpy pot hole roads and trying to be ripped off for being white. Oh on that note I must tell that I actually ripped off an African yesterday at the craft market. This lady tried to sell me on everything under the sun, of course I bought it, but I changed all of the prices, told her I wanted some free stuff and left there thinking HA you didn't get me this time, I got you! OK well the horn is honking, I am late! More to come when I am home, PICTURES TOO!!! Can't wait to see you all. LOVE FROM AFRICA.