Apr 11th Update

My Friends -
The internet has just come up after 2 hours of being down, so will try to get this out before it goes down again. Electricity has been out for 3 days in all of eastern Uganda, but I am at a hotel that has a generator so am plugged in right now. Woohoo!

Anyone know what
type of snake this is?

Most recent news first: last night we had another snake at the orphanage. You have a picture of it. This is the same kind I killed by accident last year. It is a sort of khaki color that is shimmery. There are blues and greens with this kind of silvery shimmery color. Anyone know what the name is? All I know is that it is a "very poisonous" snake. Geofrey killed it when the kids told him it was in one of the school classrooms last night. 2 children were in there, but one saw it and got the other out (great job, Ronald!!) and then called Geofrey. So glad they didn't call me to kill it :-). Trust me that Abby and I are using our flashlights as soon as it is dusky!!!

The school now has 107 students (including our 23). I have included a picture of them at one of their 2x/wk assemblies at the beginning of the day. Things are going well - the kids have exams this week and then they will have 3 weeks off. That will be a great time to reconnect with the orphans as a family - because of our facilities, they are a part of the boarders for the school and not able to have their own identity as a group. We will be taking our kids for a fun trip to Sipi Falls, about 2 hours from us up on the side of Mt. Elgon. Our kids (except for Natasha and her siblings) have never been out of the Budaka District, most not more than 5 miles from their homes, so this will be a BIG trip for them. They will get to see a lot of the countryside. Abby went with Rogers and his family a couple of years ago and it was the first time Betty, Rogers' wife, had ever seen a waterfall. Should be really fun! We will be going April 25th or 26th.

Last week, Abby and I sat out on the front porch each evening after 7pm. It is so beautiful as the darkness descends (at 7) and the stars begin to come out. We watched as a storm began coming towards us - we could see the lightning from some distance, and about 1/2 hour later it began raining so hard, we had to hurry inside. That was fun! Another night, we sat and watched the fireflies - there must have been hundreds of them - flying all around us, even landing on us periodically. It is amazingly beautiful! The Lugwere word for firefly is "star." That is exactly what they look like out there!
Last night we were outside and saw an amazing shooting star - the trail was orange and yellow and it kept going for 2-3 seconds. Wow!

Thanks so much to you 2 who sent a sewing machine with me! Last week I spent 5 hours repairing clothes for the kids. I have another 5-6 ahead, but we haven't had electricity. Maybe tomorrow. It has been so great to sew up seams and hems and see the kids in nice looking clothing even for play. One of the new teachers came and asked if I would make a dress for her. Ha! Not really here to be a seamstress...
We got our furniture and kitchen "cabinets" yesterday - so thrilling to not have to cook and wash dishes on the floor! My mistake, though, was not calling someone there in the US for how high cabinets are. They don't have kitchens here, so I just estimated...way too high! I told him 45" for the top. He was able to cut off 2" from the bottom (just 2x2 legs), but with the stove on top, we feel like we are little girls cooking in our mommy's kitchen. Ah, well, lesson learned. It is so great to have a couch and chairs in the front room. I will be making curtains for that room as the only ones available here do not match the furniture. I did buy curtains for the other rooms - unknown to me the curtains are made out of the same plastic as shower curtains. Oh, well, they do cover the windows.

We were able to plant the land on Saturday - thanks to God for rain! And thanks to you who picked this up and prayed. He answered and we should have maize and beans ready in about 2-3 months.

Sure love you all! Thank you for your support in so many ways! I look forward each week to reading your emails and knowing how you are doing and how things are there.

Laurie