The Terranova's

January 1^st: Happy New Year, friends.
Last night was spent watching fireworks, dancing with 15 ex-street children, and laughing. A new years eve well spent for sure.

Today we went out on a boat with a few of the older children at Amani Baby Cottage. The lake was beautiful – something I really miss about my time on kisinja road last year. It’s good how seasons change.

Lately things have been hard. A lot of not knowing what to do but being expected to know…expected to do. I’ve been in a constant state of not feeling like I’m enough or even capable of doing the things I do here in Uganda. The truth is I’m not capable though. I’m praying for understanding and…healing. I want to be able to lie on the ground and yell “Hallelujah I can’t do it on my own”! pray for me, friends. I’m forever changing.


January 2^nd: Today I was asked to be a part of an executive committee meeting with the founders of SUUBI. Honestly I was dreading it and was prepared to be asked a million and one different things and I wouldn’t be able to answer or give them permission to do something. But God is faithful and showed me that these women don’t need me for something all the time – we basically discussed some issues together and I realized that we’re all on the same page – Molly kept telling me that we need to work together and be unified. After that we drank sodas and planned my wedding party. I came home and just cried in awe of them and there love for each other and the community and for Joe and I. they are beautiful.

keep praying.

- Melissa

_____________________________________

Christmas did not feel like Christmas. It was in the eighties and there were no TV advertisements telling me that if I wanted to get what I really wanted for Christmas, I should shop at their store and buy things I don’t need. I did not miss these advertisements one bit, but I missed my friends and family very much. I am realizing more and more how blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life back in America.

On Christmas Eve, Melissa and I went to the pool at the Jinja Nile Resort - very attractive, but a strange feeling…swimming on December 24^th. On the 25^th, Melissa and I visited a few women in Danida and Walukuba, two near-by villages where many of the ‘Suubi’ women live. We were stuffed full of food, soda, and love! These women are so lovely and have such giving, gentle spirits – it is extremely humbling.

On New Year’s Eve, the whole house (all 8 of us, plus 2 friends – a married couple named Brian and Lindsay) went to 2 Friends restaurant for dinner, drinks, and fireworks. It was an awesome time and a good start to 2009.

New Year’s Day was quite eventful. Some friends and I (including Melissa) took 8 kids from Amani Baby Cottage on a boat ride from the edge of Lake Victoria to the source of the Nile River. The kids had a blast and the landscape was beautiful. I am getting quite attached to the kids at Amani.

We also went to a near-by boys’ home where 15 street kids were taken in by this wonderful woman named Sarah, who is ‘sponsored’ by a couple from Chicago. These boys seem so grateful to simply be alive and are incredibly energetic! On Monday I will go there at 10am to help teach English. Sarah said she’d help me learn Luganda and hopefully even French – we’ll see how that goes!

Missing and much love to you --Joe