4 more weeks

Before I get to far into this post, let me just say that it may seem all over the place. I plan to tell you about a few different things today, and they don't all connect or make since together, but I'm gonna do my best to make them flow.

So, to start with, there are only about 4 weeks left until we finish up here in Uganda, and to be honest, I don't exactly know how I feel about that. On one hand, I'm excited to get home and see my incredible family and friends, but at the same time, I can't image having to say goodbye to all of my students and my new friends. We've gotten so close to these children, that now when we arrive every morning, they want only to hug us, and play with us. At first they would do nothing but neal and shake our hands. But now, all I have to do is open my arms, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with a hundred big hugs.

I want to "introduce" you to some of the children. I wish i had a way to put my pictures of them on here, but i promise to do that as soon as I get home in America.

Prossy is a 10 year old girl, but she looks like she should really be 16. She's always smiling, and I absolutely LOVE her laugh. She used to always shake our hands, but now we hug all the time. Sometimes I like to run up behind her and give her, as my sister would call it, a "sneak attack" hug.  Looking at Prossy, you would never know the state of poverty she lives in everyday. She always comes to school clean, and she's incredibly smart. She's a P4 student, and Kelsey and I speak in her class nearly everyday, so we've really gotten to know her.

Beckah is a 6 year old girl, and I'm sure you remember me talking about her in my last post. Her smile is what I think of every morning as I'm getting ready, and her laugh is what I hear in my head as I fall asleep every night. I can't remember even one time that I've seen her unhappy. This girl, is precious, and absolutely adorable. I love her so much.

Moses is in P3, and he is one of the smartest kids I have met during his trip. He listens well, memorizes the bible verses, retains information almost perfectly, and he always pays attention to our lessons. He's always smiling, and he's very kind and polite. If you ever come to Uganda, you'd definitely wanna meet Moses.

Martha is in the Nursery school with Beckah, and although I don't know her exact age, I'm guessing she's about 6 as well. This energetic loving, huggable, adorable little girl has a smile that could light up the world. Kelsey calls her, and I quote, "The most adorable human being on the face of the planet!" She always smiles, and runs up to hug us every morning. She is absolutely beautiful.

Shakira is a P4 student, and is very smart. She always pays attention and is always excited to learn. Shakira is a beautiful, bright, fun loving, and funny 10 year old, and I feel so privileged to be one of her teachers.

Precious is a beautiful 8 year old girl in P2. This little ball of energy is always smiling, always playing, and loves attention. She has a beautiful smile, and an absolutely adorable laugh. She loves to run, and dance, and sing, and play. She is truly, "precious".

Today was definitely an incredible day. Our attempt to teach the children "heads up, 7 up" didn't go so well, but they love playing "red rover". Oh, and let me tell ya, in P3 bible class, I went crazy. Only 2 of the 4 students in our class today understood us really well, so when it came time to teach them the memory verse, and they all said it without reading it on the board, I was ecstatic! I started jumping up and down, and cheering, and handing out silly bandz all around!! I was yelling "Whoo hoo! P3 rocks! Jump, jump, jump!!" And the students joined in, and we all cheered for their success in understanding us and memorizing the verse. It truly was a break through moment, because that's been one of the hardest classes we've had, simply because they don't always understand us. But today, God gave me a boost of encouragement A BIG ONE! One of the girls that said the verse, can't read English very well, but she can somewhat understand it. But this morning, she simply couldn't understand us. That, or she wasn't responding. But then she really came out of her shell, and when she said that verse, I gave her a big high five, gave her a silly band, looked her right in the eyes, and said "I am SO proud of you." I'll never forget her smile when I said that.

Kelsey found a frog today.

I know I totally just switched the topic, but I gotta tell you this story. So, i'm working with the P3 kids, and Kelsey calls me over to the door, whispering "IT'S  A FROG!!" I walk over, see the frog, and then walk back to the front of the class to continue teaching them the books of the bible. Beside my teaching, it was relatively quiet. Then... there was screaming from the P4 classroom. I quickly run over to their room, and see all of the girls huddled in a corner, all of the boys huddled around Kelsey, and Kelsey, was trying to catch the frog. I laugh, and then the frog hops towards me and the girls, and we all run out of the classroom screaming. Anyway, I return to my class, and start going over some stuff with the kids again, when Kelsey decides to bring the frog in to show our class. Finally, after a lot of girly screams, and a walk in the woods, the frog is set free, and everything returned to normal.

That story had nothing to do with anything I had previously said, but I just had to tell you about it because it was most definetly one of the highlights of my day. It was VERY entertaining, and i'm pretty sure we all needed that small break with laughter and a little bit of screaming. I mean, seriously, who doesn't these days?!?!

I can't imagine what it'll be like when we leave at the end of these last 4 weeks. The kids freak out when we leave at the end of the day, and we always have to remind them that we'll be back tomorrow. But there will come a day, all too soon, that they're gonna go crazy because we're leaving, and we won't be able to say "Don't worry, we'll be back tomorrow." I won't be able to say that for much longer, and that breaks my heart. But I know that this won't be goodbye. Goodbye is too... permanent.

I don't like "Goodbye"