September 18 -- Kampala

September 18, 2007

The night before we left for Kampala to pick up Dad and Mom Beute we got a call around 11:30pm. It was Pastor Patrick Florence was in labor and they needed a ride to the hospital. Josh rushed to get his clothes on and pick them up. Florence was fully in labor when he got there and they feared she would deliver in the van. (This is her third baby in three years so they come quickly.) I was back at home praying for all of them and thankful I wasn’t the one in the pain of labor. Josh made it home safely (we don’t usually travel that late at night so I was a bit worried). About a half an hour later our phone rang. Patrick and Florence had a baby girl. Thank you God.

The next morning we were on our way to Kampala. We left at 5am it was so quiet and beautiful out as we watched the sunrise. We had heard that water maybe over the road because of all the rain and flooding and it was. There was only about 5inches of water but we feared what we would find when we had to return to Soroti. We were pretty successful in Kampala. We got our work visas finally! Answer to prayer. We are now legal for a whole year. What a lot of work that was – not to mention a lot of money. Tim and Angie were able to get a two year, multi entry visa to the States for Moses. What a blessing! People said it would be hard to get a visa and they even got a two year one. Nothing is too hard for God! Our hotel was another story. Many of the hotels have gone up in price and so we have been on the hunt for a nice hotel in our price range. The one I ended up booking (after a ton of phone calls) ended up being something close to a dump. I told Josh I was not comfortable staying there. We ended up going next door to another hotel. It was nice and clean and only $22. We thought it was a good deal until the second night with no power – no lights, no fan, and no hot water. That got old quickly so we were on a hotel hunt again. Thankfully we found a very nice (nicest room we have stayed in) and they were willing to lower the price so we could afford staying there. There is a pool down the road that you can pay to swim at and an ice cream place up the road – perfect! What a blessing to have somewhere to stay that you can also enjoy.

We did the normal running around, shopping, and restaurants. The day Dad and Mom arrived we went to Entebbe (45min from Kampala where the airport is) early to go to the zoo. The zoo is really beautiful it is on Lake Victoria and has a very natural setting. The kids (and Tim) loved the animals. We had a lot of fun. Grace got so excited with each new animal and could say all their names. She always asks, “Is it nice?” Lydia used her Daddy’s binoculars to see the animals. She is a bit nervious with the lion. Monkey’s run free at the zoo and they were all over the trees by the rhino. You could get as close as you wanted – I don’t need to get that close to an unpredictable animal. Lydia was brave enough to ride the donkey this time. She said she was a cowgirl and it was just like riding Uncle Randy’s horse. (She rode that horse about a year ago but she doesn’t forget anything and talks about it a lot.) After the zoo we had supper at an outdoor Chinese restaurant then when to get Grandpa and Grandma Beute.
Grandma arrived with tears so happy to see her grandkids again. Lydia was thrilled to see them, Moses went right to them, but Grace and Avalien took a little to warm up to them. Lydia talked non stop to G&G and it wasn’t long before Grace joined in. Lydia kept telling Grandma she missed her and loved her. By the time we were all packed up (they came with 7 boxes) the girls wanted to sit by G&G and that was the start to my (Mommy’s) vacation – Grandma is here