weekend at uncle sam's... "i fell in love with the way family and community is expressed"

Here is a picture of Joseph, okoro's son who is currently staying at sam's place. he is a great musician! he makes up funny songs that make me laugh. i love it!

so when i first came to the mainland on thursday i planned on staying at the national office. it is nice there because i don't feel as though i am inconveniencing anyone. i can do my work and come and go freely. but when i came this past week i meet up with Benjamin. Benjamin is olive and okoro's oldest son. he insisted i stay with him and the kisolo family and said that uncle sam would be more than happy to receive me. he insisted i would not inconvenience anyone so he rang uncle sam and uncle sam expressed excitement on the phone knowing i was coming to stay. i was excited to come, so Ben and i walked back to the national office to get my luggage and off we went to sam's house. jess joined us the next day when she boated into the mainland.

this weekend was so good! i fell in love with the way family and community is expressed here. uncle's sam's home is a brick ranch-style home with a guest house close by... not fancy like you may think of some houses in the u.s. that have guest houses, but big enough to house many people. he houses his four children and wife...of course! but many others as well.... around 10 primary/secondary students who have some sort of relation to him some of which are orphans, his fathers sister who is lame, his mother-in-law who is mentally challenged, Georgeeeee a great young man with down syndrome (he brings so much joy to me and to all who meet him!) whose mother died... i think, last year. all of the students help out by cooking, washing laundry, cleaning the compound and house... they are all so respectful of sam and irene (mum (african mom) and dad). we enjoyed the weekend together cooking, washing laundry, playing a form of checkers, taking tea, eating toast with honey (i loved it so much ;) ) , we even watched 'everafter' one night we had power on uncle sams computer. the sound was so low that we had to narrate what was happening. some of us even painted our nails!

I have been praying about what's next in life for me...now i know what specifically i desire... I pray for family like this! i desire to have a family like this someday that can house people who are in need of a place to sleep. sam and irene still went about their business during the day but would come home at night to find everyone around, some preparing dinner, others playing... it was such a good weekend. This is the type of community i desire next in life. i can't wait. who knows it could be years away, but i know it will happen someday!

here is a snap of me being a 'ham' ....i am dreaming about the future ;) jess was the photographer!

SPEAKING OF MISS JESSICA... it has been a blast having her here in africa with me. i think she is adjusting well. she already has a best friend... henry... he names himself her best friend ;) i have been feeling bad for her though because these past nights she has had to sleep in the same room with me... the reason i feel bad is because at times i wake her up talking in my sleep ;) she thinks its great, i think its embarrassing! the other night i awoke when my head was at the bottom of the bed and my feet at the top... don't ask me how i got down there, i have no idea! lol :) jessica says i am an active sleeper ;) ....but jessica has been very encouraging to have around. she is getting adjusted to the culture, learning names, starting to pick the language, learning how to balance on a bodda bodda (motorbike) while in a skirt... she is doing great! today she is 'market shopping' like grocery shopping with papa O... one of jess' projects while here is to help the ywam base establish a balanced diet... finding out what foods are cheapest and in what season, figure out how long the fruits and vegetables will stay good before getting spoiled... she is going to create a full year food calendar for the ywam base.... just one of the many projects she will be working on. she will definetly be a blessing to the community and to me. yeah jessica ;)