Easter

The consumer idea of Easter is colorful eggs, chocolate bunnies, candy, and a whole lot of food. Traditionally, we can wear white now, (but only until Labor Day) so we buy pretty new clothes. We plan huge meals, invite family over, hide and find eggs and await a large, mythical rabbit to bring goodies overnight. I’m so confused about it all. We all know that Easter isn’t about baskets and baby chicks, but it’s hard to focus on the true meaning when all we see is STUFF.

That being said, I should explain that I’m a visual learner. I read things and try to comprehend, but actually seeing or doing something helps me to “get it”, especially in a biblical sense. I cannot fathom what a “cubit” is, but if you show me exact measurements then I’m totally there. For example:

1.     The book of Exodus tells us that Aaron raised a staff in the Pharoah’s presence, struck the water, and all the water in the Nile River turned to blood. I’ve been to the Nile River. It exists. It sounds pretty unbelievable, but somehow actually seeing the river and visualizing brings it to life for me. I get it. It is amazing and it is real.

2.      The book of Acts tells us of the Apostle Paul’s arrest and imprisonment in Rome. Scholars believe the prison in which he was held has a name: Mamertine Prison. I’ve been there. I’ve walked on the very

floor that he laid upon. It exists. It is real.

      

3.      The book of Isaiah tells us that Jesus washes our sins as white as snow. I have confessed

            to Him, I have felt His presence, I have felt His love, His forgiveness. He is real.

4.      The book of John tells us of the crucifiction of Christ. He willingly laid his life down for us. You and me.

5. And it also tells us that He rose three days later. The best visual I have of this is: me. I am here. Despite all my sins, I am here. I am here because he died for me. He is real. And He is amazing.

Today I’m in awe that 2012 years ago Jesus died for me. Today marks the anniversary of freedom for all people who come to Him and that’s pretty awesome. Does it still seem hard to believe sometimes? Yes. Yes, it does. Who does that? Jesus does. I’m reading the story of the crucifiction and the subsequent resurrection and it amazes me. I almost cannot comprehend it, but I have felt it and I know in my heart that He has Risen.  It’s a Good Friday, y’all, but SUNDAY IS COMING!

Day 2 - Monday

We kicked off day 2 with a breakfast involving Super- Human Honey. This honey’s label told the story of the earth’s first 2 “super humans”, one of which birthed a gazelle in her womb and all the earth’s creatures followed. I don’t even know. But the honey was good. At our table was a group of guys (and gals) from Visiting Orphans/Sixty Feet. It was cool because Marty and I went to Atlanta a few weeks prior and actually met some of the guys in that group. Even cooler, the wife of the leader of THAT group was with US on our September trip. She actually told us that this group was going at the same time AND they had extra room at the guest house so that’s how we all got to stay together.

After breakfast, our driver (and newest friend/family member) Harriet picked us up and took us to exchange ½ of our American currency. That is important to remember for when we get to Day 6. We exchanged our dollah dollah billz, y’all and became millionaires because every $1USD is worth like 2400 schillings - we walked away with 1.7 million of them. That's how ballers do, y'all. Afterwards we bought a Ugandan cell phone, hit up a coffee shop for a glass bottle Fanta (yes!), and were met by Harriet’s husband, Francis. THE COOLEST UGANDANS ON THE PLANET! Francis took us to meet our attorney and then dropped us off at an orphanage. It was a place we visited last year and over the past few months we kept in touch with them. We LOVE this place. The director and the staff are amazing. I could literally gush until I cried about all they do for the children there, but I won’t. We spent the afternoon loving on kids, helping do laundry, feeding, bathing, changing diapers (they are cloth. And disgusting.), and played peek-a-boo forEVER with the cutest little nugget on earth. He comes up a lot so I’m going to call him Nugget, henceforth. We could have stayed there all afternoon, but had a good walk back to our guest home and didn’t want to be walking in the dark. Although I am basically 140# of RAW FURY, it didn't seem safe. We spoke with the director before we left and she told us that a large group had just left that morning, so if we wanted to move into their guest home, we could. And be with those crazy kids for HOURS every day? HECK. YES.

After our eternity long, uphill-all-the-way, walk back in the blazing Africa sun, we ate dinner with “The Group” and hung out for awhile, thinking about all those kids. We called OUR own kids from our very low-tech Uganda phone (we bought the cheapest one we could) and told them all about our day. They were pretty excited that we were bringing them back presents. But I like to think they missed us too…..

Tomorrow is really cool though………

Recap: Day 1

I haven’t posted since our return from Uganda and I really cannot offer a good excuse. Lots happened while we were there, so I’ll take the next few days to re-cap our trip, but in a nutshell we: loved on lots of kids, lost our American currency, visited some beautiful places, marty hacked his head open with an axe while chopping wood at an orphanage, we saw the Nile River, we visited an emergency room, we had an awesome 11 hour layover in Amsterdam, our visa card got cancelled, we ate $19 hotdogs outside of Anne Frank’s home, we made several new friends and got to reconnect with old ones, oh, and we met a boy……

Day 1     We arrived super late at night after 2 super long flights, one of which I was seated by a cranky old lady who spent 8 hours hogging my armrest and turning off my air vent. Fortunately, I’m passive-aggressive in nature so instead of actually saying anything I’d regret, I kept my bitter thoughts to myself and Facebooked about her the first chance I got. I felt much better after that. This was upon arrival in Amsterdam where I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at McDonald’s. You can take me out of America, but you can’t take America out of me.

The last leg into Entebbe was pretty uneventful. When we arrived at the airport, we were met by our driver, Tom. Tom was pretty awesome and had the best laugh EVER. He took us to our guest home, Adonai 3, where we were greeted by Ms. Sarah and despite the fact that it was midnight, she greeted us with big hugs and the most beautiful smile EVER. We’d stayed here last September and she remembered us. Despite having no air conditioning (because it’s AFRICA and a/c is a LUXURY), we slept well………