Evangeline Lamara Part one <3

Oh How He loves us. =]]

Africa Day Nine::
Sunday::

Ok, so this is literally going to be my journal entry from the day i met Evangeline Lamara (Evi). It's one of the only days i actually recorded my thoughts, because i wanted to get down the raw emotions of that day. Every other day was just bulletnotes in my notebook. haha.
I think i'm only gonna have the one day. Because it's such a big day. and then i'll do the next day like, tomorrow. (since i don't work.) And it'll be great. I just think that these are two very very big days, they each deserve their own entry. =]

Today was a crazy day...a very crazy day in Africa.
We went to a church in a stinking thatched roof cottage!! It was pretty amazing. But a little confusing because i didn't quite understand everything that they said, even in English. ha. They had such thick accents. When we got to the church there were a bunch of children jumping around and singing "hallelujah Amen" It was honestly, wonderful. The children were kindof scared of us...But i sat in the middle of them and two of them latched onto my hand. It was super precious. One of the girls was holding my hand, and then this other girl next to her started to make fun of her and tease her and she stoppedholding my hand for awhile. The church service was so long...like you don't even understand. It went from like 10-1:30 or so. maybe even before 10..i don't really remember. I was so hungry by the time we left...then we went to a restaraunt and ate some ok food.
THEN we went to this orphanage calle Gukipa. (this is where it gets really good) And i saw this darling baby. I whispered to Macy, "dibs on the baby in pink." When i went over to take her, she was getting a bath, i helped the lady give her a bath then i dressed her and held her. She cuddled up against me and this wave of love washed over me like nothing i've ever felt before. [[for those of you that are Moms, i imagine it was something like the first time you hold your child...]] I didn't really know how to react, i wanted to cry, laugh and just take her home with me....because never wanted to leave her again. i never wanted to have to spend a day without being with her. I started singing Lead Me To The Cross and she laid her head down and fell asleep against me. I rocked her back and forth and fell in love so quickly. We had an instant connection, Clarissa said she felt the connection between us too. The other kids danced for us and the others in my group did stomp for the children, while i sat with Evi in my lap asleep. I was in heaven. I would have brought her back to the school if Rodney had let me, but he said it wasn't safe and i understand that. So i had to leave her. It was the hardest thing i'd ever done...
Taylor wanted to hold her for a bit so i was gonna let her.and as i was leaning down to hand Evi to her, she got a death grip on my arm, but i gave her to Taylor still. When i took her back, she clung to me.
I went to talk to Phillip. Because i really wanted this poor baby as my own. Phillip said that the adoption would be a long process because i'm single. yeah, like that's gonna discourage me. ha. But he also said that it will be cheaper and easier becausei'm going to stay in the country with her for awhile (several years) but that once the papers are signed she'll be mine (she already is in my heart) I've never felt so strongly about anything in my life. i've never felt so much love for a single child in my life. It was almost scary...
Anyway, so Parker came and said he wanted to hold her, and she was about to cry when i handed her to him. So i took her back. Then macy came and took her and she held my arm so tightly and looked at Macy like she was about to cry. Sp Macy gave her back and Evi just cuddled up against me and sighed. She had her arms around my neck. It was precious.
Then Rodney came over and was like "I wanna hold her" and he reached for her and she turned away from him, so he went around to the other side and did the same thing, and she turned away again, whimpering. He gave up. =]
I held her the rest of the time. phillip talked to his mom, who runs Gukipa, about me adopting Evi and she was all for it. Although she thought that i was taking her that night... which i wanted to. So badly.
When it was time to go I waited so i was the last one on the van so that i could hold Evi as long as i could. When i walked over to give her back Phillip said "Today, she is a new mother" and the 4 ladies smiled and clapped. And then i had to hand her back, Evi started crying. I was about to cry so i handed her over and said "i love you" and phillip said "you're mommy is coming back tomorrow." and i walked away, tears rolling down my cheeks. i got in the car and laid my head on Macy's shoulder, and just cried. Phillip came over and said, "please don't cry. You will see her again tomorrow." Ha, yeah, i cried the whole way home.
later Lacey told me that as i walked away, Evi was reaching for me over Phillips' Mothers' shoulder. I cried all night. Literally. I just cried.
Clarissa said that this is the reason i came to Africa. This was the reason i waited 5 years before getting to come. because i'm supposed to save Evi.

The end for today. Hopefully i'll get the next day down sometime soon. I'm not sure when, i work a lot now.

~~Katelyn~~

Africa days 7&8

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post... I don't have a lot of pics for these days... I'm thinking that once i get done with the stories from Africa i'll do a picture post which is gonna be just pictures, all my favorites from everyones pictures. =]]

also, thanks for bearing with me, i realize it's been over 2 weeks since i last posted. I apologize for that! =D

Africa Day Seven::
Friday::

Friday was one of the slower days. It was our alst day going to all the different schools. it was our last day before we went to Gulu for a week-ish. But it was still fun. Throughout the week There had been a group of children that hung out outside our hotel. All of the children in this group were wearing bright yellow dresses or shirts. One of the little girls there was named Margaret. She latched on to me. We played together everyday and we just had a blast. Every single day she asked me to come to her orphanage and play games with the children there. I told her i didn't know if we were or not. Well, i think it was Thursday afternoon that Clarissa told me that the next school we were going to was called Saint Marys (i think...I'm really not 100% sure about it..) And that the orphanage was pretty close to our motel, like, right around the corner. I told Margaret and I asked her if that was where her school is. She said yes. And she got very excited that we were going to her school. She grabbed my hand, and wouldn't let go. It was so precious.
So Friday morning we went to the orphanage. All of the children were wearing yellow uniforms, but the orphanage was SO poor. There were holes in the walls. It was really sad. All of the children were crowded into the "great room" to listen to us. The words Great Room are in quotes because i don't believe that room really qualified as a great room. It was so shabby and really small. Not nearly large enough to hold as many children as it held. Andrea and I got very excited, because as we were getting ready to do our songs for them, Ivan walked in. We ran over and hugged him, I had no idea that he was staying at the orphanage. It was so fun. We made him help us with our songs and dances and he had a blast. After that we walked about half a mile to a big field, and there were SO many children there from different schools, some of the children that hung out outside our motel, it was pretty fun, but we only stayed for a few minutes, because we were supposedly going to another school. I say supposedly because after we got back to our hotel, the other school cancelled on us. So instead we walked 45 minutes to get to a resaraunt... the food was ok... but i think the walk was my favorite part... It was interesting to walk the whole way, rather than drive. I felt like i saw more of the people on those streets, because we had driven on the streets before, but walking was such a different experience.
Also, while at the resaraunt, i used a squatty potty for the very first time, haha that was quite an experience. haha.
When we were walking home it was a little scarier because it was dark. Each of the guys had to pair up with one or two girls and like, protect us. While we were walking home this guy on the street came at me making kissy faces and Parker was like, Back off Man. and he backed away laughing. it was, honestly, terrifying. but i survived. =]
We got home and talked about Saturday because we were leaving to go to Gulu for the Safari and just hanging out at this one school. Then we went to bed.

Africa Day Eight::
Saturday::

So, Saturday we woke up and got in our vans (we had two) and drove about 8 hours to Gulu. It was a pretty fun ride. Most people slept and I listened to music. One of my favorite things to do was when we'd stop on the side of the road and get food. They sold meat and bananas and other stuff. We got sodas and such things. It was a lot of fun. Quite an experience. On the way we went to see where Clarissa and Rodney stayed while they were living there. The house was beautiful. but there was this one house that was unfinished that looked like a stinking castle. It was crazy. =]]
After we got to the school where we were staying for a few nights, and got settled in we went to another school to look aroundand play with the children. They had a HUGE field at this school. Matt, Collin, Parker and I started kicking around a soccer ball (or a football as they call it) Then Phillip decided that we were gonna play a game of football (soccer). We were gonna try to do AfricansvsAmericans. haha. it was gonna be great, but no one else from our group wanted to play. So they gave us some of their people and we started a game. i didn't think i was gonna be able to play, being a girl and all i didn't think it would be right, or how it would be viewed in their culture, but Phillip said it was ok for me to. So i did. All of the boys on the other team thought it was really funny that i was going to play with them. I think they thought it would be easy to get the ball past me, because i'm a girl... but they underestimated me... They didn't know that i've played against my brother who is one of the best soccer players i know. Anyway, At first they were trying to get past me, but i kept stopping them, so they were trying to figure out how to get past me. They couldn't...i think that in the whole time i played (i played half the game) they got it past me maybe twice. the other two guys playing defense with me seemed a little surprised but they would tell me Good Job and such. Then when i went off, Phillip was laughing quietly to himself, he said "they are muttering about you in Acholi. They are mad that they couldn't get the ball past you." then he laughed some more. i laughed too and told him about my brother. =]] it was really funny.
We went back to the school where we stayed (only the girls, the boys stayed at another school about 15 minutes away) we had supper and it was SO good. I love the food there. I just want to clarify this:: The ONLY food i DIDN'T like was the Minnow meal. that's it. I loved all the other food.
We ate really late there. We ate at like, 9:30 and then we had share time and then the boys left. We went to sleep. This is the fun part. There were 15 girls and like....7 twin mattresses. Oh it was hilarious. We were very...uh cozy.
I woke up the next morning and lo and behold, right above my stinking face, spiders. I was sortof ok with it. but kindof not. I don't care what you say, spiders above your head are not fun. ever. Even if they are spiders in Africa.
That was the exciting part.
So the end.





And if any of you are wondering i'm getting to the story of little Evangeline Lamara. :) It happens on Sunday. I'm ending on Saturday. =]]

God Bless~~


Katelyn~~ <3

PS. Update on Jackie!!
Things are going well, She's only got 3 more weeks of Chemo. And the doctor said she's no longer classified as having AIDS but is now classified as HIV+. He said that once they kill the cancer, and if she continues taking her ARVs she will live a long and happy life! =]] thank you all for your prayers!! =]]
~Katelyn

Africa Days 5&6

Africa Day Five::
Wednesday::

When i woke up on Wednesday morning, I felt MUCH better. I had slept really good that night. One thing i failed to mention was that the malaria medicine i was taking gave me these crazy hallucinations. it was always the same and it happened most every night. The hallucination was as follows:: I'm laying in bed (it always happened at night) and I look above me, on this shelf just below the ceiling are children. All of them staring at me. I know they're dead...i don't know how i know. I just know that they're dead. They just stare at me. I looked over at the window and they were walking in the window... It scared me. The first night when i had it i didn't know what it was... It was our very first night in Africa and I was rooming with Andrea. I remember her looking at me and i said "do you see the children" and she said no and rolled over and went back to sleep. It was so scary. Anyway... that night i didn't have the hallucinations.So i woke up feeling very refreshed...
The first school we went to was called Creamhill. It was the nicest school we visited. The children had these color coordinated shirts (red, blue, yellow, or green) and they were lined up according to their shirt color. one of the things i remember about Creamhill was this one little girl i saw. She was doing the "pee pee dance" It was sortof sad because she was standing in the middle of the line of red shirts and she started dancing around. and then she just peed on herself. and after that she just went on singing as if nothing had happened. I'm pretty sure i'm the only one that saw her because when i said something about it to Kayla, she didn't see.. she was super precious and after the singing time, we were just playing with the kids and this one little boy who was scared of everyone except me was sitting with me. The peepee girl came and sat next to me. And honestly... thinking back i'm like wow. that's a little gross. she had pee on her. but at the time, in that place, i didn't think about the fact that she had peed on herself. I just saw her as a little girl that needed to be loved. That's one of the things i loved so much about being there... You don't care that they have snot running down their face, or that they just peed in their pants. you just want to love them.
The little boy that was sitting with me was so precious. He was terrified of everyone else. but for some reason he liked me. I was the only one he wouldn't cry around. And if anyone else came near him he started crying and hid behind me.
Right as we were leaving the teachers decided they wanted me to take pictures of them. so i took several pictures. And as we were leaving all the children climbed on the gate and were sticking their hands through the bars
After we were done at the Creamhill Kindergarten (3-6) we walked down the road a ways to the Creamhill Primary (ages 6-13). They were color coordinated as well. i was really starting to feel pretty sick again. i think it was the walking and the heat and still trying to get over being sick the day before. But, of course, i still played with the children! I didn't do the dancing that my group does. The only one i did was "together" because they needed my name for it. haha. And i helped with the Stomp. but then i sat. The children did a few skits and songs for us. it was absolutely adorable! Then they did this::
Headmaster/teachers: "God is good"
Children: "All the time"
Headmaster/teachers: "All the time""
Children: "God is good. 'Cause that is His Nature. Wow."
It was so absolutely adorable. The whole team started saying that by the end of that day. I just loved it.
After we were done working and playing with the children it was lunch time. And this, my dear readers, is where it gets a little crazy. haha.We had lunch at Creamhill instead of going back to Cari's. First, i just want to say that they give us huge portions in Africa. No matter where we went, i always felt terrible because i COULDN'T eat what they gave us. They just gave me too much food. But i really did love the food there. Except for at Creamhill. What they gave us was Posho (probably spelled that wrong)...it's a bland, pasty food that fills you up really fast. Beans. and Minnow. I kid you not. Minnows. whole little silverfish heads and all. It was insane. and we HAD to eat it because otherwise it would be an insult to the school and it would reflect badly on Cari and Annette and Charles. So we did indeed eat it. It was craaaaazy. it was almost worse, because i felt sooooo sick.... it was just basically insane. Umm, yes. it was lots of....fun. T.I.A. baby (This Is Africa)
We went back home to have some chill time. I mean the motel, not home. but it did become like home to me... Honestly. It was home... I can't even lie. When we went to Gulu and then back to the hotel i just felt like i was coming home.
Anyway, i stayed home with Luke, Shannon, and Lacey because none of us felt good. It was fun. Shannon slept and Lacey, Luke and I hung out in my room. Just being silly and talking about our favorite parts so far. It was so much fun. The school we missed was Kampala Hill, which we went back to the next day to play with the younger children. When the group went and i didn't, They were with 13-19 year olds. When we went back the next day it was with 6-13 year olds.
The end for Wednesday. =]

What the children are saying is: The Farmers Hen has laid an egg.

Africa Day Six::
Thursday::

So thursday, Parker and I woke up extra early (ok, not really. About 30 minutes before everyone else) and we went to Cari's school. When Cari came to pick us up she had a little girl with her. She told us that the little girl was named Jackie. (see last post for her story.) Teaching at Cari's was lots of fun! There were 8 students: Klovis, Aurthur, Bashir, Vanessa, Doreen, Zion, Herbert, and Jackie. What they're drinking is sort of like porridge. It tastes like oatmeal and its really smooth like a smoothie. it was totally weird and yes, i drank it. all of it. from what others were saying i was expecting something way worse. honestly, the porridge wasn't THAT bad. just weird. Parker was very nice and said that we weren't hungry, but i decided that i was gonna try this porridge thing... and i did. ha. =P
We had lunch at the hotel instead of at Cari's. and then we got to just chill for a little while. Then we went to Kampala Hill for the primary students. It was a lot of fun. We did the Fruit of the spirit song, and for one of the verses you're supposed to have a partner, well we had an odd number of people, so i pulled a kid out of the group and he was my partner. it was great fun! then we played a few games, it was funny there was one little kid that was smaller than all the others, and who did she get attached to? that's right. Moi. =] so we walked around for a bit, and came upon a circle of children. they were playing a game. I couldn't really understand what they were saying, but i figured out that it was a sortof Cinderella game where someone would walk around the circle and pick out their prince or princess. and then the two of them walk around the circle a few times and then the person that was choosing slips back into the group and the other picks out their prince or princess. and so it went. it was lots of fun! anytime someone would get picked everyone would go "OOOOH WOO" and just laugh. Well, one of the boys picked Andrea and everyone thought it was just hilarious. Then a few turns went by and one of the older boys picked me. Everyone laughed hystarically. It was so much fun. The game ended after a few more turns, but i had such fun playing it.
After we left we went to save the street child, it was our last time to go before we went to Gulu. It was pretty sad for everyone. They kids had taught some of us dances (by some of us, i mean those that weren't sick and actually went!) and they did it. I sat with kids all around me and on top of me and it was a lot of fun!
Afterword we started talking about sponsering a child. Andrea and i are now sponsering Ivan. He's awesome. He's 12 years old. and He's now living at Save the Street Child (SSC) and going to a great school! it's so much fun! we told him that since we are sponsering him, it's like we are his sisters. and we told him that because we're his sisters all of our brothers and sisters are also his brothers and sisters. So he now has 18 brothers and sisters! (8 from my family and 10 from Andreas) His eyes got REALLY wide and he said "Really? no way..." and he just smiled and that boy has the BEST smile in the whole wide world.
We went home after SSC and just chilled and ate...and didn't really sleep. I think i was rooming with Shelby...and we had a BLAST! because shelby and i are the same person. ahaha. it was so much fun! =]
So, the end for now. i'll try to be a little faster with this update thing. but lemme just tell ya. It's a lot of work to get this thing up!!! hahaha.

~Katelyn~

I honestly cannot wait for the update about my lil girl. I'm gonna copy my journal entry from that night, so you'll get the raw emotions i felt after that first day with her. I love her so much. and I cannot wait to get back to her.
Just look at her. =] she's beautiful. =[ i miss her so much. remember to keep her in your prayers always.