The Pearl of Africa

Thank you Jesus for being us safety to Uganda! Its a long way to get here. Well I will start with day #1. I enjoyed my last hot shower and we headed off to church for the early service. We got to the airport 2.5 hours ahead of departure and that was a good thing. First round of craziness began at the ticket counter when the lady helping me asked for my paper tickets. I told her that they were e-tickets and she said she couldnt find them. That began the frantic phone calls to the agency who works with VO. Things were changing by the minute and Mia was starting to be naughty because she was so hungry. So Brett and Mia went to get lunch and I waited to find out what was going on. Well long story short-Ethiopian airlines forgot to push the tickets through and that was the cause of a lot of hassels! So my image of having a nice lunch and spending a little more time with my family fell flat. By this time my plane was going to start boarding soon. I started to cry. The gal had been so nice and was doing such a good job of figuring out my mess, but I just wanted to spend a little more time with the family. So she saw my tears and gave Brett and Mia security passes to go with me to my gate. So sweet of her! So we got to the gate and hung out for a little. By this time it was past nap time for Mia and she was in full naughtiness mode. So we said our goodbyes and they were gone. Then we began boarding. The lady scans my ticket and it flashes "already seated". I am like "I dont think so". So thus began the next round of craziness. Well the man in my seat was so kind and gave it up since he had already missed his connection in Dulles. During this time it began to storm and they grounded all planes due to lightening! Then they said I may not make it so once agian I am calling Mike to find out what to due with my flights! Lots of confusion and craziness later-we were finally all boarded and ready to depart of Dulles. This flight was originally to take 1 hour 49 min. We made it in just under 1 hour:) Got to Dulles and hit the ground running! Ran right into Kari, Randi and Dee Dee. They had been praying for me to make it. So we got all the luggage forwarded onto Entebbe and went to find mom. She was going to have to collect luggage and rebook for Entebbe. So Ernie went with us and we got that all finished in time to board the plane for the next 16 hours! Now Ethiopian air is really good at feeding you like every 2 hours! And I really think they absolutely love waking you up! They shake you awake-plop some food down and smile! We had a fuel stop in Rome and then we were on to Addis. We got there and grabbed some water. Soon we were boarded and headed for Entebbe. We got to Entebbe I think about 2am. We soon realized that most of us were missing our luggage. So we spent more time trying to cross the language barrier and get some understanding about our luggage! Soon we were off to Sophies hotel for to rest for a few hours.

That was a little shocking! We walk into this place and soon realized that the reviews we had all read online were so true:) Lizards on the walls and 3 inch cockroaches in the halls! We are in Africa! They did serve a good breakfast though. Each morning was funny. The rooster would crow, then the dogs would bark and on it went, back and forth! We would soon learn that this is normal. Well that is all for now. Gotta run. I will continue to update each day as I have time:)

May you be blessed-A