My husband & I chronicled our adventures on a private Facebook group we created to keep friends & family up to date on all the latest happenings.
This is a re-cap & remembering of our journey ONE YEAR ago!!!!
May 22, 2012
Scott & I are laying here in the dark under our mosquito netting (a MUST if you don't want to get malaria), & WJ is sleeping beside us in a baby bed under his own mosquito netting. We moved from our hotel in WJ’s village area to the area for court. BAD NEWS #1: No luggage. Apparently 3 bags are coming in tonight, but we don’t know if they are our bags or the bags of the family traveling with us OR a mixture of both (between the 2 families, we are waiting on 8 bags.) BAD NEWS #2: Court has been moved from tomorrow (Wed.) to Monday. This is not near as bad as our friends in UG recently whose court date was moved out by several weeks. Our judge is still in country & has just gone to Kampala for some kind of last minute meeting. PLEASE PRAY for both the bags & the court date. That our bags (all of them) would arrive this evening, & be fully in tact – nothing stolen or missing; and please pray that our rescheduled court date will stand FIRM & that we will have our written ruling the very same day so that we can head back to Kampala to get WJ’s passport & visa (praying for a QUICK, QUICK process here.) BAD NEWS #3: Pasty, white girls & the equator & missing luggage are NOT a good combo. I have in my packed bags both sunscreen & a big wide-brim straw hat to help protect me from the intensity of the sun, but since our bags aren't here yet, I've gotten burnt to an absolute crisp. Finally, today I was able to get some sunscreen, & hopefully that will help. All in all though, we are not burdened or down or upset about our bad news……….. we are still in good spirits & loving the time with our son.
Today was another great day with WJ. I had heard that often children who are institutionalized are VERY independent & won’t allow their new mommies & daddies to do things for them (like put on shoes, clothes, bathe them, feed them or prepare their food, comfort them when they have boo-boos, wipe their hinies, etc.), but WJ is letting me/us do ALL of this & more for him. He seems to be responding so very, very well to personal, loving, gentle, one-on-one care, & we are loving it! He slept in the bed with us last night (b/c there wasn’t another option), & he is a tosser & a turner! He kicked Scott several times, & woke me up several times also. However, this morning when he woke up, he kind of jumped up & looked around & when he saw that we were right there he gave us the BIGGEST, WIDEST, SWEETEST smile. It was precious! Today was a very full day! We went back into the jungles of Africa to visit WJ’s village. It was a very surreal experience. We got very dirty & dusty. I won’t type too much out about this b/c this is WJ’s story, & we’ll let him tell it when he’s ready. On our drive to Ft. Portal, we drove through a national forest & stopped to see all the baboons. It was so cool! There were 2 mother baboons with babies; baboons are very mean, but thankfully, we didn’t experience any of that.
Today was another great day with WJ. I had heard that often children who are institutionalized are VERY independent & won’t allow their new mommies & daddies to do things for them (like put on shoes, clothes, bathe them, feed them or prepare their food, comfort them when they have boo-boos, wipe their hinies, etc.), but WJ is letting me/us do ALL of this & more for him. He seems to be responding so very, very well to personal, loving, gentle, one-on-one care, & we are loving it! He slept in the bed with us last night (b/c there wasn’t another option), & he is a tosser & a turner! He kicked Scott several times, & woke me up several times also. However, this morning when he woke up, he kind of jumped up & looked around & when he saw that we were right there he gave us the BIGGEST, WIDEST, SWEETEST smile. It was precious! Today was a very full day! We went back into the jungles of Africa to visit WJ’s village. It was a very surreal experience. We got very dirty & dusty. I won’t type too much out about this b/c this is WJ’s story, & we’ll let him tell it when he’s ready. On our drive to Ft. Portal, we drove through a national forest & stopped to see all the baboons. It was so cool! There were 2 mother baboons with babies; baboons are very mean, but thankfully, we didn’t experience any of that.
We are trying to teach WJ some English words, & he seems to be doing well (but he may only be repeating what we’re saying – time will tell.) He has done well today with “please” and “thank you.” We are also trying to learn some Tooro & this is what we think we know from WJ & our driver, Ken: picki-picki is motorcycle; amaizie is water; soos is tinkle; pamma is poop; gamba is say. It has been so helpful to learn the word “gamba.” We’ll say something like, “Gamba, thank you” or “Gamba, please Mommy.” And then he’ll actually say/”gamba” the English words. This morning we had our first tickle fight, & he LOVED it. Giggle, giggle, giggle. After he gets to laughing, he has a DEEP belly laugh that is so cute. He also (just like his cousin, Micah) likes to fake-laugh. It’s pretty funny.
It is late, & we are tired. Signing off!
It is late, & we are tired. Signing off!
***Oh!!!! I had totally forgotten about him waking up that first morning with us & grinning ear to ear. That was such a sweet, sweet moment! In regards to visiting his village, I also remember being totally humbled on that excursion. They had never had white people come into their village before, & they were the perfect hosts. Out of their EXTREME poverty, they served us fresh pineapple in the "sitting area/living room/communal area" of their thatched roof, dirt floor home. It was overwhelmingly humbling! I hope I never forget that moment!***
I just love reading this series. Walker is so blessed to have found such a loving mom and dad, and his happiness shines in that big smile of his. So very happy for you three!
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