Today I was a little girl again :)

I'm sitting on my bed, looking at pictures of Guatemala and the people I love there, which slowly turns into looking at pictures of Uganda and the people I have learned to love here too. I have my door wide open so the breeze can go through more rapidly, and hopefully cool off my never-ending sweating that I would most definitely appreciate stopping. I see girl after girl running by my room, and little 3-year old Secret toddling behind, all squealing and giggling as they go by. Then they run by the opposite way, running towards their rooms to grab their shoes and I get excited and I want to see too. The little girl in me takes over and I leave my not-yet-looked at pictures pulled up on my bed and I forget to turn off my music and the light and I run out to ask what they were all doing. "We are going to escort Auntie Betty," answers Big Prossy and I ask if I can go too and she tells me I can and I run back to my room and before I know it, I have my shoes in hand and I'm running out both gates and I collect Secret in my arms. I slip on my shoes and we all slow the pace as we catch up with Auntie Betty and her little daughter Sarah. We laugh and we skip down the red dirt road and even though it's a 10 minute walk we all wish it never ended. We come to the end of the street and we say goodbye to her until tomorrow and we all look at each other and smile and we head back. I ask Big Prossy to help me put Secret on my back because even though she looks little, she's heavy, too heavy for me to carry in my almost muscle-less arms and she does so and smiles at me. I hear the once-terrified-of-me-Secret giggle behind my back because the Ugandan roads are known for their potholes and it's bumpy.. and I add some bumps along the way too ;) I look down and see how far Sunday has come, knowing only the stories they told me of what his childhood had looked like up until this point and I praise Jesus that he and his sister Secret have found a home in Minnesota to go to.
I look around at Gracie, Prossy, Eron, and Esther and I see joy and laughter and I praise Him that even though every orphan in Uganda and in the whole world can't be saved, these girls were. They live a better life now than they probably could've ever imagined when they were so little, and all the praise only goes to Jesus who deserves it and who made it all happen. I thank Him that Big Prossy can live with us for a while and that hopefully she can learn how to love Jesus while she's here until boarding school starts up again and she can go back to school for the first time in years.
God called me here so many years ago and I thank Him and praise Him for the joy that I have in my heart from being here and learning culture and enjoying every minute I can until it's time for me to go back.. so I can have the best memories possible that can hopefully hold me over until I can one day come back and call this my home.
We skip even more down the dirt road and strangers are staring at me like I'm crazy for laughing and playing with the ugandan girls, but I don't care and I keep laughing harder because I love these girls and they have blessed me SO much just by knowing them.
We walk through the first gate and Big Prossy takes Secret off my back and I try to air some of the sweat off my back and Esther grabs my hand and so sweetly asks me, "Will you play with us, Teisha?" "Of course I'll play with you!" I answer back before my brain can even catch up with my mouth and we all run through the second gate and all the way through the house to the back yard. We run as fast as we can down the steps, but slow enough that we don't fall and get hurt and we all stand in a circle and they all grab my hands and I'm shocked and have no idea what to do. Sunday starts chanting a song in his language and I'm pretty sure that not even the other girls understood exactly what they were saying, but they all learned the song and answer back in unison and I just smile because I have no clue what is going on. Then they all join in with the same tune and they start skipping in a circle and I follow to the best of my ability. Then they all collapse on the ground at the same time and we all giggle because I miss my cue and I am the last one standing. I fall down and we stay there laughing for a little while and then all get up and sing other songs and do other dances that I awkwardly follow along with. All the sudden Sunday is on the ground with his eyes covered and Prossy tells me "you're supposed to hide!" And I run and try to find the best hiding place fast enough so that he won't see me and then he yells, "ready?" and we all yell, "yes!" back to him and he gets up giggling wildly and hardly walking straight and he eventually finds us and we start again, only it's Esther's turn this time. Then we break up and I realize I'm getting bit up by mosquitoes so I run inside to grab the bug spray and as soon as I'm done Esther runs in and grabs my hand and tells me, "We're going to the front to play jump rope!" I get a huge smile because I was a pro at jumping rope when I was a little girl.
I skip hand-in-hand with Esther to the front and she hands me my shoes that I accidentally left out in the back. I wait for all the girls to go first so I could see what kind of talent I was competing with and I hear little Secret yell, "Teeta! Teeta!" (she was yelling my name and telling me it was my turn.) I yell it back to her and the girls start and I jump and jump and I totally crush all of their scores. They look at me like I'm the best person they had ever seen and I ask if they have ever tried to start the rope and then jump in after. They all say "wow!" and try it... and they all fail. They look to me and tell me it's my turn and I bunch my skirt together at my knees so it doesn't get in the way and I tell them to start. I tell them that I could be a little rusty and I jump in at the perfect time and jump 20 jumps and they all get amazed again. Then I grab the rope to give them a chance to do it too and I tell them when to jump in and I speed up/slow it down when I realize they won't make it. And we jump for a while until we realize we are late for baths so we run inside and a few of us pull out the game Life while they take baths and while we waited for Mommy Tomi so we could watch a TV show. We get a whole round in and finally she comes out and the girls start claiming who is going to sit by me and they all sit on the couch accordingly and direct me to my assigned spot. I pretend to be oblivious and sit in the chair across the room and they all giggle and tell me, "Noooo, Teisha! You sit HERE!" And I say, "OOooooh" as if I hadn't understood before and snuggle myself between Prossy and Esther. And we sit and we watch a show I could care less about, but I enjoy it anyway because I love being in this country, with these people.
Even though I miss my family and all my many, many brothers and sisters and my Mommy and Daddy while I'm here, it's nice because tonight I feel like I have new sisters and a new brother until I can be back with my own in about a week.
I LOVE it here in Uganda and am so blessed that I can be here and that God can show me all He has since I've been here.
Thank you all SO much for your prayers and your support to get me here! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could never, ever thank you enough! And I praise Jesus that He gave me this call and helped me through it and has been my strength all this time, because without Him, I would've never, ever made it this far. And I can't wait to see what He will do in my future here!