Oli Otya!

Greetings from Entebbe, Uganda!!! We made it here safely and we are getting adjusted to our new time zone. Our trip got started off with a four hour delay in Kansas City, but we managed to make it to Entebbe on time. Our only minor setback was losing our luggage along the way. Fortunately, it arrived Friday night! We have been very blessed with a missionary family from Texas that has provided us with a safe place to stay. We have enjoyed getting to know them and their adorable children. So far we've gotten to see a glimpse of how daily life is in Entebbe. We've walked to the closest marketplace and had the opportunity to talk with the people there. Most of the people here have been very welcoming and kind. Yesterday we got to spend the day at the Abba Home, the orphanage that we are going to be spending a lot of time at. The Abba Home is home to about 30 kids the ages of 3 to 14. We fell in love with all the kids instantly! God's love just shined through their warm smiles and joyful attitudes. We are so excited to spend more time with them and get to know each of them individually. We brought them coloring books and jolly ranchers. It was incredible how grateful they were for such small things. We enjoyed spending the afternoon coloring and playing games with them. We got to tour the orphanage and the kids were so proud to show us their rooms. Their rooms were painted a beautiful blue, but there were still rooms that were not painted. We are planning on going back this week to paint the remainder of the building yellow. We are so excited to be able to put bright, cheerful colors on the walls for them! Tomorrow we are traveling to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to visit the Ssanyu Baby Home, which houses many orphan babies. We are looking forward to being able to give them some much needed love. Please continue to be praying for our safety and health and for all the lives we come in contact with. We miss you all and hope you are enjoying your summer!

Love, Maddy & Hannah

Tomorrow.

.....Yes, Tomorrow. Really...?? Tomorrow!? We are going. And we are more excited than ever! We are all packed up with suitcases full of coloring books, bubbles, jump ropes, jolly ranchers, and many more little goodies for the kids. :) We'll be leaving the states bright and early tomorrow morning.. looking forward to twenty two hours of quality airplane/airport time. We'll be landing in Entebbe around 8:00 on Wednesday night! ( Which is about noon Kansas City time...) We are so blessed to have had an incredible amount of love and support poured into our trip from our families & friends, and we could not be more thankful! We are looking forward to embarking on a journey that will surely change our lives and hopefully the lives of the children in Uganda! Thank you to everyone for the endless encouragement and prayers. We're looking forward to updating you all VERY soon on how the first days of our trip turn out!

-M & H