Life since Uganda

From Jenni: Life Through a Lens

Its a blur. All of it. I'm sitting in a twirly machine. Maybe one of those teapots that we rode at Disney Land? You can see what is right in front of you but everything else is just a spinning mess of colors and lights.

Or maybe its like the ride at the fair that Jordan made me get on last October. The one where I thought I'd die by the end of it. Or, if not, he'd die for making me get on it. The one where while our little cage was spinning in a little circle, the whole ride was going in a big circle, AND the machine was throwing us up and down.

In the middle of the teapot ride and the horrid carnival ride, I couldn't see anything. My stomach was all in knots and the adrenaline was just too much. But coming out on the other side -- still alive and seeing the big picture details again -- I definitely laughed at it, even enjoyed the adrenaline rush (once my feet were firmly on the ground agin!), and was almost [emphasis on almost] talked into a second go around.

That's been my life since February 1, 2009.

Go to Uganda.
Extend trip.
Cancel Amsterdam layover.
Arrive stateside.
Start new position at work.
Sign lease.
Move into apartment.

And that just brings us to April 8, 2009! The whirlwind continued with our engagement. Wedding details, sparkling bling, excited family. Then another transition…separation…reunion…separation. (The cycle that has started with Jordan’s entrance into the Air Force will hopefully stop in November.)

In the middle of all this, I never really had time to process my two months in Uganda. I went, I returned, and that was it. I didn't even get to properly share the pictures with my blog readers. I jumped so fast into American life that I didn't take time to debrief from my trip. I was too busy buying furniture and decorations for my new apartment that I didn't take time to remember the lessons from Uganda, the poverty I witnessed, the conveniences we did without. And that's sad. God did so much in my life in those two months and I saw Him work in so many ways and yet suddenly I was suddenly back in the normal routine (plus some!) and Uganda became a distant memory way too fast.

I've had the opportunity over the past few weeks to talk about Uganda again. First with a Sunday School class full of children pitying the plight of tattered clothes and makeshift toys of Ugandans. Then with a friend I haven't talked to for over 4 months.

And suddenly the memories keep coming. The early mornings in the kitchen. The runs in the African sun. Sitting on the back porch watching the stars and the fishermen with their lanterns. Stumbling to the latrine (and avoiding midnight latrine runs). The language barrier. The awkward stares. Mzungu mzungu! Bumpy rides from the camp to Kampala. Smog and stares in the city. The mosquito net. The irritating matches that wouldn't light. The oven that didn't want me to light it -- and the stove that coughed flames all around me. Moments of dark loneliness in the middle of those long weeks away from civilization and no communication with the outside world. Pestering the various teams for world news when they would arrive from the states, because I was just that desperate for current events. Excitement at being back in civilization - then finding the electricity or the internet inexplicably broken.

I think its time to tell the stories, to write them down, maybe even just post sections of my trip journal.

I'm off the carnival ride. The colors and lights are no longer blurred. And now I can step back and remember God's provisions and notice the details that He worked and marvel at His love for me and all that He has done in Uganda -- and all that He will do there, and all that He will do in me because of my time there.

And, yes, I think I could be convinced to get back on the ride.