Halloween 2011

I got scolded for not posting this yesterday. I can't figure out how it slipped my mind, considering I didnt' really have anything else going on. Never mind the fact that it was Halloween and my baby boy's Birthday celebration. Sorry for the delay and the double post tonight! I have a feeling now that Cork is in Uganda, the stories will be good!

Nick is leaving Uganda tonight... In fact, I already said my good bye to him. He left for the airport about two hours ago. It was hard to see him go as I would have like for him to stay with me. There is also a part of me that is relieved now that he will soon be home with the boys. They have really been troopers since we left and I appreciate all the help we have had from family and friends. It's time for them to have a parent back so there is some normalcy in their day to day affairs. My Uncle Corky flew in last nigh to spend some time in my daughters birth country and help me wait out some of my stay. I'm sure I would have totally lost it tonight with Nick leaving had my Uncle not come to join me. It's nice to be sharing this experience with someone else. My Uncle Corky is one of my Dad's three brothers (he also has three sisters) and I can honestly say my Grandma and Grandpa did something really right when they raised their kids. All of my Dad's brothers and sisters (and their spouses) would bend over backwards for one another. I hope my own kids turn out like my father and his siblings. My daughter has already takin' quite a liking to my Uncle. She says "Uncle Corky" more then she says any other name. She laughs at his jokes, tries to mimic his tricks, and seems really very smitten with him. I'm certain they will have a special bond when our time in Uganda comes to an end. We had a few things that we had to take care of today. We started by taking our daughter to the doctor this afternoon. The apt. went well and was actually relatively fast. After the appointment we (Nick, Cork, my girl and I) headed over to our girl's former "home" for a good-bye ceremony. We supplied the cakes, sodas and straws for all the kids and staff. The kids sang some songs for us, showed my Uncle around and our daughter got a chance to say her good-byes. She was clearly over tired (as she hadn't had her afternoon nap) and a bit overwhelmed. But I do think it was good for her to see her friends and caregivers again. The cakes we supplied for the party looked AWESOME. The head guy at our guest house had them made for us. I didn't see them until we were at the orphanage because they were boxed up so nicely. When someone pulled one out of the packaging I made the comment to my Uncle that I could totally polish one of the cakes off myself. I can't post a picture because it had my daughters name on it... Sort of (that's an whole different story). It was like awesome, American, weddingish, decorated cake style. After the singing they asked us (Nick and I) to cut the cake with our daughter. They gave us a big sharp knife. Nick sort of took control with our daughter and I kind of faked the cut, by just putting a hand on but not offering much help. As I was watching/taking part in the action I was wondering what Nick was doing because the cake sort of started to wiggle when he put the knife to it. All of a sudden it dawned on my that Nick was actually trying to cut the cake but it was just so hard that the knife wasn't going into the cake. Well that put me into a fit of laughter... When I was able to pull it together I ended up having to saw my way through the rest of the cake. The cake and frosting were so dried out the frosting just peeled/fell right off the cake. (It also was not a chocolate cake like I thought it was, I'm not sure what it was as I never tried it.) It didn't stop the kids from enjoying the cake. At one point there were about 6 kids under the table that the cake was on eating the broken frosting off of the ground... I'm so glad we brought plenty of cake so they can eat it for more than one day. When we left the home we got a chance to stop for some Ugandan coffee. Nick's bags seemed to be well under the 50 lb weight limit so I wanted to get him up to weight by adding some coffee:). I'm hoping to head back to the area where the coffee was, not only did the coffee smell delightful but all the shops around it looked pretty cool. Perhaps a little more Uganda retail therapy is needed... By the time we got back tonight it was time for us to find something to eat and time for Nick to head out. I'm hoping Nick has safe travels back to the kids. And I'm hoping for some sort of miracle to get us all home before December... AnnMarie German