Happy Meal toys really make you Happy!

Happy meal toys waiting to be passed out

Happy Meal toys really make kids happy, even in Uganda!

Some of the pillows getting ready to be passed out to the kids

Julie and her good friend Winnie

Security guard Boscoe and the boys playing car race

Kefar and his friend playing cars

boys playing cars

Little girl leading the lesson in school

The men teachers picking their hoodies out. Would you believe that he actually CHOSE pink over the masculine. Pink is a unisex color in Uganda!

The women separating the rocks out from the rice

Today we went back to Hope Children's Home and played/loved on the kids some more! Our 'job' was to put the pillowcases that the kids had made earlier this week, on the pillows that the previous team had purchased for them. They worked so hard on their pillowcase. This is the first pillow that they have ever gotten.

We didn't just do our 'job'. Jennifer and I sat in on some classes at the school. This was fun. They are learning the exact same things that children their age in America are learning. I was able to spice it up a little in the class I was in.

After lunch came the time that I was most excited about today. We unwrapped a TON of Happy Meal toys. We had trucks for the boys and My little pony's for the girls. What you have to remember is that they have NO toys!!! So as you can imagine, they were CRAZY HAPPY! The boys were playing in the dirt. They lined up their cars on a ramp and pretended that there was a car race. They then sent them down the ramp. They were laughing. They were playing together. Their security guard was playing with them. The girls were playing with their Pony's. They called them a goat however, because there aren't any horses in this part of Uganda.

My friend Winnie (13 years old very introverted girl) received the coolest hoodie the other day. She came to me and said "Julie, what is this?" She pulled out a plug for an Ipod or MP3 player. I told her that it was for a radio, and that the drawstrings were the earphones. I then let her listen to my Iphone music. She thought that was really cool. I told the team that I wanted to get her an MP3 player so that she could listen to music. Charlie said "OH, I have an MP3 player that I brought to give to someone. She can have it. It already has music on it." Wow! God knew why he wanted Charlie to randomly bring the player. I gave it to Winnie today. I showed her how to use it. When I was finished showing her, she said "Now, I am rich." This was humbling. She has no one! Most of the children at Hope are not TRUE orphans. They are for whatever reason not being taken care of at home. Kinda like what we think of foster care. Winnie, on the other hand, has no family. No one. Leaving her was hard today. She really didn't want me to go. I love that girl.

So it was really sad telling them good-bye. It will not be forever, however! We will see them one day in heaven (if not before ;0) ). They are being well taken care of. The children of Hope are considered to live in paradise. We will pray for them. Please pray for us! We begin a really long journey home tomorrow night. We still have to process everything we have seen, and done. We need to be a mouthpiece for Uganda. The harvest is ripe in Uganda. God needs you!

Love ya,

Julie