Karis' photoshoot

Yesterday I got to take pictures of sweet Karis. I have a couple more posted over on my photoblog (http://storiesfrombehindthelens.blogspot.com/). It was such a joy to spend the day with this beautiful little baby who was so very tolerant of all my poking and prodding. More pictures to come....

Eric left Uganda last night, so I'm on my own now. I have to say, it was hard to see him go, but it's only a week before I return. Praying right now for new adventures while I'm here and for things to do besides be at the kids home.

I got to visit the lovely Karis yesterday and finally got to hold her. Planning a photo shoot with the Boone family and one for baby Karis this week. I'm excited to have a chance to photograph them all and to get to do what I love (I haven't done much picture taking this trip and my camera is starting to collect dust).

Mores stories and pictures when I return.

Karis has arrived....

Welcome to Karis Annaleigh Boone. Born yesterday at 10:32am in Kampala, Uganda. Sweet Tamara labored for 36 hours, pushed for 5, and was a champ the whole time. So thankful to have been here to see this sweet baby coming into the world. Pictures to come later.

P.S. I would like to make known that I was the only person who said it would be a girl. :)

Finally Here

We've finally arrived in Uganda. It was a long awaited trip and I have to admit has not quite been what I expected. I'm happy to be here, but I've discovered that the adventure of living with a house full of kids is no longer fun. Eric and I are both staying at a children's home for kids with HIV. I love these kids and it's great to see them again, but they are exhausting.

We're still awaiting the phone call that tells us it's time to go to hospital for Tamara's baby to be born. Everytime our phone rings we both grab it in hopes that it's time. Not yet though. It's been fantastic getting to see Tamara and Jeremy again and we've loved getting to spend time with them.

Jeremy brought us out to Masese the other day, which, as usual, is a crazy and hard place to be, but I was glad to be there. More on that later though.

Well, that's all for now as I'm paying to use the internet.

Our departure date is creeping closer. Eric has been injected with several live organisms in an attempt to prevent disease, the malaria medications have been retrieved from the pharmacy, the mosquito net from home has been sent, and several "to do" lists have been written (and lost). We leave in 9 days, which is a little hard to believe right now. I am totally unprepared to go right now, which I'm OK with seeing as this is my 3rd time, but I'm trying to figure out when exactly I will manage to get everything done between work and sleeping, which seem to take up far too much time. I don't even have a suitcase! Somehow I will manage though. So wish us luck as we prepare for our journey.

I though a few refresher photos were in order... just in case your forgot the amazing country of Uganda.

Time to return

It's been over a year since I was in Uganda and my heart had been longing to go back. It's been months of pleading with my boss to pin down a time when I could taken some time off and after going back and forth between different dates and different month she settled on the origional dates I requested 5 months ago. Go figure. I bought my ticket yesterday (actually, 2 tickets, because I'm bringing my boy with me!) which leaves me exactly 24 days to prepare for this trip. Luckily by your 3rd time there's a lot less to do. I'm already immune to typhoid, yellow fever, Hep A & B, and several others. I can simply renew my malaria meds. My passport is ready. I don't really need to worry about packing (except to dig out the summer clothes that have taken residence under my bed since it's 20 degrees and snowing in Chicago). I'm really not concerned about about where we're staying, because I know half the mzungus in town. The the 24 days doesn't really sound all the bad. Eric, on the other hand, doesn't quite feel that way, which is understandable since he is not immune to all African diseases and is lacking in social contacts. But that won't be true for long.

My main obstacle is trying to figure out if it's possible to transport a ginormous baby warmer with me. My hospital is donating one, but this thing is like twice my size, so that's something to work on. Any ideas anyone?

I've got a box full of random medical supplies that we've collected from the hospital. Lucky for me, we're a very wasteful place. If you open something and then don't use it you have to toss it. If you drop something you can't use it. So I've rounded people up to collect those unsuable supplies and dump them in a box in the corner, which means Jinja gets some very useful things. Especially those that are going to have a baby, seeing as I work in labor and delivery and most of our stuff revolves around babies.

The main event this time is actually going to be a baby, assuming the kid decides to wait until I arrive. My sweet friend Tamara is due to have her baby in January and if things go as planned I will be there for the delivery, though I know babies don't often follow our plans. But either way, I'll get to meet this sweet baby and that is good enough for me.

So, I guess you probably already figured it out, but I'm back on this blog for a while. I shall do my best to keep you updated on the happenings surrounding this trip and will, as always, keep you entertained with the exciting stories of my adventures.

And back I go... january 5-22nd!

$1300 for a plane ticket to Uganda. Would it be too crazy to quit my job and go?

A breaking heart

I know that I haven't been on here in a while, but I haven't been able to bring myself to write about Uganda. My heart has been aching for this place and for these people. I'm stuck in this place of waiting. I don't want to be here in this job, in this place.

Every day I go to work and I listen to nurses complain and doctors yell and my heart breaks. I wish that I could take them to this place that would turn their world upside down. I wish that they could see that the miracle of a healthy baby is enough to make this job worth it. I think of baby Lokute and how hard he fought for life and I just want to scream that it doesn't matter that they had to wait 5 minutes extra to start their surgery. There are kids dying all over the world and all these people care about are the delay in their surgery and kills me. Every day my heart breaks a little more and aches just a little more for Uganda.

The first diaper...

The Preemie Project's first diaper has been made!!

Now that you know it can be done... get sewing! (see a few posts below for patterns and let me know if you need help... the sewer of this diaper has offered to assist people if necessary)