Small recap and the final weeks...

Every time I take my Leatherman out of my bag, I try to think back to the last thing I did with it. That way I can know whether I need bleach, soap, or just water. Not that my determination really makes a difference because it’s not like I ever have bleach with me, but still… the thought is intriguing anyway. And who wouldn’t want some leftover rat guts on their cheese sandwich?!

The Life of a Leatherman Knife (not including other instruments, which have ALL been used):
1. Cut an orange
2. Gut a rat
3. Cut cheese for a nice cheese and grasshopper sandwich
4. Cut tire treads to fit firestone sandals
5. Strip wires to make a converter to charge devices
6. Slaughter a cow
7. Cut garden hose to make substitute fuel line
8. Cut ropes to save drowning cows
9. Spread Nutella on piece of bread
10. Cut nails
11. Assist with eating of sugar cane (and thereby close-removal of fingertip)
12. Cow necropsy
13. Remove Africa-calluses from feet (sorry… that’s tmi I think :-P)
14. Be at-the-ready to protect against creepy guy in hotel room next door
15. Many many more uses but for now, I think this shows enough contrast :-P

As for an update of the current situation…
I am getting ready to leave Kampala for a journey to KENYA today!!! Val and I are going to meet up with Jennifer in Mbale and then take an overnight bus across the border and to Nairobi, where we will find NIELLYYYYY!!!! Then we’ll hop on the train all together tomorrow night and travel overnight to Mombasa. We have some fun plans for the train ride already, so it should be a good time. I’m SO excited for Val and Jennifer to meet Nielly because I talk about her ALL the time, so it will be good :-) We’ll spend a few days in Mombasa hanging on the beach and maybe doing some snorkeling and such. My transition out of bush life is nearly coming to a completion. After Mombasa, I’ll be heading back to Entebbe for my flight home! I’m going to miss it here a LOT, but I’m also really really excited to come home, see people and report on all the crazy things that have gone on here. Also… I have become quite the mess technologically in the past few weeks. My American phone was stolen at some point recently which is very unfortunate because I have to get all my contacts back and I lost pictures and things like that… so I’ll be requesting some of your numbers once I get home :-P Also, my computer underwent a slow death by dust invasion. First the screen wouldn’t work and then after using a projector for a while to see my emails, the bottom row of my keyboard decided to stop working. So I’ve been using Val’s when I get the chance (THANK YOU VAL!) but it has complicated communication a bit! So I’m working on getting a new one of those for when I get home (and by that I mean Daddy and Cesar are working on it :-P)… but it’s not very helpful to be without because I would like to be putting slideshows together and things but I can’t do that without my computer, so sorry if they’re not as organized as they would be when I get home! The past few days I’ve been living it up at a resort where Val is attending a conference. I was not able to get in, but instead I’ve been spending my days swimming in the Olympic size pool that’s here, so I’m happy :-)
I’ve also had plenty of time to be reading and praying and things, so I’m all caught up on God’s plan (HA :-P). But I have had some good time just getting ready for the transition back to the states and praying about the future. Some interesting and scary new thoughts, so we’ll see how it all plays out. I’m really excited about serving God wherever He takes me! But I’ve got some years to figure that all out, given vet school is next on the agenda. Continued prayers for admission would be appreciated… I would LOVE to get in this year… but I know that God’s plan is best – I’m just praying that includes vet school this year!
Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers… I can’t wait to see you again!! I’ll be back in just over a WEEK! Not sure how blogging will go from here… I will try to post again before I go, but if not, you should get a real update even with pictures when I get back to the states with REAL internet and a functioning computer!