Saturday, July 24th by Debbie

Excitement was in the air because today, Saturday, the 24th, was the day we got to go to The Caring Place and visit Sera and her 16 boys! But first we had to feed 30 of us; yes I said 30! The Dove Voice Band were coming back for breakfast, all 19 of them and then of course our team and Pam. Paul doesn't eat breakfast. Megan and I had kitchen duty so we helped Pam prepare two coffee cakes and lots of scrambled eggs, 60 to be exact! The boys were to arrive at 9:00 and we were to leave for town by 10:50 for an appointment Cassie had made with a local artist. So some of us chose to eat a small breakfast since we were also going to eat lunch somewhere around 11:00 at a local restaurant called Ozzie's. But wait, I need to tell you about the gifts we

presented to the Dove Voice Band. We gave them some bars of soap, a basketball, a soccer ball,

and the money from all the CD's we bought. In return, for each item they sang a song of thanks to God and to us. How awesome is that?!  

So we didn't get away on time as planned, but close enough. Some of our excitement for the day was the fact we were going to get our first Boda boda rides to town to shop and eat lunch. The Boda boda ride was fun as expected and with not mishaps even though I thought my driver was going to clip a pedestrian at one point during our trip. We had a wonderful lunch and had a little bit of time to explore some of the downtown shops before our taxi arrived to take us to The Caring Place. Not telling you what I bought because it might be for some of you!! 

When we arrived at The Caring Place, we were greeted by some of the boys before we even got out of the taxi! What sweet boys and such good manners! American boys could take a lesson in

 politeness from these young boys! We were taken inside to meet Sera, their Mama. I will talk about her later. Some of us began to interact with the boys in the courtyard playing football with them. Not me, I'm too old for the pace they play and they play barefoot and the courtyard is cement. My feet are to soft for that, so I sat and watched them.

 All of a sudden, some of the other boys started bringing out plates of food! Yes, you heard me, another plate of food making that the 3rd time we were going to eat in 3 hour period! We just looked at each other and said, "we better eat some of it so not to be rude to hosts." Thank goodness the boys Dove voice band members came in shortly after that because we decided to share our food with them. As we were doing that, Sera's boys brought out two plates of pineapple slices for them. It was too funny!! Well to find out later, the reason we were being fed was because one of the boys Dennis said "Moma, we cannot eat when we have "Aunties" outside. So they divided their food so we could have something to eat. How humbling this was to find out later that evening.

The plan for the day was for the Dove boys to play a football game with Sera's boys and some of our team members at the local soccer field. It was a beautiful day, so we set out on foot and walked the mile and a half to get there with the boys as our escorts. It was interesting to see how the "big" boys played against the Sera's boys. To the amazement of the "big" boys they could not keep up with Sera's boys and soon were asking Cassie and Megan to set 3 of them out so they had a fighting chance! Those of us on the sideline thought this was quite amusing. Cas and Megan were playing with the boys until the end when Deena and I decided we wanted to be goalies for Sera's boys. Once again we witnessed the good manners of the boys. When the ball

 would make it down to our end of the field and a potential goal might be scored, Deena and I had about 6 of Sera's boys come back and get in front of us to help us keep the ball from scoring. So to say the least we were never scored on!  We had to stop the game at 5:00 to head back home for supper, so Sera's boys was ahead at that time and won the game! There was lots of excitement from Sera's boys to say the least! 

On the way home we were once again escorted home by the boys, but this time it was hand in hand. We had become their "Aunties" for sure because we were their cheerleaders on the sidelines. We made it about halfway home when a thunderstorm caught up with us. Some of us started running home, some of us just enjoyed the rain and walked home in it. When we arrived it was pouring down rain and the boys started playing in the rain and posing for our cameras. Some even started dancing! We had brought Sera and the boys some bars of soap from home, so we had someone go and get a bar and the boys proceeded to soap themselves up in the downspout of the drain. It was so cute!! We finally headed back to Paul and Pam's for

homemade pizza and Sera's testimony. The evening was cut way to short for our team, especially Cassie and Megan, because the boys had to go home at dark. There were many, many tears not just from them, but from most of us and the boys. 

Once they were gone we settled in for Sera's testimony with the help of Paul. You see Sera is not one who is comfortable telling her story because she is still healing from the many scars her past has left with her, so Paul told most of it for her. She finally talked towards the end and answered some of our questions and then Paul asked us to circle around her and minister to her through prayer. 

What a God moment that was! I can't describe the way I felt in my heart during that time. There are no words for it really. Just know that the Holy Spirit was in that room last night. I know this was a long post, but as most of you who really know me, know that I am a bit "gabby" at times. Bye the way that has been my "African" name since about day two!!