Our God truly is an awesome God. It is becoming so apparent to me that He is present in this place, and intends to do wonders.

Children in the Sensory Lab that Desana Giving donated to the Karpinsk Orphanage. 

Week one of African living down. Only about a million more to go. I'm still feeling like I'd much rather be home, in the comfort of the things that I grew up expecting would always be there, but there is also a lot to be said for the way of life here. It's so hard, coming into it from the perspective of a Westerner. Even the little things make such a huge difference in the way that people live. For instance, I was raised to share, but only to a certain extent. There are always things that it's just not proper to share, like towels and personal items. But in the African culture, if you have something, no matter what it is, it belongs to everyone. This made the adjustment so difficult, and the first few days I would frequently walk into the room to find people using any and all of my things. But now, a week later, I think we've managed to reach a middle ground here in our room. Out of the six of us, only two are from Uganda, and I think they've come to understand that, while it's in their culture to be completely open with all of your possessions, it is not in ours. They've gotten better about asking before using, and we've gotten better about sharing. In these next few months, I feel like everything will be a little bit of a compromise. But there's a lot to be gained from that, so I'm entering into it with an open mind.
It's time for lectures, and then work duty. More later.

                              

   .......

This beautiful little girl will probably be bedridden for life. None of the children in this orphanage will ever get a chance to live anything near normal lives. The bedridden ones are confined to their beds until they die, and the ones who can walk are simply shuffled into another home as soon as they are old enough that the state isn't obligated to help them anymore. 

Praise God, we finally have internet in Uganda. It's incredibly slow, but it is such a wonderful feeling to be able to talk to my family again, even though it is making me cry almost at much as not being able to talk to them. I do love it here, though. Everything about this place is so alive, from the land to the people to the Holy Spirit.I have found more aspects of my relationship with God, and even with myself, in the one and a half days that I have been here than I have ever found in my entire life. It's hard, but I am so positive that amazing things will come from this trip. Anyways, more on all of that later, I am going to post some of the pictures of the beautiful children that I was blessed to meet on my travels to Russia. As a preface, there is no way in the world that I will ever fully be able to explain my experience at the Handicapped Orphanage in Karpinsk, but these photographs are the best that I can do.

All of the camera equipment I've accumulated throughout the years:

- Cameras: Canon Rebel XT, Canon 50D + battery grip, Konica film camera, Nikon film camera, Canon film Rebel, Brownie Holiday Flash, Partyflash II, disposable camera, and an HD video camera.

- Lenses: Canon - 50mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.2, 18-55mm,  28-90mm, 70-300mm, Nikon - 50mm 1.4, 80-200mm.

I now have to go try to fit all of this into a carry-on bag for my flight to Russia tomorrow!