...in the middle of the street.
At least I think that's how the song goes.
This is the story of a couple who went to Africa to find a house for their family to live in for 2 years.
We had two days to look at houses, find
the house and make the necessary arrangements and payments to secure said house.
We got into Kampala late Wednesday night and by the time we got to our guest house and settled in, it was well past 1 in the morning. Strange noises and high(er) temperatures did not keep us from sleeping in our exhausted state.
I reached over the night table to look at the clock (Jamie's watch) and saw that it was almost 11am. We had slept in and somehow missed our ride to see the houses! We both jumped out of bed and scrambled to make ourselves presentable (there goes my shower) so we could leave our room and figure out the next steps.
Luckily for me (us), Jamie double checked his watch and realized that I had looked at it upside down and that it was only 8:15am.
Our ride was due at 8:45am (which in Africa time could have been anywhere from 9am-10am) so we still had time to finish getting ready and have some breakfast.
Our ride (a Ugandan staff named Fred) arrive just before 9am (not bad!) and we were on our way back into the city (Kampala).
We saw two beautiful houses that were just a bit too expensive for our budget and we went onto the third house which had been raved about to us by numerous people. We got there and the gate was locked and no one was answering our knocks. Fred only had the phone number of the owner and not to the son of the owner who is currently living there. No answer.
Sadly we left with the hopes that we'd be able to return the next day.
Finally we made contact and set up a time to see the house. But it would not be until 7pm when the son would be home from work.
Because the traffic is so bad in Kampala it took us until 8:45pm to get there and by that time it was completely dark outside. About 5 minutes away from the house, the son calls us and says that the power has just gone out.
The power is still out when we arrive.
We pull into the driveway and drive down to the house.
Still no power.
After the initial chit chat we are ushered inside and take the tour of the house by flashlight.
Even in the dark I am sold. It has 3 bedrooms with lots of room and a gorgeous view of the city because we are up on one of the many hills of Kampala.
We set up arrangements for payment and discuss a few other details and walk away pleased and very thankful.
We are so thankful for your prayers. This could have been very frustrating and stressful, but the entire time we just smiled, accepted the culture (and the traffic jams) and had faith that God would provide the house that would perfectly suit our needs. And He did.
