God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

I've often been told God's timeline of doing things isn't my own. Amen to that. Patience is a virtue for a reason.

I haven’t set many records in my lifetime; however, in the short two months I’ve been here, I’ve already broken more records than I ever would’ve dreamed this girl was capable of.

1. Longest I’ve been out of the country (I knew that was going to happen, but still cool to realize!)
2. Most miles walked in a day for practical reasons
3. Highest number of visits to the post office in a week
4. Longest day streak without a shower
5. Most amount of lizard sightings
6. Most homemade meals

Those are only a few to name, and I'm interested to discover what others await me, but there is now one more to add to the list. A 20-day streak without power. It’s the longest power outage I’ve ever lived through and apparently the longest one in Nkokonjeru (the part of Mbarara we live in) according to missionaries who have spent the last 10 years here. I don’t know if it’s honor to be a part of history or an insult that they decided to wait until we moved in to make that happen. Either way, it’s now a part of my history, and one more thing to add to my record list. Carolyn and I actually did some calculations, and between this record breaking streak and the otherwise “regular” power outages due to load shedding, we’ve spent more time in Mbarara without power than we have with power. I’m hoping and praying that that statistic quickly becomes outdated.

Tonight started out pretty typical as Carolyn and I sat in our lightless kitchen eating dinner. Since it’s Friday, and we haven’t had much to eat without anywhere to store food, we decided to make some cookies to lift our spirits. The first batch had finished baking, so I walked over to the counter to prepare the next round for the oven. Thank goodness for moms who send the cookie mixes! I was carefully dropping the spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet when all of a sudden I saw the most beautiful sight I’d seen in a while.



None other than the little orange light on the coffee pot light lit up. What a glorious sign to show us that power had been restored! Sometimes I really appreciate God’s humor. He knows my heart so well.

Needless to say, the sounds of rejoicing that followed the discovery could be heard throughout all of Mbarara. It took our neighbor all of three minutes to run to our house to see if we’d made the discovery yet. The joy in my heart is still soaring, and I am very much enjoying the lighted living room, fully charged computer, and the cookies :) Can’t wait to step into the hot shower later! As of now, I’m letting the anticipation build.

Living in the moment yields itself new meanings to me every day. To just stop, take a step outside of my life and look, makes me realize what a blessing God has gifted me with to be here in Uganda. I want to make the most of what I've been give whether I am here or in America. While I love thinking about the "greater" themes and meanings and insights of life and what a single moment in time might become on the timeline of my lifetime, today I am simply enjoying this moment. A moment with power in my home is one more moment than I had the last two and a half weeks, and wow, am I cherishing that. It's more than enough to put a smile on my face today.