Catching Up!

Willy Bear is farting on your bed.

Okay. It is two weeks before Christmas 2008, and we have spent the weekend keeping up with two boys from Uganda, Africa. How did this happen? Well, as we were sitting in church on Sunday morning, November 30, (the day after a very trying trip to Kentucky with my family for Thanksgiving) a notice came across the screen announcing that “host families” were needed for the Children of Hope tour that would be coming from Friday, December 12 through Sunday, December 14. I looked at Jeff; he looked at me and said “go ahead”. I went down to the front of the church after the service to “sign us up”. We were told to come back on the 7th for further information. On December 7th, I again went down and found out that we would be getting 3 girls. During the week, I made fantastic plans – we could bake cookies, polish our fingernails, color, etc... Something inside kept telling me – don’t go buy extra stuff. I also told Jeff and the kids that it didn’t matter which children we got, God would give us the ones we needed. So on Friday, Jeff arrived home early to go with me to the church to pick up the little girls. As we were waiting for our names to be called, we saw the three girls paired together go with another family. Again I looked at Jeff; he looked at me. Then they got down to the final two boys – Francis and Wilber, and who were we? “Oh, the Knowles, we’re supposed to be getting three girls.” “You can take these two” their chaperone said. (More looks from Jeff).

So much for planning...

We bring the boys into our home and the first thing Wilber says – “Auntie, I’m very hungry”
“OR-ANGES!!!!”
“ You have to eat supper first.”
“What will we have?”
“Chicken”
“CHICKEN-IE”
So the boys follow Jeff outside, I begin to cook supper. When I called them inside, they were excited to eat.
I must say that we have never heard such noises come from children. They were constantly whistling, or making other noises. Their room sounded like the rain forest with both of them going at it.

Shower time proved to be another challenge. We were told to give the children complete privacy while showering – okay – I fully agree with this one! We were told that the children go into the restroom to shower together – so we went with this too. Jeff had to knock on the door to tell them to quit playing and to get their shower. When they were finished with their shower, Jeff went into the bathroom to find the shower curtain lying on the floor????
Wilber speaks very little English and he and Francis were speaking in their native tongue when Francis tells me that Willy Bear is abusing him. I didn’t see anyone being hit and they wouldn’t tell me what they were saying. I just tell them to get along...??
Saturday morning – Wilber - “Auntie, I’m hungry! I want Or-anges!, Tomandjelly…”
“What?”
“Tomandjelly, tomandjelly…
Francis – “Tom and Jerry”
“Oh, okay”
After breakfast, Jeff takes the boys outside and tells them that they can walk around the pasture. He opens the gate and they take off running. Running as fast as they can – I’ve never seen anything like it. Buck, our eight month old golden retriever could not keep up with them. Any tree they came across, they climbed it…Then down to the pond they go, straight to the paddle boat that was filled with ice and of course Wilber sticks his foot down through the ice, getting his only shoes soaked and his pants wet up to his knees. Back up the hill we go. After running two hair dryers for about 30 minutes to dry his shoes and pants, they were ready to go back outside.
They enjoyed riding Scott’s old bicycle – they rode up and down the driveway – both of them on the same bicycle most of the time. Next we went to a friend’s home to help unload their Christmas tree. I kept the boys outside while Jeff took care of business. The boys climbed the rock wall surrounding their garden and went straight to the lake. Wilber was calling the fish. Francis was finding trees to climb. Wilber told “uncle” that he wanted to go fishing. When we got home about 30 minutes later, the boys were very hungry again. They both liked chicken pot pie. Or Chicken-ie popeye.
After lunch, Wilber pointed out that we had fishing poles. Jeff took off to the bait store to get some crickets and worms. Next we went next door for a birthday party – we didn’t stay long, fishing time was getting away from us. I was surprised that Wilber was a little curious why we were killing a cricket to catch a fish. Both boys caught a fish and it was soon time to go and cook again. Thank heavens for crock pots. I had put a roast on to cook in the morning. While I was finishing up supper, the boys found the pathway lights and they were “fixing” them. They must have spent an hour outside wiping the dirt off of the batteries. The boys ate up a whole bunch of mashed potatoes and gravy – they loved gravy! And of course Or-anges!
Bed time again – this time Francis is abusing Wilber??? I had Francis stay in the restroom with Wilber while he showered, then asked Wilber to come out for Francis to take his shower in private – Francis liked this arrangement much better, and the shower curtain stayed up this time and things went much smoother.
The boys were in their room getting their bags packed and clothes ready for church – again jungle sounds…giggles… I walked into the room and Francis says “Willy Bear is farting in your bed!” Wilber just giggles – I asked him if he needed to use the restroom “No” (more giggles). “Goodnight Boys!” “Goodnight Auntie!”