The first time, it was not good. I hit only two pins. After that, I tried again, and I hit all the pins! Yeah, I did! And you know what? Me and the other girls, four girls were playing together, and the two boys playing together. Everyone was just clapping, good job, good job! Because I hit all the pins. After that, the ball was going like its going to pass the pin, and it turned around and hit all the balls! So I was jumping and saying 'Oh my God!' and the girls said, 'Good job!' The boys finished playing first and went to get a drink. We finished and we went to get a big drink and after that, we sat down and rested for a little bit, and everybody stand together for a picture. Then we got on the bus and drove around, it was so much fun.

At school when it rained we watched the movie, 'Harry Potter.' Me and Maddie, we saw Harry Potter One. At school we saw Harry Potter Four. That's a sad movie. We also went to a store and made a tile. I painted it with a design.

We learned about the 4th of July. The teacher asked us what we were going to do on the 4th of July. I said we are going to see the fireworks from Cathy's work. You can see the fireworks from the roof. We went with Cathy and Paul and Maddie and Elizabeth and Maddie’s boyfriend Mike. There was lots of food there and a man who made our photographs and put them on buttons.

After that, I went back to school, and the teacher asked what did you do? She said she went to visit her friend and made popcorn with butter and M&Ms. We made that at school one day. That's where she learned how to make it. I say, well, we saw the fireworks, so nice, and she was asking me, what are you eating? I ate a hamburger because I love hamburgers. She said, that's good, what are you drinking? I said I drank two cans of Diet Coke. Everybody loved the button I wore to school. I said those are my friends. She said I can't believe Mike is 14. She said, I think he looks older. I said he is a funny guy and a good dancer. I think Mike is so funny.

Sometimes I talk to my mom in Uganda. One time my sister and my brother and my cousins were there. I said hi to everybody. I was so excited. I miss my mom all day. After I talk to her I am so happy that I feel I am happy inside. When I talked to my mom, I'm just thinking my mom is still around me. I talked to my sister and she say, what's wrong with you asking me so many questions. I don't know how to answer so many questions. My sister said I am just thinking I can see you in the phone! She said she missed me. My sister is not going to school because she has a baby. She wants to go back to school but my Mom tells me 'no way, I am not going to take care of the baby because the baby is too young. Maybe next year or something.

Me and Maddie love music and my favorite station is 99.5. All the time I like to dance, and we turn the music on and we are just dancing. That's my favorite thing. When I go back to Uganda, I will never forget about Maddie. She is funny, and I love Maddie because she makes me laugh, and her boyfriend Mike is so much fun and he is a good dancer and good singer with a good voice. Sometimes Mike comes over and we are just dancing and one time we went to the zoo together, and we saw the pandas and the lions and the elephant.

I saw a snake and ran away because I didn’t like the snake. At home once my grandmother wanted my sister to visit her, and she had to walk past the river, and there was a snake on top of the water, and it bit my sister. I feel bad about that and that's why I don't like snakes. At the zoo we saw the turtle and the fish and we saw a lot of other animals. Maddie and Mike, they bought me a toy penguin. I love that toy. I sleep with it. I am so happy, I want Maddie to be my friend, and I think right now she is like my sister. I learned many things from Maddie. She helps me read the books, and she helps me do my school books, and I like to go out with Maddie, and we take walks together, and sometimes we walk the dog.

Elizabeth and I spend a lot of time together, too. Elizabeth is funny. The first time we went to museum at the Natural History museum, we saw the animals. She took me to a concert with Maddie and her friend to see Hilary Duff to sing a song I love. It was so much fun. She drives me every day to school and picks me up. And sometimes she makes me breakfast and lunch, and she I think does everything for me. We have so much fun together. One time we went to the Water Park with Maddie's dad, Paul, and it was so much fun. We sat in the water in the round tubes and the first time Cathy told me, I said, 'I don’t think that's a good idea.' But then I went and I loved it so much I wanted to stay in the water when Maddie and Paul got out.

One day I talked to a girl from Uganda named Evelyn. She comes from Gulu. I think people know her because she was on Oprah. I saw her on Oprah. When we talked on the phone, she was asking me right now what I am thinking. Do I miss my mom? I said, 'yeah, I do.' She says she never talks to her mom on the phone because her mom doesn't have a phone. She wants to go to Uganda to see her mom. We started talking about school, and she just started telling me she has a lot of friends. Right now she is going to school in America. She said hi to Maddie on the phone.

June 22

From Elizabeth

Today my mother and I took Jennifer to see the English Language Immersion camp at the Washington International School. Jennifer will start there next week. It is a beautiful campus and she seemed excited about spending time there. We met with Natasha Bhalla, who is dean of students for the middle school and helps run the camp. She said Jennifer would be one of about 12 students in the program. There will be students there from France, Italy, South America and the Middle East.

The program covers academics in the morning. Students are divided into their levels of ability and then teachers work with them in very small groups. In the afternoons, they will go on field trips. Next week, Jennifer will go to the National Zoo, take a boat ride on the Georgetown waterfront, visit Chinatown, hear a Motown band, and go to the U.S. Postal Museum. The following week they will visit the National Cathedral, the Lincoln Monument, the Native American Museum, and see an IMAX movie.

Natasha was very sensitive to the fact that Jennifer might have some concerns about the camp and how the other children might view her, and she will talk to them first about Jennifer’s experiences and help them understand what she has been through, and how important it is to make her feel comfortable and part of the group.

June 21

From Elizabeth

Today we went to see the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. We saw the exhibit about the solar system, the mammals, aquatic life and the gems and minerals, including the famous Hope diamond. Jennifer had me take many pictures of the different jewels owned by royal families. We also went to the Southwest waterfront in D.C., where we browsed the fish market and Jennifer named it the "stinky fish market." She loved the houseboats and picked out one she would like to live in - but worried about getting sea sick. We also visited the Washington Monument and the White House.

June 18

From Elizabeth

Jennifer was tired today because she spent Saturday with my mother and sister watching World Cup soccer and going to a friend's house for dinner. But she was excited about getting new hair extensions put in and braided. She casually warned me that it would be a long day. Hair braiding can take hours. First, we went to Barbara Nsubuga's house in Silver Spring. She took us to a store to buy the hair, a special kind of "braid spray," and a type of scalp moisturizer. Jennifer picked out a mix of hair colors and decided to intertwine a light coppery brown colored hair with a classic black base. During the entire car ride back from the store, Jennifer admired the hair.