These are pictures from my Thanksgiving. They will not go to the bottom of the page so you get to see them before you read the rest of the post. I promise they will make more sense once you read about my Thanksgiving adventures. I have taken many pictures of the babies and I am sure that many of you are waiting to see them but I am not allowed to post them for privacy reasons here. You will have to wait until I get home to see these pictures. I would also love to share with you more about the babies but again I cannot do this. I can tell you that they are very lovable and have captured my heart.
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| Zebra at the Lion Park. |
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| Lion cubs at the Lion Park. The mother lion in the back had 4 cubs. Here are 3 of them. They were so much fun to watch interact with each other. |
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| Look at those teeth. Thank goodness the windows were up! |
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| The lions were just beautiful. |
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| Nap time for the cubs. |
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| One of the giraffes that I was able to feed. The rest of the pictures of feeding the giraffes are on Margie's camera so I will have to get those from her before I can post them. |
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| Ostriche |
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| These were the lion cubs that we were able to pet. Again the rest of these pictures are on Margie's camera. |
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| The food spread on Thanksgiving with the IMB. |
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| We started eating Thanksgiving dinner outside but then the rain came. This was our little set up before the rain. I will try to get a few pictures of myself to put up here soon so that you really believe that I am here! |
End of Week 3 and Thanksgiving
Being a Missionary
There have been so many times in the past three weeks that I
have been referred to as a missionary. I guess that is what I am right now.
Never in my life would I have thought that I would be the one going overseas
for a period of time to be a missionary. So far it has been an extremely
humbling experience and I am sure that it will continue to be something that
will change my life forever.
Baby Charts
I have already talked about the schedule for the babies but
the one thing that I forgot to mention was the charting that happens. Each of
the babies has a clipboard that holds their papers. Everything that happens
with the babies is recorded. Each time a baby eats we record what he ate, who
feed him and how much he ate. Each time a diaper is changed it is recorded who
changed it and if it was wet or dirty. We record each time a baby gets medicine
or vitamins. Each day we exercise the babies and that is recorded, each week
the babies are weighed and that is also recorded. At the end of the day we
write one or two sentences about the day so that night shift knew what
happened. Night shift does the same charting so that we know how the night
went. Nothing goes unnoticed with these babies.
Food
I know that many of you have been wondering about the food
here and what I am eating. Most of what I am eating is the same kind of things
that I would eat at home. Lots of chicken, pasta, rice, potatoes, fruits and
veggies. The bananas here are really good and I am not usually a banana person.
I have also learned how to make an excellent microwave chocolate cake. We even
custom make them, mine so that they are nut free and one of the girls has a
dairy allergy so hers are always dairy free. I do miss some of the familiar
brands from at home but am starting to get used to the brands here. There is
not boxed mac and cheese here. I miss it a lot and it will not be long before I
start asking for it to be shipped to me. I also miss my peach apple squeeze
applesauce as I have not been able to find that either. Otherwise the food is
not that bad. I usually end up eating out once a week when I am getting
Internet.
Glenvista Shopping Center
This past week I went to the Glenvista Shopping Center
instead of The Glen to get Internet. The Glenvista Shopping Center is much
smaller but about the same distance away. The Internet was free but every
little while it would go out and I would have to sign back on. I prefer The
Glen to The Glenvista but it was fun to explore some place new.
Thanksgiving Day
On Thanksgiving all of us volunteers had off. We spent the
day out and celebrating Thanksgiving together. In the morning a group of us
went to the Lion Park in Joburg with Margie. Margie works for the IMB and
really cares for the volunteers here at Door of Hope. She is amazing! She has already
been to the Lion Park countless times but was just as excited as the rest of us
to go again. There are a few different sections to the park. You can choose to
drive through yourself or take a tour bus through. We drove through ourselves.
The first loop is full of different kinds of wild deer type animals, zebras,
ostriches, giraffes, and wildebeests. There were many baby zebras, wild deer
and even a baby giraffe! Some of the babies were just a few days old and
learning how to walk. It was so much fun to see. Then we continued on to see
the lions. There are five lion cages that you can drive through. It was hot so
many of the lions were sleeping but they were close to the road. We even got to
see 4 little lion cubs. After the 4 lion cages we drove through a wild dog cage
and finally a cheetah cage. Once we were done driving around we got out of the
car and went over to the area where you can feed some of the animals and pet
some lion cubs. We got a bag of food to share and fed the giraffes and the ostriches.
Margie showed us how to get a kiss from the giraffes by putting the food
pellets between your lips. The giraffe will then use its long purple tongue to
take the food out of your mouth. It is so funny to watch and feels very weird.
Then we got to go into the lion cub cage and pet the 4-month-old lion cubs. It
was lots of fun and so crazy to think that we were petting wild lion cubs! The
lion park was a great start to Thanksgiving Day! Then we head over to
Montecasino for lunch at the food court and to meet up with two of the other
girls. Montecasino is a big area with lots of different entertainment options.
After lunch we headed over to Margie’s office. On the drive back I was able to
just take in the Joburg around me. There was one point that we were driving
past Alexandra Township, which is a very poor area of Joburg. People live in
tin houses and there are a few outhouses for the entire community to use. Just
behind this area we could see the high rises of Sandton, which is the richest
part of South Africa and one of the richest parts in all of Africa. It was
crazy to see the difference. At the office we were able to get online for a
little while. The rest of the girls then met up with us at the office. Some of
us then went over to a street corner with a bunch of guys that were selling
traditional Zulu beading crafts. I was able to get three Christmas tree
decorations, a penguin decoration and a South African flag ornament all for
about 135R or a little over $15. Super cheap for such beautiful and traditional
artwork! Then we went back to the office for more Internet time and to eat
Thanksgiving dinner. All of the IMB missionaries that were in the area were at
dinner also. There were about 80 people total. It was a potluck style dinner
but all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods were accounted for. It was
amazing. Our group started eating outside (a first for me to eat Thanksgiving
outside!) but it started to rain so we had to move inside. One of the girls is
from Germany and another is from the Netherlands so it was their first
Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to introduce them to the holiday and one of
them said that she will be spending November in the States from now on! We
finished off the evening with a little more Internet and then headed back home.
It was a great day and although I missed family get togethers and birthday
celebrations, it is a Thanksgiving that I will never forget.
Sunday Church and the Baby Dedication
This Sunday I was able to go with two of the other girls and
5 of the babies to Berea Baptist Mission Church. BBMC was the founding church
of Door of Hope and all of the DOH babies get dedicated at the church. This was
also the first Sunday that I was able to go to church since I have been here.
The church is small and in a bad part of town. When church started at 10:30am
only about 50 people were there by 11:00am the building was full with about
120ish or so people. It was a church service that you do not stand still at.
This is one of the first times that the babies have been out of the house. At
first they were not sure but after they got into the music they were much
happier. There were different people that volunteered to help us hold the
babies during the service. Some of the babies were okay with this but others
did not want to be held by strangers. This was so crazy to experience because I
have only been with these babies for 3 weeks now but already I am the familiar
face that they want to come back to. The service was long and lasted about 2
hours and 15 minutes. Another baby house is located behind the church and this
is where the baby bin is also located. It was fun to see both of these things.
I rally enjoyed the service and hope to get back to the church soon.
Schedule
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Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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11/25 Work
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11/26 Off
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11/27 Off
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11/28 Work
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11/29 Work
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11/30 Off
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12/1 Work
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12/2 Work
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12/3 Off
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12/4 Off
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12/5 Work
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12/6 Work
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12/7 Work
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12/8 Off
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12/9 Off
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12/10 Work
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12/11 Work
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12/12 Off
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12/13 Off
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12/14 Work
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12/15 Work
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12/16 Work
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12/17 Off
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12/18 Off
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12/19 Off
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12/20 Work
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12/21 Work
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12/22 Off
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12/23 Off
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12/24 Work
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12/25 Work
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12/26 Work
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12/27 Off
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12/28 Work
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12/29 Work
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12/30 Work
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12/31 Off
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1/1 Work
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1/2
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1/3
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1/4
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1/5
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The days that I have off will be the best bet of me being
online. I will usually be online between 5am and 11am Michigan time. When I am
online I will have Skype open also and would love to talk to you.
emily.rosendahl1
Odds and Ends
- It
is hot here. The temperature has been ranging between 29 and 34 degrees Celsius
during the day. This is between 80 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
- I
brought many toiletries with me to start with. One thing that I will need to
buy soon is shampoo. I have used the same shampoo for the last at least 6 years
but it cannot be found here. Time to start the adventure of using a new
shampoo. Hopefully this does not throw off my morning routine. J
- This
has been the longest that I have ever been away from Holland in my entire life.
I have gone on vacations and trips but have never been gone this long. Crazy to
think about.
- One
thing that I have noticed is that many white men shave their legs here. I am
not sure why.
- I
have bought an Advent calendar so I am ready to countdown to Christmas once
December starts. I grew up opening the little doors of the Advent calendar each
year and last year I got one for everyone in the Phat Pad where I was living.
It was a lot of fun. When I saw them in the stores here I knew that I had to
get one. Hoping that South Africa chocolate tastes a little better than dollar
store chocolate from the States.
- Within
a week or so I will be getting a cell phone to use while I am done here. I will
post that number when I get it. I am able to call the States using airtime that
I buy here but you would also be able to call me. The charge will fall on
whoever makes the call.
- The
sun gets up early here! Around 4:30am it starts to come up and by 5:00am my
entire room is lit. It goes down around 6:30pm.
- On
January 1st I will be working with the toddlers for the first time.
Until then I am working with the big babies.
- This
past week we got a new baby. She was born on November 19 and arrived at the
baby house on the 20th. I saw her for the first time when I worked
on the 21st. She is a little sweetheart. It is crazy to think that
her mother just left her at the hospital but that is what happened.
- Caring
for the babies has been extremely emotionally and physically exhausting.
Prayers for this would be greatly appreciated. There are times when I go on
break and just want to sit and cry for these kids because of how their
situation just breaks my heart. Please continue to pray for families to come
forward to adopt them and for the process to go quickly once a family comes
forward.
- I
miss living by a big body of water. At least once a week at home I would see
Lake Michigan or hear it in some way. I do not live by water here in Africa and
it is not within driving distance to go and see on a day off.
- Today
marks three weeks since I have left home. We have almost hit a month that I
have been gone. In some ways it feels like I have been gone for so much longer
than that but in others in seems as though I just left the States yesterday.
The transition gets better each day. I am so thankful for this.
Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support. The days and nights are both getting easier and I really am enjoying my time here now. I still miss you all very much and look forward to skyping and love receiving emails and news from home. It is still hard for me to believe that I am in South Africa many days. Look forward to hearing from you all again soon!
Emily
Joshua 1:9- A great verse that I have looked at many times the past few weeks.
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