Weeks 12 & 13

Week 12 & 13

Well we made it back from Cape Town.  It was an amazing trip and I could continue to talk about for some time but I will refrain. I am sure that you are all excited that it is over so you can start to hear about something else again! It was a much needed break but it has been great to be so welcomed back at the baby house.

Changes at the Baby House

There have been many changes at the baby house the past few weeks. I will break it up by department what is going on right now.

SMALL BABIES

We have 12 small babies right now. We got 4 new small babies in the last 2 weeks. Two little girls and two little boys. One of the girls came very small, under 5 pounds. One of the little boys that came was found in the dump. He is being cared for by a foster sort of family because he was very ill. His face is deformed right now because it was eaten by rats while he was in the dump. He is a precious baby though and we pray for him as he is a Door of Hope baby.

BIG BABIES

We have 13 big babies right now. There were 3 small babies that moved up to big babies in the past few weeks to make room for the new small babies. We have also started to give the bigger big babies snacks in the afternoon. This is to help the transition to solid food for when they get adopted or move to the toddler room. The first few days did not go over well as all of them ended throwing up the cracker they ate! It is starting to get better.

STARFISH/TODDLERS

We have 11 toddlers right now! Talk about a lot of moving 1-3 year olds. 4 of the big babies moved down to starfish. We are getting three people down there to work, which helps a lot. It is crazy to only work with two people. We have also rearranged the living room. The TV is on the counter so that kids can’t reach it. It works great. The kids also have destroyed the gate past the point of a possible repair. They can knock it over with a finger. Since the TV is no longer on the cabinet that is the new gate to keep the kids in the living room. They can’t knock it down and only one has learned how to climb over it so far. It is working wonders. The favorite part of the day for the toddlers is snack time. They get a snack in the morning and the afternoon. Every once in a while in the afternoon they get yogurt. Yogurt is by far the best thing that most of them have ever eaten. They love it and it is so funny to watch how crazy they all go when they find that they are getting yogurt.

The other big change that happened in both big babies and toddlers is that everyone got their head shaved. Boys and girls. They get their heads shaved every summer to help keep them cooler and also to help prevent things like lice from the house. It took a few days for it to grow on the volunteers but they are still super cute with hardly any hair. I believe that those are the biggest changes that have happened lately.

Starfish

I have really loved my time with the toddlers so far in starfish. Some days are very challenging with 11 1-3 year olds around you all day but for the most part I really love it. One of the little girls loves to give kisses. She will just come up to you, crawl on your lap and give you a big kiss on the check complete with the perfect smack sound. It is the sweetest thing. All of these kids long for individual attention and it is so rewarding when you are able to give them that attention even if it is for just 5 short minutes. There have been a few parts of the day that have come to be my favorite. My most favorite part of the day is getting them up from their nap. I usually go in the room that 8 of the kids share and open the curtains. They all stand up in their beds as I ask them how they slept. Then they all proceed to tell me about their nap and repeat everything that I say in their little language. It is so funny to hear them all talk but so cute. I also love anytime during the day that the kids pray. We pray during their Bible story time in the morning and before every meal. When the aunties pray they do so in French, which is their first language. The kids don’t understand this and it just sounds like babbling to them. So when you ask them to pray they just babble and then shout amen. It is precious. I also really love snack time in the afternoon. The kids love snack and it is so funny to watch them get so excited over a cracker or some yogurt and a little bit of juice. These kids have all made a huge impact on me that they will never know about. Oh how I love them!

Birthday Party

Two of the babies turned one at the end of January. We had a birthday party to celebrate this milestone. It happened during naptime so only a few of the kids were at the party but all of the aunties and volunteers had fun. Each of the babies had a piece of cake with a candle in it. We sang happy birthday twice and they had some help blowing out their candles. Then they were able to try their cake. Baby H did not like it and pulled a face when she tried to eat it. It also did not sit well in her stomach and she ended up throwing up before the end of the party. Baby L thought it was fine but he was very sleepy and just held his head up the whole time. Along with the cake we also had cheese curls, cheese curls are at every party of any kind, and pop. We also got pictures of them complete with party hats. It was fun to be able to celebrate these two big one year olds.

Volunteers

We have two new volunteers. Jeanette is from Holland, the Netherlands. This does mean that I am not the most Dutch again. She is in her thirties and is here until the middle of March. Alyssa is coming at the beginning of February. She is from the States and will be here for 8 months. She has volunteered for Door of Hope before. It has been fun to continue to meet new people and mesh them into the group of volunteers that we have here.

Game Night

Katy, Cassie, Candice and I have really grown to love each other a lot. We all get along so well together and love spending time with each other. This is good since we see each other all the time. Most of our nights end up being movie nights after a conversation over dinner. The biggest topic of conversation is the similarities and differences between the States, Australia and South Africa. It has been fun to learn all about Australia from Candice and we even celebrated Australia day with her this past Saturday. While we have enjoyed these nights it was time to change it up. We decided to play games for a night and it was a blast. First we played Dutch Blitz. Cassie, Katy and I already knew how to play so we taught Candice and played a friendly round. (For those who know how I usually play this game, I was able to keep my cool while playing this time.) I ended up winning! We then learned the game Farkel from Candice. It is a dice game and turned out to be lots of fun. I ended up winning this game also. It was a good night for me. We said that we are going to have to play games more often together.

February Schedule

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
					1  Starfish	2   Starfish
3  Starfish	4            Off	5   Starfish	6               Off	7 Small Babies	8 Small Babies	9            Off
10         Off	11    Starfish	12 Small Babies	13            Off	14    Starfish	15           Off	16   Starfish
17   Starfish	18           Off	19     Starfish	20            Off	21  Starfish	22   Starfish	23 Small Babies
24 Small Babies	25         Off	26         Off	27            Off	28   Starfish

Odds and Ends

-       We are still without a car and I believe that we will be for the rest of the time I am here. We are so thankful for those willing to help us with groceries and other outings.

-       Because of the now car we are not able to get to the Glen to get on the Internet as much. We have decided to get Internet sticks. These will allow us to have Internet at the baby house. You just buy a certain amount of GB that you want to have. We are hoping that this option is also cheaper since we will not have to buy food every time we get on the Internet at Mugg and Bean. I will miss Mugg and Bean though. I am excited about having Internet at the baby house. I just have to learn how much I can use it to keep the price down.

-       February 1^st marks the day that I have been gone longer than I have left. This means that we are on the downhill coast until I get home. It is hard to believe that I only have about 3 months left in South Africa.

-       I have can tell the differences between the cries of each baby in big babies and in starfish. It is amazing to me that I know the cry of each of these kids. We can be sitting in our flat, which is next door to starfish and hear them cry before they go to bed and are able to tell whom it is.

-       Almost all of the kids say mama once they are able to talk. Many of them will come to you and cry if they want to be held or got hurt and say mama. It is incredible that they have this instilled in them when they have never experienced the love of a mother before. It is truly heart breaking if you sit and think about it for so long.

-       Nicole, one of the volunteers started calling me Emmy. She went home the middle of January so I have not heard it in a while but it really got me thinking about nicknames. I love nicknames. I believe that they mean there is a relationship present unlike anything else. There is a vulnerability with them and I like that. I love that my nicknames in Africa are different from my nicknames back home. It will be sad to hear the Emmy leave but I am excited to get my Em back!

One of the things that I have been able to do during my time here is read. I love to read and it has been a treat to sit down and enjoy books again. I have read many books since being here. The book that I have just started is ‘Kisses from Katie’. I have read this book once before last January. It made an impact of my last time I read it and it is making an even bigger impact on me this time around. I am living and experiencing some of the things that Katie talks about. I just read the following quote from the book,

“The contradiction comes when I realize that all these experiences and emotions are real. The happiness that gave me chill bumps was as deep as my loneliness. My sense of certainty about being exactly where God wanted me was solid, but just as firm was the fact that I wondered at time what on earth I was doing here. The frustration that threatened to overtake me on some occasions was just as deep and true as the unbounded joy I felt as other times. I loved my new life; I truly loved it. But compared to the life I had been living, it was hard.

            There were many moments when the only way I could keep going was to try my best not to look back but to look only forward, relying on God’s perfect plan. Like so many other things, this wasn’t always easy, but it was the key to conquering the mountains of difficulty that arose on the landscape of my life.”

This quote is in chapter two. It put into words my exact feelings of this journey that I am on. Unlike Katie who has continued her work in Uganda for the past five years, I will be coming home in three months. This book is really good and I would recommend it to anyone. It really does describe many of the emotions that I have gone through over the past three months and I have to believe I will continue to go through during my time here and also when I get home. I have to remind myself of what Katie said in continuing to look forward and rely on God’s perfect plan for me. Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support. I am so excited to tell stories in person in just three short months!

Love from South Africa,

Emily