Week 18 and Photos from the Rhino and Lion Park

Just a small bit of one of the 'roads' that we drove.

Rhinos!

This guy could have stuck his head in my window if he wanted to, he was that close. 

Eddie the Cheetah. Just hanging out together.

6 week old lion cubs

Loved these tigers!

That tree and zebra...Pure Africa. Can that be a thing?

In the cave

Our friend the warthog. Did you know that they like to get on their front knees to eat?

Candice is showing us just how crazy these steps were!

We were about 2 feet away from this (caged) lion. He was not happy that we were dancing and yelling trying to get him to roar. He finally did though!

They are beautiful creatures. 

Week 18

Big Babies Again

I am starting to work in big babies again this month. I started out working in big babies my first two months and since December I have not worked in big babies. I had missed it but have enjoyed my time with the toddlers and small babies. The first day I was back I was reminded just how relaxing it is compared to toddlers. The day was a breeze! The babies drank bottles, played, took naps and we fed them. There were no trips to the dark room or telling kids to sit for the Bible story or listening to constant whining. The challenges were still present and came up at feeding time. About half of the big babies are between 10 and 11 months old and the other half are between 6 and 7 months old. Feeding the older ones is usually not a problem but the younger ones are a huge pain to feed. Some them just hold the food in their mouths and others have not figured out what to do with their tongue when they eat so they use it to push the food out of their mouth. One of the bigger babies is a problem to feed as he likes to spit his food all over the place. You can get up in his face and tell him no and he will just laugh at you. He is being adopted later this month and we all wish his parents good luck! Well it was my first day back and I knew not to feed baby A, the spitter. We were down to the last two babies and it was him or the younger baby M. I decided to feed baby M and told Cassie good luck with baby A. She could not believe that I left her with him. I started feeding baby M and she was slow but all was going fine. Cassie then started with baby A and I had to keep my laughs to myself as she kept telling him no when he would spit. Baby M had almost finished and that is when the karma hit. She threw up all over me. We are not talking baby spit up but big person vomit and it was all of her bottle and lunch combined. It was beyond disgusting. I had to hold back my gags as I carried her to her room to change her. Once she was changed I cleaned up the floor and her chair and then finally went to change clothes myself. I have learned that I can deal with a lot here. I can do any kind of poop, pee, baby spit up, drool and so on but I cannot deal with vomit when it gets on me. Next time I will just be the bigger person and feed baby A. Lesson learned.

Potty-Trained!

We have successfully potty-trained Big Boy K! It took less than two weeks. He caught on quick the idea that every time he went potty on the toilet that he got a treat. A few days in he even tried to cheat the system by going potty just a little bit every ten minutes. There came a point that he only got a treat when he went number 2. He is doing great now and hardly ever has an accident. He also has shown us how much he hates wearing hi diaper by taking it off during naptime and hiding it under his crib mattress. Smart boy he is indeed. We have also taught him the fine art of going potty outside and he really enjoys practicing this feat. His skinny body can hardly hold up his underwear and pants but he is so proud to wear his big boy underwear. We are just excited that it is one less diaper to change. The next thing we need to master is going on the big potty and not just his potty chair and then he will really be self-sufficient. We sure are proud of what you have master already though big boy!

The Spreadsheet

At home I don’t budget. I should but I just keep a close eye on things and am careful with how I spend my money. I have been blessed because money has never been a huge stressor in my life. Coming here I decided that I should keep closer track as to how I am spending money. Most of the money that I live on day-to-day here is from so many of you who have sponsored me. I can’t thank you enough for being so generous and helping me to follow God’s call on my life for this season. So to be mindful money I set up a spreadsheet. Well it has become a crazy detailed document that will end up being around 14 pages long. The girls make fun of me fore how close I keep track of everything. It is all laid out by month and broken into categories for food, fun, rent, the extra expenses that come with drawing money overseas and the other category. I always keep tack of how much I spend where and what I spend it on. It has been a huge help and because of it I am under budget of where I should be at this point in the trip! The other day Candice was figuring out where she was financially and was talking to her mom about it. Her mom took her through her bank statements and after Candice told her mom that I keep this crazy spreadsheet her mom told her she should start doing the same. So we are now spreadsheet buddies! Hopefully I can keep doing something like this when I get home and keep better track of my expenses. Just thought you would all like to know what I do with some of my time off and how I am budgeting here.

Odds and Ends

-       When we were out last weekend we pasted a driving range and a huge golf store. Thought that you would like to know that Grandpa, Dad and Eric. Sorry but I was not able to get a picture. I will try harder next time.

-       Rumor around here has it that between the 3 houses there will be between 10 and 15 babies that leave in the next two months. It will be so exciting to watch this happen and see so many empty beds around here again!

-       Baby S overcame one of his fears this week. We have a doll that has hair and squeaks when you shake it back and forth. He is terrified of this doll. It is so funny to watch him though so we are mean and tease him with it every once in a while. It was getting to the point where it was really obnoxious though because he would see another kid playing with it and cry. The other day I took him in my lap and we tried to get him over his fear. It did not work too well so we gave up for the day. The other day he saw the doll again and freaked out over it. Later that day though we caught him playing with the doll! He was touching her hair and just sitting nice right next to it. He still does not like it when it squeaks but we are making a lot of progress on the doll front. Not sure what it is with all these kids and their fear of dolls.

-       All but one of the electrical outlets stopped working in our flat one day this past week. Luckily I have a small knowledge about breakers and such and seeing that the breaker box was easily accessible, I got the power back on for us.

-       For Bible Study this week we made tacos. We got a season packet for the meat from Margie a while back and just had not used it. We were so excited that it was the talk of the week, having tacos. They were delicious and we are going to keep our eyes open in the stores for more of the season packets for the meat. I also tried guacamole for the first time with my tacos and really enjoyed it. Who would have ever guessed!

-       I had a head cold this week. I am doing much better now but praying that I stay healthy the rest of my time here.

-       Two of the toddlers have learned how to get out of their beds. This is not a great combination with naptime and five others in the room. They are great at waking everyone up and after suppertime you can tell that the kids only had a short nap. Please stay in your beds and sleep kiddos. If you don’t think you need know that the aunties do!

-       I was able to get a few videos this week of Big Boy K singing a few of his favorite songs, The B-I-B-L-E and Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me. He is just so darn cute!

-       The ants are still living with us. They are getting a bit ridiculous though and we are ready for them to leave. Just the other day they got into one of the girl’s water jugs. Most of us have 5-liter jugs of water that we use to drink out of. We boil the water and put it in the jug. We just feel better about boiling our water before we drink it. Well the ants must also like boiled water. Come on now ants, there is absolutely nothing in that water you want. Give us a break will you!

-       Some more adventures coming up, so be on the look out for some hopefully great stories and pictures.

Sending my love to you all,

Emily

Week 17

Week 17… Pictures coming soon!

Baby S turns 1!

Baby S turned Big Boy S this week. I was not working on his birthday but went next door for the party in the afternoon. All the toddlers had their party hats on, we sang happy birthday, played with the crazy party noisemakers and had treats. The kids loved it. They had juice, cupcakes, cheese puffs and marshmallows that looked like mice (Grandma you would have loved these guys!). It is so much fun to watch the joy on their faces when they get fun treats like this. I was able to get many good pictures of kids with party hats and sticky cupcake fingers. The end of March is when we have the nest birthdays. We have 4 birthdays within a ten-day time span so we are going to be partying like crazy then!

Good-Byes and Hellos

This week we said good-bye to one of our little girls as she was placed in the arms of her forever family. Baby A was a great baby and her smile will be missed around the house lots. With that good-bye though came a hello. We welcomed bin baby boy M to the house this week. This sweet little guy was welcomed with many hugs and prayers. It will be fun to watch him grow over the next few weeks.

Mimmos

Monday night we went out to dinner at Mimmos. We went as a farewell to Alyssa as she went home this past week. She was going to be here for 8 months but felt this was not the place she was suppose to be for that long so she just stayed one month. Lisa and Jason came to pick us up and we had to make two trips to get everyone there. Going out to dinner in South Africa is an all-evening event. We left with the first trip in the car at 6:15pm and returned with the last car trip at 9:15pm. We were at Mimmos for about 2 1/2 hours. It was a delicious meal with great company. We also had to get dessert because Mimmos has the panzookie. This is a cookie that is baked to perfection and warm and topped with ice cream, chocolate and a cherry. We got 4 of them between the 8 of us because they are big. It was a great night out and we will hopefully do it again soon. There was a picture of the girls posted on facebook for the night as well.

Pizza with the Farr Family

Tuesday night we went over to Candy and Brady’s house for a pizza party. They are an incredible missionary couple with 4 kids. They have lived in South Africa for just over a year now. They are taking over the place of the Brown’s who lived and did mission work in South Africa for 12 years. Brady is the pastor at a church plant here and Candy home schools the 4 kids and has volunteered at Door of Hope once a week for a while now. They have really reached out to the volunteers at Door of Hope and have been a HUGE blessing to us here. They take us to get groceries and to go out at night every once in a while and tonight they had us over for pizza. Lisa and Jason also joined us for pizza and company. It was a really fun night. We did a lot of talking and I also took my nail polish with the paint the girl’s nails since I had promised to do this a while ago. There will be no way to thank this family for opening up their lives to us so much and being a family to us in South Africa. It will be another hard good-bye to say in two months.

Thursday Night Bible Study

We started Bible Study again this week because we had gotten out of practice with doing it each week. Margie picked up dinner from Nando’s for us and we enjoyed that lots. She was the one who prepared the study for the night. Margie just got back from a trip to Uganda for the IMB. She lived in a village there and with the people of the village as well as other missionaries. There were a few missionary families that lived there together. They lived in community and everything that the Lord intended community to be. They ate together, they worked together, they played together and they worshipped together. We have decided to live in this community that we have here more intentionally now. We are in such a unique situation that we all live and work together and can’t escape the Baby House unless it is together. We have formed great friendships but we want to make them stronger and continue to make them more Christ centered. For each of our Bible Study meetings we are not going to have one leader but each of us will come with something that the Lord taught us during the week. We are excited to see how we can grow each other in the coming weeks and what we can learn from each other.

Lion and Rhino Park

This past Saturday all the volunteers had off so we planned an adventure with the help of Margie. We went to the Rhino and Lion Nature Preserve for the day and Monte Casino for dinner. The Rhino and Lion Park was lots of fun. We saw many different animals including lots of the different kinds of African deer type animals, rhinos, hippos, lions, tigers, ostrich, zebra, wild dogs, servals, warthogs, cape buffalo, cheetahs, and I am sure more that I just can’t remember right now. The park is really big and you just drive through it and see the animals from your car. Many of the roads are for all types of vehicles but there are also some roads that are just for 4-wheel drive vehicles. We went in Margie’s truck, which has 4-wheel drive.  Some of the roads were a bit scary to be driving on even with 4-wheel drive. We only had to use the 4-wheel drive once though so that was good. Most of the driving reminded me of the adventure that I had in Maine last March with my Jeep. Great memories huh Beth and Aubs! I will share a few highlights from the day with you.

-       Most of the park allows you to drive around with your windows open since the animals are usually really afraid of the vehicles. In the lion, wild dogs and cheetah cages though you have to have your windows up. All of the animals are wild and can get mad at anytime. We kept our windows up until it was time to take a few pictures and since we could see the lions just lying down we rolled down the windows and snapped our pictures. Nothing like living on the wild side! We are all safe so don’t worry.

-       This park has a great animal crèche that you can go to and pet some of the animals. You have the option of going to pet a cheetah, tiger cubs, lion cubs and servals. You had to pay for each kind of animal that you wanted to pet. We decided to pet them all cause why not. First we went in with Eddie the cheetah. He is 10 years old and just likes to lie there. We were able to pet him and even lay down next to him to get some good pictures. We then went in with the two tiger cubs that were about 8 months old. They were lots of fun and even a bit playful. Then we went to see the servals. They are just like house cats and were very soft. Finally we went in with the lion cubs that happened to only be 7 weeks old and in the petting area for their first ever weekend. They were so small and way too cute. It was a blast to see the animals up so close.

-       We were able to see a mother rhino and her baby. The baby was only a few months old, as it did not yet have its horn. It was so neat to see the interaction between them. We were able to get pretty close to them since they were right on the side of the road eating.

-       One of the things that you can also do at the park is visit the wonder cave. Margie had never been to the cave before and it costs extra to see it. We decided to give it a try because we knew we would only be there once. Tours leave for the cave every hour on the hour. We went in the afternoon. We parked the car and started walking down a path and we saw some warthogs pretty close to us. They were wild warthogs and we watched them amazed that we were only about 6 feet from them. Then one of them saw some different grass that he wanted and we were in the way so he started to charge at us. We quick got out of his way and hurried down the path to safety. We had to wait about 10 minutes for our tour so we just sat and watched them. They tried to charge each other and a few other people and we just laughed each time. They were very entertaining. It was finally time for our tour and we took a very short walk to the entrance of the cave. We were then told that we would be going down 20 meters on 87 stairs that were at a 45 degree angle. Then we would take a lift down another 60 meters and finally walk down paths in the cave 20 more meters to reach the very bottom. Just looking at those steps freaked me out. They were incredibly steep and I don’t do well with heights. We made it to the bottom of the steps and squeezed into the lift and prayed the whole way down. It was a neat tour but I was anxious to get out of the cave the whole time. We all came up out of breath and thankful to be walking on ground again. That will be all the cave exploring that I do while I am in South Africa.

-       Across the street from the big part of the park is a small section that you walk through. There are lions and tigers in cages there that you can get pretty close to. We were able to roar with a white male lion that was about 3 feet from us! It was very cool. He even tried to paw us at one point but got zapped by the electric fence inside his cage. It was so cool to be that close and interact with wild life. We were able to see the hippos here also on a platform that over looked a lake. They were very much in the distance so that was not fun but we did see them.

-       After we finished at the Rhino and Lion Park we headed over to Monte Casino for dinner. We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant. We also decided we need to spend a whole day there since the place is so big and has so much to do. Hopefully later this month!

It was a great day and we had so much fun spending time together outside of the baby house.

This and That

-       This week when we went to The Glen to get groceries we all went without our computers. It was crazy to be at The Glen and just shop! We also tried a new café for smoothies and coffee. Mugg and Bean please forgive us for being unfaithful!

-       I put on a nicer shirt and scarf when we went out to The Glen and all the Aunties had something to say about that. They all had to comment that I was dressed up and looked nice. I guess this is my clue I should wear more than my tie-dye and athletic shorts. Not going to happen here so I guess we will have to see about home.

-       The other day we found an iguana/chameleon outside. I had the day off and was hanging out my laundry and Katy was hanging out the toddler laundry with Big Boy K. I found the little guy and we sat and watched him for a bit. Then Katy went inside to get a tupperwear container to put him in so we could go show the other kids. Some of the kids thought he was really great but my poor girl S was not a fan. She just cried. Finally we decided to let him go. We took him to the part of the yard that we like to refer to as the jungle. When L was still here she would go into the jungle to find her leaves and so we thought this little guy would enjoy it.

-       Cassie bought People magazine last time that we went to the store and it has been great to read the current celebrity gossip. Candice also does great with updating us a few times a week with news from the world. Most of the stories she starts out saying this is a story about some crazy US person. We enjoy it.

-       This past week the CD of choice in the toddler room has been Silly Songs with Larry from Veggie Tales. You know the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song. Well the first few times through it was really fun to sing along with the CD. One day though we listened to the CD all the way through 7 times. 7 times. By the end of the day the kids knew when their favorite song came on and could even sing along with some of the words. Time for a new CD again.

-       I did laundry this week for the first time in 18 day. I LOVE doing laundry at home. I do it once a week at home. If roommates leave clothes in the dryer at all I go ahead and fold them. So 2½ weeks between laundry days is something new but I really hate not having a dryer here and that is why I wait so long. Well this particular Friday when I did laundry it decided to rain in the afternoon. It has not rained during the day for the longest time here and when all my clothes are drying on the line it decides to rain. I got everything in and set up drying racks for my clothes and shortly after Cassie came in with her clothes and more drying racks. We have 5 drying racks set up in our tiny living room and hallway trying to dry our clothes the rest of the way. Around the middle of March will be laundry day again and it better not rain. Also I will only do laundry here about 3 more times and then back to using the dryer. The roommates have promised to have the dryer free when I get home. What a glorious day that will be!

-       I love the beginning of a new month here. There are a few things that I do on the first day of each new month. My calendar of love and encouragement from home has the pages for that month put on a different ring so that I can watch the days until I am home get fewer and fewer, we get the new schedule of where we will work for the month so it is writing all the days down that I work and have off, I seal the envelop of receipts from the previous month, I get a new razor to put in the shower and I write a new first number for the dates of my journal entries. The start of the new month is great. I only have one more time to do all of this now that we have passed the first of March.

See you (in person!) NEXT month!

Emily

Week 16 and Pictures!

Some of the beds in the small babies room. We have 11 beds like this and 3 pack and play beds.

The walls are painted Winnie the Pooh theme.

I can't add many pictures of the small babies room since the babies are always in it!

Biggest to smallest with diapers and bottles! The smallest bottle holds 2oz!

Auntie Sarah and me. Auntie Sarah works in small babies but will be moving to baby house 2 beginning in March. We will miss her so much here at baby house 1!

Big difference in size there.

Week 16

Sick

I started off this week sick. Cassie was sick last week and it was my turn this week. It started off with an upset stomach but soon moved to a head and dizzy thing. I felt very similar to when I first got here. I am pretty sure that I experienced altitude sickness then so I am not sure what happened this time around. Thankfully it only lasted two days and then I made myself get up and go to work because otherwise I think that it could have lasted a long time. Hopefully I am healthy and feeling well for my last two months here.

The Hospital

The beginning of the week I had the opportunity to go with Nadene to the hospital for head scans for two of our prem (preemie) babies. The head scan was to make sure that everything is developing normally for these little babies and thankfully it is! It was very interesting to see the hospital. It was a government hospital that we went to. I learned that children birth through 7 years receive ‘free’ healthcare since it is government run. The main hallway in this hospital that connects everything together is a mile long! It is a big hospital to say the least. Also because it is a government hospital most things are not scheduled ahead of time and there are not appointments. You simply go in the morning and wait your turn. Usually Nadene will leave before 6am when she has to bring kids to the hospital but this day she went later because this is not usually a very busy part of the hospital and the scans are quick. She has waited in line for over 6 hours with some of the babies though for some things! We waited about an hour and the trip itself was about two hours. It was great to get out and see more of Joburg.

The OT

Well I was spoiled this week and got out of the house twice! I also went along with Nadene and a baby from our house and a few babies and an auntie from baby house 3 to see the occupational therapist. We ended up having the wrong date written down for two of the babies so only one of them saw the OT but the other two got a free outing. I am hoping to go along again sometime so that I can be part of the therapy also. On the way back to the house we had to stop by baby house 2 to drop some things off so I was at all three baby houses this day. It has been interesting to see more of Joburg and also to learn so much about the medical side of the baby house in the past week between the clinic, the hospital and the OT.

March Schedule

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
					1            Off	2            Off
3       Toddlers	4 Toddlers	5     Big Babies	6               Off	7            Off	8 Toddlers	9 Toddlers
10 Toddlers	11          Off	12 Toddlers	13              Off	14  Toddlers	15 Toddlers	16            Off
17 Toddlers	18           Off	19         Off	20 Toddlers	21   Big Babies	22    Big Babies	23            Off
24            Off	25   Big Babies	26   Big Babies	27    Big Babies	28            Off	29   Toddlers	30   Big Babies
31    Big Babies

I am excited to spend the month with my toddler favorites and to be back in big babies for the first time since the end of December! It will be a busy month as I work lots.

Odds and Ends

-       Our toilet flusher handle is not connected the way that it is supposed to be any more. For the last two weeks we have had to take the back off the toilet and flush it manually. Only in Africa we say.

-       We have an ant problem. It is to the point that I am not grossed out to make my lunch on the counter next to the 8 ants that are just crawling their little hearts out. Again, only in Africa. TIA

-       We ordered KFC again this week and it was delicious. It is a highlight of the week when we decide to order out.

-       We watch movies here all the time and are so thankful for all of the movies that Candice has on her external hard drive. I did not bring any movies with me and it comes back to bit me almost daily. One of the girls will name a movie that they want to watch and we don’t have it here and I will just say I have it at home. We have probably gone through wanting almost my entire movie collection here. Live and learn.

Cute Baby/Kid Stories

Well I know that are waiting for a few cute stories again so I will share are few with you.

-       The toddlers love to be outside and can hear the airplanes from a mile away. My favorite girl, S, is very in tune with her airplanes. The way that they say airplane though is just so cute they say air-o-plane. And when they do they yell it and point with great excitement. It is just so precious.

-       This story is not for the weak stomachs but shows what happens around here a little more. I was working one day this week with Auntie Mary and Auntie Sylvie in toddlers. Auntie Sylvie started to dish up breakfast and I started to get the morning medications ready (18 medications!). Auntie Mary went to wake up the kids. This is always a fun part of the day but also a very smelly part of the day. 8 toddlers in one room for a whole night can be really smelly if you catch my drift. Next thing we know is that Auntie Mary is coming out of the room saying, oh my gosh you have to come and see this. Auntie Sylvie and I stop what we are doing and walk into the bedroom and just gasp. Big Girl N has taken her diaper off and ‘painted’ herself with her pooh. It was everywhere, all over her body, on the crib, the sheets, the stuffed animals, the walls, the carpet and even the beds next to hers. It was horrendous! We had to start the day with the other 10 kiddos so we gave them breakfast and N sat in her bed and cried for that 20 minutes. Then Auntie Sylvie and I started to bathe the other kids and Auntie Mary was going to tackle N. She took N outside and set her in one of the baby bathtubs. She then took out all of her bedding and the other kids bedding that was messy. N and the bedding sat outside, crying, while Auntie Mary cleaned up the room. The other kids thought this was a very fun show to watch N cry outside so early in the morning. Finally N got scrubbed down outside and was returned to the rest of the crew. Auntie Mary the washed the bedding by hand and then put it in the washing machine to wash again. Not a very pretty start to the day. You would have thought that so much humiliation would have made N learn her lesson but she did not. She is just turning into a little naughty girl. The next day at nap she got out of her crib and started to empty the boy’s closet of all their clothes. Auntie Mary caught her and she had her nap on the floor in the dark room. Day 3 she again took her diaper off at nap and since it was clean she decided to shred it to little pieces. She again slept in the dark room when Auntie Sylvie found her doing this. She is a handful and only 1½ years old. We just all pray she is adopted before she is 2 or 3 because we are not ready for that!

Stay tuned to the blog for next week’s post because it is going to be exciting. We have plans for 4 out of the 7 days next week! Plans that involve more than just work and a movie. We are really excited!

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support and for the emails. They mean so much to me and really do help the time and distance struggle. Part of my heart will always be here in South Africa and I have not idea how I will say good to the beautiful faces that have changed my life here. I do know that they will be plastered all over at my house and I am sure that I will carry their pictures around in my purse like a proud mother does. The friendships that I have formed with the other volunteers here will also be hard to leave. They are friendships that will never be able to be created anywhere ever again and the chance that we will all be in the same place again together is not very likely as we are from all over the world. This being said I am going to treasure the last two months here and prepare my heart for the transition home.

During my time here I have challenged myself to a few things. I challenged myself to write in a journal at least once a day. It could be one word or it could go on for pages but I had to write at least once a day. So far I have kept it up and it is amazing to look back on. I also challenged myself to take a picture a day. This I have failed to do. I have hundreds and it will be thousands of pictures that I take home with me but I did not keep up with taking a picture a day. The last challenge was to read scripture once everyday with the final goal having been to have read through the entire Bible during my stay. This I have also kept up with and I am ahead of schedule to finish the whole Bible. It has been incredible to watch God work through this. So now I am going to give you all a challenge with me. I am almost to the New Testament and will spend my last weeks reading from Matthew to Revelation. I want so company while I read! Will you join me in this adventure and read with me? Take the next two months, 61 days and see what God does with it. Read just 4 or 5 chapters a day to stay on track and watch the transformations that happen. What do you say?!? Will you join me?!?

9 week countdown is on,

Emily

Week 15

Week 15

Sunday

I started the week with a day off! I was able to go to church with Jeanette and Katy. We went to Riverside and had a great morning together. Lisa, a previous volunteer of Door of Hope and now living in South Africa, and her fiancé Jason were going to pick us up. Lisa ended up getting sick so it was only Jason that was able to come pick us up. Much to our surprise Jason picked us up in a car that they are borrowing from a friend and it was an automatic! Have not been on one of those in some time. We enjoyed the church service and the sermon on serving Jesus as a disciple. I also enjoyed getting out as this was the first time in 10 days that I left the gates of the baby house! I have grown to love Sundays in South Africa when I am able to get to church but I have also found that this can be one of the worst times for homesickness. It is during these times that I long to be back with family and friends worshipping together. I know it will come soon enough so right now I have to enjoy my time in South Africa worshipping the Lord knowing that everyone at home is also praising the same Savior!

Big Girl L Leaves

We had another child leave us this past week. Toddler L left. She was not adopted but went to another home. She has special needs and this home will better be able to meet her needs. This is the place that she will live the rest of her life in though. This leaving has hit me the hardest. I believe because L was one of my favorites and brought so much joy and also because she was not adopted nor will ever be adopted. I was working the day she left so we got her ready in a cute outfit. We sang the ‘we are one family’ song with the rest of the toddlers like is always done with them when someone leaves and I was asked to pray for her. I had to hold back the tears as I held her close and gave her back to God, thanking Him for giving L to us for this past season of her life. She then just left and we had to go on with out day. Later when the auntie that took her came back the kids were all excited because they thought that L was back as well. We had to explain again that she went to live some place else, so hard for these little minds to understand. L was one that got in trouble a far share and had to be told no very often. Her name was heard all the time. S who will be one in a week and a half has just started to say his first word, which just happens to be L’s name! He still crawls around even though she is gone and just says her name. It is far too cute. We already miss you L but hope that you are enjoying your new home with so much more space. We think of you all the time and pray for you daily. You will always have a place in our hearts. Please continue to pray for L as she makes this transition. Please also pray for the rest of us here that she left behind. I miss this girl so much more than I thought possible but I trust that God has some great plans for her life. Can’t wait to hear what they were when we are reunited in heaven one day.

Valentine’s Day

I got to spend Valentine’s Day with 11 little Valentine’s. I worked in the toddler room and it was just like any other day. After work we decided that we needed to do something for the day and we would have loved to dress up a little more and go out for dinner but our transportation situation would not allow such a thing to happen. We decided on a movie instead. We watched Dear John and ate cookies to celebrate the day. A pretty uneventful Valentine’s Day, per usual in most of our lives.

The Clinic

On one of my days off this past week I went to the clinic with one of the aunties, one of the office staff and 11 babies. We had to take two trips and I had to sit on the floor of the van for us to all fit but we made it. The clinic is not far and so the trips were short. We were also very lucky that the clinic was not busy and we got everything done in about two hours. All of the babies that went needed immunizations. The clinic that we went to was a government run clinic. Between the 11 babies they received 25 immunizations, lots of tears to say the least. Most of the kids that got shots were the small babies but three of the toddlers had to come as well. I was the one that held them on my lap as they received two or three shots each. It was such a blessing to be able to comfort these cuties when they really need it. I really enjoyed being able to get out for a little while and seeing what the clinic was like. Now all of the babies at baby house 1 are up to date on their immunizations. I was just lucky that I did not have to work and deal with the crying the rest of the day from the adventure out!

Happy Birthday to the BEST little sister a girl could ask for! It is Andrea’s birthday on Monday. She will be the big 22. I am so bummed that I can’t be at home to celebrate any of my sibling’s birthdays this year. I told them that I would make it up to them by bringing them back something from Africa. I guess I better get on that soon! If you see Andrea on Monday give her an extra hug for me and wish her happy birthday. I miss you something terrible Andrea and we will celebrate when I get home. Thanks for all the love and encouragement that you keep sending my way. I could not do this without your support. Next time you are coming with though! Love you loads.

In ending I am going to leave you with this scripture verse. Romans 8:28- ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’ I know that I have shared this verse before but it is one that just keeps coming back to me day after day. It has been the verse that I have been living by here in South Africa. It is a verse that I hope to continue to live by at home. God is working for my good as long as I continue to follow Him! That is such an incredible promise but I have learned that it does not come without work on my part. I have to keep following Him and turn to Him and He will work the good I don’t get to work the good but He does. One more verse that I have come across many times lately as well is from Ephesians 3:20-21- ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’ I just love this promise. He can do so much more than we can ask or imagine. This journey has been far more than I could have dreamed up or asked for. I can’t believe some days that is the power that is in me. We do serve a mighty God. I can’t wait to continue to see what God has up his sleeve for me.

Week 14

Week 14

Exciting news of the week is that I have an Internet stick so I am able to get Internet at the baby house! It is so nice to be able to get online for a little while whenever I would like. Praising the Lord for the small things.

A Night Out

A few nights ago we had a night out. It actually started with a day out for a few of us. Candice, Cassie, Jeanette and I all had the day off so we got dropped off at The Glen around 2pm. We did some errand running, went to Mugg and Bean (of course) and just enjoyed the company of each other. We got a new shower curtain for the flat since our old one had a bit too much mold, Cassie and I got Internet sim cards, Candice got a better deal on an Internet stick, and we got a few groceries as well. After work Katy came to meet us for dinner and a movie. We got dinner at Mimmos together and then went over to the Cinema for a movie. She saw Playing for Keeps. It was a pretty good movie and really cheap compared to at home, right around $5! We got a ride home after the movie. It was great to e able to get out of the house for such a long time with each other. Hopefully it can happen again soon!

Kiddie Pools and 12 Toddlers

This past week Cassie, Katy and I were working in the toddler room. We were excited to all be working together and wanted to have a great day with the kids. Candice had the day off and so she joined us for most of the day. We had fun with the kids in the morning and made it to nap time after lunch. We decided that since the weather was hot we would set up the kiddie pools for after naptime. Big boy K stays up a little later than everyone else so he helped us set up the pools and ended up getting a head start with swimming in his clothes. We got everything ready so that the sun could warm up the water during the 3-hour nap. After nap we got the kids up and changed diapers and put on swimsuits. All the kids just wore swimsuits with no diapers since we don’t have swim diapers or anything like them. The kids have done this before so we were hoping it would not be a problem. We changed the first ones and put them in the living room on the tile floor to wait the 10 minutes at the most for the rest of the kids to be ready. Well we had an accident and decided that after one puddle of pee on the floor that Cassie would take the kids outside once they were in their suits. Once everyone was dressed the rest of us made our way outside and divided the kids between the three pools. They all loved it! They splashed and splashed in the water for 30 minutes while the 4 of us watched them and took lots of pictures of their cute wet eyelashes and swimsuit-clad bodies. There were the inevitable few tip overs in the water and kids coming up gashing for breath wide eyed for the half a second that their face was under water but they still loved it. We hope that we are ale to do it again with the kids on the hot days since it was so much fun and a great new activity to break up the everyday same old routine.

Baby H came down to toddlers right as we were getting ready for the pool time so this was her first taste of being a big kid and she enjoyed it. She is not sure about snack time though. We gave the kids their snack outside. The older kids got part of a baby nutrigrain bar and the younger ones had some fruit melt drops. We popped a fruit melt drop in H’s mouth and she pulled a terrible face. She does not have the best track record with food so we were curious to see what would happen. She threw it up along with everything else she had for the day. We quickly got the kids out of the pool and got rid of the water while cleaning up H. She turned out to be fine and I believe that like most every other time is was because she tried to swallow the thing whole instead of chew it. Just goes to prove there is always something going on.

Adoptions

We had two babies leave this week to go to their forever families! It is very emotional for this to happen because we are excited and happy for these babies to leave to their families but it is hard also. We really do develop bonds with the kids and they have our hearts. Baby J and Baby D were the ones who left us this time. Both of them were local adoptions. We also just found out about another baby who will be leaving in March for international adoption. I had the privilege of praying for baby D before she left. The babies are not picked up by their families at the baby house but at the agency that Door of Hope works with. Before they left to go to the agency I was asked to pray for Baby D. I was able to thank God for our time with her and pray for her new family. I asked God to continue to direct her future and grow her up in Him. I then turned her over into His hands and give her a few last kisses before sending her off. It was very neat to be able to be involved in this.

Small Babies

I was able to work in small babies twice this last week and I will a few more times this month. We have 12 small babies. Like the big babies we have big small babies and small small babies. We even have the tiny and itsy bitsy babies. Two of our babies are under 5 pounds and that seemed small to me but then I saw baby D. She is 3 pounds 12 ounces. She is TINY. I was able to hold her and snuggle her many times this week and that was so much fun. This is the schedule that we follow in small babies.

7am- We start the day by bathing or just using a washcloth to wipe the babies down. They bath every 3 days. There are two people that work and we both start doing this.

7:30am- One person continues bathing the babies and the other person starts feeding. We use blankets to prop up the bottles for the babies to eat, since we don’t have enough hands to hold all the babies and all the bottles.

9am- All the babies go back to bed. If they are sleeping they go to bed earlier but they are all in bed by 9 for a nap. We then wash bottles, help hang laundry or help feed the big babies cereal.

10am- Devos and tea time

10:30am- The smaller babies eat again while the big babies keep sleeping or lay in their beds and talk. After they eat they get their diapers changed.

11:30- The big small babies eat while the smaller ones have a little tummy time. The bigger ones get their diapers changed.

12pm- The smaller ones go to bed and we exercise and stretch the bigger ones.

1pm- The bigger ones go to bed and we get the smaller ones up.

1:30pm- The smaller ones eat again and then go back to bed.

2pm- Lunch break

3:30- The bigger ones get up to eat and have diapers changed.

4:30pm- The smaller ones get up to eat and have diapers changed. We take all of their temperatures and complete the end of the day reports on the charts.

5pm- All the babies go to bed for the night and we are done with the day.

All of the smaller babies are on a schedule to eat every 3 hours and the bigger ones are on the 4-hour eating schedule. This means that we are feeding babies all day long!

Latest Happenings at the Baby House

-       We officially have 12 toddlers! Baby H moved downstairs this week and became Big Girl H. 12 is a lot of toddlers!

-       Since we have a few babies leaving there was more moving around again this week. One of the small babies moved to big babies and we got two new small babies. One of the new small babies came from baby house two and she was born on Christmas day. The other baby that we got was the first bin baby of 2013. Two very special babies to join the family here at baby house one!

-       We had visitors this past week at the baby house. It was a family that adopted from Door of Hope over ten years ago. They had their little girl whom they adopted with them and she was beyond beautiful. This was the first time that they saw where their little girl began her life. It was incredible to watch. We pray that this happens with the rest of the babies here today. That they also can one day visit with their families to see where life began for them.

-       If it is possible I continue to fall more in love with these kids everyday. I have loved working with the toddlers. There is one little girl in particular that hold my heart. S is 1 ½ years old and is a tiny little thing. She weighs about 15 pounds and the other day she wore shorts for a 0-3 month old and they fit her fine. Don’t let her size fool you though, she has a big personality. Everyone develops favorite babies while they are here. I do have a few favorites but S is at the top of the list. It is a good thing that I can’t adopt from Door of Hope because the agency they work with does not adopt to the States because I just might come home with her. Please continue to keep this little one in your prayers though as she is HIV positive. I love this little girl and would take her home in a heartbeat!

-       I killed a scorpion in the bathroom in the toddler room right before one of our little guys got to it. I felt pretty powerful after this but then realized that I now have no excuses not to kill spiders at home when asked. If I can kill a scorpion then killing a spider should be no big deal. We will just have to see.

-       All of the kids are suffering from a cold at the moment and some of the toddlers have even thrown up a few times this last week. So far all of the volunteers have escaped this and we hope that is able to continue. Prayers for continued health for everyone would be great.

Latest Happenings in the Flat

-       We continue to kill bugs everyday. Most of them are beetles or big weird fly things. We also sweep up our fair share of ants on a daily basis. I mean they are not scorpions or crazy big spiders, though we have seen both, but I am looking forward to leaving these guys behind in 3 months.

-       We are still watching our movies almost every night but we have also changed it up by watching some TV series that we recently received or that Candice has on her Terabyte hard drive. Our current favorites are Dawson’s Creek and Gilmore Girls.

-       The first one of us has gotten sick. Candice was not feeling well and on her day off Candy came and took her to see a doctor from her church. She came back with medication for tonsillitis, bronchitis, and another infection. She was given about 8 different medications for all of this! Some of them are ones that she should just take her whole time here and others are to make her better now. Thankfully the rest of us have not gotten sick even though the kids continue to pass a runny nose around also. 

-       Alyssa is here so we now have 6 volunteers! She is from Texas. It has been fun to add to the group and to continue to meet people from all over the world. This has only upped the number of places that I would like to travel to now.

-       We are praising God that more of the car situation has been figured out and talked through. It came to our attention that the car was never supposed to be a volunteer car. It was to be used by the volunteers that lived off site so that they could get to work. Since we are all living at the baby house it was not needed any more. There have been some conversations and more people continue to step up to help with rides. We are also being encouraged by many to continue to ask for rides as they feel it is important for us to continue to explore Joburg. We are making our list of places that we would like to get to and trying to find days that work for us to get out. Prayers about this whole situation are continuing to be answered and we praise God for that.

-       We had an exciting Friday night by ordering food out. We got KFC delivered to the baby house for dinner. It is a pretty big deal to do something like this for us. We talk about it all day long and just get so excited for something out of the ordinary, even if it is only KFC being delivered for dinner.

We are a third of the way through February already! This means that I am in South Africa for only about 11 more weeks or less than 80 days! The time is going to fly. As the number of days is getting smaller I have a few prayer requests. Many people are curious as to what I will do when I get back home, I am curious of this as well. I have started to search for jobs and such. Please pray that God continues to open doors for me, and that His plan is revealed. Please also start to pray for the transition back home. This is something that we talk about a lot here among the volunteers. I am so excited to be back home but I know that things will not be the same. I have changed in many ways here and most of the time I will not be able to see and explain these changes but I know they have taken place. Home has also changed. You may or may not know that but I am not going to be going back to the place I left. You all had 6 months that I was not there as well. I know that there will be culture shock and the sense of freedom, while nice will be overwhelming at times I am sure. I also know that I will long for the community that I have developed here. The girls here are the only ones who know what the past 6 months was like for me and sometimes that will be all I want. I am really starting to prayer for the transition back and I would love it if you could join me.

Sending my love and a kisses from the babies your way,

Emily

P.S. If you have not liked Door of Hope on facebook be sure to do so. They have posted pictures recently that I have been tagged in and there are many different photo albums that you can look at on the page.