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. 

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

Cape Town Day 6

Day 6!

Last day of our Cape Town vacation. We got up and had breakfast this morning and then drove about 20 minutes to a farm so that we could ride horses on the beach. We got the farm and fitted with our riding helmets and the guides got us set up with horses. I rode Pockets. I am not a horse rider at all. Pockets and I had a little talk about this before we left and I told him we were going to go slow and listen to what I told him to do. He responded by biting my foot. Once we were all set we started down a trail that led to the beach. All four of the horses that we were on liked to eat so we spent most of the time on the trail trying to keep this in line and stop them from eating. We did make it to the beach and walked the beach for almost an hour before heading back. We had watched the horses on the beach all week long and it was fun to be on them. Katy was telling us that the morning before she was sitting outside for a while and she saw a horse fall on the beach. While I was talking with the guide on our ride I found out that it was Pockets that fell. Good thing I found this out after we had started. We got back and stretched our leg and ate lunch at a little café they had at the farm. Then we came back to our place and walked the beach for a little bit. After that we packed and are spending our last bit of time on the Internet. We fly back to Joburg tonight. It was an amazing trip filled with so many memories. We are so blessed that we were able to take this time away to renew ourselves for the home stretch. Because guess what friends, February 1 means that I will have been in South Africa gone for almost 90 days and I will have less than that until I start the journey home. We are in the double digits now! Please continue to pray for the transition back to working with the babies and for the last three months that I will be gone. Pray that homesickness does not set in when we get back and that transportation issues begin to be resolved.  

Cape Town Day 5

Day 5!

Another busy day! We started off the day later though so that we could sleep in. We got up and had breakfast and took our time getting ready. We left around 11am to make the 2 ½ hour drive to Ceres. In Ceres we went zip lining. If you know me you know my fear of heights. It is really bad. I went on the zip line at Camp in 2011 for the first time and even that took a lot of convincing. I told the girls when we were on the way that I was really nervous for it but game to do it anyway. We had a nice drive through the mountains again. We are always driving through the mountains or on the coast here. On the way we saw some baboons. We were so excited that we finally saw some. We were not able to stop to watch them or get cameras out quick enough so we don’t have any photo evidence but we did see a few of the famous Cape Town baboons. When we got to the zip line place we paid and the guides helped us in harnesses. We then got fitted with helmets and gloves. Once we were geared up we got in the van and rode to the first line. We zipped a total of 8 lines ranging in length from 100 to 300 meters. The longest way down was 50 meters. This might be one time that it is good that we are not as familiar with the scale. There is not enough time to convert meters to feet and freak out about it. It was so much fun to do the zip line and it is something that I would do again in a heartbeat. Not something that I was expecting. We also got lots of great photos as one of the guides just took pictures of us the whole time. It was great! After our zip trip we headed over to Table Mountain. We called and found out that it was open and we did want to get to the top still. We rode the cable car up to the top and stood in awe of what God had made. The view from the top was breathtaking. You could see for miles. We walked around for a bit and when we got cold, stopped in the gift shop and then headed back down. Table Mountain is one of the seven wonders of nature. We were glad to make it to the top and check it off the list. After Table Mountain we headed down to the V&A Waterfront again to get dinner. We ate at a very nice restaurant. I got seafood again. I had the catch of the day which was king cling fish. It was very good. We then walked around the waterfront for a bit, got ice cream or coffee and then headed back to our place. Tomorrow is our last day and it will be bitter sweet. We have had a great trip and are sad to see it end but there will be something refreshing about getting back to “normal” to Joburg. 

Cape Town Day 4

Day 4!

We started off our Saturday by waking up at six to get ready and leaving around 7:15am for the day’s adventure…Cage Diving with the Great White Sharks! We drove about 2 ½ hours to shark ally where the most dense population of Great Whites of the world live. The drive was along the coast and through the mountains. It was a beautiful drive but a long drive. We made it to Great White Project right on time at 10:00am. We were provided breakfast and watched a little shark week that they had playing. There was a nervous excitement in the building. Around 11:00am we headed out to the harbor, put on life jackets and got on the boat. We then drove out about 15 minutes to where the sharks were. When we got there they talked a little more about what was going to happen and where to find food and the bathroom on the boat. They also asked if there were bigger groups that wanted to go together. The 4 of us said that we wanted to go together and so we went first. We got our wetsuits and wiggled and jumped and pulled our way into them, put on our little booties and masks and climbed into the cage, which was in the water. The water was cold and very salty. The way that the sharks come to the boat is through bait that is on the end of a rope. We just waited in the water for a shark to come. When a shark would come the guides would yell down down down and everyone in the cage is suppose to go down. The cage holds 5 people and is metal. Your feet can rest on the front of the cage but your hands have to be on the red bar under water or on the top of the cage, which is out of the water. To get down, you grab the red bar and pull yourself under water. We were in the cage for at least 20 minutes and saw 2 sharks. One of them actually came up and hit the cage. The bait is thrown out and when a shark comes it is pulled up to the cage so that is why the sharks hit the cage. It is really cool to be able to see them from both in the water and in the boat. Towards the end of our time in the cage I could feel myself starting to not feel well. I was not surprised by this and tried to prevent it by taking motion sickness tablets and ginger. Sad to say that is did not work. We got out of the cage and yes I did have to go get sick over the side of the boat. This happened three times during the four hours we were at sea. (Sorry if this is TMI but I promised that I would be honest with you on this blog!) Also while I was sitting in the boat, I got pooped on by a seagull. They seem to be just as bad here as they are at home. I stayed in my wetsuit to keep warm and sat on the edge of the boat for the rest of the trip. I was able to see sharks from in the boat but I do wish that I would have been able to enjoy the trip more if I had not felt so sick. Once everyone had their turn we packed up the boat and made the 15-minute drive back to land. We saw about 6 different sharks ranging in size from 10 feet to 7 feet. Once we got back we went inside and ate soup to warm ourselves up and we watched a video that was made of the trip. We then had the opportunity to buy the video and the 4 of us each bought one that we are excited to share with everyone at home. I would highly recommend doing it if you ever have the opportunity because it really is neat. We then headed back to where we are staying but stopped on the way for dinner at a seafood place and then walked over to a café for dessert. When we got back to out to our place I took a shower and enjoyed the Internet. Car update- we got a few pointers from people at home and we are able to get the car in reverse now! It was fun to push the car while it lasted though. Check back tomorrow for another crazy adventure update!