Swaziland and Kruger National Park

Swaziland and Kruger National Park

Over the weekend we (me, Katy, Candice, Cassie and Margie) went to Swaziland and Kruger for a short vacation. The whole reason that we went was because my passport was going to expire before I left. I had to leave South Africa and re-enter to get re-stamped and be able to stay until April 29. We made a full weekend out of it and had a blast among many adventures!

Day 0- Friday, March 22

We spent the night at Margie’s house on Friday night. We were going to have to leave early in the morning on Saturday and she is a half hour away from us. That would have added an extra hour to her day of driving and this way we could all get a few extra minutes of sleep. We started the weekend off right with a trip to McDonalds for dinner. I think it might have been the best McDonalds that I have ever had. We then went to her house and went to bed right away, which turned into later than we wanted. We were all getting excited for what the next day was going to hold.

Day 1- Saturday, March 23

On Saturday we woke up around 2:30am to get ready for the day and left around 3:45am. It was about a four and a half hour drive to Swaziland. We made it to the boarder and went through the process of crossing. First you drive through a gate that means you are leaving South Africa. Then you have to stop, get out and go inside to get your passport stamped that you are leaving the country. You get back in the car and drive to the next stop and get your passport stamped to enter Swaziland. Then finally you get in the car and drive through the boarder and officially enter Swaziland. Once we got in Swaziland we went to glass factory that we about 5 minutes from the boarder. We had breakfast since it was around 9:30am. After breakfast we walked around some of the shops and through the store of the glass factory. They were not doing the glass blowing so we did not get to see that but we were able to get some really neat things made from recycled glass. We then headed off to a big African market. This market was very big. There were 126 different places to shop. It was set up football field size with all the shops around the boarder and room for parking in the center. It was lots of fun and I was able to get a few things. After the market we went to Pick n Pay to get some things for lunch. We just bought some snack things for lunch. Then we continued another two hours driving through Swaziland to the place that we were going to stay. Along the drive we learned more about Swaziland. Swaziland has the highest percentage of the population with HIV or AIDS. About 1 in every 2 people is infected. We also learned more about the king and his 33 wives. It was beautiful along the way as well. There were many mountains and places that you could just see for miles. Along this drive we also had some fun sharing love with others. We were on the road and driving behind a pickup truck that had 5 people sitting the bed of the truck. We waved and were laughing at each other for some time. Then Margie handed me her Pringles and a bottle of lemonade and told me that she was going to pull up along side of them and I had to gently toss the treats to them. We also found some donuts to give them and put everything together in a plastic bag. Margie pulled up along side of them and I tossed the bag over and it made it in the back of the truck. They loved it! It took all of .2 seconds before the bag was torn open and they were enjoying the treats. Something that you could never do in the States but was so much fun. We also pick up some corn along the way to share with people. It is common in South Africa and in Swaziland to find people grilling corn on the side of the road. The corn has the husk already off and is hot from the fire when you buy it. It is usually 5Rand (50cents) to get an ear. We tried some and really enjoyed it. It has a popcorn taste and is crunchy. We were able to pass these out to people we saw walking along the side of the road. And there are lots of people who just walk, as it is a very poor country. Everyone that we met has soooo happy to have that ear of corn. Each one of them we watched in the rearview mirror and every last one of them started to eat right after we pulled away. We all talked about how it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. The see the pure joy and true thankfulness was incredible. Along our drive we drove through a part of an animal reserve and saw some warthogs, giraffes, and different deer creatures. It was so neat to see. We also saw monkeys on the side of the road many different times throughout the day. We even had to stop for a cow crossing. One of the not so nice things about the drive was some of the roads. Many of the roads, main roads included had numerous speed bumps on them. Not very nice. The speed would also change all the time and it does the same thing in South Africa. It would start out around 60km/hr (36mph) and then go up to 80km/hr (48mph) then 100km/hr (60mph) and finally reach 120km/hr (72mph) only to go back to 100km/hr and then 80km/hr and 60km/hr and the cycle would just continue. We finally made it to our destination by the middle of the afternoon. We stayed at the Mananga Country Club. We had three rooms, two of them had two double beds and one had one double bed. Candice and I like to sleep with fans running and be really cold so we shared a room and Katy and Cassie shared a room while Margie took her own room. Some of the perks of our rooms, a TV, air conditioning, a double bed all to our selves, a huge bathroom and the list could go on. We loved where we were staying. The grounds were also beautiful. There are many animals that run wild such as zebras, different kinds of deer, monkeys and a giraffe. They had a golf course, swimming pool and restaurant all on site. The first thing that we did when we got there though was go to meet Hobs. Margie has told us many stories about Hobs and we were excited to meet him. Hobs is a zebra that is wild but allows you to pet him as long as you feed him. We picked up some carrots and got some great pictures of us feeding and petting Hobs the zebra. It was really neat. After spending some time with Hobs we moved into our rooms and went to the restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed dinner while Margie decided to go back to her room to get a head start on sleep since it had been a long day of driving and the next day was going to be the same. After eating we walked back less than half a mile to our rooms in the dark. Thankfully we did not run into any animals along the way! We went to bed early and dreamed about what was still to come the next day.

Day 2- Sunday, March 24

On Sunday we woke up around 5:30am to get ready to load the car and leave between 6:30 and 7am. We all agreed that it was one of the best nights sleep we had maybe ever had. While we were getting ready the power decided to go out and did not come back on before we left. This is common but it still proved to be an inconvenience. Once we were ready we went outside and fed some of the monkeys and went to visit Hobs one more time. Then we got in the car and headed for the boarder 5 minutes away. We made it through the boarder fine and found out that the date on my visa will allow me to stay even though the passport stamp does not match. They said that I will be fine and I am trusting them even though this is Africa. Continued prayers for the trip back would be much appreciated. Once we were across we headed toward the Crocodile Bridge entrance to Kruger National Park. We stopped by the sign to take some pictures which you might have seen on facebook and then headed in for our adventure. We spent the whole day driving around in the park. Margie told us that if you wanted to drive the entire park you would have to drive everyday from when the gates opened to when they closed for over two months. It is a big place! We saw lots of neat animals but did not spot all of the big 5 unfortunately. We did see the cape buffalo, rhino and elephant but did not see the lion or the leopard. We also saw giraffe, warthog, hippo, zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, impala, spiders, turtles, lizards, and birds. It was a really fun day.  Some highlights were seeing the some giraffes try and scare an elephant. It did not work so well and the elephant ended up scaring the giraffes away from the watering hole. In order to use the bathroom you just find a spot without other cars and animals and quick do your business outside praying that a rhino does not come up behind you. We had come great and really funny conversations in the car and that helped to make the car ride not so bad. When it was close to closing time we headed out of Kruger and started making the 4 and a half hour drive back to the baby house. We stopped for some McDonalds for dinner and just kept on driving. When we were about 45 minutes from the baby house things got interesting. We were going 120 km/hr or 72 mph. It was 10:15pm. We were in a road work zone and could see flashing lights in the left lanes. Margie got over to the right lane and before we knew we were in water. Margie was able to keep the car under control and we did not hit anything and nothing hit us. When we finally came to a stop we saw that the situation was not good. The car would not start and the water was around a meter deep. All of the flashing lights turned out to be tow trucks. We sat in the car for about 15 minutes and no one came to help us or to see if we were all right. Margie decided to roll up her pant legs and go talk to them herself. When she went up to them they asked her what the problem was. Well our car happens to be sitting in a river on the highway if you didn’t notice! They said that they could tow us out and about 20 minutes away was Margie’s office where we could get a new vehicle. We got towed out and the driver came over to talk to us more. He told us that it was going to be very expensive and asked if there was anyone we could call to get a rope tow. Margie called a guy from her office and he came out with another guy to help us. We had to wait about a half hour for him to make it out to us. They were able to rope tow us back thankfully. We talked while we waited and just said over and over this is Africa. Only here would the tow trucks be waiting on the opposite side of the road for cars to get stuck so they could make money. They were not blocking the lane of danger but leading people to it so that they could experience a good night of business. We also decided in the car to stay the night at Margie’s and have her bring us back to work the nest morning. We saw Sunday night end sitting on the highway waiting for a tow…

Day 3- Monday, March 25

Once we finally made it to Margie’s house it was 2am. We had to get up around 5:30am to shower and get ready in order to be back at the baby house for work at 7am. Margie lives 30 minutes from the baby house. We stopped for McDonalds (again) and made it back just in time to work. We unloaded the car and I was getting ready to bring my suitcase to the flat when I heard my name being called from small babies. There was a little guy waiting to be named and I was going to be the one to name him! So despite the lack of sleep Monday morning turned out to be pretty neat. I will write more about my little guy in the next blog that I post.

Overall it was a great weekend and we had lots of fun. We cannot thank Margie enough for all that she has done for us and will continue to do for us. Her life if very busy right now as she is getting ready to come to the States for the summer and then she is being transferred to London. Please keep her in your prayers as she has been such a blessing to all of us at Door of Hope. She will be greatly missed around here.

Until next time,

Emily

Week 20

Week 20

Baby B gets Adopted

This Monday baby B left for adoption. She is one of the babies that came in through the bin while I was here. It is so neat to be able to see her come in and leave to be reunited with her forever family. She is a sweetie and will be a blessing to her family. We pray only the best for her and are so glad that we were able to hold and love her while she was at Door of Hope.

Baby A moves to Toddlers

Baby A moved to toddlers this week Monday. She was one of my favorites in big babies and it will be fun to watch her transition to the toddler room, this means that we are back to having 12 toddlers with all the beds full. Days down there will continue to be crazy and only get crazier now that the room is full again! When I first got here there were a few babies that stood out to me and really reminded me of people from home. Baby A was one of those babies as she reminded me of Andrea so much. Hopefully they will be able to meet over Skype now that she is downstairs. It is much easier to Skype with the toddlers because they go outside so often and that is really the only place that Skype works well for me.

Odds and Ends

-       The week before this one we had some cooler weather around the baby house. There were even a few days that we had to beak out the pants and socks. The babies wore long sleeve and long pants pajamas to bed to stay warm. Not the case this week. We have again had some days that are hotter than blazes. We really need to find the happy middle for these last few weeks.

-       I know that I have mentioned that the kid’s favorite snack is yogurt before. They have one more favorite snack that they don’t get to often and that is bananas. This past week we got a lot of bananas. So many in fact that each of the toddlers got their own and there were even a few left over for snack the next day. The kids loved this! Many of them even cried when they were done because they wanted more. It is so much fun to give them the treats they love so much and that also happen to be so good for them.

-       My favorite snack as of lately has been chips with guacamole. I just can’t seem to get enough of this stuff. My only regret is that it took me 24 years to try it!

-       My two days off this week included the same activity; sitting is the big chair in the living room doing absolutely nothing. This just goes to show that my life in South Africa is not always eventful and full of adventure.

-       Big Boy K calls me by name now! The other day he came up to the flat when the kids were outside looking for Auntie Emily. It was so sweet. Love this kid more everyday.

-       The kids have two favorite phrases that they say. One is ‘stop it’ and the other is ‘nonononono.’ They love to say them when they are getting in trouble and to say them to other kids. Both ways get them in trouble. If only they would pick up on the ‘I love you’ we are trying to teach them.

-       This past week I was working with Candice and it was towards the end of the day. We were watching our movie, Barney, and toddler K was not listening and telling Candice no. She asked him to come over to her. The kids are smart and know that they will probably get a slap on the hand if they disobey in this way. He walked over to her finally and she was talking to him and getting ready to get his hand and it was at that moment that the end song of Barney came on. K just started to yell to Candice, I love you, You love me and we both just lost it and K got away with misbehaving this time. Well played toddler K, well played!

-       I have two babies that are my absolute favorites downstairs and they both know it. Currently they are competing with each other for who gets my lap and my attention the most. We are learning to share and that there is room for two babies on my lap. Love these little ones sooo much!

-       We had a great weekend in Swaziland and Kruger National Park and I will post about our adventures soon!

See you all soon,

Emily

Week 19

Week 19

Big Boy J Leaves

The beginning of the week big boy J left us. He has moved to a special needs home and he will still have the possibility of being adopted. This was a hard day as J was Katy’s favorite baby here. It is so hard to say good-bye to these babies and when the baby is your favorite it is just too much. It is also hard to know that he is moving to a different home and not going to his forever home. We continue to trust in the plans that God has for J’s life and are so blessed by the time that we got to spend with him here at the baby house.

Baby T is a Toddler

Baby T from big babies moved downstairs this past week. He is handling the transition all right. Everything is different and at first he just wanted to go back upstairs. When he realized that we get to spend time outside later in the day his mind was made up that he is happy where he is. He loves to be outside. He will turn 1 at the end of the month and we are excited to continue watching him grow and change with the rest of the toddlers.

A Day Away

This week Wednesday all of us had off except for Katy. We were able to get her off as well (thanks Auntie Mary and Auntie Sylvie!) and we headed off for a day of fun. When we were at Monte Casino after the Rhino and Lion Park we really wanted to get back and spend more time there. Margie said that she would be able to pick us up some morning and drop us off for the day. We talked to Lisa as well and she was able to come to. Margie picked us up around 9:45am and first we headed to a jewelry store near the airport. It was too fun to make this detour as this store is located in a 5 star hotel. Margie has bought many different pieces of jewelry here and many of the Door of Hope girls want to make a stop after seeing what she has. I decided to get a necklace in the shape of Africa that is zebra print. The stripes are silver and black. The black in the stripes are giraffe hair. I really love it and it did not break the bank. After this stop we started the trek to Monte Casino and took another detour through Alexandra. Alexandra or Alex as it is known around here is a township that is near Joburg. Margie asked if we wanted to drive through a part of it and just she was the living conditions were like. It was very eye opening and something I really enjoyed. I did not take any pictures because I wanted to respect the people living here and because I wanted to see Alex in person and not just from behind the camera lens. It was funny though as we were leaving we saw a guy pull out his phone to take a picture of us. 7 white women driving through Alex must not happen very often! Finally we did end up making it to Monte Casino. The first thing on the agenda was to find lunch. After checking out a few places we settled on an Italian place. I ordered pizza and it was really good. Then we headed off to explore more. We found out pretty quickly that Monte Casino is more of a place to eat and then come for entertainment. There was not a lot of shopping or things like that to do. There is a casino that we passed by, a movie theatre, bowling ally, theatre and outdoor bird gardens. We walked through the few stores that were there. One of the stores was a candy store and it had lots of American candy. There were even a few different American foods. We got some candy that was a bit over priced but skipped the extremely overprices box of Lucky Charms. Really who is going to pay $14 for a box of cereal?!? I did end up finding a skirt in one of the stores that I bought and I just love. There were a few more that I would have bought also but they were a bit pricey. After our day Margie met us for dinner. We went to Gourmet Garage and it was delicious. I had the best cheeseburger that I have had in South Africa so far. The last stop of the night was to Super Spar. We needed a few groceries and this Super Spar is known to have a few American things every once in a while. It always depends what they have but we went to check it out. It ended up being a miss on some of the things that we were really missing but we were all excited to find pop-tarts. The next day when we had some during teatime we all agreed that they were some of the best tasting pop-tarts we had ever had despite not being our favorite flavors. Overall it was a great day. It was so much fun to hang out together away from the baby house.

Bible Study and Mary Kay

This week Thursday Margie was not able to come to Bible Study. She watched another missionary couple’s kids last minute. The rest of us went on with Bible Study but threw in an extra bit. We had vegetable soup with bread and brownies for dinner and then shared in the Word together. After that we indulged in a little Mary Kay party. Cassie’s sister sent us the supplies. We all did the facials complete with mask and ridiculous make-up. We also tried some different hand products. It was too funny but we had lots of fun laughing at each other. So if you happened to run across any weird pictures of us looking crazy on facebook that is what went down. I am really loving the community of volunteers here and it will be very hard to leave them. We have formed friendships that we pray can continue to cross oceans.

Bachelorette Party

This past Friday we went to Little Italy to celebrate Lisa’s upcoming wedding. Most of the volunteers have to work on the day of the wedding unfortunately so this was nice to be able to celebrate with her. It was us from Door of Hope, some ladies from her Bible Study, girls from another baby home and some of the ladies from Jason’s family there. It was a fun place to be as there was live music and great food. We did get to experience what it is like to eat out in South Africa with a big group of people. We got to the restaurant around 6:45pm. We did not order until around 7:15pm and our food to did come out to us until around 8:45pm. Talk about a long wait! We did not end up leaving until around 10:30pm. I said I am not sure that I have ever sat in a restaurant for that long before. It was a fun night and very chill because that is what Lisa wanted. We all just had to comment that it was so fun to be part of a wedding celebration while we are here in South Africa. Lisa and Jason get married on Thursday in a private ceremony for only family and then will celebrate with family and friends at a picnic reception. We wish them nothing but the best and many blessing on this new journey.

Vacation…Again!

I am heading out of the country in two weekends. We are going to Swaziland with Margie. It will be Cassie, Candice, Katy and I. We are super excited! The whole reason for the trip is that my passport was only stamped for 5 months when I got here and I did not notice that or know how to handle that when I got here. You are able to enter South Africa for 90 days without a visa. We are leaving and then going to reenter so that my passport can be re-stamped for 90 days. If I did not leave I would be in trouble at the airport and would probably be facing a big fine for being in the country illegally. Margie has made this trip before and has everything all planned out for us. We are going to visit a glass factory and an African market in Swaziland and then will drive through Kruger Park on the way home. Hopefully we will see some great animals! It will be nice that we can all get away for the same weekend and this will be the last big trip that we make together.

This and That

-       We found the toy that my girl S is afraid of this week. It is a plastic cow. It is brown and has horns. She is terrified of it and I am not sure why. I was calling her to come sit in her chair for lunch and this guy was in her way. She took one look at it and her eyes got huge, she screamed and ran to hide. Finally I did get her in her chair. We have showed it to her again and the reaction is the same. Well it is sad there is something that is a bit funny about the whole thing as well.

-       We played cards again this week. Phase 10 was the game of choice. I love this game and sometimes it can be hard to find people that want to play all the way through with you. I won. This means that every game I have played here I have won. The girls think that I am just so good at games and I said that I am just lucky with this crowd. Better quit while I am ahead I think.

-       We got a huge donation of baby food this week. Around 2700 jars! It was a grand total of two flavors the kids are going to be mighty sick of it pretty quick.

-       I have to wish Aubrey a big Happy Birthday! I am so thankful to count you as a friend. I pray that this year is filled with unexpected blessings and beauty. Love you girl.

This week I ran across a poem while I was reading blogs. It really stood out to me and was what I needed to hear. I am not sure what is next and continue to seek the Lord for what it is that I am suppose to be doing when I get home. I know that I am suppose to be in Holland but that is as far as it goes. I don’t like the whole waiting for answers thing, but I guess that I have not yet run into someone who does. This poem said it really well.

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, lovingly I cried

Quietly, patiently, lovingly He replied

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate

And the Master so gently said “Child, you must wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply

Lord, I need answers, I need to know why

.Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

My future, and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me ‘wait’?

I’m needing a ‘yes,’ a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

“And Lord, you have promised that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

I’m weary of asking: I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; “So, I’m waiting, for what?”

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine

And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

All you see I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust, just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me,

When darkness and silence was all you could see.

You would never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of my comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

And you would never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’

Yes, your dreams for that loved one o’ernight could come true,

But the loss! If you lost what I’m doing in you.

So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of these gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all... is still... wait.

As I wait on the Lord I learn so much more about Him and have to rely on Him so much more. What a beautiful opportunity this is and something that should not be wished away. My new prayer is that I take joy in waiting in the Lord. He has everything planned and I need to let Him reveal plans on His time and not mine. Just a few thoughts from this week for you!

Love from Africa! (I still can’t believe that I get to say this sometimes!)

Emily

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