22 June 2010

Here are my babies!!

Elizabeth is three years old and has cerebral palsy. She had been going to school and was able to learn so much! She can sit by herself, roll all the way over, and her vocabulary has grown a lot.


Jeremiah is my little boy. He is not so much a “baby” anymore- he’s a tough little man. He loves to run, watch the goats, help “Uncle”, and he is a future soccer star!


Julia is not really one of the babies because Trena has decided to “adopt” her (Americans are not allowed to adopt Kenyan babies at this time). She is such a funny little busybody. Her and Jeremiah have so much fun together!


Kate is awesome. She has a snarl of a smile and loves to pretend to be a lion- grunting and growling as she makes her way around the house. Lately she has been standing up on her own, so she will be walking very soon!


Eli has become such a happy baby. Though he may look angry in the picture, that is actually his goofy little smile. He learned how to clap the other day and is so proud of himself.


Hope is such a sweet baby. She just hangs out and watches life. She just got her first tooth in this week. As I mentioned earlier, her smile is my favorite; it takes up her whole face! (I’m sorry…I still haven’t gotten a good picture of her smile, but she’s still so beautiful!)


David is the peaceful baby, as long as he is being held. He is six months old, but his body is only the size of a newborn because of the malnourishment he suffered before he came. All you have to do to get him to smile is say his name; he loves it!


Joseph, or “the last born” as the girls often refer to him as, is only a few weeks old and was abandoned/dropped off at the house the day he was born. He is growing fast; today he graduated from preemie to newborn size clothes!

21 June 2010

Welp, I figured I should let you all know what I’ve been doing here. I realized that it’s pretty shady of me to just hang out in Africa without anyone knowing what I’m really doing here. I’ve spent the last few weeks here at Haven of Hope Baby House working with Trena Ivy. At the end of the week, I’m going out to a village to visit the other orphanage I worked with last year, Haven on the Hill. There is a team of thirty Americans coming to help build a new dorm and put on a VBS for the village kids. I’m really excited to see the boys again and get to help out with the team!

While I’m here, I’ve been working with Trena and being an extra set of hands. I came right in time to help move the entire ministry family, which was a big undertaking. The moving company’s motto is, “move without tears”, but there were most definitely tears last week. Moving eight babies and all of their stuff was a bit crazy. My “project” here at the new house has been to organize all of the baby clothes. Though it may not seem like such a noble job, it is a necessary and time-consuming task. Between sorting through all of the jumbled mess of misplaced and not fitting clothes piles each baby had and trying to match the sizes of pre-bagged and new clothes, it was a mess for awhile. But, look! All of the babies have size appropriate, nicely folded, (and perhaps overly organized) clothes! Woooo!







(Also, if you’re wondering why all of the dates don’t match, it’s because I’m posting the date of when I wrote the post. My internet and I are not friends...)

17 June 2010

Baby Hope!

Hope came to Haven of Hope only a few weeks before I left last year. It was October 15th, so she was my half birthday present! She was two weeks old and weighed only FOUR pounds. Her mother died during giving premature birth to her. When the family came for the mother's body, they left baby Hope behind because she had a heart murmer. She is a miracle baby, a child who survived the odds. That's how she got her name; her story is one of hope.



But look at her now! She's almost nine months old now and such a happy baby. She is learning to sit by herself and only cries if she's hungry and her food isn't given to her quick enough. Hope is still a little peanut; she has big ears, huge eyes, and a beautiful, infectious smile.

15 June 2010

We're all moved into Nakuru! It was a crazy few days trying to get everything unpacked and organized (especially with 8 babies!), but the house looks great and everyone is settling in nicely. Here are some pictures of our new home:




The house has four bedrooms, a large living/playing room, a connected dining room, and a back office area for Trena's gross work. There is a big yard with space for a large garden, and plenty of room for Jeremiah and Julia to play soccer. The neighborhood is great too; we've already taken an evening walk with all the babies :)

13 June 2010

Today was moving day. The trucks came at 8:30 this morning and we all (8 babies, 4 staff, Trena, Daisy the guard dog, and I) pulled out at 2:30. The day ended in Nakuru at 9:30 pm when the movers left. They have to come back in the morning in order to finish unpacking and putting beds together, but we are all here. Tomorrow will be a crazy day of trying to unpack while keeping the babies occupied. Haven of Hope now resides in the Great Rift Valley! Yay for warm weather!! :D

12 June 2010

Trena, Sandra, and I took all 8 babies and three staff girls to the elephant orphanage and giraffe center today. It was absolutely exhausting but so awesome! The staff loved it, and the babies thought it was great just to be out. Jeremiah wasn’t even scared of the giraffes when they tried to lick him! It was a really great day.

5 June 2010

Well it took me about 31 hours of travel time to get here, but I arrived in Kenya last night! My flight got in at about 9, customs took forever, and we stopped at Gallitos on the way home for some chicken, so we didn’t get to the house until 12. In the line for customs, I convinced one of the security men to allow me to stand in the “special” line, which is reserved for important people like ambassadors. Right away, the man in front of me turned around and offered me some mints. We started talking and as it turned out, he was the Mexican ambassador, so it was cool I got to talk to him! Side note: I did not eat the mints.
I spent the morning playing with the babies. It’s very weird how different they are. I remember them in such a specific time in their life, but they’ve grown up. Jeremiah is a little boy now. Kate has a personality. Hope is no longer frighteningly small. And now we have David and Joseph! All of the babies are amazing; I love them so much! It feels like home here, but at the same time, it feels totally different. The people have changed, but the place is the same. It’s an odd sort of comfort.
Nelly and I took piki pikis to Ngong Town to get chicken and chips for dinner tonight. First piki piki ride of the trip on my first day? Awesome!

Disclaimer

6-3-10

I guess I should start off with a disclaimer: I do not know what this blog is going to look like, and I'm not making any promises.

That said, I do have ideas, or rather thoughts, on what I want it to look like. I want to write to the people I love, so I'm not going to apologize for the informal nature. I want to update them on life, thoughts, adventures, funny, or perhaps just weird, events (which seem to follow me everywhere). I want to post pictures and videos of my babies, and maybe I'll post some journal entries. I think you get the point. Welcome to my awesome life.

Also, thank you Carly for designing my pretty blog :)