0 days--- Home

Home. What a word.

Yesterday home was a little cottage I shared with an amazing lady from Switzerland right next to a nursery filled with little ones who have stolen my heart. 

Today home is the house I grew up in.

 But I think yesterdays home is where my heart is still. I ache for it. Tears come every time I think of it. I miss those little ones and all my TLC family. Past volunteers weren't lying when they said that it sucks to leave and be home that it hurts like nothing else. I feel as if my heart was ripped out. 

I keep asking myself why did I come home. Why did I leave home. 

Somewhere in my I know it was time to leave. A part of me is excited to see what is next. But how could it ever beat what I just left. 

What I would give to be sitting in the hospital next to my little girl today. And I don't even like hospitals. I just ache to be there with her.  With them all.

1 day-- Bags are packed.

Its crazy how fast a year goes when you are staying busy loving babies. My bags are sitting in my cottage which I was still calling home 20 min ago. I'm hoping and praying that they are not too heavy. I kept a lot here. but I still ended up with a lot left. All the pictures and foot prints and things I cant part with.  In 30+ hours I will be back on US soil. Well in an airport.


I have started my goodbyes but more tears are to come. 

This little one didn't want to nap so I am spending my last minutes with him.

2 days-- Jungle Rumble

So Laila had a birthday last weekend. We all went to Jungle Rumble for it. We took the kids. Well not all just 17. It was a lot of fun.

3 days-- What I wont miss

The short list.

- Poo up to their armpits.
- Cleaning up rice after the Lions eat dinner.
- Kids tearing apart books.
- Rice and meat stew.
- Snot in a constant flow out of noses.


Maybe there are a few more but that is what I can think of right now.

I officially finished work today.  It was such a weird feeling all day. Tears came twice. Once when I talked to my girl about me leaving and then at the end of the day when the Lions asked me to pray.

Tomorrow I take my girl out and then finish packing.

4 days-- Volunteer weekends.

While at TLC I had three of them. One in October, Feburary and June. Each were unique and fun.

The first on Ubuntu. I blogged about it back in October. Was very much about us, our won stories and how those and the people around us make us who we are. There was much sitting and listening. Deep thinking.

The second one was team building. It was about us as a team and how we worked together. We barely sat. We played games, built shelters and took hikes.

The third was about the kids. How we can help them. We learned and discussed the circle of wisdom as a helpful model to assess the kids. We had a lot of time together. We took a nature hike and all stayed in one big house.

All three were good. It was always nice to take a step back from TLC and the kids and regroup. Its also one of the only times that all the volunteers are together just us. Im sad that I will be missing the next one. Zoe always did an amazing job planning and executing.

4 days-- New babies. ( make up for yesterday)

So one of the big things at TLC is when a new baby arrives. If you are lucky you are in the next when they do and get to welcome them. You weigh, bath, dress and feed them. I was lucky to be in there three times when a new baby arrived. All three girls. So that is good odds since we have gotten only a 5 girls this year I believe. 4 in the nest. Here are some pics of the girls first moments at TLC.

First TLC bottle.

First bath ever.

5 days-- tired

Hi so I am exhausted tonight so I promise you two blogs tomorrow.

6 days-- Like an African.

So the first year I was in S. Africa I saw mommas carrying their kids on their backs with towels and blankets. I always wanted to try. Well working at TLC has given me the chance. Sometimes too much of a chance. Last week of night shift I carried someone for at least 3 hours every night maybe more. There were a lot of screaming kids.

7 Days-- All the crying

So we don't just have smiles here at TLC. There are tears too.  I'm in the nest now with some of them so it gave me an idea for a blog. So here are some of our  beautiful kids acting not so beautifully. Some have good reasons to be sad others don't.

I know i posted before but its a favorite.

8 days-- the bobbit

So the bobbit is a made up word here. It is our closet that stores a lot of STUFF. Anything and everything that we need on a daily basis is kept in there. The best way to explain it is pictures. So here is our very own eye spy game.

9 Days-- My paint

At my sisters request. Here is my paintings this year.

This first set is in the Grubs room. 

The final product doesn't have pink around it.

 

This next set is in the bedrooms. 

 

 

These trees are in the nest. Probably the biggest and longest painting project of all of them. 

 

The final room is the Lions room. I was glad to be able to get this done before i leave. I still have a couple hours work in here before its totally finished. 

So there they are. My gift to the nursery.

10 days-- adoptions

So this year we have said goodbye to many wonderful lucky kids who have gone home with their moms and dads. Its always a hard and happy day. Its the best thing that can happen to orphans. They have families now. They are in a home where they feel safe and loved. Not that they weren't here but its not the same as a home of their own. Here is a quick look at those we have said goodbye to and handed over to their families. 

11 days--- Paint

We have fun at TLC with paint.