A year that was a year ago.

 

Our whole group (minus the sick ones) for sports day

Today marks 6 months living in Omaha and a year since I had to say my hardest goodbye yet. Can't believe its been a year since I was at TLC. Since I said good-bye to my sweet girl. To some of my closest friends, and to a place the has stolen my heart. A place that taught me so much about love and patience and friendships. A place that became family and my home for a year.
 

The grubs just before bed.

My sweet girl

Every day I think and miss those kids and my fellow volunteers. I miss my little girls laugh when I poke her tummy. I miss holding on to Johnnys hand while her fell asleep at night. I miss dance time with the creepies. I miss laying on the floor of the grubs room with all the beautiful babies learning how to sit and crawl and walk. I miss putting them all to bed and the end of the day, patting their backs till they slept. I miss pushing three kids in a stroller made for one. I miss evenings playing spoons or sipping wine while chatting in the hide. I miss planning days off with kids and then making them happen. I miss hugs from Mama Thea. I miss teas with Eleanor. I miss movies on breaks with Laila. I miss scrapbooking after shift with Elisabeth, Laila, Eleanor, Robert, and others. I miss walking up to the farm to get fresh eggs. I miss chasing chickens. I miss meetings with Zoe. I miss volunteer meetings when it was just us volunteers bonging and relaxing. I miss painting the nursery and making it more of a home for the kids. I miss trying to sweep up rice from the floor. I miss every once of it. Yeah there were times that weren't that great. Nights I would cry myself to sleep. Days I would get frustrated with co-volunteers. The good and the beautiful out shine all the dark and gloomy. I always remember the good. As each day passes those hard things are harder to remember. I was a year that will always be close to my heart. A year filled with smiles, laughs, crys, giggles, dances, walks, and crawls that will always be remembered.

The lions when I first arrived.

What a year it was. A year of cuddles, screams, long walks around the farm, jumps on the trampoline, visits to the chickens, turtles and cows, chats on the couch in the hide, drawing on the bathroom wall, changing nappies, reading stories, praying with the lions before bed, bath times, messy meals, trips to the outdoor fridge, day offs to the glen, meals out with great friends, swims in the pool with the best lions ever, piles and piles of laundry, and so so much more. 

My last night with the Lions.

Thank you to all who volunteered with me and made it a year I will NEVER forget.

Eleanor and I before the big game.

Some ABC'S of life at TLC.

A great group of volunteers to live and work with from all over the world.

Baking cookies and cakes on night shift, days off and nap times.
Cooking in a microwave because that is all our cottage has.
Dinners of two minute noodles because you just cant eat another meal of rice and stew.
Early mornings (530) are normal and easy.
Forever families on adoption week, blessing us and thanking us for taking care of their kid till they could themselves.
Goats, geese, chickens, pigs all passed daily on the walk to work.

Hugs and kisses whenever you want them or need them.
In three months finally being use to not closing the microwave after use.
Jumping on the trampoline with 7 lions.
Kids everywhere of all ages.
Lack of water for days at a time.
Movie nights, game nights, scrap booking nights and bonfires.
Nappies smelly with poo in the morning, afternoon and night.
Off days at The Glen (the mall near by)
Packages and letter from home always make your day/week.
Quiet moment after a lot of screaming and crying that will always be cherished.
Rain storms that scare you.
Splashes during bath time leaving you soaked.
Thanksgiving dinner cooked by the Americans and shared with 6 other countries.

Undies and flipflops. Must needs for one of our lions when first woken up.
Vomit everywhere on everything on weeks when all is sick.
Wishing you can take each and every kid home with you.
Xylophones being played by grubs. No rhythm. But so cute.
Yearning for more of HIM and needing to spend more time with Him but so tired at the end of the day.
Zealous trips to the outdoor fridge after a food donation to grab ones favorite foods.

Time is disappearing

Yesterday marked one week left in Marshall. In Michigan. In The United States. 

Which means that today is my last Friday here in for a year. 

Next week I will be stepping off a plane back on to South African soil. I have waited for this for a while. 

I am excited. I am getting more ready as the time gets closer for this next season in my life. It will be a great adventure. I will gain many new friends, life lessons and wisdom. I would lie if I said I am nervous. So many questions run thru my head daily. Will my co-volunteers like me?  Will I be any good with the kids? What am I doing?  So you realize how long a year is, What if you don't like it? What will you do after the year is up? Am I packing too much (How does one pack for a year, anyway?)?

But I refuse to let those questions squash my excitement.

 In just over a week I will be holding little South African babies who people have "thrown away". I will be the one to show them love. To show them that they are wanted and will grow strong and make a difference in this world.

In just over a week I will be joining a team, no a family, of people from around the world who have signed up to do just what I have. People who I know will be my family before the year is over. Who will cause me to cry for days when a year from now i am saying goodbye to them. Who will be there to give me a big hug when I am having a bad day and to laugh and smile with me on really great days. People who will help me to learn all there is to learn to take care of the babies. Who will remind me how to do something that I have forgotten. 

Each time I get nervous, I remind myself that there is much more to be excited about. The lord has called me to this.

 He said Go and I am going.

I want...

I miss Africa.

America doesn't fit anymore. I am blessed to have been born and raised here. Free of all the hardships that my dear loved ones in Africa experience everyday. But I don't want to live here.

I want to be in Africa.

I want to walk down the street slowly and not feel like I'm being left behind.

I want tea to be a normal part of your day.

I want to bring what I have to give and share and show the Love of the LORD to those who don't know it.

I want to hold that child who never gets held.

I want to dance and sing at church and not be the only one.

I want to be able to walk down the road and stop and talk to people about how they are doing and have real conversations.

I want to watch children play in the streets with sticks and tires and not in their homes watching TV.

I want to look into the eyes of children who are desperate to look into anothers' eyes.

I want to drive on the other side of the road.

I want to pack my pack again and set off to change peoples lives and have my life changed in the process.

I want to bring light to the darkness.

I want to share the Love and truth that I know with anyone who will listen.

I want to be in Africa.