Location= TLC

Where I am going?--- The Love of Christ Children's Home.

Check it out for yourself HERE.

A little bit about my home next year: 

"In a country where more than half the population lived in appalling conditions, with very little income, in families torn apart by urbanisation and legal restrictions, The Love of Christ Ministries was established by the Jarvis family to rescue the tiniest victims of a society in turmoil.
Since we rescued our first two little ones in April 1993, we have continued to play a part in changing the destiny of more than 780 babies who have been abandoned or orphaned, as our nation continues to be plagued by HIV-AIDS, unemployment and high crime levels.

That in itself has been a great challenge for us, but we are dedicated to more than just saving babies. Our primary ethos at TLC is that "every child has the right to a loving and responsible family", this requires us to do more.

Every baby at TLC is a part of our family, we hold each little one dear, we fight for the rights of every one, we seek the best for each individual, always.

Being committed to this belief has meant that over time we have had to grow. Our family has grown from five children to almost thirty; Our nursery accommodates another thirty little babies between birth and three years; We are assisted by a fantastic international team of 16 - 24 volunteer caregivers. We employ a number of staff members to assist with administrative and domestic duties. And we now report to a board, who assist us in ensuring we keep sailing in the right direction."

As you can tell I will not be alone volunteering.  I have to say that I am excited to be living with other young adults (yes I still think of myself in this category) my own age again. I thrive on and with community. This time it will be with those from all over the world which makes it all the better.

I'm going back!

I’m going back.
Back to Africa.
South Africa.
Not with a team, but by myself.
I am going to be sharing my heart and love with children.
Children who have been rejected and abandoned.

I am excited to go back and minister to the kids of SA.
It may look different than last time but I know that the Lord has BIG plan for me.
Bigger that I can imagine.

Just like all other trips its a little scary.  I mean a YEAR is a long time. Longer than I have ever gone before. But, I did nine months (twice), what’s three more.  I just got done with helping with VBS.  The theme for the week is “Anything is possible God.”. But ,I think that it will be the theme for my year. Something I hold on to.


More about who and where later this week.

Today I cried.

Last summer. At the Pond.

I went with my dad to visit my Grandma.  She is now in a home. Its been a long tough road for all of us. She was and still is such a strong lady that its hard to see her curled up in bed staring off into space.  We usually bring Grandma home for Sunday dinner but after last week Dad wanted to see how she was. So we went to see her. 





She was laying in bed when we got there. Covered up with blanks and a blank stare.  We talked to her and rubbed her back.   Dad left the room to talk to one of the ladies working there so it was just me and Grandma.  I have for about a week now had this feeling that we needed to tell her that it was okay to leave us. She is a strong lady and could probably out last us all. But she deserves to be happy. So once I mustered up my strength and bravery (dad had reentered at this point) I told her that it was okay to go be with Grandpa that we would be okay and that I wanted her to be happy. She deserves that. Then the tears came. Dad also reassured her that she could go be with Grandpa, Uncle John and Aunt Mary. That she can relax and its okay to leave. It was hard to both say and hear these words but my Grandma is a fighter. Survived Chemo twice and lost her husband at a early age. Part of me really felt that she is holding on for us. I just needed to tell her that she didn’t have to.  


I think of all my Grandma has taught and shown me over the years. All the things she has made it through.  It is just not fair for her to have such a hard end to life. 

 

This summer.

If you have a little extra prayer in you. Pray for peace for her. Pray that she can let go and truly go Home. It will be hard for us when this happens but it will be WAY better for her.

Its a GIRL!

A update of our cardinal baby.   Her feathers are starting to come it and its a GIRL!  She is growing fast. Hard to believe its been only a week and a half. She almost takes up her whole nest.  Mom must be feeding her well.

 Dad does a great job of keeping watch. Which means he is still hitting all the windows on our house over and over and over again.  At least that means he's not hurt.

 Today and yesterday she was sleeping. Hoping to get a picture of her awake again before she starts to fly.

It's a family.

Saturday I sat watching TV in our living room. I kept hearing a tapping sound. It would pause for a sec and then start back up again. So I got up to investigate. There on the sill outside our window behind the couch stood a male cardinal. Every couple seconds he would attack the window. 

Now other summers we had problems with birds thinking they could enter our house thru the windows. Actually, I'm pretty sure that they keep seeing their reflections and thinking its a bird they need to fight. Kind of funny. And sad. I don’t want them to get hurt. So we always ended up with paper plate faces on our windows.

But this was always at the back of the house on the south side, never at this particular window.  Luckily I had my camera sitting on the arm of the couch. I was able to grab it and get several pictures of the cardinal. I was only like 2 feet or less from it. I told dad about this and he thought it was weird that the male would be that close to the house. So we went to inspect.

 

As we walked toward the corner of the house the female bird flew from our bush. We ended up finding a nest with a baby and an egg in it. How cool.  So since then I have gone out every couple of days and taken a pictures of the babies. 
 

 

Now since then the dad has kept trying to fly into the windows.  I’m convinced that he thinks his reflection is another bird out to get his kids. I have put up paper in the window to cover up where the bird can see so there wont be a reflection. Hoping that he can relax and not hurt himself.

I am hoping to continue to take pictures and watch the little ones grow. 

Tree

I finally finished my tree quilt. It took much longer than normal, since I decided to quilt it. Not sure why I made that decision. Except that it looks better than if it were tied. Most of the fabric used was found it the boxes and piles around the house. I did have to buy some green and the orange boarder. I am happy with it.  Came out better than I could have guessed.

Omaha Visit.

Sisters reunited.

36 holes of golf.

Dad and his girls.

Right after I touched him.

Two places at once.

Waiting for Easter dinner.

Monkeys. So fun to watch.

Rope Bridge.

Busy Board

So  before  going to my sisters Kt gave dad an assignment. He was to make a busy board for kts students.  I think he did a good job.

Bison, indoor desserts, and frozen yogurt.

So I have spent Easter with my family out in Ne with my sister at her apartment. She moved there in January. First time we have seen her since then.  Its (seeing her) a vast improvement over phone calls on the way home from work. I do enjoy those calls though. Today was a filled day in the morning while kt was at work mom and dad and I went sightseeing. We saw Chef Boyardee, his statue that is, sculptures of the Oregon trail which included a buffalo running thru the corner of a building. In the afternoon we hit the zoo. Went thru the world largest indoor dessert. Walked thru the rainforest and saw baby giraffes. Then we went out for frozen yogurt. Then dinner. Good long day. I will post pictures when I get home.