Only a week left?!

Ohmygoodness…Rachel and I will be leaving exactly one week from today. Time here has just flown by! Our last 7 days here are packed…tomorrow (Thursday, July 30) through Saturday we work. Then Sunday morning (really early) we are heading to the airport to pick up Heather and Maria from Cape Town and spending the day with them. Monday, August 3, is our last day of work. Tuesday is our packing day and we will also probably hang out at the Baby House a while. On Wednesday, our flight doesn’t take off until 9:45pm, so we will probably finish packing that morning and hang out with our babies until we leave sometime in the evening. I can’t believe this is all the time we have left here!

Since last Friday (July 24), our days have been packed full of adventure and fun. On Friday, Rachel and I went to the zoo with Uncle Colin and our 2 oldest babies who we call Pooh Bear (8 months) and Big Mama (almost 11 months). We had so much fun!! We just happened to pick the coldest day to go, but we bundled them up in snow suits and wrapped them with blankets. They could hardly move they had so many layers on. Uncle Colin was hilarious talking to the animals and to the babies. He adores Big Mama and pushed her around in her stroller most of the day. He would get so far ahead of us while Rachel, Pooh Bear and I stopped to watch the animals and we would have to run to catch up with him. He’s a great man and Rachel and I love spending time with him. We were all exhausted, but it was a great day!

After we got back to the Baby House, we unpacked our bags and started to change the babies in to their pajamas. Auntie Francinah came up to us and asked if we would drive her to the Baby House in Berea to pick up a new little girl…we did not hesitate to say yes. This is the Baby House where there is a hole in the wall where mothers can anonymously place their babies. When we got to the Baby House, there was a little girl bundled up in so many blankets we could hardly see her face. She had been dropped off by the police just a couple hours before we got there. Two of the aunties that work at that house were with us and we prayed over her before we packed her in the car to head back to the Baby House in Glenvista. In the car, we read the police report and our hearts broke, not only for this precious little girl, but also for her mother. She was found by the police naked in a public restroom at a park just hours old. What kind of desperation had overcome the mother to just leave her baby like that? My heart breaks to think about how her heart is broken in not even knowing if her beautiful girl is alive today. I pray that through the horrible trials her mother is experiencing that she will find God and be filled with joy in the way he fills the void in her heart. On the way home, Rachel sat in the back with her and decided that Rebekah would be a good name for her…it did not end up being her name, but Rachel and I still call her Rebekah. She is beautiful in every way- with big red lips, black hair, and flawless fare skin. The small baby room is full, so Rebekah just stayed with us 2 days before she was moved to another home. Words cannot give this adventure justice…God, “keep Rebekah as the apple of your eye and hide Rebekah in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17).

“The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.”

Deuteronomy 10:17-21

We worked on Saturday, then we had the next 4 days off.

On Sunday, we took two of our babies to church! They are two that don’t get to go out much because they are a lot of trouble. One is super fussy and wails if no one is holding him all the time and the other is a little girl who spits up like a fountain. During the service, I was holding the little boy who is fussy and he loved looking around at all the people and just as the sermon started he fell asleep. I was thinking that this was good until he started to snore SO loud. It was hilarious. The lady in front of us turned around and whispered to me, “Just wait until he’s older…it’s only going to get worse.” Haha, so I had to leave and we sat in the cry room. I'm glad I left when I did because his snoring only got louder and he woke up coughing and started to cry and fuss. After church, we went and walked around at the mall and got some lunch. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant and we didn’t even have to order…they knew what we wanted. It’s kinda crazy because we haven’t been there tons of times, but they recognize us and knew exactly what we wanted. From previous conversations they knew that we worked at Door of Hope and were so excited to get to meet a couple of our kids. The little girl that spits up like a fountain only spit up twice the whole time we were out! It was a huge praise!

It’s crazy to me how many people recognize us at The Glen. A lady at church came up to me and said, “I recognize you from somewhere…” and I was like “Oh no…I'm from the States.” But, she had seen Rachel and me and The Glen before and she works in a restaurant that we have never set foot in! Rachel and I also went in DigitalEye the other day to ask a couple questions about printing pictures and they just struck up a conversation about how they had seen us walk by with babies before. We are going to definitely miss all of the friends we have made here at Mugg & Bean and at the grocery store, Pick ‘N Pay. It’s so neat how God is giving us so many opportunities to share about who he is and why we are here. Throughout the time I've been here I've been praying that God would bring me many opportunities to share my faith and build relationships and he has definitely answered my prayers!

On Monday we hung out at the Baby House and helped Auntie Loyce and Auntie Lucy with some of the chores. Auntie Loyce has been the housekeeper since we have been here, but next month she is going to start working night shift. Auntie Lucy, Francinah’s eldest sister, started as the new housekeeper this past Monday. We helped to hang up laundry outside on the line, fold it, and put in back in the closets. From the weekend, there is always a ton of laundry, so there was a lot to be done. We joined Heather and Maria and they lead music time and we played with the babies for a while.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we picked up two of our babies, a boy and a girl, and went hiking at Klipriversberg Nature Reserve! We walked around for about an hour and a half. It was a workout carrying an extra 12-15 pounds of weight. It was a beautiful day!! Afterwards, we came back to Uncle Colin’s house and ate lunch and played. We watched The Incredibles and rested some before we headed back to the Baby House. Rachel and I love to spend one-on-one time with the babies and every time they come out of their shell and talk more and giggle and smile a lot. It is so much fun to be with them in different environments and get to know them.

That night Rachel, Maria, Heather, Melody, Emily, and I went out to an authentic African restaurant called Moyo’s. It took us forever to get there because we got turned around so many times, but when we got there we were ravenous and excited for some food. While we were waiting for our food, they came around and painted our faces! We all got little flower designs on our faces. Hands down, Rachel got the best painting…we laughed SO hard! It was a lot of fun to get to spend some time with the girls before we all head home this coming week.

I can't wait to see you all in just a week!

Much love,

Katherine