Eish. (a South African phrase I have picked up)

Boys hanging out on the trampoline

We are always trying to get a good picture
of this girl!

March has been a difficult month.  I have been having a hard time getting used to being at Lily only part time.  I have so enjoyed my days a Lily.  Being with the kids, working on different projects and being apart of the community again.  Though leaving at the end of the day is still difficult.  I hate having some of the girls ask me over and over again "Are you coming to youth tonight?" "Is there going to be a movie tonight Miss?" "Are you going to stay for the dance party tonight?" Eish.  I don't like saying no each time.
I have also still been having a hard time connecting with the iKhethelo kids.  I know a big part of that is my heart is not here.  On the days I work at iKhethelo I often just spent time with the younger kids because they are easier to connect with.  Even so my heart is not fully in it.  And I feel bad that I don't try as hard as I do with Lily kids.  These kids are just as loveable and have gone through similar situations.  They are also children of God just as much as the Lily kids are.
The green beast (the Landrover I have been driving) has been giving me difficulties.  Which has added the stress on to getting to and from Lily.  Mike and Lori have been champions with being willing to come and pick Dominik and I up the last week.

Laura and one of the boys

Who doesn't love a pool noodle fight!?

On top of things here, my heart and head have been home a lot this last month.  With having my grandfather in the hospital not doing well.  He was struggling a lot with his lungs the last few weeks.  On the 25th in the early hours of the Saskatchwan night he passed to be with his Lord.  And is no longer struggling with each breath he is taking.  I had decided to stay here in South Africa to continue to serve, but have been struggling not being with my family as they prepared for his funeral that took place yesterday.  I do wish I could have been there to help celebrate his life.  Even so I have had a great group of people close to me to help comfort me during this time.

Papa and Mikaela (my sister)

Even through the difficult times during this month, I have had a gracious God who helps me see to see the good and beautiful things that happen around me.  He helps me to be able to put aside all the hard things after I have acknowledged them and to see be able to be happy and see the joy that is still in this world.  Things like teen girls learning how to sell and make pizzas and working together as a group; having one of the little babies be incredibly joyful and run towards me when she sees me (She call me "Ma" yesterday, Eish. She is stealing my heart); an opportunity for my whole family to be together and enjoying each others company; being able to be in contact with my family so easily; and there is so much more I have been able to see and enjoy over these past few weeks.  I have way more to be thankful for even if there are some difficult times.

Goggles!

Now as I head in to a new month, my goal is to refocus.  I have been selfish with my view point on how I think things should be, how I am feeling about what should happen with things at Lily, and so much more.  I am praying for God's guidance on things.  I want his guidance on how I should be interacting with my kids at Lily and at iKhethelo.  I am wanting to be his light in this world.

Getting away from the hot sun sitting under
the play structure 

Some of my prayer request for this time would be:
- A change in my heart, with helping me to have God's heart for all the people I come in contact with.
- Strength for my family and I as we deal with the loss of my grandfather.
- That conversations I or other volunteers have with each of the kids be uplifting and encouraging to be the best of who they can be.
- Not to be overwhelmed with the all the struggles that the kids have faced and are facing.
- Praise, that the holidays for the past 2 weeks have been good with the kids not having school
- Praise, that there has been safety at Lily.

Until next time, give someone a hug! (Only if they want one though!)

Update on my Adventures!

Dancing outside the 'Lily Market'

Friends and Family. Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. This last month has been difficult and I wanted to wait until things settled down a little bit before I said anything.

While out with the MCC team eating lunch with the zebras!

As some of you may know just over a month ago there was a volunteer attacked at Lily.  This was a scary event for Lily and there were many security things put in place before and even more after this happened.  Rachel the volunteer who was attacked is doing well and recovering. Please continue to pray for her as she heals and works through things.

Because this all happened MCC decided Dominik (SALTer) and I would have to be moved off site way from the kids. There was under 3 weeks where we stayed in PMB where our supervisors live.  While there we did not do much, there were a few days of planned MCC SwaLeSA events so we took part in those.  Which was fun to be with the team again, and getting to welcome in two new Service Workers!

As of Wednesday the 24th of February Dominik and I moved to a sister children’s village of Lily called iKhethelo, which is about 30 min from Lily.  We will be working here one day a week and then 4 days a week we will travel into Lily to work. Then the other two days we have off.

This whole situation is going to be hard to get used to but most importantly we are able to still be at Lily at least 4 days a week, and this is better than not being able to see them at all.

My new room

The day we left Lily was really difficult. I knew I was going to be back, but I didn’t know in what capacity, either just to visit or to work or what. And saying bye to those kids sucked! The Thursday (25th) when we went back for the first time in over 2 weeks was the best! As kids came home from school and saw Dominik and I they were surprised! I was also ecstatic to see them all! One of my favourite moments was when some of the younger boys came back from school and Dominik went out of the office to see them they were excited and chatting with him; then I heard some of them ask where I was. So I peeked my head around the corner and some of them saw me and ran toward me.  Its one of the best feelings in the world knowing there are about 120 kids excited to have you back in their lives!

My new ride! Sweet 1996 Landrover!

I may be down playing a bit how hard the past few weeks have been. And how hard the next few weeks are going to be to adjust. I went through at lot of frustration and anger when I found out we were being pulled out and when we were actually pulled out.  I was able to work through it with the help of God. There are still times where I get frustrated at the situation but I know and understand why we are where we are. It is going to be hard to adjust to the new schedule as Dominik and I leave iKhethelo at 7 then get to Lily around 8 but then are not back to iKhethelo until around 7 in the evening. (side note: This also means I have been driving here in SA!)  Both Dominik and I had evening activities that we were involved with so getting used to not being there for those things will be a change.

Anyway, so the past few days being at Lily has been great! Spending time with the kids and having actual work to do during the day is nice. I love getting some baby cuddles in the morning and playing games with the younger kids in the afternoon and chatting and catching up with the teens. It is so good to be back!

Until next time…check out these cute pictures of some of the kids that bring the most joy yo me heart. (There are also so many kids who are not pictured who also have a huge part in bringing me joy each day as well!)

Colouring with 'Miss N'

Pool time! It has been really hot here! Going to get to plus 37 later this week!

Little parachute time! The kids loved it!

Hanging out during the afternoon!

Summer Holidays

Happy Birthday Jesus meal!

Baby R with her new toys!

December was great. It went by pretty quickly!
Mostly the weeks before Christmas have been a bit of a blur. With getting ready for Christmas, Christmas Day and New Years Eve. We were all pretty busy here at Lily. Not just with getting things ready but also making sure we spent time with the kids as well.

Girls showing off their gifts

Christmas day was a bit rainy but there was nothing we could do about it so the day went on.  First we started the day with a movie and pancakes in our P.J.s!  This was great! While all the kids and teens were at the movie some of us volunteers took all the gifts around to the houses so when all the kids got home they were they and ready to open! All the gifts were donated!  There is a company here in South Africa called Rainbow Chicken and they bought gifts for each of the kids. Then many of the volunteers over the past months started asking for money from family and friends back home to fundraise money for gifts for the kids. The turn out was great! Some of the Mom’s ( the Caregivers in each of the houses) were saying that this was the best year for that! Which is really great, so thank you to who ever helped out with that!!
Around 1:00 there was a jumping castle and a mechanical bull that were set up for the kids to play on.  They had a blast! The volunteers even got on and tried our hand on the mechanical bull! For the most part things were good and after awhile you just gave up trying not to get too wet. With standing out in the rain and supervising things it was inevitable! Though at one point I did go and get an extra sweater on to be a bit warmer.
Supper was great! We had papa (which is made from maize meal and is a traditional dish in Southern Africa), chakalaka (which is made from tomatoes, onions and other spices), chicken, beef, beet salad, and most importantly we had chip (I mean french fries!) After supper was just clean up and then everyone went home! Everything ran really smoothly and we got to celebrate Jesus Birthday.

Bull riding!

Bouncy Castle!

New Year’s Eve was another great celebration! Though the weather was a little different! A little melting!!  We spent the afternoon playing on some different inflatable toys.  One was an obstacle course, then the toddler bouncy castle and finally the gladiator, where the kids stood on rotating platforms and tried to smack each other off!
Once 5:30 came around the kids went home for a little while until supper was all set up! One of the boys who was adopted last year wanted to give the Lily kids a gift so he asked his mom to send money to buy everyone KFC. And so we all ate KFC for supper that night! While we ate a side show of pictures from the last year was running. Everyone loved this!!
We had an early new years eve fire works for the young ones and then later in the evening had another fire works for the teens at midnight.
We ended up staying out until 1:30 swimming in the pool! It was such a great night!
Now the summer holidays are coming to a close. Starting on Wednesday the kids start going back to school. A part of me is looking forward to school starting and being able to have a little bit of a schedule again. But it also makes me sad because I know once they go back to school there won’t be nearly that much hangout time with the kids. During the week most of the time with the kids will be working on homework and working toward bettering their education. Which is why I came, so I am thrilled to be able to help this way. I will just need to make sure I am living in the moment and embracing each of the kids I get to work with in that time.
I am also not looking forward to school starting because I know that means that the grade 12s, who over the past few months I have grown to love to spend time with, especially the girls, I will have to say good-bye to. Many of them are going to Durban and so there is a small chance I will get to see them again, but this is not for sure. 

Some of our meal servers! Prisca and Dominik

Until next time….hope you are having a great start to your new year!
(P.S. all the pictures are from Christmas day!)