Hey Family all over the world, Are you ready for the big surprise?!?!?!?!
L is with her family!
L had a 2 day adoption process. On the 14th of June her mommy, daddy and brother came to the house to meet her for the first time. they spent about 90 minutes playing with her and talking to her. Then mommy helped put her to sleep for nap. They got a tour of the house and got to go through her book that Nicole makes for all the kids. On June 15th we prayed for her and gave last hugs and kisses, then Nicole put her in the car to take her to ABBA guest houses where she will spend the next three weeks with her family before they fly back to Sweden. Her Family has known their daughter was in South Africa for many months and I cannot even imagine the anticipation and excitement of those days.
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| waiting to meet her family for the first time |
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| she did great playing with then |
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| getting ready for her forever |
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| brother love! |
We are very excited to have 3 more adoptions coming up. Please pray with us that the paper work is done quickly. And that our kids will be with their families soon! We are not sure exactly why adoptions are starting to be processed again but we are so excited!
Mr. T is doing very well and a very hungry little boy. I think he is going to be a big kid : ) He likes to be held and to be swaddled. It has been so cold lately I think he has the right idea to be cuddled in a nice blanket. : )
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| Happy 1st birthday S |
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| YOU are so LOVED! |
June is a fun month for me. My birthday is in June and I celebrate my South African Anniversary.
My Birthday was fun. I had high tea at a nice hotel about an hour away with dear friends. It was fun to feel celebrated and get all dressed up. There are not too many occasions at Refilwe where dressing up is necessary lol.
June 19th is the anniversary of my move to South Africa! Three years ago I packed up four suitcases and got on a plane for what was suppose to be a six month trip! Well, so much for just a six month trip. haha. I have learned so much and been stretched and challenged in more ways that I could have imagined. I am so thankful for my support system that literally stretches around the world. Thank you for financial support, the prayers, the emails, Skype calls. WhatsApp messages and FaceBook communication. At the end of the day all I can say is God is So Good!
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| Katie and I |
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| high tea snacks |
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| Sushi Birthday lunch |
I have two typical days for me and they look like this:
5:00- Wake up
5:15- Breakfast and read bible
6:30- walk up to the baby house
6:35- Prep for the day, night shift debrief, pray with aunties
7:00- Bath and dress kids for day
8:00- All babies bottles/ Toddlers Breakfast
9:00- Small babies Nap/Big babies cereal
9:30- Big babies Nap/toddlers outside time
10:30- toddlers milk
10:45- toddlers nap
11:00 Small babies bottle
11:30 big babies up wake up
12:00 big babies bottle/ small babies nap
13:00- Big babies purity (baby food)
13:30- Big babies nap/Toddlers wake-up- Lunch
13:45- Small babies wake up
14:00- Small babies bottle
15:00- Small baby nap
14:30-15:30 Toddler Educational time (art, letters, numbers, bible verses, outside time)
15:30- Big babies wake up/Toddlers milk
16:00- Big babies milk
17:00- Small babies milk/big babies biscuit snack
17:30- Big babies bed/ toddlers dinner
17:45- Aunties finish cleaning house, fill out charts, day shift debrief.
18:00- Pray with Night shift and go home.
18:20- Shower
19:00- put away everything from the day/ watch an episode of a show
19:30- Make dinner
21:00- Bed
and Repeat for 2 more days
on the weekends we don't have a cleaner so we are also responsible for dishes, laundry, and cleaning bottles also
I usually work 2 weekends a month sometimes 3 on short staffed months
there are usually 3 aunties per day shift (sometimes only 2)
small babies 0-6 weeks
big babies 6 weeks- 15 months
toddlers 15months-3 years
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| my cat hanging out with the boys |
7:30- wake up
8:00- breakfast/devos
9:00- office for internet (emails, FB, find out about whats going on at the rest of Refilwe)
12:00- lunch
12:00-19:00 depends on the day.
-Movies
-TV series
-mall for groceries
dishes
cleaning house
painting
finishing touches on toddler crafts
a nap
laundry
hang out with Cindy
write my blog
prep sunday school curriculum
19:00- Dinner
21:30- Bed
* sometimes more than one of these above happens in a afternoon and sometimes only one maybe two if i have the energy lol
Roughly the schedule goes three days at the baby house and two days “off”. Ideally this is what would be great but it heavily depends on Volunteers and paid aunties taking leave. There are weeks where I have been at the baby house 3 or 4 times and many weeks where I have been with the kids 6 days in the week.
Today is June 30th. Today is my little C’s 2nd birthday. I have kinda had a heavy heart this week. I wish we had an update from her family. I wish I could see how much she has grown. Maybe her big brother will make her a birthday picture? I wonder what they will do for her first birthday as a family? I hope she fits into 12 month clothing by now and that she is enjoys all the frosting on her cake again this year :)
Happy Birthday Little Princess! Love you so much!
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| AB and I are so happy Mr T is home from the hospital |
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| our fathers day wall. |
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| S is learning to climb trees |
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| L's favourite thing to do is to ride is the wagon with all the toys : ) |
