Busy Busy Busy

As the Christmas season starts to approach, everything is starting to get more and more busy. Tomorrow we will take the Christmas photo with all of the kids. I have spent the past day and a half preparing for this with various helpers. We have sorted through two large bins full of Christmas clothes pulling out fancy dresses and button up shirts so that every child has something nice to wear. We also had to go through and make sure everything fit for everyone, that was a huge challenge trying to play dress up with 20 kids all under the age of five.

Rainbow Update:
The smallest baby is home from the hospital and our newest baby is set to come home around Friday. They both had pneumonia and needed to be on an IV to combat against dehydration. Today I went and visited the baby in the hospital and talked with the yaya. There must be a yaya present to be with the baby to take care of them. Hospitals here are not like they are in the states. The only thing the hospital provides for is the medical aspect of the facility. The feeding, clothing, and diaper changing are all left up to the child care providers. It made me laugh when one of my favorite yayas told me that when the baby cried, she would dance around the room with her until she fell asleep.

The girls have been out of school this week for semester break so it has been getting to spend time with them during the day. Today we harvested mangoes from the tree behind my house and then we sat and ate them and talked together for awhile. Then at night we went over to Ate Karen's house for a movie night and Carmen and I made rice crispy treats for the girls which they loved. The girls have also been working on their Christmas play which is hilarious because they are all so dramatic. The theme of the play is about a News show broadcasting the birth of Jesus. I will be helping the two youngest M's and we will be in the commercial segments of the News program.

I have not been able to work with my M's as much as I have wanted to this week. I think Monday was the first day in about three weeks that I have been able to work with all three girls in one day. Having one on one time with me is a privilege that is often taken away from them when they disobey. Sometimes this is difficult for me because I lose the consistency when working with them. The oldest one is continuing to improve and we are now working on the "TH" sound like in "this" or "that" or "tooth". The middle M is still working on the basic sounds of letters but we are now moving up into a bit more difficult books. The youngest one has been very excited to work with me and has been a lot more attentive and grasping more and more things. Lately we have been working on the basic colors and she has really been enjoying it and actually learning the names! I'm starting to become more creative with my "lessons". The only thing I lack is to keep their enthusiasm and motivation for learning. Please continue to pray for guidance for me in this area.

Lately I have been having a lot of fun with PJ the blind autistic special needs boy. I have been taking him on walks around Rainbow and the yayas have been asking me to feed him his snack. The only issue we have been having is that when it is time for me to leave or when I won't let him eat leaves and dirt, he gets angry and has an episode. I have encountered some scratches on my hands from him when he gets angry but he calms down and returns back to his happy self when given a cold glass of water and when he gets to swing on his tire swing.

Ate Sheryl and Kuya Mike left for furlough last week and Ate Becky has returned from hers so some things here are slowly getting back in order with so much leadership movement changing around. It is especially difficult since so many of the children are sick. Please continue to pray for the children as they are in the process of getting better. I am becoming a master of taking temperatures and knowing when a child has fever. One thing I am not good at however is converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Thankfully my phone has a conversion program on it. It is a true life saver.

I leave you with this photo of PJ and I on the swing near my cottage.


God Bless!