Thursday

Today I spent my morning in Haven 2 sitting with Memory. She usually likes to cause trouble and cry near the other language groups in the morning so I decided to grab her and work with her during the first session. Afterwards I went to Haven 3 and found Leo hanging out all alone, so we sat together and I tried my hardest to get him to respond to me. I had no success until I threw him in the air. Then he would laugh, and then go back to his expressionless face again. I did get him to smile a little when we played with the ball, but he is so good at remaining expressionless. It was then time for the big boy language session which I became a part of with Leo. The boys love going outside during their therapy time. I noticed today that they really enjoy the slide. We got a smile out of Leo and the other boys.

Because today is Thursday we had shema again. I felt bad because the girls hardly ate any of the shema this time around, now that they had experienced it once before. I would say maybe 25% of it was gone by the time I went through the line, and I was one of the last to go through. I grabbed a large portion of shema, but barely put a dent in it.

In the afternoon I worked with Joy in Haven 1. I fed her a bottle for the first half of the session, and then she spit it all up the second half. Fortunate for me, I kinda heard it coming and was prepared for the spit up. Then the poor girl wanted to go to sleep, but she had the hiccups which did not help with the spitting up situation. Needless to say, this was not a bonding moment for Joy and I...maybe another day.

The second part of the afternoon I of course worked at Haven 2. I worked with many of the children. After tea time, Curt was being mischievious so I ran after him and grabbed him and threw him upside down and started tickling him extremely hard. He was laughing so hard apparently he couldn't control himself and he peed his pants! I eventually saw it running down his leg and forming a pool on the floor, lucky for me I did not get any on me. Everyone was laughing, even the Aunties.

Later in the evening a group of us hung out in the Hamby house until we were kicked out, and then Ashley, Carla, and I talked with Justin and Webster about random things about Zambia. Justin always jokes about coming to America. Tonight he decided that he should run for President of the United States, and I am his campaign manager. We also talked about how to get a wife in Zambia. Webster paid 2 cows and $200 dollars for his wife. Apparently some wives cost more than others, but you can negotiate the price sometimes with the family. It was a very interesting conversation.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Ben

Wellness Wednesday

This morning we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast, it was delicious! Leonard's gravy two days in a row equals happy Ben. Also this morning Chelsea woke up this morning with one eye swollen shut! Pink eye! Apparently she picked it up from a kid at the Haven. I wrote her a funny get well card involving many pirate jokes and giving her the pirate nick name "Captain One Eye." I'm sure she loved it. : )  We got the drops to her pretty quick, so she should be good to go for tomorrow! Hannah and Ashley were also sick this morning, so continue to pray for the groups health. Since Hannah was ill, I spent the first part of my morning with Dr. Tullos' language group. Matt sat in my lap for the majority of the time, along with Curt. Our next session we did language work in Haven 1. After working with two sessions, I decided to spend the rest of my morning time with Louise.

For lunch today we had tacos! They were delicious and there was guacamole! It was even better than the enchilada meal. In the afternoon the walk back was very, very hot. The group that walked was pretty tired by the time we reached the Havens. I spent the first half of the afternoon in Haven 1. I fed Rita who was bundled up from head to toe in blankets, with a winter hat on...in a room that was around 75 degrees. She was toasty. The Zambians keep their babies dressed very warmly in their winter, this is amusing to us because their winter is not cold to us at all.

After feeding Rita, and letting her fall asleep, I then headed to Haven 2 where I spent most of my time holding Marcus. Marcus is doing much better. He is getting more expressive with less effort everyday. He is still shy, but his confidence in his surroundings at Haven 2 have increased since we have been there, making it easier for him to express himself. He is also a peacemaker. I saw him pick up toys and give them back to crying children, and he obeys well. He did try to push Twapegwa off my lap a few times though. The kids here are really protective of their space.

The walk back for dinner is always such a nice time. The temperature is perfect, and the sun is going down, and we always get to share great stories about the children we worked with today. I love that in Zambia things slow down, and there is time to listen, talk, and discuss. It is good to slow down. There are less distractions to keep us away from great fellowship with one another.

Continue to pray for the groups health and the babies!

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Ben

Tuesday Pancakes

Today for breakfast we had pancakes, and this morning I ate 4 of them. Now you might be thinking 4 pancakes is not that big a deal Ben, but Leonard makes them really thick! Why did I eat 4 pancakes? Well the first two that I ate really hit the spot and they were so good...and then I was full the rest of the day!

During our morning sessions I joined Dixie's language group at Haven 2 and worked with Leah! After the first session was over, I left Haven 2 and spent time in Haven 1 working with Nichole. Since Nichole is usually busy in the afternoon with other language groups, I decided that my only chance to work with her would be during this time of day. There is concern that Nichole may be on the spectrum. She hits her head frequently with her hand. This habit has been on the decline since we have been here, but Dr. Tullos has been keeping his eye on her. I think she is fun to work with, so I like to pick her up when I can. Eventually it was time for me to put Nichole down and move onto Haven 3 to work with the older boys language group. Today we took them outside to play. They all did really well outside, they were well behaved, and very little fussing. We were all very impressed with Joel. He sometimes is a mess during the sessions, but today he remained calm throughout the session. One of the boys, Adam, is very large baby. While we were out there, I think he put his mouth on just about everything in reach. That boy is so funny. We decided to put him on the teeter-totter and he loved it! We of course had to put two other kids on the other end, and a small kid on his side to even out the weight!

For lunch today we had Leonard's famous fried chicken and mashed potatoes! I was most excited about the gravy that goes with the potatoes. Unfortunately I had 4 pancakes that morning, so I wasn't very hungry, but I did put gravy all over my little piece of chicken and mashed potatoes. It was delicious. For dessert Sue made some strawberry yogurt pie. It was a great lunch! The group loved it.

During the afternoon I worked with some of the little babies in Haven 1. I found Joy in her bed crying with a full bottle of formula, so I fed her until she fell asleep, and then I picked up Olivia, and held her until she fell asleep, and then it was time for Haven 2 again! Today I hung out with Jessie most of the time. Jessie is the younger sister of Curt. Eventually it was snack time, and Curt decided to join me and Jessie in my lap, and then it was a sibling rivalry for the space in my lap...what a mess.

For dinner tonight, I still wasn't hungry. After dinner we played soccer again and made a new friend with one of the college students here named Weston. He played keeper for us the whole time. I think he mainly just wanted to watch the goofy Americans play soccer.

When we got back to the house the power was off, so a group of us played nertz. This time I was defeated by Kara...Nertz was fun tonight, all of us were in a singing mood so we would make up silly songs or sing church songs while playing.

Tonight everyone was tired so most of the group went to bed early tonight. (9:15ish) As I am sitting here writing this I hear what I think to be a very large rat in the ceiling... I threw a roll of tape at the ceiling in hopes to scare the rat from making further scratching noises however this was unsuccessful. He stopped for about 5 seconds and then continued to be annoying.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Pray for Dixie, for most of the day today she was ill, please pray that her health improves.

Ben

Mondays in Africa are awesome.

When working here in Zambia, Mondays are not a drag like they are in the United States, maybe if I actually had a job over here and had to work, they would be a drag, but since my job is working with babies...it's really quite enjoyable. So much so that I even work on the weekends! So far I have really enjoyed working here with the kids again. It is even more rewarding for me this year now that I have more experience and knowledge.

Today I spent my morning time taking care of the stragglers in the groups and playing with Curt. Eventually Curt found my camera and while in my lap took about 50 pictures of my chest and arm...Thanks Curt. I then helped the Aunties herd the kids inside for Shema Time, and then I headed over to join Carla's language group in Haven 3 with the older boys; Adam, Lincoln, Leo, Joel, Joseph, Caleb, and then Shannon. Shannon is not really in the group, but sometimes she joins us if we stay inside. I ended up working with Shannon for that session, she did well in most of the activities and had great behavior compared to all the boys. That was a relief! After that session we left for lunch.

When we returned the the Havens I went to Haven one, and worked with Emmanuel. After working with Emmanuel for about 30 minutes I eventually got him to sustain eye contact for a while. Some of us think that his hearing might be very poor. He never really responded/reacted to any noises I made.  Eventually Emmanuel fell asleep and I put him back in his crib, just in time to leave for HAVEN 2 TIME!!!

Haven 2 is my favorite Haven. The kids are so excited and there are so many of them! Layla, Leah, and Marcus sat in my lap most of the time, with the occasional Twapegwa interruption.

After working in Haven 2 for the last 45 minutes of the day we walked back to the house for dinner. Tonight a group of us plus Webster played soccer out on the field! It was fun to play with Webster, he was very fast, and I was very out of shape. The group consisted of Hayley, Darah, Webster, Lindsey, Ian, and I. We split up into teams of 3 and played offense vs defense, and switched every 4 min. By the end we were all exhausted!

Later in the evening one of Lindsey's old friends Prince came and sang with the group. He taught us some new songs and Webster joined us. Webster and I got to sing bass together, we were loving it!
 
Thank you for all your prayers and support! Continue to pray for the group and the kids! Thanks!

Ben