Shema Saturday

Day 26

Today most of the group went into Choma to shop. A few of us decided to stay behind and enjoy our Saturday here at the mission. After breakfast I headed to Haven 3 with Shanna and Ashley. I have started to realize that I am really going to miss the children here and so I want to spend as much time as possible with them. This morning at Haven 3 I worked with Adam for long time. Adam is a younger baby at Haven 3 that is behind. I talked to him and I sat him in the bumbo seat for a long time. During that time I also worked with some of the older girls who were awake and running around. Katie and Emma were very entertaining this morning. Some of the children are more fun when there are less clinicians around.

When it came to be meal time at Haven 3 (around 10:30) I went and picked up Sydney so I could feed her again today. I enjoyed feeding her as I did the day before. Today their shema had little fish in it. They smelled very fishy, and apparently the taste is very strong too. Ashley tried just a little bit of it and she had to eat something else to get the taste out of her mouth. After meal time I got to play with Sydney a little bit, she was in a great mood, and very fun. I was talking with Megan, and she told me that the best times to come and enjoy the kids at their highest energy is about 6 in the morning and right after lunch meal time.

Later on Megan needed me to hold and feed Ellen for her. Megan is super busy at the Havens so she handed her over to me. Ellen is a newer baby at the Havens and isn’t doing very well. I believe she is still slightly dehydrated and she doesn’t feed well. I held her for a long time and tried to get her to suck on her bottle. Eventually after praying and humming some songs she had small spurts of energy to suck on her bottle. God is good. I hope that she will continue to improve, She is slowly getting better I believe.

After feeding Ellen it was time to head back to the Hamby house for lunch. Mrs. Hamby was there and pulled out all the leftovers and cake! It was all very good, and it was nice to sit by her and talk about all the interesting things she has experienced. When lunch was finished, I took a small break before heading back to the Havens and I played Tessa in ping pong. She beat me in the first game, but I won the second game. It was nice to relax and enjoy the Saturday without a strict schedule.

Eventually we headed back to the Havens. This time I helped Tessa with her capstone project. All I did was help elicit responses or get her next baby ready to go. After a while the room we were working in was filled with children wondering what we were doing. It was pretty entertaining to watch them surround the new toys that were brought to be used for testing.

Eventually we had to leave for dinner. By dinner time everyone was back from Choma. Dinner was great and afterwards Liz and I played doubles in ping pong against Ian and Tessa. We lost, but Liz and I were a great team and we won the spirit award. Ian also taught me a new game. He bought an African game in Choma. It was fun to learn and play, he beat me the first time we played but the next two times we played, I won.

Tonight was finally movie night. We popped popcorn, and they pulled out the projector and the screen and we watched Tangled. I just love a good princess story! O well. Maybe next time I will get to choose the movie. Tangled wasn’t that bad and afterward some of us had hot chocolate and talked until we slowly retreated to our rooms.

Tomorrow we are going to a different church outside the mission. I am looking forward to this experience. Apparently it is great fun.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. God is good.

Ben