Day {11}

Thursday - June 14th

This morning Lynley had to teach preschool, she's the teacher's intern. By the way, I've absolutely fallen in love with her name - it's so beautiful. Anyway, that was quite the task. It was Lynley, Becky and myself. Half of our other volunteers were still on their safari in the morning, they arrived later in the day! Thankfully! Not only was it stressful getting the boys ready for sleep on my own, but I missed them! (: But yes, Lynley ended rushing through preschool, she was so nervous. But, I think she did a fabulous job! Afterwards, the 3 of us just hung out for a while, which was really nice, because I haven't really had the opportunity to get to know Lynley. She's such a southern sweetheart. Side note - I'm seriously so blessed to have these girls in my life. They're all amazing, I know I've mentioned it before, but man, all of them are SO beautiful in their own ways. I would love to be able to stay in touch when we're all home in the States. Helene is already expecting a wedding invitation whenever that day comes, ha. They're just wonderful women of Christ, and you can never have too many of those in your life. But anyway, after lunchtime, I had an outing! I absolutely love going on outings, granted I'm spending money on the children. But, I love spending my time, attention, and love on them. I took Eric to Surjio's with Becky and baby Wycliff. I absolutely adore Eric. He's so content all of the time. I love holding onto him, and watching him look up at the trees with the biggest smile on his face. He's so beautiful. He's very observant too - when he sees that you're trying to get something done, he's right there ready to help you. He even tries scolding children when he sees that they aren't paying attention to me. Normally he talks up a storm, but he was quiet almost the entire time we were out. I bought him some chocolate ice cream, and he loved it! At this point, I think the children love everything we give them. But I also ordered a vanilla ice cream for me, and I think it was absolutely delicious. It tasted like real vanilla - not artificial. It was fun just spending quality time with Eric though, instead of having 5 other kids pushing him around to get my attention. Here's a couple photos of our time together:

(@ Surjio's - Eric and his ice cream)

(@ Surjio's - Eric and I)

(@ Surjio's - Becky and Wycliff)
  

Since it was Thursday, I wasn't able to help put the kids in bed because it's Bible Study Night. Bible study was absolutely wonderful. Again, these girls are such blessings. I'm so thankful for how open and comfortable we feel with one another. I would never guess these things happened to these girls because they're all so wonderful and happy. What strong women, and I relate to quite a few of them. One thing that I want to turn over to the Lord is my need for some kind of control. I like to think that things happen according to me, but I couldn't be more wrong. My main thing I need to work on is understanding that things in life need to happen according to God's timing. Truthfully, I'm struggling with this concept at the moment - so if you could please pray that God brings me understanding, and allows me to find more comfort in His decisions, I would greatly appreciate it. Last night, we all ended up talking about a volunteer who had come here with the idea of needing to rescue the children at Amani, and that's really not the case at all. Helene made it perfectly clear that in the end, it's the children that end up rescuing us. We all had some kind of inkling that we would be the ones teaching them about God's love, but honestly, these children are some of the biggest examples to live by. Every month they find themselves having new Aunties, and with barely knowing them, they open their hearts and arms to them instantly. It amazes me how quickly they're able to love complete strangers. Helene said that these children know everything that we've left behind at home to help them, and that just makes me love them even more. These children are so appreciative, and it warms my heart. She had said last night that it may not always seem like we're doing much, but we are doing so much for them. We're paving the path for their future. We're teaching them how to love others as if they're family and how to be selfless. There are so many acts of kindness played out by the children that make her statement so real. It brought me to tears last night, just knowing that the relationships I have with the kids is not only helping to build their character, but it's also building mine more than I can comprehend - at such a fast pace. Thank you Lord, for all of these children, and for giving me a big enough heart to have a special place for each and every one of them.