Worship and Praise

Happy Anzac Day! :)

Emma, the nurse at Amani, is Australian and she gave all the kids temporary tattoos today. I got one too:). It looks different on their dark skin. 

Freddy was quite proud of his belly tattoo:).

I have all my babies back in the nursery now which makes me happy:). They are still recovering and a little weak but it's nice to be able to sit and cuddle them when they're not feeling well. 

It poured down with rain last night and this morning. I got quite wet going from upstairs down to the nursery and my turned all fuzzy as it dried. The babies liked it anyway. 

When it's raining the kids get cabin fever and go a little crazy. Instead of one on ones we try and do group activities in our cottages. Elena and Londa were both doing movies in their cottages so I brought a few of my boys over to join in with Londa's boys. They don't sit still for very long but it gave them something to occupy them for a while. 

Elena had a great idea of buying chapatis for all the kids today. We went down and ordered 30 chapatis and allowed an hour and a half for him to make them. The little ones only eat maybe a third of a chapati so there was plenty for the mamas as well. We treated all the kids and mamas for the equivalent of $7 Australian. 

We spent our break shopping with Florence and I managed to get ingredients to make Anzac biscuits! I get blank looks from everyone here when I mention golden syrup, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the grocery store. Another "only in Africa" moment when I'm shopping and make friends with people in the supermarket! First there was a guy wandering the aisles who introduced himself and asked about me, I stopped talking when he asked where I was staying :S. When I went to pay he even packed my bag for me!

Then, as I'm searching the shelves for golden syrup, an older American couple decided they'd help me search for my list of groceries. They managed to find the golden syrup even though they'd never heard of it before and also helped me find the cheapest way to buy oats. It was refreshing, as a lot of white people here can be a little standoffish with short term volunteers, because so many come and go. 

Thankfully the sun had dried up the yard and the kids were able to run around outside. We had two guys from church come again to play with the kids; bribed by Elena with brownies:). We were discussing that it's interesting how we always say "the boys need men!" but when the guys visit it's all the little girls that flock to them. Girls need daddies and uncles just as much as boys do.

We sang songs and played circle games as usual and then just played with the kids. 

Today Paul asked me why my skin is white:).

I love that feeling of sitting and watching kids play and as I'm watching a warm hand slips into mine and a little head rests against my shoulder; or as I'm kneeling on the ground and two arms wrap themselves around my neck and small body leans on my back; or when I'm sitting cross legged in the nursery and a little person catches my eye, grins and runs/crawls over to fall into my lap, certain that I will catch them; or when I'm holding a child in my lap and as I look down, they look up and we smile at one another.

They don't realise yet that I'll be leaving soon. I can't bring myself to tell them just yet. They know what it's like when an aunty leaves, they know what it feels like to miss goodnight kisses and bedtime stories. It will only be another week and there will be more volunteers and they'll be happy again with new aunties to spoil them. I, on the other hand, will be left with 23 child shaped holes in my heart. 

After putting the boys to bed a made the Anzac biscuit batter and cooked half of them. I burnt one tray because it was too close to the bottom of the oven, but the other tray turned out well. They don't taste quite the same as normal Anzac biscuits because I had to use quick oats rather than rolled oats but they still taste okay. 

The last Friday of each month is praise and worship night at The Hub. What a great way to spend my last Friday night! There is nothing quite like worship in Africa! I think that even if you were to bring a group of Africans to Australia it still wouldn't be the same as meeting here and spending hours in song and prayer with them. We sang the song "Angus Dei" together which was amazing and powerful. As Elena and I prayed together towards the end we may have shed a few tears. We returned home, still singing "Angus Dei" and with me feeling like I'm leaving family very soon. I look forward to one day when we will worship for an eternity together before the great white throne.

"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."

Revelation 4:8,11