Swimming in January...

Yes, today we went swimming. Betty and Brenda felt bad about us working so hard, so this afternoon we all went to the pool. It was so refreshing and relaxing...just what I needed! I'm not going to lie and say that everything here has been great because it hasn't. It's been tough. Since Damali is on her vacation we have been running the home, traveled twice to get new babies (all day journeys), and dealing with unexpected things that come our way. I will also be honest and say that yesterday was a really rough day. We had been gone all day getting Baby Musa (one week old from a village near Iganga - but I will let Amy tell you about that in another post coming later) and then got back and were getting the rest of the babies ready for bed. I was already exhausted and really started missing home...which sounds kind of crazy since I've only been gone 5 days. We had yet to have a full day at Sonrise since we had been out traveling. We hadn't gotten into a routine. The donation bags still haven't been unpacked. I haven't had hardly a second alone to read my Bible and spend time in prayer. Let's just say I felt like going into a corner and crying (sorry Mom if this is too hard to read). Then after the babies went to bed Amy, Mark, and I sat around and just talked about our trip so far. It was encouraging to sit down and talk through some of our frustrations, joys, and exciting moments. Then I got to talk to some of my family (skype is amazing) and felt TONS better.
BABY DUTY: Last night was my first official night with "baby duty" which means you are in charge of one of the smaller babies of which we now have three. They sleep in the bed with you and you have to get up with them to feed them and change them in the night. I started off with Steven and he woke up and so I fed him. We are trying to slowly wean him off of his bottle to get him to more solid food, so I didn't want him to drink the entire thing right away. Well, he didn't like this very much and started crying. After awhile he went back to sleep. Not more than 30 minutes later he awoke again crying because he was hungry. Betty, who is usually in charge of Steven, decided to go ahead and take him for the night leaving me with no baby. I had hopes of getting a good nights sleep. Not so!! Amy was in charge of our newest baby, Musa. Of course he woke up often since he is so young, and at one point he wasn't to be consoled. I could tell Amy was exhausted so I offered to rock him in the living room. When he finally quieted down I came back in and just took him to bed with me since Amy was already asleep. I ended up keeping him the rest of the night and got up with him twice and changed two poopie diapers - the second one I was in the middle of changing him when he decided that he wasn't quite finished and so he messed all over his new diaper, his clothes, the sheet, and his blanket. He is absolutely precious though and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I know this post has been somewhat depressing, so let me say that this trip has had many rewarding moments. Finally meeting the Sonrise babies that I had heard so much about and finding out just how precious they really are. Having the priviledge of traveling to pick up two new babies to join the Sonrise family. Being on this trip with a best friend and her brother (who I am finding more and more about-not sure if this is a good thing or not). Baby Brendah was taken to the clinic yesterday to have a check-up done (this is protocol for all new babies) and they decided to keep her overnight because of an ear infection and some malaria. We thought she would come home today, but the doctor wants to keep her again another night because he doesn't think she's well enough to come home. We went by to visit her today and she still looks small, still has the cute whimper, and looks like she doesn't quite know what's going on. I am ready for her to come back, which means we will have four babies for baby duty and four workers for baby duty, which means more sleepless nights. It has been amazing how the Lord has sustained me through this trip. I will post pictures of our new babies asap on the blog. Amy's computer is about to die so if the pics aren't up today it's because her computer died and our adaptor to charge it is broken. Thanks for all of your prayers!! --Leah