Beast-mode, golf focus.

Hello my friends!

Today was wonderful.  When we woke up this morning, the babies were calling my (our) name(s).  I’m not actually sure what most of the team did up until breakfast, but I (Kate), and Donnie were holding the babies in the nursery.  We had breakfast and then we held more babies until we left to go hiking.  Knowing that today was our last day was pretty hard, but somehow everyone else seemed to sense it too. The children all seemed to be tense and testy today and that made today more difficult.  We welcomed the hike as a wonderful change of pace.

I think I had magically saved all of my excess energy for this hike because I had an incredible amount this morning.  Christine who works and lives at the Touch Global house a little ways away came to bring us to the Touch Global house so we could embark on the hike from there.  Steve who is staying at the house was our hike guide and he gave a more informative, less strenuous version of the hike, while a few of us took the faster pace hike.  It was a hard decision to make because I really wanted to know the background of some of these places here, but I needed to burn some energy and I never pass an opportunity to hike!  Our group split up with me, Brooke, David, Donnie and Nick on the hard hike, and April, Sarah, Josh, and Hannah who took the educational hike with Steve.  I noticed the beautiful land as we were landing last Saturday, but hiking in the beautiful land was another experience.  There is something different about this beautiful land though and it is that the land has been about 95% deforested.  Looking at the land with that in mind is much more sobering, but there is this beautiful mix of tropic that allows me to forget that sad fact.  This hike wasn’t a mountain hike; it was more like a steep hill hike because we walked on a dirt road the whole time. However, it sufficiently drained us of energy and once we all made it back to the Touch Global house we were feeling good and tired.  We had our lunch break of MRE’s there at the house and then headed back to the orphanage.

Magically, as soon as we got back we were given a job because the Touch Global team was leaving and passing their job to us for finishing.  We jumped right into fixing the walkway and even though there was work to be done, it was not meant for many people.  Where we were working was on the boy’s side of the property and so we had many eager “helpers.”  I snatched one of those eager helpers whose name is Nathaniel and sat him on my lap.  To my surprise he fell asleep there and we didn’t move for at least half an hour.  Unfortunately, my cuddle time was cut short because there were smaller babies who needed my attention.  Off to the nursery I went and was met with the cries of at least four babies.  Maybe today was more difficult than normal, or maybe I was just tired and impatient.  Whichever it was, it made the day much harder.  What do you do when you can’t hold all the babies that need you and some of the ones you have won’t be appeased?  It was a hard day for the nursery.

I stayed in the nursery until shower time, David and Donnie continued on the walkway, Hannah and Sarah moved piles of dirt, and Brooke and April spent more time with the toddlers.  After shower time it was back to the nursery for me and I was joined by Donnie and April until dinner time.  Dinner was not too hectic and was pretty delicious.  I was feeding one of the babies for awhile but was moved by Donnie and David force and replaced.  Dinner was followed by more nursery time and by this time I was really having a difficult time with the hectic boys room/baby room mixed together.

Our group meeting tonight was full of tired eyes, including my own.  Today our devotion’s subject was on faithfulness, and the group time was full of great discussion.  Coming back to the States is going to be hard I think for the majority of us, since we have built relationships with Greg, Jasmine and the children.  We are excited about coming home and seeing our loved ones, but brace yourselves for some long conversations!

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving the orphanage at 10:30 and our flight will take off at 4:25.  Pray for us tomorrow as we travel for safety and energy.

Other prayer requests:

-Josh is tired and possibly under the weather

-My addiction to babies

-The new team that arrives tomorrow

-That Greg to sleep well and recover from his sickness

-That Jasmine would find some time to relax

-For the rooster to not crow tonight

-And that we don’t leave anything behind!

Oh, and rest for the majority of the team that returns back to school and work on Monday!

Goodnight, friends and family, we will see you tomorrow night!