"Sweet Caroline"

Right now Rachel and I are sitting on the porch of Mrs. Hamby's house watching a movie and trying to stay warm by a tiny pot of coals. I will never make fun of Webster, our night watchman, for his pot of coals ever again!! Super legit! Its so cold here at night! It's 9 degrees Celsius. . . aka 48 degrees Fahrenheit! (we googled it) haha....crazy!

Rachel successfully took a pic of our pot of coals with photobooth on her laptop! hahah! so funny. wish I would of brought some warmer clothes!!!

Today is Caroline's birthday so we decided to make home made tortilla chips and rotel (compliments of Mrs. Tullos) and watch a movie! So fun! Wednesday's have happened to be 3 peoples birthdays, so it is always nice to get to do something special to celebrate midway through the week! :) Happy birthday Caroline! we are so thankful to have you on our team! You are an amazing leader!

This morning I was greeted by Ethel, as usual. She immediately latched onto my legs with her huge smile! Can't help but post pics of her all the time. :)

During "recess" this morning one of the girls kept saying "SNAP, SNAP, SNAP" meaning she wanted her picture taken. All the kids here are fascinated by the camera!

Weston was our "big boy" helper today and helped push the kids on the "round and round" and also helped lead songs during therapy. He has come a long way and is doing so well! We are so proud of him and all his language improvements.

Big boy Weston

Weston in his pink flower shirt and red pants. They do not care what they dress these kids in as long as they are CLOTHED. . . So different from the US. They also don't care if it is meant for a girl or a boy! Just as I mentioned about the toys, clothes are always welcome to be donated as well!

Ethel and me after language therapy

This afternoon I worked with the girls in their room. Nita hasn't been feeling too good today and hasn't been acting her normal self. . . so say a special prayer for her. She is normally the wild one and running around getting into anything and EVERYTHING and causing "trouble". Although she spent most of her time sleeping during therapy, I managed to get a quick shot of her shirt. fits her perfect. loved it!

Language therapy with some of the girls at Haven 1

Jaimie and I leading language therapy this morning at Haven 1

Seth was sooo excited and HAPPY during therapy this morning. . . .But when I got there this afternoon he looked really different. . it took me a minute to figure it out!

He got a hair cut! doesnt he look handsome? :)

Today Kaylee, Catherine, and Meaghann began working on "auntie ed" stuff. . . such as flyers to hang above the changing tables that encourage the aunties to interact more with the babies in order to increase their language milestones. We are also creating flyers encouraging them to check the bottles nipples before giving them to the children in order to help aid in swallowing/feeding. . . and also cute little charts above each child's bed for the aunties to mark when a new milestone is met! In our language group, we plan on making a daily schedule/routine to inform the girls that are coming to Zambia next year of a typical day at the Haven, as well as each child's progress and recommendations for future therapy.

Dr. Weaver gave us an assignment of paying special attention to one particular child during our stay here in Zambia and note if they are on track in language and feeding for their age. After some careful considerations, I flipped a coin between Ethel and Matt. . . . and Matt is the lucky winner! :) haha. After spending some special time with little Matty on Friday, I have to write up a report of my observations. I definitely do not mind doing this assignment. Especially since it means spending extra time with little Matt.

Tomorrow we have to go into Kolomo to get our Visas renewed and then plan on heading to work at the Haven soon afterwards. I cannot believe today was our last full day of therapy! we only have a half day tomorrow and half a day on Friday. . . and then we are headed to Livingstone on Saturday morning. Kaylee and I still have a little work left to do on our capstone research projects on Friday.... and we also plan on getting our clothes together that we aren't taking back with us to take over for the aunties at the Haven. One auntie already has dibs on my shoes! :) I am so excited to be able to donate my stuff!

Keep the prayers coming!

Goodnight!!