Name that rooster (so Chloe doesn't kill him)!!

Photo credit:  Britta Jarvie

First and foremost our babies are all doing well. Caleb and Emmanuel are racing Miriam to be the first to walk, but we believe that Miriam had a better head start and will likely leave the boys in the dust.  Of course Caleb and Emmanuel had a long road to climb back from severe malnutrition, but they sure want to keep up with Miriam and it is such fun to watch them work hard.  They are now starting to interact with each other and it is such fun to see them all laugh.  All the babies are a joy and our twins are eating well and starting to "fill out" a bit.

 

This week has been a much calmer week then the past 8 weeks.  Our summer interns have gone back to school and some long term volunteers and great friends have arrived to help out on the farm and at the baby home.  We welcomed Frank and Jane Tauanuu, who are here for a month to work alongside Jere and Janet Scott.  There is a flurry of cleaning and organizing going on when Janet is around that brings me great joy.  Even greater joy is the double decker bunk beds that Jere and Frank are building for our babies.  God is good.

Yesterday Jon and Carrie Bratz arrived from Wisconsin to spend a week with us working out the details for their move to Project Canaan in December with their two young children.  We are so thankful for those who have heard the call and said, “here I am Lord, send me”, even when the road is hard and full of personal sacrifice.

Chloe got on a plane yesterday and is heading back to Georgia to spend a couple of weeks with friends.   Her list of “fast food” visits is possibly longer than this blog.  She did lots of healthy eating in Swaziland in preparation for her two weeks of favorite food.  While I miss her already, I am thankful that she will have a fun-filled two weeks before we arrive to take Spencer to FSU at the end of August.

Speaking of Chloe,  my chickens and guinea fowl arrived this week.  No Swazi home is complete until you have your own chicken coop and fresh eggs every day.  We placed the coop on Chloe’s side of the house so she could enjoy them out her window J.  I forgot that we were also getting a rooster, who happens to wake up at 4:30 AM each day.  She was not amused and while she is opposed to animal cruelty, I fear for the life of the poor rooster.  I think I will have to give him a name so that it becomes “personal”.  Maybe we will call him Forhorn Leghorn after the famous character from the Bugs Bunny Show?  If you have any name suggestions, please feel free to put them on my Facebook wall.

The balance of the week involved trips to the police station to get final paperwork for our twins, trips to the hospital to visit a tiny sick baby who sadly passed away on Thursday, and a very encouraging phone call form the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Masuku.  He was at the airport in Johannesburg on route to Ghana to attend the funeral of the late President of Ghana at the request of His Majesty King Mswati III.  We are meeting this next week at his office for a brainstorming session on helping OVC’s in Swaziland. More on that when I am able to share openly, but it is very encouraging news.

Well, those are some of the highlights from the week.  We look forward to a weekend of work, some down time and worship on Sunday with our Kenyan family.

Live from Swaziland, I HAVE MY OWN CHICKENS!

Janine