Toothless

Well, in case any of my team members from October 2016 were wondering, Virgil the rooster is still alive and giving off strangled sounding crows. His sense of time is still very much impaired as well. Still, that didn’t stop us from getting a good nights rest. It took us a bit longer to sort through our things and set everything up… it is hard to explain how much work goes into just getting the simplest of tasks achieved. You decide you want to brush your teeth, make a pot of coffee, send out an email or even throw something in the garbage? Well, be prepared that it will be a much bigger job than one might first anticipate.
    I don’t know how we managed it, but we landed here right during the kids spring break. As soon as we got to the orphanage this morning, we played non stop practically all day! Cars, trains, dolls, legos, airplane building, hockey, kick ball, skate boarding and much more. You could literally name it and more than likely we did it! We have ages 3 months-15 years and even though I have complete confidence in my skills with kids, they definitely keep us on our toes! All of the kids are happy and healthy and growing like crazy. Speaking of growing and changing, Vladimir is sporting a new look with his two front teeth missing and let me tell you does he pull it off well! At moments he feels quite self conscious and tries to cover his mouth… luckily for me, he is much too easy to make smile! I have some pretty awesome pics of the kids but the internet is giving me fits so alas, we will all have to wait.
    The newest addition to our beautiful and chaotic house is baby Robertson, fondly referred to as Robert. He is gorgeous and with a personality that can’t help but make one smile. At 3 1/2 months, he talks and makes noises like no other baby I've ever seen. And his faces just make it that much better! We also get the advantage of being here while he is young enough to not be frightened of the ‘white people’ like he very likely will be in a few months. We get to hold, snuggle, bathe and feed him all we want and are most definitely loving it and soaking it all in!
    To add to an already very exciting day, today we celebrated Rob’s 43rd birthday! The church put on a big party for him this evening and it was a smash success! I think every person in leadership stood up to talk about Robinson. Mom got up to speak as well and did an amazing job as always. I thought I had weaseled my way out of another speaking engagement but surprise, surprise, they asked me to say something. I fumbled my way through a passable birthday wish in front of a few hundred people without passing out… Ha! There was dancing and singing, a beautiful speech from Naromie, skits (A hilarious shout-out to missionaries from MI was acted out by a couple of young men.) and even a leadership dance off that included Robinson, Claudy, Manius and all the other men in leadership. Everything was decked out and a bunch of the ladies from the church had worked all day to make all kinds of amazing food. It truly was spectacular and everyone had a wonderful night.
    My heart is overflowing with joy tonight. I want to write for hours about all of the encounters I have had today. Klarissa falling asleep on my lap in the Toyota, Drin grabbing my hand and whispering how much she loves me and is so happy we are friends, Kervins beaming at me and showing me his new book, Jocelyn brushing my hair, Woodsy telling me I get more beautiful every time he sees me (LOL!!!), Vlad trying to cover my eyes from behind so I could guess who it was, Peterson sitting and talking with me, unending hugs and kisses from the kids.    I feel overcome with happiness and contentment this evening. God has Mom and I here for a reason this week and it was so apparent to me today. Mom and I read a devotional today and one sentence that stood out to me went something like “Don’t ask yourself if you are adequate for the journey God has you on. He has equipped you with everything you need whether you know and understand it yet or not.” I have tried to embrace that thought with open arms and feel God’s blessing on everything we are doing.
    Now it is into the early hours of the morning and a cold shower and some sleep are calling to me! Blessings from St. Marc!