"I Want to Talk to my Sponsor"

Once upon a time... we had these cubbies for the kids. After awhile, kids will be kids, and they were being used for two things... one, sled like slides down the hills, and secondly, they made their own computers. You will hear them walking around pretending they are talking to their sponsors on skype via their "computers"... I can't begin to tell you how much each of these children beg me to talk to their sponsors, EVERY DAY! Even if they seem shy and quiet on skype, they are so excited inside... If you haven't yet gotten to talk to your sponsored child on skype, email Karen, sponsorship@therainingseason.org and set up a time. When they get to talk to their sponsors it makes their WORLD!!!

Gods Children.

A few weeks ago we went to the beach with the kids for a field trip. It was for the kids who go to school outside the center, and they were allowed to bring a friend with them, along with Cari, Daniel and I! Off to the beach we went, it was somewhere down Lumley, not quite sure where but they had a blast. They never actually went out towards the water (which I probably wouldn't have let them with all the trash and bottles on the shore) just stayed near the road, playing in the sand. Their school had rented a sound system and they were all playing soccer and dancing until the sun went down! It was a long, fun day! I am finally getting the pictures on my computer to upload here!



Isatu.

Betty.

Sam.


Pastor Daniel.

The first time ANY of these 4 had ever touched or gotten on a horse... The horse walks around the beach and lets people sit on him for pictures for 2,000 le. OF COURSE we wanted them to do it though!!


I love our kids... when all the other kids are booty dancing in the group they are playing tic-tac-toe. Precious.


I can't get over Isatus hair. I LOVE.


Playing some sort of dodgeball/soccer game they made up.





The end of a long day! (Cari looks pretty tired back there too doesn't she?? ;) )

Holly Jolly Christmas

So about 30 chickens (Peppers life was spared... so if you come in Jan you will get to meet him... even though today he was climbing a tree (yeah, our goat is awesome) and fell out when I walked by... he hobbled away... hoping he's fine. haha) 200+ kids, 30 staff members, 9 hours of parting, a VERY loud sound system, dancing, LOTS of food, drama, and songs we finished our Christmas day! Cari and I actually came home (I made green beans and mashed potatoes for OUR Christmas meal) and didn't even really know what happened all day... it seemed like it all went by in 10 seconds... guess crowd control of 200 kids can do that to you... we were trying to figure out how to explain the day and I all I can really say is it was great! The kids had a good time and already can't wait for next Christmas. My favorite part of it all was the kids who were invited in from the streets around our area, they couldn't believe what all was happening. Here are some pictures from the day!




My Christmas morning meal I made! Cinnamon French toast!! We ran out of syrup and you can't just "run to the store" here... so we used ice cream... yep. Just as good. (if you notice I tried to hide the burnt piece of toast there... failed at that.)


My-tailored for Jessie-African-Christmas dress!


Some Christmas cards the kids made for us.












The cake our cook made us on Christmas Eve... it was some kind of raisin spice, with awesome icing! I can't believe there is still a slice left 2 days after Christmas... trying to be somewhat good here... but it's failed the past 3 months. haha


Salimatu (obviously she was a favorite throughout my Christmas pictures today...) Love her.. she fell asleep in my lap today in church. Sweetest.














Kadija




Cari and I cutting the cake for Jesus! :)



















Handing out gifts to our kiddos!





The girls who I have made friends with on the street! Fatmata, Hawa and Mercie! Love walking to the center every single day with them! They are so sweet.


Dance competition!


MERCIE!! :)


Isatu breaking out the moves to my new favorite (rap/hip-hop) song in Sierra Leone... "Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes, Bubbly"


Fudia. (I try my hardest not to choose favorites buuuuut.... :) )

I have more pictures but my computer is completely out of space... not sure what to do from here but I'll figure something out.. Cari took 600+ pictures... you might check her blog for more in the next few days!

All I want for Christmas....

Is my 2 front teeth...

"Snap Me" pt. 2