WHEN THE DOG BITES

Last year I randomly found a song on Itunes that I decided to download.  It is a techno version of 'My Favorite Things' and I LOVE it.  I think it is meant to be a Christmas time song but who cares about that?  I listen to it regularly.  Yesterday Ivey was upset about something so I taught her some of the words to the song.
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I think of a few of my favorite things
and then I don't feeeeeeeeel sooo bad...

That has to be the anthom for this month of our lives.  Ivey really did get bit by a dog today.  It didn't break the skin and she is fine but I had to laugh at the timing and we just sang the song together.

Tonight we took Albert to celebrate his ever changing birthday.  Who knows when it really is but the 'official' date for now is January.  We won't be here then so we celebrated now.  In case you didn't know it -I love Albert.  He is a joy to me.

Last night our family got to do one of my favorite things since we've been here.  TRS opened it's doors four years ago and we watched as each child entered the center.  Andrew was on the very first team that arrived to visit TRS at it's first facility and I was on the second.  We have both been on two other trips besides that before moving here.  So we have watched these kids grow up for the last four years of their lives.  I came across some albums of those trips and decided that we had to have a night where we went up there with our projector and flipped through all the photo's with the kids.  It was so awesome.  In unison they would all say 'eeeeeeehhhhh' to each photo.  All 100 (babies were in bed) kids and aunties would all laugh at the funny faces and hook a photographie's neck with their arm commenting on how small they were.   I loved how they stayed quiet on some.  Like the photo of a team visiting Auntie Geraldine in the hospital after she was hit by a car and one of the Aunties who passed away a few years ago. There were some intake photo's where a child is being brought to the center from another orphanage where a current resident of the center had also lived in the past.  When she saw him, because she knew what he had just been rescued from, she swooped him up in her arms and held his head to hers and sobbed.  The photo is so sweet.  The kids were so excited recounting visits from aunties and uncles over the last few years.  They shouted the names of each, 'eeeeeehhhhh Auntie Carrie', 'eeeeeeeeehhhhh Auntie Jessie',  'eeeeeeeeehhhhhhh Uncle Mark'.    Baptisms, dinners, parties, beach days, school days, life, family.  And I am so blessed that God has given us this time here.  I have a love deep in my heart for the children of the Covering.  They are so special to me.  It stings deeply to leave these people and we feel sad.
Our time here was supposed to be for 2 years which would have meant staying until January 18th.  Since TRS office hours slow down  quite a bit through the Christmas holiday we decided that we would go ahead and move before Christmas so that we could catch up with our families in the US while everyone was together for holidays.  So we booked flights for Dec.  11th.  However,  two weeks ago I broke a tooth and now we have changed the flights to November the 8th.  That means we will arrive in the US in just 4 days- this Saturday.
It is difficult to describe ourselves right now.  We are tired, we are sad, we are a little nervous, we are so many things.    But, when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when we feel so sad.  We think of a few of our favorite things and then we don't feel so bad.
We look forward to seeing our family.  There have been two additions to it since we left and we are VERY excited to meet them.  We look forward to seeing the AMAZING friends we have and thanking them continually for all the AMAZING things they have done for us.  We really are such a blessed family.
We wanted to make it known that we will probably not be 'ourselves' for a while as we re-adjust back to American culture.  It will be quite the adjustment-especially since we are coming back during the peak commercial/holiday season of the year.  We may find ourselves hermiting if we feel overwhelmed but please understand that it is not at all personal.  We are very excited to see everyone.  We just need some time and space to adjust.  We have been the center of attention for 2 years and we are very ready to not be in the lime light for an undecided amount of time.   Our family will need some time to recoup from some stresses that we have faced here in SL but hope to be back to normal soon.  We are mourning the loss of our adoption and are heartbroken over the lack of three people accompanying us home.  That will also play a role in our reactions to some things when we get back.  Just please do not take any strange behavior personally.  Please do not mistake a need for space as a lack of desire to see you if we are elusive for a while.  
On that note.  At TRS each child is financially funded by sponsors.  The money that is given covers their food, school, medical needs, clothing, personal items, housing, staff at the center, etc.  Each childs sponsorship is broken down into different allotments for different area's but the total is approximately $350-400 per child per month.  Andrew and I have covered what our kids needed through December but after that it will not be possible for us to cover their entire sponsorships permanently.  We will sponsor each of them partially and they have some other sponsors lined up but there is still a need for sponsors to cover them fully.  So, as much as it pains me to type the words...if you would be interested in sponsoring John, Isatu, or Albert (three of the best kids in the whole wide world) you can go here to find out how to do that:

sponsorship@therainingseason.org


Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you again to all of you who have been a source of encouragement and help to us during our stay here.  We appreciate you so much more than you know.  There was not a day that we had a need that was not met quickly and generously.  We have been so amazed at the outpouring of love towards us.  Thank you again.

And now for some photo's.

Family celebrates Albert's birthday

Ice cream becoming a milkshake.

Latest funny label.  Hmmmm so sweet.

TRS watching a photo slideshow from the last 4 years.

This one is so funny to me.  This is our mechanic who came over to do some work on our generator.  While he was waiting Ivey decided to tell him a not-so-few things.  Here is the first shot;

And....20 minutes later;

Is this not priceless!