Feb. trip to Sierra Leone first 3 days

It was really good to see the kids! We did a lot of the same things that we have done on previous trips so I'll just post photo's and stories that aren't repeats.
We were greeted by the kids at the bottom of the hill singing welcome songs and holding signs. We walked up to the building and gathered in a room where we were prayed for and welcomed further and then Albert showed us his photo's of us taped to the wall by his bed(which is the very top bunk).


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Then we went outside for some playtime. The boys were doing push ups and wanted 'uncle' Andrew to do some. He did and John decided that it was too easy to just do regular push ups in humid heat so he jumped on Andrew's back laughing.

I had to record Andrew pretending that they were too heavy to pick up because John was laughing so hard!

The kids went in to change and get ready for sports day which is much like track and field here. There was Auntie Tina's red team, Auntie Erica's yellow team, Uncle Jason's blue team, and Uncle Paul's green team.

Since each of our three sponsored children were on a different team we found ourselves traveling from tent to tent all day.




Even the staff was very excited about sports day. Each one was assigned to a certain team and wore that teams color. When Albert ran by me at the speed of lightning and won the 100 meter dash the green team staff rushed the field to grab him cheering. A pain filled my chest. I wanted to be that person and it was hard to watch but it made me happy at the same time. This trip was filled with mixed emotions because I am so grateful that they have bonds with their teachers and caretakers, but I also find myself feeling sad that I haven't been able to have the time to bond with them one on one myself. I watched Isatu in the downtime between events learn to balance a bottle on her head and thought about how Ivey would never even think to do that. These kids are a unique part of their culture and I am glad for that.






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(Albert is holding the right side of the green team banner)There were MANY events and at the end of being amazed at the speed of several kids we witnessed the 'Africa queen' contest. Each team dressed a girl in traditional African queen outfits, hair and etc. Each girl very seriously strutted out and did a little dance that had us laughing so hard. Isatu won! It was too cute!!!

I'm not sure if I laughed harder at her dancing or her running....




Sunday was church day and afterwards the kids watched "How to Train Your Dragon". I have seen this movie countless times with Levi but I saw this movie through new eyes as I wondered how many of them remember scenes similar to the one of the vikings fighting the dragons. Does that even trigger memories of the war-I don't know. Some did look nervous but maybe that is normal. I wonder how many of these orphans have experienced the same feelings that Hiccup feels of being an outsider and how many have had their fathers say "your not my son" just like Hiccups dad says to him. And, I wonder how many of them feel the love of a father now the way it turns out for Hiccup when his father apologizes and all is well. It breaks my heart to look around the room at these faces that have experienced so much that should never happen. My prayer is that their hearts would be able to fully heal and that they would be able to save others from those hurts because they choose to save their nation.




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The second movie was "Finding Nemo" which Albert apparently had no interest in. I followed him outside when I realized he hadn't come back in. He was playing ball by himself so I played too for a while before we noticed some kids on the third floor and he started throwing the ball up the wall for them to catch. It was funny to watch and I really enjoyed that time with him.

updates

We haven't posted in some time so here is what we've been up to:
1. My love of redoing furniture has been flaring up a lot so here are the pieces I have been working on;
first, a chest of drawers given to us by our parents that will go in Ivey's room since we are moving her to the room with no closets. I painted it turqoise-which is slowly creeping into first place for my favorite color-and modpodged different scrapbook papers on each drawer face. I did not change this hardware because I like the ones that were there and they were in good condition.


These are two candle sticks also given to us by parents who grabbed them when our aunt was getting rid of them. I was wanting some kind of planter for our orchids and these worked out great. I just painted them cafe mocha and added my favorite material: burlap.


This antique phone desk was given to us by a friend who got it from someone else who was getting rid of it. It was stained a dark color and had a dusty old torn red fabric for a seat. This green is too bright for me so I intend to repaint it a more sage green but haven't gotten to it yet.

There are always several project going on at the same time here at our house. I don't know if I could function any other way. Right now there are two in the garage that I am so excited about. One is a tv stand that we recived from parents who were redoing their playroom. I am adding a spring rod to make it an armoir for Iveys room. I intend to paint it, paper the inside and put on new knobs which I got on sale 50% off at Hobby Lobby. They are these great pink and white swirled vintage glass knobs. I can't wait to finish that. Iveys birthday is in Jan. and I am in the process of making her a doll house. She has been so nurturing to her little dolls lately that I couldn't resist a doll house. I searched for ideas online and came up with one I like. Those photos will be on a different post.
Since I have been so busy with projects Levi has taken up cooking, and reading to his animals


and of course he loves his train set and I am more and more impressed with his skill at putting together great track designs.
We did a crayon project together where you take all the crayon scraps and bake them in egg shells to make new crayons. We had plenty to use since our children seem to LOVE coloring(ie throwing the crayons at each other) lately.


And Ivey, when she's not whining, or getting lipstick everywhere just dances and sings all the time...but that is my next post....

New items in store at GreenIvey@etsy.com

Lavender Bubble with gingham ribbon tie straps and elastic legs.

this is a recap of our trip that Erica did.
http://vimeo.com/12292225

Four years

When I was around eight years old I lived in an apartment building next door to a friend named Charity. We both stayed home while our mothers worked (For my social worker friends-her mom was the neighborhood manager and was only a building away). We were not allowed to go outside so we would talk on the phone. This apparently was not enough as I decided that I needed to be on a more personal level and see her face to face. This problem I solved by deciding to drill a hole in the wall. When my mom got home I could not understand the gasp and utter disbelief. Surely she was proud of all the hours of hard work that had gone into this solution. She was not. And, neither was Charity's mom whom had to rehang a picture that I had apparently knocked off.
A few weeks ago I walked into our master bedroom to find Levi carving a hole in the wall with a screwdriver. The first thought that entered my mind was, "What in the world is he thinking?" but the second was that my mom's curse/blessing worked. How many times had she said she wished for me to have a child just like myself.
For four years now I have witnessed a progression in slow motion. A child who is becoming scarily, strangely like me. And there is no way I could love him any more than I already do. He got Andrew's humor and I laugh at him all the time. I wished for freckles across the nose and he has them. I so love my firstborn son and I have so loved these last four years that I have been blessed to be a mother. I pray for many many more.
Beautiful little Ivey:

The last day

On the last day at the center the children had a going away ceremony planned. We did not, however, see it all. It began with some beautiful songs led by Betty and Sam. There was a procession of girls in grass skirts that danced. There was intent praying for us and our safe travels. There was a time where the kids were able to tell what they were thankful for. One little boy from Shengi got up and told how thankful he was to have a place to sleep and food to eat since his father died in a ferry accident and his mother couldn't feed him. Then he sat down, put his head in his hands and cried. That was the beginning of the end. The next song was one where the kids would sing verses to each of the American women leaving. Sam and Betty's sponsor Lori was on this trip and as the song started Sam sang the verse 'thank you mommy Lori, you gave us hope when all our hope was gone' and all the kids joined in to say 'it is hard to say goodbye to someone like you'. Anyone who has followed TRS and knows the background in this relationship knows that those verses couldn't be more true. The place Sam, Betty, and Fallah came from is the stuff of horror movies and nightmares. A place where any unimaginably horrible thing that could happen-did. So Sam had a hard time getting the words out and I had a hard time holding back sobs. When I looked over at Lori, she couldn't hide the tears behind her sunglasses. Next was Karen who sponsors Fatmata. Fatmata sang, 'thank you auntie Karen, you gave us love when all.....'. She couldn't finish because she was crying. I pulled out a tissue b/c at this point there is no disguising my own tears. During each of these verses I discretely looked at Albert and John. I was trying not to make eye contact knowing the risk I ran of sobbing uncontrollably. To late. Albert was crying. Oh no, oh no. Amy confirms what I just saw and I have to go to him. As the kids sang on I held Albert to me while he cried so hard his body palpatated. No noise, just crying. And I am so far gone. This is breaking my heart. The song ends and the caretakers tell the kids they can go hug the aunties. So every kid swarms the women and there is a time of everyone just crying. Like a funeral. I looked around thinking about what a bizarre event I was witnessing. I looked for John and when I found him he too was crying. I picked him up and held him for a minute rubbing the back of his neck. We all sat down and all I could do was tell them that I was coming back. Uncle Andrew and I were coming back. But they already know. Even thought we will be back it will be many months. As we left I felt so terrible. It was an extremely long set of flights home. My stomach was tense and my throat was strained from holding back the symphony that I didn't want the other passengers to hear. My eyelids are tired not only from the lack of sleep but from holding back an inevitable flood. And at about 3:00pm on Wednesday I was happily reunited with my family at the airport. But as we walk out I can't help but think of a place half way around the world where there are 79 little people who are laying their heads down for the night that have no hope of being reunited with theirs. Make no mistake about what I am saying. They have fantastic caregivers and teachers, and The Raining Season is a really great place. But it is still an orphanage. They can't celebrate every birthday. They don't have parents telling them how proud they are when they learned to dress themselves, when they have great results on report cards or even when they do well on their driving tests. If they fall down there is only time to quickly assess the injuries and brush off when there are 79 kids to care for. You don't get held until you calm down because there's not time for that. As great as the caretakers are they aren't able to ask each child personally how their day was. And so my heart hurts for these kids. They are such beautiful little spirits and deserve so much more than that. This is not the last day I will see them, but it is the last day I will see them for months. All I can do for now is pray that God will give them peace and courage until the very last day when they will have all they dreamed and more. When love will be in abundance and they will never fear if they will eat the next day. And I will be there then, laughing, dancing and singing a different song right alongside them.





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The Covering

Today Dr. Auntie Nicole did checkups on all the kids and it turns out a few had to go in for sicknesses. One of which was Malige. They were gone for a short while and I didn't really think many people noticed them depart but when they drove back in all these kids went running to the car yelling, 'MALIGE! MALIGE! MALIGE!' in almost a cheering chant like form. I was so taken aback. Erica and I just looked at each other in surprise. What a sweet little family of kids this is. He was truely missed by his friends and they were so concerned. Isn't that the sweetest thing in the world?

the poorest place in the world

I just kept trying to look forward, following Lori's lead to jump a puddle when necessary. I tried not to notice the dog who had taken a machete to the back and I REALLY tried not to notice the woman who had taken one to the face. I being the usually chatty type did not open my mouth, but it wasn't because I didn't want to talk. There were bugs. If I did, I said short answers and held my teeth together. Once we got to the center of kroo bay I listened intently as the people welcomed us. I couldn't understand or hear what they were saying. As I was trying to keep up this mind game of not talking or looking I watched the area about the size of two soccer fields. It was all dirt, with some mud puddles from the rain. I saw a pig leave its mark. Jessie said in my ear that all these kids just pile into people's homes at night because most of them are orphaned. What? I forgot my mind game for a split second. I saw some of the kids faces full of anticipation. And before long the games began. The boys on our team had given away every soccer ball and every team began playing around with their new prize. I began to count how many naked children there were, how many with only undies on. I lost count. Then I forgot to only look forward because suddenly I had to step back. They were kicking the ball our way and running through the muddy pig refuse. It splashed right before me almost onto one of my teammates. They were barefoot! All the sudden one of the women grabbed my hand. I struggled mentally to smile and shake her hand and when I tried to pull away she held it tight smiling and trying to talk to me. Oh no. So I squeezed her, smiled and tried again still to no avail. She isn't going to let go. Still smiling. Still trying to talk to me and I still can't understand. So I diverted the attention to the baby she was holding and then I forgot again. I did the pigs to market game with her fingers and tried to tickle the baby who did not think it was funny. Probably because children are smart. Then I noticed the large empty yellow jug she kept scooting around to keep close to her. Probably her water jug. Then it was time to follow the team back to the cars and go. I am ready. Just as I thought I had escaped she was there again, to walk me out. She held my hand all the way up the hill. She mysteriously found that third hand I always wish I had when I am holding Ivey. She held her baby and jug and my hand. And while I got in the car and drove back to the hotel I had to think about who won. She was the picture of hospitality, trying to engage me in conversation and make me feel comfortable, walking me out as a face for her people thanking me for the visit. And when I lie down tonight in this air conditioned room on this mattress and pillow-with a blanket, she will collect water for herself and her baby that is full of parasites and she will probably go back to a tin shingled hut and lay on the ground. Who knows if she will eat tonight or even tomorrow for that matter. And I would like a rematch. Because in the war of the spirit I know already that I fell short. I already know I disappointed on a grand scale. Since I can’t go back I have to go forward and hope that I am able to do it again. I will not look only forward, I will look around. I will not stay silent and clench my teeth about this atrocity. I will not choose to draw back but to embrace these lost souls who suffer much. And I am so thankful that I got to learn that lesson by the grace of that sweet girl. And I’ll pray that if she noticed my discomfort that she is comforted in knowing she was the bigger person.

malaria

So now that the word is out I'll just tell everyone now that I am back to 100%. I got it a few days ago and it totally knocked me out of beach day. I hated that I missed that whole day with the kids but it is what it is. I had to get some shots but I felt better the next day. I wasn't planning to tell anyone b/c I didn't want anyone to worry. I really am ok. Thanks for all the prayers and concerns.

Silly Faces

This video of Albert and Isatu is so funny.

Jeniba laughs

Andrew: You wake me up every day. Don’t need no starbucks. I was like baby baby baby OOOOOOOHHHHHH. Like baby baby baby OOOOOHHHH. That was on Foday’s radio today and I just had to laugh and think of you! For anyone who doesn’t know, Andrew is a huge Justin Beiber and Miley Cirus fan.
This day was mostly spent at the center. We gave the kids their sponsor gifts. For some of them it was the first toy they had ever had. Amazing what a joy a $1 hot wheel can be.
There are so many little things I noticed today that I decided to just make a list instead of paragraph form.
• Sierra Leonian drivers honk their horns more in one day than Americans do in two years. They honk for all the people in the street to move. They honk at dogs. They honk at the guards to open the doors.
• We passed a gate today where someone had handwritten in white paint ‘look out for bad dogs’. I don’t know why but that really made me laugh for a long time.
• TO HOLLY: The kids loved the bears, raccoons, rabbits, and bumble bee’s! You should be so proud of all the time and hard work you spent on your hot chocolate and lemonade stand. Here are a few pictures for you.


• Jeneba laughs and smiles now!!! If that were the only thing I saw this week I would be reaffirmed that The Covering is a great place.
• Today I saw bulges in John’s pockets so I asked him what he had in there. He proudly displayed one red and one blue bottle cap (like from a plastic water bottle). I am not sure what he usually does with such treasures but today we tried to flip them by slamming our fingers on the rim. He laughed hysterically so it attracted the attention of several others which began a long line of ‘turns’. Why do I note this? Because he obviously wanted them and yet he didn’t try to keep them in his possession. He was happy to let the others play it to. I was surprised because I mistakenly assumed he would act selfishly. Why would I assume the worst when everything I have seen from these kids indicates the opposite? They are so helpful to each other. I saw several kids at lunchtime feeding the younger kids. And I saw several sharing their brand new toys from sponsors willingly and happily as soon as they walked around the corner with them. I also saw Albert standing by Dauda looking concerned and supportive when he got a bad scrape on his shin. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they are such beautiful little people!
• If you would like to give to a great cause for 79 orphans, there are 2 needs at the center: one is a water tank which cost about $900 to buy and install. Also, they need a generator which runs about $1200. For more information you can go to Savetheorphan.blogspot.com
• So, after watching the process of feeding about 75 kids I have decided not to complain about how many pieces of silverware we go through or how I have to sweep after every meal. These people do such a great job! Everything runs so smoothly, especially considering the staff to kid ratio.
• Lastly, the staff had washed and hung all the laundry to dry before they went home for the day. After a while I saw a few of the pieces had blown off b/c they don’t use clips they just drape them over the line which by the way happens to be high on one side and very low on the other. So I went over to pick them up and put them back on the line. Isatu followed me and ran her hand down the length of the line bunching the clothes up until they would fall off in the dirt. I turned around and said “No Isatu” and began hanging them again. Just as I got the first one up she had gone around me to the other side and did it again! And twice while she was doing it I said very sternly “No Isatu!” and she giggled and giggled and did it a third time! I had to get Fodey to tell her to stop. I would like to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she didn’t understand but I find it highly unlikely……..

Beach Day

Unfortunatly, John wasn't feeling well so he didn't have a great day but everyone else definately did.