Day 6 - Lots of exercise & sweat

I take it back. I may not gain weight and could possibly lose if I have more days like today. I'm still sitting here in my own sweaty stench, dress still damp from the sweat. It was actually cooler today with a high of around 87, but when you're playing soccer with these kids the sweat doesn't stop! Yea, I'm going to take a nice COLD shower, with very little pressure...but it still gets me clean and that's most important. 

Today we spent around 7.5 hours at the creche with a 2 hour break for lunch. Our morning was fairly chill at first. I rummaged through a drawer at the guest house yesterday and found a few more resources to keep B busy. She pulled out the foam ABC puzzle first, where you push out the letters and then place them back in their respective 'holes'. She did very well and enjoyed it. She didn't like that one letter was missing though. She seems to like order. She dislikes bugs, especially spiders! She points at the ants every time they get on her paper like she can't touch them and someone else needs to get rid of them. It's kind of funny to see her reaction. Bugs are everywhere around here so I was surprised by this and yet, we all have a right to dislike bugs!

I will say that her creche does an incredible job of keeping things clean and organized. They take great care of the children, bathing them daily and providing for all of their basic needs. The teachers, as stated earlier, are incredible! All around there is a routine established and I love it! 

Back to our day...

A lot happens in 7.5 hours so I'll just give some highlights of the day and call it a night. 

I found a book in that drawer that had letters to trace and objects beginning with each letter on the page.  B started doing the tracing but then started pointing to the objects. She would say the ones she knew in Creole when I pointed to them and asked what's that. Then she started to ask me what's that, what's that, what's that, while pointing to every picture. I tried to look them up in Creole, but then realized she wanted to hear them in English. It was precious and she tried to repeat many of them. She is picking up on things already. It's exciting and yet makes my heart break a little as I can't stay and keep teaching her over the next 10 months.  However, she is a quick learner and I believe will adjust well once home. I love that she was saying what's that in English as I said each object. She's also repeating colors. What I love most though, is just that she is talking more, in Creole. She isn't afraid to just say it to us even when she knows we won't understand. We have seen her interact a little more with the other children but I don't get the feeling that she is 'friends' with any of them. One funny thing she did say today was 'no Qade'. I've been trying to get her to say that to him when he doesn't something she doesn't like. Well, today she used her voice and did it! It made us all chuckle and we commended her for it. 

I was able to meet some kids and take pictures for families who are in the waiting process to bring their children home. It was sweet to make some connections with others and learn a bit more about some children there. One young lady, she's 10, spent a good amount of time with us today. Her family lives in Louisiana I believe. She will be a great addition to any family! We played soccer together and laughed a lot, especially when I slipped and fell right on my rump!!! She giggled and then said are you ok? It hurt but I had to laugh as well. We also did some tic tac toe and that dot/box game. When I was with her B wasn't sure what to think. She ventured back and forth, kinda checking in to see what we were doing but respecting our time as well. All of these kids are starving for attention and not to mention the toys we are bringing can just be fun and different for them. It was such a blessing to spend time with others today. 

Oh I almost forgot, while B was eating her lunch today I went to the youngest age group and got to hold the little baby! She can't be more than 3 months old. She was cooing and so sweet. I even got to rock her to sleep. Oh, be still my heart, these kids. All such gifts, precious innocent gifts and my heart just breaks for them. I'm so glad, however, they are in such a great creche!

Qade was a real trooper today and completely exhausted by the end. He played football, soccer, shared his phone and tickled some kids like crazy. It's been such a blessing to watch his interactions with the kids. He's not real vocal so I'm not sure what all he is thinking, but he certainly does a great job looking past the language barrier and just doing whatever. His heart is so big that when they were playing soccer and the ball bounced off him and another kid, over the gate into the neighbor's area he was heart broken. He had tears. He felt so bad they lost their soccer ball and play ended. The other kids weren't quite sure how to react to his reaction. I told him it would be fine and we would get to the market and buy a new one. He calmed a bit but the best was when a young boy who had been playing with him said, "no worry, no worry". 

I was able to have a brief conversation with one of the male teachers today. He speaks enough English that we mostly understood each other. We talked about sports our family enjoys, how many kids we have, my job (which I still don't think he understood) and the creche. He then said he was glad we were there and he can tell how happy B is when she is with us. He said we were great parents and God will bless us! It was so good to hear that. Not because I didn't already believe that, but because I wasn't sure how the people at the creche felt about Americans coming there and interacting with the kids, etc. 

Well, my emotions are catching up to me today and I've cried through most of my typing tonight. There is so much that could be shared. Thank you for the continued prayers and support during this time. We can definitely feel them!