a day in the life...

this may interest you, it may not...just thought i would share some of the things that we see/do here. some on a daily basis, some are a bit more unusual but all make for exciting days=)

-waking up to the sound of children sweeping and playing at 7 in the morning
-being blocked on the road by machete yielding drunks who call themselves"masquerade", and girls aren't supposed to see without their masks on
-the babies being passed around all day to different "mommies"
-tending to the children's many wounds all times of day and night
-receiving unannounced visitors all times of the day either because they just heard what we do here and want to see for themselves, or, many times, because they need medical attention and have heard we provide free drugs
-spending hours in villages examining and providing treatment to patients and trying to explain to them that we just can't spend endless hours there because we really do have other things we have to do(like taking care of orphans)
-bartering at the market trying to not get cheated with the "onyeocha"(white person) price
-constantly being yelled at, "onyeocha" and "oyibo", as we're driving, walking, shopping, etc.
-meeting someone with 5 pet monkeys
-getting stopped at checkpoints by ak47 yielding corrupt policeman looking for "white paper"(money)
-going to the hospital to get the HIV/AIDS kids CD4 counts only to be told the machine and equipment is broken and they aren't sure when it will be fixed
-always getting my hair played with and braided by the girls
-going to the hospital to get an x-ray only to find out there is no electricity
-being told by someone that they think they are being poisoned(it does happen often here but many times they are suffering from a treatable disease and blame it on poison)
-listening to a "church" speak in tounges and exercise demons all times of the day and night(their spiritual gift is "warfare")
-hearing the sound of excited, screaming children, shouting for joy because the electricity came on  after 3 weeks of nothing(of course, it doesn't stay on but it has been coming on more often at night time for a couple hours)
-having to tell someone that their only option for treating bow legs,infertility,bad infections, etc., is with a surgery they could never afford
-accepting greens,fruit,yam,chickens,and such, as thanks for medical help or just to aid the orphanage
-seeing the whole village go watch a gigantic tree be chopped down because it was demon possessed and causing death,unexplained events, and sickness and then sing, dance and run around the village in happiness
-see the kids play with a baby doll, play a board game, and go swimming for the first time in their lives
-seeing people singing, dancing,clapping and truly happy during worship time at church
-getting to talk to the kids about Christ and how He wants them to live
-memorizing scripture with the kids
-getting to explain the gospel and lead one of them to the Lord!
-i could go on for a lot longer i assure you, but i think you get the idea...always something new to experience and learn and i'm loving it!

on another note, we went in search of a clean place to swim a couple weeks ago and where we parked our bus by the river, we were approached by several people who saw the organization's name on it.we were told by several people that they knew of many orphans living in that area. we had already heard that there is a lot of AIDS in that city and many orphans. we took some of the people's info and have been in touch with them. yesterday some of us went and met with the families that are taking care of the orphans and will most likely be picking up 3 children sometime next week! there are also 2 more that we know of that may be coming here so there will be a lot more excitement and changes coming soon!

the children are always so excited to have more children join their family and embrace them with open arms.
pray for us as we will need more financial support and for the hearts of the kids that will be coming. they will be overwhelmed and frightened at first but now will have the opportunity to grow up knowing that they have a Father who will never leave them of forsake them!

i love hearing from you so please feel free to leave advice, encouragement,ask questions and just tell me how you're doing!